OK...What's Next?

[formerlyfreedom]

A spot to talk about the latest news after the election, the transition, the future of politics, and of course calls to action! Please take Presidential appointments to the proper topic, and the rest can be talked about here.

Posts that are off topic, or are the same as posts in other topics in the forum will be removed. Please remember the site rule - "BE CIVIL." We do not offer many second chances. Violations of the site rule may result in suspension or banning.

[Duke Silver]

There are multiple worthy charities/groups, but what I fear most is an attack on fundamental, Constitutional rights.  Please consider giving what you can to groups who will defend those rights.

American Civil Liberties Union:  https://action.aclu.org/donate-aclu?redirect=donate/join-renew-give

Southern Poverty Law Center:  https://donate.splcenter.org

My circle of friends is reaching out to our various social networks & organizing things like small, fund-raising dinners.  A neighbor of mine is planning monthly bake sales with her friends to raise monthly donations to Planned Parenthood.  These are just examples of small things many of us can do to defend against the inevitable racist & misogynistic onslaught from the Trump administration. 

Yep....anyone who cares about equal protection under the law should donate to groups who will fight to protect civil rights/liberties.  Jeff Sessions' DOJ sure as hell won't protect those rights:

https://twitter.com/politico/status/799769417353723904

Quote

Sessions pick as AG could spark exodus from civil rights division http://politi.co/2goQiYL | AP Photo

Edited November 19, 2016 by Duke Silver
correcting hyperlink

[ruby24]

I'm going to my first protest tomorrow! Is anyone else protesting this weekend? There are a lot of events going on.

[Zuzubee]

What's next? How about we all start getting smart and deal with facts. On both sides. It's not hard to do. Our discourse has been dumbed down by fake news sites. See it all the time on my feeds. Let's all get smart and not just believe what we want to. This is real, folks! People will be hurt or die if we don't get with it. We are not a stupid country, I hope. 

Feeling very frustrated. We are where are due to a tremendous amount of disinformation .  

Garbage in garbage out. And here we are.

[crayon78]

I don't think the survey responses here will mean anything at all, and you have to enter your information to vote, but it was interesting to look at. Of course, there is no response for "No, I don't want this," just, "Not important."

https://gop.com/100-day-plan-action-survey/

That said, gives some idea about their 100 day plan specifics (nothing really new, but narrowed down to 29 things). Stuff like:

Quote

Begin constructing the wall along the Southern border.

I thought it was now a fence? Or a metaphor?

Quote

Cancel billions of dollars in payments to U.N. climate change programs, and use that money to fix our own country.

Which won't exist at some point because... climate change.

Quote

End all federal funding to sanctuary cities that circumvent the law in order to provide protection to illegal immigrants.

That'll be interesting, considering how many major cities that includes.

The usual deportation of "more than two million criminal illegal immigrants" and suspension of immigration are all there, but noticeably no Muslim registry to vote on.

[Pixel]

4 minutes ago, crayon78 said:

I don't think the survey responses here will mean anything at all, and you have to enter your information to vote, but it was interesting to look at. Of course, there is no response for "No, I don't want this," just, "Not important."

https://gop.com/100-day-plan-action-survey/

That said, gives some idea about their 100 day plan specifics (nothing really new, but narrowed down to 29 things). Stuff like:

I thought it was now a fence? Or a metaphor?

Which won't exist at some point because... climate change.

That'll be interesting, considering how many major cities that includes.

The usual deportation of "more than two million criminal illegal immigrants" and suspension of immigration are all there, but noticeably no Muslim registry to vote on.

I read that survey, but no way would I fill it out. I'm not giving my name to the GOP. 

[aradia22]

I'm glad we have this new thread but there were some good ideas on the old thread. Does anyone remember any of the major ones? 

Off the top of my head I remember safety pins, volunteering, donations, calling representatives, etc. I feel like I don't have a terribly useful skill set. Has anyone heard of volunteer art therapy lessons? I have no teaching experience but I'm decent at various arts and crafts. I'm also open to helping with English and language skills at various levels.

[Moose135]

24 minutes ago, Pixel said:

I read that survey, but no way would I fill it out. I'm not giving my name to the GOP. 

