Here’s another beautiful photo from faithful reader cope:
I like the symbolism of the eagle behind the lights, watching. I have a feeling the American people, indeed the world, are about to watch the shit-gibbon flop on the most brightly lit stage on the planet. That’s the best-case scenario, IMO. The only question is whether he brings us all down with him.
Speaking of downfalls, the titular “Rome” reference comes from Coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs (thanks to valued commenter JPL for the link):
“I’m not done,” Popovich said. “One could go on and on, we didn’t make this stuff up. He’s angry at the media because they reported what he said and how he acted. That’s ironic to me. It makes no sense. So that’s my real fear, and that’s what gives me so much pause and makes me feel so badly that the country is willing to be that intolerant and not understand the empathy that’s necessary to understand other group’s situations. I’m a rich white guy, and I’m sick to my stomach thinking about it. I can’t imagine being a Muslim right now, or a woman, or an African American, a Hispanic, a handicapped person. How disenfranchised they might feel. And for anyone in those groups that voted for him, it’s just beyond my comprehension how they ignore all of that. My final conclusion is, my big fear is — we are Rome.”
But while Rome burns, maybe there’s something we can do to help, support and bring attention to the plight of the most vulnerable among us. I like Alain’s idea for outreach. I like the safety pin symbolism. Resident feline expert WereBear had an idea for raising awareness about those who will lose their access to healthcare.
I’ve reached out to the people in my life who suddenly feel like outcasts in a place that felt like home last week. Some friends and I are meeting soon to discuss what we can do on a local level to protect and support vulnerable people. I imagine many of y’all are taking similar steps.
Please feel free to use this thread to talk about your ideas on how to help people targeted by the shit-gibbon or draw our attention to other efforts that might inspire us. I don’t mean politically — I’m thinking more on a human-to-human basis. We’re going to have to get creative.
Please do not use this thread to relitigate the primary or argue over what went wrong in the election. There are plenty of threads where those conversations are ongoing. Not here, please and thank you.
Gretchen
One bright spot: people keep mentioning Kansas as a place that votes Republican no matter what, but something happened here. Kansas has always been conservative and Republican-leaning, but Bob Dole Republican, and occasionally elected a Democrat like Kathleen Sebelius. When the Koch-Brownback wing took over, it took people awhile to realize what was happening to them. When Brownback was up for re-election, he was 6-8 points behind in the polls, as was the Republican Senator, but both squeaked out a win. Kris Kobach was and is our Secretary of State. The voting machines have proprietary software that nobody but the manufacturer has seen or tested. A statistics prof in Wichita found anomalies favoring Republicans more the bigger the district. She sued to audit the voting machine tapes in her district. She was denied because the judge had some tortured reasoning that it would violate privacy because she might be able to figure out how a particular person voted by the times on the tapes. So there’s a record, but nobody can look at it. My district doesn’t even have tapes. They have a count that they compare to the sign-in books, but there would be no way to catch whether it’s quietly flipping a small percentage of the vote. Diebold is a big manufacturer of voting machines, and a big Republican donor. I think that election was close enough to steal, and it was stolen. You’re not being paranoid if someone is really out to get you. What happened is that people here got more and more pissed at what’s happening to the roads and schools and unfair taxes, and seeing all the surrounding states have job gains while we have losses. There was strong, on-the-ground organizing this time. Often there are uncontested seats for the legislature. Not this time. Usually people don’t pay much attention to the state races, and just reflexively vote R. Not this time. There was a lot of door-knocking, flyers, and even phone calls. I’ve never, ever gotten a phone call urging me to vote for a particular state rep, and the woman calling sounded scared, like she’d never made those calls before. I assured her that I already had her candidate’s sign in my yard and would turn out 3 votes for him. The day after the election his sign disappeared – his people came and picked it up so it would be ready for the next election. My moderate State Senator won re-election against a poor-choice Dem, but the Dem state rep won over the rather well-liked, relatively moderate state rep 65-35. In other words, not close enough to steal. Enough Dems and Moderate R’s won that they have enough to oppose Brownback’s program going forward, and there is no way that a Brownback clone will win in 2018. People here are aware, angry, and fighting back, and the rest of the country has to get with the program too.
Felonius Monk
It isn’t so much Rome burning as it is the Decline and Fall of the United States.
Baud
@Gretchen: That’s inspiring. Thank you.
Gretchen
Betty, I hope my comment isn’t too off-topic, but it seems to point in a hopeful direction to all the people who lament that the whole country might turn into Kansas. Feel free to delete if you think it’s inappropriate.
debbie
I’m having trouble with my anger. Sitting at a traffic light today, a Suburban with a huge, unfurling flag painted on the sides pulled up beside me. It was all I could do to stop myself from rolling down the window and yelling. I really have zero f’s left to give.
How about a GoFundMe to raise funds to return the Statue of Liberty to France? We certainly don’t deserve it anymore.
Felonius Monk
@Baud: We will need lots of good candidates, even virtual ones. Looking at you, Baud. :-)
Gretchen
Thanks, Baud. I was afraid it was off-topic. One other thing I’ve been thinking is that we lobby for a federal voter ID card. After all, the Feds know where everybody really lives and who is really a citizen. Voter ID folks say that’s their concern, so dare them to support it. They won’t, of course, but make them explain why this doesn’t address their concern. I agree with Mnemosyne that voter suppression was at least a factor, and this plan would get around the state’s obstructing people they don’t like from getting ID.
Adam L Silverman
I’ve let everyone that went into moderation since about 3 AM EST this morning out. I can’t leave you people alone for a minute…
Feathers
The problem with the safety pin is that everything is immediately co-opted by the alt-right. Saw a lesbian complaining about getting hassled and victim-blamed by someone with a safety-pin avatar. Why they also stopped doing those “safe houses” windows placards back when I was a kid.
debbie
NPR’s been playing this clip from Trump’s acceptance speech:
Not to us. Not to people. Not to the country or even the world. To Him.
As if the election didn’t show that everyone was only in it for themselves, he’s deluded enough to think others would do anything…for him.
Starfish
@Gretchen: I like learning what was going on in the local races.
Felonius Monk
@debbie:
I consider this to be the equivalent of someone tattooing on their head “I’m an Idiot and I voted for Trump”. I’ve seen a few around here lately. These are people who actually have no concept of true freedom and liberty and equality. I, for one, am happy that they so readily identify themselves, because when the Revolution comes ….
Betty Cracker
One shit-gibbon-targeted community I’m particularly worried about is undocumented immigrants or people who might be mistaken for them. From what I’ve seen in the comments sections of our local rag and elsewhere, Trump’s lie about undocumented immigrants being a driving force behind the (nonexistent) crime wave really took hold. Any ideas on how to help them?
debbie
@Felonius Monk:
For sure. I at first thought it was a commercial vehicle, but when I saw no logo, company name, or commercial plates, my blood pressure (which isn’t a problem) went through the roof.
debbie
@Starfish:
That’s where it has to start, at the local level. I’m hoping Kay shows up and announces her plan to demolish the Ohio Democratic Party and start over. There is no other way.
From Both Sides of the Pond
Going forward, I think we really need a permanent organization devoted to smoothing the path to getting voter ID. If you’ve got a group out there working 365 days a year helping people get the materials they need, it gets _really_ hard to suppress votes without obviously changing the goalposts. This doesn’t have to be aimed at GOTV at all – just helping everyone get the ID’s they need. After all, if you are the one to help them, that will resonate. It might also help to get the idea out there that government has a responsibility to provide the IDs to people that it demands (however wrongly) for voting may help. Too many people not ideologically wedded to the Republicans believe the whole ‘voting is like driving’ nonsense.
Secondly, one of the things Obama’s campaign was always credited with was its GOTV competency – let’s separate that out from the individual candidates and get it prioritized much more thoroughly. This will likely get accusations of being ACORN, but right now we rely far too much on the presidential candidate to get that work done. Think of this the way SEC football has evolved – Alabama wins because it has a system that is plug-and-play, rather than relying on the star QB coming along to carry to the load.
MomSense
@Betty Cracker:
I’m worried about the Somali community because they are doubly hated if you know what I mean.
Poopyman
@debbie:
I’ve thought about this. In my imagination, the French just come to repossess it. No GoFundMe required.
