Donald John Trump: 2016 President-Elect

[Pixel]

54 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

It’s fitting that not only was there nobody willing to vote their conscious against Trump there were a few insufferable liberals who took the opportunity to make it all about them and their personal statements. When I think of this election, as much as I can’t stand anyone who would have voted for this horror, they were aggressively voting together to get the terrible thing they wanted. At least they get how voting works.

Meanwhile, the left has people who have no sense of good unless it’s about them getting to personally impress others with how good they are. Naturally when they’ve heard about this idea of voting your conscious they saw an opportunity to humiliate the nation yet again. They can’t even symbolically vote responsibly in a way that takes care of their fellow citizens.

It reminds me of what Louis CK said before the election about Lefties who wouldn’t vote for Hillary. He said, “If you vote for Hillary you’re a grown-up, if you vote for Trump you’re a sucker, but if you don’t vote...you’re an asshole.

Given his personality I can see him causing some international mess that gets him enough criticism he really does go looking for a way out.

Yes, these guys have made it clear they actually love tyranny as long as they’re the tyrants. Remember these are the people who spent 8 years trying to redefine tyrant to apply to...Barack Obama. If you can pretend that guy’s tyrannical (while also claiming that the reason you refuse to work with him on anything is because he’s lacking in leadership qualities) you’re going to be just as quick to see this guy as a good guy.

Yeah, every day I'm reminded that there are just as many assholes on the left as there are on the right. Neither side has a completely high ground to stand on.  I just hold out hope that the majority of America still believes in equality and civil rights for everyone. I believe deep down that's true, despite so many signs to the contrary. 

You know, I do get why people couldn't vote Hillary. I just don't understand how anyone could stomach Trump. 

[Padma]

4 hours ago, Lunata said:

The assassin of the Russian Ambassador was a Turkish police officer, there to provide security. I'm surprised that the Russian Ambassador wasn't protected by Russian secret service bodyguards. It seems nobody else in that room were armed and it took quite some time for Turkish Special Forces to respond and take the assassin down.

This was so horrible, and I'm almost ashamed to admit that despite the fact it is documenting a real life murder, I can't stop myself from thinking what a great photo this is, including the art on the wall behind the dead ambassador and his assassin.  Sorry to be so shallow but that is really an incredible photo (and very gutsy shot given the gunman still standing so close with his gun). :(  As a photographer, I'm very curious about the person who took it. (/shallow).   

[Stuffy]

8 minutes ago, Padma said:

This was so horrible, and I'm almost ashamed to admit that despite the fact it is documenting a real life murder, I can't stop myself from thinking what a great photo this is, including the art on the wall behind the dead ambassador and his assassin.  Sorry to be so shallow but that is really an incredible photo (and very gutsy shot given the gunman still standing so close with his gun). :(  As a photographer, I'm very curious about the person who took it. (/shallow).   

Here's a little bit from the photographer about it  

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_TURKEY_RUSSIAN_AMBASSADOR_EYEWITNESS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Lunata]

1 hour ago, Padma said:

This was so horrible, and I'm almost ashamed to admit that despite the fact it is documenting a real life murder, I can't stop myself from thinking what a great photo this is, including the art on the wall behind the dead ambassador and his assassin.  Sorry to be so shallow but that is really an incredible photo (and very gutsy shot given the gunman still standing so close with his gun). :(  As a photographer, I'm very curious about the person who took it. (/shallow).   

This photo is even more chilling to me. It's moments before this man was assassinated and the assassin is in the photo right behind him. Imagine what was going through his mind. I was a bit surprised that a man of high position in the Russian government didn't have a contingent of secret service bodyguards close by. This assassin could have easily killed many more people, he had the time to do that before he was shot to death.

On tonight's The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell, his guest was Steve Clemons, Washington editor in chief of The Atlantic. Regarding Donald Trump and his confronting China he said;

"Trump is a seriously reckless leader. Every country in the world that's an ally is now doubting Donald Trump and every country that's a rival of the United States is saying 'what the heck is going on?'  Every nation is changing its behavior. So fragility around the world not just in Asia not just in the Middle East, but everywhere, is at a modern high at least in the last 100 years. Trump's tweets are reckless, adolescent, amateurish and you just don't deal with the rising power (in this manner). China was the power we were most worried about as it rose, which we contributed to. Let's see the rising power of China without engaging in conflict. Donald seems to be racing towards conflict with China and it will have staggering consequences for us and for them."

Edited December 20, 2016 by Lunata

[Padma]

2 hours ago, Stuffy said:

Here's a little bit from the photographer about it  

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_TURKEY_RUSSIAN_AMBASSADOR_EYEWITNESS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Thank you so much for this link. I am so impressed by this man--Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici--and the opportunity to read about his thought process in taking these pictures, including this part, "I was, of course, fearful and knew of the danger if the gunman turned toward me. But I advanced a little and photographed the man as he hectored his desperate, captive audience.

This is what I was thinking: "I'm here. Even if I get hit and injured, or killed, I'm a journalist. I have to do my work. I could run away without making any photos. ... But I wouldn't have a proper answer if people later ask me: 'Why didn't you take pictures?'"

Makes you wonder when Trump is mocking all the reporters and photographers covering him if he ever thinks about the courage and commitment it takes to do their job.  (Eh, yes, I know. None of us wonder. He doesn't.)

1 hour ago, Lunata said:

This photo is even more chilling to me. It's moments before this man was assassinated and the assassin is in the photo right behind him.

The photographer had a strong reaction to this, too, because he was just photographing the ambassador and didn't realize until back in the office looking at his files that the gunman had been standing in an ordinary way right behind him.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Padma

[kokapetl]

17 hours ago, numbnut said:

Twit won't use the Secret Service? How dumb can he be? (Pretty dumb.) From the Daily Beast:

President-elect Donald Trump has made the unusual choice to continue employing his own private security team instead of leaving the task up to the Secret Service. “It’s playing with fire,” said former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow, who worked on President Obama’s detail during his 2012 campaign. Having a mix-and-match security team working events in tandem with the Secret Service “increases the Service’s liability, it creates greater confusion, and it creates greater risk,” Wackrow said. Trump is expected to continue that same system through his presidency, Politico reports. All modern presidents have up to now deferred to the Secret Service, leaving just event security to local law enforcement. Breaking from the norm, Trump has instead elected to maintain his own private security force, which is led by retired veteran and New York City cop Keith Schiller. “You never want to comingle a police function with a private security function,” Wackrow said. “If you talk to the guys on the detail and the guys who are running the rallies, that’s been a little bit difficult because it’s so abnormal.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/12/19/trump-security-force-playing-with-fire.html?via=newsletter&source=CSAMedition

The Secret Service can't really be bossed around and controlled by Trump. 

[navelgazer]

China on the Traitor Twitler - He bears no sense of how to lead a superpower...

Quote

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/china-returns-seized-us-naval-drone/2016/12/20/4dde17b2-c633-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html?postshare=861482216591609&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.44f98aa08328

“Trump is not behaving as a president who will become master of the White House in a month,” the Global Times, a Communist party controlled newspaper, wrote in an editorial on Sunday. “He bears no sense of how to lead a superpower.”

