Post-Election Fears & Anxieties

[EyewatchTV211]

I said I was going to stay away, but this terrified me some more. 

and http://boingboing.net/2016/11/11/hitlers-only-kidding-about.html

And yes, @Spartan Girl, I am watching the Hallmark Christmas movies as an escape, especially as some of my regular shows are in repeats. Who cares that I'm Jewish?

Edited November 13, 2016 by VMepicgrl

[catrox14]

23 minutes ago, VMepicgrl said:

I said I was going to stay away, but this terrified me some more. 

and http://boingboing.net/2016/11/11/hitlers-only-kidding-about.html

And yes, @Spartan Girl, I am watching the Hallmark Christmas movies as an escape, especially as some of my regular shows are in repeats. Who cares that I'm Jewish?

 

OH MY GODS!

[EyewatchTV211]

And oh look - someone who actually WAS a German Hitler youth is loving Trump in Sweden, along with the rest of their newer nazis http://www.thelocal.se/20161112/swedish-nazis-hail-trump-in-largest-ever-demonstration?utm_content=bufferd14a5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[EyewatchTV211]

Back to a cute note since I just sounded the alarm a bit: 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Anyone else dealing by watching all the Christmas movies that are on Hallmark? Usually it still feels too early for Christmas stuff around this time of the month, but now I'll happily make an exception. We need call the Yuletide spirit we can get.

 

59 minutes ago, fastiller said:

@Spartan Girl - not Hallmark. I am immersing myself in classic film on TCM and on my local PBS stations.

Nope, not Hallmark ? 

I watched the original The Lorax and am indulging in Justice League because I LOVE this series, and well, neither Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime had any of the other movies I wanted to see.  NOR do any of them have Psych. I really really REALLY needed to watch Shawn and Gus again!

So instead I will sit back and enjoy Wally West/Flash, and snerk and wallow in my inner teen, watching Batman deny he has feelings for Diana/Wonder Woman. 

Oh and watch my team of heroes kick the bad guys' asses.

Edited November 13, 2016 by GHScorpiosRule

[ebk57]

I went out with Mr. ebk tonight to an informational picket line at a local arts institution.  There's a labor issue on the table, so the union was out making folks aware.  Then we went out for pizza.

I feel better.

[EyewatchTV211]

16 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

 

Nope, not Hallmark ? 

I watched the original The Lorax and am indulging in Justice League because I LOVE this series, and well, neither Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime had any of the other movies I wanted to see.  NOR do any of them have Psych. I really really REALLY needed to watch Shawn and Gus again!

So instead I will sit back and enjoy Wally West/Flash, and snerk and wallow in my inner teen, watching Batman deny he has feelings for Diana/Wonder Woman. 

Oh and watch my team of heroes kick the bad guys' asses.

ION has started playing Psych episodes again. But at 1AM!! WTH? I want to be watching but can't exactly do that on worknights. And can't stay up for long within one episode on weekends.

[GHScorpiosRule]

4 minutes ago, VMepicgrl said:

ION has started playing Psych episodes again. But at 1AM!! WTH? I want to be watching but can't exactly do that on worknights. And can't stay up for long within one episode on weekends.

Thanks! Totally going on my dvr schedule! And since I'm suffering insomnia, I'll be watching! Well assuming it's on tonight!?

Avoiding any and all news is helping me to get over my shock and anger. As well as fear.  I went back to FB today, but after reading posts where people were hand waving away that racists were out there threatening and writing all those obscene and racists and bigoted slurs? I just can't. Especially when they deny it's happening and instead are calling those that are protesting, anarchists and what the problem is with Amurica.???

[EyewatchTV211]

@GHScorpiosRule Just checked - yes, Psych is on tonight (or technically morning). I don't have much room to record them. :-(

I'm still avoiding the news, although I have returned to twitter. I mostly avoided facebook for other reasons even way before the election, so I'm not super interested in going back there except for specific reasons. 

