Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Nov. 4th through Nov. 10th

November 3, 2018 JanF Community 137

Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).

The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.

So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?

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NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.

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  • Page One of Comments is HERE!
     

  • Page Two of Comments is HERE!
     

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48 Comments

  1. Good Election Day morning, Moosekind! It’s overcast here in NoVa with a current temp. of 51 F., going up to 65 F. Yesterday we had so much rain there was actually flooding in some areas.

    Of course, living in this bubble of an old age home means the outside weather scarcely matters. I can walk to the Great Oak banqueting room, which is our poll, across the parking lot in three or four minutes. It takes longer if I walk inside because of the elevators and “bridges” from one building to another.

    Yesterday I attended a meeting conducted by Mary T., who would be our precinct captain if Ashby Ponds admitted there were such a thing as the Democratic party. She’s so gung-ho in favor of Democrats and democracy that she makes me look like a moderate!

    There are certain things we must not do or say, but otherwise passing out ballots seems to be pretty simple. I’m glad that some AP residents with more knowledge than I of the highways and byways of Ashburn are helping out at other precincts. Judging from some of the anxious posts on “Next Door,” people in the areas adjacent to ours are confused about where to vote: precincts have been lumped together for this election and the average voter doesn’t know where to go.

    Younger Son is of course disenfranchised because of moving from one zip code to another in Fairfax County and doesn’t care enough to do anything about it. As they’ve moved every two years for the last decade, even they are hoping to stay put until Mr. Paw Patrol graduates from high school (14 years from now). Thank Goddess my niece and nephew are very keen to vote, as are Elder Son and DIL, and Dearly Beloved.

    My gig is from 11 to 12 today, I want to vote as soon as possible after breakfast to get it out of the way. Feeling very cheered by Denise’s report of tremendous early crowds at her polling place!

  2. Good morning, Meesefolk; 56 when I got up this morning which looks to be the high for the day. Temperatures won’t stop dropping until after 6, so it’s a November heatwave. It was pouring buckets when the dogs informed me they needed outside time at 6, but it looks like the worst has passed with only sporadic showers until early afternoon. So weather should not be an issue for voters.

    I’ll be heading out in an hour or so to finally cast my vote. Since I’m not working today, I figured it was best to wait, and let people trying to get to work have one less person in line. “Line” is relative, of course; in my tiny village, the longest I’ve ever had to wait is 30 minutes. Tonight I’ll probably use the Orange live blogs to get my news, coupled with CBCs The National at 10. They do a great job of covering US news and will probably highlight the bellweather races. It’s pretty sad that a Canadian station covers our news better than US networks. And I just hope House control doesn’t come down to the four Orange County races; waiting another month to know may age me more than I can bear.

    Good day to and for all!

    • If House control comes down to the 4 Orange County races, we are probably screwed. By the time the polls close in California, we should have a 20 seat cushion.

  3. Good morning meese, it’s 47 degrees with a high of 74 today. Going to be a quiet day at work (as I’m not a citizen, I can’t vote), and I might either celebrate or have an early night tonight, depending on what happens. Must resist temptation to keep checking election results.

  4. Good morning, 49 and cloudy in Bellingham, but I see a sunny break in the clouds on the horizon. May that be a good omen for Election Day!

    Yesterday I cut the last of my hydrangeas and have them drying in the garage, so if the color holds I’ll have a bountiful harvest of bouquets to share! Nov is a busy birthday month for us, so today I’ll mail cards to Oregon, finish sewing my dil’s gift, and put together a happy birthday, feel better gift for our son. Hopefully staying busy will help me deal with election worries.

    Take care everyone.

  5. 49 feels like 46 with 100% humidity and at least more sunshine than yesterday. We got 2.8 KWHs and the m-t-d is 25.6 – we shall see what we shall see. I’m doing my best to avoid election news. I voted first day we were allowed. All interested folks who haven’t been “suppressed” either have voted or will vote today. People of good heart, people of bad heart – we shall see if our numbers overcome their cheating. I know what I hope. I know what I fear. Again, we shall see what we shall see. Holding everybody in my heart. Channeling Healing Energy to everybody shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  9. Good morning Meese – I slept through most of the night – to wake up and find out that Democrats had taken the house and that Antonio Delgado beat the racist barrage to win in my district.

