Contemplating the pain Trump’s going to lay on the most vulnerable among us (and yeah, some of them voted for him, but hurt is hurt), I found this song, imagined as being addressed directly to the Shitgibbon, a perfect expression of my mood:
(Buried deep in the lyrics Reed talks of the Trumps being ordained. But the real tell is when he sings “They say the President’s dead/But no one can find his head.” That last line is truer than he ever knew. Man was a prophet.)
Open thread.
Cermet
But the blacks will be hurt more so all is good … not.
Mnemosyne
I mentioned yesterday that I’ve been reading Frances Trollope’s Domestic Manners of the Americans as research for my novel and, man, we have changed very little in the intervening 180+ years. She had us totally pegged, particularly in the way Americans boasted about “freedom” while mistreating slaves and driving the Cherokees off their land in violation of signed treaties.
Corner Stone
As these cabinet and staff picks dribble out something obvious struck me. And of course it’s obvious but I still find it remarkable nonetheless. Almost all the people who voted for Trump probably had no idea that also included all these top line posts.
Corner Stone
So now we’re going to get all these c-minus level mediocrities staffing up huge, important institutions with more and more of the same mediocre, venal, banal people. And they will forever then carry some legitimacy in society due to their role and/or title. So they will go on to poison another two or maybe three generations of people in public service.
I honestly do not see how our failed institutions are possibly going to recover from this. IMO, an autocratic/kleptocracy is about the absolute best outcome we could have out of this.
Lizzy L
@Corner Stone: Not sure what you mean. Are you pointing out that the people who voted for T. didn’t realize that they were also, in a sense, “voting” for T’s cabinet secretaries and other appointments, because civics is no longer a thing, and the entire process of government is opaque to them?
Yeah, and so? Hell, T., is ignorant of the process as well, and I suspect he will remain so for however many months or years he’s actually president.
Iowa Old Lady
@Corner Stone: It’s interesting to me that some of the cabinet picks match shallow stereotyping (ie Trump thinking).
So you get an unqualified AA to run HUD (but he’s AA and hence must be qualified to run that program for blahs). You get a woman running public ed who hates it but she’s a woman and everyone knows girls become teachers. You get an unqualified Indian American going to the UN.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Corner Stone: The ones I talked to didn’t even realise that Pence would be president if Trump died or that Ryan would have a free go to take their SS away. My reply was “politics isn’t a buffet.”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Corner Stone:
Bit like the end of the Roman Republic were a dicator was preferable to the serial failures that they were getting before.
Botsplainer
@Corner Stone:
Late Qing dynasty levels of invincible cultural superiority, corruption and incompetence, plus Tsar Nicholas II levels of executive dysfunction at the cabinet level.
And we all know what happened after those.
MJS
I for one will be wallowing in, celebrating and crowing about the pain Trump lays on anyone who voted for him.
hovercraft
Reposting from downstairs:
Morons who voted for Republicans now worry they will take away their health care—as promised
By kos
Tuesday Nov 29, 2016 · 11:50 AM EST
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
So we should all be Socrates throwing verbal rocks at these mediocrities.
Mnemosyne
@Lizzy L:
We now get to watch the spectacle of the MSM and Trump voters running around tearing their hair out and screeching, Why didn’t anyone tell us that Trump was an unqualified moron surrounded by white supremacists?!?
And we’ll be able to say, Someone did. Her name was Hillary Clinton. You ignored her. But unfortunately it will be too late by that point, and saying “I told you so” is never as satisfying as people think it will be.
Jeffro
“Busload of Faith” is the best cut on that album…and we’re gonna need it…
Actually, thinking of Lou Reed, “Warrior King” from Magic and Loss is pretty apropos right about now:
Iowa Old Lady
@MJS: I also intend to bitch to them about any pain that gets laid on me.
Mnemosyne
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Let’s not throw away our shot.
Corner Stone
@Lizzy L: There is no, “and so”. That was the point of how stupidly obvious it was when I thought of it. I had just assumed he would put all crony loyalists in these positions and we’d be fucked. Basically fucked no matter who he picked because it was certain none of them would be a decent sort of person. I mean, for dog’s sake, the whole world is holding their breath that he picks Romney for SecState!
Trump was/is willfully ignorant of how government works and what it means to have these responsibilities. He doesn’t wanna know about them and doesn’t want them to cut into his time watching Fox News. That was the whole premise behind electing a “businessman”. “Businessman President” runs things by making the big decisions but has everyone else milking the cows and cutting the hay. The details are irrelevant to him.
But, it occurred to me that the Trump voter thought they were getting Trump, he’d “drain the swamp” and government would just happen in “some better way that no one could really define but it would, believe me”.
Now, as the cliche goes, personnel is policy. And we may have no idea what he truly thinks on any topic or issue, but it’s damn obvious what his policies are going to be.
Mike in dc
Trump’s cabinet picks are a forecast of his policy agenda. Bannon as chief strategist means more divide and conquer tactics advancing a reactionary agenda. Sessions means goodbye civil rights oversight and voting rights enforcement. Flynn means we fuck over the Syrians, the Kurds (Yet again), and most of Eastern Europe. Devos means public school systems and teachers get screwed. Etc.
hovercraft
@Cermet:
From Greg Sargent:
But as long s those people are hurt the most, who cares it’s worth it right? I don’t suppose that anyone has pointed out that when it comes to actual numbers and percentages these things always affect more of them than anyone else. It’s just the percentages that are higher for those people.
Major Major Major Major
On the book of faces:
My totebagger friend who gets outraged(!!!) by Trump tweets is now outraged(!!!) by people being outraged by Trump tweets instead of what Trump’s actually doing.
And a libertarian friend from high school who’s bubbled to the top of my news feed recently, which is usually annoying but sometimes interesting. He’s annoying today, by insisting on pointing out how Hillary was against flag-burning too, so, really, both sides.
Gelfling 545
@Lizzy L: Civics is very much still a thing but people have to care. If they don’t, horse to water.
Corner Stone
@Botsplainer:
Excellent take-out and delicious chilled vodka?
Gelfling 545
@MJS: i will just be waiting to see how they make it all the Democrats’ fault.
Thoroughly Pizzled
@Mnemosyne: Outrun. Outlast.
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone:
And don’t let any of the occasional flashes of normality make you forget this, either.
@Gelfling 545: ‘Make’? It already is the Democrats’ fault, even according to those on the left.
hovercraft
@Iowa Old Lady:
If the people making these appointments don’t care for or about government, this is the result, no thought into how they will perform the job, just a few tokens to paint the right picture. The head of the snake is incompetent so why should the res of the body be. These jokers will never point out that the emperor has no clothes and is in way over it’s head.
