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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Monday Morning Open Thread: “… Your Generation Will Build A Wall, and Our Generation Will Knock It Down”

Monday Morning Open Thread: “… Your Generation Will Build A Wall, and Our Generation Will Knock It Down”

by Anne Laurie|  January 9, 20174:58 am| 99 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Meetups and social events, Open Threads, Women's Rights Are Human Rights, Daydream Believers

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We're proud of these young marchers! #WomensMarch #WhyIMarch #January21 pic.twitter.com/ulbIcbKRUU

— Women's March (@womensmarch) January 7, 2017

Via heartfelt commentor MomSense. Kudos to those young women!

Social note from commentor Yutsano:

So this huge weather storm that has affected much of the country is also impacting my ability to travel. Looks like I’m gonna have to postpone my plans to meet up on Wednesday. By all means let it still happen, I’ll just have to arrange something a bit later when Mother Nature is more cooperative.

***********
Apart from such bumps in the road, what’s on the agenda as we start another week?

***********
More wisdom from Professor Krugman, on “The Age of Fake Policy“:

On Thursday, at a rough estimate, 75,000 Americans were laid off or fired by their employers. Some of those workers will find good new jobs, but many will end up earning less, and some will remain unemployed for months or years.

If that sounds terrible to you, and you’re asking what economic catastrophe just happened, the answer is, none. In fact, I’m just assuming that Thursday was a normal day in the job market…

But why am I telling you this? To highlight the difference between real economic policy and the fake policy that has lately been taking up far too much attention in the news media.

Real policy, in a nation as big and rich as America, involves large sums of money and affects broad swaths of the economy. Repealing the Affordable Care Act, which would snatch away hundreds of billions in insurance subsidies to low- and middle-income families and cause around 30 million people to lose coverage, would certainly qualify.

Consider, by contrast, the story that dominated several news cycles a few weeks ago: Donald Trump’s intervention to stop Carrier from moving jobs to Mexico. Some reports say that 800 U.S. jobs were saved; others suggest that the company will simply replace workers with machines. But even accepting the most positive spin, for every worker whose job was saved in that deal, around a hundred others lost their jobs the same day.

In other words, it may have sounded as if Mr. Trump was doing something substantive by intervening with Carrier, but he wasn’t. This was fake policy — a show intended to impress the rubes, not to achieve real results…

So why are such stories occupying so much of the media’s attention?…

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Reader Interactions

99Comments

  1. 1.

    Cacti

    January 9, 2017 at 5:05 am

    This was fake policy — a show intended to impress the rubes, not to achieve real results…

    It’s going to be a long 4-years.

  2. 2.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 9, 2017 at 5:07 am

    Today would have been Richard Nixon’s 104th birthday, in happier news it’s my cocker spaniel Nikki’s 10th birthday.

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    January 9, 2017 at 5:13 am

    Good Morning, Everyone???

  4. 4.

    weaselone

    January 9, 2017 at 5:59 am

    MSM = Rubes. Any questions?

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 6:01 am

    So why are such stories occupying so much of the media’s attention?…

    Today, in other news, President Elect Trump was told he can not close his foundation as it is under investiga…. OH! LOOK! SHINEY THING!!!!

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    January 9, 2017 at 6:08 am

    Time to dust off and polish up the Latin.

    Dum spiro spero. (ref.)

  7. 7.

    Phylllis

    January 9, 2017 at 6:28 am

    @NotMax: The South Carolina state motto.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    January 9, 2017 at 6:36 am

    So why are such stories occupying so much of the media’s attention?…

    We need to ask that after EMAILS?

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 6:43 am

    @NotMax: Et fornicatæ sunt.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    January 9, 2017 at 6:45 am

    @Phyllis

    Trivia: 6 states utilize mottoes in a language other than English or Latin.

    Hawaii (Hawaiian)
    Minnesota (French)
    Montana (Spanish)
    Maryland (Italian)
    California (Greek)
    Washington (Chinook)

  11. 11.

    Baud

    January 9, 2017 at 6:46 am

    BTW, Krugman’s piece highlights the difference between the right and the left in how they promote their leaders.

    Obama was handed the worst economy in our lifetimes, and every move he made was nitpicked to death by Krugman and others.

    Trump is handed a decent economy, and his supporters give him credit for every new investment and job created even before he is sworn in.

    Marketing is why the GOP overperforms its governing capacity.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    January 9, 2017 at 6:48 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 6:51 am

    NEW YORK • Dan Zhong’s two-story home in Livingston, N.J., is unremarkable by suburban standards, but the businessman’s lawyers have told a judge he is willing to pay $144,000 per month to turn the place into a private jail where he can comfortably await trial on charges he exploited immigrant Chinese laborers.

