November 5, 2018

At the Midterm Eve Cafe...

... you can talk all night.

84 comments:

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Wisdom for tomorrow from America's greatest movie

Ken B said...

Peace and prosperity. Gotta hate it.

LYNNDH said...

Why talk, just drink.

Bay Area Guy said...

Post your predictions! We gotta find out who the political poseurs are!

Oso Negro said...

Just another 36 hours and we will be on to a fresh horror

FIDO said...

God. I wish I could drink tomorrow. But I am on medicine that precludes that.

If ever I need a drink...actually, no. This one isn't as worrying as 2016. Talk about an election where the Right wanted to slit it's wrists.

If the Left feels for Trump the way the Right feels about Lady McBeth, I get your grief but deplore your lack of professionalism and CIVILITY.

I bit my tongue for Obama, even if he was the lousiest Manchurian Candidate of a President since FDR was hiring commies.

Everyone tomorrow is likely legally elected. Certainly the Republicans and probably most of the Democrats (as long as we don't have any more trunks and closets full of ballots)

Bay Area Guy said...

Via Instapundit - Redskin tailgaters don't want to change the name to the Washington Elizabeth Warrens.

David Begley said...

GOP holds the House. Massive win in the Senate. James wins MI. Hugin wins NJ. Scott wins FL. Deb Fisher beats my Creighton classmate by 30 points.

News readers on CNN and MSNBC breakdown on air. Justice Brett Kavanaugh has dunked all over the Dems.

The Republic is saved.

Tank said...

Rush is having a great time at Trump’s rally.

Wince said...

Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities
Surprise decision is driven by the need to recruit enough tech talent and to support Amazon’s growth.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

gilbar said...

In The Olden Days, did anyone actually believe any words said by democrats or the media?

Politico just posted "late polls pointing to Democratic momentum in key battlegrounds."
Since earlier 'polls' pointed to Demos winning AT LEAST 68 seats in the Senate, and OVER 3,000 in the House.... What IS this momentum?

Here's my prediction:
What EVER happens, Politico will say that
A) It is a STUNNING DEFEAT FOR TRUMP
B) Demos will resolve TO DO BETTER NEXT TIME

YoungHegelian said...

Read this article from Powerline on the antisemitic vandal at the synagogue in NYC.

Ya see all those messages from NY politicos & lefty activists? They're all lies & nonsense, & they all knew they were writing lies & nonsense when they wrote them.

You know how I know? Because security cameras have over the years moved into the world of IT guys, because security cameras are now networked devices that continuously write to a computer hard drive instead of tape. And do you know what everyone does when they're burgled or vandalized or whatnot? They fast forward through the security video first thing. First thing. Before the police get there. Even before the scope of damage gets assessed. The curiosity just eats you up -- "Who did this to us?!".

So, the rabbi & no doubt some other lead congregants knew the perp was black. They no doubt showed the image to the police when they arrived, so the police knew the perp was black. Now, they didn't know he was gay, a Democratic volunteer, & fostered by a Jewish family, for sure. But they knew it wasn't some white, Neo-Nazi skinhead who had vandalized the synagogue.

Of course, this was not a useful turn of events for the War on Trump, so they all ignored this fact & plowed ahead just to add one lie to the narrative.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Huh. I thought Goldberg had been walking it back a bit in recent months, but:

After mulling it over for a bit, I feel like I should offer an addendum to my addendum to David’s essay. I agree with David that the claim that Trump skeptical Republicans must vote for Democrats who reject conservative values and principles just to send a message to Trump is not very persuasive.

But I also think that voters are free to vote — or not vote — for whatever strategic reasons they find sound. For instance, if I were voting someplace where my vote mattered, I’d be extremely inclined to vote for a Republican senator — even one I didn’t like — but I might be inclined to leave the House race blank or even write-in someone else.

