.
In NYMag, Kat Kinsman has “A Post-Election Action Plan for Anxious People”:
… The worst happened. More will happen. All the magical thinking and proactive worrying in the world didn’t prevent the outcome of this election, and letting it attack me from the inside is not a viable solution, not if I want to spend the next few years anywhere other than under my increasingly pilling comforter. So I’ve come up with a coping plan. Maybe it’ll help you, too.
Set a stretch alarm. When I’m in a panic spiral, I’ll find myself in sharp, shocking pain, then realize I’ve been gnarled up in startle position for several hours. Before the election, it got so bad that I set a reminder on my calendar to stand up and breathe deeply a few times a day. It’s painfully easy to forget to do, and the simple (and totally free!) act of drawing in breath can knock me out of a terrible thought loop and help me move forward with purpose.
See friends in person whether you feel up to it or not…
Also, don’t see people you don’t want to…
Step away from the internet…
Get some sleep…
Take meds if you need them…Pick one cause. You cannot go on every single protest march, make every call, sign every petition, sway every politician. Commit to selecting one cause and making it your big mission, or finding one little thing to do every day. A letter or phone call to a legislator, an hour volunteering, a couple of bucks to a cause, or a check-in on a friend living in a place where they may not feel safe. It might feel small. It will keep you sane.
Read the whole thing, it’s not very long, and Kinsman’s reasoning seems very sound.
***********
Speaking of taking one step at a time: Longtime commentor Jenn suggested we initiate a Friday Progress Open Thread, which seems timely (and doable, for me). Got suggestions as to where each of us individually can make a difference? Want to brag a little on your own progress? Leave a comment here (or email me at annelaurie dot verizon dot net) and I’ll set up the first POT this Friday.
One suggestion, right now: It’s not too late to donate to Foster Campbell, the Democrat in Louisana’s December 10th runoff election.
Apart from all that, what’s on the agenda for the new day?
raven
Well, BCBS denied our visit to urgent care and the subsequent trip to the orthopedic clinic when my wife broke her wrist. The documentation I read says they will pay for emergency situations so I’m hoping an appeal will help. It’s a couple of thousand dollars and I shudder to think what would have happened had we not been told that they would not pay for the surgery in Florida. I also didn’t realize ACA had expanded appeal rights. I better get on it!
Betty Cracker
@raven: Hope it works out for you on appeal. I got stuck paying out of pocket for an emergency MRI my primary care doc ordered a few months back. Fucking insurance companies.
raven
@Betty Cracker: Yea I don’t know. We called all of the numbers on our card and got nothing but “call again during normal business hours”. I checked yesterday and it the same message is still on their “member services” line. If I had not emailed our HR person about not being able to reach anyone we would have had the surgery down there and had to have payed the whole bill. HR reached a real person at BCBS and they called and said “don’t do it, we won’t pay for it out of state”.
Betty Cracker
@raven: That’s such bullshit too — as if BCBS doesn’t have organizations in every frigging state! Anyway, hope y’all get those bastards to pay up, and, more importantly, that your wife recovers as quickly as possible. A busted wing is no fun at all, particularly for an active person.
Keith P.
Bleh, woke up at 4am with my cold/sinus infection worsening. Went to bed with stopped up (and majorly irritated) sinuses and woke up to a cough and bloody snot. I need to get a chain attached to my neti pot so I can keep it around my neck. One shot of that through each nostril made 100x difference, including letting me breath. I was kind of paranoid that with my nose stopped up, I might go into a coughing/vomiting cycle where I wouldn’t be able to breathe*
* One of the relatively few times I thought I was legitimately going to die, I was hung over, so I made an extra-spicey bloody mary. Well, being hung over, I threw it up, but half came out my nose. The tabasco swelled my sinuses completely shut, so when I was throwing up, I was choking, which led to serious panic. One of those cases where the brain is processing so much pain that I couldn’t hold a thought…overload.
Mnemosyne
I can’t sleep, and since this is turning into the health insurance thread: it looks like my mom is going to need open heart surgery, and now I’m lying awake wondering what the fuck we’re going to do if we can’t schedule it before the Republicans kill Medicare and Obamacare. We have some money, but not enough to pay out of pocket for motherfucking open heart surgery.
raven
@Betty Cracker: I had a fit Saturday when she took a test drive while I was at the game. I got her to agree that she wouldn’t drive until she asked the ortho’s. She went yesterday and they said she could if she was comfortable. I don’t like it but I have to go along with it.
raven
@Mnemosyne: Isn’t the conventional wisdom that nothing is going to happened for a while?
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Pantsuit Nation has established dozens of local groups on FB. Make contact with them. The Raleigh org has been posting action calls and keeping the members up-to-date on the local scene, including turning out people for the SBOE meetings about the gubernatorial race. We had a large group show up for their first Moral Monday this week. I expect our immediate focus will be on the redistricting fight and the special elections called for next year after the new state legislative districts are drawn up.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
What’s been conventional about this election so far? There don’t seem to be any institutions willing to stand up to the Republicans, so I can’t assume that the out of pocket limits for this year will still be in place next year.
raven
@Mnemosyne: You’re right, you can’t assume anything.
CarolDuhart2
But even if you think nothing is going to happen for a while, it’s still possible to be caught in the crossfire. Think of an operation that needs therapy, time in the hospital, whatever. What if it happens while half-way through? I would certainly ask the doctor how soon it needs to be done, alternatives if any, and so forth.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fjQbDT1026nzdyLbf9AQMclk-gLK_x3OUrbkRV_96f8/edit#gid=1331366697
My project.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
One of the things going through my head right now is the call I’m going to make to Mark Kirk’s office (she lives in IL) asking if he’s still planning to vote to kill Medicare and Obamacare. I swear that if he does, and she dies, I am going to mail him a copy of her death certificate so he knows the name of at least one person he killed with his vote. That weasel motherfucker.
Pogonip
@Mnemosyne: I am not sure they will be able to kill Medicare–Bush Jr’s attempt to do so went nowhere. (Obamacare is a different story.). Certainly they won’t be able to do so on Day 1. So Mom should have time to have surgery. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Keith G
Re: An action plan…
For me it’s a lot about educating all within earshot about consequences. Years ago, I was interviewed by a reporter from the Houston Chronicle for a story about the first year of the ACA. This week, I am going to look up that reporter and get her engaged in thinking about what is likely to happen next. I hope to encourage her to write about local folks who are about to be cut loose from the world of adequate medical care.
Mnemosyne
@CarolDuhart2:
Thanks! It’s extra frustrating because my brother in IL who lives with her is on the ground making the decisions so I’m getting stuff second-hand. He texted me tonight saying that she’s freaked out about how she’s going to pay the deductible, which is what sent my brain spinning off and now it’s 3 am.
rikyrah
Morning, Everyone ???
