OK...What's Next?

[Padma]

I don't expect the outcome to change, but I am hoping that they will either discover tampering with the software or that votes were invalidated that were actually valid--and that the number of those is significant.

Whatever the ultimate results, it is difficult to believe that those three states went for Trump. President or not, I want to know what really happened there.

If it turns out that it was just a "hidden Trump vote" and that he swept the traditionally rural and suburban areas legitimately, that will be a good thing to be assured of. The worst thing is for the election to look crooked or compromised (as it does now) and for people to always wonder (as they did re: Ohio in 2004). This way at least we will know more when they are done.

[Duke Silver]

The language used by the Clinton campaign (lack of "actionable evidence") is interesting to me.

ETA:

Edited November 27, 2016 by Duke Silver

[netlyon2]

1 hour ago, VMepicgrl said:

Why are none of the major Dems drawing attention to the coming Louisiana runoff? That seems so important and I've only heard about it from random people on twitter. I don't understand how the Dems act so stupidly so often instead of acting in their best interests.

I had AM Joy on in the background this morning and I'm pretty sure this was the topic of a panel discussion.  At least one panelist pointed out that the only way Dems could really help is with money, since visible Democrat support for a candidate in Louisiana would probably do more harm than good.

42 minutes ago, Duke Silver said:

The language used by the Clinton campaign (lack of "actionable evidence") is interesting to me.

ETA:

Very interesting - I had the same thought when I saw the headline on Twitter.

[Lantern7]

Cut to Hillary: "What, is he gonna send me to Guantanamo twice?!? Does he not know who I am?!? Fucking send me! I'll run the place inside a year! And I'll take over Cuba by 2018! They need a ruler, I need a nation . . . perfect fit!"

[NewDigs]

4 hours ago, VMepicgrl said:

Why are none of the major Dems drawing attention to the coming Louisiana runoff? That seems so important and I've only heard about it from random people on twitter. I don't understand how the Dems act so stupidly so often instead of acting in their best interests.

No shit!

Here is Foster Campbell's  website.

The New Republic is callng him the "Last Democrat Left Fighting".

I'm going to dig a out a few farthings for the effort. 

[Grommet]

My first small act of defiance today at the grocery store: I covered the Time magazine with Hair Gropenfuhrer on it with a Walking Dead TV Guide issue.  Of course, his enormous "hair" still showed at the top. (Does anyone remember Trump or Monkey on the Letterman show? Ah, we were so naive then.)

[possibilities]

I also wonder if the Supremes will step in and decide matters, stop the counting, etc. like they did with Bush v. Gore.

[AntiBeeSpray]

54 minutes ago, Grommet said:

My first small act of defiance today at the grocery store: I covered the Time magazine with Hair Gropenfuhrer on it with a Walking Dead TV Guide issue.  Of course, his enormous "hair" still showed at the top. (Does anyone remember Trump or Monkey on the Letterman show? Ah, we were so naive then.)

I did that too! Covered it with another magazine. Seeing his face makes me cringe. Looked so much better with another magazine over it.

 

18 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I also wonder if the Supremes will step in and decide matters, stop the counting, etc. like they did with Bush v. Gore.

I hope that they do.

[Duke Silver]

https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/803213223952420864

 

 

I thought about starting a new thread for this, but figured the mods wouldn't consider it a deep enough topic for that....

The Potential Positives We Can Expect (Hope for?) From the Trump Presidency:

--The Evangelical Right has shown their true colors by supporting Trump and can never again claim the moral high high ground.  Hopefully this results in them having less influence going forward.

--Large swaths of people will be learning much more about our political process & how government works as a result of having this abomination in the White House.  I've spoken with dozens of people who say that while the 2000 election caused them to educate themselves about he Electoral College, the level of horror this cycle has forced them to learn even more about hoe government works.

--Protest art (especially music) will experience a huge uptick in activity & experimentation 

--HOPEFULLY a type of investigative, critical journalism Renaissance 

I'm sure there's more, and I need to believe some good will come out of this.