That’s because, as a conservative, I want to see the Senate confirm more judges and justices. But I care far less about the House. Not much of consequence is going to become law no matter what happens tomorrow (for reasons Ramesh lays out here). Both parties are lying about the monumental policy stakes in the House election.

Meanwhile, there are good arguments from a right-of-center perspective — both pro-Trump and anti — for the GOP to lose the House.

The good argument is simple. The GOP-controlled Congress has completely abdicated vast swathes of its oversight responsibilities. Yes, Democrats would be over-zealous in their partisan desire to investigate the White House. But Republicans have been under-zealous on this front and conservatives can reach different conclusions about how to vote in response. Personally, I think a little over-zealousness from the legislative branch in this regard could be a useful corrective.


They have lost their freakin' minds over there!

Sad

To coin a phrase.

YoungHegelian said...

@EDH,

Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities
Surprise decision is driven by the need to recruit enough tech talent and to support Amazon’s growth.


Nonsense. They're trying to double what they can scam out of state & local governments to bribe them to move to their jurisdiction.

gilbar said...

From Politico
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson led Republican Gov. Rick Scott in two surveys out Monday, a sign that the critical battleground race is breaking their way in the final days. In Missouri, an NBC News poll showed Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill slightly ahead of Republican Josh Hawley

Democrats would need both those polls to be correct — especially in Missouri, where Hawley led by a similar margin in several other recent public polls and to have similar momentum in a handful of other tossup races, to have any shot at winning the Senate majority Tuesday night.


SO... *IF* the demos can Hang On to two of THEIR Seats, which polls show they 'MIGHT'...
THEY WILL WIN A SENATE MAJORITY!!!!!

Lucid-Ideas said...

Does anyone actually think that whatever happens tomorrow will result in a way back to the way things used to be?

Anyone? Bueller?

Sprezzatura said...

"They're trying to double what they can scam out of state & local governments to bribe them to move to their jurisdiction."

That's absurdly reductionist.

I know you can think of other reasonable reason re this sorta thinkin'.

IMHO.

My name goes here. said...

There are 70,000 people watching the Trump rally. Live.

There are thousands there in person, but there are 70,000 watching on line.

The republicans might lose the house. They might lose the Senate. But it is hard to say that Trump does not have a following.

tim maguire said...

I doubt there will be many big surprises. Republicans pick up 2 or 3 in the Senate. Democrats take the House, but with too narrow a majority to accomplish any of the crazy stuff. The base is very upset at the failure of impeachment.

Drago said...

Unknown: "They have lost their freakin' minds over there!"

The National Review/Weekly Standard cucks are being funded directly by big time lefty billionaires and millionaires to advance the lefty position.

Jonah is being coy about it (in an attempt to maintain a shred of "TruCon" "muh principles" dignity).

But, like LLR NPChuck here, they are all in for the dems across the board.

When they claim to be supporting "other" "select" republicans or judges, like Jonah does in his article, they are.....wait for it........wait for it......lying.

They all want the dems to win across the board.

They aren't fooling anyone anymore.

Howard said...

Shorter Mngh: You love Trump... you really, really love Trump

Narayanan said...

They're trying to double what they can scam
Reminds me of the insurance claim case after 9/11.

Owner lessor Wanted to claim separate insured events for each of plane strikes.

Disallowed by court

Sprezzatura said...

MyNgoH:

Isn't the exhalation of and constant jabber re crowd size an especially DJT era thing-y?

Anywho re that sorta thing the wisdom of the gals w/ P hats should be our North star:

"The comparable full-day figures from Metro, as reported by the Washington Post, showed 570,557 trips taken from 4 a.m. Friday until midnight. Full-day numbers for the past two inaugurations were also higher: 782,000 for 2013 and 1.1 million for 2009, the busiest day in Metro’s history.

