Hard to look away

[Jersey Girl]

As mid-terms get closer the hype has racheted up to a level as to make my brain explode. Anyone else feeling it? Because I'm already over extended in real life, I'm going to try my best to extract myself from political content again. I simply don't have the bandwidth to accomodate it just now. I plan to resume reading here after mid-terms. Posting this to explain my absence from this forum and in case anyone else would like to use this thread to express the same or similar experience.

In my opinion, it's not worth it. It's worse now than ever and I predict it's going to get far worse once we've all voted, blue wave or not, and it's going to stay that way until Jan or long after a flurry of court actions results in the seating of new congressional members.

If that ever happens.

Or if DJT happens to pass away from illness in the near future in which case it'll be chaos all over again.

Not feeling doomed. Think I'm being realistic and putting my efforts where they need to be taking care of things here on the ground.

Be well everyone and please don't let yourselves get overwhelmed. You know I mean that and that I care. Okay so whatever I said is whatever I said.

J to the actual spread-way-too-thin G

[Jersey Girl]

Did it. Signed. Sealed. Delivered. Praying.

A little night music before tomorrow's mid-term election day outcome.

The Marcels - Blue Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gFqeslmpC8

J to what's left of my last actual nerve G

[Jersey Girl]

It's a Lovely Life by Heather Delaney Reese

36 minutes ago
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At 1:59 this afternoon, Donald J. Trump walked toward a makeshift stage with his head down, climbed the platform steps, and stood at the podium inside a square of bulletproof glass right in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He spoke for nearly an hour, struggling to read his notes, keep his eyes open, and even get through his prepared remarks, but it was one single line that seemed to sum up the entire event. “For some reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot.” The sitting president himself seemed to be admitting defeat before a single vote was even counted.

With just a single day left before one of the most consequential midterm elections of our lives, Donald Trump decided to spend it celebrating the reopening of a project that has become the greatest visual failure of his second presidency, but he couldn’t even stick to that topic. He also had to talk about himself. “Now, we’re giving serious thought to changing the name to the Trump reflecting pool. We’ll announce that sometime tomorrow.” He then added, “I’m only kidding. I’m only kidding. Please don’t report it.”

In front of the very small gathered crowd, made up of mostly park rangers, he also attacked Democrats, called their candidates “jihadists” and “Muslim Brotherhood members,” and then brought up his war in Iran, once again declaring that victory had already been achieved. “We had a war with Iran we won; we had a war with, and you know I don’t know if you even call it a war because we haven’t been doing any fighting for months.”
Except that wasn’t true. Donald Trump declared that America had already won the war and that the fighting had essentially stopped months ago, yet we learned later in the day that American forces had carried out another round of airstrikes against Iranian targets. Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States had been conducting smaller military strikes for weeks without publicly disclosing them. On the eve of an election that could strip Republicans of their control of Congress, Donald Trump was once again caught lying to the American people.

As he stood in front of the Reflecting Pool, Donald Trump also described his plans for the massive triumphal arch near the Arlington Memorial Bridge, which he said would now include “tremendous drone capability” and “sniper or shooter capability.” And then he spent several minutes showing photographs of damage to the National Mall that he blamed on “sick” and dangerous vandals. The entire press conference was erratic and once again showed how diminished Donald Trump is.

While the president was making a spectacle of himself in Washington, his Justice Department was attempting something far more consequential at the Supreme Court. Trump’s Justice Department had filed an emergency request to force California to set aside roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots from voters the administration claimed were noncitizens. They based the claim on evidence that lower courts rejected as unreliable. They demanded that the state stop counting ballots and segregate the votes of people who, in all likelihood, are American citizens. And they brought this case on the eve of a national election, asking the highest court in the country to intervene in the final hours before the votes were cast.

The Supreme Court responded with a single sentence: “The application for injunction pending appeal presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied.”

That was all they said. There was no further explanation, and no dissents were noted. Not a single conservative justice publicly objected, and they didn’t even ask to hear the other side before ruling. They looked at what the president was trying to do, and they refused to dignify it with anything other than the most basic response.
Tonight feels like the calm before the storm in so many ways, both good and bad. I keep thinking back to other times in our history when Americans have stood on the verge of something that could change their country forever, wondering what would happen next, whether their country would survive what was coming, and if it did, what would be left of it when the storm finally passed. The words of Francis Scott Key keep playing in my mind from that night in Baltimore Harbor in 1814, when the British refused to let him leave as they began bombarding Fort McHenry, and there was nothing he could do except watch and wait. I keep thinking about those 25 hours of bombardment and what it must have felt like to sit there in the darkness, wondering whether our country, barely 38 years old, would survive the night.