    His proposal is the latest example of wealthy people facing potentially long prison terms who have asked to finance their own, extravagant house arrests, highlighting inequities between them and defendants of lesser means who languish behind bars and spawning a cottage industry of former federal agents and police officers working as private guards.

    Expect a lot more of this in the coming years.

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    January 9, 2017 at 6:53 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    In Ægypto, even.

    /Snagglepuss

  15. 15.

    Baud

    January 9, 2017 at 6:54 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m surprised it wasn’t cheaper for him to post bail.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    January 9, 2017 at 6:57 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Coming soon to a cable network near you, Lifestyles of the Rich & Infamous.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 7:05 am

    @Baud: Currently, he has been denied bail:

    In a past ruling denying Zhang bail, Magistrate Judge Ramon Reyes suggested that in dealing with the super-rich, even bails in the tens of millions that could be forfeited to the government don’t dampen the incentive to flee.

    “The relatives in China have a lot of money at their disposal,” he said. “A $10 million bond? They’d probably laugh it off, right?”

    His uncle (for whom Zohng’s company was working when the scam was discovered) is a billionaire and offering to put up the $144K per month. As another judge said in a different case: “Spare me. I wasn’t born yesterday,”

  18. 18.

    PaulW(Boy From The Harb)

    January 9, 2017 at 7:11 am

    I’m waking up to a twitter field littered with references to Meryl Streep nuking the shit out of Trump.

    Meryl Streep is not why Trump won.

    Trump won because there’s still enough racist sexist hypocritical white folk out there to dominate elections, and the Far Right media is selling that shit at $29.95 a bag.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    January 9, 2017 at 7:13 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Soon, they’ll be offering to pay for the whole trial, and to hire the prosecutor and judge.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 7:16 am

    @Baud: That’s how it’s done in China, isn’t it?

  21. 21.

    Baud

    January 9, 2017 at 7:17 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Don’t know. I know they like to execute people even more than we do.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    January 9, 2017 at 7:18 am

    Trump hasn’t slept well:

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 33m33 minutes ago
    “groveling” when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 40m40 minutes ago
    Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never “mocked” a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him…….

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 48m48 minutes ago
    Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..

    Umm, he never “said” what is on video? Pu$$y!

  23. 23.

    MomSense

    January 9, 2017 at 7:20 am

    Well the Office of Government Ethics can’t reach Trump by phone but the reporter calling to ask him about Streep can.

    If you guessed liberal Hollywood is lying for his answer you are correct. And the NYT reported his answer as their headline in a tweet. WTF NYT should be a rotating tag line.

  24. 24.

    Central Planning

    January 9, 2017 at 7:21 am

    @Baud:

    Marketing is why the GOP overperforms its governing capacity.

    I think you need to substitute electoral for governing. There is no governing capacity.

  25. 25.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 9, 2017 at 7:22 am

    @PaulW(Boy From The Harb): And Trump responded:

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump · 52m52 minutes ago

    Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump · 45m45 minutes ago

    Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never “mocked” a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him…….

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump · 38m38 minutes ago

    “groveling” when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!

    In 140 characters, Trump leaves more to comment on than anyone I know, but I particularly like the part about Streep being overrated.

    ETA: Or what Debbie said.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    January 9, 2017 at 7:23 am

    @MomSense: The NYT is garbage.

  27. 27.

    JPL

    January 9, 2017 at 7:25 am

    @debbie: Overrated is his phrase of choice. He also gave a statement to the NYTIMES link
    The statement includes this gem

    “We are going to have an unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout for the inauguration, and there will be plenty of movie and entertainment stars,” Mr. Trump said. “All the dress shops are sold out in Washington. It’s hard to find a great dress for this inauguration.”

    He didn’t state how he knew the dress shops are sold out.

  28. 28.

    cmorenc

    January 9, 2017 at 7:26 am

    If Trump wasn’t mocking a disabled reporter in the infamous video, has anyone asked him who or what else he did purport to be mocking with those gestures? It would be especially delicious for Serge Kovaleski (the disabled reporter in question) to himself ask Trump this question – but since Trump is too chickenshit to ever call on Serge for any question, it’s up to some other member of the press corps to ask that.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 7:28 am

    I would rather eat my own organs

    -Lauren Duca in response to an invite from Martin Shkreli to go to the Trump inauguration with him.

    Shkreli has been, for lack of better terms, “cyber stalking” her for a while now, He responded by calling her a “cold you know what”, and changed his profile picture on Twitter to a doctored image appearing to show him sitting with Duca on a couch. He also made his cover photo a collage of images of Duca with the caption, “For better or worse, ‘til death do us part, I love you with every single beat of my heart”, and changed his bio to refer to his “small crush on @laurenduca (hope she doesn’t find out)“. Shkreli accused Duca of “[disrespecting] the sovereignty of [his] love” for her.