Poopyman
@Felonius Monk: I’ve already noted who in the area still have trump signs.
planetpundit
Could Betty console us with soem pix of the delightfull resdient boxers or the drama prone hens? :)
matryoshka
@debbie: You’re not the only one. I can just barely contain myself.
JanieM
@debbie: I thought about the Statue of Liberty in the night on Tuesday, when I couldn’t sleep. I wasn’t thinking of anything so peaceful as just returning it.
Meanwhile, more on topic, once I’m back from my next week away I’m going to volunteer some time tutoring ESL. Even in Maine that’s likely to mean people from a variety of places, but I’m thinking Lewiston, so, per @MomSense, it’s especially likely to include Somalis.
Luthe
I haven’t gotten a chance yet to make the graphics, but I kinda want to start an “It’s OUR Country Too” campaign. I know wingnuts don’t share well, but they (and us, for that matter) need reminding they aren’t the only ones who live here.
Betty Cracker
@Gretchen: No worries. I just didn’t want the thread to turn into yet another Hildo-BernBro pie fight.
@planetpundit: Perhaps later! ;-)
ThresherK
Popovich-related:
The day after election 2008 there was an almost palpable joy on the air on ESPN. Of course, given how many African-Americans started as athletes and ended up in the broadcast booths there, the daily contact with college-age and twenty-something black and Latino athletes by everyone there, the international “net” cast for big names from all parts of Europe and Asia coming to the USA for basketball and hockey (to say the least), and how even the white ESPN on-air talent base isn’t so old or insulated as regular Nitely Nooze or Sunday gasbags, it sorta makes sense. I was glad for them.
That someone like Greg Popovich could show himself to be immersed in the sports world for decades and be so thoughtful is somewhat pleasant. They’re not all Teabaggers like LaRussa or hacks like Schilling.
But at this point in 2008, I thought, “I loved how Obama won, too, but if McCain had won, would they be giving him a fair shake?” or “What happens when a black Republican gets anywhere?”
That was eight loooong years ago. To answer my first quesiton: I don’t know if an R candidate is going to be the “healer” that Dems are always asked to be, for the rest of my life, so I don’t know how much any black person anywhere should have to worry about giving “healing” a chance. (The SPLC backs me up on this so far.) My second question: I don’t think I gotta worry about that, ever.
Felonius Monk
@debbie:
I laugh at them and mutter “asshole” at them — helps keep the BP down. Don’t let them get under your skin. :-)
kindness
I’m still at the stage where I wake in the morning and think ‘Oh Shit!’ right off. I guess that’ll go away. I’m not so much fearful as I am just saddened now. I guess I’ve accepted that the avalanche is coming. Now I just have to prepare. The Brownshirts worry me most. They will try to drum up a civil war, make no mistake about that. Suits their goals. They really do want to remove us from the map. Not most Trumpettes but enough to sadden me. These upcoming interesting times I could do without.
BBA
For centuries after all power was concentrated in the person of the Emperor, elections kept being held for Consuls and Assemblies, the toothless Senate kept meeting, and everyone swore up and down that Rome was still a Republic.
Very fitting.
arrieve
@From Both Sides of the Pond:
This. The only thing that has given me hope this past week is that instead of despairing, the people I know are brushing themselves off and saying, “What do we do now?” Start working on 2018. Make sure there are no R’s running unopposed. Then keep doing it and win more in 2020. And start working on the state legislatures as well. Vote by vote, seat by seat, we’ll take it back.
If anyone knows of any groups working on these kinds of plans I’d love to know about it. It’s not just the money — though that matters, obviously. It’s finding good candidates and helping them run good campaigns.
dww44
Off topic, but about an hour or so ago the young female MSNBC 10 a.m. anchor asked the guest, a youngish guy who worked/works for Bill Clinton, if he thought that perhaps Hillary and Obama and other Dem leaders should speak out about the demonstrations. In other words, laid the onus on them to tamp down these demonstrations. His response was No, not at this point.
She obviously didn’t see/hear Kizir Kahn on Chris Hayes last evening. Quite passionately, he laid the responsibility on Trump to speak up to reassure Americans who are unnerved by his election.
WereBear
@Gretchen: I like that idea, too.
Since my hat tip went unlinky:
97
WereBear
November 12, 2016 at 7:37 am
@MomSense: I still want to know why some of those safeguards fell.
I think we know; the press has sucked farm animal nether regions for quite some time. They aren’t the Free Press that would protect us from tyranny any more.
They are the Circus, instead. Which is fine, we can all use some circuses. But let’s not mistake them for Fine Journalism.
RE: OUR PEOPLE IN NEED
Perhaps we should organize all the people, such as yourself, who are threatened by all the safety net cutting the Republicans love to masturbate over, and come up with some kind of protest on the Mall. See, Republicans love to target the sick, because they don’t have the extra energy to make much of a fuss, But they can send representatives.
I think we could organize a kind of ad hoc AIDS quilt, where people submit a letter sized sheet of paper with their picture and a paragraph of the challenge they are facing. Send them all to a nice bunch in DC, who will, on the proper day, staple them together and lay them out in huge paper strips people can walk beside and see just who the Republicans are planning to kill.
Perhaps it would be better as a Tumblr, considering the Northern Hemisphere weather, and then a protest in the spring.
Everyone’s thoughts?
raven
@Gretchen: Topic? You’re not from around here are you?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Kay, from the thread below:
It’s notboring, and it’s what has to happen. The GOP has had a system for my entire adult life: run in local races and win, then run in state races and win. At the state level they can control all kinds of things, which in turn leads to an enormous advantage at the federal level.
Democrats need to run in state and local races; period. It has to start sometime, and 2017 seems like a really good year to begin.
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: If we see them being hassled, we can go over and strike up a quiet conversation with them, ignoring the bully, and see if that makes them go away.
If it stays verbal, I’ve been known to scare people on the phone with my Basilisk tone.
If not, well, I learned how to break a man’s collarbones.
Luthe
@WereBear: I know Tumblr. If you can get me stories, I’ll try to run it (my job is a clusterfuck timesuck, but I’ll damn well try).
Felonius Monk
@dww44:
What is it with these people? Before the election people like the abhorrent Andrea Mitchell were making statements that if Hillary won she would have too reach out and make amends with the Trump voters. But now that Trump has won, crickets. I guess the media is expecting the Dems to apologize to the Trumpers for opposing Trump.
Folks, the media is our enemy not an ally. The right constantly vilifies the media and it works. We need to start doing the same. Very loudly and very vocally. Perhaps if they are getting it from both sides, they might start doing their job instead of fellating themselves with the constant both sides bullshit.
RepubAnon
@Gretchen: That’s it – my plan is to start working locally to get voter registration to 100% of eligible people – and then make sure they all vote. The idea that the national presidential campaign should parachute in and tell the local yokels what to do is a really bad idea. Instead, we need to have the local Democratic Party folks reporting up the chain, feeding data to the party’s local, regional, state, and federal-level databases. Teach the locals how to do focus groups, reach out to the other side’s voters in a manner calculated to open their minds, help everyone – regardless of party, fix their issues.
Do that, and the reflexive hate and tribalism that defined this election will start changing. The more it changes, the better our chances for creating a country we can again be proud to live in (imagine a world where Republican candidates need to embrace diversity and a strong social safety net in order to stand a chance of winning, as opposed to today, where Democrats question whether to become “Republican-lite”). It’s a 10-20 year project, so we’d better start now.
elm
I very much hope the USA (I can’t say “we” anymore) is Rome and not Rwanda.
Baud
@Felonius Monk: You mean they aren’t asking Trump what Democrats he’ll name to his cabinet?
WereBear
@Luthe: My gosh, that’s awesome! I don’t know Tumblr that well, but I believe it lets people upload their own stuff, so admin wouldn’t be as bad as a regular website.
We need a name, I like:
It could happen to you
waspuppet
@Luthe: “I want my country back!”
No, seriously. Make that the catchphrase.
Reference (beyond the obvious tit-for-tat) here.
Also: While I know it’s doubtful that it will actually happen, if a database of Muslims is ever set up, sign up for it, no matter what you actually practice.
matryoshka
If you want a bigger picture, read The Shock Doctrine. I picked it up for a third time this morning and was kind of nauseated as I reread my highlighted passages. With the shit-gibbon, we’ve got the shock and disorientation, and this book explains the economic plan behind it.
Also, call out every racist joke, comment, image; every gay slur; and anti-immigrant in public and private discourse. The strongest word we have right now is NO.
