November 6, 2018

I was the 700-and-somethingst voter at my polling place, just before noon.

I walked right up to the A-L table, and no one was in front of me or behind me. We were in and out of there in no time.

It wasn't raining then, but it had been raining earlier. Rain averse people might be shying away. Who knows?

I was surprised to see there was a referendum on legalizing marijuana, so I just voted yes. I used to be against it, but I changed my mind for 2 reasons: 1. We're past the tipping point where too much is partly legal, and I don't like the confusion, and 2. I decided back in 2015 (after reading something about Henrik Ibsen) that that "substance-boosted disinhibition is important" because "freedom and democracy depend on our disinhibition; we need to be able to laugh at authority."

I'm not revealing any of the rest of my voting. It's too boring.

IN THE COMMENTS: Meade offers what I take to be a poem and will reformat:
Because his name rhymes with “Golden Retrievers”
I would liked to have voted for Tony Evers
But for a number of other reasons I just couldn’t do it (including the fact
that instead of his political role model being Tommy Thompson,
Wisconsin’s former governor, it’s that son of a bitch Lyndon Johnson)

103 comments:

gilbar said...

iowa attorney general Tom Miller, was running unopposed; so i wrote in my stoner friend Ben. It will be A Laugh Riot if he wins!

Sydney said...

I'm very much against the legalization of marijuana. The stuff they sell now is ten times the strength of what it was in the 1980's. It does affect the hippocampus - that place of memory - in people under the age of 25.
Out state had a referendum on it a few years ago and it was voted down. But that didn't stop the politicians from legalizing it. They just passed a law on their own to legalize medical marijuana. They did it to avoid another ballot initiative in the fear that it would turn out more liberal voters. At least that's the rumor I heard.

DrSquid said...

So, regarding turnout, does ~700th voter seem high? Low? How many are eligible to vote in that precinct? I would think that is indicative of pretty strong turnout.

Ann Althouse said...

"So, regarding turnout, does ~700th voter seem high? Low?"

I don't know but the place was weirdly empty at lunchtime.

Danno said...

I voted mid-morning up here in St. Paul in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood and it was not busy at that time. And I'm not saying who I voted for, but (a hint) it was straight red all the way down.

Browndog said...

'I don't like confusion so I voted for people to get stoned" seems....odd.

Nonapod said...

we need to be able to laugh at authority

To be fair, you don't need weed to laugh at authority. I just generally prefer not having the government dictate what substances I'm allowed to imbibe (other than in situations where other peoples lives are dependent on my functionality such as driving, flying a plan, perfroming neural surgery ect.).

Sydney said...

We had some important issues on the ballot, and the governor race. The issues included term limits for our city officials and an amendment to the state constitution to require the state to pay for drug rehab for drug offenders rather than putting them in jail. Not sure why that has to be an amendment. Seems like it would be better as a law than an amendment to our state constitution.

Achilles said...

I'm not revealing any of the rest of my voting. It's too boring.

Of course not.

We can no longer discuss rationally who we voted for.

Democrats have made it too dangerous to say who you voted for.

Nobody wants it this way.

Bay Area Guy said...

I vaguely recall that in 2016 a lotta commentators were really, really interested in how Althouse voted, yet she steadfastly refused to disclose.

I, for one, don't want to know how Althouse voted. She is a national treasure, regardless of how she votes.

MadisonMan said...

I'm voting on the walk home from work. I'm a little bummed because I figure the Bake Sale will be over and done by then.

Everyone in my neighborhood seems to have voted early, it seems.

Browndog said...

Here's how it went in my rural area of Michigan-voting at the township hall this morning-

Go in, they have a table set up with a woman that asks if you need a sample ballot. They have several on a table. If no, go to the main desk; fill out a little 3X5 and shoe ID. Woman checks paper voter rolls, gives you a number (to wait for a voting booth to open)

Sit for a bit with 20 or so, waiting for you number to be called. When called, you go back up to the table, give them your ID, they swipe it into a computer, then hand you your ballot, and go vote.

I was shocked at how many people were voting, and so were the poll workers. They were running out of chairs.

Rob said...

I checked carefully, and contrary to what I've been reading, Trump was not on the ballot. Fake news.