    Still trying to take in what has happened elsewhere

    • Yay for Antonio Delgado! I saw that race called pretty late into the evening and was so happy for you – and the people of the 19th. His was one of a handful of House races I was following. I went to bed with the AP projecting that we would take the House but not the specifics on everyone who won. It was a nervous night as the early returns were from the red states and people we had a lot of hope for came up short. The IDC is finally gone so maybe New York can pass some needed election reforms. That the weather could have shut down the vote in one of our most populous states is both dangerous and embarrassing. You need early voting and same day registration – or automatic registration – for 2020.

  10. Hey everyone, Denise suggested I get on over here and say hello, so here I am! So good to see so many familiar names :O) I’m newpioneer from over at the GOS…

  11. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 34 degrees in Wisconsin with an expected daytime high of 37. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    Well, that was not a wave and but certainly not the trickle that it looked like it was going to be around 8pm. That we lost the Senate seats in some of the reddest states in the country is not surprising, that we lost the two governors races in Georgia and Florida is disheartening, to say the least. But Florida voted to re-enfranchise felons, Louisiana voted to for jury reform, we won a bunch of governors races, and WE WON THE HOUSE! One check will be placed on the excesses of single party government and blue state Republican Senators have been put on notice for 2020 “you’re next.” I went to bed at 12:30am so I am not sure of the final totals. Wisconsin appears to have elected Tony Evers as our firewall for our state legislature (and the 2021 redistricting) and our Attorney General candidate is leading. My newspaper says that Walker has not conceded but I have not checked online yet. When I went to bed it was flipping 300 votes each way every few minutes and I went to bed pretty sure we had lost. I slept fitfully then woke up to find that the AP had called it for Evers at about 1:30. I won’t rest completely until it is certified. But in the meantime, yay Tammy Baldwin!

    I am so proud of our new House majority – great candidates, inspiring candidates and some surprising winners: it was great to see a woman get up in Dave Brat’s grille – and run him out of the House of Representatives.

    See all y’all later!

    • Am elated by the wins in the house and the gov’ seats.
      And can’t wait till the new committee chairs take over :)

      • Can you say Chairman Elijah Cummings and “Subpoena Power”? I hope that the Senate losses will put an end to the distracting talk of impeachment. No one sane believed that 17 Republican Senators would have voted to remove their party’s leader under any circumstances (shooting someone on 5th Avenue, included!) but without even a majority in the Senate, it would be the biggest waste of effort ever.

        Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA will be protected for at least another 2 years and the whooshing sound you heard last night was a collective sigh of relief from the millions who rely on those programs for their survival – including me.

        It may not have been a wave but it will definitely be wind in our sails for 2020. The NYT said that Democrats outvoted Republicans by 9.2%. That is a BHD.

  12. No one I voted for won, until you get down to the super micro level – like judges. And Democrats mostly run unopposed in Travis county. So this is a really tough morning for me. Yay, the bonds won. More money for parks & libraries is a good thing, it is. And one multi-county judge race — an appeals court position — a Republican lost who I’ve hated for a long time (he ran as a Democrat for his first position & switched parties on Wednesday morning) — he lost. But I just can’t believe people voted the way they did in so many cases. It makes me sick. Playing comfort music. There’s no music in my head. But I’ll cling to Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way.

    • the Republicans no longer have a supermajority in the Texas House, so they will need at least one Democrat to do their stuff — they’ll probably find one most of the time, but it’s not nothing

      • And my young friend KT won a justice of the peace race in normally ruby red Williamson county — a young, gay, Democrat….. so maybe Williamson is moving toward red-violet?

        Dana Rohrbacher lost. So he can be a private citizen doing Russia’s bidding. Devin Nunes won, but Adam Schiff will be the committee chair, so maybe he’ll quit in a fit of pique.

      • Plus people are buzzing about the election infrastructure that Beto helped build that will be good for Democrats going forward. I would like to see him run against Cornyn in 2020 – I despise that guy.

    • Hugs another Dem. Your vote is building the Dem vote in Texas. It stings to have the candidates you vote for lose, but the changes you are voting for will eventually happen.