[more at link]

 

What if China decides it can't deal with Twitler and threatens to call in all of its American debt?  Or even they just stop buying our paper?  Would the possible consequences of those disasters finally get through to the power-mad thugs in the GOP?

Edited December 20, 2016 by navelgazer

[MsTree]

11 hours ago, NYCNJbear06 said:

I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out the appeal of Trump and why so many people connect to with him.  I was having this convo with friends over drinks and this is what we came up with, hopefully it is coherent, margaritas tend to skew things LOL  Here is my amateur analysis. 

We now live in a “get over mentality” society where most people want to feel they are getting the better of the "system". There is some joy or satisfaction we get when we can stick it to the man especially when we feel that we are oppressed, unjustly targeted, or get away with something we selfishly feel we want to.  This feeling has always existed but I think the pendulum has swung so far to the extreme that there are more people trying to get over on the system now than ever before.  People like that Trump has been able to “get over” on the tax system for years and is something they wish they could do. They like that when the establishment requests that he do something, i.e. release his taxes, address the obvious conflicts of interest when it comes to his businesses, he thumbs his nose at them, they like that he bucks political correctness and “tells it like it is” , something they wish they could do regardless of its racist, misogynistic, xenophobic overtones.  They like that he is a business man that runs his business like he wants and answers to no one.  For a large portion of the country they join him in perceived solidarity that he represents them “the little man” the “everyday man” the anti-establishment man. 

For all his rallying to this effect - his anti-establishment-ness ironically enough Trump has benefited greatly from the “establishment” – the tax laws as they are structured now allows him to pay hardly, if any, taxes – thanks establishment,  the current voting structure allows him to become president although he did not get the popular vote – gracias establishment,  the first amendment protects his right to say lies, inaccurate information and propaganda every time he opens his mouth or tweets – establishment you rock!  How anyone can think he is anti-establishment is delusional. 

From what I understand (and I don't know this for a fact), DJT supporters liked the fact that he mostly used his own money for his campaign...so he is not beholden to anyone who might want a favor, including pushing their own political agenda. Supposedly they also like that he is an independent thinker (regardless of whether you agree with him or not) who couldn't care less about being PC as it relates to politics. And of course, most are optimistic that he WILL make America great again as it relates to our economy.

[shok]

56 minutes ago, MsTree said:

From what I understand (and I don't know this for a fact), DJT supporters liked the fact that he mostly used his own money for his campaign...so he is not beholden to anyone who might want a favor, including pushing their own political agenda. Supposedly they also like that he is an independent thinker (regardless of whether you agree with him or not) who couldn't care less about being PC as it relates to politics. And of course, most are optimistic that he WILL make America great again as it relates to our economy.

Except he DIDN'T use mostly his own money for the campaign. He loaned the campaign some money which was repaid from contributions, plus he received a lot of on-line contributions and also he and the RNC raised a ton of money from rich right wing sources. Many of them are being rewarded right now with positions in his cabinet. Many many favors being repaid with his appointments. But the sleaziest was that he made a lot of money for his own business enterprises by charging the campaign for things like renting rooms at Mar-A-Lago for press conferences and charging the Secret Service for seats on his plane so they could get to the destinations he was going to in order to protect him! It's amazing how the Trumpians believe all the lies and stories he told.

An independent thinker??? He's not a thinker period. His attention span is far too short to think about anything longer than about five minutes. He constantly refuted his own words in his speeches and on twitter and in interviews - would say one thing and then say the opposite shortly after. Plus his many outrageous tweets showed he acted on impulse all the time without stopping to think (or being able to think rationally) before he reacted. He's already creating some foreign affairs incidents with his lack of ability to think and consider before blurting something out.

All the optimism is going to fall hard with a loud plop once he gets into the WH and has to own the responsibility for what the economy does. Did people not pay any attention to the fact that he owes millions to a German bank and to the Bank of China and there are many stories of all his liabilities to rich Russian oligarchs? The guy went bankrupt SIX times, and yet people think he's going to make them all rich. Such fools. Already since the election the Chinese bond market is going nuts and is soon going to affect the world economy. There are signs in the world markets since the election that are making a lot of financiers very very nervous. If it wasn't for the fact that the coming economic conditions are going to hurt a very large number of people who didn't drink the Trump koolaid, I'd almost enjoy watching all the misery the red-hatted rednecks are going to suffer since they were all stupid enough to believe what the master liar said.

[Ceindreadh]

1 hour ago, MsTree said:

From what I understand (and I don't know this for a fact), DJT supporters liked the fact that he mostly used his own money for his campaign...so he is not beholden to anyone who might want a favor, including pushing their own political agenda. Supposedly they also like that he is an independent thinker (regardless of whether you agree with him or not) who couldn't care less about being PC as it relates to politics. And of course, most are optimistic that he WILL make America great again as it relates to our economy.

Do they even realise how much business debt he's carrying? As in, how much money he owes to banks - mainly foreign ones because American banks stopped lending to him. Hell, any country where he has business assets now has him over a barrel because all they have to do is threaten his business interests. 

Do they really think that he'll put the USA before his personal interests?

[Lunata]

6 hours ago, navelgazer said:

China on the Traitor Twitler - He bears no sense of how to lead a superpower...

What if China decides it can't deal with Twitler and threatens to call in all of its American debt?  Or even they just stop buying our paper?  Would the possible consequences of those disasters finally get through to the power-mad thugs in the GOP?

What China has actually done is invest in the economy of the United States. It has invested its money in the US government and is counting on the American economy to produce the tax revenue needed to pay the debts and interest. The US, meanwhile, has used the money to pay for expensive and destructive wars.

The worst thing that could happen is not that the Chinese could call in all the loans — they can’t — but that the United States should fail to pay its debts when they come due. This is called defaulting, and idiotic Republican obstructionism in Congress brought the United States fairly near to it. For the US to default on its debts would be catastrophic, because not only does it owe money to China, it also owes a great deal of money to the American people—who also buy Treasury securities. Literally billions of people would be hurt in the US and around the world. The interest rate we have to pay to borrow would skyrocket as other countries and lenders wouldn’t trust us any more.

Trump supporters including members of Congress that voted Trump into power might have used their hatred of Obama to bring America to the brink of financial disaster.

17 hours ago, Ocean Chick said:

Well, anyone hoping for a Christmas miracle from the EC, you can give it up now.  There is no hope left.  We're dead in the water. 

Merry Christmas, everyone.  Merry.  Fuckin'.  Christmas.

I don't think many people believed that the electors would do anything contrary to what they were committed to do. The relentless emails, letters, phone calls and even threats made on the lives of some electors may have done the opposite and cemented their commitment to vote their party ticket.

This election has increased the fragility, not only of the US, but of the entire world. There's no telling what will happen,  or how it's going to affect our every day lives, but there's nothing that's going to stop what's coming. We have concluded that the Russians along with FBI Chief James Comey had a heavy hand in Trump winning the election. By the same token, the people that went out in force to vote for him wanted change and they'll get change.

