I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!
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Sad but true.
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And that's going to be on the good days. Too many people have short memories, but I think they are all going to come rushing back. Look out for the pain.
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No more of a fix for that then he has for anything — his fix is giving things away — that is if he can't sell them.
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So, if you voted for FG politics may have ruined my relationship with you.
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It is that last line — fascism and rape are what can be expected. There are things though — I think (not me I'm too old) many ladies should take up knitting and sewing — for the needles and scissors which I would not hesitate to have with me.
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And by the way — the most un-likeliest thing right now is that prices will come down. You're on the list of people who I won't mind seeing suffer.
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Starting already. Waiting to see what Duke does???? hmmmm
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Carlin was right about many things. I always believed this one.
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It may be coming faster then we think too.
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Seniors voted to cut Social Security. Women voted against their own rights. Immigrants voted for mass deportation. The poor voted for tax cuts for billionaires. Police voted for someone with over 30 felonies. The military voted for a draft dodger. I’m ashamed.
I left the idea tucked in my head because this thing happened before and the excuse then was sort of touted like people didn't know who FG guy was — even if he exuded evil even back then, but in all honestly, this time I believed with all my heart that there were not going to be that many short, adulterated memories. Along with so many I'm gob-smacked trying to comprehend it all.
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Didn't work out for thank you for the wonderful job you did loving America.
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TV will be on cause Dh will insist — but I wo't be giving much attention. I'm dismayed, disgruntled, totally disgusted with the channels I once watched and my support is going to those who value TOTAL honestly, and not a half-baked, cherry-picked version — better than the far-right version but just as un-acceptable. There are better places to be.
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Always loved Elie and he tells truths.
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I think for one a whole group of prisons will end up with full beds. imagine that.
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We may definitely see roosters shitting bricks.
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And there will be resistance.
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Trump kept people upset, frustrated and angry — none of that helps you think logically— and you go with the emotions that are kept stirred and roiling at the top. Much easier to pulll the lever for Trump.
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I thought about how awful this meme was, but at the same time — it is so much more a possible reality now then it was Nov 4th.
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Divine, thinking of you and hoping you are feeling okay.
I've spent the last couple days connecting with my like-minded friends in person, by phone, text etc. I think we need to keep connected during this, what I feel is a time of mourning. I think it was Jimmy Kimble who said the quote I read above; that we are all in trouble, even the ones who don't know it yet.
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Ruth, let us know if you hear from Divine. I was feeling a lot of concern as well. She has only been here once since she last returned for her hospital stays.
There is a lot of trouble ahead, but it will happen for many who thought they were going to get something better. At least we haven't spent a moment with blinders on while others will be in for a great shock I do believe.
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Heather Cox Richardson
November 7, 2024 (Thursday)Today the Trump family posed for a post-election photo. Missing from the group was former first lady Melania Trump. Joining the family was billionaire Elon Musk, who supported Trump’s campaign both through his ownership of X, formerly Twitter, and then with $132 million in cash and with apparent giveaways to get voters to give the campaign personal information. As an immigrant from South Africa, Musk is barred from the presidency himself by the U.S. Constitution, which requires that a president be born in the U.S. (out of the Framers’ concern that a foreign country could put a puppet in the presidency). But he is now very close to Trump and stands to gain significantly from a Trump presidency, both through deregulation and government contracts, and through Trump’s planned tariffs on Chinese imports that will enable Musk to monopolize the electric vehicle market in the U.S. Musk also would like a victory in the culture wars; he is strongly opposed to transgender rights.After the election results came out, Musk posted on X, “Novus Ordo Seclorum,” Latin for “New World Order.” At Trump’s election party, Trump said: “We have a new star: Elon. He is an amazing guy. We were sitting together tonight—you know he spent two weeks in Philadelphia and different parts of Pennsylvania campaigning? He's a character, he's a special guy. He's a super-genius, and we have to protect our geniuses, we don't have that many of them. We have to protect our super-geniuses.”Trump’s new closeness with Musk presents an issue