Michael The Magnificent said...

I voted in Grafton, which is in Ozaukee County, one of the three most reliably red counties in all of Wisconsin (DJT 57%, HRC 38%).

It was just after 1PM when I picked up my ballot, and I asked how turnout was. They told me my ward had already passed 60% of registered voters (I was #590-something). So I asked if that was good. They replied that we hit 50% in the 2016 fall election.

Take your anti-depressants, lefties, you're in for a shellacking.

Chuck said...

I think I have been to your polling place, Althouse; is it the Blessed Sacrament precinct? The time I was there, for another Walker election (in a by-year), it was also nearly empty.

Isn't the reason for your nearly-empty polling place the fact that Wisconsin has no-reason absentee voting, and so your neighborhood (filled with a combination of very stable home-owning upper-class professionals who would mostly elect the absentee option, and some students who probably don't vote in any event) would not need to go to a polling place on election day?

Achilles said...

Yeah, attorneys attempting math is like watching the apes attack the monolith with bones.

Saw this over at powerline where one of the commenter's was critiquing Mirengoff's "analysis."

Just for fun people.

Achilles said...

Bay Area Guy said...
I vaguely recall that in 2016 a lotta commentators were really, really interested in how Althouse voted, yet she steadfastly refused to disclose.

I, for one, don't want to know how Althouse voted. She is a national treasure, regardless of how she votes.


Anyone who is publicly known should say how they voted.

They are too likely to have some shithead antifa thug "Get up in their face."

steve uhr said...

Re state judges, in MN our choice is to vote for an incumbent or for a write-in. Not an up-down vote. Just an up vote or no vote at all (or write-in which is pretty meaningless).

Wilbur said...

When I used to vote in person, I'd line up in the appropriate line to get my name checked off on the voter role. There were six lines, and mine was always "manned" by a sweet, doddering old lady. I'd get up there, tell her my name, show her my DL and then she'd start flipping pages to find my name. I'd look at the book upside down and could tell she was not on the right page. When she'd finally get to the right page, I'd quickly find my name - again, reading it upside down - and would as gently as possible point it out to her. If I hadn't I might still be there.

Now we vote by mail with free postage, and I can fill out the seemingly endless Florida ballot for my wife and I at my leisure.

Yes, I fill it out for her. She was far more interested in voting for Bolsonaro in Brazil.

Wilbur said...

Make that voter "roll".

Molly said...

(eaglebeak)

Voted at 11:30 a.m. at my polling place in Northern Virginia; I was the 902nd person to vote there. Place wasn't crowded, but there was a steady stream of mostly older retired types, the young presumably being at work. Or not voting.

The big issue here is whether GOP Congresswoman Barbara Comstock will get reelected in the 10th CD. Fairfax and Arlington have been blue for a long time, but Loudoun County (western NoVa) used to be red; now, with more and more Federal workers out here, it's gradually turning blue.

In 2016 Comstock managed to get reelected while the 10th CD also went for Hillary. This time, it's an uphill climb for her (Comstock--everything's an uphill climb for Hillary).

Corey Stewart is the GOP Senate candidate against Tim Kaine. Tim Kaine is dreadful, but Corey Stewart is a little weird himself In 2016 he was Trump's Virginia Campaign Manager, but Trump fired him when Stewart decided to devote his time to organizing against the RNC.

tim in vermont said...

No line, early voting looked swamped to me driving by.

tim in vermont said...

A painter working at my house explained that he was a Republican, but we had to vote for the socialist so we didn't change the nature of our state.

Original Mike said...

I just got back and my polling place was virtually empty. My guess is my uniformly liberal Madison neighbors couldn’t wait to ‘resist’ and did so first thing in the morning.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Mad Man said:
"I'm a little bummed because I figure the Bake Sale will be over and done by then."

Hmm- could this be a coded commentary on the pot initiative?

Antiantifa said...

Quite a day for you. Notable and Quotable in today's Wall Street Journal and quite possibly the swing vote to legalize weed in the afternoon. Nice.

Lucien said...

The best reason to vote for legalization of any drug is that it’s not the state’s business to say what citizens put in their bodies. Second best reason is to get rid of civil forfeiture, black uniformed thugs kicking in doors to shoot your dogs, and the rest of the war on drugs apparatus.