Our lives aren't going to drastically change overnight. The only thing I've noticed so far is that the prices of gasoline at the pump has risen more than 20 cents in the past two weeks and the price of home heating oil has nearly doubled what I paid for it last winter. We'll see the consequences of Trump's blunders in our pocketbooks first. I look at it this way, it could always be worse. We could be stuck in the middle of a civil war like Aleppo with 450,000 of us dead because of political discord.

[candall]

7 hours ago, numbnut said:

...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-greene/is-donald-trump-mentally_b_13693174.html

“Narcissistic Personality Disorder” by The American Psychiatric Association (APA)

...

Twit has nine for nine.

This article was equally interesting and depressing.  DT is undeniably the poster boy for the diagnosis, but I was crushed when they mentioned (twice) that there's no "cure," no hope for improved mental "adjustment" or anything like that. 

In other words, nothing is ever going to start going sideways badly enough to shake him up and give him pause; no mountain of evidence will ever persuade him to revise his thinking.  He's the best, he's the smartest, knows all/sees all, and if anything conflicts with that:  [shrug]  It's a lie.

The whole world is going to depend on the whims of a not terribly bright megalomaniac. 

  

He's so sensitive, so vengeful, so reckless and now so powerful, it means everyone in his orbit has to tiptoe around trying not to ruffle his feathers, or else be prepared to suffer the consequences.  But I can think of a lot of places where they aren't going to be inclined to tiptoe.  Russia's fine--they know exactly how to "handle" him.  I don't think China has much reason to keep the US appeased.  Things could hardly get any worse for the North Koreans.  Pakistan** seems to maintain a low boil.  Thank God for Obama getting Iran disarmed, but ISIS is always a wild card that could play at any time . . .

I can picture DT stomping around in his deep mountain nuclear winter shelter saying, "I had to do it, I had no choice, right?" and Kellyanne Conway saying, "Obviously."

****************************************

 

**Something I hadn't heard:  The "birther" rumor that DT was born "'Dawood Ibrahim Khan" in Pakistan.  (Heh.)  But uh-oh, one of the articles was in The Times Of Israel.

Quote

[...]  Trump’s campaign rhetoric included calls for a ban on Muslim immigrants entering the US, followed by promises of “extreme vetting” of immigrants from countries affected by terrorism. That policy could presumably retroactively apply to Trump himself, if the reports of his Pakistani birth amount to more than his own Obama birther claims.

This is not a bear you want to tease.

[PatsyandEddie]

CBC is reporting about the acts of terrorism that have occurred most recently saying that the suspect arrested in the Christmas market incident could very possibly be the wrong man, that so far the assassination of the Russian ambassador is connected to actions in Syria and that the killings in Jordan have been now claimed by ISIS but the killing of worshippers in a mosque is not related to any of these incidents. So why is drumpf trying to stir up shit by talking about radical Islam being the thread of all three? Same with drone being taken. IMO, either he is simply supremely stupid or there is something sinister going on. 

Edited December 20, 2016 by PatsyandEddie
Grammar

[Chicken Wing]

Quote

 

This article was equally interesting and depressing.  DT is undeniably the poster boy for the diagnosis, but I was crushed when they mentioned (twice) that there's no "cure," no hope for improved mental "adjustment" or anything like that. 

In other words, nothing is ever going to start going sideways badly enough to shake him up and give him pause; no mountain of evidence will ever persuade him to revise his thinking.  He's the best, he's the smartest, knows all/sees all, and if anything conflicts with that:  [shrug]  It's a lie.

 

It's horrifying just how much Dump embodies the very definition of narcissist personality disorder. Correct, there is no cure for that or any other personality disorder -- because they are not illnesses per se, but rather a dysfunction of one's very personality and way of thinking. Basically, your psyche is rooted in your very being and that's that. It can't be "fixed" but the behavior can be modified -- of course, that would require one to actually recognize that they have a personality disorder and be willing to adapt to behavioral modification therapies. Since the very essence of NPD involves superior thinking and an unwillingness to admit to shortcomings, it's not very likely that such individuals would even get as far as allowing themselves to be diagnosed in the first place.

[Lunata]

6 minutes ago, candall said:

This article was equally interesting and depressing.  DT is undeniably the poster boy for the diagnosis, but I was crushed when they mentioned (twice) that there's no "cure," no hope for improved mental "adjustment" or anything like that. 

In other words, nothing is ever going to start going sideways badly enough to shake him up and give him pause; no mountain of evidence will ever persuade him to revise his thinking.  He's the best, he's the smartest, knows all/sees all, and if anything conflicts with that:  [shrug]  It's a lie.

The whole world is going to depend on the whims of a not terribly bright megalomaniac. 

  

He's so sensitive, so vengeful, so reckless and now so powerful, it means everyone in his orbit has to tiptoe around trying not to ruffle his feathers, or else be prepared to suffer the consequences.  But I can think of a lot of places where they aren't going to be inclined to tiptoe.  Russia's fine--they know exactly how to "handle" him.  I don't think China has much reason to keep the US appeased.  Things could hardly get any worse for the North Koreans.  Pakistan** seems to maintain a low boil.  Thank God for Obama getting Iran disarmed, but ISIS is always a wild card that could play at any time . . .

I can picture DT stomping around in his deep mountain nuclear winter shelter saying, "I had to do it, I had no choice, right?" and Kellyanne Conway saying, "Obviously."

****************************************

 

**Something I hadn't heard:  The "birther" rumor that DT was born "'Dawood Ibrahim Khan" in Pakistan.  (Heh.)  But uh-oh, one of the articles was in The Times Of Israel.

This is not a bear you want to tease.

I have been saying for more than a year that Trump has NPD. I have known one person in my life with NPD. We've known a lot of narcissists, but this is extremely different. This is a mental disorder, one that there's no cure for. Even when the mentally ill person comes to accept his own diagnosis and agrees to therapy, it never works. The disorder is so deep and ingrained in them that they usually manipulate the therapist, 'going along' with them to appease them and make them think they're doing something. Under normal circumstances, a person with NPD just lives a life of failed relationships and destroyed marriages. They usually end up alone once they get old and not physically attractive anymore. Some commit suicide because they can't accept the fact that they have been their own worse enemy.

That's not going to happen to Trump. He's going to have sufficient praise and adoration to keep him going until he dies. Like Trump, all NPD diagnosed people need that affirmation on a constant basis. There's no bottom to the hole of their need for attention. People with NPD are usually outgoing and very likeable, but they manipulate and can't love anyone else to the same degree as self. They have been raised without the normal structure of psyche and replaced with a 'super-ego'. Donald Trump will continue to have rallies, to tweet impetuously, and make decisions recklessly out of retaliation. 'Malignant Self Love' is a good read if you're interested in the mind of an NPD because it was written by one, Dr. Sam Vaknin.

