Archive for November, 2016
The Daily Delawhere – November 12, 2016
The statuary in All Saints Cemetery in suburban Wilmington is distinctive and modern. At least one statue, that of the Holy Family, was sculpted by noted Italian sculptor Egidio Giaroli.
It’s On – I’m Sure Trump Voters (And Anyone Who Didn’t Vote Or Voted 3rd Party) Will Be Happy
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Thursday that Medicare has “serious problems” that would need to be addressed when Congress moves to repeal and replace President Obama’s health-care reform law — a signal that he is willing to immediately enter the treacherous politics of entitlement reform and perhaps break with President-elect Donald Trump.
“When Obamacare became Obamacare, Obamacare rewrote Medicare, rewrote Medicaid, so if you’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare, you have to address those issues as well,” he said in a Fox News Channel interview. “What people don’t realize is that Medicare is going broke, that Medicare is going to have price controls. Because of Obamacare, Medicaid is in fiscal straits. So you have to deal with those issues if you’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare. Medicare has got some serious problems because of Obamacare. Those things are part of our plan to replace Obamacare.”
Oooh… basically private insurance for retirees! Which, if you had a functioning brain cell, you knew was always the Republican plan. If you voted for Trump, or voted 3rd party, or didn’t vote then you voted for this. No complaining. This was the agenda. Shame our media never discussed it, but, you know… EMAILS and Hillary is untrustworthy!
And as much as I’d like to lay the blame for all of this at the GOP’s feet, I can’t. On this very blog, for months – and even days – before the election we (WE!) were still discussing this nonsense. Hell, liberals/progressives were discussing the DNC and how rigged it is. We Gored (get it?) ourselves because *sigh* we weren’t inspired. Holy crap, aren’t we supposed to be grown ups? Obviously not.
Stop Slut-Shaming Melania Trump
There are times when our opponents will go low and we will go high. There are times that we will respond with a rage they have never seen. (Not going to happen, but a man can wish can’t he?) But slut-shaming Melania Trump is not a legitimate attack on her or her husband. You are mimicking the same misogynist behavior that other reprehensible people have.
Some thoughts on starting a political blog
Although “blogging” has been overtaken by Facebook and other social media, there is still a place for political discourse among (mostly) like-minded folks. Especially in an era in which the mass media, and “news” operations have shit the bed and divested themselves of the responsibility of being fact-finding and truthful, we still need warm campfires to gather around. A place where false objectivity does not give all claims equal standing. We need to know that we are not alone and that we are not being gaslighted. So political blogs still have a place. So if I was giving advice to someone just starting one in some place like Arizona, say, I’d say this:
Reid Statement – Hey Chris Coons, This is what a Democrat sounds like
“I have personally been on the ballot in Nevada for 26 elections and I have never seen anything like the reaction to the election completed last Tuesday. The election of Donald Trump has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry in America. “White nationalists, Vladimir Putin and ISIS are celebrating Donald Trump’s victory, while innocent, […]
The Need to Attract White Voters
Since 1976, a Democratic presidential nominee has never won the white vote. The 2016 Election continues that trend. Of course, some votes for Trump were from the termites, but many of the of those who voted for Trump are not racist at all. But most importantly we have to stop labelling all Trump supporters as the vile termites.
Lisa Blunt Rochester Statements – The view from Alpha Centauri
I can kind of forgive her because winning her election must be a thrill. But if this is any indication of where LBR’s head is, she needs to wake the eff up – and quickly.
Aaron Sorkin’s letter to his wife and daughter
Well the world changed late last night in a way I couldn’t protect us from. That’s a terrible feeling for a father. I won’t sugarcoat it—this is truly horrible. It’s hardly the first time my candidate didn’t win (in fact it’s the sixth time) but it is the first time that a thoroughly incompetent pig with dangerous ideas, a serious psychiatric disorder, no knowledge of the world and no curiosity to learn has.
And it wasn’t just Donald Trump who won last night—it was his supporters too. The Klan won last night. White nationalists. Sexists, racists and buffoons. Angry young white men who think rap music and Cinco de Mayo are a threat to their way of life (or are the reason for their way of life) have been given cause to celebrate. Men who have no right to call themselves that and who think that women who aspire to more than looking hot are shrill, ugly, and otherwise worthy of our scorn rather than our admiration struck a blow for misogynistic shitheads everywhere. Hate was given hope. Abject dumbness was glamorized as being “the fresh voice of an outsider” who’s going to “shake things up.” (Did anyone bother to ask how? Is he going to re-arrange the chairs in the Roosevelt Room?) For the next four years, the President of the United States, the same office held by Washington and Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, F.D.R., J.F.K. and Barack Obama, will be held by a man-boy who’ll spend his hours exacting Twitter vengeance against all who criticize him (and those numbers will be legion). We’ve embarrassed ourselves in front of our children and the world.
And the world took no time to react. The Dow futures dropped 7,000 points overnight. Economists are predicting a deep and prolonged recession. Our NATO allies are in a state of legitimate fear. And speaking of fear, Muslim-Americans, Mexican-Americans and African-Americans are shaking in their shoes. And we’d be right to note that many of Donald Trump’s fans are not fans of Jews. On the other hand, there is a party going on at ISIS headquarters. What wouldn’t we give to trade this small fraction of a man for Richard Nixon right now?
So what do we do?
Thought Experiment: Is it time for all good Liberals and Progressives to flood into the Green Party?
I know, I know. Just read this and hear me out below the fold…
“As the center shifts right, liberals press closer to the center in order (being practical and realistic) to forestall the calamity of finding themselves too far out. As they rush in this direction, the equilibrium of the system necessarily shifts right again–and the cycle repeats…The secret of the whole process is the political vacuum on the left. There is no left opposition in American politics. It is this vacuum which pulls the new Right out of the walls.”
–Hal Draper, “The Ultra Right and the Liberals” (1962)
Open Thread for Thursday, November 10 , 2016
While DD recharges his batteries, we will have special guest threadmeisters filling in for a few days. And, since today is my turn, I will open and close this thread with the two songs that came to mind on the morning after the election. Stephen Sondheim’s “Another National Anthem” is from his brilliant show “Assassins”. […]
Coons Statement Predictably Underwhelms
Nobody can know what a Trump Presidency means for America and be okay with it, unless your name is Senator Chris Coons.
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