[Lillybee]

Since the election, I have lost my appetite, so I plan on watching Top Chef reruns.

[crayon78]

I don't recall seeing this mentioned here before, so apologies if it's a repeat. I remember people were looking for concrete things to do. The Louisiana Senate runoff is on December 10th, and this post had some suggestions for getting involved:

https://medium.com/@jackson_cantrell/the-2016-election-isnt-over-yet-f1ea6fc395fe#.3c33ozqdt

Also, on the topic of whether anyone has "gotten through" to Trump voters/supporters, it seems my mom has at least managed to convince someone that Pence isn't as wonderful and great as they thought he was. She told them all about conversion therapy, and they were pretty horrified by his views about gay people. I was at least happy to hear someone was receptive to that.

12 minutes ago, VMepicgrl said:

ION has started playing Psych episodes again. But at 1AM!! WTH? I want to be watching but can't exactly do that on worknights. And can't stay up for long within one episode on weekends.

Thank you for this! It's almost like someone in programming knew people were going to need something happy and fun to cheer them up.

4 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

 I went back to FB today, but after reading posts where people were hand waving away that racists were out there threatening and writing all those obscene and racists and bigoted slurs? I just can't. Especially when they deny it's happening and instead are calling those that are protesting, anarchists and what the problem is with Amurica.

Haha, sounds like we have the same FB contacts.

In the 5 minutes I limited myself to today on FB, I learned from them that the reports of hate were overblown and hoaxes, and that it's ridiculous that people were saying Trump was a racist and misogynist as if it were indisputable. Also, they're not protesters; they're rioters. Sometimes I wonder if I ever really knew these people.

[windsprints]

1 hour ago, VMepicgrl said:

Back to a cute note since I just sounded the alarm a bit: 

My contribution: 

[Revlonred]

1 hour ago, VMepicgrl said:

I said I was going to stay away, but this terrified me some more. 

and http://boingboing.net/2016/11/11/hitlers-only-kidding-about.html

And yes, @Spartan Girl, I am watching the Hallmark Christmas movies as an escape, especially as some of my regular shows are in repeats. Who cares that I'm Jewish?

And we are being told we are overreacting.  This sent chills through to my bones.  

[zxy556575]

10 hours ago, KIMBERLYANN11 said:

But if somebody else brings it up I might be known in family lore as the one who ruined Thanksgiving. (I think I'm already the one who ruined Christmas).

I was watching stand-up comedy tonight as a palate cleanser and Kathleen Madigan has a bit in "Bothering Jesus" about one of her sisters telling her she ruined Christmas because she arrived late.

"Okay, I was 20 minutes late and I apologize. But I would like to point out for the future that you and I have very different definitions of what ruining Christmas would be. To me, ruining Christmas would be if I were to walk into mom and dad's house with a 12 gauge and shoot them in the face. I think that ruins Christmas. And it ruins the rest of the Christmases after that because you can't ever have another Christmas without going, 'Oh my God. Remember that one Christmas when Kathleen went crazy and shot mom and dad in the face? It was horrible."

I also spent a couple of hours rewatching my favorite episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (John Oliver! Larry David! Letterman!). Oh, and Jamoca Almond Fudge from Baskin Robbins. You might not think that pairs with blush wine in a box, but I made it work.

Edited November 13, 2016 by lordonia

[Lillybee]

SNL very nice treatment

A nice bit from Saturday Night Live.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/watch-snls-kate-mckinnon-as-hillary-clinton-sings-achingly-beautiful-rendition-of-leonard-cohens-halleluja/

[EyewatchTV211]

Someone posted the following saying, "My sister led Trump/Russia research at DNC. US hackers protecting voting systems believe Russia hacked vote tallies "https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157855450785389&id=614520388

[Lantern7]

Agreed. And Dave Chappelle is providing good insight into Tuesday not being the worst thing that Americans have done. Bonus: Walking Dead parody with Dave's characters!