    Perfect for the new Trump era.

  30. 30.

    MomSense

    January 9, 2017 at 7:30 am

    @Baud:

    Yup. I really do wonder what the Russians found in their emails.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    January 9, 2017 at 7:31 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I would rather eat my own organs

    That answer makes me want to stalk Lauren. Beautiful.

  32. 32.

    debbie

    January 9, 2017 at 7:31 am

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I’m ashamed I wasn’t industrious enough to put them in the right order.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    January 9, 2017 at 7:32 am

    @JPL:

    Or why he would need one.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 7:34 am

    @JPL:

    He didn’t state how he knew the dress shops are sold out.

    He’s going to show up naked: “I didn’t have a thing to wear!”

  35. 35.

    Baud

    January 9, 2017 at 7:36 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: And no one will say he has no clothes.

  36. 36.

    JPL

    January 9, 2017 at 7:37 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: He probably thought the naked Trump statues were a compliment. Keith Obermann’s correct, Trump is one sick dude.

  37. 37.

    debbie

    January 9, 2017 at 7:37 am

    @debbie:

    And don’t forget how important it’s been to him over the years to be thought of as a star.

  38. 38.

    satby

    January 9, 2017 at 7:39 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: at least Twitter removed his account. What a creep!

  39. 39.

    TS

    January 9, 2017 at 7:57 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Note that the News item you quoted just had to include this little gem

    His uncle is a Chinese billionaire, Wang Wenliang, who has drawn scrutiny over his large donations to American political campaigns and nonprofits like the Clinton Foundation.

    Per the US media every thing wrong in America just HAS to lead back to the Clintons.

  40. 40.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    January 9, 2017 at 7:57 am

    @Baud: Just to think, a year ago we thought we’d be saying that about you.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 7:59 am

    @satby: Well, ‘suspended’ anyway. Don’t know how all that works but he does have an opportunity to at least plead his case and possibly get his account returned. Sigh…. This new cyber world puzzles me.

  42. 42.

    TS

    January 9, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @JPL: It is soooo hard to believe that this is the President Elect of the United States and that the media treats such statements as sane and normal.

  43. 43.

    satby

    January 9, 2017 at 8:02 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s the same as the old world: nice people, mean people, stupid people, smart people, kind people and bullies all mixed together.

  44. 44.

    Immanentize

    January 9, 2017 at 8:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I recently thought that twitter would be a much better platform if they would ban all politicians and government agencies. It would reduce the propoganda value/effect immediately

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 8:11 am

    @TS: He also gave rather significant sums to Gov Terry McCauliffe, also a Dem. They do not mention any GOPers, tho I would be very surprised if Chris Christie wasn’t a recipient of such largess as well. Buying influence is the American way, after all.

    Our campaign finance** system is set up for corruption, or at least the appearance of it. The media’s apparent need for pointing out DEM malfeasance (or at least the appearance of it) while ignoring GOP flat out corruption is a problem well noted around here.

    **Wang, being a Chinese national, is barred from making direct campaign donations, indirect donations on the other hand….

  46. 46.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 8:28 am

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    The best part is we’ll be scolded by political media on how no one cares what celebrities say, but I know one person who cares a lot what celebrities say- Donald Trump. This shit cuts him to his core. He yearns to be accepted and loved by famous and/or rich people.

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 8:31 am

    @satby:

    It’s the same as the old world: nice people, mean people, stupid people, smart people, kind people and bullies all mixed together.

    Not quite the same. There is a layer of anonymity that makes a lot of this kind of shit hard/impossible to fight. That fact appears to make it more acceptable to do it openly. In the world I grew up in, there would be repercussions.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 8:33 am

    @Immanentize: I have always thought that twitter would be a much better platform if they would ban it altogether.

  49. 49.

    JPL

    January 9, 2017 at 8:33 am

    Kellyanne Conway on @NewDay: “Do you always want to go by what’s come out of [Trump’s] mouth rather than look at what’s in his heart?”

    https://twitter.com/DavidWright_CNN

    I’m concerned about what’s in his heart, myself.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 8:33 am

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Trump name-drops more popular politicians at his own rallies. He says the Obama’s like him- as if this proximity and their ordinary civility make him a nicer person by osmosis :)

  51. 51.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 8:38 am

    @JPL:

    Fuck them with this. This idea that we all have to discern what is in the special snowflake’s “heart” is more coddling. He means what he says. Period. Everyone else is judged by the words they say. No exceptions for the privileged and coddled Trump.