Tank said...

Voted two weeks ago on a Thursday AM. It was busy.

n.n said...

Puff is on the ballot in Utah, too. A little silent lucidity to take the edge of a progressively dense population.

tim maguire said...

Voted by mail because my last US residence is a 10-hour drive from where I live now.

I support legalized marijuana because it's none of the state's business what I choose to smoke. And only the limited business of local government where I choose to smoke it.

James K said...

Complete chaos in NYC: scanning machines breaking down, waiting times measured in hours. At my polling place four out five machines were down. Trump's fault, of course. Or maybe Russians.

Meade said...

Because his name rhymes with “Golden Retrievers” I would liked to have voted for Tony Evers.
But for a number of other reasons I just couldn’t do it (including the fact that instead of his political role model being Tommy Thompson, Wisconsin’s former governor, it’s that son of a bitch Lyndon Johnson.)

Original Mike said...

”I'm very much against the legalization of marijuana. The stuff they sell now is ten times the strength of what it was in the 1980's.”

Have to say, I simply don’t understand this argument. I also don’t believe it, but assuming it’s true why would we assume the same amount is being consumed? Is it logical to assume that people are 10 times more stoned now?

Tank said...

Voter ID was on the ballot in NC.

gilbar said...

steve uhr said...
Re state judges, in MN our choice is to vote for an incumbent or for a write-in. Not an up-down vote. Just an up vote or no vote at all (or write-in which is pretty meaningless).

yet Another reason for me to look down my iowa snout at Minn. Here in iowa, voting NO for 18 different Judges is the most funnest part of voting. And, Sometimes, it works!

Original Mike said...

BTW, I voted for legalization too. I am generally against prohibition.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I support legal marijuana because it's legal here in CO - and that sad fact inspired all sorts of east and left coast leftists to move here and they all smoke pot and vote D.

Can't fight it - best to spread the misery around to all states. plus that freedom junk.

Birkel said...

Careful, Althouse.
Meade is worked up by that lying son of a bitch, Johnson.
(Movie reference)

Bay Area Guy said...

I voted for John Cox for Governor of California. He's a good guy -- the Republican that will lose to pretty boy, Gavin Newsome. When asked why, I say, "Because California needs much more Cox in the State Government."

Kelly said...

I went in at noon and waited in line for 15 minutes. They said it was a zoo in the morning. I voted yes on the balanced budget ammendment for my state.

Dave Begley said...

Very heavy turnout in Omaha. I voted at 10:15 and was #250. I usually vote at the end of the day and I'm about 150. And early voting was strong in NE too.

Dave Begley said...

The only Dem I voted for was County Attorney and that is because the GOP didn't put up a candidate for the job.

After the Kavanaugh hearing, I will NEVER for a Dem in any contested race.

gilbar said...

Lucien said...
The best reason to vote for legalization of any drug is that it’s not the state’s business to say what citizens put in their bodies.

So, you support the legalization of Meth? Crack? Heroin? Fentanyl? Tobacco?
Do people under 21 have bodies?
Do people under 18 have bodies?
Do people under 12 have bodies?
I mean, if it's not the state's business; it's not the state's business

Robert Cook said...

A better reason to legalize marijuana: there's no valid reason why it should ever have been made illegal less than 100 years ago, (particularly as compared with legal but much more dangerous, even deadly substances such as alcohol and tobacco).

Original Mike said...

”Quite a day for you. Notable and Quotable in today's Wall Street Journal ...”

Whoa! I missed that. If you want a copy, Althouse, you can have mine.

I’ve been going through 6 weeks of unread WSJs the last couple of days (I was on vacation). It’s going pretty fast because I can skip all the election articles.

robother said...

You mean that "lying son of a bitch Johnson"? I'd be careful around Mead today, Ann. You don't wanna be cruising for a bruising.

Phil 314 said...

I voted by mail a couple of weeks ago here in Az. I did run by our polling place early this morning and saw a full parking lot and a line out the door. However, my wife, who likes the "experience" of voting in person, went to the same polling site just before 8 am Arizona time. She was in and out in no time.

I believe about 40% of Arizonans vote by mail.

Ryan said...