Elizabelle
The perils of a news blackout. Just realized I was planning to head straight into a forest fire, and the park I was seeking, for hiking refuge, is closed.
Had called a local motel. Of course, they were delighted to hear someone was planning to come visit. Did not divulge what’s going on a few miles up the road.
Hmmmm.
Ajabu
Personally, I’ve just given up on the states. I love the BJ community and will continue to be here but, realistically, I’m too damn old and just need to get back to the islands and relax.
That in itself is a chore because I don’t have the financial wherewithal to just go.
I’ve spent the last four days calling everyone I know with influence back home and literally begging them to find some employment situation for us. We’ll see.
In the interim, to retain some sanity, I’ve decided I will NEVER see or hear the shitgibbon during his (hopefully short) reign. To that end, no TV on MSNBC, CNN, etc.
I will not watch him being normalized. I’m denying his existence.
It works for me. YMMV.
ETA: IT works so far. Until we’re still here and somebody on their side notices we’re of the AA persuasion.
Tripod
The thing is, you can’t start with policy outcomes. He could be a leftist and it wouldn’t matter – he’s physically and mentally not capable of executing the duties of the office.
IF he is allowed to take office – He’s compromised himself to the extent that it is politically intractable.
This is really bad.
Cain
The press takes us for granted. That’s the story. We are always the “good guys” who have to reach out, to be the good person, to make everyone feel better. Well fuck that. That only works if you give us something in return, but they didn’t give us shit. The press can go fuck themselves.
Felonius Monk
@Baud:
I doubt that they, especially the abhorrent Ms. Greenspan, have had that idea cross their minds. Of course, the answer is obvious. But the question only applies to Dems.
Felanius Kootea
As a child, I actually lived under three military dictatorships in Nigeria (at least one was initially applauded by regular people because the democratically elected pols were massively corrupt and focused on establishing one party rule and there were no institutional norms or structures in place to stop them). I haven’t slept much over the last few days because the way I felt Wednesday morning reminded me of the way it felt to live in those times (my parents were professors – academics and university students were always a target of the military because that’s where the opposition to military rule came from). That sense of uncertainty, foreboding and dread. Except here there are structures in place and freedom of speech and no secret police will whisk anyone away for speaking their mind. Let immigrants and refugees who live near you understand this (especially those coming from countries with unstable governments who also have the disadvantage in the US of not being fluent in English), reach out to them, break bread with them, tell them about organizations like the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, etc. Go over the popular vote with them – it can have a calming psychological effect to know that the majority didn’t vote for racism or xenophobia or misogyny or homophobia. Just reaching out and staying in contact with people who might otherwise be isolated is a wonderful thing to do.
Luthe
@waspuppet: No. We are better than that. We share. And we move forward. We want what’s fair to everyone, not just what’s fair to one person. There is no “my country.” It’s OURS, too.
Darkrose
We’re Rome, all right. 69 CE and the Year of the Four Emperors, Part II.
JPL
@Gretchen: Your comment was great and that situation is a major concern for my son.
Cain
@Ajabu:
Let’s not be too hasty. You’re trading one life for perhaps an equally harsher life. But you have allies, and there are others of similar disposition who could use your silent support if anything. Have you encountered things today that seem serious? I think the first couple of days we are seeing everyone’s freak flag flying. We are in new ground, and we are going to have to feel our way out.
Glidwrith
Similar feelings to many commentors here: we must register people to vote ALL THE TIME, not just during electoral cycles and get their IDs in place. Yes, just like ACORN and the organization in Indiana that the police seized 45,000 registrations.
I notice that voter drives only seem to happen during a presidential cycle and the state parties are left hanging in the mid-terms with no love or money from the national level party. A 50 state drive from the DNC is nice, but weak because it is still top-down organizing.
One idea: we in the blue states are relatively safe with strong democracy protections in place. I have heard from Juicers in Florida and Texas that the Democratic parties there are unorganized and sclerotic. I assume this is true in other red and purple states. Would it be possible to set up something like a ‘sister-city’ plan? Fundraise in blue states to help sister state parties organize, register and GOTV.
Also, enough with the unpaid volunteers. If preserving democracy is important then stop mooching off people’s time and energy. Pay them. Make it a job. All of us have family, commitments and jobs gobbling up our time. There are always folks looking for employment. Pay them – pay them to register voters, pay them for data entry and curating the data base. Pay them to make sure people get the IDs in order to vote. They are full time jobs with the same performance standards expected from any of us. With the billions flowing through to the TV advertisers, would it really be so hard to cut loose enough cash for a dedicated core of people registering folks to vote?
SenyorDave
I say this in all seriousness. The Republicans should start pushing the email narrative again. It will become a headline all over again, the media can never get too much email coverage, and people will feel better about their vote again for Trump.
gogol's wife
@Gretchen:
Delete? Are you kidding?
Thank you for fighting the good fight. I’m exhausted and hopeless so I admire people like you.
Elizabelle
@Glidwrith: Great idea about paying people to organize. A living wage, too. It’s the least the Democratic party can do.
Elizabelle
@SenyorDave: Don’t. Just don’t.
Fuck the emails.
Fuck the MSM. I’m on a news blackout, and about to read some good books.
gogol's wife
@debbie:
We can’t parse everything he says. I’m done paying attention to him per se. It’s hopeless.
bemused
@debbie:
Me too. Physically, I feel a little better than I have since Tues. night with a bit more sleep. Anger is another story.
I have been debating whether to go to a dinner this coming week with about 10 to 12 women that meet about twice a year. They all live in my area and we run into each other now and then. I know two are Baptists who no doubt voted for Trump with a few more I’m pretty sure are Republicans. I don’t expect politics will come up but not positive about that. Republicans have a tendency to crow. We catch up on our families and things like that, showing off our grandkids pics.
I decided it would be best for me to skip this dinner. If politics came up I would probably burst into tears, rant or vomit. Even if everyone stayed away from politics, I don’t think I can sit there and my pics of biracial grandkid and look at their pics (two of them have mixed race grandkids) without getting a knot in my stomach knowing they voted for the hate monger.
Elizabelle
@Ajabu: Hugs. I feel the same way.
Keep all avenues open. We can work for 2018 from farflung locations.
No one HERE takes you for granted.
Aleta
@MomSense: We’re figuring out how to set up small scholarship money (like help with textbooks) for students going to college. Your comment reminded me it might be done through the United Somali Women of Maine in Lewiston, which would touch on at least three or four pieces of Hillary’s platform.
Come to think of it I will send them $10 and a note today. Thanks to you.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: My approach has been to smile and say hello. It’s not much but at least they know that they are not alone.
wormtown
@Baud: Or “how will he govern when he has no mandate?”
gogol's wife
@Glidwrith:
Great idea about fundraising in blue states to help red states.
Omnes Omnibus
I signed the petition to to have the electoral college follow the popular vote. I know it is quixotic, but “if you got a blacklist, I want to be on it.” FWIW, my mom forwarded it to me after she signed.
gogol's wife
@Glidwrith:
Shouldn’t somebody ask Mark Cuban, Warren Buffett, and Mike Bloomberg to make a little contribution to democracy?
gogol's wife
@Omnes Omnibus:
Same here.
WereBear
@bemused: I was always live and let live with the Fundagelicals, but now they are trying to kill me.
I have lots of icy-polite and I know how to use it.
Feathers
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Went to knit group post-election. A woman who hadn’t been there before spoke at the beginning. Her mission and purpose in life is “to connect people” and when she woke up on Wednesday morning she decided to have an event where diverse knitters would come together and share stories about their craft and connect. I wanted to scream at her, but did not. I’ve learned that my advocacy for sensible action needs to be subtle, grounded and one-on-one with this group. But…. lady, white lady, it’s not about you. The problem isn’t lack of connecting. The problem is hate. Are you inviting Trumpers? They hate you and your organic, hand-dyed locally sourced wool. Are you inviting the “diverse” POC knitters? They see you as snobs who knit boring and ugly stuff. They knit for babies, kids, grandmas, etc. stuff that is practical, washable, durable. And they don’t trust you. It’s not their job to make you feel better about this.
I’m the lapsedest of Catholics, but at least I know that when help is needed, humble service is what should be offered. I’ve been following @sarahkendzior on Twitter and this quote jumped out at me: “Hope is something you should have for other people, not for yourself. Hope holds you down and blinds you to possibilities.”