    One of the few powers the public has is to listen to these people and assume they say what they mean. She’s taking that away and asking us to divine “intent”. I refuse. It’s not my job to parse his communications and put the best spin on them. It’s HER job.

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 8:38 am

    @JPL: I’ve seen what’s in his heart: Absolute corruption of the soul.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 8:41 am

    @Kay:

    It’s HER job

    That’s funny, all this time I thought he was responsible for the things he said. At least, that’s the way I was raised.

  54. 54.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 8:42 am

    @JPL:

    Hillary Clinton was held to every word she said and every word of those hacked emails they all gleefully published.

    Why isn’t Donald Trump held to what he says? This bullshit about what he REALLY thinks has to end. I don’t know what he thinks. That’s why people talk- so we know what they think.

    The VERY LEAST they could do to hold this fraud accountable is make him responsible for what he says, like any other adult would be held responsible.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 8:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    She’s paid really well to assign secret good intent to what Donald Trump says. No one pays the rest of us to do that.

    They do this all the time- “I know him and he’s secretly not an asshole” 400 million people DON’T know him- all we have to go on is what he says and does. That’s the point of “communication” – it’s supposed to express the person’s ideas. If it doesn’t that’s her problem and his problem, not mine. He never fucking shuts up. All that bellowing and we still can’t judge his character? We’re supposed to guess what he thinks?

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 8:52 am

    @Kay:

    She’s paid really well to assign secret good intent to what Donald Trump says.

    You don’t perchance know how much, do you? I’d like to know the going rate for a soul.

  57. 57.

    zhena gogolia

    January 9, 2017 at 8:55 am

    Streep was great. I think everyone who has a microphone from here on out should use it to excoriate Trump, no matter what the ostensible topic.

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    January 9, 2017 at 8:59 am

    @Kay:

    Hillary Clinton was held to every word she said and every word of those hacked emails they all gleefully published.

    Why isn’t Donald Trump held to what he says? This bullshit about what he REALLY thinks has to end. I don’t know what he thinks. That’s why people talk- so we know what they think.

    tell that truth

  59. 59.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 9:07 am

    @rikyrah:

    Remember the “deplorables” comment? The month-long outrage? Trump supporters are still pissed about it.

    Why are there two sets of rules? Douchebag can say what he wants and we’re all supposed to assume he didn’t really mean it but every utterance of Clinton came directly from her evil, witchy heart?

    The NYTimes political team spend half the day on Twitter assuring the public Trump doesn’t mean what he says.

    WTF? What are we supposed to be relying on here? Their interpretation of Trump’s inner thoughts? Why would I accept that as “the truth”? Thanks but no thanks, fellas. I’ll hold Trump to what he says, like he’s an ordinary adult.

  60. 60.

    rikyrah

    January 9, 2017 at 9:07 am

    The Media’s Handling of Leaked Material From Russia Was Shameful
    It’s time for the media to do some soul searching.

    by Steven Waldman
    January 9, 2017 8:52 AM

    One of the conclusions of last Friday’s report by the Director of National Intelligence on Russian interference in U.S. elections was that Moscow used the website DC Leaks, which came into existence last year, to disseminate stolen documents and emails. Many news organizations used that stolen material as the basis for news stories, often without explaining what DC Leaks was.

    You might be thinking: it’s not fair to ding media sites for not knowing the shady nature of DC Leaks. How could they be expected to know such spook-craft before last week’s revelations?

    Well, they could have started by reading the “About us” page of DCLeaks.com, which reads as if written by Boris Badenov:

    “DCleaks is a new level project aimed to analyze and publish a large amount of emails from top-ranking officials and their influence agents all over the world.”

    Or there’s this:

    “The authorities are just lobbying interests of Wall Street fat cats, industrial barons and multinational corporations’ representatives who swallow up all resources and subjugate all markets.”

    Yes, Natasha, vaht could better be than new level project with large amount of information about industrial fat cat barons that subjugate markets.

    Beyond the fractured-fairy-tale syntax, there was plenty of warning about DC Leaks. On August 11, Bloomberg reported, “Security experts now say that site, DCLeaks.com, with its spiffy capitol-dome logo, shows the marks of the same Russian intelligence outfit that targeted the Democratic political organizations.” On August 12, the security firm, Threat Connect, issued a detailed paper headlined, “ThreatConnect Identifies DCLeaks As Another Russian-backed Influence Outlet.” The report included specific technical proof implicating DC Leaks, and also noted that DC Leaks’ first big document dump involved stolen emails from retired Air Force General Philip Breedlove, the former commander of NATO forces: “In this role as the most senior U.S. military official responsible for Russia, General Breedlove advocated for a more muscular response to Russian aggression in Ukraine.”