[candall]

32 minutes ago, Lunata said:

The worst thing that could happen is not that the Chinese could call in all the loans — they can’t — but that the United States should fail to pay its debts when they come due. This is called defaulting, and idiotic Republican obstructionism in Congress brought the United States fairly near to it. For the US to default on its debts would be catastrophic, because not only does it owe money to China, it also owes a great deal of money to the American people—who also buy Treasury securities. Literally billions of people would be hurt in the US and around the world. The interest rate we have to pay to borrow would skyrocket as other countries and lenders wouldn’t trust us any more.

Right.  The thing that keeps the US Dollar so strong in the international currency market--which is a large part of why we're a 'superpower'--is that we don't default.  The US has never been seen as a country likely to consider weighing out the pros and cons and deciding, in effect, that the national equivalent of going Chapter 11 and/or stiffing these guys on their bills could . . .hmmm, really save us a lot of dough in the long run.

And again:  uh-oh.  Another catastrophe waiting right around the corner because The Man In Charge can not conceive that he's EVER been wrong or that he ever will be.

[islandgal140]

11 hours ago, Duke Silver said:

Someone I follow just re-tweeted this; I had no clue about this until now.  Zero shame this family has, huh?

Yes, but will there be commemorative plates? 

[KerleyQ]

12 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I am still convinced he will either resign or be impeached.  He never expected to win. He doesn't want to actually do the job.  When faced with having to be either the comforter in chief or the commander in Chief he will ring for Ivanka. She can't truly make his decisions for him, the Constitution and the Military Command Structure won't allow it. 

 

He won't get his way as often as he thinks.  There are checks and balances and 3 branches of government for a reason. Don't forget- our country was founded by people who knew first hand what tyranny was.  

Except that the people who control Congress have zero inclination to make any waves as long as he gives them exactly what they want (signing off on whatever awful legislation they create to screw over the average citizen and appointing the most batshit regressive justices to the SC money can buy).  Sure, they'd wildly prefer Pence, and he's their safety net, but they're not going to risk angering his horde of cult members unless he forces their hand by going against them on something they refuse to compromise on.  

5 hours ago, Kokapetl said:

The Secret Service can't really be bossed around and controlled by Trump. 

Exactly why he wants to include his own staff there.  He needs someone who answers to and is beholden to him and him alone.  

49 minutes ago, PatsyandEddie said:

CBC is reporting about the acts of terrorism that have occurred most recently saying that the suspect arrested in the Christmas market incident could very possibly be the wrong man, that so far the assassination of the Russian ambassador is connected to actions in Syria and that the killings in Jordan have been now claimed by ISIS but the killing of worshippers in a mosque is not related to any of these incidents. So why is drumpf trying to stir up shit by talking about radical Islam being the thread of all three? Same with drone being taken. IMO, either he is simply supremely stupid or there is something sinister going on. 

Because it's what his Muslim-hating cult members want to hear.  

9 minutes ago, islandgal140 said:

Yes, but will there be commemorative plates? 

Made in China, Vietnam, or Mexico.  You know, to go along with his "MadeInTheUSA" hashtag.  

[random chance]

11 minutes ago, KerleyQ said:

Sure, they'd wildly prefer Pence, and he's their safety net, but they're not going to risk angering his horde of cult members unless he forces their hand by going against them on something they refuse to compromise on.

(Bolding mine.) Yes I think that's why so many of them caved to him in the first place, back when it looked like HC was going to win so there was no real reason for them to otherwise. They probably understand full well that Republicans didn't win, Trump won, and what's that saying - a loose cannon fires in all directions? The faster he's out of there the better for them, but they will have to do it while placating his followers, and he'll be a lot harder to take down than a sane person - their usual tricks won't work on him. They're presenting a smug united front but I bet that behind the scenes, the knives are already out.

[KerleyQ]

4 minutes ago, random chance said:

(Bolding mine.) Yes I think that's why so many of them caved to him in the first place, back when it looked like HC was going to win so there was no real reason for them to otherwise. They probably understand full well that Republicans didn't win, Trump won, and what's that saying - a loose cannon fires in all directions? The faster he's out of there the better for them, but they will have to do it while placating his followers, and he'll be a lot harder to take down than a sane person - their usual tricks won't work on him. They're presenting a smug united front but I bet that behind the scenes, the knives are already out.

Agreed.  I suspect Pence's position was the result of some behind the scenes negotiating between Trump's kids and the GOP - he names Pence, he gets their overt support.  He was kind of the perfect sacrificial lamb to what they thought would be a losing cause - he had lost popularity in his state, making him vulnerable in the next election, so his pick cleared the way for them to put someone else in line there, but he's party man so that, in the event of Trump's win, they had a VP who will toe the party line however far right Paul and Mitch want to push it.  There was no way someone like Paul Ryan was going to take that VP spot.  He wants to run for POTUS at some point, and a second failed VP bid would have damaged his chances, and he wanted to maintain his power as Speaker.  They needed a party stooge who was expendable but loyal, and that is exactly who Pence is.  Now that the situation is what it is, they'll publicly support him in anything he does, playing dumb when he does something out of line or unethical (so, you know, on a daily basis).  In the background?  Like you said, the knives are out, they're being sharpened.  They will just make sure that, whatever their plan is to divest themselves of him, it won't look like it was their plan.  They'll look like the disappointed "oh, shucks, we were so with him, but this is just too damning," loyal supporters who were "just as let down by what he's done as the American people are, gosh darnit!"  Their hands will be all over whatever it is, but they'll cover it like crazy and guys like Gowdy will run whatever investigation occurs, making sure that the appropriate rocks are left un-turned. (And that investigation will be singular and will not last, in its entirety, as long as Hillary sat for questioning in one hearing.)

[Chicken Wing]

More on our future Narcissist in Chief: This article from Quartz breaks down ten rules for "coping with narcissistic personality disorder in the White House."

[NinjaPenguins]

10 minutes ago, candall said:

This article was equally interesting and depressing.  DT is undeniably the poster boy for the diagnosis, but I was crushed when they mentioned (twice) that there's no "cure," no hope for improved mental "adjustment" or anything like that. 

I worked for the poster woman for malignant narcissism for six years. It truly was a dream job until she showed up, and three of us who escaped or were pushed out had to seek therapy. Narcissists are some of the most toxic people on the planet.

NB (Narcissistic Boss) used the same type of bizzare hyperbolic adjectives that Orange uses; even the most mundane things were "fabulous!" and "marvelous!" I don't know if it's a narcissistic trait or just happens to be specific to Orange and NB, but I hadn't seen anyone else communicate in such an odd fashion until Orange came along. Her memos had a style quite similar to his Tweets, only they were longer. My fellow workers and I used to count how many times NB used "I", "me", and "my" in the daily memo. Needless to say, it was excessive.

NB had no sense of humor or any understanding of humor. If she saw other people laughing at something, she would say "that's funny." She never laughed. Ever. One of the most interesting things I've read about people with NPD is that when it comes to being human, they know the words but can't hear the music. They have little to no understanding of how to relate to others on any level and simply mimic social norms and cues they witness other people employing. People aren't fully realized, flesh and blood, feeling human beings to the narcissist; they can be extensions of the narcissist or providers of narcissistic supply (attention), pawns, or enemies. If they decide you're the enemy, you are fucked.