Bulldog puppy for the win. Thanks, @windsprints! I follow four bullies and a puppy from Thailand. Rambunctious, unruly guys. Very cute. There are also the Pugdashians. And I told y'all about Paddington.

[EyewatchTV211]

Anti-Trump protests in Germany 

[ruby24]

I actually think it would be a good thing for Republicans if we abolished the electoral college as well, because if they were forced to spend time campaigning in places like CA and NY, they might actually be forced to moderate their positions and not be forced to cater to this base. Try to appeal to the entire country in a genuine way.

[Pixel]

27 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Agreed. And Dave Chappelle is providing good insight into Tuesday not being the worst thing that Americans have done. Bonus: Walking Dead parody with Dave's characters!

Bulldog puppy for the win. Thanks, @windsprints! I follow four bullies and a puppy from Thailand. Rambunctious, unruly guys. Very cute. There are also the Pugdashians. And I told y'all about Paddington.

I was just coming over here to say the election night skit on SNL actually slammed some things into perspective for me, and I immediately felt better about this. I can hate Trump still, but we've been through worse than this.  I hope the sense of relief (and laughing at myself) continues. 

[Rapunzel]

22 hours ago, Padma said:

Also the whole "bring back jobs" b.s. about threatening Apple, Carrier and Ford.

One of my biggest angers about the media (and, I admit, his opponents, inc. HRC) is how they did not hammer away at him for continuing to make his OWN products abroad--in 22 countries!!! "Bring back jobs"? Heck--why not start by bringing back your OWN????

So many missed opportunities to expose this liar and hypocrite that it's heartbreaking. (However, for the actual loss itself, I still blame Comey)

Well, at least Hillary did get it into one of the debates that he built his Las Vegas hotel with "Chinese Steel" and that he was known for purchasing a lot of it. For whatever reason (like many other points brought up against Trump in this election) this was not built on or proliferated by the media. It makes me wonder if any of his die hard, patriot supporters who truly believe that he is going to "bring jobs back to America" would have stuck with him knowing that he has spent a ton on Chinese steel and feels no remorse or regret for it.

Edited November 13, 2016 by Rapunzel

[twoods]

Glad I'm not the only one watching Hallmark (more like UP Christmas movie)and Psych tonight to offset feeling blah over Trump. I did see a clip of his 60 minutes interview and it seems that he may amend Obamacare instead of get rid of it. I hope he goes through with this so millions don't lose their health insurance, and will relieve my anxiety a little more. Now on to more Shawn and Gus goodness. 

[ruby24]

I wish more attention was paid to the question of whether the country is actually, sincerely safe in the hands of such an unstable man. People are wanting to pretend this is okay, but...does this not bother anyone else?

I mean, Pence is horrific and awful, but that's actually the only reason that I might prefer him by a tiny hair. For national security and fitness for office reasons. I mean, we have a huge military and nuclear weapons, this really isn't just a figurehead position, you know? And he's shown so often how completely crazy he is.

Edited November 13, 2016 by ruby24

[bref]

Me, Ruby. I have not forgotten the dire warnings from military and foreign affairs experts from both sides of the political aisle about Trump's unsuitability to command our armed forces and have access to the nuclear codes.

[ruby24]

5 minutes ago, bref said:

Me, Ruby. I have not forgotten the dire warnings from military and foreign affairs experts from both sides of the political aisle about Trump's unsuitability to command our armed forces and have access to the nuclear codes.

Yeah, exactly! I mean, I remember at the Democratic convention all those foreign policy and military people lined up onstage, warning about this guy. The executive branch has near total control over foreign policy, I just don't understand how this isn't a concern to more people.

We are a far more powerful country than we were in the 18th century. Since we became a superpower, I really believe the basic fitness for office requirement is essential to whoever holds that seat, and he is not. AT ALL. It's scary to me, and I can't imagine what the Joint Chiefs and national security people are thinking right now. I actually hope that the responsible ones who vowed they'd never work for him, actually reconsider. Just to protect the country from a man who might really have mental disorders. And no ability to learn or pay attention or take things seriously.