  61. 61.

    PaulW

    January 9, 2017 at 9:08 am

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    In 140 characters, Trump leaves more to comment on than anyone I know, but I particularly like the part about Streep being overrated.

    Well, she IS overrated. When’s the last time she appeared in a Marvel Universe movie?

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    January 9, 2017 at 9:09 am

    Not This Nonsense Again
    by D.R. Tucker
    January 8, 2017 7:00 AM

    ……………………..

    This has led to the usual allegations from those who apparently favor Ellison that Perez is little more than a hack who is not a true warrior for progressive change. This is, as you might imagine, a complete smear of Perez:

    [F]or an establishment candidate, Perez would still be a pretty bold choice for a party that just selected the cautious, centrist Clinton/Kaine ticket: As his DNC campaign website highlights, he’s a former Department of Justice civil rights lawyer whose work as Labor Secretary has impressed progressive Democratic activists. His platform and website—much like Ellison’s—is one that’s aimed squarely at the grass roots and working class, highlighting issues like voting rights and small-donor fundraising while emphasizing his history of work on issues like collective bargaining rights and police accountability. Both Ellison and Perez seem to be aiming to win over lefty Bernie Sanders voters while at the same time drawing in the nonwhite members of the Democratic coalition that Sanders has sometimes been tone-deaf in discussing.

    The knocks against Perez, the son of Dominican immigrants who was raised in Buffalo and lives in Maryland, are that he’s never himself run for an office higher than Maryland county council and that, for all the good his civil rights and labor work has done, it’s kept him in Washington, D.C. rather than out in the field. Meanwhile, Ellison has already locked in endorsements from high-profile labor leaders, outgoing Senate majority leader Harry Reid, and centrist New Yorker senator Chuck Schumer; he’s not exactly a long-shot insurgent at this point.

    Ellison, Perez, Buckley, Harrison and Brown are all competent, high-quality candidates for the DNC gig; this will certainly not be the clusterscrew that was the race for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee after John McCain’s loss (the chairmanship race that Michael Steele infamously won). So we can we please knock it off with the suggestion that certain candidates are too “establishment” for their own good? Shouldn’t the most important criteria for this job be who can score the most victories over Republicans in 2018 and 2020, not who’s the least “establishment”?

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    January 9, 2017 at 9:15 am

    The Task Before Us
    by D.R. Tucker January 8, 2017 3:00 PM
    POLITICAL ANIMAL BLOG

    Was he appreciated in his time?

    When Barack Obama leaves the Oval Office in twelve days, he would be well within his rights to depart from the White House as a bitter man–bitter over the level of unjustified hatred he received from the right, bitter over the mainstream media’s refusal to comprehensively cover his successes for fear that right-wingers would complain, bitter that his achievements weren’t always appreciated by some progressives. Yet, in all likelihood, he will not leave bitter.

    He’ll be relieved that his work is over, and concerned that the new president will try to destroy almost all of it. He will leave cautiously optimistic that this country will survive.

    It will be up to the rest of us to defend Obama’s legacy, and make permanent his achievements in the face of withering opposition. The unifying goal of the American progressive movement should be to complete Obama’s unfinished work: to ensure that every single resident of this country has full access to high-quality, affordable health care, that every child receives a high-quality education, that every woman makes one dollar for every dollar a man earns, that every human being on this earth enjoys a stable, pollution-free atmosphere. These goals can be achieved if progressives are unified. Donald Trump and the Republicans can’t defeat the left if the left doesn’t defeat itself.

    Think about all the hatred the right wing directed at Obama from the moment he stepped off the podium at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. They’ve attacked him as incompetent and ignorant, someone who’s not even a citizen of the United States, an effete elitist, an uppity you-know-what. They say success is the best revenge…so if progressives managed to secure Obama’s achievements, would that not be the most successful way to stick it to those who have abused Obama and his family all these years?

    Right-wingers have been trying to make permanent Ronald Reagan’s agenda ever since the 40th President left office 28 years ago. Why shouldn’t progressives try to do the same with Obama’s agenda?

  64. 64.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 9, 2017 at 9:19 am

    @debbie: Meryl Streep is far from overrated. Trump is overrated.

  65. 65.

    rikyrah

    January 9, 2017 at 9:20 am

    You Know the Drill
    by D.R. Tucker
    January 8, 2017 11:00 AM

    What will he say during the deposition? “My bad”?

    For all my skepticism about the effort by young climate activists in Oregon to have the federal courts effectively shut down the fossil-fuel industry, I have to admit this is a clever idea:

    Lawyers for teenagers claiming the US government failed to protect the environment from global warming plan to question under oath President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state on his knowledge of climate change.