Althouse when it becomes legal you should smoke a joint and live blog what you have been holding back.

Virgil Hilts said...

I have mixed feelings about legalizing (generally pro). But once you legalize you run into a bunch of legal issues. Drug free-work place? What if your employee has prescription to use pot? What if your contracts prohibit you from using any employees who test positive for drugs?What if your employee claims you cannot discriminate against her for having a pot prescription. Can people prohibit medical use of weed in smoke free work/at restaurant/in public places? Can you carry it in your luggage? In AZ, pot was legalized for some uses but our out of date DUI statutes provided that any level of THC in blood means you are considered intoxicated (no 0.08 floor as with alcohol). THC can stay in your blood for days (maybe weeks) after you smoke a joint, so anyone who takes medical pot faced potential DUI charges if ever pulled over. That issue went all the way to the AZ supreme court. It's a mess.

Original Mike said...

“Re state judges, in MN our choice is to vote for an incumbent or for a write-in. Not an up-down vote. Just an up vote or no vote at all (or write-in which is pretty meaningless).”

Bunch of democrats running unopposed in Madison. I just don’t vote for those offices. Why encourage them?

Browndog said...

Robert Cook said...

A better reason to legalize marijuana: there's no valid reason why it should ever have been made illegal less than 100 years ago, (particularly as compared with legal but much more dangerous, even deadly substances such as alcohol and tobacco).


Now do cocaine. Then opium. Then morphine.

Robert Cook said...

"Complete chaos in NYC: scanning machines breaking down, waiting times measured in hours. At my polling place four out five machines were down. Trump's fault, of course. Or maybe Russians."

I was in and out of my NYC polling place in about 10 minutes about 6:40 this morning.

Ann Althouse said...

I know it's a reference to Forrest Gump.

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

Voted around 1pm in Lakeville, MN - Precinct 2... There a couple of tables set up with probably about 10 volunteers... Walked up, gave them my name / address and had a ballot within about a minute... went over to one of the stand-up privacy tables, filled out my ballot and put it in the machine... I think I was something like voter #809... very smooth and stress-free experience, compared to the chaos I'm reading about in some of the other states like AZ and NJ... Now here's hoping that my vote is actually counted correctly...

Bruce Hayden said...

“I'm very much against the legalization of marijuana. The stuff they sell now is ten times the strength of what it was in the 1980's. It does affect the hippocampus - that place of memory - in people under the age of 25.”

I am glad then that I never smoked that much pot, even in college. My partner is on me bad enough about my memory as it is. Though some of that could be hearing, which really does appear to be an issue for me, plus, unfortunately, I may have some additional selective deafness where she is involved. 20 years together this coming August, and that is one of the unfortunate (for me) ramifications.

Starting smoking too young seems, for many, to have other consequences. One seems to be to overly sensitize long term pot users, presumably to compensate for the desensitization effect of pot. Which eans that a lot of long term pot users seem to be overly sensitive to everyday sounds and smells, making some of them effectively unemployable. It also seems to emphasize their every day aches and pains - which is why many of them seem to find it almost trivial to get pot prescriptions.

Still, I voted for full legalization when it was on the ballot several years ago in Colorado. It was my libertarian side speaking out. I really don’t see it being my problem if some people ruin their lives with pot. I have known far more who were able to put it aside when they left college or grad school and joined the real world.

rehajm said...

Lovely poem by Meade. Clearly a graduate of the Jeffrey Ross school of poetry...

Enough with the Bread Already

Your smile blooms like a bright Summer flower
Your hair flows down like a soft rain shower
Your eyes are like open seas blue from coast to coast
So how come your ass look like a truck?
Enough with the bread already


-Jeffrey Ross' Dad

Jim at said...

The only Dem I voted for was County Attorney and that is because the GOP didn't put up a candidate for the job.

To each his own, but I rarely - if ever - vote for someone running unopposed. I leave it blank. And I most certainly do that if it's a D.

Lucid-Ideas said...

I was against legalization until my brother, a serious and chronic alcoholic, wound up exchanging his addiction for alcohol to one for marijuana (he had never been a smoker before that time).

It's sad to me that he can't lead an addiction-free lifestyle, but vs. alcohol the substitution, in my opinion, saved his life. My family and myself are entirely convinced he'd have been dead 5 years now otherwise.