[zxy556575]

I apologize if this has been posted or linked already, but here's the reality by county. It's very sobering for me.

[HumblePi]

I haven't made any comments for a few days so I will probably be redundant with some of what I'll say. I thought I'd be feeling much better and in a state of acceptance by now but I'm not and my depression went to an even deeper level once I realized some of the facts of this election.

We've given 'him' control of the House, Senate and White House, ALL 3 branches of Government. The Supreme Court is about to be filled by a new Republican President which removes any semblance of democracy. We've given Donald Trump, who has been described as vengeful, erratic, narcissistic, dangerous and temperamentally unfit to be president (and that's by conservative republicans) control of the FBI, CIA, NSA, EPA, IRS, plus drones and nuclear weapons. Deportations will start under ICE which he controls. Bans, not only on Muslim immigration but on Muslin tourism. Muslim tourism brought 18.4 billion dollars of revenue into the United States last year. Six countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the Middle East represent 37 per cent of all Muslim travelers worldwide. It's a pretty sure thing that Roe V Wade will be overturned and Planned Parenthood funding will dry up. With Rudy Giuliani as Attorney General, and 'pitchfork sheriff' David Clarke as Head of Homeland Security is a recipe for a pro-Putin administration. Our politics will align with Russia.. Angela Merkel is the only woman in the free world standing between Russia and the rest of the world. Republicans are no longer the party of Lincoln and Reagan, it's the party of Trump and the alt-right and has emboldened the KKK.

Don't tell people that are afraid that they have no right to be. Don't ask us to come together and accept this man as our president when it was never his intention to accept all of us. His vulgarity and crassness was ratified and accepted by those that voted for him, now they have to own it. We need to cover him with as much zeal, cynicism and doggedness that was expended on Hillary's emails.

There's one more thing. President elect Trump vowed to spend $1 trillion dollars on repairing the infrastructure. The plan is not to use our money but to float bonds, thus privately funding repair of infrastructure. Just about anyone can purchase bonds, any person from any country. A 'sovereign bond' is just debt security issued by a national government which in this case would be the US.  Basically it means that foreign entities will control our infrastructure. Anyone investing in bonds expects a return on their investment, so how would that happen? Easily, by imposing tolls on bridges and roads.

[Chicken Wing]

1 hour ago, lordonia said:

I apologize if this has been posted or linked already, but here's the reality by county. It's very sobering for me.

It's so funny that I saw this post at the same time John King on CNN demonstrated this on his "magic wall" just now. The U.S. actually traditionally mostly looks like that -- it did in 2012 and 2008, at least. The main difference, as King pointed out, is that in 2008, the Midwest and particularly upper Midwest had a lot more blue spots; in 2012, dang near half of those were gone, and now there's barely any.

[NewDigs]

9 hours ago, Lillybee said:

Since the election, I have lost my appetite, so I plan on watching Top Chef reruns.

And I've gained back every ounce I lost in my diet-before-the-holidays plan! lol

I got halfway to work today and realized I left my pickle jar of safety pins on the dining room table. Publix to the rescue. A selection of three varieties!

Like @HumblePi, every time I think I'm working my way through my stages of grief I get slapped in the face with fear. Twilight Zone.

Aw, the bulldog! And it's tough to beat platypuses wearing fedoras. Too sweet.

[HumblePi]

I'm praying that Ruth Bader Ginsburg lives to be 110 and if she dies I can only hope they find someone like those two Weekend at Bernie's guys.

 

Edited November 13, 2016 by HumblePi

[inkworks]

3 hours ago, lordonia said:

I apologize if this has been posted or linked already, but here's the reality by county. It's very sobering for me.

It makes me feel a little better to know that more people voted for her than him, but holy crap, it shouldn't have even been close.

