Things are not going to be fine

[Cyborg Girl]

Just FYI:

http://jezebel.com/trump-surrogate-cite ... 1789074483

Citing Japanese internment camps ca. WWII as a precedent for what they want to do to Muslim citizens.

This is just the beginning. They're not even officially in power yet.

I will keep this thread updated regularly, with new examples of Fascism and abuse of power. I encourage others to do the same. Staying angry is far, far more important now than staying hopeful.

[geonuc]

The whole world has turned upside down. I saw Megyn Kelly - formerly a hated Fox News spouter of the GOP line until she met Trump - take this guy to task for using internment camps as support for anything. Of course, she's recently turned away from the dark side but it wasn't all that long ago that it wasn't so. Earlier, I listened to Glenn Beck decry the alt-right as a scourge on our society. Glenn Beck, talking sense.

What next? O'Reilly and Hannity move to MSNBC and start waxing nostalgic over the good ol days of the Obama Administration? I don't know who to hate anymore.

Except Trump. I hate Trump. And Pence.

[Cyborg Girl]

@geonuc, I really wanted to believe the thing about Glenn Beck, but given that he's made money off credulous wingnuts for years now... Also it's a bit late at this point for any kind of redemption.

OTOH, I have noticed an interesting thing among newspaper columnists, where center-right conservatives are more vocal critics of Trumpism than a lot of center-left liberals. And I somehow feel like this should be a huge warning sign.

Meanwhile:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... nald-trump
General David Petraeus might become Secretary of State! I guess leak scandals are okay if you're a Trumpist. Getting off to a good start there.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... raud-trial
"Victory tour" and skipping court dates, ha ha fuck you rule of law!

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... 6-election
NSA openly states that Russia compromised our election. Congressional Republicans don't want to investigate. Doing honest work is for losers, ha ha fuck you losers. And fuck you too rule of law.

[Swift]

Staying angry is far, far more important now than staying hopeful.

I won't be joining you; I don't need that level of stress. I suspect you don't either, but if you want to spend your time cruising the Internet looking for things to upset yourself, have fun.

[SciFi Chick]

Staying angry is far, far more important now than staying hopeful.

I won't be joining you; I don't need that level of stress. I suspect you don't either, but if you want to spend your time cruising the Internet looking for things to upset yourself, have fun.

I agree. At first, I was really afraid of Trump, but now, I'm back to thinking he's a blowhard who is just as shocked as the rest of us that he won. He's an embarrassment, but he's changed positions so many times, I have no reason to believe his evil positions are his true positions. I will wait and see if it's the end of the world, but I'm thinking it may just be a - what's that phrase - a something in a teacup? Tempest?

[Rommie]

Staying angry is far, far more important now than staying hopeful.

I won't be joining you; I don't need that level of stress. I suspect you don't either, but if you want to spend your time cruising the Internet looking for things to upset yourself, have fun.

I agree. At first, I was really afraid of Trump, but now, I'm back to thinking he's a blowhard who is just as shocked as the rest of us that he won. He's an embarrassment, but he's changed positions so many times, I have no reason to believe his evil positions are his true positions. I will wait and see if it's the end of the world, but I'm thinking it may just be a - what's that phrase - a something in a teacup? Tempest?

Trump himself, probably. My issue is now it's pretty clear there is some serious jostling for power going on so a bunch of unelected people will basically be in charge, and I don't think I will like the direction these unelected people will want to take the country.

But I will also agree with swift and SFC, I spent a few days being upset and setting up some new charities to donate to, and now I'm going to step back. As they say on a plane, in the unlikely event of an emergency oxygen masks will deploy, but put on your own mask before helping others. Until something actually happens like a Muslim registry that I can sign up for (a friend pointed out if we all do that, it will make such registries worthless), I've got plenty of my own shit to sort out, and I can't keep up my ACLU donations and be a voice for science if I don't.

My current attitude anyway.

[Thumper]

Until something actually happens like a Muslim registry that I can sign up for (a friend pointed out if we all do that, it will make such registries worthless)

I like this. I hate thinking that I might ever have the opportunity to do it, but I like the idea.

[Cyborg Girl]

Folks, he's not even in office yet. Throwing up our arms and saying "eh whatever, it won't be so bad" is really premature. Especially seeing as he promised awfulness during his campaign, is still promising awfulness regularly, and still wants the head of freaking Breitbart as his top adviser.

