Morning Reads: Election Day's Here -- Hold Your Applause

Good Morning — It’s finally Election Day in the United States, but on this date in 1963, the Beatles appeared at the Royal Variety Show in London, performing before the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. Introducing “Twist and Shout,” John Lennon asked the crowd, “Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And for the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewelry.”

Remember, here at BillMoyers.com we have a guide to everything you need to know to cast your ballot. And if you have a problem, we can point you toward the people who can help. Here’s some last-minute ballot box news:

From Deirdre Fulton at Common Dreams, “On Election Eve, Deep-Pocket Dark Money Bulldozing Democracy,” is an excellent summary of recent reporting on the shattering effect of anonymous, last-minute, massive infusions of campaign cash.
Wallets may stay open in Georgia or Louisiana, even after today. The possibility of runoff elections in US Senate races could lead to millions more in spending, according to Tom Hamburger at The Washington Post.
As head of the Republican Governors Association, New Jersey’s Chris Christie has raised a record $102 million in political contributions this year. But according to David Sirota at International Business Times, Christie is using NJ as a “goodie bag” with “a conspicuous slice” of that money coming from “companies that have secured contracts from the Christie administration to perform work in New Jersey.”
In HuffPo, Moyers & Company guest and former health insurance executive Wendell Potter writes that “California’s biggest health insurers have spent $57 million of their customers’ precious premium dollars trying to persuade voters into thinking” that a proposition on the state’s ballot would let “one politician” interfere with treatment options. It doesn’t.
New York Times reporters Jonathan Weisman and Ashley Parker find Republicans confident they’ll take over the US Senate but write that the outcome is uncertain and voters’ mood “sour.”
Sean Trende at Real Clear Politics ponders “What Will 2014 Say About 2016?” and compares this year’s elections to the 1978 midterms that fell in the middle of Jimmy Carter’s benighted presidency.
At TPM, Daniel Strauss has a list of the “Six Most Interesting House Races to Watch,” including “Duck Dynasty” Nephew vs. The Kissing Congressman. ALSO: At the NYT, Carl Hulse says to keep an eye on the early races and Nate Cohn at “The Upshot” has this list of bellwether counties that may tell the tale as the returns come in.
The NY Post introduces us to 30-year-old upstate New York Republican Elise Stefanek, poised to become the youngest woman ever elected to the House of Representatives.

Black Gold, Black Market, Black Flag –> Mike Giglio has this fascinating and exclusive “ground-level look at the illicit oil trade that has made ISIS the world’s richest extremist group.” Read all about it at BuzzFeed News.

“One Hateful Act” –> Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated 19 years ago today at a peace rally in Tel Aviv. In Ha’aretz, seven prominent Israelis remember where they were.

“A PTSD Nation” –>In The Washington Post, psychiatrist and author James Gordon writes that amidst the rubble of Gaza, the psychological damage is the worst he has ever seen: “long-enforced isolation and powerlessness continue to compound and reinforce every symptom.”

Not enough cells –> At Washington Monthly, Bailey Miller (a pen name) asks the popular question, “Can We Please Put Some Bankers in Jail Now?”

We’re not making this up –> Quoting Russian media, Hannah Levintova at Mother Jones reports that after Apple CEO Tim Cook announced his homosexuality last week, a St. Petersburg memorial to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was dismantled — decried as propaganda harmful to the morality of minors. Levintova asks, “So the next logical step here would be for Russia’s elite to give up their personal iPhones, right? Well, fat chance.”

On the other hand –> According to Reuters, via the NY Daily News, the only surviving Apple-1 computer known to have been sold directly by Steve Jobs out of his parents’ garage in 1976 for $600 will go on the auction bloc in December and is expected to go for more than half a million dollars. Take that, Vladimir.

And the winner is… –> Here’s a list of all the documentaries deemed eligible for this year’s Academy Awards.

RIP –> Tom Magliozzi, half of Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers of NPR’s long-running “Car Talk.” Read the MIT commencement address Tom and Ray gave in 1999, discussing the concept of non impediti ratione cogitatonis.

Zut! What Was Zat? –> The BBC reports that France is the only remaining European country with a state-run UFO investigative team — four staff , about a dozen volunteers and two sightings every day. So that’s why Francois Truffaut was in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

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