D58826
Glad he set us straight
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-hypocrisy-is-good-for-america/2016/11/28/7cde5d42-b5a3-11e6-b8df-600bd9d38a02_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.453131fa87f6
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone:
I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I’d bet you’re right. I’d bet they’d say that Trump as president gets to take on “the government” and “Washington,” which is, obviously, a permanent liberal-leaning and inefficient bureaucratic monster.
Botsplainer
Here’s going to be the other unexpected whammy – the price of energy. We need a good dose of instability in the ME to ensure that our oil barons AND the Russian Federation get proper payment for fossil fuels.
It’ll all be the Democrats’ fault, of course.
delk
Update on the Michael’s Store Ranter
Apparently she went off in a coffee shop earlier this year.
hovercraft
@Major Major Major Major:
Being against something or not condoning it are not the same as suggesting jail time for it or even the loss of citizenship. I’m against the KKK, but I support their right to speak loudly and publicly about their hateful views so we can all condemn them. Your friend is a moron, but free to be so.
Kay
@hovercraft:
Well, don’t cry for them too much because they know this. They know they weren’t covered before and are covered now. I deal with them every day of the week. What they didn’t know is Trump plus Congress would take it away, but you know what? They needed to find that out. They’re not children. They have the same duty as anyone to find out who and what they’re voting for. It’s not the job of 50% of voters to take care of 25% of GOP voters and preserve these programs for them. It doesn’t take a college education to listen to Paul Ryan. This info was available to them.
Major Major Major Major
@hovercraft: No, there was a bill. It was different from “jail for flag burning!!1” but there was a bill. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Protection_Act_of_2005
And yes, he’s a moron. I don’t come here to complain about the smart people on my news feed.
jacy
I spent Sunday night dinner with two libertarians who voted for Trump. (The mother of my son’s best friend and the mother’s significant other.) They are nice enough people — which I guess is damning with faint praise. During the bit of politics we talked about, the man said this, “You have to realize there is a difference between Trump supporters and people who just voted for Trump,” as if that excused him. Then he said, “Think of the three things policy-wise that are most important to you. If Donald Trump accomplishes those things in the next four years would you still hate him?” I told him that off the top of my head, three things I would wish for are single-payer health care, restoration of the Voting Right Act, and a huge tax increase on the wealthy. Then I explained that Donald Trump has sworn to do the opposite of the three things I want. That ended the political discussion. BTW — they voted for Trump for two “stated” reasons: deregulation of business and keeping terrorists out of the country. I’ve been sending them things to read, and they both now say that they regret their vote, even though they keep looking for excuses that don’t make them look foolish. I think they’ll cling to their head-in-the-sand position for quite a while while Rome burns around them.
Hungry Joe
Walking my wonderful doggie on this beautiful San Diego morning, I fell into deep despair. My wildly tumbling thoughts:
With Trump and his far-right minions soon to be running the Justice Department and dominating the Supreme Court, I can see the Voting Rights Act being stripped away entirely, and even-larger-scale minority suppression ignored — even encouraged. The pendulum has swung so far that it may be stuck, and stuck permanently — meaning that the United States of America simply doesn’t work anymore. Two weeks ago, Calexit/West Coast Exit was a pipe dream I laughed at. It’s still a pipe dream, but one I’m now indulging in. It won’t happen — Southern and other red states would never allow it — but that’s how I’m feeling at the moment: Break this thing up. (Sorry, everybody else.)
Back in RealityLand, I know what the real answer is: Fight back, and fight back hard. Still, a boy can dream …
Corner Stone
I have also been spending some time contemplating what President Obama can do now. I feel confident in what he *will do*, but IMO we need more* than that from him. We’re facing our failed institutions not just being tented for a termite treatment, but demolition.
ISTM that President Obama really believes it when he said Trump was unfit for the duties of the office. And if that is in fact the case I am wondering what there is to be done about it.
ETA the *. I know it’s poor language to say Obama owes us anything “more”. He’s done his best in the worst obstruction and partisan failure. I’m not sure how else to word it.
germy
Jia Tolentino
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
If you haven’t already, make sure to send them John Scalzi’s The Cinemax Theory of Racism. Short version: when they bought the Trump package, they bought the whole thing. They don’t get to complain now about what was included in it, because they were told up front what they were getting, and they bought it anyway.
Betty Cracker
From the Twitters:
LOL!
Thoroughly Pizzled
@jacy: Cripes. There’s nothing more supportive of a candidate than voting for them. Right-wingers have managed to divorce action entirely from character. What you say about yourself matters more than what you do.
Corner Stone
@jacy:
That sentiment lasts about as long as it takes them to hit the Send button on the email. Then they go right back to self-rationalizing. De-regulate business? I know why CEOs, Banksters and other wealthy people say that, but what do actual folk thinks that even means anymore?
The Dangerman
Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I’ll piss on ’em
that’s what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let’s club ’em to death
and get it over with and just dump ’em on the boulevard
New York, great album. Followed by Magic and Loss, that I might have listened to once before it became a coaster.
Major Major Major Major
@germy: Jesus christ!
Mnemosyne
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
That’s how they think about racism, too. They don’t feel racist, or feel like their friends/relatives are racist, so why do people get upset when they say/do racist things? After all, they’re not racist in their hearts!
Corner Stone
@germy: So gross. The whole family is gross.
“I didn’t get to have a lemonade stand like other commoners so I extorted the paid staff out of their below minimum wage pocket change. Oh! The disadvantages we faced!”
Это курам на смех
With due respect to the esteemed Ms. Cracker, the name “Shitgibbon” is unkind to our fellow primates the gibbons. As someone who doesn’t want to say the resident-elect’s name, I thought I would go for Shitstain (aka His Royal Skidmark). But this is also too long. So my choice, still feces-related as it represents the source of all shit, is Rump.
Because I work in a federal building, I will have to pass by a big photo of Rump’s grinning mug every damn day.
Feathers
I’m reading the flag tweet as “We’re gonna ship all the Black Lives Matter activists back to Africa.” Caught my self realizing that with Fidel gone, Cuba won’t be there to take them (and others) in.
ETA: @Mnemosyne: “But it’s not racism if I actually am superior to them, now is it?”
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
ITYM “especially”, not even. The leftists love to criticize the Democrats because their goal is to supplant them with a truly leftist party.
The Moar You Know
@Hungry Joe: Another SD resident checking in. I’ve been in favor of Calexit since the 1980s. It has always been so obvious – to me, anyhow – that we have nothing in common with the rest of the US and we need to go our own way. And financially – given the shit return on Fed tax dollars we send to DC – we’d be FAR better off independent than as members of the US.
And sadly, you are right – the southern states will never permit it. BECAUSE WE ARE PAYING THEIR FUCKING BILLS as well as our own. And I’m starting to feel, well, a bit unappreciated for my sacrifice. As are millions of other Californians.
D58826
@germy: Yes she certainly learned to steal and take advantage of the less powerful at a young age. No wonder Daddy thinks she is hot.
chopper
@Botsplainer:
just wait til trump tears up the iran deal. then iran decides ‘fuck it’ and starts working on a bomb again, bibi decides to bomb with the blessing or at least indifference of the us, and iran responds by blocking the strait of hormuz. the whole ME blows up and russia gets the big oil profits she’s been needing for years to fix her budget.
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: Yyyyyep.
Tom Levenson
@The Moar You Know: Can we have a Republic of New England? Please? (I’d let NY in, but only if they play nice.)
Poopyman
@Major Major Major Major: Pretty sure he was nowhere to be found.
Yutsano
@D58826: So per Gerson, every time Trump doesn’t do something he says he would during the campaign we should give him a cookie?
hovercraft
@Major Major Major Major:
Sorry my bad, I missed that one. I wish democrats would stop falling for these stupid if you don’t vote for this crap you hate America bills. The entire purpose of the country was to get away from state mandated patriotism and religion, the first amendment is first for a reason, we are free to express ourselves any way we please so long as it does not hurt anyone else.
Corner Stone
@Tom Levenson: Finally! People are starting to follow the instincts of Texas!
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
United States of Cascadia, baby: California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. We grow your food, run your internet, and entertain your children, so don’t piss us off.
hovercraft
@germy:
One again a case where they don’t understand the meaning of a word. A person whose livelihood depends on keeping your parents happy, is not being persuaded in a situation like this, they are being coerced.
rikyrah
@Hungry Joe:
I understand how you feel. I do.
But, we must fight.
Kay
@Corner Stone:
They trademarked some horrible slogan during the campaign. It has “American” in it. The horrors of the Trump Family have only begun. There aren’t enough grifting hours in the day for the next 4 years.
I sort of love it because a big part of conservatism is moral superiority. Dear God, are they gonna take a beating.
They know too- they know it’s a little sleazy. They don’t even defend.
Yutsano
@The Moar You Know: At this point take Oregon and Washington with you. WA is still a massive technological and industrial powerhouse (O HAI DER BOEING!) and OR is still a great natural resource wonder not to mention a highly educated populace. Plus we might just give in on letting you guys tap in to the Columbia confluence you’ve been craving for a long time.
@Mnemosyne: BINGO!!! It’s already pretty obvious how much the Left Coast has in common. But with Nevada going consistently blue can we have them also?
FlipYrWhig
@germy: BTW, those descriptions sound almost like something Tom Sawyer would do, Americana bullshit. But given the ages of the people in question, wouldn’t this have been, like, when Bill Clinton was already president?
Jeffro
@Corner Stone: I think on his way out, Obama could easily do these three things – could be in separate addresses or in one final farewell address:
1) Give an address noting where the country was when he took office, and where it is today, economically speaking (in multiple aspects, such as job creation by month, unemployment rate, stock market, wage growth) – all while that awful job-killing Obamacare was being implemented, giving 20M people health coverage and providing benefits like covering pre-existing conditions/kids stay on until 26/etc
2) Give an address noting that in the face of historically unprecedented GOP obstructionism, he was able to a) wind down the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, b) keep us from getting into stupid wars in Georgia and Syria, c) keep Iran from going nuclear, d) etc etc
3) Remind the country that this election was close in EVs, that Clinton won the popular vote, and that while it remains to be seen how Trump will govern, that “no one in this country save the Kochs, Mercers, and Paul Ryan voted to have their Medicare phased out, Medicaid taken away, or Social Security privatized” and that it will take the involvement of people from all parties if the Ryan/Koch agenda is to be stopped and these programs preserved for future generations.
He could also do two very big other things on his way out the door:
4) Remind the country that we have a huge problem with the curtailing of voting rights (listing all the different aspects here), with big “Dark Money” (h/t Jane Mayer) flowing into down-ballot races, and with the ridiculous gerrymandering that continues to hinder the votes of the majority of Americans. “Because these problems have gotten so severe that they are impeding the basic functions of government, allowing politicians to pick their voters instead of the other way around, this will be my first priority as a private citizen: to help Americans around the country organize and take back their precious right to vote, to self-government, to democratic government not rule by the rich.” Clam that ground thoroughly for the Dems in ’18 and beyond
5) If he really wants to push it, he could remind the GOP Congress that while he remains optimistic, he is also realistic born of hard-won experience with them, and all too often they have put their party before their country. “If this continues – if unlawful or unconstitutional behavior by those in power is excused by others in power – you put 240 years of American progress and strength in jeopardy. It is past time to restore the norms of a civil and just society”, etc etc etc (Obama obviously could put it far better than I ever could)
And then in my deepest, bluest, lefty fantasies, he pardons every Democrat ever (even future Democrats), shoots Mitch McConnell the double bird, and then drops by my house for a cold one.
Avalie
@The Moar You Know:
Yet another unappreciated SD resident. Sad to think things Californians value and have worked so hard to build might be undone by voters in other states….
D58826
@Yutsano: and a glass of milk
Major Major Major Major
@hovercraft:
Fun fact: The amendments of the bill of rights are in the order of the section of the constitution they modify.
@Jeffro: He could also, one hopes, ‘misplace’ the DACA database.
The Dangerman
@The Moar You Know:
All true. I’d be for Calexit in a heartbeat; there’d be a lot of “good to be rid of San Francisco and Hollywood” until the bill arrived, whereupon the amount of pants shitting would be epic.
ETA: Too lazy to look it up but I’ve heard that CA gets 80 cents back on the dollar in taxes. That’s a great deal for someone not in CA.
FlipYrWhig
@hovercraft: Apropos Simpsons:
What was I laughing at, now? Oh, yes, that crippled Irishman!
Roger Moore
@Yutsano:
I think we should try to get Nevada and the Four Corners states, too. I don’t want to leave Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico out in the cold, and I think we can manage Utah and Arizona added to the mix. Plus we’ll then control the Colorado river, which is very important for our water supply.
Kay
The weird hateful rallies are back. Do they still chant “lock her up” and wear the “Trump the bitch” shirts, I wonder?
Republicans in DC must be thrilled. While the dope is out stoking his ego they can plunder at will.
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
I would also want Obama to push through a whole bunch more National Monuments before Congress starts giving away federal lands to the states. Bear’s Ears would be an absolute minimum, but I’m sure there’s other stuff that needs protection.
Gator90
To those contemplating Calexit or WestCoastexit, please don’t! If the country breaks up by section or region, we in deep-blue South Florida will end up in re-education camps (or refugee camps as our homes disappear under water, whichever happens first).
germy
@Major Major Major Major: @Corner Stone: @D58826: @hovercraft: @FlipYrWhig: I’ve read a few FB comments telling me “Sure he’s a vulgar yam, but his family is so nice! Nice daughter, nice son-in-law…”
The son-in-law wrote a fan letter to Weinstein, telling him the bridge closing (delaying traffic for hours, including school buses and ambulances) was “BADASS!” and the daughter cheats her friends with fake arrowheads while strongarming the “help” for their pocket change. It’s monster turtles all the way down.
geg6
I think someone should come and take away my liberal badge, Tom. Because I simply do not give a shit about the assholes who voted for him and are now scared that they will lose their benefits. Actual good people are going to lose those same benefits and they did what they could to stop that outcome. These idiots did everything they could to bring it on and crowed with joy, in our faces, when they won. Let them enjoy the full benefits of their votes. Fuck ’em. Fuck ’em all. I hope they suffer mightily, go bankrupt and die penniless. Fuck ’em.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
I think they chant “Hail Victory, Hail Trump” and “One People, One Country, One President”.
germy
i haz moderation?
hovercraft
@Mnemosyne:
I’ll see your Cascadia, and raise you our East Coastia, running from Maine to Virginia, sorry PA, you’ve gone over to the dark side sooner than anticipated, if Philly can separate itself from the rest, we’ll let you in. We run the world’s financial markets, and corporate America, we are also the home of the corporate media, but will gladly ship them to Houston or Dallas, once you determine which will be the new capital of Dumbfuckistan. We may need to wall off Chicago and Minneapolis-St Paul kinda like what we did with West Berlin. Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada may need to apply for special dispensation to join you out there in Cascadia.
germy
@Betty Cracker: “I never thought the weasels would rip my flesh.”
hovercraft
@Betty Cracker:
Yes it is LOL, but then I want to sob. What the hell were they thinking, yes I know they weren’t, but really. WASF.
Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.
This song’s been in my head all year; I basically listened to the album every day when it came out; I was 13-14 and needed this type of music to survive, so its one of those works thats tattooed into my brain. New York is probably Reed’s most solid work ever, and an amazing blueprint for times like we’re reentering, a how-to on keeping your humanity when your beloved city is being put through several levels of hell as a callous ruling class just laughs and fans the flames.
And the lyrics also mention Rudy Giuliani, then merely a grandstanding DA (“They discovered an animal noone’s ever seen/ It was an insider trader/ eating a rubber tire/ after running over Rudy Giuliani.”)
Major Major Major Major
@hovercraft: I will only go along with any of this if we agree to exile Peter Thiel to a seastead.
SenyorDave
@chopper: just wait til trump tears up the iran deal. then iran decides ‘fuck it’ and starts working on a bomb again, bibi decides to bomb with the blessing or at least indifference of the us, and iran responds by blocking the strait of hormuz. the whole ME blows up and russia gets the big oil profits she’s been needing for years to fix her budget.
I think Israel (including Bibi) rails against the Iran deal but secretly supports it. As Elmer Fudd once said, I may be crazy but I’m not stupid. I firmly believe that Bibi is going to regret Trump eventually.
Corner Stone
@hovercraft:
Hey now. Don’t think so, amigo. You can keep your damn east coastal elite media types. Texas will be just fine as it’s own country. I am looking forward to it.
Corner Stone
@germy: It was clearly obvious before the RNC convention that his family were all ignorant assholes, and just fucking gross. And yet the media kept selling them to us, relentlessly. And everyone who bent their knee and feted their new God-King Trump went wwwaaayyy out of their way to use his family as the excuse to accept this man who was clearly unfit, ignorant, and a monster.
“I mean, jest look at his family! What a great man he muss be to have raised such decent and honorable chillens! Now, where’s muh ballot?”
hovercraft
@Gator90: we in deep-blue South Florida will end up in re-education camps (or refugee camps as our homes disappear under water, whichever happens first).
Mnemosyne
@Gator90:
We’ll help you relocate to Hawaii. I’m sure NotMax has a couch you can sleep on.
;-)
germy
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: Remember when we were told that Ann Romney was such a wonderful secret weapon for that campaign?
The Trumplings are loathsome. Ivanka is a Paris Hilton knock-off and the boys are obvious alums of the date-rape fraternity.
Major Major Major Major
@germy: That’s some real quality swamp-drainin’, right there.
chopper
@SenyorDave:
damn, that elmer fudd was a real cassandra.
Corner Stone
@germy:
Drain.The.Swamp! Drain.The.Swamp! Drain.The.Swamp!
Mary G
@Kay: Actions have consequences. Too bad that these are going to be so severe and that it’s going to be sprayed all over the people who were smart enough to not vote for It.
chopper
@germy:
normally i’d think appointing the turtle’s wife to DoT is a savvy move given that the turtle has stated that the senate won’t even look at an infrastructure bill and trump wants it to happen. then i realize trump is doing the appointing and assume it’s just random.
Corner Stone
@FlipYrWhig:
Given their dad’s admitted penchant for sexual abuse, and Ivanka admitting the kids abused people they had power over. I honestly wonder how many of the female staffers the boys sexually assaulted over the years. That’s an honest, no snark question. Because it has to be a non-zero number, right? They wouldn’t see them as ugly or brown or anything human. Just a target they could use however they wished and get away with it.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
I think you’re in for a disappointment, with the opportunity to rule over the vast interior of the nation, I think all those patriots who’ve been clamoring to secede will be singing a different tune. They wanted to be free of those liberal elites telling them what to do, they will have achieved that, so sorry man, you get Mississippi and Alabama, also too Florida.
slag
I think I’ve finally figured out which show we’re in. It’s not Black Mirror or even Stranger Things. It’s the Subway Hero episode of 30 Rock, and Donald Trump is Dennis Duffy.
SenyorDave
Its pretty tempting to just start checking out. The media is a joke, Trump could literally be hauling away the gold at Fort Knox, and the headline would read something like “Hillary’s email controversy forces Trump to protect the nation’s gold supply.” In the short run the economy should be in good shape, and the wealthy will get wealthier. The metrics that the media care about will be do well, plus Trump is inheriting healthy economy. This will GWB2, it will take years to screw things up, but the future sucks if you don’t have money. I’m retiring next year and not hurting, and will do a lot of planning to make sure the grandkids will have a good start in life. They’va already normalized Trump and people like Bannon and Sessions. I think the Dems should oppose him on everything and not compromise on anything. Internationally, we’re completely fucked. I’m guessing that Trump is in the bottom ten of all world leaders, and I am not saying that because I loathe him (I do). If I were China at this point I would be looking to make inroads everywhere because the time is right.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: I was thinking this morning, he must be getting the shakes from not having had the hoots and howls of the Deplorables for a few weeks. I can’t believe he went without it this long.
@germy: There’s a video out there of Ivanka talking about she and her idiot brothers running the Grifteration for the next (please, Universe) four years, and she’s just as much a word salad shooter as her father, with a more polished accent. She talks about great deals, that will be great for them “economically”, but they won’t do those deals, because the country.
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
He can’t do shyt.
He warned us that democracy was at stake.
Practically begged people not to vote for Ferret Head.
He’s done.
DONE.
Ohio Mom
@Corner Stone: those of us commoners growing up in apartment buildings in the Bronx were also deprived of any opportunity to set up a lemonade stand.
That’s one of the big trade-offs of city living.
geg6
This.
germy
@Corner Stone:
Including HRC during the town hall debate.
Clueless Undecided: “Can you say something nice about your opponent?”
Magnanimous Democratic Candidate: “Well, his children are lovely.”
Corner Stone
@hovercraft: We aren’t taking those shithole states. But we may annex the strip of land bordering the Gulf Coast down to South Florida. The wall we build will be between TX and OK/AR.
With Cascadia exiting, and New England forming it’s own People’s Republic, who is going to come and take our military installations? Sorry, friend. It’s a firesale. Texas will be fine in that scenario.
debit
@SenyorDave: I’ve already checked out. My daughter tearfully asked me last night how we were going to get through this and I said, “Video games.” I have a massive library and plan to avoid all reality and just play video games until it’s time to vote next.
ETA: Until summer. Then I’m going to ride my bike every day until I either bliss out or puke, depending on the hills.
Major Major Major Major
@SenyorDave:
It actually took him about 235 days to screw things up pretty fucking bad.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I still get mad about that fucking debate. Raddatz and Cooper selected the questions, I believe, and found room for at least two “can’t we all just get along?” thumb-suckers, but nothing about climate change? Fuckers.
germy
@Corner Stone:
None of them will ever come forward because nobody likes getting death threats.
geg6
@rikyrah:
And I don’t blame him a bit. If I was him, I’d take off with my family the minute the Hair Fuhrer takes the oath and get the hell out of this hellhole of a nation. Move to Canada or pretty much anywhere but here. And never, ever look back. Screw this place. We deserve the shit that’s going to rain down from here on.
SenyorDave
@debit: For me its travel. Retire next year, and my wife and I will travel two months a year for the next five years. Now I just have to convince her.
Corner Stone
@SenyorDave:
They have been doing that for about two decades. Agreed though that they may start a more aggressive paths in a few areas. Including sowing division and factions in the CONUS.
gvg
Reviewing a list of past corrupt politicians and I notice that many are considered to have done a lot of good for their constituents while enriching themselves. I think Trump may have trouble with that part as he has no record of empathy nor charity so his supporters are more likely to turn on him. There are things I didn’t think of though. Ray Blanton sold pardons for murderers in Tenn…Edwin Edwards sold positions, I can see Trump doing that. Who enforces those laws…they have gotten Governors before but not a President. Nixon isn’t on the list as he didn’t apparently profit personally. Randy Cunningham was bribed for defense contracts..that sounds possible and would probably mean defective equipment too. Huey long known to intimidate opponents by getting their relatives fired from state jobs…and tried to control media and negative stories. Hmmm shot after announcing run for President. people who complained about machine politics were threatened or had their taxes raised. I wonder if Trump will think of that. he likes threats it seems, is he subtle enough to do the taxes thing? he also offered bribes to the cartoonist Nast to go away but Nast refused.
I need to review my history…
geg6
@debit:
That’s kind of where I am. Except I don’t play video games. I’m burying myself in books. I’m going to read myself into a coma for the next four years.
Corner Stone
@rikyrah: He’s still POTUS.
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I was irritated by the last debate, moderated by young Mr. Wallace, who asked what the candidates would do about “entitlements” bankrupting our fine nation. (According to the non-partisan and independent thinktank “Concerned Billionaire Brothers”)
SenyorDave
@Major Major Major Major: This will GWB2, it will take years to screw things up
It actually took him about 235 days to screw things up pretty fucking bad.
Yes and no. I mean screw things up so he started getting blamed for it. That took a few years. And that is the only thing the Republicans care about.
hovercraft
@FlipYrWhig:
In spite of the liked story, I think the Hilton’s would be preferable, they spoiled their kids, but they don’t seem to be intent on stealing everything not nailed down, they’re just your average 1 percenters intent on maintaining their place.
From CNN last year.
Major Major Major Major
@SenyorDave: I’ve seen it suggested here that a cataclysmic fuck-up like that would be treated differently for Trump since everybody already hates him. Not sure I buy it, but I’ve seen it suggested.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: I didn’t watch the Veep debate, but IIRC I read that Elaine Quinones used the Pete Peterson outfit as a neutral and authoritative reference not once, but twice.
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Exactly. That’s what pissed me off. When these assholes are cited as “non-partisan”
rikyrah
HAT TIP-TOD
WHAT TO DO ABOUT TRUMP? THE SAME THING MY GRANDFATHER DID IN 1930S VIENNA
By Liel Leibovitz
The first, and most obvious, is this: Treat every poisoned word as a promise. When a bigoted blusterer tells you he intends to force members of a religious minority to register with the authorities—much like those friends and family of Siegfried’s who stayed behind were forced to do before their horizon grew darker—believe him. Don’t try to be clever. Don’t lean on political intricacies or legislative minutia or historical precedents for comfort. Don’t write it off as propaganda, or explain it away as just an empty proclamation meant simply to pave the path to power. Take the haters at their word, and assume the worst is imminent.
******************
Which leads me to the third principle, the one hardest to grasp: Refuse to accept what’s going on as the new normal. Not now, not ever. In the months and years to come, decisions will be made that may strike you as perfectly sound, appointments announced that are inspired, and policies enacted you may even like. Friends and pundits will reach out to you and, invoking nuance, urge you to admit that there’s really nothing to fear, that things are more complex, that nothing is ever black or white.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Dream on dude, you will be invaded from all sides, you can’t protect the Rio Grande as it is, they will come in from all directions, and unlike the brown people, these invaders will look and sound like “real Americans”. Get used to it friend, they will be coming in if you try to leave them behind. Even with your military, they will still come, just look at your southern border. Plus remember the GOPers will welcome the peoples of Dumbfuckistan because they are predominately white and will be a hedge against the ever browning of Texas. Everyone get ready for a new great migration, it will make the separation of India and Pakistan look like childs play.
SatanicPanic
@Kay: I know this isn’t really something to be proud of, but part of me responded to the election results with “fine, you asked for this, don’t come crying to me later”. Trump’s election was a big FU to all of us who tried to make their lives better. That’s what they meant and that’s how I’m taking it. We can worry about them after we’ve made sure the man they elected doesn’t hurt our people.
Corner Stone
@hovercraft: Ah, but the blessed Reconquista will be our savior. With actual power, instead of being buried in a federal system, the browns will rise up as it has been oft foretold and reclaim their rightful lands!
Viva Revolucion! Viva Tejas!
SatanicPanic
@The Moar You Know:
Another SD resident checking in, and yeah, I agree with this, but how long can it go on? I’m trying to think of a historical analogy for a country where all the wealth resides in cities, but the government runs according to the rules of backwards rural states. Japan is kind of like this- the LDP’s power base is rural- but rural and city culture in Japan isn’t that different. I honestly don’t see how this is sustainable.
Roger Moore
@hovercraft:
The Hiltons are actually a bit better than that. They do have a solid record of actual charitable giving; for example, I work in the Conrad Hilton Building. Conrad actually tried to give almost all his money away in his will, but his son, Barron, successfully contested it. Now, Barron is trying to give away as much of his money as he can while he’s still alive to make sure it happens. Part of the reason Paris has worked- successfully, I might add- to monetize her name is because she knows she isn’t going to inherit the kind of wealth she grew up with.
Major Major Major Major
@SatanicPanic: This sounds a lot like a certain European country during a certain decade we aren’t supposed to draw parallels to.
Emerald
@Jeffro:
One more thing: put Merrick Garland on the SCOTUS with a recess appointment on Jan. 3rd. It would only last a year, but that’s gonna be an important year. It would slow them down considerably.
SatanicPanic
@Major Major Major Major: we did elect guy running on an ethnic cleansing platform.
Corner Stone
@Emerald:
That’s the kind of thing I am wondering about, if it is possible.
I wish he would so I could buy options in fainting couch mfgs. Can you imagine the media outrage?
“THAT’S UNPRECEDENTED! HOW COULD YOU SUBVERT DEMOCRACY SO BLATANTLY?!!”
Obama: “You mean like the R controlled Senate not even having a hearing on a nominee for almost a year? Like that democracy you mean?”
DOUBLE BIRDS AND A FUCKING MIC DROP
Major Major Major Major
@SatanicPanic: sure, but he didn’t mean it, it was just to fire up his rural base, said the New York Times about young Adolph.
Roger Moore
@Emerald:
Or until the Senate confirms whomever Trump appoints, which could be substantially sooner.
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major: “The rallies were very energetic and enthusiastic.”
/NYT in Berlin 1930’s, probably
Gravenstone
@germy: Learned their grift early, did the sprogs Trump. No wonder the whole family is a disaster for the “commons”.
Corner Stone
If something tastes “just like chicken” then why the F aren’t you just eating chicken?
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone: and the Waffen SS uniforms, by up-and-comer Hugo Boss, were fantastic.
The Moar You Know
@SatanicPanic: Lotta people see the Stars and Stripes and get all teary-eyed and attached. I’m not that guy. I know when I’m being screwed and resent it, regardless of who is doing the screwing.
Even Uncle Sam doesn’t get a pass to jam it in my ass. CA is paying a lot of folks bills, and the thanks we get is they turn around and not only tell us how to live, but that their backwards toothless hillbilly lifestyle is better. FUCK that.
hovercraft
@Roger Moore:
Good for him, like I said they would have been much better than this band of kleptocrats. This lot will give Putin a run for his money with their blatant looting.
StringOnAStick
@Roger Moore: The expanded Calexit you propose works for me. We were planning on a possible move from Colorado to Oregon when my husband could go to contractor status with his employer in 2 years, but no ACA means no contracting because we can’t afford what our health insurance would cost without it. So, we are stuck here. Please add CO!
Major Major Major Major
@The Moar You Know: as Hunter S. Thompson wrote, we are a patriotic people, but there is some shit we won’t eat.
ETA: @StringOnAStick: I know the feeling. I was stuck filing as a CO small business for years before Obamacare/Obergefell.
Calouste
@The Moar You Know: I realized the other day that it is kind of funny that the ancestors of the hillbillies left the poverty and lack of opportunity in their home countries, and moved halfway around the world to the USA to start a new and hopefully better life. The current hillbillies on the other hand wouldn’t think of moving anywhere to escape poverty and lack of opportunities, but instead wallow in it like a pig in the mud.
Emerald
@SatanicPanic:
In the only news program I’ve watched since the catastrophe, Rachel said that we cannot continue to allow the minority to constantly overrule the majority. This happens not only with the electoral college, but with the Senate–CA and WY both get two equally powerful senators despite the populations–and with the gerrymandered Congress. The situation cannot be sustained.
Captain C
@chopper: The only possible saving grace from this is that if it happens in, say September of 2018, the $10+/gallon gas prices that would follow might actually give us a half-decent Democratic congress. Then things will get really interesting.
Of course, the huge damage that would happen from something like this happening means it’s not to be hoped for.
Captain C
@Mnemosyne: If that happens, I wonder how long it would take for New England, plus New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and maybe Pennsylvania and Virginia to follow.
sunny raines
Who knew? All good people should have seen the evil at the door: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XhK_8eRrcM
SatanicPanic
@The Moar You Know: It’s time to start flying the California flag, which I will take down when we have that westcoastia flag made official. Also, to add to everyone else’s suggestion, we should take Las Vegas too. They’re our people too. I’d ask for AZ but they don’t seem to know how to drive.
Emerald
@Captain C:
Can’t happen. First thing they’re gonna do is fix those pesky voting laws. Far fewer Dems will be allowed to vote by 2018. Kobach is talented at that.
Major Major Major Major
@SatanicPanic: yep, gonna have to pick up a California flag.
Man, it’s been so long since I’ve had to explain while traveling “no no I’m not an American, I’m from California.”
@SatanicPanic: Take the I-80 corridor from north of Denver through SF and put up a wall around it. Salt Lake and Reno would semi-happily secede from Dumbfuckistan, in exchange for some religious carve-outs and whatever it is Reno wants.
SatanicPanic
@Emerald: That’s the thing, right? It’s not a matter of what we want, it’s a matter of reality and I don’t see how this goes on. Maybe they can buy off our wealthy people with tax cuts for a while, but even our rich people run companies that don’t want to be associated with the kind of ugliness the Trump voters want.
hovercraft
Even the internets are making contingency plans.
Trump’s Election Prompts The Internet Archive To Copy Its Database In Canada
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@hovercraft: Except that “their military” belongs to the federal government, and quite a few folks stationed in that state are not from there. “Their military” is funded by the Feds. If Texas became an independent country, they’d be broke as a joke and constantly fighting amongst themselves.
I’ve met some great people from Texas. Notice I said “some.” God help the good ones that stay.
Corner Stone
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire:
Not true, my friend. We currently spend more on federal taxes than we take in. And the military can be reconstituted in other forms, as needed. Maybe you heard we recently found the largest deposit of shale oil in the US? Now tell me. Where do you currently get your oil refined?
Vast Shale Oil Field in Texas Could Yield 20 Billion Barrels
Corner Stone
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire: Further, there would be no more “federal government” if both West Coast and NE states exited. Which was the whole premise for my conjecture. It’s a stupid thought experiment but I would have bet a lot of money on Trump being president a stupid thought experiment a few short weeks ago.
If CA, OR and WA go. And some mix of MA, NY, NH, ME, CT, RI, VT go. Then there is no one going to come and repatriate military supplies to anywhere. The people stationed there can go, sure.
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone: trump being president IS a stupid thought experiment, we just happen to be living in it. Maybe the AI people are right and we really are living in a simulation.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@Corner Stone: That’s cute. Texans always relying on oil. The day will come when that ends, too. Public transportation is much easier in the NE.
Texas is in the bottom of so many lists, despite good Texans trying to improve things. They’ll be fighting amongst themselves.
Schlemazel
@Captain C:
if I may paraphrase Boy Blunder DON’T FORGET MINNESOTA!
The problem (beyond the fact that session is a settled issue) is that up-state NY and rural PA WANT what is coming for them. They voted for it I believe
StringOnAStick
@Calouste: Yes indeed. On the Thursday after the election, a friend and I set off from CO to FL, to drive their spare car to the condo they’d bought in Florida. Kansas looked like prosperity fled decades ago, MO wasn’t much better, and the rest of the southern states on our route had rural areas that all looked the same: no prosperity, just hanging on by their fingernails. And the locals all think this is the best of “God’s Country” and the very best of ‘Murika.
hovercraft
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire:
Agreed that much of their military will leave, but between the ones from Dumbfuckistan and the natives who I’m pretty sure are armed to the teeth, they will have sufficient firepower to create a ruckus and assert dominance over the rest of their new nation, to rape and pillage them, what with no pesky Federal government to restrict their activities. I suspect much of the brain power based in the Houston area around the space program will leave, same goes for the Space Coast in FL. Dumb being the operative part of the new nations name.
I’m sorry for you, I believe you live in Ohio, but you’ll have to relocate to either the new coastal nations or you can move in one of the two nation cities in the Midwest. Personally I’d go with Chicago, in the case of an invasion you can flee across the lake to Canada.
Schlemazel
@Corner Stone:
True, of all the duchies in Dumbfuckestan Texas is the one that could stand on its own. Right up until the rest of the world finally breaks its addiction to oil, which is not that far away.
Corner Stone
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire: Didn’t say they rely on any one thing. Maybe you have heard of the tech boom in Austin, Houston, Dallas and even starting to budge in San Antonio? Companies aren’t going to drop all their talent just because they don’t like having an operation in Texas. As much as I hate some of what Austin has turned into, there is no doubt it is in its own right becoming a SXSW Silicon Valley and creative hub for a new generation of people. They are there now. They aren’t leaving to go join Cascadia just because you think they should.
Hungry Joe
@Mnemosyne: “United States of Cascadia”? Sorry, but that’s USC, and as a University of California guy I could never sign on to that. How about “United States of Pacifica”? (What? Oh, sorry Rest of Thread. Please go on.)
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone:
Successful, popular, and monied?
Corner Stone
@hovercraft:
You suspect wrong. President Obama killed a major spending initiative for NASA in the Clear Lake/Friendswood/Webster a few years ago. They did not leave. They repurposed and remain in the community.
None of you seem to actually know anything about what you are talking about when it comes to Texas. But sure, keep repeating how Austin is some liberal oasis and you’re so sorry about the rest of TX but you’ll take Austin with you and blah blah blah.
hovercraft
@Major Major Major Major:
Have you consulted the script to see what happens next?
I’m guessing it’s a hybrid of Idiocracy and Westworld. At least in Westworld you can do rewrites, idocracy means we are past the point of no return.
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major: There’s a lot of hipster douche going on that was not there four or five years ago. I guess it comes to us all…
Corner Stone
@Schlemazel:
Well, with nuclear annihilation not actually a ridiculous idea to contemplate anymore, I guess we’ll take what breathing room we can get. We do have extensive renewable energy programs that seem to have eluded a lot of people in this thought experiment.
Corner Stone
I, personally, just want a god damned taco truck on every corner in Texas.
Roger Moore
@Corner Stone:
I currently get my oil refined right here in California, because nobody else wants to make the special gas blends we need to meet pollution regulations.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
I know nothing about Texas, I’ve only been there one, driving through. Personally I would move to many places in the country for affordability, and job opportunities, but the minute they became part of another country, one ruled by mouth breathers, I’d hightail it back to my blue enclave. Native born Texans I suspect aren’t budging for anything, but I don’t think that transplants would be all that willing to stay. But hey I could be wrong, the fact that they moved there in the first place may mean they are committed and would stay committed. I also recognize that an Austin liberal is not the same thing as a New York one.
Corner Stone
@Roger Moore: Yep. Refinery capability and access to transportation through ports. Viva Cascadia! Viva Tejas!
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone: ah. Yeah, that’s unavoidable if you want successful, popular, and monied.
Corner Stone
@hovercraft:
Looked around in the last couple weeks? Federalism and States Rights are going to shortly come to mean very different things than we thought they did.
gene108
@chopper:
That’s basically what North Korea did, when Bush & Co. labeled them as part of the Axis of Evil and refused to negotiate with them, until Bush & Co. realized they were building nukes.
I doubt anyone realizes how big a fuck up it was because the media basically ignored it.
Of course, by 2006, Bush & Co. and Congressional Republicans were screwing up so many things so badly, closer to home, that North Korea detonating nukes did not seem like a big deal.
hovercraft
@Schlemazel:
We can offer to grant Minneapolis and St. Paul city nation or outpost status, the rest of the state I think is approaching a tipping point. Based on what’s happening around you I think you are soon to become part of red America.
Roger Moore
@Schlemazel:
Texas is a lot more than oil. They have a fair bit of tech (e.g. Texas Instruments), agriculture, education, transportation, etc. And for all that those of us in blue states like to criticize them, the big cities in Texas are actually reasonably liberal; they’re a lot closer to turning purple than a lot of the Deep South states are.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@Corner Stone: Okay, then by all means stay. I wouldn’t say that Texas is any better than any other state, however. Secession won’t be any easier for Texas than any other state. Anytime anyone starts going on about how Texas is amazing, I wish them Godspeed then carry on with my day. It’s no better than any other place.
@hovercraft: Yes, I do currently live in Ohio (luckily near C-bus), but don’t think for a second I won’t move back to New York in a heartbeat.
Major Major Major Major
@hovercraft: just pray for the singularity.
ETA: @gene108: North Korea of course was only added to the axis of evil because David Frum suggested they include a non-Muslim nation.
SatanicPanic
@Corner Stone: I am a California native. Trust me, when the time comes, we will be as indifferent to what Texas does as we are to formalwear and showing up on time.
gbbalto
@SenyorDave: Iran has already pointed out that the treaty is with five other countries. No reason for Iran to write it off if the US does. I think that China and Russia can do whatever workarounds are needed to avoid US financial sanctions, and the UK, France, and Germany will be perfectly happy selling them stuff without our competition. All Iran has to do is to keep to their terms. I haven’t seen any indication that they are interested in developing nukes at this point anyway, or were before the treaty was signed.
Corner Stone
@SatanicPanic: Thank you!
Major Major Major Major
@SatanicPanic: what’s showing up on time?
Corner Stone
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire:
That’s an interesting thrust that was not part of any thought experiment I put forth. Just that if Cascadia and NE exit, then Texas will also be fine if it exits as well.
SatanicPanic
@Major Major Major Major: I dunno. But I guess it happens every now and then when you say you’ll be somewhere but nothing better comes along to make you want to go somewhere else instead.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
Comment deleted for excessive bitchiness.
Sorry, Texas is just NOT for me.
Corner Stone
My son recently got into juicing so I have to go to the store and pick up some oranges from FL, some apples from WA, peaches from GA and I’m sure some damned thing from CA. Or maybe Chile.
Ta for now, all you hipster dbag Texas haters!
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@Corner Stone: Perhaps you are right, but I think the fight between liberals and conservatives will be more pronounced there.
Major Major Major Major
@SatanicPanic: so, like, the internet goes down and your phone runs out of battery or something?
Corner Stone
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire:
Sorry, but you’ve got the wrong state. It’s FL that is America’s Wang ™.
SatanicPanic
@Corner Stone: Good. I see some areas we could cooperate on. Maybe a trade deal so we can sell BBQ and beer across borders.
Corner Stone
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire: Maybe. But that would mainly be because we have more liberals and “liberal-esques” here than a lot of people understand. Plus, we have all the Planned Parenthood clinics shutting down across the state which will cause a surge in the birth rate and bring forth the Rising Brown Horde ™ all that much faster!
Viva Tejas!
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@Corner Stone: OH FUCK THAT PLACE. Couldn’t get out of there fast enough, and I was bornt in Trampa.
Sorry to the current residents. Just not for me.
Hungry Joe
I’m afraid that all this Exit stuff is, indeed, a dream of pipes. Not only do we Californians pay the red states’ bills, but a lot of them would also vote to stop secession “BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T LET US LEAVE IN 1860.” It’d only take 13 states to block, and here are 20 that probably would: SC, GA, AL, MS, FL, AR, OK, KY, WV, TX, KS, LA, UT, WY, ND, SD, MT, MO, NE, ID. Maybe IN and AK, too. So it can’t happen. We are fucking stuck.
SatanicPanic
@Major Major Major Major: Exactly. And then you’re like, oh yeah, I said I’d go to that party, and you can’t remember what time it was but you leave because the power’s out and there’s nothing to do at home anyway. Happened to me once.
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone: let’s… not celebrate forced pregnancy policies? Even as a joke?
@SatanicPanic: I’m more or less the only person I know under 40 who wears a watch.
ETA: oh you said what time the party was, not what time it is.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@Corner Stone: BWAHAHA! True. That teenage pregnancy rate, tho.
I really want Texas to turn purple, I really do. I just hope it’s peaceful when it comes.
JADE HELM 2016!!!
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
About two miles from my house right here in Jersey, we refine for most of Eastcoastia.
Yes I know, the events of the last few weeks have shaken me, but indeed that will be the impetus for us to put these plans into motion. It was one thing for Texas to elect the shrub for two terms and then to elect a Ken doll back to back to back, we could just point and laugh, even though we were subjected to eight yeas of the former. This latest stunt and the subsequent disasters it will bring will finally force us to get off our liberal asses and get a divorce. “Real America” has gone too far, so now it’s time to give them their country back, it will take time, but we want out. Leave us to our coastal elitism, and enjoy your heartland values with no interference from us.
If I was in charge of this fantasy world, I’d have already moved Shitstain Tower to that island off of Detroit that they are trying to turn into an elitist enclave where only millionaires are allowed. Belle Island.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@Major Major Major Major: We need a Berlin Airlift for women in Texas seeking to exercise their reproductive rights.
Seriously.
Major Major Major Major
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire: there’s something I would donate to.
Hungry Joe
@SatanicPanic: You don’t give yourself enough credit. I bet that, just like me, you have both casual flip-flops and good, going-out-on-the-town flip-flops, as well as a small stack of dress-up t-shirts.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Fine keep Texas as a sovereign nation, but please do us the courtesy of using our proper name, we will be The United States of East Coastia.
I guess we’ll all need to build some giant walls to keep interior America from invading our nations, I’m sure they’ll understand, after all they are very big on border security.
SatanicPanic
@Hungry Joe: Close, I have work Van’s slip-ons and casual Van’s slip-ons. The work ones are leather, very classy.
Josie
@Corner Stone: Come to San Antonio or the Rio Grande Valley.
Major Major Major Major
@SatanicPanic: I have work Doc Martens, hiking Doc Martens, casual Uggs and work Uggs. But I’m classy like that.
Yutsano
@Roger Moore:
When I was in Dallas in October, I saw a ton of Hillary and Democratic signs all over. I didn’t see one Trump sign anywhere. And I saw a comparison map that showed just how blue Dallas has turned yet the Republican rep for that area ran unopposed.
Things are starting to shift slowly down there. As much as the Republicans like to crow Trump won Texas Hillary came the closest a Democrat has in a very long time.
Hungry Joe
@Major Major Major Major: In addition to two pairs of flip-flops, I have four descending levels of tennis shoes, for : 1) tennis; 2) out and about; 3) neighborhood; 4) yard work. Plus sandals (a Good Pair and The Old Pair), hiking boots, and one pair of real shoes in case someone dies and there’s actually a funeral.
chopper
@Corner Stone:
no we didn’t. nobody ‘found’ anything. that basin has been known for a long time, the USGS just revised the estimate of undiscovered oil upward based on a change in their assumptions. none of the extra oil posited to be there has actually been discovered; for all we know they’re wrong and there isn’t a drop more.
SatanicPanic
@Hungry Joe: I went to my grandma’s funeral last year and my cousin showed up in shorts. I was like, that’s it! there are no rules anymore!
PIGL
@Botsplainer: Yup. I do not think America can recover from this. I take to no pleasure in saying so. The only thing left to do, for those who can, is move to a blue state and work like the devil to keep it that way.
Corner Stone
@chopper:
Thanks, trumpster jackhole.
Corner Stone
@Josie: I’ll housesit your place in SA while you visit your son in Houston! It’s a win-win!
Josie
@Corner Stone: Unfortunately you would have to share the place with my musician son (works all night and sleeps during the day), my two dogs and my two cats.
J R in WV
@Corner Stone:
I’ve spent a lot of time in TX, and, just between friends, I drive around TX no matter how much longer it takes.
Corner Stone
@J R in WV: You live in WV for fuck’s sake. Totes hilar.
chopper
@Corner Stone:
sorry that people lied to you.
Corner Stone
@chopper: Sorry, not sorry that you have determined to not trust science.