Look at what people are saying who've lived in, worked in, and studied authoritarian regimes. Look at how scared Black, Latinx, and Muslim people are. Don't lose sight of that.

And meanwhile:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... n-registry

"He never said that." Yes he fucking did. And one of his surrogates literally said that yesterday, and cited WWII era internment of Japanese Americans as precedent, lest we forget.

I repeat: this is gaslighting. This is not fucking normal.

[Cyborg Girl]

@Rommie - yeah, I get that. I'm not saying "be incapacitated by rage all the time", more like "don't get complacent".

IMO there is stuff that can be done now though, in preparation. e.g. Helping to set up sanctuaries for immigrants, in case Trump does start with the mass deportations.

[Rommie]

@Rommie - yeah, I get that. I'm not saying "be incapacitated by rage all the time", more like "don't get complacent".

I won't speak for others, and don't take this the wrong way, but knowing you over the years I am worried a little you might be doing the former over the latter.

[Cyborg Girl]

Nah, I've been able to function normally. The first few days after the election were godawful, but my limbic system seems mostly used to it now... Thus the danger.

[Cyborg Girl]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/us/po ... ident.html

Returning home to Trump Tower from the White House may not be Mr. Trump’s only embrace of the familiar. His aides say he has also expressed interest in continuing to hold the large rallies that were a staple of his candidacy. He likes the instant gratification and adulation that the cheering crowds provide, and his aides are discussing how they might accommodate his demand.

Does this look Fascist to you? It looks Fascist to me.

[Swift]

Folks, he's not even in office yet. Throwing up our arms and saying "eh whatever, it won't be so bad" is really premature.

I fully expect it will be bad. I expect it will not be bad in the ways most people think, like blatant horrible things (Muslim registry), but will be much worse in subtle things. Like we'll have 20 years with his Supreme Court nominee on the bench. Like global warming is all but a sure thing now. Like the taxation and budget and trade things he and Congress do will slowly increase the deficit, hurt the economy, and generally increase the wage gap, but it will be slowly over the next 5 to 15 years.

But GJ, he's not even in office yet.. It is not good for my personal health to be in a constant state of anger for the next 2, 4, or 8 years. I don't think it is healthy for anyone, but hey, have fun if that's what you want to do.

Bye.

[Sigma_Orionis]

I'm just going to leave this right here and only make ONE comment

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/opini ... ef=opinion

Do you know what most people at work said about Chavez when he won? "He's not classy".

[Thumper]

Interesting article. But I disagree with several points. If I have more time later, and the stomach, I may try to elaborate. But real quick. Mrs. Clinton did a detailed job over and over of explaining issues completely and intelligently, then it was Trump that glossed over and talked about the size of his hands or whatever. Second, the statement that Trump hasn't made a decision yet (read: a bad decision). Don't protest or ridicule until there is something real to complain about. I heard part of very interesting interview on NPR about how just the subtle comments of a president elect can have (already have had) world changing results. Two of the biggest are the Iran nuclear deal, and NATO. Just his campaign BS about "renegotiating the Iran treaty" and backing out of NATO....when the leader of the free world whispers this, regardless of intent or if there is a thin prayer of being actually able to push through something this stupid already has had effects. Iran is already closer now to starting up its nuclear program. And countries such as Russia are probably a step or two closer to testing whether we will abide by our obligations to aid our NATO allies by invading or attacking a country like Estonia.

A real politician and someone who took the Presidency seriously would already know these things.

[Cyborg Girl]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... mp-cabinet
Mike Pompeo, who will be the new head of the CIA, is openly in favor of torture and mass surveillance. He also likes to spread slanderous lies about American Muslims.

Likewise, Jeff Sessions, who will be the Attorney General, is a hardline bigot. But don't worry, you can trust him to administer justice.

Yes, I'm sure this is all going to work out quite safely. Believing anything else would be hysteria. Right?

[pumpkinpi]

It's like he's purposely trying to make the selections for every single position that the "liberals" will hate the most. Typical action of a megalomaniac.

[Cyborg Girl]

@pumpkinpi

More to the point IMO, he's selecting all the people with the most brutally oppressive policy ideas. Not just yes-men, but people with fanatical loyalty and no ethical limits. People who, if push came to shove, would have citizens tortured and murdered rather than turn coat.