Seeing his struggle truthfully changed my entire perspective on addiction quite frankly. I've come to believe - similar to many conclusions about prohibition - that the juice of total abstinence and enforcement of addiction-free lifestyles isn't worth the squeeze placed on addicts and non-addicts to make it happen.

All addictions reduce quality of life, but there is a hierarchy of reduction in my opinion, and in within my own family I would rather have a loved one lower down on that spectrum of addiction than higher.

Pot saved his life. Never thought those words would escape my lips 10 years ago.

Browndog said...

I voted for a democrat today. County road commissioner. Roads are in great shape, take care of roadkill promptly, but was more impressive was literally minutes after a tornado hit, they had a crew out clearing the roads. He came up through the ranks, and has been commissioner for 20 years.

His opponent is a younger woman with no experience whatsoever in this field. Probably trying to get elected on the (R) behind her name. It's insulting.

Achilles said...

gilbar said...
Lucien said...
The best reason to vote for legalization of any drug is that it’s not the state’s business to say what citizens put in their bodies.

So, you support the legalization of Meth? Crack? Heroin? Fentanyl? Tobacco?
Do people under 21 have bodies?
Do people under 18 have bodies?
Do people under 12 have bodies?
I mean, if it's not the state's business; it's not the state's business


What is your goal?

Do you think giving the state the power to put you in jail and take your stuff without due process is reducing the demand or availability of these substances?

It sure is making them lucrative businesses for criminals though.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Wife and I went to the friendly local firehouse where our polling place is. Folks there told us it has been busy all day; we were not the only ones there at 3:30 PM. We voted to fire the corrupt lefty sh!tstain toad Menendez, and against a kitchen-sink bond issue for half a billion which is the last thing this nearly bankrupt tax hell of a state needs. We live south of Trenton, not in the NYC suburb that is the northern part. Regrettably, we are outnumbered, but at least not unarmed.

WK said...

Sydney. Sounds like you are in Ohio. I voted against the constitutional amendment for drug rehab as I agree it should be legislation and not an amendment. Both the gambling and marijuana legalizations were a mess as constitutional amendments. On principle I vote against the amendments if I feel they should not be amendments. Voted early last week. Not pleased with some of the choices republicans put up. But held my nose again.

JAORE said...

Bake sale?

They hand out cupcakes, sammiches, candy, cookies and punch here in Alabama.

Bring the kids? Hell yaz. It's a party.

Blue wave? Don't know about that, but we have a Crimson Tide here in Alabama.

Robert Cook said...

"'A better reason to legalize marijuana: there's no valid reason why it should ever have been made illegal less than 100 years ago, (particularly as compared with legal but much more dangerous, even deadly substances such as alcohol and tobacco).'

"Now do cocaine. Then opium. Then morphine."


Those should probably be made legal as well, or, at minimum, decriminalized. Better and cheaper to spend tax dollars on treatment solutions than prisons. Portugal decriminalized all drugs years ago and have seen positive outcomes.

Browndog said...

Medical marijuana is a far cry from habitual, elective use.

I watched a good friend die from chemo because he couldn't eat. His loving, stoner daughter waiting until he was near death to offer up some of her stash. It worked--he got his appetite, was able to eat, and hold down solid food.

This is what made me a strong advocate for proper usage of marijuana.

More stoned millenials, smoking in public, creating more stupid Americans with no ambition other that getting to Taco Bell before they close? Not Making America Great--In my humble opinion.

Robert Cook said...

I should add I've never smoked pot, except for a handful of failed attempts that resulted only in my coughing and hacking terribly after one or two puffs, with no compensating pleasant effects.

Bay Area Guy said...

Regardless of the legalization question, You ever see what happens to potheads when they get old?

My uncle was a bona fide hippie from the 60s, all those protests, communes, burning draft cards, drinking Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill wine and smoking tons of pot.

He's 72 now, and, boy, is his mind fried. He looks like a zombie, and moves slow as molasses. Maybe, it's early onset of Alzheimers. Science: Filbey et al, "Long Term Effects of Marijuana Use on the Brain", PNAS, 111 (47) 16913-16918 (2014)

Dust Bunny Queen said...