Botsplainer
I’m REALLY in the dumps and am having trouble pulling out. These appointments are horrorshows, with the worst to come.
They know they got one shot at permanent change and permanent suppression, so it will all come very fast, and don’t think that the Kochs and ALEC dont have binders full of bills ready to go on January 22, 2017. Everything from Medicare gutting and Medicaid bloc granting to repealing the deductibility of state and local taxes will be on the the table and ready to be voted on without study.
The vampire squid has also been lurking – look for pressure on the Fed to bump interest rates bigly (Obama’s fault, because reasons), in order to inject some genuine uncertainty which can be profited on. Next comes the big payoff – Putin’s tit is in the wringer economically because of low energy prices. Watch for events to propel a quick spike – I’m guessing $3.20 a gallon by summer, electric and gas rates to match.
We are so well and truly fucked.
Meanwhile, our progressive betters (looking at you, goblue, you prick) worry about elites not reaching out enough to the concerns of the white working class, as if all those policy proposals that got stalled due to GOP obstruction hadn’t been put forth by thoughtful Democrats. There was zero wind in the sales, because floor the last 8 years, the white working class was rewarding the GOP for that obstruction.
I have this to say to all about the sainted Rust Belt/Appalachian WWC to those demanding that no harsh judgment befall them for their “concerns”:
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Isn’t Kirk a lame duck?
Mnemosyne
@Pogonip:
That’s why Ryan’s weasel plan is to sneak it through reconciliation without needing a full vote — that way, it will be a fait accompli and the only thing people will be able to do is bitch about it.
They’re probably gambling that voters will forget they did it by 2018 and, sadly, they’re probably right.
Mnemosyne
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Yep. Even more reason why he’d be willing to fuck his (former) constituents over — what penalty will he pay? I’m sure he’s already got a sweet Fox News gig lined up.
Pogonip
@Mnemosyne: Once those medical bills start rolling in the voters will remember right quick!
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
This Google Docs link went around PSN last week.
Act. Even if it’s just sending a postcard, act. You’ll be amazed at how much better you’ll feel just committing to one phone call or postcard a day.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: They can’t do anything until the next Congress, which Kirk will not be a member of. Obama’s term outlasts the current Congress.
Mnemosyne
@Pogonip:
Yeah, no. All they’ll remember is that it was the Democrats’ fault, because reasons.
Keith G
@raven:
The next 395 days are locked in, since enrollment has begun. CW says that ACA will be repealed very soon as a first step, with the replacement being legislated as a second step. There has been some discussion in GOP land of repealing ACA, but letting it survive through to the end of 2018 as a way to 1) Give the business in that sector a better chance to adjust 2) If the transition were to fuck up, the results would not be felt until after midterm elections.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Fuck them fucking fucks.
Cermet
To keep my sanity (and lose it at the same time) I have started a non-political project: to work on uniting Relativity and gravity to keep my mind off the massive dump that the wingnuts elected via a selection process (yet again!); made good progress until I hit a wall trying to understand how to use QED to calculate the Lamb Shift (I need to deal with issues of the quantum foam in order to give a basis to space curvature; before one gets too critical of my rather off-the-wall project, Sir Roger Penrose agreed that my approach to the Black Hole paradox did partly solve that issue – so, my approach has merit) – none-the-less, all I can say is ugh! Never realized how little really useful physics and math I learned in Grad school compared to what is really useful for these rather abstract areas of physics (I always preferred solid state and thermo and avoided all the really strange subjects – i.e. hard ones.) I realize at my age, not likely to master that subject on my own but once my daughter finishes her BS degree this year, she should have some time before grad school in Germany to tutor me in that subject – glad she passed me while still an undergrad … .
Mnemosyne
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m not sure I agree with you on your police work there, Lou.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: The truth of the matter is that if we have to eat the visits down there we can hack it, it won’t help out savings but it won’t kill it either.
D58826
Well Mitt’s post-diner statement may not have been an apology but it sure was full on grovel. He will make a great Sec of State. Diplomatic community will have a hard time not laughing in his face.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mnemosyne: Only if we (DEMS etc) let them forget it.
Pogonip
@BillinGlendaleCA: And also, reconciliation has to start with a budget. (Federal employees, of which I used to be one, learn to pay attention to these things.). They’re on a continuing resolution till either 1 March or 31 March, I forget which. So Mnenosyne’s mom has at least 3 months.
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
I’m feeling as darkly cynical as Kay right now. Since no institution has been willing to stand up to Trump so far, I don’t see why Ryan wouldn’t push through a bill that takes effect immediately. What’s stopping him, a few pissed-off insurance companies? Contracts were made to be broken as far as Trump and Ryan are concerned.
Maybe I’ll be less cynical once the sun comes up, but at 3:20 am, it seems like a good bet that they’re going to blow the whole system to shit as soon as they have the keys because there’s nobody to stop them.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cermet: Good.
Mnemosyne
Okay, now that I’ve vented, I should probably try to get some sleep. My alarm clock goes off in less than 4 hours. Thanks for letting me publicly freak out for a bit.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Obama would have to sign any repeal passed during the lame duck, ain’t gona happen.
Shalimar
@Mnemosyne: New Congress starts the first week of January, President Obama is in office until January 20th. Republicans theoretically can pass something during the lame-duck session of this Congress, but President Obama will veto it so there isn’t much point. What they cannot do is pass legislation that will end up on President Trump’s desk for a decision.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Fuck them fucking fucks. Like what are you supposed to do to stop the pain, chin ups? Fuck them fucking fucks. Their stupid fucking rules are the reason I had to drive 50 miles with a broken ankle. Fuck them fucking fucks.
Pogonip
@Mnemosyne: It’s OK, you’re worried about your Mom. But you have at least 3 months, and I’d bet at least 6. Remember how long it takes these clowns to pass a budget. I can’t remember the last time we even had one, it’s been at least 4 or 5 years.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mnemosyne: Our pleasure.
satby
Depending on what comes down health care wise, I’ve started to seriously consider relocating overseas in 2018 for the next couple of years primarily to have access to medical care. That’s assuming I can rent this house, and the large numbers of international college students that make this city a good real estate investment may dry up too. I just have to believe the tide will turn again after a couple of years of Republican rule and ruin, as it always does.
Matt McIrvin
@raven: There have been some stories suggesting that they’re going to immediately repeal the ACA on Inauguration Day, but take many months to come up with a replacement, leaving millions with just no health insurance in the meantime.
gene108
@OzarkHillbilly:
Even if we try to remind them, the right-wing noise machine will drown us out by sheer volume of the latest liberal outrage or keep stirring up some old time favorites, like The War on Christmas.
