Sunday Salon. Voting edition.

How about our darling grandsons in their Halloween costumes?

Weather: An atmospheric river from Hawaii was supposed to move through on Friday bringing lots of rain but it really just brought a lot of wind. One of the street trees in our neighborhood blew over. Will it be nice on Halloween for trick-or-treating?

Family news: Usual pandemic stuff...hanging out in the house a lot with short forays out to shop for food and to walk the dog. Lots of time doing puzzles, playing cards, Zoom Bible Study, Zoom church, and watching politics on TV.  Comfort food has been on the menu. This week I made apple cake, a favorite food from my childhood and a boiled dinner we usually only have on St. Patrick's Day: Corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, and beets. I know. Sounds ghastly but we like it.

Halloween: How's this for our Halloween decorations? These are our pumpkins this year. Recognize the sunglasses?

Books:

• Completed
•  Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott. A favorite author, not a favorite book. (Print)
  
• Writers and Lovers by Lily King. It is tough work to make dreams come true and to be honest with yourself and others. (Audiobook)
  
• Currently reading
•  A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader, edited by Maria Popova. Still enjoying these letters written by people to future readers. (Print, 70%)
• Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo. A new book club selection. Love and polygamy. (Print, 1%)
  
• Book club--The RHS book club met in a socially distanced, outside setting (with heaters) to discuss Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. We were all starved for human contact and enjoyed discussing the book and being together.
  

Vote November 3rd. Participate. Your Vote Counts.

COVID: Sad/Mad/Bad: Our only option now to save our lives is to VOTE!

Good news and information about voting:

1. VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. Don't get worried if the results on Election Night are skewed toward Trump. Mail-in ballots, which more Democrats filled out this year, are counted last and it may take a few days for them to be reflected in the counts. Stay positive!

2. The only polls that really tell us anything are the State polls. One chap, see chart below, has looked at all the polls and has done a little math. Remember the Electoral College target number to win is 270. First he plugged in the "for sure" state numbers red and blue (baseline: Biden 232, Trump 125.) Then he plugged in electoral counts based on polls. Let's hope he's right. (DKos) For wonks, read The Economist and the 538 forecast.

3. And here's a fun activity. Open up another page on your browser to an Electoral College Calculator Map like 270toWin. Start adding and subtracting using the NYT chart below to see the likelihood of a Biden or Trump win.

4. How to vote in your state (WaPo) or visit the county auditor's (election clerk) or the Secretary of State's website in your state.

Or consult this website if you have any questions about voting in your area

 5. Absentee Ballot Deadlines in all States. (Vote.org) DO NOT MAIL YOUR BALLOT NOW OR IT MAY NOT BE COUNTED. Turn it into a voting dropbox in your area or take it to your polling station on election day, November 3rd. MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE IS COUNTED.

6. "R.I. P., G.O.P.--The Party of Lincoln had a good run. Then came Mr. Trump." NYT Editorial, Oct. 24, 2020

Of all the things President Trump has destroyed, the Republican Party is among the most dismaying.

“Destroyed” is perhaps too simplistic, though. It would be more precise to say that Mr. Trump accelerated his party’s demise, exposing the rot that has been eating at its core for decades and leaving it a hollowed-out shell devoid of ideas, values or integrity, committed solely to preserving its own power even at the expense of democratic norms, institutions and ideals.

7. "If Trump wins, athletes might just stop playing." (Intelligencer) No! No professional or college sports? Another big reason to elect Biden!

“If Trump wins, or if he refuses to concede, I’m telling you right now: There won’t be any sports for a month,” he said. “Maybe more. These kids just won’t stand for it...Settling for less in the near term is a reasonable strategy — as long as Joe Biden wins. But what happens if Trump overcomes his long odds and does somehow prevail? I think you will see the largest and most expensive athlete protest in the history of sports. I agree with my executive friend: I think they will simply refuse to play.

8.  20 US Attorneys--all Republican--endorse Biden. (WaPo)

Twenty former U.S. attorneys — all of them Republicans — on Tuesday publicly called President Trump “a threat to the rule of law in our country,” and urged that he be replaced in November with his Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden.

“The President has clearly conveyed that he expects his Justice Department appointees and prosecutors to serve his personal and political interests,” said the former prosecutors in an open letter. They accused Trump of taking “action against those who have stood up for the interests of justice.”

The letter, signed by prosecutors appointed by every GOP president from Eisenhower to Trump, is the latest instance of Republicans backing Biden.

9. Nickelodeon kids pick Biden 53% to Trump 47%. Yay! (Republicans even tried to cheat on this vote, but Nickelodeon figured it out and backed out the illegal votes made by bots. Ha!)

And the winner of the #KidsPickThePresident vote is... Joe Biden! #vote2020 #NickNews pic.twitter.com/8LJC8uOvJB

— Nickel🎃deon (@Nickelodeon) October 28, 2020

10. Well, this is interesting...

Musical Interlude: This is from 2018 but it is so appropriate for today. WE SHALL OVERCOME. "We shall overcome this day and pray for love to lead the way."  

On the lighter side

1. This has nothing to do with politics, pandemics, or racism. This week my daughter showed me this weather report and I laughed every single time I looked at it. (It is from 2015) Enjoy. We all deserve a little levity to break up the tension right now. (Weather map goes crazy.)

2.

3. Trump knows nothing about climate change. Want to make him shut up? Here's how...

Biden campaign also going up on Comedy Central and Adult Swim with this animated climate change focused ad pic.twitter.com/0OjZnqz3PZ

— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) October 29, 2020

4.Don't let the worst restaurant man win because you didn't vote.

 

5. I don't even live in Texas so I can't vote for this guy, but I think this political ad is so funny. Hope you enjoy it, too. (TX-01)

6. 

7.

Lastly: In the event that things go sideways after the election, here are some resources to help you act to defend democracy. Let's hope that this is unnecessary.

On a national level there are two organizations asking for people to sign up and be ready to act: 

• Choose Democracy has a pledge to take to be on the streets to act when it is needed. 
• Protect the Results  is a broad coalition of organizations that is asking people to set up local actions and they're coordinating about when is the best time to ask people to go out onto the streets
• Training Manual for Nonviolent Defense Against the Coup offers just what the name says.

 

So folks, this is the last post before the Nov. 3rd election. I have found some comfort each week pulling out tidbits of information to share with you. It was my hope that this information helped you make a decision to vote for Biden or the courage to share with your friends/family what you have learned. I have tried to deal in facts not conspiracy theories or "fake news." I wanted to bring you a bit of humor to help lighten up the mood we are are all feeling right now...tense and worried. I hope the "funnies" I found did that. Now we wait and pray for positive results.

A moment of Zen:

Click on this link to listen to Raul Malo play a cover of 'A CHANGE IS GONNA TO COME.' It is a perfect way to usher out this Sunday Salon post. (Thanks Kathy for sharing this with me.)  While you are listening you can meditate on the beauty of trees.

A view of our backyard from the upstairs window. I wish you could experience the beauty of the light as it is filtered through the leaves. It sparkles in golden tones. The photo doesn't do it justice.

BREATHE. BREATHE. BREATHE.

-Anne