OUR VOTING EXPERIENCE

My husband and I voted this morning about 9:30. We go to the American Legion Hall because it is the largest public type building in the town area.

We know everyone there and they know us: the people who are voting and the poll workers. They all say Hi! and then automatically flip to the page where our names are listed....because they know us, know our names and the road on which we live. We sign our names. One of the poll workers was the wife of a client that we put in a new pump in their 240 ft well and new bladder tanks a few weeks ago. She said that her water pressure was great now!

There are 4 booths to mark the ballots and a machine that scans/reads the ballots. We don't get any print out or confirmation of how the machine read our ballots, so I am still skeptical that the machine isn't cheating.

However, this is California so, really, our votes, as Republicans, mean less than a bucket of warm spit in the Statewide races. But...we vote anyway when we have a choice. When.

The Senate seat was between Diane Feinstein and some other even more radical Democrat. So I didn't vote. We don't get a write in option, otherwise I would have voted for Zaphod Beeblebrox. The jungle primary meant that several of the offices are just Democrats. Who cares then? Really. Why bother voting for those offices.

I was voter #51 and he was #52. There are maybe 500 voters in this polling area total. Everyone was making jokes. Talking about all sorts of things. Admiring the wheels on one guy's new truck. Deciding on if they wanted to catch a late breakfast at the local restaurant. Wondering if we are ever going to get a burn day to take care of the leaves and orchard trimming that have been accumulating. You know. The really important stuff.

:-D

HT said...

"I'm not revealing any of the rest of my voting. It's too boring."

And the marijuana explication was thoroughly SCINTILLATING.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I use zero mind-altering substances and I laugh my ass off at authority. FYI

I am reluctantly for legalization, but you are kidding yourself if you think marijuana makes people somehow sharper and more observant and intelligently critical. Do you know any stoners? It makes people, by and large, stupid, bored, boring, and paranoid. Fat, too.

MayBee said...

I went in to vote. Gave my id. They scanned it. I had already voted apparently. I told them my son had been in earlier did they sign him in under my name? Yes they did. They had to do something to back his ballot out and reassign it to me and then give me the voter number that had been assigned to him to match my new ballot. It all took about a half an hour and everyone in the line that grew behind me gave me the stink eye like I was doing something stupid to make them wait.

I'm glad I knew my son had already voted. I'm glad it was my son, and not just someone with the same last name who I wouldn't know. I'm glad they were able to reassign me a ballot, but at the same time a little unnerved that someone with a laptop can just change ballot assignments around.

gahrie said...

Have to say, I simply don’t understand this argument. I also don’t believe it,

Trust me, it's true. Most of today's commercial pot comes from professional growers using the strongest strains available. It's not street weed from someone's back yard.

but assuming it’s true why would we assume the same amount is being consumed?

I would bet that the easy availability has driven consumption up.

Is it logical to assume that people are 10 times more stoned now?

People are getting more stoned, and staying stoned longer than before.

Bruce Hayden said...

Voted absentee in MT. No real excitement. Voted, of course, against Jon Tester. Lying POS. About the only vote I was excited about was voting to retain the guy as Justice of the Peace who taught a defensive shooting class back in a September. Ended up talking to him about guns a couple days later, for better than a half hour, in his office in the courthouse. He shares the courtroom with the district court judge, and they had a week long civil trial going on that week against Christian Scientists (they lost, to a tune of maybe $3.5 million - think that it might have involved some child or sexual abuse). No courtroom meant nothing to do, so we just talked guns. He’s a serious Glock fanboy, and the fact that I was the only one to bring a Glock to the class seemed to be very much a plus for me. Before that he was the detective for the sheriff’s dept, and before that a game warden, where he had to shoot (usually, but not always, with a dart gun) 300 bears in one year. Colorful guy.

Much more exciting here in AZ. Talked to one fraternity brother today, who told me that another fraternity brother had voted a straight Dem ticket for the first time in his life. Even the odious Sinema over his fellow pilot McSally. Back in college, he was maybe the only other Republican in the house (most were non political at that age). We’re scheduled to get together in a month, and I will push for clarification. Maybe it was the daily far left posts on FB by his first wife (who is one big reason I don’t say anything political on FB). The one initiative I hope fails is the one designed to give us CA level electricity prices by imposing brain dead policies such as subsidizing solar and wind power.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

BTW:

Our polling place is for the whole town and some of the outlying area within a few miles surrounding. 300 people live IN the town. Needless to say. No lines.