    Exxon Mobil Corp. chief executive Rex Tillerson’s testimony, set for the day before the Jan. 20 inauguration, is being sought by lawyers representing 21 children and teenagers seeking to prove that oil and gas industry groups “have known about the dangers of climate change since the 1960s and have successfully worked to prevent the government” from taking action.

    The groups, whose members include Exxon, joined the lawsuit [Juliana, et. al. v. United States] on the side of the government to oppose the teens.

    The youths from across the country claim that by perpetuating the use of fossil fuels, the government has trampled their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. They won a shot at pursuing their claims in November when an Oregon federal judge rejected the government’s request to throw out their lawsuit.

    Tillerson, who was a director and recent chairman-elect of the American Petroleum Institute, would be asked about his company and industry contributing to global environmental damage, lawyers for the teenagers said Thursday in a statement.

  66. 66.

    hedgehog mobile

    January 9, 2017 at 9:22 am

    @JPL: You assume he has a heart.

  67. 67.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 9, 2017 at 9:23 am

    @JPL: Why the hell wouldn’t we hold a grown adult accountable for what comes out of his mouth or what he tweets? Is Conway for real? How the hell would we know what’s in Trump’s heart? This would be laughable if he weren’t the PE.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 9:24 am

    I’m going to take Conway and political media at their word. If we’re being instructed to not believe a word Trump says and instead believe something else, I take that to mean we can’t believe a word the President says.

    Okey doke. Got it. I won’t be helping him out by providing some other message. I don’t get paid for that.

  69. 69.

    MomSense

    January 9, 2017 at 9:32 am

    @rikyrah:

    The reason I like Perez for DNC is that he is the only candidate who is talking about expanding the role of the DNC to include voter protection. It seems to me that this is the issue given the largely ignored story of the voter suppression and theft in the 2016 election.

    I’m also pissed that the “anti establishment” wing seems to be overly concerned with the feelings of racists and is not saying anything about the people who had their fundamental right to vote stolen from them. If the anti-establishment wing is not interested in the people who were disenfranchised then fuck them. Seriously. My spidey sense detects a bunch of brogressives who have been all too eager to seize the electoral college loss as a means to push their anti-inclusive agenda. I’ll also happily remind these idiots that they were the initial targets of the Russian dezinformatsiya campaign and they performed even better than Putin hoped they would.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 9:34 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    The Great Communicator is actually really bad at communicating if everyone is guessing at his “heart”. That’s what communication is- the person expresses their thoughts and ideas. If he’s so great at it one would think he could communicate what he means.

    This is the allowance we give 4 year olds- people who are figuring out how to talk. We don’t give it to 70 year old heads of state.

  71. 71.

    gene108

    January 9, 2017 at 9:36 am

    I take Conway literally at her word. We need to know what is in Trump’s heart. Therefore we must perform open heart surgery on Trump, cut out his heart, and open it up to see what is in it and put back in.

  72. 72.

    O. Felix Culpa

    January 9, 2017 at 9:36 am

    @JPL:

    A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

    Luke 6:45. I’m sure Ms. Conway, being a “good” Christian, knows this.

  73. 73.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 9, 2017 at 9:41 am

    @rikyrah: I’ve never particularly cared who gets the DNC chair as long as they’re competent and full-time. It’s not really an ideological position, after all. And, of course, none of the people in the running have said anything that is to me disqualifying.

    But I’m very, very susceptible to hating a candidate due to the rhetoric of their most vocal supporters. Note I said vocal, not necessarily powerful.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 9:42 am

    @MomSense:

    I would like to see a separate org devoted to voter protection. Really focused. The effort is a mess. It’s the ACLU and advocates for homeless and the NAACP and occasionally a labor union (if the effort coincides with one of their ballot measures).

    The DNC will focus on voter protection as it relates to races they’re involved in. I would like to see an org that has a pro-active, not reactive, plan.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 9:45 am

    @gene108:

    Just remember! If Hillary Clinton said half of Trump supporters are deplorables, that’s what’s in her evil, shriveled (female) heart.

    If Trump says he can grab any pussy he wants that’s NOT what he meant. Instead he meant he wanted to pass a childcare law! Duh! Stop being so sensitive!

  76. 76.

    O. Felix Culpa

    January 9, 2017 at 9:46 am

    For an action item today, here’s background on the GOP’s attempt to have Cabinet nominees bypass the standard ethical vetting procedures and a script for calling your Senators to ask that all Trump’s picks be vetted by the Office of Government Ethics.