Kay
@Botsplainer:
Here’s where this whole theory that they were economically anxious falls apart for me: Trump is mean and spiteful. He has a bad character. He lies constantly. He insults people. He rips people off.
They didn’t vote for a charming psychopath- they voted for an asshole. “Asshole” is the same in any economic group and you don’t need higher education or outreach on policy to understand it and know it when you see it. That’s why I’m not letting them off the hook. Character- being a decent human being- has nothing to do with ideology or outreach or any of that.
They know Trump’s not a good man and that was a huge part of his appeal. The nastier he was the better they liked it. That has nothing to do with anything other than admiring assholes which reflects personally (and poorly) on them.
Baud
Awful things are going to happen whether you’re afraid of them or not. So choose not.
OzarkHillbilly
@Matt McIrvin: That particular tidal wave will break on the seawall of corporate insurance profit margins, that is to say, the insurers will say “You can’t just do that with out risking a whole lot of money for a whole lot of rich people. You have to slow down and do this carefully.” The House Freedom Caucus loves to talk about freedom but they haven’t a clue about what their words actually mean.
@gene108: There is more than a little truth to that, but it’s hard to ignore the bill board on your morning commute that says, “DEATH PANELS, brought to you by today’s GOP”
Baud
@Kay: Agree.
Baud
@gene108: The right wing nois machine works because Dems usually lack unity. That’ll be our challenge.
Kay
@Botsplainer:
If they didn’t recognize a bad person, a con man, a person who proudly behaves like a jerk every single day, then there’s nothing anyone can do for them and they’re going to get ripped off and abused all the time.
It isn’t “civics education” or better outreach- he’s a bad man! He fucking screams “bad person-stay away”. So one of two things is true -they’re ridiculously poor judges of character (which has nothing to do with education) OR they admire bad people. I can’t do anything with that. That’s baked in.
I don’t need a college education or “outreach” from liberals to know NOT to hire bad people. I need the ability to recognize a bad person and when I do recognize that I have to reject the bad person instead of admiring that person.
rachel
I believe early voting in the Louisiana Senate race is under way. What are we doing to GOTV for Foster Campbell?
Kay
@Baud:
My friend Michelle stopped by last night to commiserate. She’s been a poll worker in a rural precinct for 30 years. She says Trump brought out brand new voters- that they had never voted before. She was swamped all day because none of them knew what they were doing and she had to help a lot of people. A lot of them were in the wrong place- she had to direct traffic to other precincts.
I’d like to see more on that before I buy the “Obama voters turned to Trump” theory. It matters a lot because if they’re new voters – Trump specific- they’ll lose enthusiasm fast and they won’t show up for midterms.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Tell the truth, Kay.
Keep on telling it.
Botsplainer
@Kay:
Personally, I think that it is both. There is a real cultural defect toward autocracy and credilousness when it comes to interactions with a grandiose promiser in a slick suit.
Baud
@Kay: MMMM had some stat that Trump did bring out new voters in the Midwest, more so than switchers. Obviously, traditional GOP voters stayed with him too.
Baud
@Kay: I said before the election that it would be clarifying regardless of the outcome, and I was right. I don’t see any going back.
gene108
@OzarkHillbilly:
Who is going to pay for the billboard? George Soros? Despite right-wing fantasies, he is pretty apolitical on what happens in the U.S.
@Baud:
Unity has nothing to do with it.
If Sarah Palin can post about “Death Panels” on her Facebook feed and get a law amended, but we cannot counter the shitstorm, with actual facts and reason, I am not hopeful.
The MSM will give the Republicans a honeymoon period, because each new Administration “deserves one” and “they did the same for Obama” (in their minds, at least).
With Bush, Jr the honeymoon lasted until Katrina destroyed New Orleans, and even then Fox News managed to shift some of the blame into Mayor Nagin.
I am not hopeful that we can reach the people we need to reach, in parts of PA or MI and other states that are needed to win back control of the government.
Getting CA or NYC to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, may run up the vote totals, but it is not going to win us a district in northeastern PA, which Clinton lost and Obama won.
Edit: The way the media went all in for Trump does not give me the warm fuzzies about our ability to reach people en masse.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
I don’t buy that myself. Not that there aren’t a few, because of course there are some voters who have no idea who or what they are voting for. It is going to take some serious hard data to convince me I am wrong.
Kay
@Botsplainer:
Well,we’ll know pretty soon. Because he lied to them. So when he backs the Ryan agenda and takes away all the social programs they rely on then we can stop feeling sorry for them and admit they picked the asshole BECAUSE they admire bad people. His “populist” agenda is a joke. It’s a plutocrats dream. So IF what they admire is a strutting, mean-spirited, lying fool then I can’t do anything with that. Does it reflect on them personally that they admire mean people? Of course it does. They’re not children. They’re responsible for who and what they admire.
Baud
@gene108:
I disagree. Our infighting and circular firing squads give the GOP oxygen they need to burn. Not that unified Dems will always win, but we’d do a lot better.
Baud
@Kay: He’s a monster and a crook, and transparently so.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I saw one stat that said that for every “new” Clinton voter there were four “new” Trump voters. Michelle actually has a huge WWC family here – she has one of the last names that are very common in rural areas in this county- and she was saying she saw extended family members she hasn’t seen in years :)
She actually “got out” for a while. She married after high school and moved to Connecticut for a decade and got a teaching degree and then she and her husband moved back. She’s not that sympathetic to the plight of the (local) WWC.
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108:
???? If you can not answer that question, I’m afraid I can’t help you.
Botsplainer
@Kay:
You wonder who looooooooooves reality TV? Trump voters.
All those little bullshit personality conflicts are lapped up like the dog’s vomited breakfast.
Wife has a couple of those bullshit shows she watches, and gets upset at me when I express disdain for them and get especially enraged when I see Andy Cohen’s smirking fucking face on Bravo. I blame his productions for a shitload of it, primarily because how much conflict is showcased.
He’s going to be one of the first on the wall when the Revolution comes.
Baud
@Botsplainer: I guess Judge Judy will make it to the Supreme Court.
D58826
With regard to der Fuhrers announcement this morning about deciding to be a full time president. Not a high finance type or a lawyer but exactly what does this mean when Trump says ‘ legal documents are being crafted to take me completely out of business operations’?
Sounds to me like the CEO will now be Donald Trump Jr. (or maybe Ivanka)rather than Donald Trump. A distinction w/o a difference. Trump and family still derive the financial benefits of owning the company.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Cermet:
Something is pressing on a bad part of your brain. Better get that checked out before health care goes away.
Baud
@D58826: It means nothing, and trying to interpret Trump’s statements is something Zen Buddhist masters don’t even try to do.
And as far as I know, Trump’s family is not subject to Trump’s restrictions if they stay out of government. So it does matter how it’s done.
