You. Can. Never. Take. A. Republican. At. His. or Her. Word. They are liars. They do not deal in good faith. They will betray you at the earliest opportunity. “After more than nine hours of closed-door meetings, jawboning and complicated legislative stratagems, North Carolina legislators went home in frustration Wednesday after failing to repeal the state law that has prompted economic boycotts, lawsuits, political acrimony and contributed to the defeat of the Republican governor,” the New York Times reports. “Republicans, who control both houses of the legislature, could not agree on a way to repeal the law, commonly known as House Bill 2. The legislation curbs legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and requires transgender people in public buildings to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate.” “The failure to reach a deal in a one-day special session, even after Charlotte, the state’s largest city, fully repealed the ordinance that set the law in motion, was yet another moment of political dysfunction in a state that has become accustomed to it. The session comes just days after Republicans stripped significant powers from Governor-elect Roy Cooper, a Democrat, who is to be sworn in on New Year’s Day.”

When you take on a leadership role in an organization, you generally become attached to it, hoping for its continued success, even after you step down. That is how I feel about the Sussex County Democrats, having served as chair of the 14RD Committee for 4 years, and sitting on the County executive committee because of that role. Consequently, I’ve been asking myself these questions: Democrats had a registration advantage in Sussex County in 2014 (49,865 v. 49,615) and only a slight disadvantage in 2016 (57,522 v. 59,907), so why can’t Democrats get elected in Sussex? Why did every single Democrat lose in 2014 and 2016, except for the one Trump supporters love? Is the County just hopeless, best written off as a lost cause?

I liked the way Appoquinimink School District framed this vote by speaking directly to the idiot Trump-voting fucknuts who can't see beyond their own greedy self-interest:

Good Schools = Higher Property Values

It is always good to see Democrats in their more traditional role (sticking up for the little guy) instead of falling into their post-Bill Clinton era role of sticking it to the little guy.

In the latest HuffPost/YouGov survey, half of the respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Over the past few years, blacks have gotten less than they deserve.” The other half was provided with the exact same statement, except the word “blacks” was switched to “average Americans.” You know what is going to happen, don't you? Among those who voted for Hillary Clinton, there was no difference in the two samples. But among those who voted for Donald Trump, nearly two-thirds agreed with the statement when it pertained to “average Americans” while just 12% though the same for blacks. Yep. It's all Economic Anxiety.

The DEGOP believes it has found some secret sauce. Perhaps it has. h/t Dustyn Thompson

…from the desk of R.E. Vanella. While I sit and think, Penguin Random House sponsored a provocative discussion and posted it to YouTube. It's long and complicated. That's just the…

Jesse Singal on what Democrats can learn from the Tea Party:

[T]he most important thing progressives can do is play united defense against Trump and the GOP rather than get into squabbles about which affirmative policy proposals are best. The tea party, after all, was successful in large part because it understood itself as primarily a defensive group. It was “focused on fighting against every proposal coming out of the new Democratic Administration and Congress,” note the authors. “This focus on defense rather than policy development allowed the movement to avoid fracturing. Tea Party members may have not agreed on the policy reforms, but they could agree that Obama, Democrats, and moderate Republicans had to be stopped.” Progressives should follow the same tack, the authors argue: “[W]e strongly recommend focusing on defense against the Trump agenda rather than developing an entire alternative policy agenda,” they write. “This is time-intensive, divisive, and, quite frankly, a distraction, since there is zero chance that we as progressives will get to put our agenda into action at the federal level in the next four years.” Given the amount of left-liberal infighting that has raged since the election, it feels like important advice.

Emphasis mine. I feel that has been the number one piece of advice for us as the Opposition moving forward.