[fishcakes]

Last night I was looking for something to watch on my DVR and wondered why I didn't have this week's Fresh Off The Boat. Then I realized it was because it was preempted on election day, and being reminded of that day gave me a sick feeling. It brought back the "oh shit" dread I had when watching the coverage and seeing the networks NOT calling any battleground states as the evening wore on. I mean, at this point, I've pretty much moved into the fatalistic acceptance stage because what other choice do I have? But for me personally, I think that in years to come when I think about dark days in American history, 11/8/16 will be on that list. This is assuming of course that we don't all get nuked into oblivion two years from now or I don't die in five years because I have no health insurance.

In less despairing news, #BidenMeme is trending on twitter and it's one of the greatest memes ever.

[DeLurker]

12 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

They were jerks like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.  Anita Hill is one of my all time heroes.

The Clarence Thomas Hearings were my first intro to Joe Biden.  I've loved him ever since. 

And 1,000x agree with Anita Hill being a hero.

@fishcakes - The #BidenMeme are hysterical!  Not on twitter and general live under a rock, so thank you for some truly laugh out loud stuff!

Edited November 13, 2016 by DeLurker

[onthebrink03]

7 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

In less despairing news, #BidenMeme is trending on twitter and it's one of the greatest memes ever.

Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!  Thank you.  Everyone needs to read these.  Hilarious!

[HumblePi]

The Electoral College, some background.

The Electoral College was implemented in 1787 that's right, you read it right, 1787. The actual election of a President to be made by a group of people apportioned among the states in the same numbers as their representatives in Congress. (who are they?) James Madison acknowledged that while a popular vote would be ideal, it would be difficult to get consensus on the proposal given the prevalence of slavery in the South at that time.

The number of electoral votes given each state was appropriated according to the population of that State. Those small and less populated states like Wyoming generally favored the electoral college out of concern large states would otherwise control presidential elections. The founders assumed electors would be elected by the citizens of his district. So farmers would have control of the elector vote of their state, cattlemen would have control of the electoral vote of theirs, and so on. A state's number of electors equals the number of representatives and senators the state has in the United States Congress. In the case of representatives, this is based on the respective populations. Each state's number of representatives is determined every 10 years by the United States Census.

Here's where it gets tricky. The State of California has 55 electoral votes. But, based on the current population of nearly 39 million, it actually should have triple the number of electoral votes, around 155. Wyoming has 3 electoral votes as does South Dakota, but Wyoming pledges their delegate to vote their party while South Dakota allows their electoral voters to vote their conscience. Therefore, despite the outcome of a state’s popular vote, the state’s electors in S. Dakota are ultimately free to vote in whatever manner they please, including an abstention, with no legal repercussions. There are only 21 States that have no requirements of, or legal control over, their electors.

Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, Vermont, and Wyoming have laws binding electors to cast their ballots for the candidate who won the popular vote in the state’s general election.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mississippi, and South Carolina have laws binding electors to cast their ballots for the candidate that the elector vowed, when nominated, to represent.

Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin have laws binding electors to cast their votes for the candidate belonging to the party that nominated the elector.

No doubt we’d be better off if the law prevented the possibility of electors faithless to a candidate, but so far it hasn’t been one of the bigger problems with the electoral college. The electoral college is antiquated, unfair and confusing to say the least. Four times in U.S. history, the winner of the nationwide popular vote has lost the Electoral College and the general election. But a proposal called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would automatically allocate participating states' Electoral College votes to whoever wins the national popular vote.

Considering the fact that Donald Trump won his presidency by way of the electoral college, it doesn't seem likely that this proposal would get very far in Congress.

*Editing to add a happening moment question. Hillary Clinton has come out this morning publicly putting all the blame on losing the election on the shoulders of Jame Comey. Since she has squarely put the blame on his interference, the question shouts out as to whether the Democrats will push for an investigation into election rigging by Republicans?