WereBear
@Feathers: Aaaaand I imagine you would be met with incredulous, “Why must you make everything soooooo political?”
geg6
@From Both Sides of the Pond:
I think this is what I’d like to spend my time on. Since I’m already involved with the local party, I’m going to lobby hard to make this a focus. I know so many minority and young (and especially both) voters who do not drive and have so many issues around ID. We need to raise money to help people pay the fees for DLs and state ID cards and then get out there, find those who need them and get them the IDs. Then we make sure they get registered and vote. In every election. I really think we could drum up a lot of enthusiasm in any community we help people with a basic need like proper ID, which is not only useful for voting but for banking and employment, etc. We need to be out there, being seen as solving people’s problems and poor and working class people of all skin hues have this problem.
JPL
Now that over 700,000 have provided information to DHS because of the dream act, they need to be given green cards, or the list needs to be destroyed. They have a target on their back, because Republicans in Congress hate President Obama.
I am so frightened for them.
Tripod
@gogol’s wife:
Donald J. dRumpf is why the Electoral College is in the United States Constitution.
jacy
I live in Baton Rouge — which is a majority black city. I live in a white neighborhood, but it’s changing. At my little local neighborhood park, every day there are Muslim, Latino, black, and Asian families with their kids. Get out of your comfort zone, and talk to people. I went to the local dollar store yesterday to get things I had to have: milk and eggs and the like. The ladies there — who are all black — who usually greet you when walk in the door, were all silent. It was like a funeral. They weren’t angry — but you could tell they were in this shocked sort of mourning. I had a moment of panic — we know each other in that casual way, because I stop by there 2-3 times a week — but today I was this middle-aged white lady who they didn’t know if they could trust. So I said, quite loudly, “How are y’all? I’m not doing so good myself.” And then we talked, all of us. And we hugged. And we told each other we were going to be okay. For my part — I’m going to keep doing that. I’m going to go out of my way to connect with people. I’m considering making a button — some kind of “No Trump” button — and wearing it. I’ll probably get some grief, but I’m going to keep protesting, and I want everyone who sees me to see that I’m protesting. I will not normalize this man. Of course, I’ll be doing political stuff, and writing, and lots of other things — whatever organizing and outreach — but for everyday life, I’m going to a) make it clear where I stand to every person I meet, and b) reach out to every person I can who may need support, encouragement, or help.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
I see where Newt wants to bring back the House Un-American Activities Committee. Link here at CNN.
Another Scott
@From Both Sides of the Pond: VoteRiders is such an organization – they work very hard to help people understand the local voting rules and to help them get IDs. It’s a huge task and every little bit helps. One can support them via Amazon Smile, also too.
Cheers,
Scott.
Shalimar
@debbie: The French might elect Marine Le Pen next year. They have their own hatred of immigrants problem going, so I’m not sure if they deserve it either.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Felanius Kootea: Thank you for that reminder that there are people for whom this is not only a trigger of memories, but also quite dangerous. We all know that here, but it helps to hear it from someone who’s lived in the world of dictatorship.
trollhattan
Maher handed out “We’re Still Here” hats to his guests last night.
I’m not much for sloganeering but I like this one.
HeidiMom
@debbie: Maybe take some comfort in knowing that the guy with the flag on his van is scared of the future and you’re not. Right now he thinks he’s pushed the future back, but he hasn’t; no one can. You win.
Ella in New Mexico
@Gretchen:
Gretchen, I am 100% on board with this. I keep looking for journalism to start following this story, in hopes we’ll know the truth. We need an expose on electronic voting machines, who uses them, and why, in cases like you reference in Kansas, their information is not available for audit by non-partisan organizations.
It wouldn’t take much to push the one or two key states that did surprisingly flip to Trump to do so. Just a few thousand clicks from Clinton to Trump in random districts around each state, so as not to leave a trail. Florida and PA would be good places to investigate, the counts being so incredibly close.
Nothing else besides the slight addition of voter suppression in places like Wisconsin makes sense to me in this election.
daves09
Organize, organize, organize.
Nevada, after a rough 2014, went all blue this year.
Some important things: Harry Reid’s cash machine at full blast for Cortez-Masto; lots of local level. decentralized organization; support for candidates and issues up and DOWN the ticket-tax increases for schools passed easily; took back control of both houses of the legilature; most importantly, voter turnout-almost 89%.
It turns a lot of conventional narratives on their heads. Lots of poor people, lots of transients, lots of minorities, relatively low education levels, all things that are supposed to depress turnout, but it didn’t.
We have 2 weeks of early voting at lots of locations, absentee voting is easy, registration is a snap and probably going to get even easier.
It has to be organization from the bottom. If twenty years ago someone had predicted the election of a liberal hispanic woman democrat to the senate everyone would have laughed, but it happened.
It helped that the legislature elected in 2014 was extremely conservative and passed a lot of their dream issues, but democrats didn’t give an inch and constantly pushed back. This year we threw the rascals out.
gogol's wife
@daves09:
Good for you.
WereBear
@Luthe: Hey, Luthe, I have a tumblr now called:
CouldHappentoYou
so get in touch via my contact form when you get a chance. Momsense and I are excited.
And I’m worn out, been averaging 2 hours a sleep a night until last night. Catching up to me now.
bemused senior
This was shared on my fb feed. Though it is addressed to at risk groups it could be thought of as a manual for helping those at risk. Also has links to organizations that are helping.
Ella in New Mexico
@debbie:
Except a country that rips the Burkinis off women sitting on the beach might not deserve it either. ;-)
WarMunchkin
@Glidwrith: This is the best. Yes, I want year-round, all-hands on deck voter registration at all times. I want canvassing at all times. We don’t need to spend billions of dollars on advertising and consulting and polling – we need a more consistent investment into building…. a political party.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tripod: The electoral college is a fundamentally anti-democratic institution. Oddly enough, one of my undergrad Government professors, Lawrence D. Longley, was the expert on the electoral college. He also found it to be fatally flawed. In 2000 and 2016, we have seen why.
matryoshka
Can someone explain to me why a general strike on inauguration day is not a good idea?
Also, the young couple moving in next door to me next week are Iranian, or as they told another neighbor, “Persian,” here to study engineering. I am going to do what I can to help them feel welcome, engaged, and supported for as long as they are here. They are from a country that values education!
Ella in New Mexico
@Gretchen:
Before Trump and the fact we lost the Senate, I was hopeful we could lobby for a National Voting Rights Act that would apply to all of us, not just the historically racially suppressed southern states. It could address Voter ID, rules about registration and early voting, rules about the types of voting machines and ballots that can be used, rules ensuring you can’t just dump people off the voting rolls two weeks before an election…it might not be something we could enforce when there were no Federal candidates running but Goddamn it we need to do it for all the other elections.
NCSteve
I’m reposting this from a comment I made at TPM.
I had an amazing revelation of the obvious: Elizabeth Warren is now the head of the Democratic Party. She’d damn well better be, anyway. Because from this point forward, there are only going to be Warren Democrats and Vichy Democrats. And I’m hoping there won’t be any of the latter.
Meanwhile, there may, just possibly, be someone in your life who will benefit from this website by gaining an understanding of what has already started happening. Someone who doesn’t think there’s any such thing as what some are calling “hashtag terrorism” and others call “stochastic terrorism.” That all these anecdotes we’ve been hearing are just anecdotal without realizing that at some point anecdotes accumulate into data.
http://whywereafraid.com/
Someone, who, as a few commenters [at TPM] did when I dropped the words “white privilege” in a post, said that the reason we lost the election was because we neglected the needs of the angry white people “in favor of non-stop minority outreach on the other side of the country.”
http://whywereafraid.com/
There are a lot of people I know who are devoting a lot of energy to trying to convince themselves that maybe the Trump regime isn’t going to be as bad as we we fear. No worse, say, than GWB, as if that’s an encouraging metric. It’s the only way they can process it and deal with the fear, I think. The only way they can cling to their shattered faith in democracy. They are closing their eyes to the coming shit tsunami and will only acknowledge its existence when it batters down on them like a septic fecal hammer.
When they finally come to, they’re going to run to the shelter of Vichy if we aren’t already there, formed up, resisting and waiting for them to join us. Rally Around Liz, folks. Those of you fortunate enough to still have Democratic representation, write them goddamn letters, make phone calls and tell them to rally round Liz. Those of you with endangered Blue Dog reps, remind them that they will get no credit from their voters for aiding the enemy. None.
