Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. Department of Justice photograph of seized materials, reportedly partially redacted, via the Washington Post, August 31, 2022,[1] public domain.
Colorado’s 3rd District is red and, thanks to redistricting, has gotten redder since the last time [Lauren] Boebert ran — it has a FiveThirtyEight partisan lean1 of R+19. As an incumbent Republican in a midterm cycle that looked like it would favor the GOP, Boebert was expected to easily win: Our forecast gave Boebert a 97-in-100 chance of winning. As of 5 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Boebert had a slim, 1,122-vote lead over Democrat and former Aspen City Council Member Adam Frisch. But even if she prevails, it’ll be a photo finish in a race that was absolutely not expected to be close. So what the heck happened? While Republicans overall performed poorer than expected this midterm cycle, certain things about this race made it particularly susceptible to a potential upset — and help explain why Boebert wasn’t popping Champagne on election night.[2]
I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s surprised. But what emerges here is that white Christian nationalists face a similar dilemma to progressives. In my analysis of the need to break up the United States, I’ve noted a difficulty that breaking up the country would not only be the world’s messiest divorce but that it is nearly impossible to draw nice neat geographic lines between white Christian nationalist areas and even the rest of the country.[3] It turns out this is a problem in the reverse direction as well. Sure, Lauren Boebert’s district is redder than red, but it includes pockets of blue, and even some Republicans are turned off by Boebert’s antics.[4] So now there’ll likely be a recount, which would have to “be completed no later than 35 days after the election, which is Dec. 13.”[5]
Amy Gardner, Reis Thebault, and Robert Klemko, “Election deniers lose races for key state offices in every 2020 battleground,” Washington Post, November 13, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2022/11/13/election-deniers-defeated-state-races/
Richard M. Nixon [Justin Sherin], “The Field Takes Shape,&rdqo; Patreon, November 13, 2022, https://www.patreon.com/posts/field-takes-74601639
Nicholas Riccardi and Ken Ritter, “Cortez Masto wins in Nevada, giving Democrats Senate control,” Associated Press, November 13, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/nevada-senate-race-live-updates-c8edd4399c9766e1a184a24928fc7edf
Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Investigators see ego, not money, as Trump’s motive on classified papers,” Washington Post, November 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/14/trump-motive-mar-a-lago-documents/
Isaac Arnsdorf, “Trump, who as president fomented an insurrection, says he is running again,” Washington Post, November 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/15/trump-2024-announcement-running-president/
Jonathan J. Cooper, “Hobbs wins Arizona governor’s race, flipping state for Dems,” Associated Press, November 15, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-arizona-donald-trump-phoenix-doug-ducey-ceadb2bf55f1d5ec4760f423f1af0204
Hannah Knowles, Marianna Sotomayor, and Colby Itkowitz, “Republicans narrowly win House, ending full Democratic control of Congress,” Washington Post, November 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/16/republicans-win-house-majority/
Bryan Pietsch and Amy B. Wang, “Rep. Lauren Boebert race too close to call, with margin inside recount threshold,” Washington Post, November 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/17/boebert-colorado-election-adam-frisch/
Kaleigh Rogers, “Why Lauren Boebert’s Race Is So Close,” FiveThirtyEight, November 17, 2022, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-lauren-boeberts-race-is-so-close/
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Unauthorized violence
Fig. 2. “A woman reacts at a makeshift memorial outside the Tree of Life synagogue following Saturday’s shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, Oct. 29, 2018,” photograph by Cathal McNaughton for Reuters, via ABC News, October 29, 2018,[6] fair use.
Megan Guza, “Man accused in fatal Mount Washington stabbing was ‘frustrated, cold and wanted a cigarette,’” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 17, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2022/11/17/mt-washington-pittsburgh-fatal-stabbing-southern-avenue-domestic-homicide/stories/202211170093
Gilead
Fig. 3. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[7] fair use.
It says more than a little something about Elon Musk that he thought Twitter workers would accept his ultimatum:[8]
Hundreds of Twitter employees refused Thursday to sign a pledge to work longer hours, threatening the site’s ability to keep operating and prompting hurried debates among managers over who should be asked to return, current and former employees said.
The number of engineers tending to multiple critical systems had been reduced to two, one or even zero, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
The crisis came in response to an ultimatum new owner Elon Musk issued Wednesday demanding that employees sign a pledge to work harder by 5 p.m. Eastern time Thursday or accept three months’ severance pay. . . .
Resignations and departures were already taking a toll on Twitter’s service, employees said. “Breakages are already happening slowly and accumulating,” one said. “If you want to export your tweets, do it now.”[9]
So, following the advice in the last paragraph quoted above, I attempted to download an archive of my data. Twitter requires you re-enter your password and a code sent by either email or text message. I tried the latter first; it didn’t work. But email seems to have worked. I’m waiting for the download to be ready.
Faiz Siddiqui and Jeremy B. Merrill, “Musk issues ultimatum to staff: Commit to ‘hardcore’ Twitter or take severance,” Washington Post, November 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/16/musk-twitter-email-ultimatum-termination/
Joseph Menn, Nitasha Tiku, and Faiz Siddiqui, “Hundreds said to have opted to leave Twitter over Musk ultimatum,” Washington Post, November 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/17/twitter-musk-easing-rto-order/
- [1]Devlin Barrett, “Justice Dept. says Trump team may have hidden, moved classified papers,” Washington Post, August 31, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/31/trump-documents-removed-storage-room/↩
- [2]Kaleigh Rogers, “Why Lauren Boebert’s Race Is So Close,” FiveThirtyEight, November 17, 2022, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-lauren-boeberts-race-is-so-close/↩
- [3]David Benfell, “Pure poison,” Not Housebroken, September 15, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/12/17/pure-poison/↩
- [4]Kaleigh Rogers, “Why Lauren Boebert’s Race Is So Close,” FiveThirtyEight, November 17, 2022, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-lauren-boeberts-race-is-so-close/↩
- [5]Bryan Pietsch and Amy B. Wang, “Rep. Lauren Boebert race too close to call, with margin inside recount threshold,” Washington Post, November 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/17/boebert-colorado-election-adam-frisch/↩
- [6]Bill Hutchinson et al., “Pittsburgh synagogue-shooting suspect wheeled into courtroom; Trump to visit city Tuesday,” ABC News, October 29, 2019, https://abcnews.go.com/US/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-suspect-discharged-hospital-set-make/story?id=58825389↩
- [7]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
- [8]Faiz Siddiqui and Jeremy B. Merrill, “Musk issues ultimatum to staff: Commit to ‘hardcore’ Twitter or take severance,” Washington Post, November 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/16/musk-twitter-email-ultimatum-termination/↩
- [9]Joseph Menn, Nitasha Tiku, and Faiz Siddiqui, “Hundreds said to have opted to leave Twitter over Musk ultimatum,” Washington Post, November 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/17/twitter-musk-easing-rto-order/↩