    Oh, and also oppose Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    January 9, 2017 at 9:49 am

    The Children of Barack: Thoughts and Reflections on Becoming Political in the Age of Obama

    Trevor LaFauci January 8, 2017
    This is the piece I’ve been afraid to write.

    To be expected to put into words how much someone means to you is never easy. Whether at a wedding, a retirement party, a momentous birthday or even a funeral, words often fail to do justice with the gravity and importance of the occasion. There are certain events in life that go beyond words and when presented with these situations the best one can hope for is to at least try to convey the intended meaning as best as possible. In the end, people often receive high praise for their words of tribute but for the perfectionists among us, there remains a persistent nagging that we could have done something more. Unrealistic as it may be, it is a feeling that one can’t help but internalize. When speaking so positively of someone else, one is inevitably made to compare this person to themselves and this comparison often leads to a feeling of inadequacy. It may seem unfair, but it is human nature to place yourself in that other person’s shoes and reflect on their life as if it were your own. It is this reflective part of the writing process that can bring out a person’s humbleness and humility, especially when the subject of one’s writing is a person of tremendous character.

    And that is why for me, it is so hard to write about President Barack Obama.

    ……………………………………………………………

    And yet, over these last two months, I’ve never been prouder to call Barack Obama my president. Despite the possibility of his legacy being undermined by the incoming administration, President Obama has handled himself with the same dignity and grace as the very first day he came into office. His words still ring on high on hope at a time when many people are feeling hopeless. His reverence for the constitution has been on full display and, like always, he has continued to be the adult in the room. Along with his wife, Michelle, President Obama has left large shoes to fill that clearly won’t be filled by the incoming administration but that may not be filled for a generation or more. His work in the White House may be nearing an end, but his work on behalf of social justice issues will continue for years to come. He will recruit and train a new generation to follow in his footsteps.

    And I, for one, will be there. Fired up and ready to go. Because we, as a nation, have come too far to turn back now. There has been too much progress made to stop now and there is work left to do. President Obama is fond of reciting Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous phrase that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Right now, we are facing an upshot of the arc that seems to be bending away. But it will bend back. Maybe not today. Maybe not these next four years. But it will right itself. If there is one thing, just one thing, that President Barack Obama has meant to me it has been his unwavering hope in the American people. He has believed in me through thick and thin and I have come to feel the same way about him. Wherever life takes President Barack Obama, I will be there fighting with him. For a man who has meant so much to me, I owe it to him to help in any way possible.

    It’s the least I can do.

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 9:49 am

    @gene108: I’m sure we will find nothing there. Why bother putting it back if it serves no purpose?

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    January 9, 2017 at 9:49 am

    @Kay:

    I would like to see a separate org devoted to voter protection. Really focused. The effort is a mess. It’s the ACLU and advocates for homeless and the NAACP and occasionally a labor union (if the effort coincides with one of their ballot measures).

    The DNC will focus on voter protection as it relates to races they’re involved in. I would like to see an org that has a pro-active, not reactive, plan

    Yep.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 9:50 am

    Not that it matters since Trump is held to no standards at all, but assuming people will take the time to guess what’s in “your heart” rather than what you say is REALLY fucking privileged. It’s a King talking to serfs. No one should accept this. It is Trump’s JOB to communicate what he means.

  81. 81.

    rikyrah

    January 9, 2017 at 9:54 am

    @MomSense:

    I’m also pissed that the “anti establishment” wing seems to be overly concerned with the feelings of racists and is not saying anything about the people who had their fundamental right to vote stolen from them. If the anti-establishment wing is not interested in the people who were disenfranchised then fuck them. Seriously. My spidey sense detects a bunch of brogressives who have been all too eager to seize the electoral college loss as a means to push their anti-inclusive agenda

    .

    me too. Momsense.

    this is how I feel

  82. 82.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 9:54 am

    @rikyrah:

    The threat of gutting federal voter protections was not just Congress and the President. It’s local government- school boards, city councils, water districts, county commissioners. Those are that races that can turn on a 100 disenfranchised AA voters. That’s AA political power- real, immediate. It’s also the AA political “farm team”- it’s where political leaders come from.

  83. 83.

    MomSense

    January 9, 2017 at 9:55 am

    @Kay:

    Yes I would too. I don’t think it would hurt to have the DNC put voting rights front and center as well.

  84. 84.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 9, 2017 at 9:57 am

    @Kay:

    Not that it matters since Trump is held to no standards at all, but assuming people will take the time to guess what’s in “your heart” rather than what you say is REALLY fucking privileged. It’s a King talking to serfs. No one should accept this. It is Trump’s JOB to communicate what he means.