for the Republican Party. The president-elect is 78 and has shown signs of mental and physical deterioration, making it possible that someone will need to take his place at some point in the next four years. The vice president–elect, current Ohio senator J.D. Vance, who is backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, is constitutionally the next in line for the presidency, but neither Musk nor Vance has Trump’s popular support, making it unclear who will take over the leadership of the party if such a takeover is necessary. Whether either can command Trump’s supporters is also unclear. What is clear is that neither of them has much experience in elected office. Vance was elected senator just two years ago, and Musk comes from the business world.There is another, major problem for the party, as well: Trump won the election in part by promising everything to everyone, but the actual policies of the MAGA party are unpopular, even with many Republican voters. Notably, Trump has said he will appoint Musk to head a new government efficiency commission, and Musk has vowed to cut “at least $2 trillion” from the federal budget. Such cuts would decimate government services, including food programs and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Supplemental nutrition programs disproportionately benefit rural areas, and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are used much more heavily in counties that support Trump than those that don’t. That will be a hard circle to square.So will Trump’s promise to lower consumer costs while also putting tariffs of 10% to 20% on all foreign imports and of 60% on imports from China. Tariffs are borne by consumers, so by definition they will drive prices up. These two promises cannot be reconciled. Trump has promised mass deportations, and much of his base is fervently behind them. The Republican National Committee even had signs saying “MASS DEPORTATION NOW” made up for attendees to wave at the party’s convention. Priscilla Alvarez and Alayna Treene of CNN reported today that Trump’s allies have been preparing for mass detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants, and the stock prices of private prison companies GEO Group and CoreCivic have soared since Trump’s election. Steven T. Dennis of Bloomberg reported that on an earnings call today, GEO chief executive officer Brian Evans told investors that filling currently empty beds could bring in $400 million a year and that the company can scale up its current surveillance, monitoring, and transportation programs to handle millions of immigrants. “This is to us an unprecedented opportunity,” he said.But deporting up to 20 million people will be a logistical nightmare and is projected to cost from $88 billion to $315 billion a year. At the same time, much of the U.S. economy depends on undocumented immigrants, and Republican businessmen will certainly object to losing their workers. Tom Homan, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump in his first term, backed away from some of the extremes of Trump’s immigration policy when he told CBS last month: “It’s not gonna be—a mass sweep of neighborhoods. It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous…. They’ll be targeted arrests. We’ll know who we’re going to arrest, where we’re most likely to find ‘em based on numerous, you know, investigative processes.” Meanwhile, Democratic state lawmakers have been preparing for a potential Trump administration for more than a year, and some are putting down public markers that they will not cooperate with the extreme policies of the Trump administration. Trump vowed to begin his mass deportation plan in Aurora, Colorado, where he maintained—contrary to the statements of local Republican officials—that Venezuelan gangs had taken over the city. Aurora is a suburb of Denver, and yesterday the mayor of Denver, Mike Johnston, told a reporter he would not cooperate with requests that are “immoral or unethical or unfair.” California governor Gavin Newsom called an emergency session of the California state legislature to convene on December 2, “to help bolster our legal resources and protect our state against any unlawful actions by the incoming Trump Administration.” It will focus on funding lawsuits against any actions that impact civil liberties, reproductive rights, protection for immigrants, and climate initiatives. Newsom said the California lawmakers “will seek to work with the incoming president—but let there be no mistake, we intend to stand with states across our nation to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law.” California has the fifth largest economy in the world, and its population of 39 million people is more than four times the 9.59 million people in Hungary, the country from which MAGA Republicans are taking much of their ideological vision. Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, who has been called a “happy warrior,” held a press conference today, telling reporters that he will continue working to keep Illinois “a place of stability and competent governance” and vowing to protect the people of his state no matter what the new administration does. “To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans: I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior,” he said. “You come for my people, you come through me.”Trump has made it clear he intends to have a say in the decisions of the Federal Reserve, which manages interest rates, and during his first term he frequently attacked Fed chair Jerome Powell, whom he appointed, for not lowering rates to boost the economy. Trump’s advisors have suggested the president can gain power over the nation’s finances by removing members of the Fed in his next term. Today, when reporters asked Powell if he would resign before Trump takes office, he said no. When asked if Trump could fire or demote him or the other Fed governors, Powell was firm: “Not permitted under the law.”