I signed it "Mike Pence" ;-)

[theredhead77]

Call! Call! Call your representatives! Start with your Senators then start calling the rest. From one of the threads here I learned about Susan Collins, a Republican Senator from Maine who is one of the good ones. Call and express your support.
Here's the official link for their contact information. http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

[ruby24]

I was reading an op-ed in the NYT about how the left can use the Berlusconi model to defeat Trump. I don't know if I agree with a lot of it, but it might be worth considering some of the points made. He says that protests and focus on the outrageousness of his character only plays into his hands. That the only people who defeated Berlusconi were outsider candidates who stuck firmly to the issues and otherwise treated him as normal.

Trump is coming in already so unpopular that I do think a lot of his own voters are just totally numb to anything anyone says about him. They know he's awful and they just don't care for some reason. Will they stick with him even when he does a horrible job? It seems crazy to me, but I guess I can kind of see how it could play into him continuing to portray himself as the ultimate, hated outsider to the establishment. 

[mamadrama]

What's next? I keep hoping that, for once, promises made in the election campaign are not kept.I am hoping that things will NOT be as bad as I am afraid they will be-that my fears are as unfounded and ludicrous as those fears people who disliked President Obama had. I am hoping that there is some kind of soul hidden under the Donald's cold, reality tv exterior. 

I am married to an immigrant. He's white and English is his first language and he is here legally so we don't face some of the things that others who are physically diverse face. However, he is still an immigrant and the worries are there. He is a permanent resident and not a citizen so he couldn't vote in this election. Feeling useless, he has started his own podcast, about being an immigrant without a voice in "Trumpland." (We are liberals that live in the heart of Appalachia. There were only 11 of us that voted Clinton in the entire precinct.) We have been calling representatives, started an online support group for RUral Pantsuiters like ourselves, and have made a gameplan for volunteering in the next election-not just the presidential one, but local ones since we feel those changes much, MUCH sooner. Mostly, though, we monitor our kids. We will continue to make sure they grow up knowing to treat everyone with respect, to stand up to bullies, and to help others every chance you get. We don't have control over much, but we DO have control over what goes on within our home. 

I am an author. Although I write fiction, I've been playing around with writing a book about what it was like to grow up an agnostic liberal, child of a pagan and  highly educated single parent, in a heavily, conservative, isolated mountain region. I've never fit in with my surroundings and have left on multiple occasions. It's a love-hate relationship. I was thinking of calling it "Mistaken Identity." :-)

[Grommet]

6 hours ago, ruby24 said:

That the only people who defeated Berlusconi were outsider candidates who stuck firmly to the issues and otherwise treated him as normal.

UGH. I'm hoping that refusing to normalize Trump is the best strategy. I got into a FB tiff with someone who said protests and demonstrations are useless and stupid, to which I responded: civil rights movement and the Vietnam war. I think we each need to do what we can: make phone calls, make donations, join demonstrations. It will help to keep us connected in a common purpose and maybe stop us from falling into complacency, which is so easy to do when one's day to day life isn't immediately impacted (as is the case for me, a middle-class white woman with employer-provided health insurance).

mamadrama, please write that book.

[editorgrrl]

8 hours ago, aradia22 said:

Has anyone heard of volunteer art therapy lessons? I have no teaching experience but I'm decent at various arts and crafts. I'm also open to helping with English and language skills at various levels.

Start here: https://www.volunteermatch.org

If you don't find anything, contact your local libraries, hospitals, retirement communities, adult daycare…

[Chicken Wing]

What's next? Well, since people have demonstrated this election that they have so little respect for the seriousness of our institutions, and are so desperate for something different that they will literally vote for anything, I would like to officially nominate my goldfish for 2020.

[Ceindreadh]

24 minutes ago, Chicken Wing said:

What's next? Well, since people have demonstrated this election that they have so little respect for the seriousness of our institutions, and are so desperate for something different that they will literally vote for anything, I would like to officially nominate my goldfish for 2020.

Your goldfish probably has a longer attention span than Trump. 

[Danny Franks]

What you guys all need to do, and to keep doing, is to ask these five questions, originally postulated by the great Tony Benn: 

Quote

 

“What power have you got?”

“Where did you get it from?”

“In whose interests do you use it?”

“To whom are you accountable?”

“How do we get rid of you?”

 

Can Donald Trump answer them? Right now, I doubt he could answer a single one with any confidence, but that's more due to his ignorance than anything else. But they're the litmus test of whether you live in a democracy. If any of the answers to these questions become unclear or hazy, then you're in trouble.