Kay
@Baud:
Right. We had this local family who were selling replacement windows. Windows are a “fixture” in Ohio property law so they would sell the rip-off window contract and put a lien on the property. People would be shocked that this window contract they couldn’t afford was secured by their house. It literally took a decade for them to STOP dealing with these people. I swear to God you would back away from any of them in the first 5 minutes – obvious crooks and proudly public assholes. If they choose to trust and admire that I feel like that reflects on them as much as the crook.
OzarkHillbilly
Some good news this morning: Chernobyl disaster site enclosed by shelter to prevent radiation leaks
Pretty cool stuff. Would have been neat to work on that project.
Hellbastard
I don’t know… for most of the Dubya years I spent a lot of time at Daily Kos and other liberal bastions and found myself constantly enraged about this scandal or that. Eventually, I decided there was a better way to live and disengaged from the liberal blogosphere and news in general. I see myself doing the same thing under the rule of Trump I. I’m going to focus on local matters and animal welfare issues. Shelter animals need my help regardless of who the president is.
Betty Cracker
@Keith G: Great idea.
@Kay: Yeah, that’s an important question, whether these are Obama voters who flipped or new voters. I remember reading in the run-up to the election that new voter registration was down, which gave me confidence (false, as it may turn out) that Trump wasn’t bringing new people into the process.
I’ve read a few “human interest” type feature stories at WaPo and other outlets about folks who voted for Obama and then voted for Trump. I don’t doubt that some exist. But the reasons they gave were all over the place, ranging from straight-up sexism to “he tells it like it is” (by constantly lying!), etc. My takeaway about that group is that some people are just irredeemably stupid or irresponsible celeb-chasers. I don’t know how you “reach” them, aside from nominating one of the Kardashians.
rachel
@Baud: He’s not likely to nominate anyone remotely that qualified. Think Harriet Miers but beastlier.
Baud
@Hellbastard: I loved kos during the Bush years. They fell apart when Obama took office.
Baud
@Kay: I think a lot of submissive people succumb to dominant personality types even when they should know better.
BillinGlendaleCA
@D58826: Are the kids also going to be outside of government operations, hasn’t exactly been the case so far.
Kay
@D58826:
WWC won’t care that he’s rich and hires rich people. They will care if he’s corrupt – getting something they don’t get.
Democrats ran on the “culture of corruption” in 2006 and it was wildly successful. We shouldn’t focus on “look at all the rich people he hires” – they admire rich people. We should focus on “they’re getting special treatment“.
It isn’t about “equity” or “fairness” in the broad sense for them- it’s comparative, relative, someone gets something I don’t get.
Betty Cracker
@D58826: Well, Hair Furor can’t leave his passel of unemployable sociopath relatives without a grift to grind, so yeah, I suspect it will be a meaningless transfer to his spawn, who will continue to leverage the most prestige political connection on the planet to their (and his) benefit. The only thing of interest will be how the media receives the fig leaf, and the signs aren’t good.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Lot of my hod-carrier buddies worked on the Clinton Nuke back in the day.
Baud
@Kay: I agree.
Someone here quoted someone else who said they don’t hate the rich, but they hate educated professionals. Rings true to me.
(Reminds me that the bad guy in Office Space wasn’t the CEO, but the middle manager.)
In retrospect, the 1% v. the 99% wasn’t a powerful message.
tobie
@Botsplainer:
Can someone explain why the GOP bigshots/hedge fund managers/vulture capitalists are all committed to ending deductions on state and local taxes and mortgage interest? They want to cut taxes and amp deductions on everything else, just this one tax break is unacceptable to them.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: GOS became the classic circular firing squad, so I left before I became a casualty. I believe we left about the same time.
Baud
@tobie:
1. Hurts blue states.
2. Helps offset cost of massive tax cuts for rich.
Kay
@Baud:
I could forgive them for Bush because they thought Bush was a “good man”. They were essentially pointing to character to excuse his incompetence. I got it- I saw the appeal.
This is different. They know Trump is a bad man. They voted for that quality.
rikyrah
@Kay:
He is going to be over the most corrupt bunch of folks to be in government in at least 50 years
BillinGlendaleCA
@tobie: If they try that, we can just call it the biggest tax hike in history; cause that’s what it would be.
Iowa Old Lady
I’m watching last night’s Chris Hayes online and Joan Walsh raises the question: Why is it identity politics to talk about women and minorities but not the WWC?
BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: Probably the past 100 years. You’d probably have to go back to Harding to find a comparison.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Iowa Old Lady: I speak WCC – How many universities have a WWC studies program?
Kay
@BillinGlendaleCA:
The value of Kos, in my view, is it’s a liberal “institution”. There are so few of those and “preaching to the choir” is actually really important in organizing. If you go to the Kos conventions you see what are (essentially) professional liberals- people who make careers out of politics. They’re important. “Grass roots” is nice and wholesome and pure but it’s also sporadic and unreliable. If you want a national org you have to pay some portion of them to make it into a job.
gene108
@tobie:
Those deductions mostly benefit the middle class. They do very little for the truly rich.
The massive tax cuts they crave, which will benefit them need to be paid for somehow and there’s only so much that can be cut from Social Security, Medicare and food stamps.
Trump has also proposed eliminating the Head of Household designation, when filing taxes and only having Single and Married as designations. It has a lower tax rate than Single. This will hurt a lot of single parent families.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Agreed. Republicans won’t do shit either. They had to get creamed in 2006 before they even started talking about the corruption in the GOP. This will get very bad, very fast. Democrats will be rolling out “culture of corruption” by 2018.
Betty Cracker
@Iowa Old Lady: Exactly right — it’s WHITE MALE identity politics, but since “white” and “male” are considered the default settings, it’s not recognized as such.
Schlemazel
@Kay:
I don’t think they are bad judges of character, I think they voted for Trump because they thought they were finally going to stick it to the people they want to stick it too. His being an asshole was a feature not a bug. They are cheering on what comes next because they think those people are finally going to get it but good. Of course the believe this will somehow leave them better off. The real shit will hit the fan when they discover they are much worse off. Who they blame & how they deal with the rage at that moment will determine the future of America.
Yoda Dog
@OzarkHillbilly: Agreed, other than random idiots, I don’t buy these Obama to Trump people either. Even if they do exist in big enough numbers to matter, I dont know how you reach someone who’s just throwing darts in the ballot box.
ETA: Morning, everyone.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Obama doesn’t get enough credit from the douchebags in political media for the lack of corruption in his administration. It’s extraordinary and they know it.
He had a GOP Congress who were baying for his head and they couldn’t find SHIT to even invent a scandal that stuck.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Iowa Old Lady:
Because “white male” isn’t an “identity,” it’s “normal.”