[Chicken Wing]

I've been thinking about the whole electoral college travesty and what else could be done to make the vote more "democratic" while maintaining all that brouhaha about letting smaller states be heard and blah blah blah. The simplest way, I figured, was to do away with the winner take all aspect of all the states but the two that already don't do that, and have every state apportion its electoral votes according to the candidates' margin of victory. Here is the formula I came up with:

10 percentage point margin or higher (what I would consider a "landslide") = winner takes all

2.5 to 9.9 pp margin = split the electoral vote 2 to 1

less than 2.5 pp margin = split the electoral vote 50/50

The electoral college representation remains intact, the swing states are still swing states, but this way, there is more of a sense of "every vote matters" in that each vote could make the difference between a candidate winning all of that state's votes, or getting two-thirds, or getting half. And when you've got a state that has, say, 20 electoral votes, it matters quite a bit in the overall race whether the actual winner gets all 20 votes in a landslide victory or 10 votes in a photo finish.

This election there were seven states decided by less than 2.5 points; Hillary Clinton won three of them for just 20 of their combined 95 electoral votes. Her losing margin in the other four, denying her 75 electoral votes, averaged less than one point. Another ten states had margins between 2.5 and 10 points; Clinton won only four of those and took just 30 of their 135 votes.

If the electoral votes were all split according to my formula, she would have won the electoral college 285 to 253.

[DollEyes]

My verdict: Team Recount all the way. If the shoe were on the other foot, with Trump winning the popular vote while Hillary won the Electoral College, Trump would scream/tweet bloody murder if there wasn't a recount. I'm no Jill Stein fan, but if the recount effort is her way of atoning for the deep-fried fuckery that was her Presidential campaign, then I've got one thing to say: apology accepted.

Here are two Star Wars: Rogue One trailers that I find very inspiring:

First, "Hope"

Next, "Dream"

Edited November 28, 2016 by DollEyes

[Kromm]

11 minutes ago, Duke Silver said:

I thought about starting a new thread for this, but figured the mods wouldn't consider it a deep enough topic for that....

The Potential Positives We Can Expect (Hope for?) From the Trump Presidency:

--The Evangelical Right has shown their true colors by supporting Trump and can never again claim the moral high high ground.  Hopefully this results in them having less influence going forward.

--Large swaths of people will be learning much more about our political process & how government works as a result of having this abomination in the White House.  I've spoken with dozens of people who say that while the 2000 election caused them to educate themselves about he Electoral College, the level of horror this cycle has forced them to learn even more about hoe government works.

--Protest art (especially music) will experience a huge uptick in activity & experimentation 

--HOPEFULLY a type of investigative, critical journalism Renaissance 

I'm sure there's more, and I need to believe some good will come out of this.

We--our personal selves, our basic rights, and our economy--have to live through the next four years to get to that point though.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Kromm

[callmebetty]

If been amusing myself this morning thinking about the mundane but fun things the president gets to do like the Thanksgiving turkey pardon and Easter Egg roll. And to picture Barron at either of those things or even Melania .  Barron's bewildered face having to be with common folk children running and laughing at the Easter egg roll. him looking perplexed by what he needs to do. And don't take that as making fun of him but he's probably never typical child played or had genuine fun. I would love to see him break that stiffness and just let lose and have fun.

[izabella]

I feel bad for Barron, especially if he does have autism, which some have speculated.  Maybe that's why Melania wants him to stay in his current school.

[Duke Silver]

I've been asking this daily, but seriously, WTF????

I Voted for Trump, So There!! 

Quote

The angry shopper claimed she had been discriminated against because she was white and had voted for Trump in the lengthy rant recorded Wednesday at Michael’s in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood.

[ChromaKelly]

I keep hoping this nightmare will be over. Something illegal or extremely egregious is going to be discovered and the EC will vote for Hillary. Or if not her and they feel they need to stick with a Republican, can it be Evan McMullin? This guy is growing on me.
The EC needs to be either done away with or totally reconfigured. I've been thinking a lot about it, and the way it is currently leaves people under-represented. Doing the math, one EC vote in CA represents approximately 709,000. One EC vote in WY represents 200,000. How is that fair at all?

[izabella]

EC was never fair, even in the slave-owner days which spawned it in the first place.  The whole point of it was to be unfair, and to favor slave-owners.  That it has lasted this long is ridiculous and contributes to the feeling that our votes don't count unless our politics match the rest of our state's politics.  It contributes to non-voters taking voting for granted. 

