[PLips]

Listen I'm not telling this as a joke. Trump is good friends with Vince McMahon of the WWE. The strongest ego is usually the champ. Trump wants you to fight him it completes him and writes a better story. You have four options: fan, jobroni, heel, baby face. For those who don't know 'Jobroni or Jobber' is wrestlinglish a shitty no name wrestler that The Rock brought back into the lingo from his father and grandfather's time.

I am strongly warning you to watch WWE and study the ego storylines. Trump had the Battle of The Billionaires with McMahon and won a number of years ago.

I can't watch wrestling due to lack of TV or data but I am getting regular recaps from a good friend.

Trump's whole angle is 'Shtick'. You get wise to it and fight like a man you'll love it and be the champ. Cut the Po Co bullshit, that's what he's banking on.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by evollove

Do you want only New Mexico to secede, or do you have a grander plan?

I'm pretty sure Cali's already on board. Being born and raised in WA, I believe I speak for them. And Oregon's just junior Washington anyway (don't let Portlandia fool you, Seattle did it first). So how about we all tell Nevada and Utah that we're sleeping over at each other's houses, and make a fucking break for it!

I'll move back home to help of course.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by evollove

Do you want only New Mexico to secede, or do you have a grander plan?

well new mexico fought for the union so the confederacy would have stopped at tejas

nm+ colorado join the pacific coast via nevada, how's that.

arizona can go fuck itself ha ha ha

(but we'll have to dig a tunnel)

jeezus man the a.g. from oklahoma. that was a fucking punch in the gut.

i'll be alright. i still have health insurance... don't i?

i've snapped a bit.

==

fuck nevada

let's just do a tunnel

let's buy a highway off the mexican border and connect that way

okay sorry nevada sorry i take it back

i'm disoriented at the moment

TUNNEL

[ilduclo]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

now i think lincoln was the worst ever american president for not allowing secession to proceed

"a house divided against itself... should become a duplex"

great!

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by PLips

Cut the Po Co bullshit, that's what he's banking on.

you know, the goobers have their own kind of political correctness that's been flying under the radar. read an article about it this morning actually that opened my eyes

they're calling it "patriotic correctness"

i.e., unless you're the most nationalistic, jingoistic, 'murka-can-do-no-wrong type of person making public statements, you're somehow a traitor

same kind of bullshit as the left just "the troops the troops the troops"

look here:

Terrorism is an “existential threat,” even though the chance of being killed in a terrorist attack is about 1 in 3.2 million a year. Saying the words “radical Islam” when describing terrorism is an important incantation necessary to defeat that threat. When Chobani yogurt founder Hamdi Ulukaya decides to employ refugees in his factories, it’s because of his ties to “globalist corporate figures.” Waving a Mexican flag on U.S. soil means you hate America, but waving a Confederate flag just means you’re proud of your heritage. The phrase “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” needs a trigger warning.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poste...t-as-stifling/

[!@#$%!]

a fast food CEO as secretary of labor aaaahaaaa haaa haaaaaaa

man, we're getting RAPED

raped (yes, the michigan recount has been stopped)

 

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

a fast food CEO as secretary of labor aaaahaaaa haaa haaaaaaa

man, we're getting RAPED

raped (yes, the michigan recount has been stopped)

The fucking Michigan recount has been halted and probably effectively stopped.
Why? 'Cause "taxpayer dollars" and stuff.

Well, now a bunch of tax dollars are going to compensate for 3/4 of a halted recount (in other words, OUT THE FUCKING WINDOW) ... is that really so much better than having them go to a complete recount that helps the people understand the NUMEROUS reported flaws and discrepancies in the MI voting system?

What. The. Fuck. Stupid. Midwest. Hellhole. Fuckers. Hate you.

Yeah, I'm "relaxing" alright.

[!@#$%!]

i'm back to sanity tonight. please don't push me off the cliff again ha ha.

[!@#$%!]

this article about chucky schumer preparing to lead based on warren's wing is interesting. the real revealing paragraph for me was this one though, and i'm emphasizing what matters:

Schumer’s predecessor, outgoing Democratic leader Harry Reid (Nev.), did his best both in the majority and the minority to protect vulnerable incumbents such as Mary Landrieu (Louisiana) and Mark Begich (Alaska), using parliamentary tactics to avoid tough votes. But a byproduct of this was that Democrats didn’t articulate a clear agenda — and Landrieu and Begich lost anyway.

there's more good stuff. the rest is all here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...06c_story.html

[!@#$%!]

anthropologist discusses wisconsin rural voters (not really an anthropologist but seems to work like one)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...y-makes-sense/

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Robert Schunk

Excellent piece, but did you notice this one linked on that page?:

Death predicts whether people vote for Donald Trump

It contains the striking statement: "[i]t is nonetheless striking that Trump’s promise to "Make America Great Again" has been most enthusiastically embraced by those who have seen their own life's prospects diminish the most — not [only] in terms of material wealth, but in terms of literal chances of survival."

yeah the reduced life expectancy is definitely a sign of economic decline in those regions. i'm sure some KKK types are turning that into some sort of "white genocide" narrative though. it doesn't work that way.. but they'll do it anyway.

trump definitely took advantage of their plight-- i'm saying this even though i'm really trying to be agnostic about his upcoming presidency. all i see is the extreme corporatocracy taking over-- privatizers, pollutionists, koch associates, etc.