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Our Loss
My attempt to understand and explain
Nov 9
Credit: Getty Images
The mood around many households I know has been bleak since early Wednesday morning. Most pros in the news business don’t shock easily. But they would just as likely see a rhinoceros run through their living room as believe Donald Trump would return to the White House.
As things turned out, Trump not only won, but won big. Some of Trump’s own people even say they were surprised by the size of his victory.
I am gratified by one thing that has happened since election night: many new people have joined us here on Steady. Thank you, and welcome. I’m guessing most of you are some version of fed up, had it, done with politics. I don’t blame you. But you also love this country and want to know just what the hell happened. Three days on I have a few theories, but just as many questions. Much of my time has been spent trying to distill my thoughts into something I could share with you.
So, how did a race that everyone said was essentially tied end with such a lopsided result? Read on, friends. There were a lot of factors at play. The metaphor “a perfect storm” may be a bit overused but does an excellent job of describing this situation.
To stick with a weather analogy, many described Kamala Harris’s challenging run for the presidency as “facing headwinds.” Turns out it was more like a hurricane. She had just 107 days to run for the most important job in the world. Trump announced his candidacy in November 2022 but had essentially been running since he left office two years earlier.
President Biden has been good for this country. But his bad debate performance and late withdrawal did his party and the country no favors. Harris leaped into the race quickly and sealed the nomination as the party fell into line. No one else was given a chance. In July that seemed like a fine idea — and the only real option — but it hurt Harris. Many voters said they were unhappy with the lack of nominating process. Some said they never really got to know what she was about. That sounds like a tired excuse, but OK. The other side of that argument is many Americans might have voted for a fence post before a convicted felon.
Harris felt forced to distance herself from an unpopular president, who also happened to be her boss, while not appearing disloyal. Good luck with that. On “The View,” when asked what she would have done differently from Biden, she said, “Nothing comes to mind.” Republicans pounced on this, and those four words became the centerpiece of Trump campaign ads.
No matter how well she walked or didn’t walk that tightrope, she was considered the incumbent. Biden’s personal unpopularity — his approval rating never topped 45% — plus disdain for his policies, especially on the economy and the border, were a toxic combination Harris could not overcome. Republicans did a masterful job of exploiting this dynamic, while the White House did a lousy job of championing the policies that were actually bettering people’s lives.
The economy is, was, and always will be the most important issue for American voters. We live in a hyper-capitalist society, and everyone wants to get ahead. Standing still is considered losing. So when a University of Chicago poll shows 9 out of 10 people are worried about the price of groceries, the incumbent should be very concerned. It is almost impossible to get 9 out of 10 people to agree on anything. People will always vote with their pocketbooks, not with their hearts. Harris needed hearts.
The 2022 midterm election, which did not see the predicted red wave, was characterized as a vote of confidence for Biden. It wasn’t. Remember, it was the first post-Dobbs election. January 6 was still top of mind, and Donald Trump wasn’t running, so his handpicked, conspiracy-minded House and Senate candidates didn't fare well without their leader.
Many of us thought Harris’s campaign was working. She quickly rallied the party around her. The initial enthusiasm for her and running mate Tim Walz was rock-star level. She was able to raise unprecedented amounts of money. The Democratic National Convention was practically hitchless. She enjoyed huge crowds at her rallies, at some of which she was accompanied by global celebrities. It seemed a masterful 100-day run. But then voting began …
Now let’s look at what that vote tells us.
After all that enthusiasm, turnout was surprisingly down — for everyone, but much more so for Harris. As of this writing (not all votes have been tallied yet) Harris received 12 million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020. Apparently, the vaunted Harris ground game didn’t deliver. Trump is about 700,000 votes shy of his 2020 number. Harris underperformed in many key demographics compared to Biden: with Black people (-2), Latino people (-13), young people (-6) and women (-3).
That fact that she, a younger Black woman, did less well among Black people, women and young voters than a white septuagenarian man is baffling. But those are the numbers.
For Democrats and those opposed to Trump, the old poker expression “read ‘em and weep” applies.