Edited November 19, 2016 by Danny Franks

[fishcakes]

9 hours ago, Pixel said:

I read that survey, but no way would I fill it out. I'm not giving my name to the GOP. 

Same. Also I had to laugh at those questions because they're so obviously biased, like, "end all federal funding to sanctuary cities that circumvent the law in order to provide protection to illegal immigrants," and "cancel billions of dollars in payments to U.N. climate change programs, and use that money to fix our own country" which when passed through the Demagogue to Lemming Decoder Ring come out, "stop sending money to corrupt mayors who are breaking the law and using our tax dollars to give free stuff to drug dealers and rapists from Mexico who are pouring over our borders" and "stop giving money to the U.N. which might not even be a real thing because I don't know what it is, to fight quote unquote climate change eyeroll, or use that money to make America Great Again."

But I saw on twitter that the best part of that fucking survey is that once you fill out your name, email, and zip code, it takes you to this confirmation screen:

Soooo, this appears to be illegal af. A minority of state legislatures allow newly elected state officials to accept donations for the transition or inaugural committee, but I seriously doubt the president can accept direct donations from the public to help him fund his frivolous lawsuits against the New York Times.

Edited November 19, 2016 by fishcakes
to make the photo of Trump's hamglob face smaller

[Danny Franks]

The fuck? Trump is still asking for donations after the election has finished? To "sustain our movement"? You're the president-elect, dipshit, you don't have "a movement". You want money? Raise taxes.

[Duke Silver]

1 minute ago, Danny Franks said:

The fuck? Trump is still asking for donations after the election has finished? To "sustain our movement"? You're the president-elect, dipshit, you don't have "a movement". You want money? Raise taxes.

He has to recoup that $25 million somehow dude....

[random chance]

8 hours ago, ruby24 said:

They know he's awful and they just don't care for some reason. Will they stick with him even when he does a horrible job? It seems crazy to me, but I guess I can kind of see how it could play into him continuing to portray himself as the ultimate, hated outsider to the establishment. 

(Bold mine.) Yes, I think you're right - going by their responses on Twitter anyway (so, anecdotal evidence). They enjoy the fact that we're appalled by him. This is one of the best things about him, to them. The more horrified we are, the better they feel about themselves.

1 hour ago, Grommet said:

UGH. I'm hoping that refusing to normalize Trump is the best strategy.

I think we have to hit some kind of a sweet spot where we're not making him even more appealing to his base by being horrified by him, but we're also not normalizing his actions.

45 minutes ago, Ceindreadh said:

Your goldfish probably has a longer attention span than Trump. 

lmao

Edited November 19, 2016 by random chance
typo dammit

[Kromm]

What's next?  Well, the loss of people brave enough to do something like this...

Yesterday... in other words in the middle of the tempest surrounding her likely replacement with a person who will probably come after her and retroactively try and prosecute her, our current Attorney General posted this:

 

Here's what the new asshole wants to do differently: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/us/politics/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-attorney-general.html

Fuck you in advance, Herr Sessions.  You might not technically be a Klan member... but those dudes are ALL cheering now. Very illuminating, for example, how the guy now to be in charge of law enforcement for the whole country has a habit of calling black men "boy" and how he's likely to want to dismantle the NAACP. 

He even looks like the white Southern cliche--a wrinkled hunched over little goblin ready to put his feet up on a black house slave serving as his footstool or something like that. 

 

1 hour ago, fishcakes said:

Soooo, this appears to be illegal af. A minority of state legislatures allow newly elected state officials to accept donations for the transition or inaugural committee, but I seriously doubt the president can accept direct donations from the public to help him fund his frivolous lawsuits against the New York Times.

Trump doesn't CARE if what he does is illegal. The sudden magical disappearance of the Trump U. lawsuit is showing the dangerous pattern. The implied consensus from the vote (yes, even though he lost the popular) is quickly pushing automatic dismissal/acceptance of letting everything he does get swept under the rug or blindly accepted. "Normalized" as people are saying.

Amal Clooney (who I hope with George moves out of country so the new SS that's going to exist under what's coming doesn't simple scoop her up and lock her away to silence her) warns that most of what Trump has promised is coming violates International Law. A Trump admin is going to be on the level of places like North Korea with it's blatant disregard for International Laws.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/amal-clooney-says-trumps-ideas-are-violations-of-international-human-rights-law_us_582f276ce4b099512f826f60

[stillshimpy]

12 hours ago, crayon78 said:

The usual deportation of "more than two million criminal illegal immigrants" and suspension of immigration are all there, but noticeably no Muslim registry to vote on.