    It’s absurd. Even his own top aides are stuck auguring his fucking tweets. We would never accept this from somebody who wasn’t a rich white Republican man.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 9:58 am

    @rikyrah:

    Sherrod Brown says county commissioners in Ohio have more raw political power per commissioner- the ability to directly affect people- than any other position in state or federal government. 100% true.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    January 9, 2017 at 10:06 am

    Well,I have to go because this county’s “economy” is doing quite well and everyone is busy, although all of political media tells me Obama was horrible for the “rust belt” so who to believe? My lying eyes or opinion writers who don’t live here?

  87. 87.

    BellyCat

    January 9, 2017 at 10:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Disgusting pig (Shkreli) should be more than banned from Twitter.

    Thanks for reporting this Guardian — however, what part of this is “alleged” harassment?!?!

  88. 88.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 9, 2017 at 10:14 am

    @Kay: Stay frosty, those economically anxious critters are armed.

  89. 89.

    Chris

    January 9, 2017 at 10:27 am

    @Kay:

    The best part is we’ll be scolded by political media on how no one cares what celebrities say, but I know one person who cares a lot what celebrities say- Donald Trump. This shit cuts him to his core. He yearns to be accepted and loved by famous and/or rich people.

    Well, him and everyone who voted for him. I guarantee that if you’d asked 90% of his voters exactly what “liberal elites” they were voting to screw, “Hollywood” would’ve been one of the first three that came out of their mouths.

    (Next, of course, come the “see people like Streep are the reason Trump won!”)

  90. 90.

    Citizen_X

    January 9, 2017 at 10:33 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I would rather eat my own organs

    The presence of either Shkreli or Trump would induce this response in me. Both of them together? Ugh.

  91. 91.

    ruemara

    January 9, 2017 at 10:35 am

    @Chris: Meghan McCain had that covered less than 10 minutes after Streep’s speech.

  92. 92.

    Yarrow

    January 9, 2017 at 10:35 am

    @Baud:

    The NYT is garbage.

    Your comment is my new favorite tradition!

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 9, 2017 at 10:40 am

    SAN DIEGO — The Chargers will remain in San Diego for at least the next 30 years thanks to a new stadium deal that was struck early this morning by the team and local officials. The City and County of San Diego will front the massive costs of a proposed $1.5 billion venue solely by a significant tax hike on residents, but the Chargers have promised to pay local citizens back by making Mexico pay for the stadium eventually.

    “The key to any good deal is trust,” Chargers owner Alex Spanos said at a press conference. “So just trust us on this Mexico aspect of the deal. As long as you all pay to build the new stadium, I’ll be sure to have Mexico pay us back down the road. That’s a promise. They’ll pay so much back it will make your head spin.”

  94. 94.

    Chris

    January 9, 2017 at 10:41 am

    @Kay:

    This idea that we all have to discern what is in the special snowflake’s “heart” is more coddling.

    It’s also been a recurring theme for the last fifty years every time a white person is accused of racism. “Oh, what a terrible, horrible, mean, nasty thing to say. How can you possibly see… what’s in his heart.” “[repeat what the person just said].” “Well, yes, but, but… his heart!”

  95. 95.

    Mnemosyne

    January 9, 2017 at 10:58 am

    @MomSense:

    I’m also pissed that the “anti establishment” wing seems to be overly concerned with the feelings of racists and is not saying anything about the people who had their fundamental right to vote stolen from them. If the anti-establishment wing is not interested in the people who were disenfranchised then fuck them.

    Co-signed. If you don’t care that thousands of your fellow citizens were denied their right to vote, I don’t care what side you claim to be on, you’re not on my side.

  96. 96.

    Kathleen

    January 9, 2017 at 11:02 am

    @Kay: Then Hamilton County is in good shape. We now have 2 Dems and 1Rethug. The 2 Dems are really good. One is fomer State Rep. The other has been commissioner. for several years and was city council person before that. David Pepper briefly served on County Commission prior to one of his state runs. Rethugs have had stranglehold on County positions for past 50 years.

  97. 97.

    Kathleen

    January 9, 2017 at 11:05 am

    @Mnemosyne: Amen to both of you.

  98. 98.

    chopper

    January 9, 2017 at 11:14 am

    @Kay:

    Clinton was taken to task over not only what she said, but what her friends said. trump, OTOH, isn’t to be judged for anything he says or does.

  99. 99.

    chopper

    January 9, 2017 at 11:19 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    I think this is a great idea. nothing gets under trump’s skin like the idea that he isn’t well-liked, especially by rich and famous people. he really ate up all that bullshit his dad told him about how he’s all “genetically superior”.

    he’ll spend literally half his presidency bitching on twitter about how popular he really is.

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