The song that was born from that experience, the one we stand for and sing before ballgames and on the Fourth of July, was just as much a question as it was a celebration: “O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” He wasn’t proclaiming victory when he wrote those words. He was asking whether the flag was still there. He spent the night in the dark, on a ship he couldn’t leave, watching a war he couldn’t fight, with no way of knowing whether the country he loved would still be standing when the sun came up. All he could do was watch and wait for dawn.

When the sun finally rose, and he saw that the American flag was still flying over Fort McHenry, he put into words the fear, the hope, and the uncertainty of everything he had just witnessed. And tonight, as we sit here wondering what tomorrow will bring for our own country, I can’t help but think about how much of that same fear and hope we are carrying with us. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, or what our country will look like when this is over. We can only do what generations of Americans before us have done, hold on to our hope, refuse to give up on our country, and wait for the dawn.

Two years ago, when many of us woke up in the middle of the night and saw that Donald Trump had won, it felt like something had broken inside of us, and we have still not healed from it. That healing can hopefully start tomorrow. No matter what happens, we need to remember that even through every attempt to silence us, we are still here, and we are still resisting. No matter what Donald Trump says or does, he will never be able to stop us from doing that.

Tomorrow is the start of a new chapter for our country, and we still have the power to make sure that it is one our founders would be proud of. If you haven’t voted, please make a plan to do so, and please get there as early as you can. Consider also reaching out to your friends and family to remind them to vote if they haven’t already. That is the most important thing we can do right now. This is the moment we have been working toward for two years. This is the reason we marched and called and donated and refused to be silent.

212 years ago, a man sat on a ship in the dark, watched the sky light up with explosions, and asked a question he didn’t know the answer to. Tonight, we are asking that same question, and over the next couple of days, we will find out the answer. By all indications, there is still every reason to believe that our flag will be flying when the sun comes up, just as it was all those years ago. That’s why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather See less

[Jersey Girl]

Facebook comments from the above as of this posting.

Anne Mette Mathorne Hansen
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The best of luck from Denmark
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Sandy Ayres
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🫣🫶
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Judith Sullivan
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Here's to Hope. But I also believe that WE will win but i believe we will also have a real fight afterwards. This is just the beginning. Hang tight and stand strong
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Mary Batty
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Thankyou
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Nicolien Fondse-van Den Ende
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God bless you Heather! Praying for a blue wave🩵🩵🩵
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Renee Dowling
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Prayers for your safety and many, many thanks for all the work you put into making sure democracy remains intact through this very long election season.
God Bless you all!
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Craig Wolfie
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From the UK. Hoping that your country is starting to wake up from its self-imposed nightmare. The nightmare imposed on the rest of the world.
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Lauren DeCillis
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Thank you, Heather...you are my port in a sea of confusion.
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Shash Ayres
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Sending love from the UK- I’ve been following you quite some time, thank you. I hope people remain brave enough to vote blue,
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Dawn Fraser
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I hope it is the right outcome but I am concerned about what will happen either way
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Geoff King
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Good Luck America, I have a suspicion that you're going to need it.
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Marilyn Addison
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Good luck!
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Regina Dodd
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So well written Heather. Trump is clearly a lunatic. Stay strong everybody and hold on to the hope, just like Heather does, that today will be a very significant beginning to the end of his lunacy. Greetings from Regina
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Marie Tetley
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love to you all.
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Hazel Nightingale
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Bev Munro-Keyter
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Watching with fingers crossed in Melbourne, Australia. I pray that this evil comes to an end.
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Marion Robinson
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Keeping everything crossed that the voting outcome is the one needed to get your country back on track and that the orange one doesn’t try to derail the outcome.
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It's a Lovely Life by Heather Delaney Reese
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·

Author
PS. You can make a significant difference right now by joining my Substack community. It's free, and I include my personal Picture of the Day and links to all the sources I used to research and write this post. Your support helps me keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country!
https://www.heatherdelaneyreese.com/