 

 

 

Yes, this omission troubled me at first and then I realized, "Eh, like they are really going to do anything from that survey?"  However, I did fill it out and I did sign my name.  Here's why: there's no way on the green and verdant Earth of the gods that they don't already have every tiny bit of vital information on me anyway.  I'm keyword search wet-dream if you are trying to find the opposition and my name is on every liberal petition.  I've given to the ACLU, CAIR, the Southern Poverty Legal Center, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club and....this list just goes on.  Some of my donations will appear on my tax information anyway.  They have my name, they have my information and they already can figure out my mindset.  

So I wanted to try to be on record as a person who at least tried to talk to the other side and do whatever I could to persuade the GOP to stop such un-American activities.  (she says understanding that there is some irony in the phrase but please divorce it from the historical context  if you would).   The strength of my convictions demands that I am willing to own my views, even if it lands me on all the lists I am doubtless on anyway.  *waves to the NSA -- hi, guys!! I still think Snowden should be pardoned! So that hasn't changed either!! Woot!*

 

Edited November 19, 2016 by stillshimpy
Edited by request :)

[sistermagpie]

3 hours ago, Grommet said:

UGH. I'm hoping that refusing to normalize Trump is the best strategy. I got into a FB tiff with someone who said protests and demonstrations are useless and stupid, to which I responded: civil rights movement and the Vietnam war. I think we each need to do what we can: make phone calls, make donations, join demonstrations. It will help to keep us connected in a common purpose and maybe stop us from falling into complacency, which is so easy to do when one's day to day life isn't immediately impacted (as is the case for me, a middle-class white woman with employer-provided health insurance).

As I said in the other thread, I wonder if there's a difference between protests protesting Trump and specific policies. A lot of people who have protested have, I hope, also begun calling their reps and donating to places like the ACLU. Now they need to start getting behind candidates to limit his power. Already it's not about only Trump the man but the law, the press and his cohorts. Shame. Shame. Shame.

[NewDigs]

A NYTimes guest op-ed, The Right Way to Resist Trump, makes some interesting points of comparison between Berlusconi and Trump and how liberals could, and need to, best confront and defeat. 

I'm not at all surprised the TrumpYou! suit was settled. I would have been more surprised had it gone to trial. I think DT is known for settling and sometimes an insurance company will suggest/insist on settling rather than going through a long, expensive, protracted and messy trial. Not to mention needing to stay clear of "Discovery".

[Quilt Fairy]

New thread, just a reminder to PLEASE read David’s top-pinned note about linking to Twitter instead of embedding the tweet in your post.  It’s a goofy thing but a serious problem for us IE users that makes the thread extremely difficult to read and post in. 

Thank you.

[greenbean]

I think protesting policy and also marching for policy/candidates can be a good way to hit that sweet spot.

His people want him to go on a victory tour knowing full well it will attract protesters. Which will galvanise their support base and distract from the more specific issues surrounding him. Like the current one were foreign diplomats are being encouraged to grease his palm by staying in his hotels.

So I can definitely see the Berlusconi argument, this is something that needs to be balanced.

[NewDigs]

3 minutes ago, greenbean said:

His people want him to go on a victory tour knowing full well it will attract protesters. Which will galvanise their support base and distract from the more specific issues surrounding him.

It wouldn't surprise me if that was indeed their plan.

And, remembering back to W, cities, towns, counties etc. have the ability to marginalize protesters. They have a proposed travel route for the "dignitary" and then have designated protest-spots that are close enough to the route and would seem borderline-okay but actually the "dignitary" is unable to see or hear them. 

Because of this the ranks of protesters are diminished and they receive little or no or bad press.

I think the RightWayToResistTrump made some great points.

[random chance]

I do too. I think anything that energizes his supporters benefits him, and they'll defend him no matter what he does so long as it enrages the opposition.

[catrox14]

14 hours ago, Zuzubee said:

What's next? How about we all start getting smart and deal with facts. On both sides. It's not hard to do. Our discourse has been dumbed down by fake news sites. See it all the time on my feeds. Let's all get smart and not just believe what we want to. This is real, folks! People will be hurt or die if we don't get with it. We are not a stupid country, I hope. 

Feeling very frustrated. We are where are due to a tremendous amount of disinformation .  

Garbage in garbage out. And here we are.