And those of you who see your fellow-countrymen being beset by goons, stand up. Fight back. Resist. Bravery is a good, thing, but it is an innate trait, a deficiency in your fear gene or, for many, an addiction to adreneline. Bravery wins fights, but it doesn’t win battles. That takes courage, the capacity to suck it up, stand up, put one foot in front of the other, and start fighting and keep on fighting on even though you’re so desparately afraid that your toilet training has failed. That’s the only way through this.
And yeah, if I sound very much like someone trying to convince himself there’s a path forward out of the darkness, a place of light on the other side of it that we can fight our way through to see, even if we can’t see it now, it’s because I am. And because even if I’m wrong, if my faith is misguided, at least it means being faithful to myself in the darkness.
geg6
@Another Scott:
Vote Riders are great and will always be needed. But I want to make this a grassroots local party effort. We need to tie the party to a demonstrable good they have done for the community. Show we understand their practical need for ID for non-political purposes and then focus on the political aspect of voting rules and registration. And I think it has to be a local effort so as to connect with people who have this need but not necessarily the political views we would wish. We have to show some of that WWC that we can actually do something concrete for them and show the youngs and people of color that we have their backs for something that is practical but also a political statement on their part.
That might be a little incoherent, but I haven’t fully thought it through yet. But I’m convinced that for all the value of national organizations like Vote Riders, it is when the party connects with the community in a tangible way that we can possibly engender real change.
Larkspur
Like most of you, I’ve kind of been wandering around, although the anger is turning more into sad acceptance. I live in a pretty liberal area in California, so I haven’t been confronted by that many Trumpsters or their signs. I know I’m lucky.
On Thursday, I went out to breakfast at my favorite local café. Since it wasn’t busy, I asked the server, a young Latina woman, if she got health care coverage from work. She said yes, she had just qualified for it. (This café is owned by an upscale grocery store next door. It’s not a chain, but it is popular and profitable.) I asked her if she knew whether a repeal of the ACA would have an effect. She said they didn’t know yet; they didn’t have enough information. Clearly she and her co-workers have been talking about it. I said she should get as much done in terms of checkups and treatment as soon as possible, and she nodded and said she was already gearing up.
On Friday I went to the local community clinic, where I get my healthcare, for a follow-up appointment about my hip pain (good news, just bursitis, which, ow, but no hip replacement in the foreseeable future). The PA who took my vitals was wearing her hijab. First thing she said was oh my goodness, your blood pressure is high! I never have high blood pressure. It’s always on the low side. When I used to give blood, they’d sometimes make me do jumping jacks first. I told her I was stressed with traffic and the election, so she said she’d test it again before I left. (Then I did deep breathing and consciously tried to relax, and the second reading was back down to normal.)
Before I left, I asked her (I didn’t really know how to phrase it): “Has anyone been mean to you?” She smiled and knew exactly what I meant and said no, she was fine. “I think I live in a pretty good area”, she said.
Also I’m going to learn Spanish. I swear.
So that’s my rudimentary start at outreach and coming to terms, but I know I really have to get to work.
bemused
@WereBear:
Exactly.
I talked to a SIL this morning. She’s a teacher in Duluth, MN. The day after election, kids were crying, very upset with teachers trying to calm them down. One of the social studies had planned to talk about the electoral college but put that off for a few days. I would not be surprised if this happened in most schools in the country.
The interesting thing is the group of women include 5 teachers (2 retired), two that work with low income pre-schoolers and their families. I will miss hearing if they discuss upset kids in their jobs last week and their reactions.
I have a lunch Mon with 5 close friends. I think most of us are Dems but one Dem requested that we not talk politics at all. She and some other friends are too shell-shocked to talk about election without crying. And I’d join right in.
Glidwrith
@gogol’s wife: @Another Scott: @geg6: Yes, yes, yes – get the billionaires involved. Build on the VoteRiders methods. Instead of collecting registerations, just spend the time to walk the person through the process, help them get the IDs needed and let them turn in their registration. That way the shitgibbons can’t seize box fulls of registrations, they can’t claim fraudulent cards because each individual voter already turned in the card. Yes, it is slow, but we will not win this without a constant low level, completely grass roots organization. They can’t keep people from individually registering – not yet at least.
bemused
@jacy:
Or maybe No Hate.
Glidwrith
@geg6: Yes, down to the grass roots and that is a great point: ID is needed for many things to ease the way to just live and it would be a great opening to becoming a more complete? involved? civically-minded? person. You can’t participate in the system if the system doesn’t see you.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@JPL: Mine too. I work in downtown Denver and I’ve seen a lot of women in hijabs. Usually with everyone I’m in the head-down-I’m-in-a-hurry way, but I have started making eye contact and saying hi to the ladies in hijabs. I get smiles back. I know, it’s small, but it’s something. Also joined the ACLU this morning. Going to start donating monthly to the local food bank as well.
schrodinger's cat
@debbie: It is time for liberals to boycott the so called liberal media. They built this. Fuck NPR and PBS and NYT.
matryoshka
@trollhattan: Me too. It’s an empowering statement. Even more so than “go fuck yourself,” which is what I feel. I’m gay, so I’m feeling quite threatened with Pence as de facto president.
japa21
@bemused: My son didn’t wait. On Thursday he went over the electoral college with all his history classes. Using appropriate numbers (facts, the things the GOP hates), he showed how, in terms of a Presidential election a vote in California is only worth 27% of what a vote in Wyoming is worth. We are going to his house tomorrow to celebrate his birthday and I will ask him how students responded to that.
Last night, however, I did post some incidents at his school and others in the Chicago area. Unless students (and their parents) pay a price for some of this, they will not only continue but get worse.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Yes, it’s looking that way now
As for Rome – Rome fell because they let in a huge number of outsiders to jobs they didn’t want, like the military and then turned on them for not being True Romans(tm) only find out the outsiders were the military.
WereBear
@jacy: That’s lovely. I think if we all do that, it can help.
No one likes to feel alone.
gogol's wife
@hedgehog the occasional commenter:
I almost feel like starting to wear a hijab, but that would be cultural appropriation, so doesn’t work.
3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)
I hope this doesn’t violate the intent and focus of this post. I’m not arguing the election hows and whys, just ruminating over “what’s next” and this sort of made me feel better.
I have been thinking of the ending of H.G.Wells’ War of the Worlds, where a simple thing like bacterial infection brings down the invaders. My first impression after seeing photos of the face of Herr Scheissenfuherer, (HS for short) during the meet-and-greet at the WH is that he is absolutely terrified about what he is about to be subjected to. And it is something simple that could bring him down.
1. I’m pretty sure HS didn’t actually WANT to be President. He wanted the publicity, and wanted to start Trump News with Bannon and Roger Ailes after he lost, with a pre-whipped, angry audience ready to go. It was the money thing.
2. I ‘m pretty sure he takes lots of (“prescribed”) drugs. That’s going to be problematic with a world leader.
3. I’m pretty sure he was about ready for the NEXT Mrs. HS, and now he’s stuck with poor Malaria for four more years, and she’s quickly reaching her expiry date.
4. He has been making noises that he doesn’t want to live in the White House. I think the reason is the aforementioned drug use, and the fact that he needs his “tanning” apparatus around, and it is rumored that it takes his concierge hairdresser about two hours every morning to produce the thing on his head. (Seriously, he pays some guy $60,000 a year just to do his hair, and he’s the hairdresser’s only client.) He has to bring the guy with him. He has to pay him, but from what? Taxpayer dollars? Because that’s all he’s got right now. If his hair changes, everyone will KNOW it’s fake. (Like we don’t already.) But it will be something that is a PART OF HIM that will be laughed at – and HS doesn’t like to be laughed at.
5. All the above points are a problem for him – and this is the clincher – he is pathologically afraid of anyone “knowing his secrets” (see: drugs / tans / hair / women) and now, as POTUS, his ENTIRE DAY-TO-DAY LIFE is an open book; completely visible, and there are LOTS of run-of-the-mill WH staffers who will likely have no qualms about leaking crap.