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I worked on a lot of different projects over the years. Some big, most not, some cool, most not. It was nice to be able to push one’s self and be a part of building something truly unique. Most times it was just grind grind grind.
Iowa Old Lady
@BillinGlendaleCA: I can testify that all English departments have huge over representation of W writers. The WC, you got me on that.
Didn’t UNC have a poverty studies program that McCrory got rid of? Does that count?
Kay
@Schlemazel:
I’m sorry but I won’t excuse them. If you supported Trump you are by definition a poor judge of character. Wanting to “stick it to people” is an excuse for the original sin, which is either not recognizing a bad person or admiring bad people.
This whole WWC theory is really pretty patronizing. He’s a mean-spirited nasty crook. They should have seen that. It’s 100% on them that they didn’t. You don’t have to be smart or educated or rich to reject bad people.
tobie
@gene108: One thing that may be different next time around is that they won’t have the “witch/bitch/woman” to kill. It dawned on me yesterday that the consistent theme in the media throughout the primaries and then the general election campaign was how to disqualify HRC. The NY Times legitimized this approach, when in 2015 they published a string of stories regarding the Clintons based on Peter Schweitzer’s Clinton Cash. From that point on it was a feeding frenzy in the media. What seems to unite all Trump voters, whether they enthusiastically or grudgingly pulled the lever for him, is their hate for HRC. It pains me to say it but we’re not ready to elect a woman…unless of course she’s the cute-and-perky type (think Dana Perino) or the pinup type (think Palin).
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: All of them. It’s the default setting.
Jeffro
@Mnemosyne:
At the risk of sounding morbid (and certainly NOT hoping that it happens)…that’s actually a very powerful statement. Be sure to write your local paper and/or call your local radio & TV stations to let them know you’re doing it, too.
Come to think of it, when the time comes and Medicare/Medicaid/Obamacare are up for votes, mailing in mocked-up death certificates (either 1 per person in each state who’ll suffer when these programs are curtailed, or a ‘mass’ death certificate that notes how many people will die due to Republicans’ “reforms”) is a great idea when coupled with notification to the media.
tobie
@gene108: @Baud: Thanks for the explanations. The one middle class tax break they probably won’t go for are contributions to 401Ks because that would mean less money for Wall Street (mutual funds, equities, bonds).
Schlemazel
@Kay:
I was not excusing them, in fact I was doing the exact opposite. They know the guy is an enraged asshole they just think it is the queers, coloreds and bitches that are going to “finally get what’s comin to em”. That is hardly an admirable stand.
When they discover Trump went in them without lube they are going to want to kill something.
Jeffro
Btw folks I have mentioned this before, but when it comes for ways to affect the next four years, this is a really great manual for activism: MoveOn’s “50 Ways to Love Your Country“. Skim through it, pick 4-5 (or more!) of the actions that are outlined in the book and go for it – the following week, you just lather, rinse, repeat.
Kay
@Jeffro:
Trump is actually on tape at those rallies talking about saving Medicare.
So, if they back him after he signs onto to Ryan’s plan we can dispense with the idea they voted on “populism” or a lack of “outreach” from liberals. Trust me- I deal with them every day. They’re very aware of Medicare and Medicaid.
It’s just amazing to me that media have turned this around. Blaming “liberals” for Trump is ludicrous. That liberals went along with it makes me think liberals must be morons. They’re suicidal apparently. They threw themselves on the tracks and said “blame us! we failed at OUTREACH!” Christ. NOT joining THAT movement. No thanks.
Jeffro
@Schlemazel:
When they figure out that Republicans aren’t going to voucher-ize only black people’s Medicare, aren’t going to privatize only Hispanic folks’ Social Security, aren’t going to pollute only poor people’s drinking water, etc, then maybe they’ll get it. Or not.
I’m looking forward to watching Trump’s reaction when Republicans move to do all these things, and WWC America cries out, “Trump, save us!” There just might be some popcorn involved at that point in time…
Botsplainer
National Geographic is dead to me – they’re going totebagger.
This month, we have a photo of old white Wingnuts at a Santa convention in Branson(!) (and descriptions of their favorite white people Christmas things) and a big feature on the power of faith in healing. The coup de grace is an article by Julia Ioffe of Politico (her first contribution to NG) on how awesome fun and sexy and edgy it is to be a millennial in Putin’s Russia.
Jeffro
@Kay:
I see your comment and mine just crossed paths…great minds and all that…=)
See what you think of #108. I think we’re on the same page here, Kay. I’ve actually reached a little bit of serenity about it…no less dedicated to opposing Trump at every turn, but in realizing that I probably don’t have to stay so wound up about him all the time. He – and his evil GOP enablers – will most likely take care of themselves in short order.
Kay
@Schlemazel:
That’s what conservatives always do, though, and it’s what liberals never get. Trump wasn’t excluding others. That’s not how they hear it. He was bringing them in to his circle. It’s inclusive, not exclusive. He’s telling them “you’re like ME”. They hear it as inclusive. Since he’s an asshole I’m including them in his asshole group. That’s what they signed onto in this case. That’s new. They usually require the cover of “he’s a GOOD MAN”.
Betty Cracker
@Kay:
A thousand amens. So-called liberals who buy that bullshit can stay the fuck outta my foxhole.
FlipYrWhig
@Kay: My guess remains this: at least half the people who voted for Trump know deep down that he’s horrible, and it bothers them a little bit that he’s so horrible, but they thought Hillary Clinton was even more horrible, because of something something. I’ve never understood the depths of Republican hatred for Hillary Clinton. I know how it started, which was with backlash against the first “career girl” First Lady and her place in the Mommy Wars. So obviously gender is a big part of it. But the idea that she’s profoundly corrupt (which, it must be said, Bernie Sanders whipped up as well) has no basis whatsoever. On the left, fine, “corporatist” and “neoliberal” and all that stuff, I disagree with those, but I get where they come from. Beyond the left, though, you’d think she’d be regarded as the female Al Gore, boring and wonkish and easy to caricature. Instead, she’s the female Lucifer. I find it hard to process.
debbie
@raven:
Back in the days of Major Medical, it was standard practice to deny a claim, but then approve it when appealed. It’s almost like a ritual dance. Hope you win!
Kay
@Jeffro:
Don’t forget public schools. There is NO group of people who are more dependent on federal funding for schools than rural white people. It’s 10% of funding but that;s NATIONAL. That includes a lot of wealthy areas who fund their fancy public schools locally. It can be 50% in rural areas. Trump hired DeVos and DeVos is lunatic. She’ll gut federal funding to public schools. They’ll feel that immediately. They cannot fund their own schools. They don’t have the tax base. The money simply isn’t there.
Schlemazel
@Jeffro:
They will know they have been screwed but the question is who will they blame? The odds of them finally realizing the Dems have been on their side all along are very slim. The odds that they choose some new shiny BS artist with a different tag (not GOP, not Dem) seem to be high & much more dangerous.