The Women’s March on Washington held on Saturday, Jan. 21 was the second-busiest day in Metro’s history, the Post‘s Dr. Gridlock transportation reporter also wrote. Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld told the Post that 1,001,613 trips were taken Saturday."

https://www.factcheck.org/2017/01/the-facts-on-crowd-size/

Of course, a protest of one would be fine w/ me:

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2018/10/06/emily-ratajowski-told-to-put-on-bra-protesting-kavanaugh/

Sprezzatura said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YpuRIgt6gc

"Let's have a toast for the douche bags
Let's have a toast for the assholes
Let's have a toast for the scumbags
Every one of them that I know
Let's have a toast for the jerk off"

Birkel said...

Crowd size is a Trump-era phenomenon?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/25/barack-obama-draws-crowd-of-tens-of-thousands-in-berlin

Reconsider?

BudBrown said...

Gillum and Nelson win Florida. And it wont be close.

Birkel said...

Look everybody, Bud Brown is here!
Early voting numbers be damned!

Sprezzatura said...

Birk,

When I typed that comment re the numbers I was thinking of the Berlin stat.

But that was a situation where a pol was too popular. Especially considering that the fans were not Americans (mostly).


Anywho, even if it's a bad thing for foreigners to like our POTUSs, I guess German and noble Scandinavian props are better than Russian meddling.

But diff strokes fer diff folks.

Birkel said...

I have pictures of the Germans.
Do you have any proof of this Russian nonsense claim?

Sprezzatura said...

Birk,

Can you take a screen shot?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/07/16/us/elections/russian-interference-statements-comments.html

TwoAndAHalfCents said...

I've been amazed this year at the number of generic 'go vote' signs. I really don't remember seeing so many non-partisan signs in the past. Has anyone else seen this phenomenon in their cities?

Birkel said...

So the word of John Brennan? That old commie? Remind me again why the guy who started the ops against Papadopulos to get an illegal FISA warrant should be trusted, please. Or was that one of the stories leaked by McCabe as part of the insurance policy? Or was that Comey's leak? Which lying liar am I supposed to trust, again?

I have as much evidence as all that for the Tooth Fairy.

Birkel said...

2.5¢
When they have all that money from billionaires to spend, Democrats put up pretend non-partisan signs.
Sensible because they believe turnout helps Democrats.

Sprezzatura said...

"Which lying liar am I supposed to trust, again?"

The biggest liar, who racks up the most lies/day seems like the one that you trust.

Logic.

William said...

I have examined many of the polls and read the analyses of them. It is my prediction that Hillary will not be President after the voting ends tomorrow.......They say the sporadic payouts when playing the slots enhances the addictive quality of the activity. They're geared to pay out just enough to keep you playing, but they're also geared to occasionally give someone a big win to keep you hooked on the fantasy.........Trump and his supporters won bigly. Whatever happens tomorrow, we're playing with the house's money.

Sprezzatura said...

"Whatever happens tomorrow, we're playing with the house's money."

Technically the almost trillion dollar annual budget deficit will be repaid, w/ interest.

Yes, the House did redistribute money (and interest) from future Americans to the contemporary job creators in a time of strong growth (i.e. even Keynes wouldn't favor taking out a new mortgage re the nation's future).

It's not the House's money. Borrowed.

eddie willers said...

Post your predictions! We gotta find out who the political poseurs are!

Republicans hold house and pick up three in the Senate.

William said...

Deficit financing is like playing too much golf. It's only bad when the other guy does it........Clinton's balanced budgets were the result of radically decreased defense spending. Radically decreased defense spending was the result of the demise of the Soviet Union. Hence Clinton's budget surplus was the result of Reagan's irresponsible spending on the lunatic Star Wars program.

Francisco D said...

Does anyone know about Michael K.?

We were about to arrange lunch, but he seems to have dropped off the face of the Earth.

traditionalguy said...

Wise man Rush told the audience that the Media did not really hate Trump. They hated the audience for electing Trump. Selah

eric said...

Somehow, Althouse is no longer working on my cell phone. I just get, "This site cannot be reached."