HEATHERDELANEYREESE.COM
Hope for America with Heather Delaney Reese | Substack
Hope for America with Heather Delaney Reese | Substack
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Carmean Josie
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I’m a poll worker. Pray for all of us and the voters today. We met to set up last night. To say the least, we enter today with trepidation.
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Regina Dodd
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Carmean Josie the best of luck today Carmean
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Irene Sheldon Imboden
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Carmean Josie Agree. That's why I woke up at 1:45am and here I am. Have to be in at 5:30. I'll take any/all prayers I can get.
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Cindy Naylor Brockhoff
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Irene Sheldon Imboden yes, prayers of protection over all the poll workers and voting sites across America. Thank you for your service in supporting our right to vote.
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Carmean Josie
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Irene Sheldon Imboden my group set up the tables, ran the power cords, and prepped the location as much as we could. Sort of a pins & needles feeling along all of the group. Tried going to sleep and the old brain won’t shut down - not even with all the usual routine.
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Michael Brant
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Carmean Josie yes, it helps if you can set up the day before. if not, even more excitment!
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Milly Zwezereijn
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Carmean Josie I wish you and all poll workers have a festive day in stead of a fearful day. So far it has been going well I believe?
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Carmean Josie
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Milly Zwezereijn in early voting here in Delaware, there was only one incident reported - between a candidate in a contentious race and one of his constituents. Resolved without violence and just ugly verbiage, thankfully.
We will definitely have challengers at the site I’m working. I’ve only experienced challengers one other time, albeit very brief encounter. Watched a few voters check in then left without a word to anyone.
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Milly Zwezereijn
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Carmean Josie I will keep you and all poll workers in my thoughts today as I watch from my country in Europe if the USA is able to at least stabilise the ship somewhat.
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Mary Cooke
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I wish America the best of luck in the midterm elections for the result that you want and need. My mum Anne Whitmore used to send me your posts every single morning. 
It would be there when I woke up and I would read it whilst drinking my cup of tea and then I would call my mum to talk about it.
She passed away two weeks ago today, I haven’t been able to come on until today but I came to wish you all the luck Heather along other sane Americans.
Let sanity be restored, the polls are looking great but polls are not votes. So get out there and cast your ballots. Have your say, turn things around once and for all for everyone. Xx
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Mary White
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Mary Cooke So sorry Mary. Sending hugs.🫶
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Nancy Mirrione
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Mary Cooke sorry for your loss.
May she rest in peace.
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Irene Sheldon Imboden
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Mary Cooke Thank you for these thoughts during your grieving. It sucks that you even have to be worrying about us. It does show how very connected the entire world is.
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Re Mallahan
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Mary Cooke So sorry.
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Julie Kemp
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Mary Cooke I am so sorry Mary. You must feel heartbroken. Sending hugs
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Lois Wininger
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Mary Cooke so very sorry for your loss. Thank you for your kind words to us worried Americans though!
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Cindy Naylor Brockhoff
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Mary Cooke sorry for the loss of your mom. She is still with you in your heart.
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Lindy Margach
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Mary Cooke so very sorry for your loss. Your mum will live forever in your heart.
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Peter Milne
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The question many of us observers from afar are asking is not whether the flag will still be there, but whether the land o’er which it yet waves will continue to be the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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Bev Roth Hammrich
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Peter Milne Good question.
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Bev Roth Hammrich
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Will our flag still be there? A great analogy for today, one of the most consequential midterms in our history.
I have hope!
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Elaine Flaherty
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Americans are doing everything they can to vote. Florida is experiencing severe flooding but cities have called on residents to help if they have any vehicles that are safe to drive through deep water. The response has been very positive with people volunteering to drive anyone to the polls and then guaranteeing a return trip home. As a former resident of Florida and the mother of two adult children still living there I had become very discouraged by what the polling has shown recently in the state’s elections for the Democratic Party but after hearing about neighbors willing to drive through hazardous conditions and people asking for help to get to the polls instead of deciding to just stay dry and safe at home, they have said Hell no! Get me to the voting booth! And that, Dear Heather and loyal friends, gives me hope! Ps: I live in Texas and it looks like a win for Talarico, fingers crossed !
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Heather Berry
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From the UK. Keep the faith that your democracy will survive. We are all hoping that common decency prevails.
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Hilary Bamberger
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I'm in UK and have been reading your posts and following what is going on in USA with great concern. I hope the Blue wave is enormous and gets Democrat control of the House and the Senate. Thank you for your excellent reporting that you've done despite the worries that must have brought you and your family.
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Gordon Gartrelle
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Keep pushing through tomorrow. Run through the tape hard. VOTE. Make everyone in your circle votes. Build a result so resounding and clear such that the world knows we are still here.
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Joanie Davis
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One of your best commentaries.
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Cecile Webber
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Thank you Heather, and your family, for all of your efforts! I have read every post and sit here this morning full of hope and yet full of fear too. Funny how those two emotions can live side by side. As your nearest neighbour, Canada is waiting for the craziness to calm and for us to start to heal and rebuild our relationship as "friends". I am sending love and encouragement.