I think we need to stop referring to them as "Fake News Sites" when they are actually propaganda outlets. Classifying them as "fake news" minimizes them to something to be dismissed as frivolous like
The Onion. Or even the Enquirer with pieces about Angelina Jolie having an alien baby which is why she and Brad Pitt split up. (I completely made that up on the spot.) That is fake news.

These other sites take some actual facts and manipulate them just enough and imbue them with "truthiness" (tm Stephen Colbert) to make them seem real.  Facebook algorithms made no distinction between actual news and propaganda especially when the propaganda is an "Advertisement" and folks just didn't realize that prior to the election.Sure FB has stopped allowing those "ads" , but it's little too little a little too late. YMMV

[NewDigs]

On 11/16/2016 at 10:40 PM, mythoughtis said:

Does anyone be else think that the new requirement from the transition team where all appointees have to agree not to lobby for 5 years will hurt Republicans? Either there will be a shortage of Republican lobbyists in a few years, or a shortage of people willing to become appointees. I know I wouldn't be willing to have my life controlled for 5 years in the future after I left a job. 

Brought over from "Predictions" thread.

And, in the spirit of that NYTimes guest op-ed, this is one of the few Trump ideas that I could get behind.

Those lobbying laws were changed almost 10 years ago to greatly expand the ex-Congresspersons' ability to not only easily skate into lobbying jobs but to also skate right onto the Senate and House floors. That was new. And, imho, wrong.

There used to be much stronger restrictions on those activities and I think being allowed on the floors of Congress was a new addition. Along with any kind of waiting period between public-service and lobbying.

And he has some banking restrictions that don't look totally horrible.

[Kromm]

16 minutes ago, NewDigs said:

Brought over from "Predictions" thread.

And, in the spirit of that NYTimes guest op-ed, this is one of the few Trump ideas that I could get behind.

Those lobbying laws were changed almost 10 years ago to greatly expand the ex-Congresspersons' ability to not only easily skate into lobbying jobs but to also skate right onto the Senate and House floors. That was new. And, imho, wrong.

There used to be much stronger restrictions on those activities and I think being allowed on the floors of Congress was a new addition. Along with any kind of waiting period between public-service and lobbying.

The problem is... I don't believe it.
 

One doesn't have to look too hard at the people he's bringing on (and we should bounce back to the Presidential Appointments thread to discuss them more) to get an impression that they're formerly marginalized nutters who are going to revel in their new power and influence. Do we really think these people are going to let go of power that easily?  Even if DumpTruck gets voted out in 4 years, do we really see these folks letting go of the new contacts and revenue streams they've laid the base for?

And how would this be enforced? Do they sign a contract when they come into Federal service?  And who looks at jobs they get after they leave and decides if it's a political reward if it's not an obvious overt lobbying group? It's not like lobbyists have to declare themselves as lobbyists. Only when money changes hands, like with PACs, do they come onto people's radar. But someone given a position on a board of Directors of something, or hired as a "consultant" with vague responsibilities, with a group who's more into whispering in the proper ears than giving money to politicians? How do you monitor/catch all of that?

[NewDigs]

I can't speak to how it would be enforced but I do know that there used to be much stricter lobbying restrictions. I think they did have to wait a few years before hiring on as lobbyists. And they did not used to give lobbyists floor access. I'll have time to research later but it's not a new idea to attempt to better control lobbying activities. This wasn't all changed that long ago.

And I really can't go forward just saying, Hell No!, to everything. Especially if the blind pig accidentally finds an acorn.

And I think banking and lobbying reforms are good ideas. 

[NewDigs]

Back in 2014 Dems. Bennet and Tester tried for a lifetime ban on members of Congress becoming lobbyists.

'Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) on Tuesday introduced legislation to prevent members of Congress from becoming lobbyists after they retire.

Current law allows senators to become lobbyists two years after leaving office, while House members only have to wait for a year. But Bennet and Tester's bill would institute a lifetime ban on lobbying for lawmakers.'

Which, to me, is ideal but doubt they'll cut off their noses ...

CleanUpWashngton.org has a good overview of how restrictions have been handled.

He could call it "cleaning up the swamp" and have it actually mean something.

I think I'm hallucinating now.

[EyewatchTV211]

So...I can see why repubs are going to let trump get away with all sorts of crazy proposals/ideas that benefit them. But I don't understand how no one is calling him on stuff that only benefits him and his own personal pockets. This is pretty huge:

Underreported: Trump owes millions to Deutsche Bank, which is being fined for $14 billion by DoJ, which Trump will oversee as POTUS.