Trump made his biggest gains among Latino voters, earning 47% of their support. All the while promising to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, a majority of whom are Latino. “It's simple, really. We liked the way things were four years ago,” Samuel Negron, a Puerto Rican Pennsylvania state official, told the BBC.
Poll is a four-letter word. And once again, they were wrong. The polls said the candidates were essentially tied going into Election Day. But Trump won handily. This may have been what in pollster parlance is known as the Bradley Effect. When Tom Bradley, who was Black, ran for California governor, he was leading going into Election Day and then lost. It is clear that some voters lied to pollsters because they didn’t want to appear racist. That is likely why most polls underestimated Trump’s margins.
This time, it wasn’t just concealed racism, but sexism hiding within pre-election polls. Harris’s losses among Black and Latino voters were mostly among men, not women.
In an interview with Newsweek, Danielle Vinson, a political science professor at Furman University, said, “There is a small but significant portion of our country who cannot quite wrap their minds around the idea of a woman being president. They are fine with women senators or governors, but they pause at thinking a woman can handle national security and foreign affairs. Trump played that up in his comments frequently.” This idea gains support from the fact that in several states, female Senate candidates outperformed Harris.
Another minority group, albeit a much smaller one, that Harris lost was Arab Americans. In Dearborn, Michigan, the biggest majority Arab city in the country, Harris got only 36% of the vote as compared to Biden’s 74%. The war in Gaza is the reason. In another head-scratcher, either Democrat should have been preferable to Trump, whose contempt for Palestinians is no secret. The fate of Gaza, which was already precarious, is now very much in question.
So, the Democrats are wringing their hands and gazing at navels, trying to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. And they should. But there is reason for patience too. All is not lost forever. Much of what Trump and his closest advisers say they are going to do will hurt, not help, the middle class, people of color, young people, and women. Mass deportations, tax cuts for the rich, and tariffs will hurt our economy. For people who voted with their wallets in 2024, things could be significantly worse by the 2026 midterm elections. Oh, and don’t hold your breath for the price of groceries to fall anytime soon.
It’s also worth remembering that Ideological swings are the norm in American politics. Though things seem bleak right now, keep in mind that there are always declarations of demise after big wins and big losses. The Republican Party was declared dead after Obama won in 2008 and again after Trump was reelected in 2016. After that election, it was the Democratic Party that was on life support. Then in 2020 it was the Republican Party once again.
Over the next four years, democratic institutions will be tested, and Americans will have to fight to safeguard them at every level. Arash Azizi, an Iranian Canadian columnist for The Atlantic, wrote something that should give us hope.
“The essence of America has always been the battle over its essence. No one election has ever determined its complete or permanent nature, and that is as true now as it was in 1860 and 1876. If today’s America is the America of Donald Trump, it is also the America of those who would stand up to him.”
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Divine, you were missed. I hope you will feel better soon and know that I miss your postings. Please take all the time you need to recover from this latest treatment.
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The last two articles do give me some comfort. I could use a lot more but it will do for now. I do think we are many times more resilient than we realize. I highlighted the last paragraph that Dan Rather had in his article. After some slight rest and reflection, and a lot more good articles like the above I think we will get a lot more of our resolve to REALLY find change for the better.
As well, I do believe a lot of what Loon proposes is going to be harder than hell to do. Suspecting issues, I do think a lot of roadblocks, barriers and logistical problems will crop up to make many of the things that are wanted difficult to the extreme. Possibly some will be let fall by the wayside. Time will tell. Elon Musk said many will have to undergo some pain, but I think that could happen on his side too.
As noted, before, even a lot of the Reps. are not down with 2025 and do not see it viable.
So some of my hope as timid as it got is waiting to take hold. I'm betting it does. I hope yours does too.
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I wanted to let you all know that I emailed Camille/Divine. I felt some reluctance but worried enough to overcome it. She is okay and doing a lot of quiet recuperation. She has a great family who are being wonderful with their pampering as she works to get back to her normal. Almost sounds like all the good meals and food and she will need to fix a waistline maybe.
She sends her love and says to let you know she is fine, if quiet for now. Hopefully soon she can get back maybe to a bit of posting with us.
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