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Sherry Dorsey
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Cecile Webber That is beautiful. Thank you from many, many Americans.
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Karen Albert
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Good luck from Oz! Vote like the future of the world depends on it too (because it does)!
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Victoria Calvert
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Watching with hope.
From a California-born Australian
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Ann Stubbs
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Good morning Heather.. 1st coffee of the day . My stomach is churning .. omg I have 2 wishes today .. just the two .. hope the blue tsunami annihilates all the corrupt red republicans... but the 2nd wish is so important too.. please let it all happen peacefully today ... and everybody stays safe...my thoughts from here in the UK will be with you all day ... we had excitement yesterday a young man who went to south America 28 years ago to walk home to Hull Yorkshire to see his mum for the 1st time in 28years and that young man lives just behind us 100yards away on the same street .. my sister said the story about Karl Busby made CNN last night .. so that's a good news story .. let's hope another is brewing today and your flag is flying high today all over the USA .
Stay safe everybody x
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Milly Zwezereijn
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Remember: the world is watching.
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Stephanie Tankersley
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Thank you for all of your reports getting us here, Heather!! Today is going to be a long one, but I am hopeful! Record breaking numbers of us turned out here in Kentucky for early voting. I saw many first timers!
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Kimberly Renee
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Thank you for all you have done to help me and us all get through this nightmare. See ya on the other side!
Go blue!
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Diane Scribe Niiganii
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Caring in I am feeling this way over here.
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Marcus Benoit
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Thank you Heather Delaney for your constant support for democracy and sanity.
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Dyan Hector
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Please God, let it be so
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Cherie Walter
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We voted straight BLUE on Monday in Illinois! Prayers for democracy!
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Lynne Moneypenny
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I'm really worried for you all from across the pond. I don't think he's going to give up any power regardless of the outcome of these elections. From what you're saying Heather, he and his team already have plans in place to carry on regardless. We're living in scary times.
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Rachel Labazio
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Lynne Moneypenny it'll be our next fight. We are ready..but he will be unhinged.
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Linda Ball Iodence Weihofen
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Lynne Moneypenny the worlds support means EVERYTHING to us. Please pray for America. It’s been tough.
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Marilyn Owings
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Heather, I think this may be your best essay yet, I love your writing and like you, I still have hope and believe in this amazing country.
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Ian Shurvinton
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Unless it's fixed again by Musk, I'm hoping the expected "Blue Wave" materialises. Otherwise it's going to be so bad for both the USA and the rest of the World. Come on America, wake up and smell the coffee! Good Luck from !
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Al Bacore
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Best wishes.
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Pat Rogers
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Praying for you America, from Canada
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Elizabeth Mitchell
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This gave me a much needed cry. Thank you for writing and sharing this.
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Emily DeLuca
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Literally awake and waiting for the dawn here. Hoping and praying for a Blue Wave.
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Joe Robillard
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I wasn’t particularly concerned about what might happen in response to a blue wave until I saw General Russel Honoré, someone I have tremendous respect for, largely because of his levelheadedness and pragmatism, warning people on Facebook today to keep their gas tanks full, their phones charged, and at least seven days’ worth of food and water on hand. That got my attention in a way that few things could.
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Linda Thompson
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Thank you Heather for your daily posts. Please people of America get out and vote if you haven't already, America and the world is desperate for a Trump defeat. With love from Scotland .