Edited November 13, 2016 by HumblePi

[Danny Franks]

3 hours ago, lordonia said:

I apologize if this has been posted or linked already, but here's the reality by county. It's very sobering for me.

It's not as bad as it looks. Don't forget that a lot of those red districts are always red, and a lot of them are relatively sparsely populated. All of the blue bits are clustered around the big cities.  If you distorted that map to size each district by the number of people in it, there would be a lot more blue.

But, it is still a problem. It's something the Democrats have to look at, and not just blame Hillary or racists or the FBI for. They need to ask themselves why so many districts, whether the population is a million or a dozen, didn't like their message.

And by the way, one thing they've got to do is drop gun control. Just... give it up. It's not happening and it's doing nothing but losing you votes. Let's be honest, no one who wants guns scrapped is going to turn against the Democrats if they just don't mention the issue. At most, Democrats should be saying, as Bernie did, 'we accept that millions of Americans like guns, and we respect the 2nd Amendment. We don't want to take your guns away. We would like to reach an agreement with the gun lobby on sensible measures to stop guns getting into the hands of criminals, and we are aware that the underlying social causes of gun crime need to be addressed'. It's not that hard.

[fishcakes]

3 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

At most, Democrats should be saying, as Bernie did, 'we accept that millions of Americans like guns, and we respect the 2nd Amendment. We don't want to take your guns away. We would like to reach an agreement with the gun lobby on sensible measures to stop guns getting into the hands of criminals, and we are aware that the underlying social causes of gun crime need to be addressed'.

That is exactly what Democrats have been saying. And every time they say it, the opposition says, "they want to take your guns away! They want to abolish the Second Amendment!" Democrats can't make people hear what they refuse to hear.

[Danny Franks]

6 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

That is exactly what Democrats have been saying. And every time they say it, the opposition says, "they want to take your guns away! They want to abolish the Second Amendment!" Democrats can't make people hear what they refuse to hear.

Yeah, the Republicans and Trump hammered home that she wanted to take their guns, because they know they can win that way, and because they know the Democrats are seen as the party of gun control. But she didn't help herself by giving out easy soundbites like this: "I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets." Now, I know that was part of a larger statement that was more nuanced, but a lot of people wouldn't get any further than that, and it gives the GOP all the ammunition they need to paint the picture they want.  It's really easy when Democrats have been banging on about it for years. Just drop the issue. Admit defeat. It's a hill that they can do nothing but die on.

It will take a while for the new message to permeate, to reach the majority, but it has to be done. Hell, even meet with the NRA and make the position clear to them. They might be partisan to the GOP, but I believe that's less ideological for them than it is practical.

Edited November 13, 2016 by Danny Franks

[glowlights]

Fishcakes I love you. The Biden memes have me in tears (good tears). 

I didn't know Tracey Ullmans new show had started!! Thanks so much for that tip. We enjoyed a couple of those eps last night. Her impression of Judy Dench is remarkable. 

The Politics of Dancing has been in my head all night and I think it was responsible for a disturbing dream about Tom Cruise dancing topless at a Korean vegan restaurant, but hey at least I didn't dream about the orange turd. :)

I think Kate McKinnon singing Leonard Cohen would destroy me right now.

Good point about euchre. Now we need a new word. Goddammit he's even ruining card games!

[EyewatchTV211]

48 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

It's not as bad as it looks. Don't forget that a lot of those red districts are always red, and a lot of them are relatively sparsely populated. All of the blue bits are clustered around the big cities.  If you distorted that map to size each district by the number of people in it, there would be a lot more blue.

But, it is still a problem. It's something the Democrats have to look at, and not just blame Hillary or racists or the FBI for. They need to ask themselves why so many districts, whether the population is a million or a dozen, didn't like their message.