Hagar said...

Marijuana is not "partly legal." Supremacy clause and all that.

Fritz said...

We voted after coming back from DC on the commuter bus after a meeting with our financial/retirement adviser. The good news is I can afford to continue to waste as much time as I want fishing, walking the dog on the beach and surfing the internet.

In the middle of the rainy day, our subrural polling place was active, but not to the point of having significant lines. We were in and out in 15 minutes.

Marcus said...

Original Mike said...
”I'm very much against the legalization of marijuana. The stuff they sell now is ten times the strength of what it was in the 1980's.”

Have to say, I simply don’t understand this argument. I also don’t believe it, but assuming it’s true why would we assume the same amount is being consumed? Is it logical to assume that people are 10 times more stoned now?

Yes, it is logical. Back then, you smoked a joint. Now, you smoke a joint. Today, you are much more f*cked up. People don't take two to three hits and stop smoking because they are stoned "enough"

As to the smoking pot after giving up booze, in AA we call that the "Marijuana Maintenance Program". It rarely works because 1. You go to AA to stop drinking but wind up living a different kind of life due to the 12 Steps. 2. Pot leaves you mentally impaired where you might decide to have a drink. 3. You are still imbibing a mood-altering substance. So you are not "living life on life's own terms." But, Live and Let Live. If it works for you, fine. I don't sponsor people who smoke pot.

THEOLDMAN

Bruce Hayden said...

Oh, I forgot. One of the nice things about voting in a small town in MT is the personal attention. I had forgotten to tell the clerk’s office to forward our ballots to AZ. So, they came back to the Clerk, and they called us to see why. Apparently the USPS doesn’t forward ballots, and that was the problem. They fixed our records to automatically send ballots permanently to our AZ address. We got it a couple days later I the mail, and was back to them with probably better than a week to spare.

James K said...

I was in and out of my NYC polling place in about 10 minutes about 6:40 this morning.

So I can conclude that some machines worked for at least an hour. Here are some reports of breakdowns on Twitter.

Original Mike said...

@gahrie - My comment comes from the fact that I’ve smoked pot (in modest amounts) for 50 years (wow, that sounds like a long time). I just don’t buy that today’s pot is 10x stronger than yesteryear’s.

Original Mike said...

Blogger MayBee said...”I went in to vote. Gave my id. They scanned it. I had already voted apparently. I told them my son had been in earlier did they sign him in under my name? Yes they did.”

If I hadn’t been paying attention and signed where the poll worker pointed, I would have signed in for someone else. They also didn’t check my ID until I asked them about it.

Original Mike said...

”People don't take two to three hits and stop smoking because they are stoned "enough"”

Ya they do. I do.

Bay Area Guy said...

@DBQ,

"The Senate seat was between Diane Feinstein and some other even more radical Democrat. So I didn't vote."

I faced that same dilemma. Feinstein lost her marbles at the Kavanaugh hearing, and orchestrated a drive-by slander of a good man.

But her opponent, DeLeon is a bona fide Socialist.

I ended voting for Feinstein. I figured she lost the Kavanaugh fight, and under no circumstances could I vote for a socialist, so Difi got the reluctant nod.

I just hope we get more Cox in the Statehouse.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Marijuana is not "partly legal." Supremacy clause and all that.”

Note that you cannot legally purchase firearms if you smoke pot (or use any other drugs illegal at the federal level). Had to certify several times in the last year that I don’t, on the forms I had to fill out to make purchases. A prescription for pot doesn’t help - at the federal level illegal is illegal. And maybe it’s a good thing. I had visions just now imagining a pothead drawing a gun in slow motion, but more realistically, it does make some people, and esp some long term users, a bit paranoid. And, with the sensory problems that some potheads have, I am not sure that we can trust the to shoot straight.

tim in vermont said...

I voted no on making greyhound racing illegal. I figured that it's old Florida and why should I vote toward making greyhounds extinct.

Bruce Hayden said...

