The Watering Hole, Tuesday, Nov 8, 2016: Election Day – VOTE!

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It is the official policy of The Zoo since its founding to not endorse any political candidate or party for elected office. (But if you can’t figure out where most of us stand or how we intend to vote, you probably haven’t been paying attention.) So there’s one question I have for anyone reading this:

If you have already cast your vote, or intend to cast your vote, for any Republican, for any office, at any level of government (even local), could you please identify the candidate and office (include state and pertinent district – congressional or assembly) and explain why you’re casting a vote for that person? I truly want to understand. In my own home state of New York, most of the Republicans in this area are pretty moderate. I know many of the local politicians personally and they’re decent people. I don’t vote for them usually because they run unopposed. And since you can’t lose a race running unopposed if you vote for yourself, there’s no reason for me to vote for any of them. But they do a decent job, and I have no serious complaints. But my focus is more for the national level, and Republican control of any level of our federal government concerns me.

I ask that you not give vague and ambiguous platitudes like, “I support the Constitution.” (How so? What do you feel is being attacked? And what evidence can you cite for that?) I’d like to know the reasons why you wish to vote for a Republican, but I should caution you that the reasons you cite may be challenged by me or by others who post here. As a general rule, we tend to adopt the tone of the person commenting. If you start out exceptionally rude or with name-calling, I can’t promise you any civility in return. But if you’re polite, I promise you I will be, and I can safely vouch for the regulars here that we will be respectful as well.

Please, help me understand. Because I can think of lots of reasons why you shouldn’t, and I hope there’s time to talk you out of it.

This is our daily open thread. Please be sure to vote.

172 thoughts on “The Watering Hole, Tuesday, Nov 8, 2016: Election Day – VOTE!”

  1. I would really like to start this day off with a double mocha valium latte but I have to do serious things that involve other peoples safety so the double mocha valium latte will have to wait.

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  8. Since Washington state handles elections by mail, The wife and I voted a week ago.
    Wayne, I took your sage advice on the process, thanks!

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  9. Nov. 8, 2016 takes me back in time to a few months short of 53 years ago. YIKES!

    It was back in early spring of 1964, my senior year at ASU in Tempe AZ. Several of us college boys had recently made our fairly regular “get the booze” trips to Nogales Mexico. In those days, each visitor (age 21 or more) to Mexico could bring back a gallon of duty-free booze, so if four or five of us went, that meant 4-5 gallons of really cheap but really good liquor, and all that was required was a six hour round trip plus about $5-6 in cash (the cash was the trickiest part to come up with back then). My gallon consisted of a fifth each of Tequila, Vodka, Gin (Mex gin was SOOO yummy!), dark Rum, and Cherry Brandy.

    So. A week or two after the trip, the movie Dr. Strangelove was playing at a theater in Mesa, a few short miles down the road from Tempe (Mesa in AZ was, back then, roughly as ‘Mormon’ as was Salt Lake City in Utah. Scary scary). Anyway, college buddy nicknamed Dirty Dave and I decided we’d go see the movie one Friday evening. Late that Friday afternoon, I decided I’d try something new in the weekend cocktail project; it turned out really good. I used a tall glass plus several ice cubes, and then added one shot each of: Tequila, Vodka, Gin, dark Rum, and Cherry Brandy, then topped the glass off with fresh-squeezed orange juice. I tasted it, thought it was really — REALLY — good tasting. About that time, Dirty Dave showed up, ready to head off for the movie in Mesa a half-hour or so later. He asked what I was drinking. I said it was something I made with the stuff I got in Mexico on the last trip. He said he’d like to try it, so I made him one. After the first sip, he said, “Hey, that’s really good!” and slurped it up in less than five minutes. He said it was “so good, maybe I’ll have one more before we go.” I obliged. He drained it quickly. We left for Mesa, me driving.

    Got to the theater, parked, and walked to the ticket window. I bought my ticket, Dirty Dave bought his, then looked at me and said, “Let’s go in. I need to sit down.” I noticed his face was covered with red blotches. We found seats in roughly the middle of the main floor. The lights were still on as the ticket holders came in and took their seats. Dave was quiet. Then the lights dimmed and the projector turned on, the “previews of coming attractions” played, and then the movie began with the opening music and scenes. And then it happened.

    Dirty Dave slumped back in his seat and then without warning yelled, at the top of his lungs, “OH . . . FUCCCKKKK!!” Then he conked out. When the movie was over, I had to wake him up, usher him out of the theater and into the car, then drive him home and push him into his apartment. Didn’t see him for a couple of days.