  13. Good morning, 40 and the sky may be clear when daylight comes. I fell asleep watching the returns last night and woke up to the news that Walker is gone! Hang on Jan :)

    I’m so relieved the House now has a Dem majority, and that the states are rebuilding Dem leadership, but I’m unsettled re the red/blue divide in our country. Seeing the map showing Maria Cantwell’s victory is alarming. Still lot’s of red in Wa. State

    Danny Westneat, at the Seattle Times……

    It turned out there were two waves, not one, and our urban-rural divide just got wider

    That “wave” that everyone was talking about? It turns out it was just as polarized and divided as everything else in politics.

    A liberal blue wave did roll in for Tuesday elections, at least in the suburbs. But a conservative red wave simultaneously coursed through the rural areas. As hard as it may be to imagine, Tuesday’s election mostly showed that our yawning urban-versus-rural divide is only getting wider.

    Wa State results……. https://projects.seattletimes.com/2018/election-results/#KeyRaces

      • I hope someone can figure it out, basket, a way that won’t make us lose our identity as Democrats. The 2020 Senate map is more favorable than the 2018 map was but if majority rural states stay permanently red, even winning all the blue state seats won’t be enough.

    • Why haven’t they called WA-08 yet? That is one a lot of people outside Washington state are interested in.

      I am sad to see that Cathy McMorris Rodgers won but I will take comfort in the fact that any leadership role she has now will be in the Republican minority. When your goal is to gain power just so that you can hurt people, I believe it is a permanent blemish on your soul. When I see women like her, it makes me wonder how they can live with themselves.

      I am still holding my breath about the Evers win and hoping it stays over 1%. Last year Walker signed into law a statute saying that you cannot request a recount if your losing margin exceeds 1%. It would not shock me if he sued to overturn his own law – he is such an ahole – but assuming it stands we are done after the voting machine canvass affirms the count.

  14. 37 with high of 74 today. Didn’t get much sleep, only finally falling asleep around 3 am, so I will have to have coffee soon.

    Read another cozy mystery book, this one set in the PNW. The first book is about a divorced woman who moves from Mercer Island to Bainbridge Island, starts a catering company, falls in love, solves a murder and gets a dog. Sounds exciting and the second book looks promising too! (I haven’t started it yet)

  15. Good morning, Meesefolk; 41 when I got up which is also going to be today’s high. The temps are taking a nosedive later in the week so we’ll be getting more seasonal November weather. But we’ll also be getting less rain, which I’m happy about; I could do with a few peeks of sunshine.

    Had to do some digging this morning to find out local election results. As expected, my odious House rep was reelected 60%-35%, but if there’s any glimmer of good news in that, it’s that he got 5% less than when he ran the first time. In a district that Cook rated as “safe R,” glimmers are about the best we can hope for. The two Dems who ran for Village trustee also lost (also expected). Their combined vote totals were about half of the combined vote totals of the Rs running, which isn’t bad considering it’s the first time I ever remember being able to vote D for a village office. Our millage increase for the fire department also passed. In fact, in this heavily red area, all the local bond or millage issues passed. I think there’s something to be learned from that, but I’m too tired to figure out what.

    My biggest heartache of the night was watching Andrew Gillum go down to defeat. He impressed me so damn much…even more than Beto…and I hope he figures out a way to keep active and run again. My heart also breaks a bit for The Kiddo and SIL in OH; while MI was reasserting some of its blueness, OH was going in the opposite direction. And I’m just flat out angry at the people in AL who voted for that abomination of a constitutional amendment. It’s a trigger law, but effectively elevating the unborn to personhood is abhorrent to me. I had five miscarriages before The Kiddo was born, and it was difficult enough without having to worry if the State would be investigating each spontaneous abortion. I’ve never been to AL, and I fully intend to keep it that way.

    So it was an up-and-down night, but I hope the biggest lesson learned is that this is only the beginning. Good day to and for all!

    • Ohio was a disappointment! We have had misfortune two election cycles in a row by having candidates who were not great running for governor there. Maybe Ohio is a red state and we should quit thinking otherwise. The pull from Kentucky is just too strong to overcome – I call it the Cincinnati factor.

      Michigan was a great success! I saw a tweet this morning that was a bit disgusted that the sadness over Beto, who was a long shot, took the attention off the good things that happened in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota – five Midwestern states going bluer. You have a better chance of recovering your blueness before we do because we have these awful gerrymandered districts. We won none of the contested seats in the legislature, or the U.S. House and lost a state Senate seat that we had won in a special during the summer. Our next redistricting map, though, has to be signed off by Evers and he will insist that it be fair.