[Lantern7]

My philosophy is basically "Hope in one hand, shit in the other, tell me which one fills up first." But right now, hope is all we have. Maybe the mice from Twas The Night Before Christmas are cracking on this, because even a miracle needs a hand.

[Kromm]

10 minutes ago, izabella said:

I feel bad for Barron, especially if he does have autism, which some have speculated.  Maybe that's why Melania wants him to stay in his current school.

If the kid is indeed in that situation, then shame on his parents (on top of the other million things they should feel shame for) for creating a situation where this has to be some kind of deep dark secret, so that it comes off like something to be swept under the rug, lied about, etc. 

While normally it's nobody's business outside of a family if their kid is autistic, by running for President (and incidentally also taking such hardline positions about the alleged health of his opponents and his own perfection) Trump created a perfect storm in terms of creating a shitstorm over his own kids and whatever is going on with them. 

As is, it creates an impression that the Trumps are ashamed OF the kid (vs. my contention that they should be ashamed of themselves and how they've handled this). That is never right, to put the shame on the kid. 

If Donald Trump was capable of ever doing the right thing (he's not), then either the kid's condition would have been quietly revealed during the election (with an insistence that it shouldn't be exploited by either the Press or the Trumps themselves), or Trump shouldn't have ran (because it would eventually come out). 

Or the kid is not autistic. But if he's not, then like Donald's taxes... clear it the hell up. Incidentally, Rosie O'Donell wasn't the one to first bring up the theory that the kid is autistic (she's being blamed in the media for a recent tweet she made on the subject), because I see articles from last July talking about this. 

Whether the kid IS or ISN'T autistic, is one way is irrelevant. It's more about Trump's transparency, and also seeing how he prioritizes his own damn family. It seems like he put the election above the kid's welfare, if in fact any of this is true, because as I said, this approach makes it into some huge secret people felt (rightly or wrongly) they needed to dig out.

[Lantern7]

If you need to look forward to something tonight, try Epic Rap Battles. The Charles Darwin/Ash Ketchum episode is two weeks old, and it's still buzzing in my head. Also: massive CW crossover starting with Supergirl. I'm gonna watch that "live" and record Gotham.

[Maximum Taco]

2 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

If you need to look forward to something tonight, try Epic Rap Battles. The Charles Darwin/Ash Ketchum episode is two weeks old, and it's still buzzing in my head. Also: massive CW crossover starting with Supergirl. I'm gonna watch that "live" and record Gotham.

Timeless is my show tonight. In this fucked up present it's nice to think about the possibility of changing the past.

Tonight: What if Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin never landed on the moon?

[fastiller]

1 hour ago, izabella said:

EC was never fair, even in the slave-owner days which spawned it in the first place.  The whole point of it was to be unfair, and to favor slave-owners.  That it has lasted this long is ridiculous and contributes to the feeling that our votes don't count unless our politics match the rest of our state's politics.  It contributes to non-voters taking voting for granted. 

It contributes to non-voters taking voting for granted.  There, ftfy.  (In other words: it contributes to people just deciding to not vote.

[stillshimpy]

1 hour ago, Kromm said:

f the kid is indeed in that situation, then shame on his parents (on top of the other million things they should feel shame for) for creating a situation where this has to be some kind of deep dark secret, so that it comes off like something to be swept under the rug, lied about, etc. 

 

 

I kind of love you for this, Kromm particularly the "on top of the other million things they should feel shame for" remark because truly, somewhere a future therapist cackles in glee at the metric fuckton of gold it will take to work out that poor child's issue.  He's an anchor baby for his mom's relationship, so that has to feel just splendid, and that's just for starters.   

I feel for the kid.  No jokes, I truly feel for the kid.   His father is odious and his mother's notions about what it is appropriate for a male to do in this world are completely bonk-ass-crazy.  If he's actually autistic on top of all of that, he has huge amounts of my sympathy, because you know darned well that drain clog of a father will never care one whit about his well being. 

[bmasters9]

9 minutes ago, fastiller said:

It contributes to non-voters taking voting for granted.  There, ftfy.  (In other words: it contributes to people just deciding to not vote.

So basically, if you're a Democrat in a Republican state, a Republican in a Democratic state, or however you want to put it, you're pretty much out of it because your vote won't count? That's just how I read that (I may be incorrect).

