Afternoon Open Thread
🚨Urgent Message!🚨
I received an SOS from the boss:
“Toss up some I’m sorry Spectrum and AT&T Suck post”
Wth, Spectrum and AT&T? Today of all days? Are you nuts?!
Please donate your prays, wishes, luck, whatever you can throw out into the cosmos that it comes back by tonight so she can join in for whatever the hell happens tonight.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Okay, I am going to try to throw something up that won’t suck like Spectrum and AT&T, no promises, but I do promise it will get us through this afternoon until Beth’s Notes. We got this, peeps! 😆
2026 Midterm D-Day!
Operation Vote Like Trump is on the ballot and kick his baboon's ass to the curb.
The NeverEnding Story of their Ratfkery Accompanied with their Dose of Not Today, Satan! updates:
If you're in Dallas and you witness a federal election monitor, contact me on Signal at stevanzetti.12 I would like to monitor the monitors
— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) November 3, 2026
Just in: Chief Judge Boasberg flat rejects DOJ's attempt to argue plaintiffs violated order in public handling of list of alleged 20,000 "noncitizens." "No violation of the Court's Order occurred here." Trujillo/Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights v DHS https://t.co/aqjOqo5Uon
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) November 3, 2026
For a few hours DOJ won a case in the 9th Circuit. Then the full court vacated it. https://t.co/3O58J1ai8m
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) November 3, 2026
Snip [emphasis mine]:
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals canceled a prior order that briefly permitted the Trump administration to threaten to prosecute state and local election officials who do not follow the department’s directives for handling ballots.
The legal whiplash on the eve of Election Day concerns the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) extraordinary letters to state and local election officials demanding they set aside thousands of ballots or risk criminal penalties before and after Tuesday’s midterm election.
First, a three-judge panel of the appeals court voted 2-1 to pause a lower-court ruling finding that the DOJ’s threats against election officials likely violated federal law outlawing voter intimidation and amounted to interference “with the lawful administration of elections.”
Circuit Judges Carlos Bea and Consuelo Callahanon, both nominated by former President George W. Bush, claimed that U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson encroached “core Executive functions” to initiate investigations into suspected violations of that law.“
The government’s injury — being barred from requesting that the states segregate ballots from suspected noncitizens — cannot be undone after the fact,” Bea wrote for the majority.
In a dissenting opinion, Circuit Judge Mary Murguia, nominated by former President Barack Obama, warned that the panel’s ruling could not be reconciled with a 9th Circuit ruling last week holding that the DOJ has no authority to pressure state election officials not to count ballots from around 21,000 voters it alleges are noncitizens.
Just hours later, a majority of all 9th Circuit appellate judges voted to vacate the panel’s ruling and consider the DOJ’s bid to stay Thompson’s order.
Democracy Docket - By Jacob Knutson - November 3, 2026
BREAKING: Late last night, a district court judge ordered the Trump administration to immediately stop sending lists of “likely noncitizen voters” to states and county election administrators, which have been accompanied by calls to investigate the voters. https://t.co/zQYemjxJ89
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) November 3, 2026
The Trump admin has demanded states investigate these voters, segregate their ballots or even refuse to tabulate their ballots until determining citizenship status. This illegal overstep is causing fear and confusion among voters. But the court has stopped it in its tracks.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) November 3, 2026
@LULAC @EPICprivacy @DemocracyFwd Read our full statement on this huge victory for voters here: https://t.co/JTHRDqkrWW
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) November 3, 2026
Okay, that is enough of that. Geezem, it really is their NeverEnding Story of Ratfkery.
I will leave you with my version of Tiff Talk for the day:
'Be careful. When a democracy is sick, fascism comes to its bedside, but it is not to inquire about its health.' ~ Not necessarily a direct quote, more a paraphrase capturing the essence of his anti-fascist stance French philosopher/author Albert Camus.
"There's an unequal amount of good and bad in most things. The trick is to figure out the ratio and act accordingly." ~ Jester
The fact that there's a highway to hell and only a stairway to heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers. ~ Anonymous
Treat life like it is a jar of jalapeno peppers ... what you do today might burn your ass tomorrow. ~ Me.
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This is an Open Thread