It's the only website not working on my cellphone and I don't know why!

Sprezzatura said...

Frank D,

First, I'm sure the doc is fine and enjoying some non-tubes activity. Don't worry.

After that, what does it mean to be "about to arrange lunch?"

Usually folks just plan to have lunch.

Or, frequently, they say 'let's plan to have lunch.'

You do know what that second scenario means? That's the most cliche brushoff eva! How do you not know that.

narciso said...

No, Franklin Raines cooked the books remember him, and he slashed defense and intelligence because that's what Democrats do, the GOP had to build up fron a trough.

narciso said...

He was phone banking for lea Petersen if memory serves.

walter said...

He appears to be posting at chicagoboyz.net

narciso said...

Brennan seems to have presided over two compromised networks, one in China and one in Iran, they didn't seem to have much of one i. Russia otherwise they wouldn't have needed the Steele dossier.

narciso said...

He seems to be a character out of safehouse or Bourne ultimatum, but its left unclear why he had the whistleblowers under surveillance unless he didn't want competition

wildswan said...

I can't work out what will happen. There's local issues that are impinging on different races, that's why. And there's cheating, aso impinging. I'm not screaming and hating and saying ugly things and I won't but despite all my efforts I've reached maximum stress because I can't work out what I think will happen. There's Highest Level of stress where I recurrently struggle against starting in and drinking till I fall to the ground and wake up when it's over. But there's a level beyond that which has only happened once or twice in my life where I imagine going inside one of those store windows with mannequins and joining them. I'm just standing there wearing very fashionable clothes with an unreal room in the background. My arm is extended, I have no eyes and my face is blank. Peace at last. Vote any way you like.

Sprezzatura said...

"I can't work out what will happen."

OK, WildS is not the trinity, or even a third of it.

That narrows down the commenters re this blog re who knows the future, aka which commenter is the big guy (or gal, or sis, or whatev) upstairs. The creator.

Sprezzatura said...

BTW, everybody knows what the 6 ta da 9 is.

But, I feel like there's a (mildly) contortionist way to have fun w/ 49, too.

Anywho, I've got work to do. I can't wait for 69.

F me.

Sprezzatura said...

I'm talkin' straight stuff.

Not that there's anything wrong w/ the other.

narciso said...

Like Andrew McCarthy in mannequin, well everyone deals with stress in their own way.

Sprezzatura said...

Straight and square (as you golden years folks say).

No butt. Except salad stuff.

Sprezzatura said...

BTW,

If there are folks w/ a few bucks 'round here, please consider a Numi from Kohler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8jCP_-oBgQ

It seems expensive, but you use it a lot. Daily+.

And what else are ya gonna buy some more options on a car. Who cares about that? There's no impactful functionality. Unlike re Numi.

Smearing shit about yer skin is gross.

Anywho, that salad tossing stuff got me off topic.

Saint Croix said...

Oh wow, 2 cafe posts in the same day!

Shit's getting real.

Cafe post overflow. Got to start up a new cafe post, on the same damn day, to hold all the overflow. It's like we got too many Althouse hillbilly refugees, climbing the walls over at the other cafe post, trying to get in. Trying to say something! And there's too many, we got to open up another cafe post. Calm down, everyone! Calm down! I know Google's all frantic right now. But I can tell you, in my state, North Carolina, neither of our Senators are up for election and my damn pro-choice Congressperson is a rather unhappy lock for the other side. I mean, I'm voting, because I want to be heard. Also I gave her a copy of my pro-life book. Which, as far as I can tell, did not change her mind.

If I ever meet a man named Jerry Mander I just might punch him in the face. And he's going to be like, "Why did you punch me in the face?" And I'm going to be like, "Your parents think they are funny but they can suck it!"

Yancey Ward said...

