Voter suppression through fires in ballot boxes

I finished the book The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst. The story is narrated by Will Beckwith, gay grandson of Lord Denis Beckwith. Will went to boarding school and college and, now in his mid twenties, lives in a flat in London paid by his grandfather. He doesn’t have or need a job, though seems busy doing not much. Will frequently goes to the Corinthian Club, the “Corry,” which is all male and seems all gay male. He does some of his exercising in the weight room and mostly in the pool. The showers afterward seem to be a place for the men to display their assets and Will sometimes leaves the Corry with someone to have sex with. And there is a lot of sex in the story. For much of the tale Will’s favorite lover is Phil, though the relationship is far from monogamous. Will is friends with James and they feel their friendship is better without sex. While the book was published in 1988 there is no sign of AIDS. Will becomes friends with Lord Charles Nantwich, well into his 80s. Charles, also gay, believes he has led an interesting life and wants Will to turn it into a book – it’s not like Will has anything more important to do. Will is doubtful, but begins to read Charles’ diaries. So in addition to Will talking about gay life in London in the 1970s-80s we also get Charles discussing gay life in the 1920s-50s. That includes Charles working as a British government official in Sudan. In that Charles expresses his admiration for the black male. Charles also endures police entrapment. The title wasn’t explained until about the middle of the book. At Will’s boarding school the boys were put in charge of various parts of the campus – the dining hall, the chapel, etc. The job title was “Librarian” no matter the place. Will was given the job of librarian of the swimming pool and it seemed to be a place for teenage skinny-dipping. And his father joked that if the swimming pool has a librarian there must be a swimming pool library. As for what I think of the book – I finished it. With so much sex that didn’t involve love I did think of giving up. But I persisted. Hollinghurst is a good writer, but Will doesn’t have a lot of personal growth over the story. Emily Singer of Daily Kos reported the nasty guy’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio sent a memo saying the nasty guy is “on the verge” of victory. He did not provide his own numbers. Instead, he used RealClearPolitics numbers that include data from Republican junk pollsters. Yeah, professional polls show the race is tight. But if Fabrizio had numbers showing a nasty guy victory he would release them. Instead, his work seems like an effort to stroke a massive ego.

However, the chest-thumping by Trump’s campaign and other Trump allies could also be more sinister. The overconfidence could make Trump’s most fervent supporters believe victory is inevitable. And if Harris wins and overperforms polling averages, it could lead those supporters to believe the election was rigged and make them cause the same kind of chaos we witnessed after the 2020 election.

That could prompt a repeat of the slog through the courts and the Capitol attack. A comedian hired by the nasty guy campaign called Puerto Rico garbage. Biden called the comedian garbage, but stuttered in such a way that some people accused him of calling all MAGA people garbage. The nasty guy showed up at a rally in a garbage truck dressed as a trash collector. Kos of Kos reported that many of the nasty guy’s supporters are now wearing garbage bags, some with “Trump Trash” printed on them.

In this wacked-out election cycle, that gaffe was at best a 24-hour brouhaha. But because MAGA minions are nothing if not weird, they have decided that leaning in and calling each other garbage, dressing as garbage, and spending time around garbage somehow … makes them look good? It’s all so freakin’ bizarre. ... MAGA will never let Trump look stupid all by himself. So they sprung into action, making sure they would all look stupid in solidarity. ... One side knows how to close strong. The other side is closing with: “We are garbage”—and helpfully providing visuals to drive the message home.

Singer mentioned some of the conservative talking heads who are upset that women would vote differently than how their husbands told them to vote. But new polling from YouGov found that a significant number of women voters have voted

differently than their partner without telling them. The poll found that 12% of women said they voted for a political candidate without telling their partner. A similar 9% of men reported doing the same.

Many people are voting for the nasty guy and saying it is because inflation was so much lower under him than under Biden. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported billionaire Mark Cuban was on NewsNation's preelection town hall Wednesday to explain why Harris is the better economic choice. As part of that Cuban talked about the root of inflation. In April 2020, when the nasty guy was in the Oval Office the average price of gas was $1.87. American oil companies said to him the price is too low, we can’t make money. So the nasty guy talked to Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Putin of Russia, asking them to cut production, which would drive up prices. And that was the start of inflation. Inflation and gas prices started to come down when the nasty guy’s deal ended in June of 2022. The nasty guy has been campaigning that he’ll bring down gas prices. Don’t believe him. A week ago, after the nasty guy did a photo op in a grocery store saying he would lower prices, Kos asked what do people think the nasty guy would do about it? Yes, there have been lots of memes about exceptionally high prices. They are exaggerated. Also yeah, since Biden became president prices have gone up. When the nasty guy is asked about details he talked about restricting food import, which would raise prices and lead to retaliatory tariffs, which would also raise prices. And, really, would he do anything to stand in the way of someone’s profit, especially if it is at the cost of the working class? I took my ballot to my city hall this afternoon. The parking lot has many cars of those doing early voting. Shortly after I slipped my ballot in the box a woman came out to empty the box and take the ballots inside. Which means I won’t be faced with this problem: Last Monday Morgan Stephens of Kos reported that quite early that morning a ballot box in Portland, Oregon and a short time later another in nearby Vancouver, Washington were set on fire. A fire suppressant in the Portland box meant only three ballots were burned. The fire in the Vancouver box destroyed “hundreds” of ballots. Elections personnel in both places contacted voters to say if you had placed a ballot in the box between the time of the last pickup and the time of the fire, please ask for a replacement. A suspect vehicle has been identified and the investigation continues. This type of incident extends beyond the damage. It threatens voter confidence and participation already under strain from MAGA disinformation. Yesterday Stephens discussed a CNN report that MAGA supporters are planning a sequel to the Capitol attack. The talk is on the usual far right social media sites. As for the last attack, the nasty guy isn’t condemning it. Instead, he is calling it a day of love. That’s while election workers are saying they are scared. Jen Sorenson posted a cartoon on Kos, titled The Last Firewall. The cartoon lists various people and groups that failed us – Republican leaders, corporation, federal judges (as in Aileen Cannon), the Supreme Court (presidential immunity), social media companies, and legacy newspapers. It’s up to us now, through the voting box. Singer reported:

The co-chair of Donald Trump's would-be transition team said that if the former president is given a second term in office, his administration will work to pull vaccines off the market.

That may include putting Robert Kennedy Jr in charge of the country’s public health agencies. His goal will be to interpret the data to show vaccines are unsafe, though they very much are. The goal seems to be to make diseases great again.