      • Ohio is almost as badly gerrymandered at MI, so that’s part of it. But south of Columbus, it really is a red state, and the Cincinnati factor is real. I’m from a suburb of Cleveland originally, and growing up, I was always astonished to discover that southern Ohioans had an honest-to-goodness southern accent.

        I still have no idea how Props 2 and 3 passed so easily in MI, but I’m over the moon about it. Assuming our lame duck legislators don’t figure out a way to subvert the will of the people (something they’ve done time and time again), we are on a path to fairness that hasn’t been seen in MI in decades. We’ll still be a state with the metro Detroit area + the rest of the state, but I’m cautiously optimistic that independent redistricting will result in politicians who are forced to listen to the people. And I firmly believe that fair redistricting is one of the ways you overcome the rural/suburban-urban divide, so it’s good on many levels.

  16. Welp, got my state rep, state rep, and county JP. Thassit. I live in a little bitty blue dot in a bloody state. That’s not going to change any time soon. But we’ll keep trying, keep working, because it will never change if we don’t. We will keep throwing ourselves at the wall until the damn thing comes down. Heaved a large sigh of relief that we got the House back. Rejoiced with the Sharice Davids & Deb Haaland wins (among others but I was following those specifically). My Social Security is at least relatively safe for the next 2 years. The percentage of white women voting for Deplorables is very depressing. My demographic has aligned itself with the cornered rats who always turn on us when there’s nobody else handy. Sick. Sick. Sick. We the 40+% need to get better at being allies – our ultimate survival depends on supporting BIPOC. Not leading them, saving them, or otherwise putting ourselves in the limelight. Supporting them – being part of the Village it takes. Healing Energy to everybody everywhere shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  17. from a friend’s Facebook – who copied it from his friend:

    Posted by a friend in Comal County, Texas:

    Sharing from a friend’s page. We’ve got more than hope, folks; We’re Democrats and we have a Plan!

    “I’m going to be super-annoying and gloat about what we won last night, so if you’re still processing disappointment, maybe come back to this post later?

    Scott Walker is OUT as Governor of Wisconsin. The AFL-CIO issued a press release on his defeat last night, consisting of a single sentence: “Scott Walker was a national disgrace.”

    Kris Kobach, voter suppression “mastermind,” was DEFEATED for Governor of Kansas.

    Senator Dean Heller is OUT in Nevada, losing to a woman in a very good night for female candidates overall.

    In the Texas Congressional cohort: Pete Sessions, Chair of the House Rules Committee, and 21-year incumbant, is OUT. John Culberson, who had a key seat on Appropriations and was a 17-year incumbant, was taken OUT (by a woman!).

    Mark Sanford’s South Carolina seat, which Trump basically primaried him out of, has flipped blue. Other particularly noxious or entrenched Rs who were bounced: Dave Brat (VA), Claudia Tenney (NY), Coffman (CO), Curbelo (FL), Comstock (VA, finally), Donovan (NY), and Russell (OK).

    For the first time in history, two Native American women (one openly gay) will serve in Congress: Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk Nation) in KS, who beat a Rep. incumbent, and Deb Haaland (NM, Pueblo of Laguna). Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Band of Ojibwe) was elected Lt. Gov. of MN.

    7 State legislative chambers flipped blue: CO (House), MN (House), NH (House and Senate), ME (Senate), NY (Senate), WA (Senate). Oregon acheived Democratic supermajorities in its House and Senate. Dems broke supermajorities in the NC Senate and House, and the MI and PA Senates. All very important for redistricting in line with the 2020 Census.

    27-year-old Zach Wahls, who seven years ago stood before the Iowa House of Representatives and gave a moving speech about his lesbian mothers, was elected to Iowa Senate District 37 with 78% of the vote.

    In Austin, 7 ballot initiatives were passed aimed at affordable housing, libraries and museums, parks, infrastructure, and healthcare, while we voted down a Koch-brothers-funded proposition to force unnecessary budget “audits.”