[Cyborg Girl]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... ia=FB_Page
A bill allowing hospitals to refuse treatment to gay people, among other things. Republicans support it across the board.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Interesting article. But I disagree with several points. If I have more time later, and the stomach, I may try to elaborate. But real quick. Mrs. Clinton did a detailed job over and over of explaining issues completely and intelligently, then it was Trump that glossed over and talked about the size of his hands or whatever. Second, the statement that Trump hasn't made a decision yet (read: a bad decision). Don't protest or ridicule until there is something real to complain about. I heard part of very interesting interview on NPR about how just the subtle comments of a president elect can have (already have had) world changing results. Two of the biggest are the Iran nuclear deal, and NATO. Just his campaign BS about "renegotiating the Iran treaty" and backing out of NATO....when the leader of the free world whispers this, regardless of intent or if there is a thin prayer of being actually able to push through something this stupid already has had effects. Iran is already closer now to starting up its nuclear program. And countries such as Russia are probably a step or two closer to testing whether we will abide by our obligations to aid our NATO allies by invading or attacking a country like Estonia.

A real politician and someone who took the Presidency seriously would already know these things.

I think that's the very point of the piece, If you treat him like a real politician he'll implode. How close to the truth that is? well I think It would work mostly on economics. Because he WAS supposed to implode during the primaries, he was ALSO supposed to implode in the General Election.

He's already waffling in and out with the Muslim Registry thing.

Donald Trump Says He’d ‘Absolutely’ Require Muslims to Register

Asked later, as he signed autographs, how such a database would be different from Jews having to register in Nazi Germany, Mr. Trump repeatedly said, “You tell me,” until he stopped responding to the question.

Donald Trump Steps Back From Calling for Muslim Registry

Of course his surrogates are blaming it on the reporter

Republicans and Democrats criticized Mr. Trump on Friday for threatening to violate the religious freedom of Muslims, but some conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh defended him and said that the news media had put words in his mouth.

And regarding the Baltic Republics, They're already sounding the alarm.

I think (hope?) that he'll be undone once his voters discover that:

A) Jobs sent overseas will NOT come back
B) There will be NO Infrastructure Bill to temporarily improve the economy.
C) They're going to get meager tax cuts, and their safety net is going to get very fragile
D) IF this is true The Coal industry is not going to recover


But keeping him off balance with the disaster he's already causing on Racism and International Politics is essential. Until he tries to enact his economic agenda. His waffling on almost everything else is all you've got to attack him as a politician.

ETA: One more thing, according to some those who voted for him the clock is ticking

[Cyborg Girl]

Directly soliciting business from agents of foreign governments:

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-poised- ... .91ji6rr3k

This is very, very impeachable, and happening right now. But expect precisely jack squat to come of it.

[Cyborg Girl]

http://www.vox.com/world/2016/11/19/136 ... actual-job

Mike Flynn thinks Pres. Obama covered up an alliance between China, Cuba, and jihadists. He is a fucking loony. He will also be the national security advisor, which means his job is to monitor and synthesize all kinds of intelligence stuff.

Yeah, this is going to end really well.

[Cyborg Girl]

http://crooksandliars.com/2016/11/reinc ... out-muslim
"Well we won't rule out a Muslim registry, but it won't be based on religion." Then what will it be based on? Skin color?

http://crooksandliars.com/2016/11/preib ... t-interest
"Trump will comply with the law," ha. No he won't. He's ALREADY failing to comply with the law. Do you think I'm stupid Mr. Priebus, oh wait N/M.

http://crooksandliars.com/2016/11/rep-k ... introduces
Rep. Clark (D - Massachusetts, YAY GO MASS LIBERALS!) tries to introduce legislation to specifically put the kibosh on Trump's corruption. Watch this space. I want to believe otherwise, but I'm betting the Republicans (and lots of Democrats too) shoot this down.

Notice also how I'm now linking to stuff like Crooks and Liars, instead of the Times? It's getting harder to sift through all the boot-licking bullshit.

[Cyborg Girl]

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2 ... -new-black
Mike Flynn's chief of staff will be his own son. Seriously.

[Cyborg Girl]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... rick-perry

Tulsi Gabbard will be talking with Trump's people, and uh holy shit folks

In October last year she tweeted: “Al-Qaeda attacked us on 9/11 and must be defeated. Obama won’t bomb them in Syria. Putin did. #neverforget911.”

does the phrase "useful idiot" come to mind here or what?

And if she and Bannon actually have a mutual respect thing going, uh... wow. Where do these people come from?!