[ChromaKelly]

12 minutes ago, bmasters9 said:

So basically, if you're a Democrat in a Republican state, a Republican in a Democratic state, or however you want to put it, you're pretty much out of it because your vote won't count? That's just how I read that (I may be incorrect).

Even a Dem in a Dem state. I've always lived in either MD or MA. Besides the primaries, I don't really get enthused feeling like my vote counts. Obama was the only president I was excited to vote for because I felt like I was contributing to making history. Hillary Clinton, same feeling in a way, but more that I was voting on the right side of history. If I hadn't voted, it wouldn't matter in the grand scheme. I felt like I should have moved across the border to PA.
 

[AntiBeeSpray]

This clip from Field of Dreams reminds me of where things are at right now:

It's really scary in part.

[Chicken Wing]

I wonder how many people actually participated in that "vote trading" thing -- whereby a Clinton supporter in a safe state like New York could link up with a third-party voter in a swing state and agree to vote for each other's candidate in their respective state, so the Clinton vote will be cast in a state where it would make the most difference.

[ClareWalks]

Just now, Chicken Wing said:

I wonder how many people actually participated in that "vote trading" thing -- whereby a Clinton supporter in a safe state like New York could link up with a third-party voter in a swing state and agree to vote for each other's candidate in their respective state, so the Clinton vote will be cast in a state where it would make the most difference.

I know one person who did, but she lives in Tennessee, so she figured her Hillary vote would be useless. I'm not sure who she ended up trading with (like what state they were in), but I think it may have been Michigan.

[potatoradio]

Quote

This clip from Field of Dreams reminds me of where things are at right now

Oh, Lord. "Mongrelization of the races." I haven't had a good censorship debate since the nineties. Everything old is new again. Must freshen up those old position papers I wrote in response to the whole "Piss Christ" controversy. I mean, how quaint, to bring back arguments about art vs. pornography. 

Ironic, too, since I consider Tubby and his spew, and the spew of his vile minions, to be far more offensive than any controversial art.

Difference is, though, while they wouldn't afford me the right to speak out against them or bother to realize that I have certain inalienable rights, I still think they have the right to be nasty and hateful. It would be far better for the country, though, if they could just get out some fingerpaint in private instead of turning our democracy into a demented wasteland. 

Edited November 28, 2016 by potatoradio

[bmasters9]

19 minutes ago, AntiBeeSpray said:

This clip from Field of Dreams reminds me of where things are at right now:

 

It's really scary in part.

And I recall part of the dialogue:

Annie: "At least he [Mann or Ray-- which one was Annie referring to?] is not a book burner, you Nazi cow."

(audience turns back to Beulah)

Beulah: "At least I'm not married to the biggest horse's _____ in three counties."

Annie: "All right, Beulah-- do you want to step outside?!"

Beulah: "Fine!!" (Beulah throws book down and steps forward, but someone [who?] grabs her from behind)

[Duke Silver]

I know I've hammered on this theme, but FFS, the opposition needs to remember this:

Donald Trump’s political mandate is historically small

 

[Chicken Wing]

And if there's one thing he can't stand, it's being told that something of his is small.

[Cupid Stunt]

On ‎11‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 11:42 AM, Cupid Stunt said:

I’ll take, “Grifter, Useful Idiot, & Attention Seeking Diva” for $100.00, Alex.

Congratulations! Another ratfucking well done, Dr. Stein!

On ‎11‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 1:19 PM, stillshimpy said:

I couldn't possibly agree with you less.  

A recount is underway in Wisconsin.  I don't give even half a crap about Jill Stein as a politician.  However, the margin of votes in places like PA is 50k.  A recount doesn't even need to turn up fraud to get the job done.  

Also, I have a great deal of respect for Obama, but on this one he is wrong and I am discounting his input as -- again -- it's a democracy.  It's not fucking up to him.  Good fucking grief. 

On ‎11‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 3:47 PM, Padma said:

Exactly. I didn't care for Stein's campaign, but huge kudos to her for stepping up and becoming a vehicle for protest and a stand for democracy--you know, where VOTERS chose their president, not "electors" and not President Obama (sorry, but he's so establishment-conformist most of the time that its maddening if you're actually liberal.)

 

 

The United States Constitution is your friend.