Jeffro
Speaking of serenity…perhaps the one thing I haven’t seen since the election is a Trump Serenity Prayer…
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed…like the media’s laughable, yet unshakable, focus on the “economic anxiety” of the blessed white working class,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed…like reporters focusing on Hillary’s emails instead of Trump’s wholesale unfitness for office, for starters,
and the Wisdom to hang in there, and know that these GOP motherfuckers will over-reach
in very short order.
LOL
It didn’t help as much as I thought it would…=)
amk
@Jeffro: I fully expect the rethugs to cut all the social security nets only for non-whites and make it a right only for whites. They have the power to do it now since the congress, presidency and the sc is in their hands. And the fifth columnist fourth estate will normalize it.
Schlemazel
@Kay:
But will they blame DeVos/Trump or will the blame the liberal government for over taxation and over regulation driving all the good jobs to China?
amk
AL, mod release please.
amk
@Jeffro:
I fully expect the rethugs to cut all the social security nets only for non-whites and make it a right only for whites. They have the power to do it now since the congress, presidency and the sc is in their hands. And the fifth columnist fourth estate will normalize it.
Jeffro
@Kay:
I’m not forgetting schools – that’s my profession! =)
My experience, which includes some pretty rural districts, is that even those districts don’t get much more than 15% of their funding from the feds. I’m vastly more concerned about what GOP-controlled state legislatures do to their public school systems (like Kansas, for starters). They can absolutely decimate entire states with their crazy-ass charter giveaway programs and vouchers and simply starving the schools for funds. I’m not as worried about local districts and their share of the funding because, while some are stingy, none are willing to do to their own local districts (and therefore their own kids) what they’re willing to pass at the state level.
Yet another reason to go for broke revitalizing state D parties!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay:
That “telling it like it is” in their book. “Asshole” is someone who replies in the same spirit. Basically these blue collar clowns are mentally teens and the same with Trump.
Also the preacher at their Mega Church told them. I suspect Trump promised the Evengelicals something big in tax breaks because they are all in love with him.
debbie
@Kay:
Economic anxiety, my ass. It was resentment, pure and simple, and it’s been building up since the first days of Bill Clinton.
Trump supporters feel Trump’s election has given them the right to vent and to attack anyone (even other White people). Right now on my FB page, people are freaking out over a guy who punched someone from behind in the name of Trump. What kind of cowards has he let loose?
Jeffro
@Schlemazel:
At the risk of looking like I’m splitting the difference, I think we’ll get a little of both. Some folks will ‘see the light’ and at a minimum, lower their antipathy towards the Dems (I mean, now that History’s Greatest Monster is back in Chappaqua, who is there left to demonize?? Even Harry Reid is retiring.) Some will go for the next BS artist, true…but given the sheer meanness of what the GOP is about to attempt to do to Americans’ safety nets, it’s going to be a tough sell.
Plus don’t forget, hopefully we’ll have Mt Rushmore #5, PBO*, out there reminding voters for the next 30 years that “…elections matter, and perhaps this election, voters will consider the consequences of putting person X vs person Y in office…and that consequences can usually be deduced by the person’s previous track record.”
*I may have to start calling him MR5 both here and when discussing Obama’s presidency with my RW friends and relatives. It has the virtue of being both a) true and b) extremely irritating to them, I’m sure.
DeliciousGuac
@rachel: Early voting IS underway! I canvassed for Foster Campbell in NOLA yesterday… felt great to find enthusiastic voters. And it’s not too late to donate to Campbell to support GOTV efforts.
satby
@Kay: good. I want them to feel pain as fast as possible. One of the Republicans who hasn’t unfriended me yet on FB out up some blurb about the Carrier deal like it was this big triumph instead of a boondoggle. Then one of her other friends started whining about SS and Medicare. They’re starting to worry a bit. Good.
rumpole
“Morons never do the wrong thing. They get their reasoning wrong. Like the fellow who says that all dogs are pets and all dogs bark, and cats are pets, too, therefore cats bark…Morons will occasionally say something that’s right, but they say it for the wrong reason…A lunatic is easily recognized. He is a moron who doesn’t know the ropes. The moron proves his thesis; he has logic, however twisted it may be. The lunatic on the other hand, doesn’t concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars…There are lunatics who don’t bring up the Templars, but those who do are the most insidious. At first they seem normal, then all of a sudden…”
Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum.
We are going to need a Templars! hashtag.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Jeffro: I think that is likely too. For everyone’s fear of how Awesome Trump is keep in mind this isn’t Scott “I am a Kotch Brother” Walker, Trump did this just hear “Hail to the Chief” when he walked in the room and to show the snotty NYC establishment Trump is a real winner. Trump is clearly is going to be the most inept president we ever had. That is going to sting to these people.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@satby:
I was thinking that myself after seeing the picture of Romeny looking embarrassed sitting there eating dinner with Trump. Makes me wonder if all this GOP rally around the president elect is them trying to keep the damage down from Trump and his yes men’s ineptness.
O. Felix Culpa
@DeliciousGuac:
And here’s a link with info on virtual phone banking to GOTV for Foster Campbell. You can do it from anywhere. We have folks calling from Santa Fe. 49 Dems in the Senate would be helpful (even if that Manchin guy from WV is a squish):
O. Felix Culpa
Ok, the linky thing didn’t work. Virtual phone banking for Foster Campbell, take two.. Just do it.
gvg
You know, I have noticed a whole lot of people seem to have grown up without it being explained to them how to spot misleading advertising or notice propaganda. I had a forth grade teacher who spent most of that year teaching us how to resist advertising and to notice when we were being manipulated. She wasn’t anti consumerism, she just was being a responsible adult training us. Her main examples were toy ads and sugary cereals but it was some of the most memorable teaching I ever had and I still think in her terms….if it seems to be too good to be true, don’t. Always figure out how they are making a profit and decide if you actually are ok with it. Beware of emotional words. You can say the same facts with different emotional words to get very different reactions…..I had a marketing class in college that built on that.
The whole “conservative” grift mill is built on emotional word advertising and gullibility. there are some liberals who do the same thing but they aren’t in control. Lots and lots of people would benefit by being taught these tricks in a PSA sort of thing but I have no idea how to get it through them. Not mentioning specifics, just the techniques. I bet FOX wouldn’t accept such an ad and that is where its needed. Its not just political manipulation either.