    I’ve only started digging into the Texas state legislative races, but we flipped at least a dozen seats there, largely thanks to women. State Representative Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, lost to Julie Johnson, whose campaign included volunteers that Rinaldi actually called ICE on at the Texas Capitol during a pro-immigrant protest last May. Michelle Beckley beat Ron Simmons of Carrollton, who sponsored a bathroom bill in 2017. Erin Zwiener beat Republican Ken Strange. Vikki Goodwin took out Paul Workman here in Austin.

    Gisela Triana beat Mike Toth for 3rd Court of Appeals. Toth was appointed to the court by Greg Abbott; he didn’t even have the minimum number of years of experience to qualify for the position.

    All kinds of good propositions were passed. LOUISIANA will now require unanimous jury verdicts for felonies, an important shift toward fairness in a deeply racist state. Massachusetts voters upheld a state-wide trans anti-discrimination law. Oh, and Florida voted to re-enfranchise something like 1.4 million felons who served their time and met all their sentencing requirements.

    It’s OK to be tired, and disappointed! But, huge things are happening in our party and in our electorate. I’ve been pointing people to parallels with the modest Republican gains in 1978: they didn’t look like much mathematically at the time, but they heralded a new party orientation, with a national agenda, and state-level movement building. That was the start of the “Reagan Revolution.” We started our human revolution last night. Now it’s time to hold our party accountable for the leverage we’ve given them, and make our elected officials use it to utmost effect, while we continue to oppose Trump and the GOP. Now we have traction. Now we dig in. It will mean more hard work, but trust me, it will FEEL GOOD.”

    • Thanks. All those things are true. Here is more, from a pre-election post on a site I read: What if we lose tomorrow?

      What does it mean if Republicans hold on to both the House and Senate tomorrow. In a very real way, this would be a terrible result, for reasons I hardly have to state. It would lead to definitive evidence to Republicans that white supremacy is the ticket to electoral success, huge attacks on entitlements, more right-wing judges, the likely end of the Mueller investigation without a House committed to following it up, even more open voter suppression, etc. etc. […]

      It’s totally possible Republicans only lose 15 House seats while gaining 2 Senate seats and all hell breaks loose. What happens then?

      The answer is, well, we just keep doing what we are doing. We have to have a long game as well as a short game in saving this nation. Yes, the election is critical. No doubt about that. But either way, we have a lifelong fight against white supremacy and fascism ahead of us, one made far worse by right-wing media and the social networks they can use to create spurious fears among old white people. The struggle for justice is a lifetime struggle. Things could very easily get worse, if not in 2018 than in 2020 or 2022. We face a Republican Party dedicated to destroying everything decent about this nation. […]

      We would do well to remember the generational struggles of our heroes of the past. Remember that W.E.B. DuBois was born in 1868 and died in 1963. He lived 95 years and was born at the peak of Reconstruction black power and died a few days before the March on Washington. He lived his entire life in an era of incredible oppression. Yet he continued to fight. This could be our future. The only choice is to not be too jubilant or too depressed after tomorrow and keep moving forward. It’s the fight of our lives.

      It wasn’t that bad – we did get the House and a bunch of governorships. But it is now more difficult to win the Senate because we start behind by at least 2 and maybe as many as 4 seats, seats that are in states where rural voters decide the elections and decide based on their permanent state of fear of The Other. Can we reach them, do we have to wait until they die, is there any evidence that their children won’t be the same way? Lots of things to think about but the main takeaway is that we are in a long game and we can’t be discouraged by setbacks but we need to build on the electoral miracle – people coming out to vote in midterm elections! – that occurred yesterday. I hope people so enough progress to come out and vote in 2020 and 2022.

  18. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 30 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 39. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    The election is not over yet as the Florida Senate race, and maybe the governors race, will go into recount. The difference between Nelson and Scott is under the automatic recount trigger and Gillum’s campaign (last I heard) said that their race may also be close enough. Florida 2018 Recount! I hope it turns out better than the Florida 2000 recount.

    To say that there were some voting irregularities in Georgia is a huge understatement. The Secretary of State’s Office has declared the winner of the governor’s race to be – Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Stacey Abrams campaign is working towards establishing that a recount is needed and to investigate violations involving blocking access to voting. It is beyond sad that we do not have a federal justice department interested in voting rights and interested in enforcing the Voter Rights Act. There is essentially no one who is on the side of the people who voted for – and tried to vote for – Stacey Abrams. I am waiting to get an update on the situation and will donate money to her recount fund if she needs help.