And by the way, one thing they've got to do is drop gun control. Just... give it up. It's not happening and it's doing nothing but losing you votes. Let's be honest, no one who wants guns scrapped is going to turn against the Democrats if they just don't mention the issue. At most, Democrats should be saying, as Bernie did, 'we accept that millions of Americans like guns, and we respect the 2nd Amendment. We don't want to take your guns away. We would like to reach an agreement with the gun lobby on sensible measures to stop guns getting into the hands of criminals, and we are aware that the underlying social causes of gun crime need to be addressed'. It's not that hard.

I haven't gotten caught up on posts yet, but I wanted to comment on the map similarly first. It was also posted on twitter and Joy Reid responded helpfully that most of that red is empty land. As Danny Franks said, much of it is sparsely populated. So that map isn't very representative or useful. 

[EyewatchTV211]

So this is not super recent, but I don't understand how more attention wasn't given to this either. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/09/28/ten-state-election-databases-hacked.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl

The government agencies KNOW Russia has attempted or successfully hacked states' election vendors or other election-related systems. 3 states that ended up being key (one being Florida) were successfully hacked. At the time, the states were told to watch for suspicious activity hinting at actual influence but most believed it "only" impacted registration information, which sounds bad to me. Shouldn't we be doing something to investigate/assure ourselves that actual results weren't impacted? And this fits with what that person's sister was saying. All of this on top of voter suppression. 

I need to head out to lunch with some friends, but I plan on posting a picture of my own adorable pup later (yes, I'm biased). :-)

[NewDigs]

18 hours ago, windsprints said:

I saw this on twitter and bringing it here since people have discussed making donations, etc.  An idea to make a donation and send a message at the same time. 

Oh myyy, is right!

Sweet!

Dear Mike ...

 

1 hour ago, windsprints said:

In case anyone is wondering why he's on twitter this morning slamming the NY Times - they ran this full page ad today from ACLU:

http://www.attn.com/stories/12739/aclu-threatens-to-sue-donald-trump-new-york-times

Might be time to also donate to the ACLU. 

[Danny Franks]

10 minutes ago, VMepicgrl said:

So this is not super recent, but I don't understand how more attention wasn't given to this either. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/09/28/ten-state-election-databases-hacked.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl

The government agencies KNOW Russia has attempted or successfully hacked states' election vendors or other election-related systems. 3 states that ended up being key (one being Florida) were successfully hacked. At the time, the states were told to watch for suspicious activity hinting at actual influence but most believed it "only" impacted registration information, which sounds bad to me. Shouldn't we be doing something to investigate/assure ourselves that actual results weren't impacted? And this fits with what that person's sister was saying. All of this on top of voter suppression. 

I need to head out to lunch with some friends, but I plan on posting a picture of my own adorable pup later (yes, I'm biased). :-)

I can't help but think that the results were impacted. I was watching the counts come in, and it just felt... off. In every swing state, Trump had a lead, and every time a precinct reported in cutting Trump's lead, suddenly the next precinct would give him the lead back.

I have a hard time believing that so many women and latinos voted for him, and I just don't know if him hugely increasing his turnout in all the key states adds up. Unfortunately, it's not something that will ever be answered. But it again raises the question, why not just use a straightforward paper ballot? That's what we still use in the UK and it works fine. Any sort of electronic device is going to be open to hacking, which we now know is a huge problem. And just a couple of days before the election, Edward Snowden came out and said that hacking a voting machine was incredibly easy.

But it's something that cannot ever be proven with enough satisfaction that it would change anything. And for the election to even be close enough that hacking could believably swing it, the Democrats still need to look at themselves and fix all the mistakes they've made.

[editorgrrl]

On 11/11/2016 at 5:53 PM, mpeeps said:

This is from Shopping Channels, but I thought we could all use it here.

1 hour ago, fishcakes said:

#BidenMeme is trending on twitter and it's one of the greatest memes ever.

Thank you so much for this:

[windsprints]

Quote

But it again raises the question, why not just use a straightforward paper ballot? That's what we still use in the UK and it works fine. 