And as I've already been saying - who cares about the Constitution? https://thinkprogress.org/trump-poised-to-violate-constitution-his-first-day-in-office-george-w-bushs-ethics-lawyer-says-73e14789a935#.e67khhc83

And now I think I need to venture into the cute things thread. I'm trying to stay in the loop on everything going down, but I'm feeling super negative again and the tears are starting again. It continues to boggle my mind how easily the public is distracted by the silliness trump posts instead of focusing on all the MAJOR ridiculousness that he is doing and the settlement of the lawsuit and on and on and on. I also don't feel like our other representatives or other government organizations are doing enough to speak out or even discuss the possibility of stopping anything illegal. Again, I know we as citizens need to continue to speak up and have our voices heard. But with so much of this, it feels like -really? With issues THIS significant, they have to wait for us to speak out? There's not enough there for them to just do it?

Edited November 19, 2016 by VMepicgrl

[Advance35]

John McCain

The Republican's are still so fractured.  They all dragged each other over the finish line  but I still think the infighting is going to be MAJOR.   McCain is someone who still has considerable influence on the Hill and is VERY anti-Russia.   CIA pick Pompeo is also noted to be especially Anti-Russia so I can't imagine they are going to be pleased with the Hacking and Trump's regard for Putin.   I'm telling you this party is going to TURN on him and it's going to be ugly.

In other news.......

A Sign of Just How Cold My Heart Has Become

Idiots should have voted smarter.

[potatoradio]

Go New York!

I will say straight up that I didn't fully comprehend the BLM strategy at first. I thought, 'geez, what's the point of attending a marathon or blocking the state fair?' You know what it did that I didn't want to admit? It punctured my everyday white privilege bubble. It made the officials react and meet with the protesters because people were so upset (on both sides) and wanted to see something being done. I get it now. The same sorts of comments directed at BLM protesters here are the exact same comments levied at Trump protesters, so I know the protests have an effect. 

I'm hoping these protesters mean what they say and DO protest every weekend. Piss people off. Force Trump's hand. Make the administration DO something. 

Those Trump supporters who aren't actively fascists - the ones who "simply voted for change" want to go back to their normal lives now. I say let's not let them do that. I'm not saying get into a fight with every Trump supporter you know, but if you know anyone, keep poking at their bubble. I only know of one Trump supporter I interact with on a daily basis, and I'm not going to call her names or argue with her when I see her, but I sure as shit am not going to be silent about how my life has changed as a result of this election. When the "they" becomes personal, it's much harder to ignore. When "change" becomes, "here are the civil rights I'm afraid of losing under the fascists," it becomes very difficult to reconcile. 

But today, honestly, all it took was glancing at the NYT headlines in a coffee shop and seeing the hard right, nazi appointees to make me think that civil or a world war may be the only inevitable outcome. I felt completely depressed buying Christmas presents today because it feels like biding my time until our country breaks apart for real. 

I'm not surprised at all that DT is throwing out fascist appointments while "meeting with" Romney and supposedly Haley for "consulting." What I am going to be watching is the Congressional review of these appointments. This is a chance for Congress to draw the line against fascism or excuse it. For the traditional Republicans, this is the biggest test of all. If they roll over and excuse these appointments and say, "no, the sky is green,", they're not going to stop the destruction of the country.

Sky ain't green. And if it takes a civil war to establish this fact again, I can at least know I went down fighting for truth and freedom. 

My hope that maybe I'm being dramatic gets chopped down every day. 

Edited November 20, 2016 by potatoradio

[potatoradio]

32 minutes ago, Advance35 said:

The Republican's are still so fractured.  They all dragged each other over the finish line  but I still think the infighting is going to be MAJOR.   McCain is someone who still has considerable influence on the Hill and is VERY anti-Russia.   CIA pick Pompeo is also noted to be especially Anti-Russia so I can't imagine they are going to be pleased with the Hacking and Trump's regard for Putin.   I'm telling you this party is going to TURN on him and it's going to be ugly.

The infighting may save our democracy for a little while, or at least distract the lunatics running the asylum long enough to prevent them from uniting and trying to make their hallucinations law of the land.