Look at his expressions in the photos from the visit. This is a man about to fall off a cliff. It won’t be the legislative stuff that will contribute most to his demise, although his total inexperience in that venue will help – he’s not going to be able to survive the scrutiny of something as totally mundane as how he performs his morning toilette. He may be embarrassed to the point of collapse by something that simple, where being supported by the KKK doesn’t bother him at all. And that, I believe, will be his downfall, and probably soon. I am actually not sure he makes it very far past his inauguration, if he even gets to that. That is the reason he doesn’t want to live in the White House. The pathetic POS can be embarrassed by such a simple set of things like GROOMING, because he can’t ignore it or cover it up like he manages to do with everything else when he’s able to retreat to the Trump Tower / Palace of Solitude…. That may be the ONLY thing he can be embarrassed about, and I think it will drive him over the edge.
Okay. That is what I’m going with for now. It makes me feel better. I’m going to devote the rest of my weekend to watching football, basketball, and hockey.
bemused
@japa21:
The racist, bullying incidents are terrifying. I have to wonder if Trump voting teachers in schools where this is happening have even a twinge of conscience.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
One of the things that makes me so mad is that I don’t have any ideas how to protect the innocent. I’ve been thinking but I’m so worried about survival myself that it’s difficult to think. And I may be overreacting but without the safety net that the Krappy Klown Kar occupants in DC want to destroy on Jan 21 I am one of those at risk.
I thought about calling every senator/rep even if you can’t vote for them but they’d just ignore you. Maybe if we flooded their phones and mail boxes….. Probably only accomplish pissing them off and they wouldn’t understand the message anyway. So goes in the feel good drawer.
Of course if we had a call in campaign to our own senators/reps, just at least attempt to overwhelm them with constituent calls running against what they plan to do, to us. Besides the good folks might appreciate the support right about now.
trollhattan
@bemused:
Similar to what my freshman daughter experienced Wednesday at her HS (urban, quite diverse). Kids were crying and even two of her teachers cried. This is unprecedented in my experience over many presidential elections.
A quite liberal couple I know have their daughter in a fundy Christian middle school and evidently everybody there was quite chipper and their girl was really feeling isolated (and obviously stifling her responses).
bemused senior
@Glidwrith: I love this idea of blue pairing with red. I live in NorCal and am insulated from the crazies to a large extent. Could we start small by doing this through bj? Would this be a good thing to write about on dkos? I am not the best organizer of people but I’m a very good maker of computer systems. I could help with computer support.
Davebo
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Hmm…Mkay.. Not so much really. That’s a pretty gross oversimplification.
Ruckus
@hedgehog the occasional commenter:
I try that, smiling and saying hello as I’m walking down the street. I am a bit afraid that some of the black guys out walking may mistake the smile of an old white guy as happiness that the Shit-Gibbon won. So it’s that 2 edged sword thing.
James E Powell
@bemused:
Definitely happened in my high school classes – Nearly all my students are immigrants or children of immigrants. They are scared. We have a president who scares children.
bemused
@trollhattan:
Poor girl. Gotta be tough for her with a liberal family to be in a very conservative school.
San
I’m still at the stage when I wake up and immediately dread washes over me.
My next door shitty neighbor (he revealed himself to be a shitty person way before this year so it’s not like I was surprised) still has his huge banners on the house. Trump and Hillary for prison. It’s been there since January. I don’t think he ever will take them off, he wants to see her in prison. I decided that I will use his as a canary in the mine when HE takes it off. I don’t know though how I will interpret it at the time. I hope it’s going to be when he finally realizes that it’s NOT gonna happen, and not when he actually gets his wish.
Today I was weirdly thankful for the fact that my 1st grader’s friend from school that she has playdates with has parents that voted for Gary freaking Johnson. Thankful because so many of her classmates’ families are Trump supporters. She said it was only her and their teacher who said they “voted” for Hillary (I hope that’s not true). I feel awful dropping her off at school. I look at the sweet and polite parent-volunteer crossing guards and think that some of them voted for the person who said all those things and whipped up that ugliness. And I just can’t. Just can’t.
trollhattan
@bemused:
A head-scratcher of a move, but evidently their local schools don’t have good programs for advanced kids, so they’re making do with what’s available. Hopefully high school will offer something better.
I just can’t imagine writing that fat check every month, knowing where it’s going.
fuckwit
I’ll keep this constructive in the spirit of this post.
It struck me today that this is all preditcable: the Constitution is intentionally designed to keep the US a rural, agricultural-dominated, parochial backwater. So of course we keep electing these fools.
The founders were deeply suspicious of urbanism, cities, and population density. They beleived in the Noble Farmer. Also, they had to placate the very un-noble cotton farmers specifically, ifyouknowhatimean.
That’s why capitals of states are in rural areas not major cities. Even DC was a swamp on Washington’s property.
That’s why the Senate. That’s why the EC. That’s why states get to redistrict.
Ruckus
@Felonius Monk:
Know a fella from HS who is like that. Every thing is flags, “How patriotic am I!” When in fact he is exactly the opposite of that. Conservatives seem to know only one operational methodology and that is projection. Can they possibly be that insecure that they can’t wait to tell you exactly what it is that they hate and why?
jenn
It’s interesting. I think because I avoided the election night coverage entirely, focused on doing work, and then went to bed to huddle with my dogs, in some ways I feel less traumatized than those I know who watched the election. I actually found out the results by coming here. I spent the day strategizing and hugging people, including random strangers. Don’t get me wrong – the other day, I sobbed for almost the entire day, until my eyes hurt and I could barely see. But it has been all fierce resolve. The entire time I was crying the other day, I was typing out letters to a massive list of people, some to exhort, some to shame, some to give courage, some a combination. I am contacting every single one of my reps, from city to national, telling them what I want and what I will not accept – and for those that are Dems, I am telling them: “Courage.”
I am nuking my budget to get money to civil rights and environmental groups, so that they can be staffed up and ready to go on Day 1. ACLU, SPLC, NAACP, CAIR, NRDC, Sierra Club, RMEF, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, Audubon.
I am giving money to WaPo, who I thought had the best election coverage of the MSM, along with a letter outlining the failures of the press in the past election, and an exhortation for them to realize that they are supposed to be the watchdogs of democracy, and that means informing and perspective, not just information. I also have resolved I’m going to contact them for everything they do that I don’t like. Also money to outfits like the Atlantic and Mother Jones.
Next week, I’m heading to the local Dem office to figure out what needs to be done for 2018 and beyond. We need to maintain our Dem statehouse, and make sure that other statehouses stay Dem and/or turn blue next election. Only 5 more statehouses, and the GOP can rewrite the constitution at will. Not if I can help it.
We need to work towards a 2-prong view of voter rights – through the courts, and then an on-the-ground version that helps people jump through the hoops that have been put in their way. The latter needs to start next week.
I’m also increasing my volunteering. I have a pretty flexible work schedule, so I’ve decided to try helping out at some local lower-income schools.
The fight to make the world a better place never ends. We win some battles, we lose some battles, but we fight for right, because it’s _right_. I’m not sure that the Trumpsters know what they’ve done. For pretty much everyone I know in the real world, this has strengthened resolve.
LeftMass
One of the reasons Republican rhetoric is so successful is that they come up with catchy names for things they oppose. ‘Death tax’ is a great example. We are in opposition and need to use this technique for their proposals.
I would love to start the meme that vouchered medical care for seniors cannot accurately be labeled ‘Medicare’. It is Ryancare.
“Don’t replace Medicare with Ryancare. Because Ryan don’t care about you.”
In my opinion, “Ryan don’t care” is more memorable than the more grammatically correct “Ryan doesn’t care”.
Also, Ryan is a good target. The press love him and nobody else does. Make him the face for destroying Medicare.
Ryancare will become a detested idea if we can sell the name.
hovercraft
@Elizabelle:
Well that sucks, an escape into nature would have been just what the doctor ordered. I’m also in the middle of my own media blackout. I just looked at my DVR, and it was jarring to see AM Joy on me list, yes I put it on my to do list, but I thought I had cancelled everything from MSNBC, but my sub-conscience must have excluded Joy. I can’t bring myself to watch, but I’ll keep it for now. It’s so weird to go from being obsessed with cable news to now cutting myself off from everything. Right now this place and GOS are the only sites I’m reading, I’ve also looked at the front page of TPM, but I can’t bring myself to click on any of the stories. This place is my safe place for now, I’m not sure which of STP’s “strange collection of oddballs, weirdos and freaks “, I am, but thank you all for being here.