NB was a pathological liar, much like Orange. Her resume turned out to be a lie, she never won any of the awards she claimed, and she was never friends with all the famous people she pretended she knew. Every lie was self-aggrandizing, transparent, and easily disproven, but NB, like Orange, seriously had not one inkling of how ridiculous she sounded. Her astounding tales of speaking multiple languages, always being personally affected by any major tragedy in the world (9/11, Japanese tsunami, Hurricane Katrina), or being sexually desired by members of a pro football team became the stuff of legends. You didn't dare poke holes in any of it because jobs in our small town were hard to come by and the wrath of a narcissist has to be experienced to be believed. We all saw a dumpy, deceitful, miserable, desperate fool; NB saw herself as glamorous, successful, worldly, brilliant, and saintly. A narcissist is a hollow person who only has the distorted, damn near flawless image of themselves they project into the world. Threatening that threatens their entire existence and they will do anything to protect it. 

And the abuse. My god, the verbal abuse. NB was good at finding people's insecurities and pushing those buttons hard. It was probably her only legit talent. Staff meetings were a fusion of self-fluffing, lectures about our flaws, and grandiose but vague plans for the future. There was table pounding, cursing, and this strange thing where she'd decide you had the wrong expression on your face and start screaming about that. Imagine a group of professionals sitting rigidly around a table trying to maintain neutral expressions. That was us. We were told anonymous customers approached NB outside of work to tell her how awful and incompetent we were; oddly those anonymous complaints always echoed NB's to the letter. She dissed all of us behind our backs in an effort to divide us; there were insults about our weight, upbringings, marriages, mental stability, and intelligence. NB loved to tell us that we made her come down on us like a ton of bricks but would never tell us what we could do to improve.

Gaslighting? Oh yeah. You could have something in a time stamped e-mail or have Jesus Christ himself back you up, and she would just pretend her mistake or lie never happened. One day, you could be given permission to do something and then get reamed the next day for doing it. NB would deny giving permission and act like you were making it up to sabotage her and her workplace. We had a customer who was very sexually inappropriate and bragged about his knife collection; we were horrible, insensitive people for not being understanding that he was just different. After we had to call the cops due to public masturbation, suddenly she was all over it and had been monitoring the problem all along.

People always say, if it was that bad, why is she still there? Well, we did turn her in after years of misery, but she threatened to sue the big cheeses if she was fired. Narcissists operate so far outside anything resembling normalcy that they're able to roll over people like a goddamned tank. It's only after your pancaked body is lifted off the ground do you realize the magnitude of what just happened. They are able to take advantage of normal human impulses like wanting to see the best in people or giving second chances. They are empty. They cannot love. They do not care. They are fanatical believers in their own grossly exaggerated image of themselves and thus will never see the need for help. You cannot beat them, and there is no shame in that because to even have a chance against them, you'd have to dispose of your conscience and empathy. 

Orange supporters, believe me when I tell you that this man is not a patriot. He doesn't give one single shit about America. He can't. He doesn't care about you except as providers of his narcissistic supply. If you never get a job again, die due to lack of health care, or find your water source polluted, it will matter not one whit to him. Narcissists leave scars and victims and bad memories in their wake. 

[Pixel]

2 hours ago, Lunata said:

I don't think many people believed that the electors would do anything contrary to what they were committed to do. The relentless emails, letters, phone calls and even threats made on the lives of some electors may have done the opposite and cemented their commitment to vote their party ticket.

This election has increased the fragility, not only of the US, but of the entire world. There's no telling what will happen,  or how it's going to affect our every day lives, but there's nothing that's going to stop what's coming. We have concluded that the Russians along with FBI Chief James Comey had a heavy hand in Trump winning the election. By the same token, the people that went out in force to vote for him wanted change and they'll get change.

Our lives aren't going to drastically change overnight. The only thing I've noticed so far is that the prices of gasoline at the pump has risen more than 20 cents in the past two weeks and the price of home heating oil has nearly doubled what I paid for it last winter. We'll see the consequences of Trump's blunders in our pocketbooks first. I look at it this way, it could always be worse. We could be stuck in the middle of a civil war like Aleppo with 450,000 of us dead because of political discord.

This is why it's important to keep your voice heard.  It's not whining. It's not sour grapes. It's fighting for what you believe is right. 

Having said that, it is NEVER ok to threaten or harass people, and it's certainly not a way to sway them to your side.  The only right way to do that is with education and perseverance.

[stillshimpy]

Quote

(Bolding mine.) Yes I think that's why so many of them caved to him in the first place, back when it looked like HC was going to win so there was no real reason for them to otherwise. They probably understand full well that Republicans didn't win, Trump won, and what's that saying - a loose cannon fires in all directions? The faster he's out of there the better for them, but they will have to do it while placating his followers, and he'll be a lot harder to take down than a sane person - their usual tricks won't work on him. They're presenting a smug united front but I bet that behind the scenes, the knives are already out.

 

There are a couple of things with this that Trump-voters in the "I have economic anxiety! Bring our manufacturing jobs back!" have never fully grasped:  there's no way for those jobs to come back because they never left because of "corporate taxes" ....they left because people in Malaysia and other such places work for next to nothing comparatively.  There's simply no way to reconcile the difference between paying someone from a much poorer country somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 dollars a day (and holy shit, am I ever overstating that) with paying an American $20 an hour to do the exact same thing.  That math can never swing in their favor for incredibly obvious reasons.  

Then they've also carefully inoculated the entire population from caring about police and power abuses when directed at the poor via the treatment of the African-American community.  Sure, those yehaws have guns practically sticking out of their ears, but recall Ferguson and remember, a lot of local police units have military-grade equipment available to them.  They don't need to be afraid of the citizen's armed militias, even with their devotion to assault weapons because the police have actual, not kidding, tanks.  Then on top of all that, the only reason that places like Ruby Ridge, etc. weren't immediately resolved with a massive show of force is that there was expected pushback for abuse of power against citizens.    

So they've broken that outrage machine and alienated (pretty much permanently) the people most likely to raise the alarm and try to push back on their behalf, liberals....why do you think murdering a concept of social justice has been of prime importance for ten years or more?  Then for the wealthy conservatives, already the tax cuts favor them which is so clearly a way of making sure that people with more power in the land of capitalism will look the other way....and these self-same more powerful conservatives are easily persuaded of positively insane theories.  When people started talking about Sandy Hook being a government conspiracy that never happened, it seemingly failed to occur to these daft fuckers that they could also be slotted into the "I deny that reality" position.  

In all of this, part of the reason I have relatively little animosity towards the people largely responsible for this is that the bulk of them have no clue how that worm can turn on them.   They've served their purpose, democracy is being gutted, election interference is dismissed as the paranoid sour-grapes of the losing side.  They have almost nothing to protect them and their stupid love of guns will be the very thing that can justify the use of incredibly deadly force against them. 

Trump and his ilk have never cared even a tiny bit how much those people suffer and now they've succeeded in making themselves pretty much entirely disposable to achieving that power structure.  

