Saturday, October 31, 2026

Happy Halloween

Enjoy the monsters, princesses, ghosts, witches, rock stars, cheer leaders, animals and Ninjas that come by your house tonight.

If you don't get any trick or treaters, then think of me as Dan and I welcome over 100 to our house! Our first year here, 2021, I counted 137 +/- and that was during Covid. I haven't counted since but know I need to be stocked with candy [and toys for those with allergies]. It all starts at 5 and ends by 7 pm. Unlike 2021, we recognize more and more of the kids and their parents.

Enjoy your weekend, too.

p.s. Jack o' lanterns were carved on Friday morning. The pumpkins were grown by Granddaughters #1 & #2.

Thursday, October 29, 2026

Make Halloween Scary for Fascists: A Get-Out-The-Vote Guide

Contrarian Calls to Action: How to make a difference for democracy this week.

THE CONTRARIAN

OCT 29

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Democracy is not a spectator sport. Whether you want to exercise your right to vote, join a protest, call your elected officials, run for office, or keep tabs on the week’s hottest issues and protests, The Contrarian has you covered.

Here are our top suggestions for getting involved in the days ahead. These are heated times; we encourage non-violent and lawful activism.

Trick or Treat for Democracy

The fascists in power are spooked, so make Halloween even scarier for them by getting out the vote! There are a ton of Halloween-themed GOTV events this weekend, ranging from a candy canvass in Omaha, Nebraska, to a candy crawl in Dayton, Ohio, to “Ballot-ween” in Yakima, Washington. Wherever you haunt, find a Halloween election event near you.

Join a Spooky Phone Bank

Voter turnout among 18 to 35 year olds is scarily low! Help young and first-time voters make sure they’re ready to cast their ballots with a Spooky Gen Z phone bank on Saturday, October 31, at 1 p.m. eastern. Voters of Tomorrow, Men4Choice Advocacy, and KAPOW — with special guest former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh — are teaming up to get out the vote with some Halloween fun. Training is provided at the beginning of the call.

Prepare to Vote with Confidence

In collaboration with No Kings, the ACLU is hosting a know-your-voting-rights video call tonight, October 29, at 8 p.m. eastern. Register here. The call promises to cover:

Your federal voting rights;
Voter intimidation and other potential barriers to participation;
Ways you can access disability-related accommodations and language assistance.

Jen Rubin and Deirdre Schifeling of the ACLU previewed much of this subject matter today in a Contrarian interview you can watch here.

There is a lot of misinformation swirling around the 2026 election. But don’t let doubt dissuade you from exercising the franchise. The law is on your side: The ACLU has a printable voting-rights guide and resources for what to do if federal agents show up at the polls. And the SPLC offers a great voter-safety guide. Keep the Election Protection Hotline number on hand — 866-687-8683 (or 866-OUR-VOTE) — in case you encounter difficulties.

Participate in a GOTV Push

If costumes and candy aren’t your vibe, you can jump on the phone, on social media, or on a bus with Swing Left. Tonight at 7 p.m. eastern, Swing Left’s Social Strategy Power Hour call will teach participants how to boost pro-democracy content on Instagram and TikTok. Washington, D.C.-area Contrarians who are ready to knock on doors can hop on buses leaving from D.C. at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 31, for canvassing events in VA-01 and VA-05 — must-flip seats for a pro-democracy House majority. Others can visit Swing Left’s “Take Action” site to find meaningful GOTV work in your area.

Indivisible chapters are also organizing election actions from coast to coast; find an opportunity near you. Mobilize.us has a calendar full of get-out-the-vote opportunities from now through the end of voting on Tuesday, November 3. Find one that fits your schedule. When We all Vote is hosting parties at the polls through election day; find one near you. You can also get active with the NAACP’s GOTV program here. And Voto Latino a has a map of actions nationwide.

