Vote. Get your ballot postmarked or dropped off by Tuesday. Volunteer.

The country is in trouble, and it will be after the election. There is no magic trick to fix it. But Democrats in Congress is a step forward. It means checks on executive power. It means we can push for more universal health care. It means we can push environmental legislation. You can help.

I am rereading Don Quixote for the first time in decades. I’m not very far into it this time, but the good stuff is as good as I remember. The windmills hold up. The book burning is great: I had forgotten that it has a discussion of an earlier Cervantes book. So good!

But Christ on the Cross, the stuff that roots it in its time is not good in ways that I had forgotten about! A long digression about how you can’t trust Arabs, yikes. I remember some of these things, but it’s worse than I remember.

Nobody murder anyone. Not at Shabbat. No pipe bombs. Don’t shoot anyone in a Kroger parking lot. Just don’t. Just because the President said something. Or you’re scared of people who aren’t white Christians.

So, black face. I don’t really care about Megyn Kelly. She and her millions of dollars will be fine. But her cruelty was toxic. Ratings were down. It works on Fox News. It works for segments of the Internet. But for a network morning show, it turned more people away than it brought in.

And then she was cool with black face. Don’t ever do that, obviously. But especially don’t if you’re on thin ice.

Been a busy morning, so I haven’t had a chance to write anything.

My goodness, this is a new form of voter suppression to me. It’s kind of nice to see the Republicans give up on trying to push a conservative agenda. But seriously, fuck them.

It isn’t cute. It is a crude attempt to hold on to power by muddying the waters. Shame on anyone associated with it.

Also, too! That’s not how a write in candidacy works. You have to register to be a write in candidate. And you would see a lot more information than one random flier from a group you’re never heard of before.

Washington State people! Your ballot has dropped! Postage is free. All the drop box locations are here! You have the power to put a real check on Trump, and help keep the progress going at the state level. There are also initiatives.

Men, and not a few women, knew about the accusations against Joe Fain when they gave him a standing ovation. Some of them were Democrats. Just like they knew when they confirmed Kavanaugh, or stuck with Ed Murray long past the point where they should have cut him off.

A few open threads ago, I mentioned several places in Washington where you can donate or volunteer. I mentioned the state Democratic Party, but here is a better link. There are only a few weeks left, and you can still make the difference.

Pfffffffffffff. Man, this year, huh? I don’t know.

Yesterday night, One Bus Away, as is sometimes its wont, lied to me. So I left Drinking Liberally and instead of waiting for a couple minutes, I waited for the better part of a half hour. It wasn’t rainy or cold.

So the first few minutes are saying that the bus was coming. Then that it had arrived, but, obviously, I hadn’t seen it. Then by the time I was sure it wasn’t coming, it said that the next bus was 10 minutes away (turned out to be a bit longer). So, is it rude to go back in the bar after saying your goodbyes, and then leave again in 5 minutes?

I should also say that One Bus Away is basically magic, but I only write about it when it doesn’t work as well as I would like.

With the Kavanaugh horror, I can understand anyone’s frustration. But if you want to vent that frustration, there are some great Federal campaigns here in Washington that could use your time or money. Maria Cantwell, Lisa Brown,Carolyn Long, and Kim Schrier are all much better than the people they’re running against. They could use you making calls, doing data entry, walking a neighborhood, standing on the corner waving signs, or whatever your talents are. If you want to get involved with the local party, the WA Democrats can help. If you want to work with an organization that has been organizing against Kavanaugh, let me recommend Washing NARAL. Finally, if you aren’t in Washington, or just need help figuring out a specific plan, I would recommend Crushthemidterms.org.

I said this after the Montana special election, but it bears repeating. Republicans don’t support people in spite of crimes. They support them in part because of their criminality. They supported Trump more after grab them by the pussy. They rallied around Kavanaugh because there were multiple sexual assaults.

There is a criminal class in America. We let them get away with sexual assault, with punching reporters, with financial crimes. Even many people who wouldn’t get away with those things, who in many cases are its victims, still support letting a criminal class exist. Just as many poor people consider themselves temporarily embarrassed millionaires, so to do people complaining about lying bitches want their own chance to rape women without consequences.

Congratulations to Amazon workers on your future raises. I still think that Amazon half owned by the workers and half owned by Prime members makes more sense than owned by shareholders. But still, it is undeniably good. For the workers. For the locations where people got more spending money. Ultimately for the company itself.

Finally, the permadrizzle returns to Western Washington. The leaves are changing, but it’s still nice out. The best time of the year.