The inability to look to history by the right is almost amusingly tragic:  The days of the robber barons are coming back and back then?  No one gave a good god damn what happened to the working poor.  It took a heatwave that was literally causing the poor to die like flies in New York for anyone to even suggest "We should let them at least sleep in the park so they don't croak, right?  I mean, we can do that much!" (people were literally roasting alive in those brick tenements,  the police would kick them out of the parks and they would essentially cook to actual death, trying to sleep on the tar-covered roofs of the tenements in which they lived).   

They want their country back, eh?  Well, congratulations.  Pity you didn't know much about it to start.  It's never been kind to the working poor.  

Edited December 20, 2016 by stillshimpy

[candall]

40 minutes ago, KerleyQ said:

Because it's what his Muslim-hating cult members want to hear.  

And because invoking the specter of "Radical Islamic Terrorism!!!!" diverts attention from Putin, with respect to both Aleppo and the US election.

********************************

NinjaP, oh my God, that's a nightmare.  I think NPD's are supposed to be <1% of the population so most of us are getting our first taste, if it's true, but there are already enough parallels between your NB and our P-E to make me sick about how this administration is going to proceed on a daily basis.

We might as well agree on a WASF acronym, because we're going to be saying "We are so fucked," a lot.

[sistermagpie]

44 minutes ago, stillshimpy said:

There are a couple of things with this that Trump-voters in the "I have economic anxiety! Bring our manufacturing jobs back!" have never fully grasped:  there's no way for those jobs to come back because they never left because of "corporate taxes" ....they left because people in Malaysia and other such places work for next to nothing comparatively.

Not to mention automation.

I quoted this article in the Michelle Obama thread, but it also applies here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-nazi-propaganda-coordinate_us_58583b6fe4b08debb78a7d5c

"People rejected the uglier aspects of Nazism but gave ground in ways that ultimately made it successful. They conceded premises to faulty arguments. They rejected the “facts” of propaganda, but not the impressions of it....

In today’s United States, the suggestion that illegal immigration is the cause of the economic struggles of working-class whites is an American Dolchstoss. Mechanization, globalization and the decline of unions have affected working-class whites to a far greater extent than illegal immigration ― or immigration of any kind. ....

When the decline of working-class jobs was perceived as a problem for African-Americans primarily, the neoliberal and conservative positions were much less sympathetic. According to William Julius Wilson’s 1996 book, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, “Between 1967 and 1987 Philadelphia lost 64% of its manufacturing jobs; Chicago lost 60%; Detroit 51%.” This meant hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, disproportionately affecting African-Americans. The solution from conservatives? “Migrate” was black conservative Shelby Steele’s prescription. “Get new skills,” said others. And even more popular was “behave more like Asians.” Yet whites need an entirely new mythology, even if that mythology hurts prospects. "

[stillshimpy]

Quote

Not to mention automation.

Then to top it all off?  They've been taught and encouraged to disdain higher education which is, at its very core, about gaining knowledge that lead to more advanced skill sets.  

WASF, indeed, but oh my goodness, they think they are getting the America of '50s back in which America had a strong middle-class rooted deeply in manufacturing.  For all the reasons outlined, that is dead in the water and again, they've seemingly never grasped the nefarious reasons behind encouraging swaths of the country to view critical thinking and advanced education as being....god help them, because they will need it...stupid as a pursuit.  

I've said it before, I'm likely to say it over and over, but I have honest pity for those people.  The depth and scope of how screwed they are almost can't occur to them because the only workers's history they remember is the "man, it's great to be a white guy!" post WWII economy.   But that is not what they've set themselves up to experience.  Food stamps  "entitlements" (oh Jesus wept) and all the other social programs they sneer at -- you know, like Head Start -- were also in place to help them and they want them gutted.   It gets so much worse in that soon they will be back to not having access to healthcare, so they'll live shortened, hard-scrabble lives and they've so thoroughly flipped off the very people who have fought for them over the course of our history that we're unlikely to care what happens to them.  In part because we'll be too fucking busy trying to protect other segments of the population they've just finished pissing all over to even notice until it is too late. 

Edited December 20, 2016 by stillshimpy

[Lunata]

Turkish police officer Mevlut Mert Aydintas, who worked for Ankara riot police for over two years assassinated Andrey Karlov. He had graduated from the police academy in Turkey and worked for the police but the 22-year-old called in sick on the day of the attack and promised to bring a doctor's note for his supervisors. In the video, it's obvious that his behavior was just not right. He was going over this in his mind, even checking the clip or safety on his weapon a couple of times. He paced from right to left. Even his body language standing with legs spread apart should have been a warning sign to security personnel. I just cannot understand how a high ranking Russian Ambassador is allowed to speak publicly in an art gallery with virtually no security police present. I'm sure that John Kerry has a lot of secret service surrounding him and kept nearby when he's abroad.

[izabella]

6 minutes ago, stillshimpy said:

Then to top it all off?  They've been taught and encouraged to disdain higher education which is, at its very core, about gaining knowledge that lead to more advanced skill sets. 

WASF, indeed, but oh my goodness, they think they are getting the America of '50s back in which America had a strong middle-class rooted deeply in manufacturing.  For all the reasons outlined, that is dead in the water and again, they've seemingly never grasped the nefarious reasons behind encouraging swaths of the country to view critical thinking and advanced education as being....god help them, because they will need it...stupid as a pursuit.  

This lack of respect for education - their own education as well as others' - is indeed one of the most damaging, if not the most damaging, aspects of this whole thing.  I grew up in an immigrant family in the 70's and 80's in a city with a steel industry.  Guess what happened?  The steel industry went bust, and only people who were willing to take lesser paying jobs in other industries were able to actually find new jobs.  It was a terrible time for many, many families.

Guess what else happened?  The immigrant parents were the ones who were the most adamant that their kids get a good education and go to college so they wouldn't be at the mercy of the rise and fall of manufacturing industries and so their kids wouldn't have to work in the horrible conditions of steel mills, chemical companies, warehouses, etc., in all kinds of nasty weather and in all kinds of dangerous work sites.  The parents of the (white) Americans continued to be lackadaisical about their kids' C or D grades and even less concerned about sending them to college.

I don't know or understand why education has been so demonized, but it is still the best way to pursue the American dream and only some people realize that.  I think immigrants generally come here to seek a better life for themselves, but more importantly, a better life for their kids.  Americans who shun education are dooming their kids to a life of pizza delivery and McJobs, if they're lucky.

[Lunata]

Now I have to go back again and retract my comment about a story being fake. I had checked the story myself and all the websites were pro-Democrat and most were known for hoax stories against Trump. So I called it as fake. But today, this comes from a site that's legitimate, the Washington Post.

Kuwaiti Ambassador Salem Al-Sabah and his wife have held the embassy’s National Day celebration at the Four Seasons in Georgetown in past years. This year, the Four Seasons is out and the Trump D.C. hotel is in.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2016/12/20/kuwaiti-embassy-is-latest-to-book-trump-d-c-hotel-but-ambassador-says-he-felt-no-pressure/?postshare=111482254335518&tid=ss_tw

[potatoradio]

Joy Reid had a great article that I have since lost the link to (it's buried somewhere in her Twitter feed), but one of her telling points was that with Tubby in office, the presidency will become so degraded and distrusted that it will no longer be the holy grail for politicians - especially for Dems, who can now stop saying "whew, at least we have the WH" - and maybe now we can focus on the rat bastards in Congress  who will do the real damage (Tubby Tweetertantrum start to WWIII not withstanding).  I'm down with the theory posted here and elsewhere that the Rethugs are using Tubby as a useful idiot figurehead for a hard right agenda. 