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Dinah Stevenson
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There's more good people in this world than bad. I keep telling myself. Come on the blues, do your thing!
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Sarah Whiteley
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Im in Oz and have been following you for only a few months.
I would like to thank you for the concise writing. It keeps us as up to date as possible. Im praying that everyone votes 🗳 for basically what is turning into the planets sake
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Dave Gouldstone
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Come on, US: the rest of the world is watching. Vote blue.
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Susan Ninetoes Wyatt
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From here in Australia. We have everything crossed that our American friends will do the right thing and the whole world can begin to breathe again.
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Simon Wicks
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Good luck America!! It's a Lovely Life by Heather Delaney Reese I’ve been reading yours posts daily from the UK for months, watching with dread what Trump has been doing to your country and the world, but sharing your hope. I hope we see that blue wave today!!
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Barb Bowers
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I have read your daily posts for a while. Sometimes I have been unable to finish reading as too upset. Let’s pray that peace is restored. Thank you for your brave reporting x
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Sue Willard Oxley
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Thinking of you all, I'm with you all the way. Love from New Zealand
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Nick King
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All the best for tomorrow.
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Maggie Koervers
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Fingers crossed from Scotl
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Julie Kemp
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Watching and waiting USA
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Jan Arianwen
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Thinking of you all today. Sending love from UK
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Chris Muskett
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Very touching words Heather. Good luck America, I am hoping you can turn the tide of tyrany and start to reclaim your country
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Shirley Merton
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bring it on!
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Lesley Stubbs
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I’m from the UK in and today I’m praying for the right result for the USA and indeed the rest of the world.
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Andy Kimbo Kimberley
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From the UK here wishing you all the best, you can do it, don't let hate win again for the sake of the whole world.
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Char Smith
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Voting BLUE all the way!
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Elizabeth Anne Duffy
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Wishing you the best of luck from Ireland I hope and pray for you x
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Lois Annetts East
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Best wishes today, I know it's been hell for you. Praying for, finally, some relief. Stay strong.
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Kerrie Oakes
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I keep you all in my heart.
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Sue Fisken
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Wishing you all well, from Australia.
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Joe Chow
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Really praying to God!
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Kate Walsh
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With hope today
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Sonja Izumi
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Praying for change. Sending hope andfrom Australia
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Paula Brennan
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🫂🩵
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Dave Fry
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Julie Hayes
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Sharon Gardner
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Brian McLean
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Party Community GIF by Staatsloterij
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Lucy Everett
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Good luck America , from the UK!
You can do this - Vote BLUE!!
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Michelle Sciacca
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I’m concerned for what he’s going to do when the Democrats win.
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John Tuorila
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Michelle Sciacca we all are!
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Elaine Flaherty
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Michelle Sciacca and that is why you have to be prepared with lifesaving provisions. We may or not be headed for a Civil War but even if the results of the election go smoothly it’s better to be prepared for anything. Try to rest easy today, at least until the polls close and we hear from the White House, if we hear!
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Marion Nichols
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Subscriber
Nervous here, but hoping.
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Dianne Boyd van Os
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Christiaan van Os
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Sue Kaye Lee
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A new chapter can only start if a) there's a blue wave, b) if Johnson doesn't prevent winners from being seated, c) the new Congress starts DOING SOMETHING, and d) if old spoil sport doesn't declare martial law
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Pal Lieter
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Thank you Heather 🫶
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Sarah Ozanne
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Thank you Heather
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Erin Campbell-Doan
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CONTINUED SUPPORT FROM CANADA
** V O T E - B L U E **
** V O T E - B L U E **

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Gillian Emerson
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Best wishes
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Fred Stewart
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Fabulous
the young pope GIF
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Kath Jones
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Sending support and prayers from the UK
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Karen Krieger
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For me the healing won’t start until those who have defiled our constitution have been held accountable.
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Glynis Brown
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It’s been somewhat of a pleasure Heather to stand with you. We are here in Australia
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Millie Ervin
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Love
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Candace Josephine
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We are praying for you and counting on you America, for your sake and the sake of the rest of the world please, please stand up and be counted and rein in your current government before the worst happens. Be safe.
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Jill Clardy
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In other words he avoided mentioning anything that the people actually care about….
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Angela Gardner
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Jill Clardy because he doesn’t care!
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Amanda Suzanne Stevens
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Thank you
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Edward Walbert
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I watched in disbelief as the votes came in two years ago. I still can't understand how anyone can vote for someone who is so morally corrupt. I was so embarrassed that my state of Pennsylvania went red. I just prayed for guidance and wisdom for Americans today. Thank you for keeping us informed.
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Bev Robitai
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Good luck, guys. The rest of the world is depending on you.
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Linda Ball Iodence Weihofen
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Bev Robitai we are resisting HARD. It has been so painful but the world’s support meant everything. It was awful to think the world thought we supported this.
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Jessica Baca
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Oh I’m Praying for all of Us. May we all be protected from his wrath. God bless you Heather.
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Judy Carter
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Blessings, Heather
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Lindy Margach
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Thank you Heather. Praying for the USA today. Blue would be good
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Laurie Evans Hancock
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TYHDR
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Elizabeth Olinger
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Thank you again for being the consistent light in the dawn. It’s nearly over, one way or another.Holding my breath all day watching my former country and hoping for the best.
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Leslie Banta-Idol
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Thank you.
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[Chap]

I hope that the best interests of millions of ordinary Americans will be advanced by the result of the elections that are now underway. I hope there will be a high turnout at such a crucial moment for the future of democracy in the USA.

It would be sad to see a great experiment like America - flawed as it often has been in execution - come to an end through the sordid manipulations of an ignorant narcissist whose only moral compass is provided by the questions "Will this make me more powerful? Will it make me more famous? Will it make me richer?". I hope Americans will seize this chance to stop that happening.