Betty Cracker
@rumpole: An Eco quote was just what was missing in my morning — thank you! Just the other day I was reading an Eco essay on fascism somewhere. It seemed timely.
gene108
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Trump promised the Fundies a repeal of the Johnson Amendment , so their churches can become truly overtly political and not hurt their tax status.
sherparick
@Mnemosyne: I don’t think you have to worry about Mark Kirk right now since he lost to Tammy Duckworth on 8 November, one of the four pieces of good news on an otherwise bad night.
satby
@satby: and that Republican friend just asked me how I could possibly be so angry and go through the day spreading such negativity. So I explained, and then told her to unfollow me if she didn’t like the news stories I shared puncturing her balloon.
She’s a nice enough person I guess, I only know her casually, but I just won’t give an iota of respect to someone who refuses to look at the reality of the situation. For the record, I suspect she voted Johnson, but after the election has come home to Drumpf.
Jeff
@Keith P.: Neti pots are a wonder. I do mine daily now. The other thing you might try is Vicks vaporub on your feet at night. Smear it on top and bottom then wear socks over it. It’s a cough suppressant. A friend told me about it. I thought she was crazy. Tried it and it worked. Who knew?
Thoroughly Pizzled
@Botsplainer: The day they sold out to the Murdochs was legitimately one of the saddest days of the last few years.
artem1s
I sent Foster Campbell another $25. thanks for the phone banking link. I’ll try it tonight.
SiubhanDuinne
@Botsplainer:
It’s been a Murdoch/FOX property since September 2015, so the article/photo features you cited are unsurprising. I would expect to see more of them in the future, and correspondingly fewer wildlife and science-centered pieces.
satby
And in the “climate change is a hoax” file: it’s November 30 and the petunias in my hanging pots are not only not dead of a freeze, but they’re putting out new blooms.
HRA
I have been witness to many who have achieved the title of president of the United States. The truth is you worry regardless of the party during every president in office. You adjust wherever you are able to and you do your best to survive.
The pollsters have adopted the way to identify voters by class. The media exposes it daily during the elections. The ongoing result and focus here is WWC. I finished growing up under the shadow of the major employer there. I was witness to who was walking or driving to work there daily from my integrated community. There were as many minorities as there were whites in the plant. The next often used phrase is uneducated. Sure you would wonder in my time why they did not go to higher education since we had a state college free of paying tuition. The reason is life’s circumstances. During my last 2 years of high school, 2 friends had their fathers who were the breadwinners die. Their mothers never held a job and there were young siblings to take care of. My friends worked the midnight shift, came straight to school from work and had to give up any after school activities as well without any complaints. I hope there can be some consideration for the entire WC rather than derision over this idiotic election.
I’ll come back later. I have to go for a blood test.. .
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
Eco was yet another we lost in this dismal year :-(
InternetDragons
@Mnemosyne: For what it’s worth, I work at pretty high levels in public health systems. From all indications, you should have at least a year (maybe two) before the idiots can unravel the ACA.
If you can get the surgery scheduled within the next six months, that’d be good.
Jeffro
Hey here is a funny for everyone: deep within the NYT’s reporting of how Carrier employees were hoping Trump would save their jobs is this little gem:
The plant. Is already profitable.
rikyrah
Steve Bannon Thinks He’s Smarter than Liberals
by Nancy LeTourneau
November 23, 2016 1:50 PM
n his interview with Michael Wolff, Steve Bannon said something that raised the ire of a lot of liberals.
Darkness is good…Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power.
More than a few people went off on rants about how Bannon associated himself with the dark forces of Cheney, Darth Vadar and Satan. But if you bothered to notice what he said next, that is exactly what he was hoping for. The “power” he’s looking for isn’t what resides in that darkness – but in making his opponents react to the idea that it is.
It only helps us when they…get it wrong. When they’re blind to who we are and what we’re doing.
As Bannon made clear throughout that interview, he thinks he’s a lot smarter than his liberal opponents. So he assumes that he can play them by tossing out lines like that one about the power of dark forces and watch them set their hair on fire while he carries on with his plans. In other words, Bannon throws out incendiary bait that triggers System 1 thinking while he strategizes about how to outmaneuver them with System 2 thinking.
System 1: Fast, automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, subconscious
System 2: Slow, effortful, infrequent, logical, calculating, conscious
………………………………
This is not to suggest that liberals shouldn’t speak up when Trump or Bannon say outrageous things. They just need to recognize when/how they are being played. A perfect example related to the whole Hamilton saga was that, while everyone was reacting to that tweet, it provided a distraction to the fact that Trump settled the law suit related to his so-called “university” for $25 million.
In essence, the Bannon/Trump game is to inflame liberals by being outrageous bullies. It is tempting to simply raise the stakes by bullying back. That’s how they’re setting the table for the game to be played while Bannon maneuvers behind the scenes and laughs at liberal’s for taking the bait.
rikyrah
Quick Takes: A Timetable for Ending Medicare
by Nancy LeTourneau
November 29, 2016 5:20 PM
POLITICAL ANIMAL BLOG
* A little over a week ago, the man that Donald Trump will nominate to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services – Rep. Tom Price – outlined a timetable for getting rid of Medicare as we know it.
The head of the House Budget Committee said Thursday that lawmakers are eying an overhaul of Medicare next year.
Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) said he expects lawmakers to push forward with an overhaul “within the first six to eight months” of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
He said it would be tackled through the budget tactic in the Senate called “reconciliation,” which allows major spending-related bills to pass the upper chamber without a veto.
rikyrah
Still Missing the Horror of Medicare Phaseout
By JOSH MARSHALL
Published NOVEMBER 29, 2016, 12:57 PM EDT
We are hearing more about the Trump/Ryan plan to phase out Medicare and replace it with private insurance and vouchers. But we’re still hearing much, much less than about Obamacare or a lot of other issues. Obamacare is super important. Don’t get me wrong. But Medicare is a much, much bigger deal. Most DC journalists don’t actually understand what’s being proposed. You think it’s hard getting good insurance when you’re 30 or 50? Try getting good private insurance when you’re 70 or 80.
Providing health insurance coverage to seniors will unquestionably cost more if run through private insurance. No one who has looked at the comparative data on the cost efficiency of Medicare and private carriers can question this. There’s no money savings. Quite the opposite. The only difference is that seniors will pay vastly more out of pocket because the vouchers won’t come close to the costs of a policy. The upshot of the Ryan plan is significantly increasing the cost of what society pays for the medical care of seniors and then making seniors pay dramatically more out of pocket. All with none of the bedrock gaurantees Medicare provides.
That’s what phasing out Medicare means. Ironically, what Trump and Ryan are proposing is something like Obamacare: you buy your insurance on an exchange and you get some premium support from the government. Obviously, not everyone loves Obamacare. But building an exchange and subsidy adjunct for non-seniors onto an existing and fairly robust private health insurance system is one thing. Creating one from scratch for people who are all pretty much by definition bad risks is close to laughable. Laughable if you’re not bankrupted or dying because you couldn’t get care.