So, yeah, congrats, Tubs. Helluva win. Enjoy your four years. Because the mockery and manipulation and ridicule and division and nastiness are just getting started.

Though who knows if you can actually handle your four years of being the most unpopular, disliked, disrespected "president" to ever con your way to office. 

[Hanahope]

So speaking of being curious as to what is fake news or not, someone I know was posting about a former DHS official who claims that because of Obama, the DHS didn't 'follow up' and do secondary interviews on people claiming to be refugees, one of which was the knife attacker at OSU.  Supposedly the attacker's mother told DHS that her children were in danger of being recruited as terrorists (the family was from Somalia), which was one red flag, and that her husband had been kidnapped, which was another red flag.  Rather than conducting the supposedly required second interview to follow up on these red flags, DHS let the family into the country anyway, where the OSU attacker was in fact recruited by terrorists for his attack.

I tried to check on this posting, but the only websites talking about it were the extreme right wing sites that have previously posted fake news items (the Daily Caller, Infowars, WND), so I don't know if this claim is actually true or not.  But I can see where Trump could use this claim as support for his 'extreme vetting' and actual shut down of all immigration, based on these unapparant unsubstantiated stories.

[Padma]

Those "personal bodyguards" of Trump's have a very menacing quality about them, including a history of roughing up people in his crowds. I don't like the idea of a President employing his own group of thugs, answerable only to him, not to the American people.

Plus, how are his SS agents supposed to work with them? They are supposed to be at the top of the security chain of command. In Trump's case that's not how it's going to work.  Seems very chaotic.

[Lunata]

We might be waiting for the moment that Trump supporters will slap their foreheads and have an 'aha' moment of realization that they voted wrongly. That's not going to happen. We're all waiting for Trump to get caught red-handed doing things that proves he's cashing in personally on his new fame as President. That's not going to happen. We're waiting for something big to happen that will cause him to be impeached immediately. That's not going to happen.

Let's face it, we're stuck with him no matter what he does that's illegal, almost illegal or appear to be illegal. It doesn't matter how it looks or how bad it is. He's in control and will do and say exactly what he wants or what he's told to say by his billionaire cabinet or generals. We're all holding our breath waiting for the big moment when the big balloon pops and Trump is busted, shamed and sent into hiding. That's not going to happen.

Whatever he says, even if tomorrow he told his supporters that they're insignificant and he doesn't care about them one bit, they'll only say "what he really meant is that he's a guy that tells it like it is and is a good businessman", that's all that matters to them. Our perception and theirs are vastly different. Ours are based in critical thinking, their opinions are based in selfishness. (a.) They want better jobs, (b.) they want a minimum raise increase, (c.) they want to mine coal, (d.) they want Mexicans out (e.) they want terrorists out. They have absolutely no concern or worry about what's happening right outside the bubble of their lives. Aleppo? (What's that) Assad regime? (No idea) Why is China a worry to everyone else but not for them?, (they have no clue) Do they even understand what China can do to the US economy? Be friends with Russia? (Sure, why not) These Trump supporters don't seem to have a clue what's going on outside of their little worlds in the USA because they simply don't care about anyone else. But the world is a small place, globalization has created interaction and integration among all people, all companies, and all governments of all nations. We aren't just this huge independent world power anymore, those days are gone. So if his supporters want their lives preserved and those of their children and grandchildren then they better take their heads out of their own asses and pay attention to what this man is doing.

[ClareWalks]

@NinjaPenguins you are a fantastic storyteller, what a great post.

[ChristmasJones]

How incredibly prescient was this little segment by George Carlin .... in particular- if you listen at 2:25 - he completely nails what happened in this election:

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, stillshimpy said:

Then to top it all off?  They've been taught and encouraged to disdain higher education which is, at its very core, about gaining knowledge that lead to more advanced skill sets.  

I keep thinking of the one person--can't remember which Republican it was--but he was proudly saying that suggesting they get re-educated was bad because there was no dignity in being a computer tech. They wanted their old jobs back, the ones their fathers and grandfathers did.

And I was just like...could he be more ridiculous and pandering to an OTT sense of entitlement? You want to do the job your grandfather did? That's completely not how things work. Would you be willing to chip in to pay somebody's salary as a blacksmith because that's what their ancestors did? Are you sympathetic to those newspaper reporters who have to deal with blogs on the internet now?

The fact that the guy can actually say something so ridiculous because he knows this will play well just floors me.

[Lana X]

I told my dad 'It seems even when the media try to hold donald accountable, he still gets away with stuff....' and that is why i fear he pretty much can and will get away with anything. 

My dad said "it seems that way, but the way we have checks and balances will prevent that from happening once he takes office....'

The thing is......checks and balances be damned. that is my whole point. he and everyone around him do not care. we have paul ryan, and mitch McConnell who seem to be bending over backwards for him and just not caring what he does or says

nobody cares. even leaders in the democratic party (barack obama too) seem to just not care. or they are too exhausted too fight. very sad

[Ocean Chick]

The checks and balance only work if the separate branches of the government work them.  The Congress should be checking and balancing the WH.  Except we know they won't.  And the SC should be checking and balancing them both.  But we all know once Dumpy has put his pick in there, that won't happen either.  We just put all the foxes in charge of the hen house, and the only checking and balancing that will go on will be the in-fighting over who gets the fattest chicken.  Congress has no interest in stopping Twitler.

[Lana X]

5 minutes ago, Ocean Chick said:

The checks and balance only work if the separate branches of the government work them.  The Congress should be checking and balancing the WH.  Except we know they won't.  And the SC should be checking and balancing them both.  But we all know once Dumpy has put his pick in there, that won't happen either.  We just put all the foxes in charge of the hen house, and the only checking and balancing that will go on will be the in-fighting over who gets the fattest chicken.  Congress has no interest in stopping Twitler.

exactly. I understand people wanting to have faith in the system, but my god. people do not want to challenge him. why? a lot of spinelessness. very worrying. or trump really has dirt on everyone. LOL.

I also fear what will happen since the KKK seems to be rising again. Rich or not, racism really doesn't seem to bother anyone either. 

very scary. when riots and civil disobedience start breaking out again, it will be interesting to see what happens from the trump admin.