Unless if Article Two of the United States Constitution has suddenly been dispensed with, when U.S. citizens go to the polls to “elect” a president, they are in fact voting for a particular slate of "electors." Some electors are nominated by state chapters of nationally oriented political parties in the months prior to the election, for other states citizens vote in a general election to choose a slate of electors pledged to vote for a party's candidate, and still in other states electors are nominated in party conventions.

The electors have yet to convene and codify their choice per their state requirements, and nothing is complete until December 19, 2016.

Personally, I feel the electors should reject Hair Gropenführer for being in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which says the president cannot receive payments from foreign governments. There isn’t a law that directly prevents Hair Gropenführer from being involved in his businesses while in the White House but it should be a point of contention for the electors that he would be entering the office of President on day one with numerous ethical issues and conflicts of interest from foreign governments, before and after the election, that would directly enrich him, his family and business enterprises.

That the electors have willingly chosen Hair Gropenführer for his open and repulsive sexism, avarice, racism, violent threats, cruelty and neo-Nazi boiler-plate, it is unlikely they will suddenly discount him for presidential graft and branding the White House in a merchandising bonanza.

Incidentally: The presidential elections in 1824 (John Quincy Adams), 1876 (Rutherford B.Hayes), 1888 (Benjamin Harrison), 2000 (George W. Bush) were all elections where the winner lost the popular vote.

 

 

 

It has been a delightful vodka gimlet and crudité break on the Lido Deck over Thanksgiving weekend ... 

Hair Gropenführer, a hysterical, delusional narcissist unable to focus on the fact that he won the big prize, but has to bicker over the implicit slights in his historic popular vote loss. Never mind that alleging massive voter fraud works against his cause -- People keep saying he was beaten in the popular vote by that Nasty Woman, and that shit ain't gonna stand!

Trump pushes conspiracy theory that ‘millions’ voted illegally for Clinton

Donald Trump is making a strong case for a recount of his own 2016 election win

Our president-elect, a thin-skinned not-too-bright conman. That makes Hair Gropenführer's Brown Shirts especially idiotic marks, with Kick Me signs taped to their backs. They should have squandered their life savings on a Trump University hard-sell shakedown disguised as a real estate course. But with their vote, the Brown Shirts made me and mine collateral damage to the con they signed up for, and second-class citizens into the bargain.

The Brown Shirts wanted to “send a message. " Well, message received, jackasses: You don’t give a shit about this country that you’ve entrusted to a lunatic. Don't bother questioning my patriotism or throw tea bags at me again. Hair Gropenführer is all yours, Brown Shirts. Defend his petty vendettas for the price of your soul. Or sack up and join the resistance.

[potatoradio]

That moron who ruined the Delta flight with his bullshit? He can't fly on Delta any more. SAD! (Except, also? AWESOME!)

[MulletorHater]

19 minutes ago, Duke Silver said:

I know I've hammered on this theme, but FFS, the opposition needs to remember this:

Donald Trump’s political mandate is historically small

 

The double entendre implicit in the above statement is simply too delicious!  Marla Maples and Melania must have earned every penny they were paid to reassure this insecure fool that "there are no problems."

And, mind you, this historically small mandate consists of 46.5 percent of eligible voters who actually bothered to vote.  Of course, this creep with the golden mullet of malice simply can't stand it that he isn't universally loved by all and sundry.  Nor, can he stand it that the NeverTrumpers among us will NEVER go away and have grown increasingly more vocal.

So, here's a novel idea.  Let's do a recount of ALL votes in ALL states, including provisional ballots since the fuhrer-select has cast doubt on his own victory.  If he has nothing to fear, he shouldn't object.

What's next?  How about the media actually doing their job and calling this man a LIAR instead of simply reporting his blatant falsehoods with ridiculous headlines such as, "Trump claims, with no evidence..."  Um, the evidence doesn't exist because it's a LIE!  How difficult is it to say, "Trump lies that millions voted illegally." 

And, this is the nightmare people voted for:  a petulant, incurious titty baby who flips off the intelligence community in his own country, who will have access to the nuclear football.

[Lantern7]

The Amazing Race might be ending soon. While I admit that I am very "Chicken Little" about this show, I think the events from three weeks ago might have been the death knell. I'm not blaming him for every little thing going wrong, but I'm guessing that CBS will stick to Survivor, Big Brother, and whatever subpar crap they decide to dredge up.