Organize a Voting March

Students across the United States are hosting “march to the polls” events in response to the removal of early-voting sites from their campuses. These mobilization efforts are intended to break down barriers to voting while advocating for free and fair elections. If your voting site was relocated, consider organizing a walk to the polls. Additionally, you can spread the word about voter-transportation resources such as Roll to the Polls and Ride Share to Vote. You can also join or support “Souls to the Polls” actions from Louisiana to North Carolina to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Vote Early — Before You Can’t

The window for in-person early voting closes early in many jurisdictions. (The cutoff has already passed in Louisiana and Pennsylvania.)

Keep an eye on these dates for states where early-voting cutoffs apply:

October 29: Maine, Maryland, Tennessee

October 30: Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nevada, Texas, Utah

October 31: Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia

November 1: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Ohio

Drop Off Your Ballot by Hand

If you were mailed a ballot and haven’t yet returned it, it is likely too late to trust the Postal Service to postmark it by November 3. The safer bet is to return your sealed, signed ballot in person to a ballot drop box or an elections office in your area. You can find a drop box using this tool.

Register on Election Day

If you (or a friend) never got around to registering to vote or find that your registration has lapsed, don’t despair. Many states offer same-day voter registration, which will allow you to cast a ballot on November 3. They include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The same-day registration process can vary by state; look up rules for your location here.

Click here to find The Contrarian’s standing resources for empowering yourself in American civic life — from contacting your elected officials to ensuring your right to vote to supporting public-interest journalism.

Seasonal Decor

Tuesday evening the Friends of the Library had their monthly craft class. This time the subject was autumn wreaths. We had ribbon, silk leaves and lots of feathers to use to decorate these 6 inch grape vine wreaths.

Once home I hung it on the inside of our outside door.

I don't have a mantle in this house so I use two window sills instead to display seasonal stuff.

Here are the items up close: the card and the pumpkin were made by Emily but many years apart.

I realized once Halloween is over I can turn the pumpkin around for Thanksgiving.

Here's another pumpkin by Emily.

This pumpkin face was made for me at another crafting night by Granddaughter #2 as I didn't attend.

This was an oops purchase at a local gift shop several years ago. I say oops because once it was rung up I wanted to cancel the sale but didn't: too embarrassed that I didn't know the price beforehand.

A third pumpkin by Emily probably her very first attempt as a young child.

It's rather ghoulish but turned around will do for Thanksgiving too.

Another mini pumpkin purchase.

I have two pumpkins to carve for Halloween. Not sure if that will happen Friday or Saturday. Do you still carve pumpkins for Halloween?

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Time for Contrarian

Losing in Court Isn’t Enough; DOJ Must Be Sanctioned

🚨 6 Days to the Midterms 🚨

JENNIFER RUBIN

OCT 28

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In the run-up to the midterms, district and circuit federal court judges have done an admirable job in beating back absurd, abusive Trump regime legal maneuvers that are utterly lacking in merit. Moreover, they are apparently designed to either disrupt the midterms or assure the unraveling autocrat in the Oval Office that his dutiful lackeys at the Justice Department are doing everything possible to try to do just that. Alternatively, the flurry of vindictive actions against long-held presidential enemies — such as Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and former FBI director James Comey — is simply meant to distract the addled president; catnip for a demented feline, if you will.

The range of abusive, nonsensical actions is breathtaking:

Sending an unverified list of semi-suspected noncitizen voters to have their ballots set aside;
Rushing to the 9^th Circuit prematurely for relief;
Challenging the results of a not-yet-transpired Alaska Senate race;
Pounding on doors to interrogate suspected noncitizen voters;
Defying a district court in racing to destroy hundreds of trees at the East Potomac Golf Course (and then coming up with a cock and bull storythat contradicts Trump’s own social media post that this is not part of a “final plan”);
Filing an “information” (not seeking or failing and not obtaining) indictment to try to fudge the statute of limitations in a third vindictive effort to prosecute James Comey;
Rummaging through decades-old immigration paperwork to try to strip Rep. Omar of citizenship.

While it remains a mystery how any federal court official issued a search warrant for Omar’s home, overall the courts — to their credit — have rebuffed DOJ’s legal gamesmanship, often in exceptionally harsh language.