I don't believe the polls are consistent with one another, thus I think the predictions of Democrats winning the House and the Republicans holding the Senate are going to go bust in a big way- thus my prediction is a sweep- a big sweep- for one of the two parties. Either the Senate polls of the last month are badly wrong and the Democrats hold all their present seats except for ND, and take AZ, NV, and TN, and win 50-60 House seats; or the House polls are wrong that the Republican net 12 or fewer losses in the House and add 3-5 seats in the Senate.

No split decisions is my major prediction.

Uncle Max said...

GOP holds the House with some shocking flips. GOP adds to majority in Senate = 57. Book it! It will take until Thursday for many Democrat precincts to decide they can't find enough boxes of votes in a van to overcome the tight races.

Saint Croix said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Saint Croix said...

I've been amazed this year at the number of generic 'go vote' signs. I really don't remember seeing so many non-partisan signs in the past. Has anyone else seen this phenomenon in their cities?

Yeah, definitely, a giant billboard.

MTV used to do it, too. Rock the Vote.

Google's doing it now.

I think the theory is that low-information voters are more likely to go Democrat? Maybe? It's a soft sell. There are probably numbers that show low voter turnouts favor Republicans and high voter turnouts favor Democrats.

rhhardin said...

SNL outrage, Pete Davidson sayng Dan Cranshaw looked like a hitman in a porn movie, added "I'm sorry he lost his eye in war or whatever."

The latter was already the apology - "with all due resepct to how he lost his eye and his position." It wasn't part of the joke but a commentary on the relation to jokes to life.

Demanding he apologize in addition is just bad reading.

viator said...

Amazon HQ2 is now reputedly going to Long Island City, NY. Yesterday it was Crystal City, Virginia. Amazon picks a new location daily. Soon your town or city will be chosen. It's going to be great.

Christopher said...

As for predictions I'm just going with the standard:

-Dems take the House with a small majority of about ten-fifteen
-Reps hold the Senate and gain a seat


Matt Sablan said...

Lines are longer than usual. Not sure if that means getting here a few minutes later than usual is a big deal or not or if turn out will be higher than usual.

The Crack Emcee said...

I Don’t Care Who Wins (They Suck)

Everybody does.

stevew said...

The headlines have already been written, obits for Republicans, accolades for Democrats. The actual outcome doesn't matter. It's the narrative, stupid.

Etienne said...

At 22 trillion debt, the only ones who are winning are the bankers, getting 3.6% of the economy off the top, tax free.

Don't vote for an incumbent. The definition of insane is doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to change.

No one in Congress over 50!

Even Trump says the economy is great, but not 1 cent has gone to pay the debt. Meanwhile Congress is giving away land to farmers that were assets.

Give away the assets and borrow/print more money, is this something insane?

Film at 11...

Karen of Texas said...

@TCE ... Spot on. Excellent.

mockturtle said...

I Don’t Care Who Wins (They Suck)

Everybody does.


Nihilists suck. They all do.

Wince said...

YoungHegelian said...
@EDH,
Nonsense. They're trying to double what they can scam out of state & local governments to bribe them to move to their jurisdiction.

Notice I added the Dickensian quote after the news headline.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Dems win 35-40 and take house. Reps increase hold on senate by 1-2. Under this scenario, economic miracle continues and Trump dramatically increases chances for reelection.

If Dems win both, market selloff continues, turning into bear market, GDP starts to contract, turning into full recession by 2020. 2% GDP growth will once again be a dream. If you work in public sector, no worries, you'll be in good shape. If you work in private sector, you'll be fucked.

Karen of Texas said...

Idk, mockturtle. I didn't take that as nihilistic. I took it as being real. I myself prefer cynical, but hey, I'm Beto watching out here in red Texas.

Jersey Fled said...

I predict that we won't know who took the house until January.

Jaq said...

No one in Congress over 50!

Yeah, nobody who has seen any history to speak of!

Jaq said...

I remember when they mocked Bod Dole's arm, the wound he got fighting actual Nazis.