We used to use the lever machines. The were mechanical, not electronic. NY (where I live) was one of the last states to use them. I wish they'd go back to those. It won't ever happen. It would cost too much to replace everything they've spent so much money and time getting in place.

#BidenMeme is fantastic. Thanks for posting it!

[Danny Franks]

9 minutes ago, windsprints said:

We used to use the lever machines. The were mechanical, not electronic. NY (where I live) was one of the last states to use them. I wish they'd go back to those. It won't ever happen. It would cost too much to replace everything they've spent so much money and time getting in place.

 

Well then, they need to airgap each individual ballot machine. If Russia could influence the election via hacking, then why on earth wouldn't they? US attitudes to foreign policy, NATO and Eastern Europe directly impact on Russia and their intention of once again dominating their old sphere of influence. That's not to say Putin is a wannabe conqueror or imperialist, he just doesn't want NATO on his doorstep any more.

Trump as president is the best thing that could possibly happen for Putin. If I were leader of one the Baltic states, or Poland I would be seriously thinking about arranging a mutual defence pact between them and any other countries that border Russia. Because it looks like NATO will be very slow to take action, should Russia make a move.

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, Danny Franks said:

Yeah, the Republicans and Trump hammered home that she wanted to take their guns, because they know they can win that way, and because they know the Democrats are seen as the party of gun control. But she didn't help herself by giving out easy soundbites like this: "I believe weapons of war have no place on our str

I talked to someone who wasn't voting for Hillary because she was going to take his guns away. I pointed out that this proved that Obama, who was also going to take his guns away, did not take them away. Didn't matter. Soundbites might be a gift to the other side, but since there's no way anybody's not going to see the Republicans as the gun party, might as well be the party that people with sensible ideas for gun control like. I mean, look at how crazily it's been pushed at this point with people demanding guns in schools and churches and bars. I think there's a good moral reason to stand against that.

I guess also I feel like the Dems don't really seem to do much good when they get wishy washy to try to beg for Republican votes. Sure if they're pushing something really unpopular there's a reason to drop it, but it honestly feels like we always go through this. Republicans go extreme right and it works. Dems try to fake the same thing and look foolish and piss off the more extreme left by being so moderate. They fall between two stools and refuse to stand up for what they actually believe in. Wasn't that one of the things people always held against Hillary? Obama is the alleged "extreme liberal" even today and while that wasn't the whole reason he was more popular than Hillary, her appearing to take positions for votes she didn't believe in was always something held against her. Ironically a lot of that time she probably did believe in them.

Edited November 13, 2016 by sistermagpie

[Spartan Girl]

I love the Biden memes. It wouldn't shock me if he really had said anything like that. He probably didn't, of course. All the same....

Theres also a funny meme of the White House staff reactions to Trump's visit being compared to the Hogwarts students watching Voldemort invade.

[Chicken Wing]

6 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I love the Biden memes. It wouldn't shock me if he really had said anything like that. He probably didn't, of course. All the same....

Theres also a funny meme of the White House staff reactions to Trump's visit being compared to the Hogwarts students watching Voldemort invade.

Well ... he did.

[HumblePi]

10 hours ago, ruby24 said:

I wish more attention was paid to the question of whether the country is actually, sincerely safe in the hands of such an unstable man. People are wanting to pretend this is okay, but...does this not bother anyone else?

I mean, Pence is horrific and awful, but that's actually the only reason that I might prefer him by a tiny hair. For national security and fitness for office reasons. I mean, we have a huge military and nuclear weapons, this really isn't just a figurehead position, you know? And he's shown so often how completely crazy he is.

I think that was the very first thought in anyone's mind regarding his presidency. That's where all this fear and objection is based. On January 20th, he will have the capacity and the free will to act out in anger and press the button that releases up to 1800 nuclear weapons on whomever he chooses to destroy.  We all know he's vengeful, vindictive and extremely impulsive. That's one moment that I hope that his family interferes with the presidency and knocks him to his senses.