From the 9^th Circuit’s snub of the non-emergency, “emergency” appeal in California:

The United States’s claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one. At least part of the delay here is attributable to the United States’s own delay in filing suit, in realizing that existing California state law governs the issuance and processing of ballots, in recognizing that California has millions of registered voters and processes ballots on a schedule aligned with that scale, and in communicating to the court its desired relief.

The concurrence from Trump-appointed Judge Bennett was even more dismissive (and on the merits, to boot):

Despite these various mechanisms to challenge the eligibility of a voter, Plaintiff prefers that this court require a different procedure to effectuate a challenge to over 20,000 voters solely because, in a different context, the California Legislature permits the segregation of ballots. See Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, § 20363 (providing for the segregation of ballots in a recount). But Plaintiff’s preference does not carry with it the force of law. . . .
Beyond the infeasibility of and risks associated with segregating tens of thousands of ballots, Defendants also lack the ability to verify voters’ citizenship status before December 4, 2026—the deadline for counties to certify their election results to the Secretary of State. . . . Plaintiff seeks equitable relief, asking us to order Defendants to set aside vote-by-mail ballots from over 20,000 individuals whom Plaintiff believes are likely noncitizens. But Plaintiff offers no workable plan as to how this could be accomplished, let alone how it could be accomplished without burdening Defendants more than necessary. Instead, Plaintiff simply claims that California has an existing regulation, Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, § 20363, which provides for ballot segregation. But as discussed, that regulation is inapplicable.

From the golf course case, Judge Ana Reyes all but called the government lawyers a pack of liars (multiple times):

The Government felled hundreds of trees from East Potomac Golf Course without real notice even though it knew of the scheduled removal at least a week prior. And even though the Court literally warned against bulldozers bulldozing on no real notice. … And even though the Court was equally clear that it did not want an act-first-ask-forgiveness-later situation. … All this is concerning. The Government appears to have set the timing of the tree removal and late notice to impede Plaintiffs’ ability to seek Court intervention. And its recent actions call into question other representations it has made to the Court over these many months. …
Government counsel argues that President Trump, who discussed the Plan to redesign the Course no fewer than five times, has “at most . . . has given preliminary thought to” the Washington National Plan. That claim does not square with the record. The Court cannot disbelieve the President’s clear, repeated statements of fact when those statements find support in the record and the Government has presented no credible evidence to contradict him.

And yet, even defeats for the government’s patently frivolous actions and refreshing rebukes from courts leave us unmoved. The government, particularly Attorney General Todd Blanche and his flunkies, suffer no adverse consequences from trying every trick in the book — no matter how frivolous, no matter how legally unsound and constitutionally abusive. Indeed, they may well get ‘atta boys for having angered federal court judges.

*Donald Trump gives US Attorney General Todd Blanche a pat on the back after a roundtable in the East Room of the White House on October 21, 2026.* (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Unless and until DOJ lawyers themselves face sanctions pursuant to Rule 11 and referral to state bar associations for misconduct, the incentive to keep abusing the federal court system will remain. Frankly, handing out more-than-justified sanctions would stiffen the spines of DOJ attorneys, encouraging them to push back against their political bosses. Ultimately, contempt citations (of the sort now the subject of heated litigation in the D.C. Circuit, concerning the Trump regime’s defiance of Judge James Boasberg’sdirective to turn around planes filled with deportees headed to CECOT) may be required to halt this relentless assault on the rule of law.

Aside from a new president, the most effective and entirely justified remedy for such widespread, shameless abuse of the justice system is impeachment of Attorney General Todd Blanche. Even before the current spate of lawless, partisan actions, Blanche’s record (e.g., ongoing defiance of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, refusal to investigate publicly disclosed instances of graft involving the president’s inner circle) and his repeated appearances in partisan campaign settings violate his oath of office and make a mockery of his department’s title (“Justice” Department).

In sum, courts deserve kudos for holding the line against Trump autocratic abuses. But extraordinary times and unprecedented abuse require that they do more. Sanctions and contempt citations must be meted out when appropriate. The new Congress will have an obligation to act as well, starting with the impeachment of an unfit partisan hack occupying the august role of attorney general.