Somebody on Facebook suggested we do the election over again. I added that YKW and Hillary be thrown into prison to appease both sides, and we start fresh with the runners-up: Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz. Even though Bernie is a socialist, an atheist, and might not finish a term . . . come on, at least he's not a total friggin' weasel.

[stillshimpy]

Right?  "The American People have spoken:  We need a do-over.  Bench all current starting players and scrimmage!" 

[Duke Silver]

Donald Trump Is the Greatest Threat to American Democracy in Our Lifetime

Quote

 

Donald Trump’s tweets yesterday about “the millions of people who voted illegally in 2016” and “serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California” cannot be dismissed as just another Twitter meltdown from the president-elect. (It goes without saying that Trump’s claims are categorically false.)

His conspiracy theories about rigged elections during the presidential race were meant to delegitimize the possibility of Hillary Clinton’s election. But now that he’s won the election we have to take his words far more seriously. He will appoint the next attorney general, at least one Supreme Court justice and thousands of positions in the federal government. His lies about the prevalence of voter fraud are a prelude to the massive voter suppression Trump and his allies in the GOP are about to unleash.

 

[theredhead77]

Every news report I hear include "without evidence" in their reporting. At least they are getting that part right. I guess?

[Duke Silver]

Just now, theredhead77 said:

Every news report I hear include "without evidence" in their reporting. At least they are getting that part right. I guess?

I'm pretty much defeatist about it at this point.  Most of media isn't even trying to act as a free press and Trump's team isn't even trying to cover up the fact that the administration will be like a 3rd world dictatorship.  Trump's supporters don't care.  They want a tyrant, and that's what we get.  They want to "Make America Great Again" (for white Christian men), and that's what the Trump cronies will do their utmost to give us.  All I can do at this point is hope the "opposition" can run interference for a few years and slow down implementation of that agenda.  I'm giving my time & money to everyone I trust to fight the good fight.

[onthebrink03]

35 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

Every news report I hear include "without evidence" in their reporting. At least they are getting that part right. I guess?

Well yeah, they're getting that part right but it would be nice if they added the really important stuff. Like, you know, "this is coming from a bat shit crazy asshole and wanna be dictator so best to ignore it as the rantings of a fool".  That would be nice don't ya think?

Edited November 29, 2016 by onthebrink03

[Padma]

Interestingly, Putin's goal is to destabilize Western democracies by getting them to question the legitimacy of their system.

For months, Trump did that railing about the "rigged system" and how Hillary and Congress were controlled by "global special interest".  Now, in victory, he is accusing the election itself of being fraudulent (something no one else has done).

Putin must be so proud.

[Pixel]

15 minutes ago, Padma said:

Interestingly, Putin's goal is to destabilize Western democracies by getting them to question the legitimacy of their system.

For months, Trump did that railing about the "rigged system" and how Hillary and Congress were controlled by "global special interest".  Now, in victory, he is accusing the election itself of being fraudulent (something no one else has done).

Putin must be so proud.

Even Putin must be amazed that this all worked out the way it did. I don't think he really believed Trump would get into office, and now that he will, Putin is beside himself with surprise and glee. 

[maraleia]

I think all of us need to be in the best physical shape possible and to that end I'm committing myself to getting to my goal weight faster than ever. I lost 4.5 pounds since the election and my overall cholesterol is at an all time low which is a good thing.

[Bastet]

My plan to wear shirts with anti-sexist and anti-racist slogans/images during my Thanksgiving trip yielded a poignant conversation.  As I (a white woman) was on a walk through the campground, sporting a Black Lives Matter tank top, a black woman of probably 60-ish walking in the other direction visibly stared at my shirt and then stopped as we drew close.  She said, "This may sound silly, but seeing that [gesturing to my shirt] is somehow comforting to me; I'm kind of anxious out in public now."  I said, "Well, this may sound silly, but that's why I wore it" and told her of my strategy (to wear message shirts to subtly indicate I'd be a protective ally should some Trump supporter lose their shit and start something).  We talked briefly about the election, and she said, "I knew we had a long way to go still, but I at least thought my days of fearing for my safety while going about my business were behind me."  Heartbreaking.

One motorhome had a blown-up image of a safety pin taped inside the windshield.  An SUV had "Michelle Obama 2020" painted on the rear window.