Bad Lieutenant said...


anti-de Sitter space said...
I'm talkin' straight stuff.

Not that there's anything wrong w/ the other.

11/6/18, 12:01 AM


Between you stealing Guildofcannonballs' act, and beating on the word I taught you, "jabber," like a rented mule,

1) how could you possibly be rich, you haven't got an original thought in your head,

and 2) once you paid us for the intellectual property comprising the entirety of your shtick, you wouldn't be rich anymore.

I'm easy, pay me a buck every time you use "jabber" and we're quits, but you must owe Goc meelions.

BTW if you wish by your example to make lefties look like hammered shit, good job, keep it up. If you wish to make the wealthy look bad, you're doing it wrong.

Bad Lieutenant said...


Blogger viator said...
Amazon HQ2 is now reputedly going to Long Island City, NY. Yesterday it was Crystal City, Virginia. Amazon picks a new location daily. Soon your town or city will be chosen. It's going to be great.

11/6/18, 4:29 AM

Latest news this morning is they will split out HQ2 between the two. Time to freshen up the resume...

mockturtle said...

Idk, mockturtle. I didn't take that as nihilistic. I took it as being real. I myself prefer cynical, but hey, I'm Beto watching out here in red Texas.

Karen, to me, "Everybody sucks" sounds nihilistic. The projection of a depressed and self-loathing individual.

William said...

I predict that the predictions will be wrong except for the ones that aren't........I used to think that there was nothing to that nihilism philosophy, but there's more to it than that. "Nothing willl come of nothing," says King Lear. Right on. Cordelia's pure love, Goneril's adulterous glances, Lear's mad rage, Edmund's clever plans. In the end, they're all hanged, stabbed, poisoned, dead. The survivors are maimed and/or embittered. Poor, forked man. Not a lot of happy endings.

Karen of Texas said...

Well, mock, if Crack had said "and then dies", maybe.

Let's suppose that half the people think candidate A sucks; and the other half think that candidate B sucks. Further, the people who vote for A think the people who vote for B suck; and the people who vote for B think the people who vote for A suck.

Doesn't everybody then suck?🤷‍♀

stevew said...

Regardless of who wins whatever public office they seek I predict not much will change for me in my personal and professional life. This is in spite of the OUTRAGE of the DAY bleating from the "elites" i.e.; political and journalism folk.

The Crack Emcee said...

mockturtle said...

"Karen, to me, "Everybody sucks" sounds nihilistic. The projection of a depressed and self-loathing individual."

And, to me, always saying everything's fine bookends the American delusion that results in a "World Series" only we participate in - it's just a culture built on lies.

I put it next to "there are no victims" in the canon of deceptions conservatives insist upon and maliciously force on others.

The fact there's been no penalty for lying, since the advent of the NewAge, is a real detriment to this country.

mockturtle said...

Crack, come to Yuma and I'll take you out to dinner. Really. I can't believe you're as bad as you sound. :-)

stephen cooper said...

William, tonight I was reading a description of some French Christian novels, in which the worst people are the most interesting because - for the something less than genius novelist, who still is an interesting novelist ---- it is there, in those of us who are the worst, who have suffered the most from bad education and lack of true good-hearted love - it is there where God battles the most for our souls, which, after all, are all souls that he has created.

I am in some ways the least liberal person in the world - I have seen, multiple times, evil people look me in the eye when they knew I saw they were being evil, or at least bragging about having been evil, and who were challenging me to recognize it and accept it - but I always refused to accept their challenge, I looked at them with prayer in my heart, not with horror at their debased souls, not with disgust, but with prayer....
I am not a "classical liberal," I would like to see thousands of rapists and murderers hanged, as quickly as possible ---
but I want all evildoers to be told

before they die, that

they need to repent

mockturtle said...

Stephen, I agree. After we have 'shuffled of this mortal coil' it's too late. And the consequences are eternal.