    There are two news stories in Washington right now. One, a reporter who works for the cable news network that fluffed up Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign and who is a member of the White House Correspondents group that regularly laughs at and strokes the ego of the white nationalist who sits in the Oval Office, lost his press credentials. Two, the Attorney General who recused himself from an investigation of the Trump campaign because of his connection to the campaign has been fired and replaced by a person who also has connections to the Trump campaign and who has hostility towards Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Which of these stories is the Washington press focusing on? Yes, their own butthurt instead of the Constitutional crisis unfolding in the Justice Department. The lame duck Senate is harumphing about “protecting Mueller” and if they don’t they will have broken their sworn oath to protect and defend the Constitution. One last chance for the outgoing Republican Senators to show some spine? We shall see.

    Scott Walker conceded defeat (yay, I don’t have to move!) and the Republican legislature in Wisconsin looked around and realized that they had given their party’s governor a lot of power because of their belief that they would have a “permanent Republican majority” ala Karl Rove. Oops! Well actually not “oops” because that doesn’t describe the seriousness of what they are plotting – to remove any executive power that is not enshrined in the Constitution so that Governor Tony Evers’ hands are tied. I hope they rethink that and decide instead to respect the will of their own constituents who chose Evers. If they do go ahead with this North Carolina style power grab, I hope that their members pay for it at the polls in 2020. Bastids.

    See all y’all later!

  19. Thursday Meese

    35 here in Saugerties NY going up to 53.

    Waking up to news of yet another mass shooting. There are no words.

  20. Good bornig, Beese. I’b still god allergies so I just took two super-strong cold tableds.

    Also just took half-a-dozen bran muffins out of the oven. I jazzed them up a bit with chopped apple and walnuts. One must be fortified against the drive in traffic! I have to see the doctor for my six-month Lasik checkup this morning.

    Well, it was hardly surprising about little Jeffy, was it? The Evil Elf on the Shelf is gone, to replaced by someone equally bad—although some lawyer cat on Fox reputedly said it’s against the law to put that particular guy in Sessions’ place. As for Jim Acosta—no, it’s not nice to be banned, but perhaps CNN will get a taste of how the rest of us have felt for two years. There’s yet another loving examination of a Thing voter in the WaPo Metro section this morning. I won’t waste my time reading it.

    The article princesspat shared about playing the long game is absolutely right. I was outraged when Rahm Emmanuel abandoned Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy in 2008 just because he didn’t like Dean.That was a BIG mistake! I yanked my monthly donation to DNC in double-quick time when Dean left.

    Still elated that Virginia flipped three House seats and that two of the unseated were particularly obnoxious males!

    Currently it’s 50 F. in Ashburn, going up to 55 F. We need a hard frost and we may get it this weekend. I’ve got to visit the battery store to save my dying wireless keyboard and pick up Miss Pink Cheeks from the new school she started yesterday. A woman in the school office where Miss PC was waiting told me that her new teacher was absolutely delighted with Miss PC! That’s nice to know.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and a large, stroke-inducing cheeseburger with double bacon to the Thing in the Casa Blanca.

    • The election news out of Virginia was excellent! I have no doubt that your 2019 legislative races will sweep in blue majorities.

      The Vacancies Act was supposed to establish a list of previously confirmed individuals who would step in if a vacancy occurred. The Whitaker guy is NOT on that list, actually DAG Rosenstein should be the Acting AG. The list is established to make sure that people who are put in charge have been confirmed by the Senate at some point, even if not for that post. I don’t think Whitaker had been as his previous post was chief of staff to Sessions – you don’t confirm chiefs of staff for cabinet members. I will be watching this closely. I was telling someone that I hope Mueller does not get fired because I committed to take to the streets and it is REALLY COLD OUTSIDE! :)

      • Doesn’t the Vacancies Act have a provision that if you’re a GS-15 or higher, an acting appointment is allowable? I need to go dig it up, but I seem to recall their was a provision about that somewhere. A chief of staff to the AG would easily meet that qualification; there’s no way he wasn’t at least a GS-15. I’ll see what I can find, but I’m skeptical when I read all the comments on Twitter that this appointment is not constitutional. Who they name as the permanent AG is likely to be either Whitaker or Whitaker-like and will probably sail through a Senate confirmation, because the Rs have shown that the rule of law is meaningless to them.

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