Ruckus
@fuckwit:
Well if you think about it, that’s exactly what the country was when it was formed. It was appreciated that even our big cities weren’t like those across the Atlantic.
Now I’m not actually sure you are right but right or not there is a pretty good argument to be made that that is exactly what the founders were trying to do. And anyone would most likely have done the same had they been there.
nastybrutishntall
@NCSteve: I’m worried Warren will, like Bernie, enable Trump to enact popular legislation and enshrine his White populism as the new consensus. Robert Scheer (I think? Whoever was the left this episode) sets out the trap pretty well on the Nov 11 episode of Left, RIght & Center. “Working with Trump on issues that affect working people” could mean exchanging economic gains for losses in civil liberties, which is the typical Fascist move. Give the your thug supporters and their friends jobs, and empower them to suppress the educated and artists and poor and non-white and non-normative. If we don’t reject it all, how are we going to convince folks Trumpism is a mistake?
Davis X. Machina
@bemused: They don’t. A surprising number of teachers are teachers because it enables them to be authoritarians and still get good PR. To that the extent, they’re just like the police.
bemused
Kevin drum printed David Frum tweets that had me smiling. Frum is having none of that “fresh start” talk.
Davis X. Machina
@Ruckus:
Find folks who were active in the Sanctuary movement. They know. And the people they helped know.
bemused
@Davis X. Machina:
True. There have been plenty of incidents of teachers and other staff bullying kids just because they could. Cowardly losers.
MomSense
@Aleta:
I’ll join you. Good idea.
Kay
Is Comey planning on resigning? I’m not comfortable with a national police force who work for the Trump Family.
I resent every nickel I’m paying this hack and I think he should have the decency to leave.
I will feel MORE SAFE with no head of the FBI. Leave it vacant until Trump appoints a NYC crony. It’s not like they’re fucking protecting us anyway. That was an illusion- another lie.
Ruckus
@Felonius Monk:
So let me get this straight. Because they say both sides do it, you want us to attack them the same way as conservatives do so they can’t say both sides do it?
I like the sentiment but I think I see a flaw in the argument.
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: I think Comey might be the devil we know in this situation.
Felanius Kootea
@Aleta: Thank you for this. Found out that they are now called Immigrant Resource Center of Maine and donated what I could.
Felonius Monk
@Ruckus:
Context, my friend, context. Same words, different context. But then you knew that anyway. :-)
Ruckus
@Cain:
And the other thing about the press is that a lot of us don’t watch/read any of it. Their income is coming from the people who lap up what they say and who write them and complain about the liberal media. If my business was only supported by 30-50% of the population, I’d either have to support them or go out of business. Now of course their is more to the media than just who the customers are, they do shape opinion as well, but if all of their contact is with the shitty half of the population then they are going to be shitty. And there we are.
Elizabelle
@hovercraft: Hugs to you too. I say delete the Joy program. You can always find it later. Or not.
And: Tonight is another Supermoon deal. “Something something” hasn’t happened since 1948 and won’t again until 2036.
If you can see it through smoke. Or rain. Or tears. Or booze.
But get out there and see it, if you can. All of us should get outside. Our heads, at least.
JPL
@LeftMass: Obama care for the elderly. Since they destroyed the use of the term, use it to destroy their plan to privatize.
Felanius Kootea
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Thanks Bella. I’ve been trying to articulate it to my husband, who is American and upset, but wondering why I am distraught in a way that’s totally unhealthy, waking up at 2 a.m. unable to fall back asleep and having nightmares when I do manage to get some sleep. We live in California, which we both feel is on the right track after years of Republican incompetence. He has faith that the people voted for Hillary will not let the US devolve into mini-fascist states. I have to have that hope too.
I won’t deny that like Ajabu upthread, I thought a little bit about moving back to Nigeria – which has its problems with terrorism up North (where Boko Haram is) but not down South where I’m from. One of my siblings moved back after 9/11 (he lived in Brooklyn and the experience of being in New York on that day changed him). People with a US education can make a really good living with multi-nationals in Nigeria and do. My husband would never go for it though and I have family here too that I wouldn’t want to leave behind. But it did cross my mind.
Ruckus
@Tripod:
See how well that worked out?
The electoral college wasn’t to keep out the shit-gibbons, it was to keep in the “right people.” There is a difference. If you don’t think so, look at all the republicans, including 2 of the worse republican presidents, GHWB and GWB, who endorsed Clinton. (come to think of it, that may have been the straw/camels back here)
Betty Cracker
@3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike): I noticed that too — the terror in those photos.
@JPL: I like it.
Betty Cracker
@Felanius Kootea:
We’re in a similar boat, insomnia and all. My husband is also upset, but he thinks our institutions are strong enough to withstand this. I’m not so sure.
Ruviana
@NCSteve: Here’s a sort of less “scary” way of explaining how Trump and racism are linked from John Scalzi.
hovercraft
@LeftMass:
There are many reasons to despise Frank Luntz, but to me the biggest one is the lasting damage he has done to the country by manipulating people with his poll tested phrasing. He has turned truly noxious and dangerous policies into catchy phrases that are then wielded to make people support things that demonstrably harm them. This is an area where the media has again failed the nation, the importance of the the fourth estate is supposed to be that they are there to educate and report what policy makers are doing and trying to do. This media has failed us at every single juncture, they focus on petty bullshit, while ignoring the really important things that are destroying the country. We need a real media, that is where we need to begin. We hold those who have and continue to fail us accountable by refusing to patronize them, and we reward those who are doing it right.
Ruckus
@Larkspur:
I’d bet by your posting name I know the county you live in, and shop. I had a business there for 6 yrs and yes it’s a pretty nice and safe place. But you never know. We had one family down the road who owned a lot of cars and all the kids had either jacked up 4x4s or nice cars. And I mean nice for that area. One day, walking to the store I saw one of the jacked up trucks drive by with a 6-8 foot confederate flag waving from the bed. I imagine his neighbors were thrilled about that, I know the other people walking down the street were not amused. So my point is that while it’s a nice place, not all the neighbors are.
trollhattan
@Kay:
What’s Bernie Kerik doing these days?
Ruckus
@schrodinger’s cat:
How many of us already do boycott the media?
I do, I know a lot of the people on here do. Maybe that is the problem, the only people boycotting is us. The people supporting them is the opposition. Is it a cart or horse problem?
Iowa Old Lady
@Betty Cracker: I’ve been nauseated since Tuesday to the point where I can’t eat. This election just wiped me out.
James E Powell
@Iowa Old Lady:
I’ve been living off comfort food, the kind I’d be eating if someone I loved passed on. I’m able to read this blog because of the people here, but other than that, I’m on a total blackout and have been since about 7PM PST on Tuesday night. It took me 24 hours just to start thinking about this and trying to figure how much of my anger I could allow out.
This is going to change relationships in my family and in social circles. 2000 enraged me but it was the Bush family and the Supreme Court that did us in. This time it’s the people that voted for Trump. And I’m not having them my life. I’m not going to pretend that “we just disagree, but it’s all in the game.” Not happening.
dww44
@japa21: What sort of incidents? I’d truly like to know.
3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)
@Betty Cracker: I used to cover court proceedings for a news-focused radio station (when that thing still existed) and I got pretty good at reading body language and intent on the part of jury members. You could tell which attorney – prosecution or defense – they believed by that language. Out of more than a dozen trials, I had a 100%-correct rate on what the jury would find.
I know terror when I see it. (But you will likely see that same look on my face if HS shatters and we get Pence or Ryan. )
LeftMass
@hovercraft: I agree with your analysis, but there is no reason to abandon effective wording. One difference between them and us is that we don’t have to be misleading in our rhetoric. ‘Death tax’ is misleading. ‘Privatized Medicare’ is misleading, because it is not Medicare at all. It is completely dissimilar.
We should fight that name with an accurate and damning one. ‘Ryancare’ fits. Or ‘RyanNonCare’.
Ryan don’t care. Let’s make everyone hear that.
Repatriated
@Ruckus:
Their customers are their advertisers and shareholders.
Viewers are their product
SiubhanDuinne
@3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike):
I had the same impression. And I was getting that vibe during his victory speech in the early hours of Wednesday morning. But what struck me most powerfully at that event was the look on the face of young Barron Trump. He looked both profoundly sad and absolutely terrified. Now yeah, it was way past his bedtime and it was probably kind of overwhelming, but he’s more or less the same age Malia Obama was when her dad won in 2008, and both Obama girls were pretty happy and excited that night. It’s rare for me to say anything remotely positive about anyone in that fucking family, but I really feel sorry for that little boy.