(I also got several compliments on my "A woman voting for a Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders" shirt.)

[bittersweet4149]

20 minutes ago, maraleia said:

I think all of us need to be in the best physical shape possible and to that end I'm committing myself to getting to my goal weight faster than ever. I lost 4.5 pounds since the election and my overall cholesterol is at an all time low which is a good thing.

Good work! I wholeheartedly agree, and I've lost about the same amount.

[Cupid Stunt]

She seems nice ... for a member of the White People Defense League

 

Her favorite Neo-Nazi won and she can't get no satisfaction from her lessers ... Some krayzee cannot be fixed.

[theredhead77]

I'm jealous of those who lost weight. I've found it and then some. I shall see myself over to the weight loss thread. 

[BW Manilowe]

21 hours ago, callmebetty said:

If been amusing myself this morning thinking about the mundane but fun things the president gets to do like the Thanksgiving turkey pardon and Easter Egg roll. And to picture Barron at either of those things or even Melania .  Barron's bewildered face having to be with common folk children running and laughing at the Easter egg roll. him looking perplexed by what he needs to do. And don't take that as making fun of him but he's probably never typical child played or had genuine fun. I would love to see him break that stiffness and just let lose and have fun.

And don't forget Halloween Trick-or-Treating at the White House,  all those In Performance at the White House concerts & other "cultural" stuff taped for airing on PBS, & stuff like meeting the National Ambassadors for various charitable causes, like the March of Dimes, for photo ops.

But Trump can probably get out of that by claiming he's too busy (or if he's lucky, he can pass it off to Melania, or even VP or Second Lady Pence); that's how the late former President Nixon got out of meeting me when I was the March of Dimes National Poster Child (the position is now called "National Ambassador") in 1972--among the things that kept us from meeting were Nixon's trip to China which got the National Zoo their original set of male & female adult pandas, Hsing Hsing & Ling Ling (it's a good thing I love pandas, & have since the National Zoo got Hsing Hsing & Ling Ling). The zoo's current pandas are adults Mei Xiang & Tian Tian, 3-year-old "subadult" female panda Bao Bao, & Bao Bao's 15-month-old brother, Bei Bei. Mei Xiang & Tian Tian's eldest offspring, 11-year-old Tai Shan has been living at a panda research & breeding reserve in China, since he was about 4 1/2, per the agreement that any American (or foreign)-born cubs of adult pandas loaned to US (or foreign) zoos are to be returned to China by the age of 4 (Bao Bao will be sent back to China sometime in this coming winter, 2017).

Anyway... I eventually did get my March of Dimes-related meeting with POTUS, actually POTUS & FLOTUS, 9 years later in 1981: Along with the rest (or most of the rest) of the surviving MOD Poster Children, I was part of a White House event promoting what was then called WalkAmerica, & it was the first time all the walkathon fundraisers would be held on the same day, or at least the same weekend, throughout the US. Our group met POTUS & FLOTUS Reagan, & had a group photo op with POTUS, exactly 1 week to the day before John Hinckley's shooting of President Reagan, James Brady, & other members of Reagan's entourage/security detail outside the Washington Hilton.

I'll bet photo ops Trump won't take a pass on would be any involving Miss America, Miss America's Miss District of Columbia, Miss District of Columbia USA, & any Miss America or Miss USA Misses from states in the metro DC area, Miss USA, Miss Universe, or any other major deal beauty queens. Just saying.

 

21 hours ago, izabella said:

I feel bad for Barron, especially if he does have autism, which some have speculated.  Maybe that's why Melania wants him to stay in his current school.

If Barron is on the spectrum, in my opinion, Melania's/they're losing a great opportunity to use their new positions to "shine a light" on the cause of autism/autism research, a possible cure/treatment for it, etc., all because they're rich people who are perhaps embarrassed, somehow, by having an even more imperfect (than we already are, as humans) child. But I agree that, as his parents, they have to do what they think's right for their son.

 

USA Today's reporting--on the front page of today (Tuesday)'s edition--that Wisconsin has denied Dr. Jill Stein's request for a recount.

https://mobile.twitter.com/USATODAY/status/803471958486749184?p=v

[Kromm]

Katrina Pierson continues to illustrate how to be both uber-creepy, but also uber-dumb, simultaneously: