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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Year-End Tikkun Olam

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Year-End Tikkun Olam

by Anne Laurie|  December 22, 20165:10 am| 206 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Daydream Believers

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(h/t commentor Lyrebird)

Per Adweek:

… The spot aims to say goodbye to 2016 and the air of negativity surrounding this crappy year with a positive note. “Art of Harmony” features a cast of real people with inspiring stories, such as child activist Zianna Oliphant, Florida “basketball cop” Bobby White, transgender youth activist Jazz Jennings, Migrant Offshore Aid Station founder Christopher Catrambone and Muslim American activist Mona Haydar.

The spot touches on each of these individuals’ uplifting stories, and others, before uniting them at a New York event and concluding with the message, “When the world seems divided, coming together can be a beautiful thing” and the tagline “spread harmony.”

***********
Spousal Unit is recovering amazingly well (knock wood), it’s all peaceful around our household, and I’m feeling like I can finally take a deep breath. On the other hand, I think I can safely assert that very few of us will be sad to see 2016 in the rear view mirror…

What’s on the agenda as we gear up for the Big Holiday Weekend?

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Reader Interactions

206Comments

  1. 1.

    Betty Cracker

    December 22, 2016 at 5:20 am

    Glad the SO’s recovery is proceeding well!

    I won’t be sorry to see the back of 2016, but I fear the worse is yet to come.

  2. 2.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 22, 2016 at 5:21 am

    Good to hear that your Hubby is doing well.

    Sadly, 2017 is going to be as divided or worse than this year as Trump excels in degrading his opponents of which there are many. I don’t foresee him making any moves to assuage our fears.

  3. 3.

    Zinsky

    December 22, 2016 at 5:28 am

    Yeah, I try to be optimistic but with this infantile septuagenarian tweeting his fool ass off 24/7/365, it’s hard to think of much else besides how rookie-dooed and tatooed we all are!

  4. 4.

    Spanky (ex P-man)

    December 22, 2016 at 5:34 am

    Last day of work pre-Christmas, which will be cut short so I can duck into Downtown Annapolis to get That Which Cannot Be Found Online for Mrs. P’s stocking.

    And I’ll echo both of Betty’s sentiments, wishing your SO a speedy recovery and a hope that 2017 is better than my expectations. 2016 sure sucked worse than I imagined.

  5. 5.

    Duane

    December 22, 2016 at 5:37 am

    If men could bare children,birh control would be available in every conveincnce store,and all hospitals.

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 5:39 am

    Morning Everyone????

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 5:40 am

    Glad to hear that Mr. AL is recovering well.???

  8. 8.

    Mustang Bobby

    December 22, 2016 at 5:43 am

    AL, I hope for a speedy and uneventful recovery for the SU.

    Off tomorrow to the comparatively chilly climes of Cincinnati for the weekend with my parents and two of the three siblings and their entourages. Then back on Monday night for two weeks of rest, car maintenance, writing, research for a paper, and binge-watching on Netflix.

  9. 9.

    satby

    December 22, 2016 at 5:44 am

    Good morning! And continued good recovery to AL’s Spousal Unit!

    Good spot by Microsoft, I wasn’t familiar with a lot of those activists.

  10. 10.

    Schlemazel

    December 22, 2016 at 5:46 am

    Happy news on SU so enjoy that. The MIL has done much better under the care of my SU the last two weeks. It is amazing how taking your pain meds as prescribed can make recovery easier. My SU will be coming home today so we will see if mom can continue her recovery or if she will need more care. She didn’t need much help and would have needed none at all except she wsa convinced she would be mainlining smack if she took the Tylenol 3 they had given her.
    We have zero plans for the holiday.

  11. 11.

    Spanky (ex P-man)

    December 22, 2016 at 5:46 am

    @rikyrah: Good Morning, Sunshine!

    Just LOLed when I saw Cole’s tweet over on the side there:

    The handyman tried to talk to me about the bathroom and all I could think was “I WILL SHIT OUTSIDE JUST STOP COSTING MONEY”

    I’ve been there.

    Now off to kick-start the day…

  12. 12.

    Mary G

    December 22, 2016 at 5:51 am

    I can’t sleep, have earache on both sides and a putrid sore throat, so I am afraid of having a cold for Christmas. Bah humbug.

    On the bright side, it’s raining again in Southern California!

  13. 13.

    tybee

    December 22, 2016 at 5:55 am

    @Duane:

    If men could bare children,birh control would be available in every conveincnce store,and all hospitals.
    Reply

    and you would be able to get an abortion while you got your oil changed.

  14. 14.

    Schlemazel

    December 22, 2016 at 6:05 am

    @Spanky (ex P-man):
    Cole’s twitter feed has become my newest source of entertainment on the tubes. There is always a gem in there some place

  15. 15.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    December 22, 2016 at 6:08 am

    @Mary G: The kid, my wife and I had “the cold” in that order; and we didn’t get it from each other. It lasted about a week.

  16. 16.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    December 22, 2016 at 6:09 am

    @Schlemazel: It’s almost made me want to sign up for Twitter, I said almost.

  17. 17.

    Schlemazel

    December 22, 2016 at 6:26 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    I created an account simply to make posting Cole’s tweets on FB easier. I currently have 2 followers! No clue why but there they are.

    A guy at work follows a number of experts in our line of work & he often comes up with new issues or theories from those feeds. But there is generally nothing gained but a few days head start over other sources from that.

  18. 18.

    Manyakitty

    December 22, 2016 at 6:28 am

    Glad the man is on the mend, AL! Good news is good.

  19. 19.

    RedDirtGirl

    December 22, 2016 at 6:46 am

    Happy holidays to this wonderful community of misfits! One more day of work and then off to Maine for the rest of the year. Thanks to all of you for being one bright spot in an awful year!

  20. 20.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 6:49 am

    Good to hear about the SU.

    @rikyrah: Morning.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 22, 2016 at 6:50 am

    All’s well that mends well, AL. Good to hear.

    Not much sleep last night, between the shoulders, the charlie horses, and the dreams (ZOMBIES!!!) I spent more time awake than asleep. Got the day to myself, hope to get a lot more done on the greenhouse foundation. Won’t be able to finish it, but I should get close. Then I need to rent the trencher so I can run the water and electric lines. THAN I can finish the foundation.

  22. 22.

    JGabriel

    December 22, 2016 at 6:52 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Sadly, 2017 is going to be as divided or worse than this year as Trump excels in degrading his opponents of which there are many. I don’t foresee him making any moves to assuage our fears.

    Particularly since Republicans have gerrymandered our Congressional checks and balances away, in favor of gaming power for themselves no matter whom we, the majority of citizens, vote for.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 22, 2016 at 7:02 am

    I just found out that my second son arrived in STL last night. It was supposed to be a surprise for me but my wife told me before she finished reading the text. So I will get to see my youngest after all. Good thing I didn’t ship the annual Xmas CARE/present package yet.

  24. 24.

    Kay

    December 22, 2016 at 7:04 am

    If President-elect Donald Trump defunds Planned Parenthood, some of his supporters would be “surprised,” “frustrated,” “misdirected,” “disappointed in the democratic system,” and “pissed off as hell,” according to a series of focus groups commissioned by the family planning provider and conducted by an independent research group.
    In video recordings of the focus groups, the Trump voters opposed to defunding the family planning provider appeared surprised that Trump had committed to signing such legislation Some of them were even more surprised to realize his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has led the fight against Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights for half a decade.
    “I’m astounded,” said one Trump supporter in Phoenix, upon hearing about Pence’s anti-abortion record. “I guess I’ve been living in a bubble. He sounds like a tyrant.”

    I love “misdirected”- they’re running out of words that mean “angry”

  25. 25.

    HeleninEire

    December 22, 2016 at 7:07 am

    @RedDirtGirl: Same to you RedDirtGirl!

  26. 26.

    JPL

    December 22, 2016 at 7:10 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: How nice and have a wonderful xmas with your family!

    Anne, I’m glad that the hubby is on the mend.

  27. 27.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    December 22, 2016 at 7:11 am

    @Kay: There’ll be alot of things Trump’s “supporters” are going to be “surprised” about.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 7:11 am

    @Kay: I’m sure they’ll be appreciably sadder when they vote to reelect him.

  29. 29.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 7:12 am

    @Baud: Please! Don’t even joke about that.

    Good morning, elves and other holiday celebrants.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 7:13 am

    @Elizabelle: Don’t joke about idiot Trump supporters being idiots?

    ETA: I wonder how many people voted for Hillary thinking she would end abortion rights.

  31. 31.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 7:14 am

    A shorter version of that spot is all over my tv. Anyone know who the singer is?

  32. 32.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    December 22, 2016 at 7:15 am

    @Baud: Just calls ’em as you sees ’em, eh Baud?

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 7:17 am

    @Baud: Ah. I missed the original comment by Kay.

    Yeah. They’re idiots.

    Except, if we gave them coal for Christmas: that’s what some of them want.

    ETA: But it’s still bad form to even broach the Great Orange One being re-elected. Jackass hasn’t even taken the oath of office yet.

  34. 34.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 7:17 am

    @Kay:

    I think 2017 will be full of surprises for all of Trump’s voters. They have no idea what they’ve wrought.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 7:18 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: It’s like people didn’t past the red cap. Maybe the cap is magic.

  36. 36.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 7:19 am

    @Kay:

    “I’m astounded,” said one Trump supporter in Phoenix, upon hearing about Pence’s anti-abortion record. “I guess I’ve been living in a bubble. He sounds like a tyrant.”

    Jeebus Fuck.

  37. 37.

    Iowa Old Lady

    December 22, 2016 at 7:22 am

    @Mary G: That sounds terrible. Take it easy.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 7:22 am

    @Kay:
    See, I have no patience for this foolishness. Who the phuck do they think has been consistently attacking and trying to defund Planned Parenthood?

    BOTH SIDES DO NOT DO IT.?????

  39. 39.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 7:24 am

    @Elizabelle:

    I think lots of his voters were more interested in giving a big F U to the people they thought were working to keep them down than in any causes.

  40. 40.

    Iowa Old Lady

    December 22, 2016 at 7:25 am

    @debbie: It was like they thought their vote was a joke or something.

  41. 41.

    geg6

    December 22, 2016 at 7:26 am

    I hate this fucking year and cannot wait to see it end. I thought 2001 was the worst year ever, but I was naive.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 7:27 am

    @debbie: If they thought we were working to keep them down before, they ain’t seen nothing yet.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    December 22, 2016 at 7:30 am

    The NYTimes is like the official conduit for unnamed people in the FBI to defend the FBI:

    But while the F.B.I. ultimately did not find anything to alter its decision in July not to pursue criminal charges against Mrs. Clinton or her aides, agents believed they needed to examine the emails to be certain there was nothing new in them. This is common procedure for the bureau, whether the case involves a former secretary of state like Mrs. Clinton or anyone else.

    Is anyone ever going to investigate this? Outside of the FBI exonerating themselves by planting stories in newspapers? What if the NY office of the FBI decide they should join the campaign for Trump’s re-elect in 2020? What if they squelch investigations into Trump to protect him or target his next opponent in 2020? That okay too? I don’t see why not. Targeting his opponent was okay in 2016.

    This could happen again. In fact, if they’re on Team Trump is it likely to happen again, in 2020. The next FBI director will probably be more partisan and pro-Trump than even Comey if Trump is doing the hiring.

  44. 44.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    December 22, 2016 at 7:31 am

    @Baud: Filled with magic beans.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 7:31 am

    @Kay:
    The NYT can go phuck itself.

  46. 46.

    JPL

    December 22, 2016 at 7:33 am

    When they stop funding planned parenthood, health care for thousands and thousands will cease. The effect will be tremendous, but the harm that will be done, will not be televised. Most so call right to lifers think the sole mission of planned parenthood is to provide abortions.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 7:34 am

    @Kay:

    This is common procedure for the bureau, whether the case involves a former secretary of state like Mrs. Clinton or anyone else.

    Is it also common practice to opine publicly on legally irrelevant facts concerning Secretary Clinton’s email management practices after you’ve said no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges? And is it common practice to disclose in a letter to Congress that you are looking at potentially reopening an investigation after you have concluded that no charges will be brought? The answers to those questions seem like news that would be fit to print.

  48. 48.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    December 22, 2016 at 7:36 am

    @Baud: The New York Times is nothing more that a tabloid. Maybe they should put topless women on page 3.

  49. 49.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 7:36 am

    @Kay:

    Jesus. And look at that Fuck the Fucking New York Times headline:

    Clinton Backers Cry Foul Over What F.B.I. Considers Common Procedure

    Because Hillary types are the real partisans.

  50. 50.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 22, 2016 at 7:38 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: It was and the joke is on them.

  51. 51.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 7:40 am

    @Baud:
    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Exactly. Not even needing a bigger boat will help them now.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 7:40 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: The NYT is garbage.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    December 22, 2016 at 7:40 am

    @rikyrah:

    Them just “being angry” isn’t going to help though. Just “being angry” got them there. I know they had to search out Trump/Pence positions and sift thru mountains of words that were mostly bullshit, but it can be done. There are one-stop shopping sites that list the candidates positions if they don’t want to do a lot of reading. It would take them 15 minutes. I’ve met lots of older Democrats who just vote straight ticket- they use the Party as a rough proxy for a set of positions. That seems like a sensible way to be a less-informed voter. I’m sure there are Republicans who do it too. You’d be 90% on target and you don’t have to read anything. I kind of like them. They don’t pretend this is rocket science and it really isn’t.

  54. 54.

    EZSmirkzz

    December 22, 2016 at 7:42 am

    Morning Anne.

    Just finished reading a good piece at Duck of Minerva,

    In places where such appeals catch hold, that feeling of betrayal is often directed against both the “others” and the central government perceived to take care of their interests ahead of those feeling “left behind”. One finds this in various forms in different countries. In the U.S., Arlie Hochschild’s exhaustive ethnographic work documenting how Tea Partiers, and subsequently Trump supporters, view politics has helped her to identify what she views as the “deep story” underpinning the politics of many of these voters. It’s worth quoting in full:

    The blockquote that follows my excerpt uses the analogy of standing in line, and watching the “others” cutting in front of you, and is excerpted from the book, “Strangers in Their Own Land.”

    Interestingly, there was a piece in Raw Story yesterday about a woman yelling at two Hispanic women in front of her in a check out lane, wherein one of the two came rushing up with some last minute items and joined her friend at the checkout stand in front of the women y/t/elling them to go back where they came from.

    The book I mentioned above is an exploration of the Trump voters thinking, and perhaps more apropos in todays politics, feeling about the world in which they live. I think that is pretty accurate in and of itself, most people, are voting their feelings not their thinking.

    At any rate this lead me to doing a google on DuckDuckGo on the average wage for a carpenter here in Bugtussle, TX, @ $15-20 versus Houston, $ 19-30, and of course NY City, where unions just negotiated a $96 and change rate for their carpenters.

    In a sense then, what is aggravating the Trump voters is the perception that all the pilgrims and city slickers are cutting in front of them in the line, when in fact they are anchoring the back of the line and the pilgrims and the city slickers are merely filling in the void they are creating with their anti-union feelings, however valid those feelings may be, which living out here in Bugtussle I find them to be.

    But therein lies rub, and how progressives, and liberals address this situation will have a long term impact on our electoral politics. Hollering about and at the line anchors is not the wayv to go about, so if anyone wants to start that, let me tell you to blow it out your ass before you even get started.

    The train of thought that did occur to me is that if NY City can afford to keep growing with a $96 wage, then it should allow Bugtussle to grow at that rate too. Someone is putting that $76 into their pockets, just not the wage earners. I think this is the note Bernie was striking, or attempting to strike in his campaign. Now before anyone goes into a Berniebot tirade, let me just tell you to blow that out your ass too, before you even start. The point is not to rehash the past, but look for a way forward in 2018 and beyond. I don’t think Hillary blew off the Sanders supporters so much as the perception is that she did, so avoiding false narratives is imperative to our moving our policy agenda forward. False narratives are in fact, the main drug of the GOP and conservative movements, which I think empathy for the factual challenges facing many Americans is important for us to understand, and from that understanding propose solutions that can then be put into emotional narratives, which sadly seems to be what the American people desire in these times, that will sell politically.

    (Also too, I know it’s only rock n roll, but I like it)

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 22, 2016 at 7:43 am

    @JPL:

    Most so call right to lifers think the sole mission of planned parenthood is to provide abortions.

    Now you see, I think that is the lie they propagate to hide their true intentions: To teach the sluts a good, old time Biblical lesson.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 7:43 am

    @Kay:

    PP needs to use those videos in ads and to send a compilation tape to the White House and to every member of Congress.

  57. 57.

    Citizen_X

    December 22, 2016 at 7:44 am

    @Baud:

    I wonder how many people voted for Hillary thinking she would end abortion rights.

    After reading that bit, I’m assuming that somebody out there furiously voted against Clinton because she would end abortion rights.

  58. 58.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 7:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I used to do graphic design, writing, and editing for the local PP. Their budget for all things abortion related was between 2% and 3%. They’d provide that number to legislators here and the response was that even one penny was too much. The truth is irrelevant.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 7:47 am

    @EZSmirkzz:

    I think empathy for the factual challenges facing many Americans is important for us to understand, and from that understanding propose solutions that can then be put into emotional narratives, which sadly seems to be what the American people desire in these times, that will sell politically.

    Someone needs to prove that is true before I’ll believe it.

    @Citizen_X: Didn’t Freddie D. say a while back that he wouldn’t vote for Clinton because she wasn’t strong enough on abortion?

  60. 60.

    Kay

    December 22, 2016 at 7:48 am

    @rikyrah:

    When I first started this and talked to people who said “oh, I just vote for the Democrat” I turned up my nose a little, because we’re kind of trained to think we should be conducting this evaluation of “the man, not the Party” but as time went on I learned to appreciate that as “I don’t like to read about this stuff and I don’t pretend I do it”. It’s a fairly efficient way to vote. Most of the time it’s a safe bet. If you mostly lean toward Democratic issues that’s a fine approach and think of the time they save! :)

  61. 61.

    bystander

    December 22, 2016 at 7:50 am

    @Kay: This is exactly why we canceled our NYTimes subscription. We refuse to support the FBI’s megaphone. Not a single person was held responsible for the page one story based on an anonymous source that HRC’s criminal indictment was imminent nor will the Times reveal the source that played them. Something stinks at the Times.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 7:50 am

    @Kay: Same here.

  63. 63.

    Kay

    December 22, 2016 at 7:52 am

    @debbie:

    They’re so over the top The Onionish I’m suspicious of them. It’s like examples of “bad voters” :)

    Why can’t people just settle on some reasonable approach if they don’t want to do any work? They don’t have to do the work but if they refuse to they need a different, better plan than “I’m angry and randomly lashing out with this vote”

    You’d think they would learn to wing it and take shortcuts that get them where they need to go. 15 minutes of reading 15 minutes before voting and they could skip the whole campaign season.

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 22, 2016 at 7:53 am

    @Kay: I used to research candidate positions, I even found myself voting Republican for County Commissioner or Sheriff from time to time. But eventually it just became unnecessary. All I needed to know was DEM or GOP. One spent time working to improve the conditions of my life and the other spent all of their time giving blow jobs to the rich and trying to make me pay for it.

  65. 65.

    Immanentize

    December 22, 2016 at 7:57 am

    @EZSmirkzz: Blow it out of
    Your ass.

    (You knew that was coming)

  66. 66.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 7:57 am

    @Kay:

    Why can’t people just settle on some reasonable approach if they don’t want to do any work?

    That would take too long and would involve long-term thinking. These things are un-American, dammit!

  67. 67.

    maurinsky

    December 22, 2016 at 8:00 am

    I had an idea that got a little traction on Twitter yesterday when Linda Tirado retweeted it, which is to start a progressive version of ALEC. ALEC, as probably most of you know, is the organization that is responsible for such stellar legislation as the Stand Your Ground law. I think it would have to focus on state or even local level lawmaking, and should be part think-tank, part legislative exchange. Research, make the case, and write the legislation, to make it easy for legislators to jump on board.

    What do you think?

  68. 68.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 8:00 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I used to vote for a Republican state senator back in the 1980s (Roy Goodman). He was great. At a time when NYC apartment buildings were all going co-op and no one knew if they’d be evicted, he took the time to hold meetings building by building to explain the rules. No one else, either city- or state-level, Republican or Democrat, had any interest in helping constituents like he did.

  69. 69.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 8:00 am

    I thought this piece was a useful way to think about the impact of the November Catastrophe and how we should look to the future:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/22/donald-trump-inauguration-feminists-hope-change-equality

    How can we find hope when a new story of malice and bigotry is around every corner? Maybe the truth is that we don’t need to be optimistic for the future in order to change it. Hope isn’t necessary for action.

    No one has written about hope and politics better than the sociology professor Tressie McMillan Cottom. After the election, Cottom noted that the hopelessness new to some had long been a reality for others – black women, especially: “Everything from reversing Roe v Wade and police surveillance to mob rule in public discourse and delegitimized claims to citizenship have been true for us for a long time.”

    “My hopelessness is faith in things yet seen and works yet done,” she writes. “Hopelessness is necessary for the hard work of resisting tyranny and fascism.”

    The summer before the election, I wrote a book in which I argued that the danger of a feminism obsessed with silver linings and positivity is that it necessitates smiling through tremendous grief. Feminism isn’t a Pinterest board, it’s a movement – and we don’t always need to be inspirational.

    Still, I allowed myself to be carried away in optimism before 8 November. I forgot myself – in part because hope is a privilege, and in part because I needed to believe something non-horrible could happen for women.

    It’s a mistake I won’t make again. But that doesn’t mean I’m done fighting for a future better than the one we’re fearing.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 8:02 am

    @maurinsky: I like it. Proactive instead of reactive.

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 22, 2016 at 8:02 am

    @debbie: The truth is they can’t stand the idea of a woman deciding what is best for her sexual health.

  72. 72.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 8:04 am

    @maurinsky:

    Sounds almost like suggesting that Democrats should be… organized. I agree with the idea, but I hope it wouldn’t turn into an endless round of statements of principles and bickering over word choices. I think we need a clear, straightforward set of ideas and plans to fight for – and once we’ve got a decent consensus on those, plus the necessary tweaks applicable to different localities, we should organize at every level to fight and keep fighting for them.

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 8:05 am

    @maurinsky: I think it’s a great idea. How could it hurt?

  74. 74.

    EZSmirkzz

    December 22, 2016 at 8:06 am

    @Baud: Well, you could read the book, and then make up your own mind.

  75. 75.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 8:06 am

    @Kay:
    But, using the party as proxy is OK, if you pay attention to the party.
    I am not asking them to explain TPP.

    If your healthcare depends on Obamacare, don’t vote for the muthaphuckas who have voted to repeal it FIFTY TIMES.

    Not rocket science

  76. 76.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 8:07 am

    @EZSmirkzz: No. I’ve got better things to read.

  77. 77.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 8:07 am

    @Baud:

    Freddie D says a lot of things about women’s issues. I can’t remember anything worth hearing from him on that topic.

  78. 78.

    zhena gogolia

    December 22, 2016 at 8:10 am

    @Elizabelle:

    But he looked so nice when he was debating Tim Kaine!

  79. 79.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 22, 2016 at 8:11 am

    @debbie: There actually used to be Republicans who truly did care about how the laws and policies they enacted affected their constituents for better and worse. That was a long time ago.

  80. 80.

    EZSmirkzz

    December 22, 2016 at 8:11 am

    @Immanentize: I was expecting something more pithy.

  81. 81.

    zhena gogolia

    December 22, 2016 at 8:12 am

    @maurinsky:

    We need some people with deep pockets to step up. As far as I can tell, the likely suspects are all too busy sucking up to Trump.

  82. 82.

    EZSmirkzz

    December 22, 2016 at 8:15 am

    @Baud: One of the major drawbacks, IMO, of Trump and to some extent America in general, is a lack of strategic thinking. Perhaps Stonekettle is a better starting point for you.

  83. 83.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 8:19 am

    @EZSmirkzz: I don’t want any WestWorld spoilers. I may watch it someday.

  84. 84.

    EZSmirkzz

    December 22, 2016 at 8:21 am

    @Baud: Well you should read the post then.

  85. 85.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 8:22 am

    @rikyrah:

    Keep up, kid. It’s now been more than 60 times. ;)

  86. 86.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 8:23 am

    @maurinsky:

    I had an idea that got a little traction on Twitter yesterday when Linda Tirado retweeted it, which is to start a progressive version of ALEC

    SiX Could Be the Answer to ALEC, HuffPo, November 2014

  87. 87.

    Gator90

    December 22, 2016 at 8:25 am

    I always just vote for the Dem, so except for primaries I never need to learn anything about individual candidates or their positions. It keeps life simple and it frees up my time for more productive activities, like reading blog comments.

  88. 88.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 8:25 am

    @Kay:

    They don’t have to do the work but if they refuse to they need a different, better plan than “I’m angry and randomly lashing out with this vote”

    At least half of the Trump vote was based on pure hatred for Hillary Clinton, but they feel like they should have some reason other than that, so they come up with nonsense to conceal their actual thought processes.

  89. 89.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 8:30 am

    @EZSmirkzz: The first three lines were about Westworld. I don’t want to know anything about the show.

  90. 90.

    low-tech cyclist

    December 22, 2016 at 8:31 am

    I think I can safely assert that very few of us will be sad to see 2016 in the rear view mirror…

    It would be more true if we didn’t have 2017 coming at us like a runaway 18-wheeler.

    As Mellencamp said, “Hold on to ’16 as long as you can.” The changes comin’ round real soon are gonna make us wish we were back here still.

  91. 91.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 8:34 am

    @Baud: I skimmed the Stonekettle item. You can skip right past the Westworld stuff and dive into McMartin preschool and Pizzagate. It’s a good blogpost. Haven’t read it all. Looks like 4000+ words, especially if you read the included twitters from twits.

    His point seems to be manufactured news — a few social media accounts were pushing Pizzagate. Why? And what do we do in a world susceptible to this kind of disinformation?

    Didn’t do more than skim, but it looks worth more time.

  92. 92.

    gvg

    December 22, 2016 at 8:34 am

    WaPo has a story up about how Trump spokesman has admitted Trump is making picks based on appearances and how they look compared to how he thinks someone in that job should look. He thinks Mattis looks sort of like Patton for instance. His method is more like picking for a show about government than actual governing. He also picks a lot of people who have been on cable news shows recently because that’s what he watches……..I am horrified again. This is so stupid.

  93. 93.

    daveNYC

    December 22, 2016 at 8:36 am

    @Kay: Hell, just type ‘pence’ and ‘abortion’ into Google and take a look at the first page of links, pretty damn easy to figure out what his position is.

    I mean there’s bubbles and all, but being confused as to where Republicans stand on abortion is pretty damn impressive.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    December 22, 2016 at 8:36 am

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I hold them completely responsible for voting for a nasty, petty, mean-spirited asshole. You didn’t have to know one other thing than that. Does that reflect on them? Sure it does. They’re bad judges of character. The idea that doesn’t matter in hiring someone is nonsense. You hire people. The whole person. Best not to hire bad people, especially since there are a lot of better people.

  95. 95.

    EZSmirkzz

    December 22, 2016 at 8:36 am

    @Baud: The show is only an analogy. Read the post. Jim takes a little getting used to.

  96. 96.

    Tenar Arha (same Tenar, more Nameless Ones)

    December 22, 2016 at 8:36 am

    It’s a week of doctor visits. I had my annual physical scheduled for Monday already, & have a follow up to the aftermath of spraining my ankle orthopedic visit for today. Of course just to make things interesting, last night I woke myself up coughing with the cold I picked up post-NYC visit which is definitely making this AM interesting

    Many thanks to NotMax for recommending Something Rotten! I can recommend if you’re ever in NYC for it, & you have the long johns & wool socks & coat for it, their Tuba Christmas at Rockefeller Center rink is huge. Sounded like they said “424 tuba players” this year.

  97. 97.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 8:38 am

    @gvg: It’s like living in a novel, only you can’t put it down and stop reading.

    Brilliant of the WaPost to run that story. It’s the kind of pushback that easily relatable to others, and will get people pointing and laughing over the holidays.

    Assuming politics discussion is even on the menu. In many families: NO.

  98. 98.

    NotMax

    December 22, 2016 at 8:39 am

    DVR alert for TCM junkies –

    Friday, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern and wrapping up at 6:45 a.m. Saturday, six Thin Man movies back-to-back.

    On Saturday, two lesser known Christmas-themed feel good romantic comedies:

    12:30 p.m. – It Happened on Fifth Avenue – Victor Moore struts his ‘infused with a slightly befuddled sagacity’ persona.
    2:30 p.m. – Holiday Affair – a kinder, gentler Robert Mitchum

  99. 99.

    Baud

    December 22, 2016 at 8:39 am

    @Elizabelle: Thanks. There were other Westworld references sprinkled throughout, but it was a good post. Not much of anything I wasn’t aware of, however.

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 8:40 am

    @NotMax: Oooh! Myrna Loy month.

    Would love to watch the Thin Man movies. No TCM right now, alas.

  101. 101.

    JPL

    December 22, 2016 at 8:43 am

    @low-tech cyclist: That’s sad but true. The only thing that could change that is if Trump’s polls along with the Republican party tanked to the twenties. Let’s say twenty-seven percent. Paul Ryan might then back off his plans to give us coupon books to use for retirement, health or education.

  102. 102.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 8:44 am

    @gvg:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-is-holding-a-government-casting-call-hes-seeking-the-look/2016/12/21/703ae8a4-c795-11e6-bf4b-2c064d32a4bf_story.html

    Several of Trump’s associates said they thought that John R. Bolton’s brush-like mustache was one of the factors that handicapped the bombastic former United Nations ambassador in the sweepstakes for secretary of state.

    “Donald was not going to like that mustache,” said one associate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly. “I can’t think of anyone that’s really close to Donald that has a beard that he likes.”

  103. 103.

    SenyorDave

    December 22, 2016 at 8:46 am

    @Kay: “I’m astounded,” said one Trump supporter in Phoenix, upon hearing about Pence’s anti-abortion record. “I guess I’ve been living in a bubble. He sounds like a tyrant.”

    The stupid, it burns!

  104. 104.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 8:50 am

    @gvg:

    Yep, the world is now officially a reality show.

  105. 105.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 8:54 am

    @Elizabelle:

    His point seems to be manufactured news — a few social media accounts were pushing Pizzagate. Why? And what do we do in a world susceptible to this kind of disinformation?

    I think this, combined with people’s need for 15 minutes’ fame or to be an “Internet sensation,” is what’s made this country so whacky.

    Sorry to say, but the blame is on the Internet and the crappy communication it’s fostered. We have no time for facts!

  106. 106.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 8:54 am

    @SenyorDave:

    He sounds like a tyrant.

    Whereas someone who proposes mass deportations, border walls, wrecking Obamacare, stripping women and minorities of their rights and, of course, attacking Muslims at every turn sounds… what? statesmanlike?

  107. 107.

    SenyorDave

    December 22, 2016 at 8:56 am

    Anthony Bourdain is a mensch (Yiddish word meaning “a person of integrity and honor”)

    Anthony Bourdain has vowed to stay clear from any restaurants owned by President-elect Donald Trump.

    “I will never eat in his restaurant,” the CNN Parts Unknown host said in an interview with Eater, referring to chef Alessandro Borgognone’s Sushi Nakazawa restaurant at the Trump DC hotel. “I have utter contempt for him, utter and complete contempt,” he added about Borgognone, whom he said had no principles for working with Trump.

    “I’m not asking you to start putting up barricades now, but when they come and ask you, ‘Are you with us?’ You do have an option. You can say ‘No thanks, guys.'”

    “And Trump — the man eats his steak well done! I don’t think he’s a good person.”
    Bourdain also called out why he feels Trump is not a “good person” and the president-elect’s history of discrimination. “And Trump — the man eats his steak well done! I don’t think he’s a good person,” Bourdain said. “I remember the Central Park Five, and what he said. I’ve seen how he’s treated employees. I saw what he did to Atlantic City. I saw what he did to the west side of this town. It’s f*ckin’ ugly. He’s going to make the whole world look like the back of Rick James’ van.”

  108. 108.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 8:57 am

    @debbie: The internet whackjobs are just planting in the field that Fox News plowed.

    Fox News and Rush prepped an alternate reality for all these whackjobs to escape into. They mainstreamed it. They are making representative democracy impossible, because there is so much purposeful disinformation and fake news out there.

    I am getting very interested in the history of the Fairness Doctrine. Maybe someone will write about that.

    The legislators in the 1950s and 1960s were not that far removed from dealing with the aftereffects of the Third Reich. It was very recent history to them.

    Maybe we should learn from them.

  109. 109.

    satby

    December 22, 2016 at 8:57 am

    @Baud: @Elizabelle: It’s a great post, I follow Jim Wright on FB and read it when it came out, then shared it on FB again.

  110. 110.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 8:57 am

    @gvg:

    He thinks Mattis looks sort of like Patton for instance.

    The entirety of the appeal of Mattis is that his nickname is “Mad Dog,” which sounds cool to a permanent ten-year-old like Donald Trump. If Mattis’s nickname were “Happy” or “Spud” Trump would have no use for him.

  111. 111.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 22, 2016 at 8:58 am

    @EZSmirkzz: Jim is always worth reading.

  112. 112.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 8:59 am

    Speaking of vicious lunatics:

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/12/21/alabama_governor_interviews_roy_moore_for_sessions_senate_seat.html

    In the near future, the Senate will almost certainly confirm Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions—a white supremacist who opposes federal civil rights law and believes the NAACP is “un-American”’—to be attorney general. Sessions’ move to the Justice Department will allow Alabama Republican Gov. Robert Bentley to appoint his replacement. One candidate on Bentley’s shortlist? Disgraced Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who is currently suspended from the bench for gross judicial misconduct.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    December 22, 2016 at 9:05 am

    @Morzer

    Bingo.

    @
    Tenar Arha (same Tenar, more Nameless Ones)

    Glad to hear you enjoyed the show.

  114. 114.

    EZSmirkzz

    December 22, 2016 at 9:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Agreed. Just have to get used to him. He’s like a good pitcher, a couple of slow curves just off the corner and then a fastball or slider.

  115. 115.

    Adrift

    December 22, 2016 at 9:15 am

    @debbie: I don’t know who the singer is, but the campaign was conceived and created by McCann Erickson (a company I hope to be working for in January if all goes well, it’s been 7 months since I last worked and I am about to hit the wall financially).

  116. 116.

    zhena gogolia

    December 22, 2016 at 9:16 am

    @NotMax:

    Don’t forget Remember the Night 9:45 PM! Sterling Holloway singing “A Perfect Day”!

  117. 117.

    Weaselone

    December 22, 2016 at 9:16 am

    @Kay:

    I don’t get why his supporters would be “disappointed in the democratic system”. It’s what they voted for. If you vote for a President, Senate and House who campaign on X, have X as part of their platforms, and have repeatedly voted for X, it’s not a failure of the democratic system when they actually succeed in doing X. It is in fact the exact opposite. It’s a validation of the democratic process.

  118. 118.

    maurinsky

    December 22, 2016 at 9:17 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    I don’t know, I think it could be a diffuse organization on a state by state level with activists volunteering, at least to start with. Perhaps I will start with my own state (which is pretty reliably blue) and maybe make a model that others can use.

  119. 119.

    MomSense

    December 22, 2016 at 9:20 am

    @Elizabelle:

    The problem isn’t just that the news is manufactured. The problem is really that the manufactured news is repeated endlessly. You can turn on the radio anywhere in the country and listen to a 24/7 stream of this crap. You can tune in to podcasts and youtube channels and just completely immerse yourself and have these false narratives reinforced. The same is true for what passes for “real news”. I find it frustrating that all the cable and network television news services basically hire a bunch of personalities who aren’t even really generalists. They are readers and broadcasters. They lack the educational background and expertise to even critique the information they are reporting. They report on who wins the message, they report on what people are saying, etc. with ease and they then turn real issues into that same kind of story.

    Before the election I kept hearing all of them saying that Obamacare premiums are increasing 25% as though it was across the board and as though the subsidies wouldn’t offset the increases for most people. Then after they “report” on this they go on to talk about how it’s just too expensive, too this, and how will this impact the election. Zero context, no information, nothing of substance to help people understand the issue. This is the “real news”.

    In my own experience, when I have 20 minutes to spend responding to someone who repeats one of these tropes, I can successfully talk them through it to the point where they “get it”. The problem is that I often find that if I see them two weeks later they have been soaking in the bullshit again and it’s like we never had the conversation because they are back to spouting the old crap again.

    Who controls the message wins. We’ve been losing the message contest for decades now. It’s not because we don’t have people who are good at messaging. The White House was actually really good at messaging this whole time. It’s just hard to get through the corporate media blockade of crappy news and fake news.

    I think some of us are better as bullshit detectors than others. Some of it I think is a function of upbringing and actually being taught and encouraged to think critically and ask questions. Some of it is I think having the experience of being a person who has experienced oppression which in this country means discrimination based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

    I also think there is a real problem with education which I have been ranting about forever (my kids would be rolling their eyes now if they were reading this) which is that we still follow the old “stand and deliver” model of trusted person with authority imparting information to students. It’s a way of teaching that was necessary when access to information was limited. What students need now are strategies for discerning what information is credible. They have access to more information than is possible to absorb. How to evaluate that information is the critical skill.

  120. 120.

    Aleta

    December 22, 2016 at 9:22 am

    @gvg:

    He thinks Mattis looks sort of like Patton for instance. His method is more like picking for a show about government than actual governing. He also picks a lot of people who have been on cable news shows recently because that’s what he watches

    So he does have a plan.

  121. 121.

    tobie

    December 22, 2016 at 9:22 am

    What the hell is going on with Jill Abramson. Her latest screed in The Guardian is appalling. She actually spends time complaining that Clinton didn’t invite or allow the press into her event to thank big donors last week. Maybe when Trump starts holding regular press conferences, she can do that. Or when Bernie releases his tax returns. The latter is actually the equivalent…given that we’re talking about a campaign that’s not history. Other than that the opinion piece contains the usual pablum about the Dem party being aligned with Wall Street rather than Main Street. Really…it’s getting just awful to see the press exonerate itself for not having done any actual reporting this election cycle.

  122. 122.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 9:23 am

    @Kay:

    I hold them completely responsible for voting for a nasty, petty, mean-spirited asshole. You didn’t have to know one other thing than that. Does that reflect on them? Sure it does. They’re bad judges of character.

    I don’t know about anyone else, but I absolutely LOVE that you won’t get off this point.

    Not just because it’s true, but it’s so indicative of who these folks are, and this should be in their face always.

  123. 123.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 22, 2016 at 9:24 am

    @debbie:

    Yep, the world is now officially a reality show.

    I read Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death years ago. Am thinking it would be relevant to dig it out and re-read it as we move into President! The Complete First Season.

  124. 124.

    Aleta

    December 22, 2016 at 9:26 am

    @Morzer: Grim.

  125. 125.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 9:28 am

    @MomSense: A friend told me recently that she had seen a poll to the effect that white people in America don’t trust that education leads to anything beneficial, while people of color think it’s crucial. I’m getting a feeling lately that what we’re living through isn’t a (white) backlash against “elites” but a (white) backlash against the educated. (White) people who hated school hate the people who were good at school, feel judged by them, feel looked down on, and all the rest, and it seems like a lot of them don’t grow out of it. And Hillary Clinton is the quintessence of Good At School.

  126. 126.

    Aleta

    December 22, 2016 at 9:29 am

    @NotMax: It’s important to watch Thin Man movies back to back for maximum beneficial effect.

  127. 127.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 9:31 am

    @MomSense: Great post.

    And yes, people end up brainwashed, or those who aren’t are swimming upstream in a current of garbage. They do need to know how to pick out the credible stuff from the “content” filler.

    All ears for how we solve this problem. Too many people getting rich and getting away with shit with the model in place (infotainment — look! It’s Kanye!).

    Also, authoritarians are more likely to swallow this swill. So it’s not a model to follow for “the left.”

    Mostly, the constant repetition works the magic. And the right uses emotionally laden, simple, simple, simple concepts. Which can also be false.

    They slide the message in, even if you’re not receptive. You cannot escape except by severely limiting your exposure.

    Which has been lovely. Enjoying my cable/broadcast news blackout immensely. Not even PBS. It’s been heavenly.

    I no longer care about any valedictories they do about Obama. They are no longer a credible source to me. Did watch the Oprah interview with FLOTUS on CBS the other night. But other than that, I don’t trust broadcast media one goddamned bit. And I have no interest in MSNBC. None.

  128. 128.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 22, 2016 at 9:31 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Un-Presidented! The Complete First Season.

    FTFY. You’ll get my bill in the mail.

  129. 129.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 9:32 am

    Oh, and this:

    @MomSense:

    I think some of us are better as bullshit detectors than others.

    The kicker here is that some of the people most susceptible to bullshit _think_ they have great bullshit detectors. My friend from high school who believes Pizza Gate is real thinks he’s getting the unfiltered truth by end-running the biased media. So he thinks he’s not getting played, which leads to his getting played repeatedly and rather blithely.

  130. 130.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 9:34 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Amusing Ourselves to Death. Yeah. We should totally do a book discussion on that one. Maybe in three parts.

  131. 131.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 9:35 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Would love to watch the Thin Man movies.

    I love the Thin Man movies.

    I always thought if I had a dog, the name would be Asta.

  132. 132.

    Thoroughly Pizzled

    December 22, 2016 at 9:36 am

    @FlipYrWhig: Yeah, I forget who made the point, but the “anti-elite” sentiment is never directed toward the 1%, it’s directed toward professors, teachers, sometimes doctors. All people notable for their education more than their wealth.

  133. 133.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 9:36 am

    @rikyrah: Actually, that’s awesome.

    Kay said: They’re bad judges of character.

    Grind it in.

    For the reachable ones, if they were wrong about this, what else were they wrong about ? …..

  134. 134.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 9:37 am

    @rikyrah: Surprising we don’t see more Astas running about.

  135. 135.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 22, 2016 at 9:40 am

    @Thoroughly Pizzled: I posted this yesterday too, but the other day Martin put up a post showing that the top 15 states in terms of percentage of residents holding a BA/BS degree all voted for Clinton. The bottom 15 states (with the exception of Nevada) voted for the other candidate. Lowest-percentage state, to nobody’s surprise, WV.

    It’s the revenge of the stupid.

  136. 136.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 22, 2016 at 9:40 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Great idea! (Why in three parts, specifically?)

  137. 137.

    Iowa Old Lady

    December 22, 2016 at 9:41 am

    The problem with using R as a symbol of set of positions is that the Republican party has become radically more right wing over the last ten years. This is not your father’s Republican party.

  138. 138.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 22, 2016 at 9:41 am

    @gvg: Why am I not shocked that this is how a shallow, unqualified person like Trump would make crucial appointments? This whole thing is just a reality show writ large to him but a horror show in the making for the rest of us.

  139. 139.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 9:44 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Still have to re-read the book, but was thinking of stretching out the discussion, rather than one fell swoop that you catch or you miss. Give more folks a chance to participate.

    I think there are a lot of books that we should read and discuss together this coming year.

  140. 140.

    Weaselone

    December 22, 2016 at 9:46 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    It’s still not too late for Trump to change his mind on his picks. Maybe we should have liberal Hollywood stars apply for cabinet and other positions that they once played or auditioned for. They couldn’t be much worse at the jobs than the actual people Trump is selecting. Heck, the research they did preparing for the roles probably makes them more prepared for the job than Trump’s actual candidates.

  141. 141.

    Aleta

    December 22, 2016 at 9:47 am

    The Trump campaign’s announcement Thursday suggested that the GOP nominee’s November victory “shattered the glass ceiling for women” because Conway is the first female campaign manager of either major party to win a presidential general election.

    They also announced that Tr was the actual prince who found the glass slipper.

  142. 142.

    El Caganer

    December 22, 2016 at 9:47 am

    @Duane: Men who bare children usually go to prison for it.

  143. 143.

    Yarrow

    December 22, 2016 at 9:47 am

    @Kay:

    “I’m astounded,” said one Trump supporter in Phoenix, upon hearing about Pence’s anti-abortion record. “I guess I’ve been living in a bubble. He sounds like a tyrant.”

    This gave me the biggest laugh I’ve had in weeks. These people are so stupid. I know I should be shocked and appalled and thinking about how to reach them. But honestly, they are SO STUPID, it’s comical. We’re all going to die from either lack of health insurance, uninspected food, drugs that haven’t been tested, bridges and buildings that collapse or nuclear war. Might as well laugh at something.

    As some other people have pointed out, maybe if they get what they voted for good and hard, they’ll finally wake up. Let the Republicans do what they will. Democrats can present a united from of “NO” and when it all falls apart the Republicans can take the credit.

  144. 144.

    MomSense

    December 22, 2016 at 9:48 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Hell I am calling myself one of the “unpresidented”. It’s actually the best word. It’s a tremendous word. As of 12:01 p.m. on January 20, 2017 I am unpresidented.

    @FlipYrWhig: @Elizabelle:

    I honestly don’t know what to do about it. I’ve started to think that we should all try and form 10 person organizing groups – of people we really trust and get together in person. Deal with local situations. Try and support vulnerable people in our communities. Some of us may be good communicators and can tell the stories of the kids who need school lunch or the person who has experienced harassment because of her religion–whatever it may be. I think we need to get really involved in real life. Some of us may be good at writing about issues and others in the group may feel comfortable submitting some of those things as letters to the editor. Finding good independent media to support would be good, too. I really don’t know but we can’t just forfeit this contest.

  145. 145.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 9:48 am

    @Morzer:

    Several of Trump’s associates said they thought that John R. Bolton’s brush-like mustache was one of the factors that handicapped the bombastic former United Nations ambassador in the sweepstakes for secretary of state.

    “Donald was not going to like that mustache,” said one associate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly. “I can’t think of anyone that’s really close to Donald that has a beard that he likes.”

    DA EVER LOVING PHUQ???!?!?

  146. 146.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 9:50 am

    @tobie:

    She actually spends time complaining that Clinton didn’t invite or allow the press into her event to thank big donors last week.

    DA HAIL?

  147. 147.

    Yarrow

    December 22, 2016 at 9:51 am

    @Weaselone: Liberal Hollywood stars are having nothing to do with Trump. Won’t play his inauguration. Apparently he’s really upset about it and has shaken up his inauguration team to bring in some big time talent booker. She’s been given the green light to do whatever it takes to get them to perform.

    Poor widdle Trumppie. Still isn’t one of the cool kids.

  148. 148.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 22, 2016 at 9:52 am

    @Yarrow:

    Democrats can present a united from of “NO”

    Hey, thanks for the laugh. This must be some alternate-universe “Democrats” of whom I am unaware.

  149. 149.

    Betty Cracker

    December 22, 2016 at 9:53 am

    @rikyrah: Yep, I have also enjoyed Kay’s thoughts on the character issue and have worked it into real life conversations with Trump voters whom I cannot avoid, along with my primary message, which is that they fell for an obvious conman. Not a one of them has disputed the claim that Trump is a petty, vainglorious, lying asshole, BTW. Not a single one.

  150. 150.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 9:56 am

    @rikyrah: Yes. But if it kept John Bolton away from us, I can live with it. He’s insane. Possibly even too insane for Trump. I hope so.

  151. 151.

    hovercraft

    December 22, 2016 at 9:56 am

    Glad to hear your spousal unit is recovering AL.

    Just saw this at Political Animal. Grab your Kleenex. Watch.
    There are so many good people out there, we are not alone.

  152. 152.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 9:58 am

    @FlipYrWhig:

    A friend told me recently that she had seen a poll to the effect that white people in America don’t trust that education leads to anything beneficial, while people of color think it’s crucial

    I dunno about White people, but every non-White that I’ve known all my life – education was seen as the key.

    From my great-grandfather, a slave, who swore that his daughters would be educated because as family lore goes, he swore

    ‘ the only children my daughters will take care of are THEIR OWN. ‘

    This mindset was set in stone for my grandmother, who already had her masters degree by the time she married in 1905, and made sure that all four of her daughters held masters degrees before Brown vs. Board.

    We know we can’t even get in the door without an education. We have no such delusions. We don’t have a legacy of ‘ all you gotta be is WHITE to be able to get a job. ‘ Notice, I didn’t say EDUCATED and WHITE. Just White.

    And, THAT is what they long for – those good old days.

  153. 153.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 9:58 am

    @Aleta: Irony. It needs its shroud.

  154. 154.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 22, 2016 at 9:58 am

    @Weaselone: Agreed. Liberal actors couldn’t do any worse. Boy, are we in for a world of hurt.

    @Yarrow: Why doesn’t Trump reach out to Country musicians and conservative actors for his inauguration? They exist.

  155. 155.

    Yarrow

    December 22, 2016 at 10:00 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Yeah, it’s wishful thinking. But they could do it if they wanted.

  156. 156.

    NeenerNeener

    December 22, 2016 at 10:01 am

    @Elizabelle: It’s the chorus to Nivana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”…

    …feel stupid and contagious
    Here we are now, entertain us

  157. 157.

    Yarrow

    December 22, 2016 at 10:01 am

    @Patricia Kayden: Apparently he has. I was looking at Josh at TPM’s Twitter feed. There’s a discussion on it there. Everyone has turned him down. We’ll see what this new woman he’s hired makes happen.

  158. 158.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 22, 2016 at 10:05 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Got it, and agree.

    I, too, would like to see the BJ book club resuscitated. Neil Postman is long dead, alas, but I’ll bet with sufficient prep we could get, say, Rick Perlstein to come by for an hour of “ask the author” if we wanted to tackle (any or all of) his books on the history of modern American conservatism.

  159. 159.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 10:08 am

    @rikyrah: Glad to hear it rings true.

    The other day I was wondering why there was this pervasive American fantasy of being your own boss. I would HATE being my own boss. It has never been appealing to me — it seems like all risk and very little likelihood of reward. But I’m a “good at school” person. I have white-collar skills like writing and summarizing information. I suspect that the fantasy is more common among bad-at-school people who have other kinds of skills. And I likewise suspect that Trump was a killer app for those people, and that Hillary Clinton was the apotheosis of all they hate, like, probably, people who use the word “apotheosis.”

  160. 160.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 22, 2016 at 10:09 am

    @Elizabelle: As a mustache-American I have mixed feelings about this.

  161. 161.

    MomSense

    December 22, 2016 at 10:09 am

    @rikyrah:

    We know we can’t even get in the door without an education. We have no such delusions. We don’t have a legacy of ‘ all you gotta be is WHITE to be able to get a job. ‘ Notice, I didn’t say EDUCATED and WHITE. Just White.

    And, THAT is what they long for – those good old days.

    QFT

  162. 162.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 10:10 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Why doesn’t Trump reach out to Country musicians and conservative actors for his inauguration? They exist.

    The actors probably fear being blackballed.

  163. 163.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 22, 2016 at 10:13 am

    @hovercraft:

    Just saw this at Political Animal. Grab your Kleenex. Watch.
    There are so many good people out there, we are not alone.

    Dammit. Why you want to make me cry?

  164. 164.

    hovercraft

    December 22, 2016 at 10:14 am

    @Yarrow:

    Liberal Hollywood stars are having nothing to do with Trump. Won’t play his inauguration. Apparently he’s really upset about it and has shaken up his inauguration team to bring in some big time talent booker. She’s been given the green light to do whatever it takes to get them to perform.

    Poor widdle Trumppie. Still isn’t one of the cool kids.

    There was a report last week that they were willing to offer any amount of money, and even ambassadorships, in exchange for their appearances. SAD !

  165. 165.

    Yarrow

    December 22, 2016 at 10:15 am

    @Yarrow: Here’s the article:

    Donald Trump is so displeased with his team’s inability to lock in A-list talent for his inauguration events next month that he’s ordered a “Hail Mary” shakeup of his recruiters to try to book performers, a person familiar with the situation told TheWrap.

    Mark Burnett, who produces “Celebrity Apprentice” with Trump and has been overseeing entertainment for inauguration festivities, has brought in talent recruiter Suzanne Bender, a former “Dancing With the Stars” and “American Idol” booker, to end an effective freeze-out by Hollywood, the insider said.

    Bender also worked on Burnett’s “StarMaker,” a short-lived singing competition hosted by P. Diddy that aired on MTV in 2009.

    “Trump is very unhappy,” the insider said. “Bender has been tasked with salvaging this… It’s a Hail Mary.”

    “It’s coming directly from the principal,” he said, referring to the president-elect. He also scoffed at a recent TMZ report claiming that Trump is “hardly engaged in the party planning at all.”

    Also, too:

    “If anyone does do it, I hope that the check that they get is in the nine figures. Because it’s probably the last check they’re ever going to get,” Dixie Chicks manager Simon Renshaw told TheWrap on Friday.

    Heh.

  166. 166.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 10:16 am

    @rikyrah:

    I suspect Bolton grew that ridiculous mustache to ward off theocrats like Pence – and all it’s achieved is to repel the craziest man in America away from his perfect mad nuclear bomber.

    Maybe there is something to the idea that Fate has a sense of humor.

  167. 167.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 10:18 am

    @hovercraft:

    What about offering Trump’s immediate resignation and seppuku in favor of the person who actually won the election?

  168. 168.

    hovercraft

    December 22, 2016 at 10:19 am

    @rikyrah:

    “Donald was not going to like that mustache,” said one associate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly. “I can’t think of anyone that’s really close to Donald that has a beard that he likes.”

    Remember the Shitgibbon is a germaphobe, he probably imagines all kinds of food and germs hiding in facial hair that could jump onto his gorgeous personage and contaminate him.

  169. 169.

    Weaselone

    December 22, 2016 at 10:22 am

    @hovercraft:

    There was a report last week that they were willing to offer any amount of money, and even ambassadorships, in exchange for their appearances. SAD !

    Small change. Cabinet positions and seats on the Supreme Court or no dice.

  170. 170.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 10:23 am

    @Yarrow: For that matter, history shows that a lot of people who get checks from Trump don’t get to cash them.

  171. 171.

    hovercraft

    December 22, 2016 at 10:26 am

    @Yarrow:

    Donald Trump is so displeased with his team’s inability to lock in A-list talent for his inauguration events next month that he’s ordered a “Hail Mary” shakeup of his recruiters to try to book performers, a person familiar with the situation told TheWrap.

    “It’s coming directly from the principal,” he said, referring to the president-elect. He also scoffed at a recent TMZ report claiming that Trump is “hardly engaged in the party planning at all

    But I thought they didn’t care about Hollywood elites who have no connection to Real America, and they didn’t need celebrities to glam up their events, because they have the biggest celebrity in the world evah!! Why can’t he just parade Scott Biao, Mike Tyson, Jon Voight, Sly, and call them A-listers?

  172. 172.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 10:28 am

    @hovercraft:

    What about Clint Eastwood? That would deal with at least one of the empty chairs at the inauguration.

  173. 173.

    Weaselone

    December 22, 2016 at 10:30 am

    Seriously. Raise your hand if you think Supreme Court Justice Katy Perry sounds several orders of magnitude better than Supreme Court Justice Peter Thiel or whatever other piece of garbage Trump exposes while draining the swamp into the White House.

  174. 174.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 10:30 am

    @hovercraft: Along similar lines I’ve also been thinking that a huge part of why Trump keeps putting billionaires in the Cabinet is that he wants to prove that he’s part of the billionaires’ club.

  175. 175.

    Yarrow

    December 22, 2016 at 10:32 am

    @Weaselone: I’ll raise my hand, but she’d never make it past the Senate confirmation process. She would have sold her career for nothing.

  176. 176.

    Morzer

    December 22, 2016 at 10:33 am

    @Weaselone:

    The “upside” of Peter Thiel on Scotus is that it’s going to enrage Clarence Thomas into defending his crown as the biggest nutcase on the block by any means possible. It could be memorable.

  177. 177.

    Yarrow

    December 22, 2016 at 10:33 am

    @FlipYrWhig: More, I think he wants to show he’s better than the billionaires. He’s their boss. He can tell them what to do. He can’t make them respect him but at least the billionaires in his cabinet he can boss around. He can even fire them.

  178. 178.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 10:34 am

    @Yarrow: Perfect.

  179. 179.

    rikyrah

    December 22, 2016 at 10:38 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Why doesn’t Trump reach out to Country musicians and conservative actors for his inauguration? They exist.

    Shocked at the lack of Country acts.

  180. 180.

    Betty Cracker

    December 22, 2016 at 10:38 am

    @FlipYrWhig: My dad fits that mold — high school drop out who started his own business and has never worked for anyone but himself. Also a Trump voter. One thing I will say is that running your own business can be conducive to developing hostility toward the government — if you don’t stop and think about why you have to comply with regulations (to protect the environment, accommodate the disabled, keep your customers from getting killed in avoidable accidents, etc.) and pony up the portion of your SS contribution that an employer would otherwise pay, etc. And a lot of people don’t stop to think about stuff like that.

  181. 181.

    hovercraft

    December 22, 2016 at 10:40 am

    @Morzer:
    RMoney had him first so he’s tainted. Don’t worry, Kid Rock will sing at the inauguration, it will be the quintessential performance of the national anthem, we will never forget it. Rock On America!

    @FlipYrWhig:
    Well there were several billionaires who mocked him during the campaign and implied that he wasn’t a real billionaire. So by appointing some he gets to show that he is so too one of them. And Bloomberg is short so there!

  182. 182.

    Yarrow

    December 22, 2016 at 10:42 am

    @rikyrah: Even the country acts seem to know he’ll ruin their career. It’s too risky.

    Apparently John Legend said he was disappointed in Kanye for meeting with Trump. Public shaming.

  183. 183.

    hovercraft

    December 22, 2016 at 10:43 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Dammit. Why you want to make me cry?

    I know, but it was so beautiful, in this moment of great uncertainty, all of those mean, ugly New Yorkers stopping to give a total stranger a hug. I loved it. I did warn you to grab the tissues.

  184. 184.

    ruemara

    December 22, 2016 at 10:44 am

    @Elizabelle: Honey, he’s not too insane for Trump. He was just too ugly. If he was a better looking walrus, he’d have gotten the job.

  185. 185.

    Librarian

    December 22, 2016 at 10:46 am

    @hovercraft: They can’t even get Meatloaf?

  186. 186.

    hovercraft

    December 22, 2016 at 10:48 am

    @rikyrah:

    Why doesn’t Trump reach out to Country musicians and conservative actors for his inauguration? They exist.

    Shocked at the lack of Country acts.

    He is part of the coastal elite that has no use for country music, so to him they don’t rate the same as Hollywood. Someone needs to just show him the numbers, once he understands that Country is huge in Real America, he will ‘settle’ for an all star Country lineup as a tribute to Real America, and a rejection of the liberal coastal elites. See, he rejected them, they did not reject him. Your welcome.

  187. 187.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 10:49 am

    @ruemara: Probably so.

    And congratulations on making it to the quarterfinals with your script. WTG, Ms. Ruemara.

  188. 188.

    Elizabelle

    December 22, 2016 at 10:51 am

    @Betty Cracker: My brother in law too. Carps about regulations.

    Need to remind him, they’re to protect us against the OTHER contractors in your field. That would probably stop him in his tracks.

    Always an amazing sentiment, coming from people who work on ladders, with electrical equipment and chemicals.

    It’s nice to know the products you are using are safe, isn’t it, geniuses?

  189. 189.

    hovercraft

    December 22, 2016 at 10:52 am

    @Yarrow:

    Apparently John Legend said he was disappointed in Kanye for meeting with Trump. Public shaming.

    John and his wife Chrissy Teigen are friends of the Obama’s, so not surprising that he would be the one to do the public shaming. Plus Kanye is probably lashing out at Obama for calling him a jackass in public.

  190. 190.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 10:59 am

    @Betty Cracker: Regulation is overkill — just use common sense! Feh. (This is why the best home improvement show there’s ever been is Mike Holmes’s various series. He’s fixated on making things up to or beyond code.)

  191. 191.

    Mnemosyne

    December 22, 2016 at 11:13 am

    @FlipYrWhig:

    The kicker here is that some of the people most susceptible to bullshit _think_ they have great bullshit detectors. My friend from high school who believes Pizza Gate is real thinks he’s getting the unfiltered truth by end-running the biased media. So he thinks he’s not getting played, which leads to his getting played repeatedly and rather blithely.

    The best con artists will tell you that they make the most money from marks who are convinced they’re part of the con. If you think you’re smarter than the con artists, you will lose every dime.

  192. 192.

    Betty Cracker

    December 22, 2016 at 11:19 am

    @Elizabelle @FlipYrWhig: Sometimes I think this backlash against the regulatory regime that mostly keeps factories from exploding, ladders from collapsing, restaurants from serving us extra protein in the form of roaches, etc., is the result of our being so far removed, as a society, from the world Upton Sinclair described 100 years ago. Ditto programs like Social Security.

    For generations, we grew up mostly safe and without elderly paupers starving in the streets, etc., and we (or some of us, at least) take it for granted. I hope it doesn’t take a full-blown regression to the Gilded Age to cure the stupid, but the signs are not good.

  193. 193.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 22, 2016 at 11:24 am

    @hovercraft:

    I did warn you to grab the tissues.

    I managed to soak several of them. Seriously, that’s a beautiful thing that happened.

  194. 194.

    zhena gogolia

    December 22, 2016 at 11:58 am

    @Morzer:

    I like that idea!

  195. 195.

    maurinsky

    December 22, 2016 at 12:10 pm

    @rikyrah:

    I bet Trump doesn’t like that hick music.

  196. 196.

    hedgehog the occasional commenter

    December 22, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    Io Saturnalia! mr. h and I are flying to Des Moines later tonight. This likely will be the last Christmas in his childhood home; his mom is 91 and frail, but refuses to move out of the house-so likely we are going to have The Conversation about assisted living. Also not looking forward to seeing the Wilmer-worshiping SIL. So I guess “bittersweet” is the best description. On the upside, one of the BILs usually brings a bottle of good whiskey, so there’s that.

  197. 197.

    maurinsky

    December 22, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I work in the public sector, and I think some rules are completely onerous and unnecessary. In our state, some are just plainly impossible, currently, but everyone has to go through the motions of making a good faith effort to abide by them.

    We had a percentage of pollutants identified as being the maximum allowable, and a company was testing the materials that were coming out of their catch basins and they kept failing, because it contained too much of some chemical. As it turns out, the too much of that chemical was coming down from the rainwater – they collected rain in a jar and tested it, and it failed the test. Sometimes, government regulations are reactive and overburdensome. I’m not in favor of eliminating them, and I’m absolutely in favor of having goals that are not currently achievable but could be worked towards, but the requirements must be based in what is possible.

    To add to this: this might just apply to my state, but they tend to give regulations to agencies willy nilly, with no resources to actually pay attention to all the regulatory paperwork businesses have to submit. One state agency proudly bragged at a meeting that their turnaround time to review was now down to 60 days. I think that’s unreasonable. Another agency said it might be 6 months before they can review paperwork,and in the meantime, they withhold 2% a month of what the contractor is supposed to get paid. I think that’s shameful.

  198. 198.

    Aleta

    December 22, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    A relative, was a volunteer fireman, lost his sight because he and their little department painted the fire truck indoors without ventilation. (The damage was due the effect of the fumes alone.) Some warnings were on the can, and their insurance co. fought him, but he did eventually win some help for medical, and of course permanent assistance from the government.

    Does he still rail against the government; Democrats; Obama in particular? Bitterly. Pretty sure he’s a T voter, hates the EPA.

    I think his mindset was formed well before his vision loss. Always self-employed. Probably always hated regs and the EPA and energy conservation. By the 70’s he’d bought land, became a small herd dairy farmer. Then went out of business just before Reagan, because of new state regs that prevented creameries from picking up milk from fewer than 25 (? or so) cows.)

    They say our brains fit new information into our existing beliefs instead of change beliefs. He and my right wing sisters seem to display that, imo.

  199. 199.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 12:35 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Not a one of them has disputed the claim that Trump is a petty, vainglorious, lying asshole, BTW. Not a single one.

    This is what is going to give me an aneurysm. They know he’s an asshole, yet they think he should be president of what I’m sure they consider to be the greatest country in the world? Is the Office of the President that meaningless to them? This makes no sense.

  200. 200.

    debbie

    December 22, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    @Adrift:

    Do a pal a favor and ask them who the signer is when they hire you!

    Seriously, good luck and don’t despair. I was out of work for a year and a half before I found something. Don’t like it, but it’s paying the bills.

  201. 201.

    Boswell K Smythe

    December 22, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    Strength Through Fear!

    at least until the world comes to its’ senses about a nuclear Donald Trump.

    (I think that’s what he said. YMMV)

  202. 202.

    Ben Cisco

    December 22, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    And I likewise suspect that Trump was a killer app for those people, and that Hillary Clinton was the apotheosis of all they hate, like, probably, people who use the word “apotheosis.”

    I LOVE this sentence.

  203. 203.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 22, 2016 at 1:11 pm

    @Ben Cisco: wo00h00 wordsmithification!

  204. 204.

    Brachiator

    December 22, 2016 at 1:12 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Not a one of them has disputed the claim that Trump is a petty, vainglorious, lying asshole, BTW. Not a single one.

    Their convinced that Trump will be their asshole, that he will be their tough champion who gets them all the best deals.

    Trump supporters are pretty consistent about this, and their twisted logic is understandable. They are not electing a saint, or even a good man. They expect him to be a tough, effective leader. Even if he is someone who fights dirty.

    I think they are totally wrong, but I understand Trump’s appeal.

  205. 205.

    J R in WV

    December 22, 2016 at 4:06 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Actually there are lots of well educated West Virginians.

    The problem is that most of them have left the state to get a job using that good education! After I graduated from Marshall U with a BS degree in Computer Science, the vast majority of my classmates headed off to Ohio, DC, RTP down in NC, or the west coast. Or Texas. It took me a year to get an entry level job, which led to a long and mostly enjoyable and creative career. In West Virginia.

    But one guy out of 30 or 40 in the class? Self-explanatory. They all move away, only to return briefly IF they have family they care to see over the holidays.

  206. 206.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    December 22, 2016 at 5:49 pm

    @debbie:

    That song is Macy Gray’s “Beauty in the World.”

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