    We later decided what that cocktail needed most was a really good name, one that defined it. After lots of screwing around with goofy names, we finally settled on this one:

    The El Kabong!

    I haven’t had one since 1964, but have decided that the recipe needs to be shared — today — just in case this election should go totally fucking wrong. Remember: tall glass, ice cubes, 1 shot each of Tequila, Vodka, Gin, dark Rum, Cherry Brandy, topped off with Orange Juice. Two of them, and Donald Trump WILL disappear; and then, El Kabong!. For at least a day, maybe two.

    Yeehaw. 🙂

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  10. Just voted. Given the time of day (and remote suburban location), there was no line. I was #338, which is very high for our precinct for this time of day.

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  11. Saw this on a message board today: “Trump’s campaign doesn’t trust him with a Twitter account. Why should I trust him with the nuclear codes?”

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  14. I’m back from voting. No lines, but that is typical in my rural precinct. For some reason the cashier in the grocery store was talking to customers about who they voted for, and informing them that we need Trump because we need a strong leader. The folks in front of me looked very uncomfortable. When it was my turn, I informed her in a very firm voice that Trump was a bully, that he could not be strong because the need to bully others always comes from fear and weakness. I think I shocked the poor woman, but I could not be silent with my son standing there.

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  19. Trump has filed a lawsuit in Nevada.

    It’s due to some early-voting polls staying open longer than they were supposed to, to accommodate the long lines.

    Yes, by all means, let’s keep people from voting.

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  28. Hello Everybody, I took a day off from work tomorrow, so I can be with you through election night. So keep those comments coming!

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      • It is not a joke. They really changed the Toblerones to be sold in the UK. The £ has gone down so badly things are getting comparably expensive, so they decided to sell less for the same money. They took Marmite off the shelves at Tesco. Which caused, of course, an uproar. (Never mind the Aussies promised to help out with Vegemite)

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  33. This electoral campaign has ruined a lot of political careers. Jeb Bush “Please clap”. Ted Cruz. Chris Christie. Paul Ryan. Marco Rubio. Reince Priebus. Scott Walker. I’m not complaining, mind.

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  37. Jesus fucking christ, I’m having trouble tracking here. 😆

    I keep thinking, “Why do I have so many tabs open? Why am I hearing Cenk talking about number shit?” Oh yeah…nevermind. 😛

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    • There still remains TRUTH out there. Somewhere. And even people willing to speak it. Far out.

      I still maintain that if Trump gets more than three votes (his, Eric’s, and Jr.’s) total, the election is RIGGED. Either that or there are tens of millions of stupid shits that live here. ‘Out there.’

      I should prolly try an El Kabong. Or two. Three maybe?

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  55. I took a nap. Not hearing much to cheer as I’m waking back up. Democratic Underground is offline due to an acknowledged hack, according to the administrators. Discussionist also is down. DU had said early they might restrict access to Star Members if traffic became heavy during the night. If you try to go to DU, you get an explanation page instead of access to the site.

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    • I am in a state of shock. The will to fight for doing the right thing has left me. As I am currently working for a charitable foundation whose goal it is to provide housing for the working poor, I will concentrate on that. Those fascist voters and those ‘I won’t for..’ voters (all those who think like them over here) deserve everything they’ll get. I’m over cleaning up other people’s messes.

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  68. I have to wonder if this is how people felt when Pearl Harbor was attacked…??? This is a threat to our country and humanity.

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    • Maybe. I feel like we have lost the planet, that any progress we have made combating climate change and protecting our air and water is gone. This was a hard thing to tell a beautiful differently-abled hispanic 17 year old this morning.

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      • Today is a first for me, the first time in 74 years that I’ve regretted waking up in the morning. I guess that’s a predictable consequence, one that comes with the knowledge that all is now lost, that ignorance, fear, hate, and greed have prevailed. I wish there was somewhere to go — somewhere that would allow me to distance myself from the reality of being at all associated with a country that has chosen the path of global destruction rather than global leader, of darkness rather than light. I know now that I’m an American solely because of accident of birth, and NOT because of any sense of loyalty to what this country has finally become, i.e. a society run by subhuman dregs.

        The realization that all is lost is not a fun thought.

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  70. If there’s a bright spot in any of this, it’s that we won’t have Sen David Duke confirming judges. It would have been really bad if he had won. I seriously would have considered moving next to dycker. I’d be more than happy to lend Canada my talents.

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