Remember the other things Medicare significantly guard against. If parents have insupportable medical bills or have no way to pay for care, they go to children. In the absence of any other options, that’s how it should be. But that money comes out of other things: buying homes, putting kids through college. The social insurance model of Medicare has positive effects well beyond direct beneficiaries.
Ryan and Trump want to pass a bill to phase out Medicare in just six months.
StringOnAStick
@tobie: You know, the whole point of SS privatization is the inject a huge amount of bovine (easy to shoot against and profit from) money into Wall Street; sort of the last big push as it were. They want it because they saw what creating 401k’s did for the markets; it was like rocket fuel. What strikes me as a former successful at home trader is that all the crazy shit these guys are proposing creates massive uncertainty, and Wall Street plus corporate America do not like uncertainty because it screws up profits and decision making so I would think there would be massive push back when the economy starts to tank from all this crap. Then again, they really sharp and fast hedge funds do great when things go to hell because of the complex shorting strategies they use, so maybe not. Corporations won’t like it though, they can’t liquidate and protect assets at the touch of a button like a trader can.
Pogonip
@gvg: We spent a week on propaganda in high school social studies. I forget which grade.
Patricia Kayden
@Keith P.: I’ve never heard of a neti pot before but I have the same condition as you so I’ll look it up. For some reason, both Hubby and I are suffering from stuffed up noses and I’ve had a bloody nose for a few days. Sigh.
Jinchi
@Mnemosyne:
A few pissed-off insurance companies is exactly what might stop them. The one constituency the Republicans care about is wealthy corporations.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@rikyrah: Based on what’s happened, I think he is.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@O. Felix Culpa:
I believe you can’t have a hyperlink as the very last thing in a comment. You need to add a carriage return after it.
Matt McIrvin
One of the things that tires me out about left-ish politics is that for every single cause or strategy that exists, I can find people on “our side” loudly insisting that pushing that is DOING IT WRONG and will lead to disaster. I suspect that while “pick one cause” may be personally fulfilling, it could lead to disunity and infighting, because someone’s always going to insist that your cause is a distraction from the worthwhile cause. But you can’t dither forever.
gene108
@StringOnAStick:
Corporations do not think long term anymore. You can bilk the system to boost quarterly profits for the current quarter, there’s nothing more to consider. They will be all in on whatever scheme Trump dreams up, because they will have a short rocket ride of huge profits and bonuses that will still be in their pockets, when the crash comes, and no one is going to have to pay those back.
It happened in the 1990’s, with the various accounting scandals. It happened in the 00’s with the housing bubble. It’ll happen again.
Greed trumps a lot of inhibitions; and to get to the level of wealth the heads of corporate America have, you have to be very, very greedy.
gene108
@Jeffro:
That’s Reagan’s lasting legacy for America, the fact a profitable company cannot rest and be content to turn a profit, because there’s always a corporate raider, hedge fund manager, etc. out there, willing to leverage themselves up and buy out your company and then gut it all to hell.
JAFD
Greetings from New Jersey,
Raining here yesterday and today. Needed – weather service says has been ‘drought conditions’ – was visiting friends in the exurbs over Thanksgiving, and the little stream thru their backyard – jumpoverable if you’re a decade or two younger than I and have a running start – has dried up. Hoping y’all will get a copious supply of oxygen dihydride in your neighborhood if you need it.
Some copypasta from Phil Murphy’s email list, should you be interested:
“I’m optimistic about the future of progressive politics and the Democratic Party.
We have an opportunity in 2017 with the New Jersey’s governor’s race. We can reject the politics of division promoted by each of Chris Christie and Donald Trump while showing America that progressive change centered on results for all people is the path forward for Democrats.
But we have to work together. That’s why I want to talk to you on Thursday, December 1 at 6:30 p.m. about the upcoming elections and what we can do together to organize New Jersey.
Conversations like these are going to be a central part of this campaign, because I’ve always believed in the power of bringing people together to find solutions to complex problems.
And I’ve seen it work, again and again, in my experiences in the private sector, with nonprofits, as President Barack Obama’s U.S. Ambassador to Germany, and from my time working with Governor Howard Dean to rebuild the Democratic Party.
After Democrats lost in 2000 and 2004, progressives went to work. We organized. We got people involved, and we fielded candidates across the country. We refocused our message and our policy proposals on creating hope and opportunity for all workers and families.
The result of the 50-state grassroots strategy? Democrats took back Congress in 2006 and then we made history when we elected Barack Obama in 2008.
Taking back New Jersey from Chris Christie is the first step in taking back our nation from Donald Trump. I can’t wait to hear your ideas on the conference call at 6:30 p.m. this Thursday:
https://go.Murphy4NJ.com/Grassroots-Conference-Call
America’s road back starts in New Jersey — and it starts with you and it starts now.
Looking forward to our call.
Phil Murphy
Paid for by Murphy for Governor
One Gateway Center Suite 1025, Newark, NJ 07102″
D58826
OT and I’m sure it will shock everyone here but the Charlotte DA has decided that the CMPD cops acted lawfully when they shot Mr. Scott. He had a gun after all ( NC is an open carry if your white state ) The only people that told the truth were the cops.
Iowa Old Lady
Wow, Mitt Romney is far more willing to humiliate himself that I realized. I guess power is irresistible.
Jinchi
@FlipYrWhig:
Same here, but it’s visceral and personal and its been going on for 25 years now.
rikyrah
@amk:
I don’t put it past them.
grrljock
@gvg: That may be true. What I’ve noticed is a lot of people have this reflex cynicism, where their default position is to reject any claim (“they’re all lying anyway”; “it’s rigged”), which then allows them to then pick whatever makes them feel better regardless of reality. So. Frustrating.
jenn
@Keith G: That’s a fantastic idea! I, too, am trying to talk with all and sundry. Most of the folks around me are of the same mindset, so it’s more a matter of encouraging them to make phone calls to legislators, and talk to folks in their circles than having to push back on errors of fact. And hugs. Lots of hugs.
jenn
@BillinGlendaleCA: Is there a historical parallel for this in the U.S.? I can’t think of one, when you consider both depth of corruption and global scale.
jenn
@JAFD: Thank you for this!
J R in WV
@Botsplainer:
National Geographic was bought out by Rupert Murdoch not long ago. So it is no surprise to see that their scientific angle is gone and done with.
These conservatives, they act like if they make science go away, they won’t have to deal with the operation of the natural world, which is as crazed as their religious cults and political contradictions. When the sea level rises, Mar-a-Lago will be out of business, regardless of Trump’s actions with regard to NASA and NOAA.
I doubt if it will cost Trump a plugged nickel – he will have cashed out and will leave new suckers holding the sinking bag.
I can’t believe they can be so short sighted. The deaths and loss of capital along the coasts will be stupendous.