[Jolee]

9 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Same. Also I had to laugh at those questions because they're so obviously biased, like, "end all federal funding to sanctuary cities that circumvent the law in order to provide protection to illegal immigrants," and "cancel billions of dollars in payments to U.N. climate change programs, and use that money to fix our own country" which when passed through the Demagogue to Lemming Decoder Ring come out, "stop sending money to corrupt mayors who are breaking the law and using our tax dollars to give free stuff to drug dealers and rapists from Mexico who are pouring over our borders" and "stop giving money to the U.N. which might not even be a real thing because I don't know what it is, to fight quote unquote climate change eyeroll, or use that money to make America Great Again."

But I saw on twitter that the best part of that fucking survey is that once you fill out your name, email, and zip code, it takes you to this confirmation screen:

Soooo, this appears to be illegal af. A minority of state legislatures allow newly elected state officials to accept donations for the transition or inaugural committee, but I seriously doubt the president can accept direct donations from the public to help him fund his frivolous lawsuits against the New York Times.

The DNC, as well as the RNC, continue taking contributions after the Elections.

It goes into their War Chests for the next Election Cycle.

[EyewatchTV211]

Thank you, attorney generals in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, Massachusetts, and New York. Hope more follow. http://www.politicususa.com/2016/11/19/first-line-defense-democratic-states-vow-fight-trump-court.html

and for supposed lack of popularity

"Here's a SOBERING stat: Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a wider margin than 24 of the 45 ELECTED Presidents."

Edited November 20, 2016 by VMepicgrl

[fishcakes]

14 minutes ago, Jolee said:

The DNC, as well as the RNC, continue taking contributions after the Elections.

Fair enough, although it's not clear to me that those donations are earmarked for the RNC. I know that Trump and the RNC had a couple of joint fundraising committees together before the election, but that money was donated to the RNC and then a portion of it was distributed to the Trump campaign. In general, the DNC and RNC raise money and direct it to the candidates, not the other way around.

[Jolee]

5 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

Fair enough, although it's not clear to me that those donations are earmarked for the RNC. I know that Trump and the RNC had a couple of joint fundraising committees together before the election, but that money was donated to the RNC and then a portion of it was distributed to the Trump campaign. In general, the DNC and RNC raise money and direct it to the candidates, not the other way around.

True, I questioned it. Found that it in fact was going to the RNC.

Because of their lash back, they were not raising money like they normally would. They hounded us relentlessly. I point. blank told them to take me off their list.

After Trump became the RNC Nominee, they came to a understanding of sorts.

Trump mainly financed his own campaign, but did raise money for the RNC down ballot.

[aradia22]

Quote

Start here: https://www.volunteermatch.org

If you don't find anything, contact your local libraries, hospitals, retirement communities, adult daycare…

Thank you! This + NY Cares seems like a good place to start. It's a lot to dig through but hey, it's a good way to put my online shopping powers to work. ;)

[greenbean]

This is an interesting article that could perhaps be considered a companion piece to the Berlusconi one.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/19/brexit-trump-left-crucial-flaw-leavers-alt-right-ruthlessness

They raise different but good points. One thing about the centre-left that I can't abide, is the spinelessness and the constant need to "reach across the aisle", which is hardly ever reciprocated. The point about Comey is especially pertinent.

So I'm in a conundrum. I think the left needs to be much louder, much stronger, hell even much uglier. But not in a counter-productive way.

Edited November 20, 2016 by greenbean

[maraleia]

FYI for everyone who is calling their Senators and member of Congress (and I hope it's everyone here) call their local office in your state/district, not DC. In DC, they can put their phones on voicemail and never answer. Also, phone calls are more effective than emails, tweets, Facebook posts et. al.

[Kromm]

4 hours ago, VMepicgrl said:

So...I can see why repubs are going to let trump get away with all sorts of crazy proposals/ideas that benefit them. But I don't understand how no one is calling him on stuff that only benefits him and his own personal pockets. This is pretty huge:

Underreported: Trump owes millions to Deutsche Bank, which is being fined for $14 billion by DoJ, which Trump will oversee as POTUS.

And as I've already been saying - who cares about the Constitution? https://thinkprogress.org/trump-poised-to-violate-constitution-his-first-day-in-office-george-w-bushs-ethics-lawyer-says-73e14789a935#.e67khhc83

And now I think I need to venture into the cute things thread. I'm trying to stay in the loop on everything going down, but I'm feeling super negative again and the tears are starting again. It continues to boggle my mind how easily the public is distracted by the silliness trump posts instead of focusing on all the MAJOR ridiculousness that he is doing and the settlement of the lawsuit and on and on and on. I also don't feel like our other representatives or other government organizations are doing enough to speak out or even discuss the possibility of stopping anything illegal. Again, I know we as citizens need to continue to speak up and have our voices heard. But with so much of this, it feels like -really? With issues THIS significant, they have to wait for us to speak out? There's not enough there for them to just do it?