“As to the smoking pot after giving up booze, in AA we call that the "Marijuana Maintenance Program". It rarely works...”

Reminds me of my first pledge son in college. He was a budding pothead, so decided to get off it. He tried drinking instead. Within a week he was up to a fifth of hard liquor a day. Went back to pot. Didn’t help - he didn’t come back what would have been his sophomore year. Which was too bad, because he was the best poker player in the entire school.

AllenS said...

Original Mike @ 3:59 PM, is telling it like it is. Legalizing pot, when it is so more stronger will ruin untold youth. Trust me, I used to me a heavy pot smoker. Best thing that I did after quitting smoking tobacco, was to quit smoking the pot.

tim in vermont said...

" Do you know any stoners? It makes people, by and large, stupid, bored, boring, and paranoid. Fat, too."

It does make them think they are more intelligent.

Mr. D said...

I'll be voting after work. I don't anticipate it will be too busy, because all we heard for weeks was "vote early." I think a lot of people did just that.

Jim at said...

My comment comes from the fact that I’ve smoked pot (in modest amounts) for 50 years (wow, that sounds like a long time). I just don’t buy that today’s pot is 10x stronger than yesteryear’s. - OM

I've been a modest user for 35 years (helps with my thyroid, weirdly enough) and the stuff I can purchase at the store (Washington state) is not only much, much more specialized than the stuff I smoked back in college, it's more potent.

Now, it may be that I'm older and my tolerance has taken a hit (hah!) over the years, but in talking with long-time friends? We may partake about as often as we used to, but we don't nearly smoke the same amount because of the increased potency.

HT said...

I think and have heard that pot is bred for a higher and higher THC content, I don’t doubt that. I don’t smoke it anymore, and here on the streets of DC when I smell it, it doesn’t bring back fond memories because the smell is so different, now it just STANKS.

I've never been for the legalization of it, and find pot activists to be the ones who are boring.

~ Gordon Pasha said...

Marijuana is the gateway drug to loosing your right to bear firearms.

https://multiplesclerosisnewstoday.com/2018/07/13/ms-patients-beware-medical-cannabis-marijuana-gun-license/

Browndog said...

The THC content is not just higher from what we used to smoke 30 years, but it's off the charts-

Look at any bud you see on-line at these dispensaries. Tight balls, and you can actually see the crystals from a distance.

I haven't even smelled weed in 30 years, but if I recall, and I do, it's one of my favorite scents. What it does to my brain--not a fan.

HT said...

"I haven't even smelled weed in 30 years, "

my recommendation, in that case, is don't smell it ever again. It is NOT GOOD.

Fernandinande said...

laugh at authority

Good idea.

In any case, "authority" should be taken as a suggestion, rather than an inviolable law.

Fernandinande said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fernandinande said...

Tight balls, and you can actually see the crystals from a distance.

90+% THC crystal extract, dude. Pot is so old school.

Fernandinande said...

"If I could reach the remote, I wouldn't be worthless any more." -- "overheard" just now.

Heartless Aztec said...

Lyndon got me laid back in the day. In a round about way. I've always had a special place in my heart for the old Texas bastard.

roesch/voltaire said...

My Madison polling place was busy and I even saw a number of millennials going to vote, but of course we are fortune not to have missing power cords or changes in location at the last minute as they do in Georgia. And obviously I did not vote for Walker the big money stalker who just might have over spent the Wisconsin coffer.

exhelodrvr1 said...

How did Meade signal the selections to you?

MadisonMan said...

I voted on the way home from work, number 600something? Low 700s? I don't really remember. Chatted with the poll workers about work being done on various houses in the neighborhood. We agreed about a monstrosity built just up the hill from the Polling place. Who would want to live next to that?

D 2 said...

King Justin the Uhhhhh, Son of King Pierre the Sexy Beast, campaigned on it up here in Can and it's been legal for about three weeks.

I have a standing bet down at the illegal gambling den (casinos are widely available up here too by the way, but the tension there is just not the same) that we won't have to wait for King Trudeau the Third to see a politico muse openly about legalizing prostitution.

Think of the health care savings, they will say. Meanwhile, the accountants in the back room will project the tax revenues. Governments got to feed the machine. Property & income only got them so far. If it moves, tax it.