[Lunata]

26 minutes ago, ChristmasJones said:

How incredibly prescient was this little segment by George Carlin .... in particular- if you listen at 2:25 - he completely nails what happened in this election:

George Carlin has been dead since 2008 so this video was filmed at least 8 years ago. George Carlin was dismissed by many as a stoner, a guy that was antagonistic towards mainstream politics and religion and many people hated George Carlin for his frank condemnation of both. He had been referred to by one newspaper as 'the dean of counterculture comedians'. George Carlin was outrageous, outspoken, unfiltered and generally correct in his dialog about politics and religion. I could sit for hours and watch video after video of George Carlin on YouTube. But this particular performance would prove to be more pertinent now than it even was back in 2008. George Carlin would be proven 100% correct on every point of his performance. I have copied the transcript for those who would like to read along with the video, or simply read what he said. It's cold, it's scary and it's very real.

"There's a reason education SUCKS, and it's the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It's never going to get any better, don't look for it, be happy with what you've got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the REAL owners, now. The REAL owners, the BIG WEALTHY business interests that control things and make all the important decisions -- forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. YOU DON'T. You have no choice. You have OWNERS. They OWN YOU. They own EVERYTHING. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations; they've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State houses, the City Halls; they've got the judges in their back pockets, and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear. They gotcha by the BALLS. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying -- lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want -- they want MORE for themselves and less for everybody else. But I'll tell you what they don't want. They DON'T want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that, that doesn't help them. That's against their interests. That's right. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting FUCKED by system that threw them overboard 30 fuckin' years ago. They don't want that. You know what they want? They want OBEDIENT WORKERS. OBEDIENT WORKERS. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passably accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And now they're comin' for your SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY. They want your fuckin' retirement money. They want it BACK. So they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it ALL from you sooner or later -- 'cuz they OWN this fuckin' place. It's a big CLUB. And YOU AIN'T IN IT. You and I are NOT IN the big club. By the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long, beating you over the in their media telling you what to believe -- what to think -- and what to buy. The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged. And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-workin people -- white collar, blue collar -- doesn't matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard-workin people CONTINUE -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these RICH COCKSUCKERS who don't GIVE a fuck about them. They don't give a fuck about you, they don't GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU. T HEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU -- AT ALL. AT ALL. AT ALL. You know? And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care ... that's what the owners count on, the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes every day. Because the owners of this country know the truth -- it's called the American Dream ... 'cuz you have to be asleep to believe it."

2017, Enter President Donald Trump and his cabinet.

[stillshimpy]

We just put all the foxes in charge of the hen house, and the only checking and balancing that will go on will be the in-fighting over who gets the fattest chicken.  Congress has no interest in stopping Twitler.

The only interest they might have in getting rid of Twitler is that he's antagonistic towards countries that they actually don't want to royally piss off.  That's it.  So a Night of the Long Knives scenario, presumably with fewer actual murders (one would freaking hope) is within the realm of possibility.  They needed thugs (aka Brownshirts) to help get them into power and to the point where those checks and balances have lost all power.  

It's been happening with the obstructionist government of the last 8 years.  So they've already stuck a few "let's see what happens when we do this outrageously undemocratic thing...." toes into the water and what happened was not a giant loss of power because they were able to deflect all blame onto to the democrats.  

But the problem with those braying fools who bullying and spray paint is that they aren't useful to them for anything else.   So there is actually a fairly strong possibility that they will want to herd Trump towards some sort of sea....because he's not smart, he's not capable and he has a child's understanding of the world stage.  It won't help us any but it remains a strong possibility because he's just that bad.  

[candall]

3 minutes ago, Lana X said:

...when riots and civil disobedience start breaking out again, it will be interesting to see what happens from the trump admin.

I think we just got a good preview of that--it will be those damn foreign terrorists again.  The Turkish shooter's final breath was spent screaming about Aleppo and Syria, but President-Elect Idiot knows better:   It's all about jihad, folks, trust me, amirite?

[Lana X]

12 minutes ago, candall said:

I think we just got a good preview of that--it will be those damn foreign terrorists again.  The Turkish shooter's final breath was spent screaming about Aleppo and Syria, but President-Elect Idiot knows better:   It's all about jihad, folks, trust me, amirite?

Terrorists are evil, but they are not stupid. next time we have a terror attack, what? shut down the U.S.? ban all trade? nobody flies in and out of the country? I try so hard to understand his mindset. Lol

Edited December 20, 2016 by Lana X

[ari333]

Here's one. In real life (mostly rump voters)say how the season demands forgiveness and joy and hope. Well, rump said - straight from his mouth -not a misprint or misunderstanding - some HORRIBLE things. And then proceeded to appoint people who also said and did horrible things. Here's the thing. I never attacked George W. just bc I didnt' vote for him.The only negative thing I ever said was that I wish the hell his wife or handlers had helped him pronounce "nuclear" correctly. It made me crazy. Orange turd on the other hand, is a whole other beast. I am sickened and terrified..

Pass the Pepto 

[Duke Silver]

I opined last week that establishment-types in the GOP have had a sudden, breath-taking reversal WRT Russia/Putin & that such views are malleable in a post-Trump world.  The justification for this is obvious, and Putin's buddies will be all over the new administration; no one will stop the Tillerson confirmation, for example:

[ari333]

This turd is going to run us all, and civilization as a whole,  off a cliff. And I cant pick up and move to a blue state. All I can pray for is that they  cant change everything immediately. I hope we at least get to 2018 to cope. Otherwise, I'm doomed. Like Origami said, I need some medicines to stay alive. I'm in Kentucky. I'm scared.

The really sad part is that my health was recovering and I was hoping to be well enough to work and get off all this. (not yet but getting there) My neighbor told me that they're cancelling vision and dental..... two things I desperately need as well as other health issues (recovered from a stroke) Icant sleep..... Sorry for the rant.

Jumping topics.

I cant fathom how rump gives two shits about who marries whom. Frankly I don't see why anyone cares. Let people live. GEES.

Edited December 20, 2016 by ari333

[Lana X]

I find it odd that people like john oliver, stephen colbert, and trevor noah seem to call out trump and fact check him more than say CNN. 

comedians are the new journalists. wow

Edited December 20, 2016 by Lana X

[ari333]

2 minutes ago, Lana X said:

I find it odd that people like john oliver, stephen colbert, and trevor noah seem to call out trump and fact check him more than say CNN. 

comedians are the new journalists. wow

I know, right? I don't get those channels anymore, but what happened? Years ago I thought they, CNN etc,  were all over that kind of news. *sigh*

[Lana X]

This turd is going to run us all, and civilization as a whole,  off a cliff. And I cant pick up and move to a blue state. All I can pray for is that they  cant change everything immediately. I hope we at least get to 2018 to cope. Otherwise, I'm doomed. Like Origami said, I need some medicines to stay alive. I'm in Kentucky. I'm scared.

The really sad part is that my health was recovering and I was hoping to be well enough to work and get off all this. (not yet but getting there) My neighbor told me that they're cancelling vision and dental..... two things I desperately need as well as other health issues (recovered from a stroke) Icant sleep..... Sorry for the rant.

Jumping topics.

I cant fathom how rump gives two shits about who marries whom. Frankly I don't see why anyone cares. Let people live. GEES.

I feel this. I fear for the minorities the most. The poor, people of color (any color but white) will most likely be screwed. If you're rich and a person of color, you may be okay. Maybe kanye west can help the struggling folk out there. ::eye roll::