I would return to the refrain "no one cares", except... the Dutch do.  And we do, of course. But it's accurate to say that none of his supporters do. Confront them with this fact they'll either ignore it or justify it as "Good! It means he's keeping money away from those foreigners! Good for him!"

There's ample evidence that Trump is not only a criminal (stuff like bribery) but also a con and a cheat. But unlike other people in politics where that came out later, people elected Trump KNOWING (even if not admitting) ahead of time that he was those things. I realize there are the people who isolated themselves from any coverage they didn't want to hear about the election, but it was so pervasive everyone knew about the sex stuff. From the debates they knew a lot of other shady stuff about him. But... if all they cared about was replacing a few Supreme Court Justices with Bible Lovin' God Fearing types?  They dismissed any other concerns.

Think about it. Nixon only got away with stuff because people didn't really know. They suspected, but when proof actually came out is when he lost the office. How far are we beyond that?  Proving the President is a criminal apparently doesn't matter anymore, as long as Jesus tells you to support him anyway.

[EyewatchTV211]

If anyone is writing to members of the electoral college, I think there are a lot of good points in this article to include. I hope to. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/president-trump-isnt-a-done-deal-electors-should-vote-for-clinton-on-dec-19_us_582e2972e4b099512f81e79a

[Kromm]

2 minutes ago, VMepicgrl said:

If anyone is writing to members of the electoral college, I think there are a lot of good points in this article to include. I hope to. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/president-trump-isnt-a-done-deal-electors-should-vote-for-clinton-on-dec-19_us_582e2972e4b099512f81e79a

I wish it would happen.

But even if they wanted to, they're probably all cowed by their own local populations. I expect that electors who override their local voters in THIS election will literally have to risk their lives. 

[EyewatchTV211]

Yeah, I know. I'm trying to keep myself in the mindset of putting effort into everything, even if it might not happen. Better to try it and be pleasantly surprised than to not bother trying and know that we're definitely screwed. I actually would rather we just audit the election votes since it seems pretty likely the votes aren't all legit. Finding that Hillary legitimately won the electoral college AND popular vote would be easier than swaying electoral voters with current information suggesting Trump won those states. I'm not hopeful there either, even though I think it makes complete sense considering we know how vulnerable much of our current voting processes are to tampering.

[Cupid Stunt]

2018 mid-term elections are all about the House. Until the Democrats get back the House, there's only the White House left to pin our hopes on holding in perpetuity. Well, 2016 proved that idea just went to hell.

We need 50 State Democratic parties figuring out a way to be competitive in their own state and telling the DNC what they need from them to support those efforts. Building a viable Utah or Iowa Democratic party may be the work of 25 years, but it has to start today.

Any state that has an initiative process needs to get an initiative requiring federal and state districts to be drawn by a non-partisan commission. California has one way of doing it; there are a couple of different proposals out there.

Disaffected? Depressed? Need something to do? Open an office of Organizing for America 2.0, in your kitchen and start work on the anti-gerrymander initiative in your state.

How about raising money for the ACLU to go to court against restrictive Voter I.D. laws in your state?

Do you have concerns about consistent education funding ... What about contraception availability ... Worried about climate change ... Wondering about the safety of your last prescription ... Terrified at what the future holds under Paul Ryan's Coupons & Catfood For Codgers Social Security and Medicare plan for your parents or yourself?

 

Organize. Talk to your neighbors. Talk to the people you work with. Talk to your friends. Hold up a sign on a busy street. Organize a meetup on Craigs List in a church basement. Call your Congressional representatives. Call your Senators. Write letters to your newspaper of record. Make yourself heard.

[Duke Silver]

Thank you President Obama!!  This is what I've been saying (and I freely admit I might've been insensitive to those who continue to feel the need to grieve, but we need as much energy as possible put towards fighting the Trump Klan & his posse).

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/obama-loyalists-trump-resistance-231642

Quote

President Barack Obama told his most loyal operatives that they have 10 days to get over their grief.

They’re already ahead of schedule.