Duke Silver

And still, Trump voters fail to acknowledge (care??) that the Transition's appointments, across the board, fly in the face of doing the things he promised. They don't care that his Labor Sec pick hates workers; that his SoS is Putins butt buddy & his Dep SoS (Bolton) is a Neo-Con who would advocate dropping bombs the moment he is moved into his office; Commerce & Treasury will be loaded w/ Wall Street/Goldman Sachs people (yeah...I know, Hillary would've had Wall Street people too, but the point is, Trump swore to "drain the swamp"); Sec of Ed. is a billionaire who would gut public schools, ensuring only the financially-able can receive basic education. The fools are still out in force, defending him on social media (also IRL from my experience). It's fucking bizarre. I get it--cult of personality and all of that. But so many people are enthralled by this douchebag???? I mean, it's like when my sister brought home a fuckwad from college declaring him her boyfriend, writ large.

<shrug> Color me cynical, but I still assume not much will come of this. There will be hearings--a dog & pony show. The GOP will allow a few people (Graham, Paul, McCain, for example) to act out for impression's sake. Things are getting walked back, and it's been barely 48 hours since the story broke. Speaking of which, ****I continue to side eye the fact the story (was allowed to) broke on a Friday night.**** --Joe Scarborough is already tweeting about how Rex Tillerson cannot possibly be a Putin stooge because Condoleeza Rice is the one who recommended Tillerson to Trump. --I might let my cynicism abate if this story, which should be viewed as the equivalent of Watergate, is more than a mere footnote a week from now. I can't stomach watching network nightly news, but I wonder if they'll even cover this in the A-block tomorrow (Monday) night. --Hell, even Chuck Schumer's call for an investigation didn't have the feel of urgency to it (I know, we're in mid-December, but he referenced an investigation sometime "next year"). Anywho...yeah, the batshit crazy conspiracy b.s. from the Trump camp has addled my brain.

Repeat with me: out of 58 total elections in our nation's history, Trump got only the 46th highest % of Electoral College votes.

https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/807716061021962240 ^^ Guessing we'll be seeing lots of stuff like that the next few days to deflect from Putin/Russian hack storylines.

^^^ I'm reconsidering my atheism solely so I can hope & pray that douchebag trash like Paul Ryan Kellyanne Conway, Bitch McConnell pretty much everyone at Fox News, all enablers basically, will rot in hell.

Gotcha... Yeah, we need to hope the more entrenched GOP'ers, beyond Graham, McCain, Paul, etc., start fearing Trump's instability, and frankly, overall unpopularity. I know it's a fake talking point for Trump's team, but I have to believe the non-crazy GOP'ers can acknowledge to themselves at least that Trump was not handed some divine mandate. I hope this is true anyway. I expect nothing out of [totally inappropriate slang for female body part]s like McConnell & Paul Ryan. It just makes me ill that the Party that wraps itself in the Red White & Blue is so fucking unpatriotic when push comes to shove.

https://twitter.com/PolitiFact/status/808064706363719680

Are you seeing this, at least anecdotally? Because I'm not... I asked here a couple weeks ago, when the first awful appointments were being named, whether anyone here had encountered, IRL, any Trump supporters who at least showed regret for their choice. I still haven't encountered any...

https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/808058392531111941

Pew poll: Trump's approval lower than previous incoming presidents

The CIA believes Moscow tried to destroy Hillary Clinton and tilt the election. Republicans stayed quiet. This is a fight for who controls America: you or Putin?

Based purely on what I'm seeing in my Twitter feed (I just can't get myself to watch Fox News, CNN, MSNBC), it seems Trump's team is punching back pretty effectively today. They are doing a decent job of screaming partisanship....and perhaps even getting their supporters behind the idea that U.S. intelligence services, most notably the CIA, are not to be trusted. Wow, the attack on institutions (media & government) has served them well. I wonder if this will even be a lead story beyond Monday. I remain focused on Masha Gessen's warnings.

'A model for civilization': Putin's Russia has emerged as 'a beacon for nationalists' and the American alt-right This has a couple interesting tidbits about alt-right leader Richard Spencer.

FWIW, in general, I believe in the right to bear arms. I grew up in a family that hunts; I own a single 12 gauge shotgun, locked in a case, that I take to my parents with me once in a while to hunt birds. However, I also believe said right is subject to regulation & limitations. Gun nuts and the insane gun lobby turn-off average gun peeps like me. This type of thing is ridiculous: Washington State Legislature Introduces Bill Allowing Fans To Carry Guns Into Stadiums

https://twitter.com/jasonroeder/status/807624540197007361

Over the weekend, the president-elect and his team have slammed the Democrats, the CIA, and even "somebody in a bed somewhere" for the hacks—anybody but Putin. The glaring hypocrisy....

Trump’s last press conference was where he asked Russia to release Clinton’s hacked emails

Donald Trump Ties C.I.A. Reports on Russian Meddling to Democrats’ Shame

https://twitter.com/MarlowNYC/status/807954704139505665

Yeah, sure...those who opt to take pleasure in the "deserved comeuppance" due to past misdeeds by the U.S. government, more power to you. Congrats for being ideologically pure. We have Donald fucking Trump in control of the world's most lethal military arsenal. Awesome.

I'm 99.9% sure someone else has posted this article in another forum here, but it's worth sharing again, IMO. My girlfriend turned me on to this op-ed.....from Teen Vogue. Worth the read for sure: Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America

***Disclaimer: I have found the NYT, especially, to be quite lacking this entire election cycle, so I hesitate re-posting this. I'm choosing to do so, however, because this aspect of the story, IF TRUE, is beyond YUUUUGE. If true, the clearer than clear implication is that an outside influence chose one side over the other. Read whatever reputable sources you can about this & stay informed. <---yeah, I didn't mean this in a douchey way, as it might come across Russian Hackers Acted to Aid Trump in Election, U.S. Says

https://twitter.com/benschwartzy/status/807727624113950720

Also this....do not let yourself get drawn into arguments about "how much" Russian interference actually helped Trump get x votes:

https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/807745401604472832