I also get a vibe that Melania would just as soon not take on the role of First Lady. So if this is correct, it means at some level neither the soon-to-be President, nor his wife, nor his youngest son really wants this.
And this would tie into your point #3, that he’s ready to dust off that pre-nup, send Melania (and Barron) to a gilded exile, and start shopping for the fourth Mrs. T. Now he can’t without huuuuuge scandal, but would somewhat explain the facial and body language of all three.
I enjoyed your comment. Will be interesting to see how predictive it is.
Applejinx
@Glidwrith:
Nice. I get that some organizations can’t do that: all but one MoveOn canvassing operations in NH were working out of their cars. Then every time I saw Democratic field operations it’s dignified older women with jewelry running a rabble of milling-about disorganized volunteers and motivating them with hate of the enemies. Not good enough.
japa21
@dww44: This is an example of something he texted me last night:
Yesterday a white student…was upset that the deans took away his “Make America Great Again” hat. 1)hats are not allowed 2) he was waving the hat in the face of a black student. Three junior girls were found in the restroom sobbing because some boys in their religion class were taunting them about being upset by Trump’s win…At Lane Tech HS some white students been telling Asian and Latrino students to “pack their bags and go bacl where they came from”
Larkspur
@Ruckus: You’re absolutely right. One of the dogs I walk lives in the very fanciest town in the area, and two houses away there’s a resident with Trump bumper-stickers all over it. And there’s the generations-long disconnect between the quality of schools in the mostly African American part of the county and the central part. The vulnerable people are definitely still vulnerable here, but I’m still feeling remarkably fortunate. I’m glad you understand the area BTW.
Applejinx
@Elizabelle:
I’d welcome that. Only Bernie paid interns, out of the entire government.
This is in part because it’s a quixotic position: so deep are the benefits of becoming a Washington insider or lobbyist, that simple market forces cause there to be enough interns hoping to build on their positions and get ahead, much like it was in recording studios etc. Thus it’s a weird behavior to try to pay interns, like some kind of stunt, and therefore nobody becomes interns unless they can afford to pay their way while being one.
Because market forces are accepted to run literally everything… and there is no minimum wage for becoming a political influencer any more than there is a minimum wage for wanting to be a pop star.
There’s a reason nobody but crazy Bernie pays interns, and it’s tied to the reason we lost.
Mnemosyne
@Feathers:
Of course they’ll try to co-opt it. We need to be vigilant and keep an eye out in public for any harassment at all since fakers will be trying to discredit us.
White people (like me) fucked this up, and now it’s our responsibility to mitigate it. There really aren’t that many openly hateful people, but it’s now white people’s job to watch for them and shut that shit down.
Larkspur
@3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike): Yeah, I’ve gotten a similar impression, as if he’d been anticipating the great fun he’d have had expounding on the “rigged” election, and how he’d have enjoyed helping to block anything HRC tried to do as president, and of course, above all, how he was planning to monetize his failed and yet splendidly popular and noble campaign.
Then the “oh shit” moment. Oh shit, I’m gonna be president for at least four years. This is a guy who doesn’t like to read, who doesn’t like to concentrate, who’s intellectually incurious. So I figured he’d end up reveling in the state dinners and other social events, while leaving the governating to Pence and the Cabinet of Deplorables.
I didn’t think about his insecurities the way you did, though. I figured he’d just haul in whatever equipment and minions he needed to continue being Donald J. Trump, Presidential Edition.
3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks, SD. You guys are really smart here, and I can get sort of intimidated sometimes. I generally hung out at DKos, but the hooting and the shrieking pre-election left me sticking to a couple of my favorite writers, and the pootie diaries. (We had about an hour and a half respite to cry, then the hooting began again, only with slightly tangential targets.)
And yeah, I feel sorry for Melania and Barron also. They didn’t ask for this crap, most certainly Barron.
I may hang around here for a while, if y’all will have me. I have to keep up with Walter and Steve and Bixby and Bailey you know…
dww44
@Kay: I’m with you on Comey. I’ve been angry with him since he dared to humiliate HRC in July at that other uncalled for presser of his.
Obama could use his vast powers of persuasion and say to him, “in the name of common decency, James, and as retribution to the plurality of Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton, just bow out. We can make do with an interim until the party and President you helped fills it.”
dww44
@jenn: I enjoyed your comment and it inspires me to do more. Thank you.
3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)
@Larkspur: His sanctuary has been removed. He is in full view. He knows what he is, and he would prefer to keep hidden the things that don’t get raucous cheering.
And I really don’t believe he has the mental faculties to handle it, as you pointed out. He is a mean, shallow man. Dubya was shallow, but I don’t think he was actually mean. Darth Chaney took care of that aspect of the duo.
Of course, HS has Pence to do his dirty work.
SiubhanDuinne
@3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike):
I have a very strong sense, and it is no more than that, that — unlike what we heard anecdotally about the Obamas — this was in no way a family decision.* I remember back in ’08 hearing or reading accounts of everyone in the Obama family consulting and talking about the pros and cons and making sure that not only Michelle but both girls, young as they were, were on board (and Mrs. Robinson, of course). Somehow I don’t think Barron’s views are sought or respected on such life-changing decisions. I could be wrong.
* Of course the three older kids, but they live elsewhere and have their own families and won’t have their lives upended in the same way a 10-year-old boy will experience.
SiubhanDuinne
@3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike):
As long as your documents are in order.
Barb2
Question heard while out yesterday.
“I’ve been working and contributing to social security since I was 15. But I don’t know if SS will be there for me when I retire.”
The new KKK party has done nothing to ease the fears and concerns of intelligent people.
With the help of Russian hackers this election was stolen. Easy to do – a few votes here and there. Opinion mine – but I’m not alone. Computer gurus I know tell me that if device is connected in anyway to the Internet it can be hacked.
He who shall be nameless -Putin’s puppet, b%tch. Shit gibbon.
PIGL
@Feathers: I wish had words to say how much approve of this, and you. Thank you.
Glidwrith
@geg6: I gotta run, but I don’t want to lose the thread. Here are folks that responded:
Elizabelle
gogol’s wife
WarMunchkin
Geg6-involved with the local party
Another Scott-mentioned VoteRiders
From Both Sides of the Pond
bemused senior – computer support
Applejinx
I will be back in a few hours to try to help flesh out any further ideas folks have and give you mine.
debbie
@geg6:
Sorry I missed this discussion, but I’ve had the thought in the past that a portable registration bus (think bookmobile or mammogram screening) that could travel throughout the country dispensing valid photo IDs might be workable.
Ella in New Mexico
@3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike):
Seriously, your entire comment rings totally true–I’m really wondering the same thing. But then what? WE GET PENCE?
Jesus, at least if Trump bails before he’s sworn in, don’t the American people deserve a do-over?
Lyrebird
@Ruckus: Yeah what a morass… @Betty Cracker: Betty, could you find a way to re-post some of these resource ideas (whether the safety pin idea or what have you) so people can refer to them on an ongoing basis?
Way back when I first heard of Joe Arpaio I wanted someone to make buttons saying “I might be illegal” in Gaelic as a gesture of solidarity. (I’m part Irish and used to live in Boston) But I’m gonna ask the ACLU and maybe also the IRC what else ordinary folks can do… Above and beyond Ruckus’ timely reminders.
SiubhanDuinne
@Glidwrith:
At this point I am honestly not sure where my talents, such as they are, might be best used — but I would very much like to be part of any initiative that addresses the entire range of voting issues, from access to ID cards to challenging “literacy tests” to long lines at polls to possible tampering with voting machines to gerrymandering. Please add me to the list, and we can figure out what to do with me later. (I’m not a bad writer, for instance, but there are others here who are much better and more experienced.)
Aleta
@Felanius Kootea: Though they changed their name, much of their work is still centered on needs of immigrant women, including sexual violence and domestic violence.
EBT
@Barb2: I have to imagine Israel is quite unhappy with how loud and proud the KKK spin offs are now. Won’t matter if deadbeat donnie says he disavows, and eric says david duke deserves a bullet, if the KKK gains social acceptance and power things will get very rough very fast for us globally.
PIGL
@3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike): please stick around.
Yours,
Konrad.