[Severian]

I had a few moments of attempted "agnostic" thinking on this, but Jesus fucking Christ it just gets worse and worse by the minute. Every new cabinet vetting announcement, the mounting evidence that there is at least some legitimacy to the accusations of "Russian vote hacking" that even I found fantastical at first, Michigan! For fuck's sake, I went to bed last night — a full month plus after the election — thinking about how I can say "not my president" all I want, but it won't be true... actually hoping for an electoral revolt even though I know hope is futile.

In terms of religion, I am an agnostic. Of the existing mythologies, I have a grab bag of favorites, but my true position is always "What the fuck do I know?" I remain open to other people's perspectives and ideas, and I remain open to any new evidence that presents itself.

With Trump, I am not of an agnostic mindset. I do not believe that nothing about his presidency or his motivations can be known. I fully believe that he is dangerous in a number of ways, many of which have yet to be revealed, and I can't look at his actions so far and pretend that this is anything other than the realization of what so many of us feared most.

[Rob Instigator]

scumbag greedhead IDIOT ex-TX governor Rick Perry is slated to be Trump's pick for Head of Energy Dept. This asshole has the oil companies so far up his ass he cries tar.

[!@#$%!]

@ severino - i'm agnostic in the sense of economic theory and what works for the economy and the possible results of a corporatocrat administration.

meaning that perhaps a low-tax regime promotes entrepreneurship and investment as creates a hong-kong style prosperity.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle13393877/

and maybe a little environmental rape will generate enough jobs and revenue, so that people can... AFFORD solar power, for fuck's sakes. plus if we deplete oil, we'll have no choice.

anyway, if you want to cast some doubt in your secure beliefs i recommend reading thomas sowell's BASIC ECONOMICS which is a very user-friendly but extremely neoliberal (in the sense of chicago school of economics, not american-style-"liberal") book. sowell is/was a disciple of milton friedman. he has some interesting arguments that i think they're going to be put in practice now.

don't know if you ever played alpha centauri but we're going from a lal/deirde alliance to a morgan/miriam/santiago alliance running this planet. not sure where zakharov stands... probably plays both sides.

now, sowell's theories don't inform my politics, because i'm suspicious of people who claim libertarianism but practice corporate welfare. but his ideas do inform my relationship with money, my understanding of scarcity and markets, my expectations for human behavior, etc.

he comes in book and audiobook form and even if you're going to hate him & reject him it's interesting to hear the opposing point of view in a dignified and respectable manner. there are many editions but they're all basically the same.

the story of the siege of antwerp he tells there to discuss price controls is fucking fascinating. there are others. but anyway check it out.

==

eta: also another thing to be "hopeful" about AS A LIBERAL is that the trumpet has a chance to pass the obama stimulus package, i.e., an infrastructure revamping program, in spite of bagger opposition. trump himself is not opposed to going into debt for this purpose and he carries weight.

[ilduclo]

well a F'in GREAT way to get your MAGA goin' is to pay a million for a meet and greet with the orange combover and his son's Uday and Qusay, you get to go a-huntin' with the boys, too

 

[greenlight]

isn't he filling swamp instead of draining it talking about his cabinet? espec. goldman sach people.

[ilduclo]

this article is either really, really funny, orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr really, really sad. I vote for the former, since I am a bitter leftist :lol:

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/473884...ers-didnt-take

Dana Milbank: Trump voters didn’t take him literally on Obamacare. Oops?

I can even hear the old hag talking, you know, fuck these people. Trump said he loved the uneducated voter!!

"........... Trump voter Debbie Mills, a store owner whose husband awaits a lifesaving liver transplant; they got insurance through Obamacare, and Mills is hoping the law won't be repealed.

"I don't know what we'll do if it does go away," Mills said. "I guess I thought that, you know, [Trump] would not do this. That they would not do this, would not take the insurance away. Knowing that it's affecting so many people's lives. I mean, what are you to do then if you cannot ... purchase, cannot pay for the insurance?"

Mills, who supported Trump for other reasons, figured Obamacare repeal was just talk. "I guess we really didn't think about that, that he was going to cancel that or change that or take it away," she said. "I guess I always just thought that it would be there. I was thinking that once it was made into a law that it could not be changed." "

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by ilduclo

this article is either really, really funny, orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr really, really sad. I vote for the former, since I am a bitter leftist :lol:

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/473884...ers-didnt-take

Dana Milbank: Trump voters didn’t take him literally on Obamacare. Oops?

I can even hear the old hag talking, you know, fuck these people. Trump said he loved the uneducated voter!!

"........... Trump voter Debbie Mills, a store owner whose husband awaits a lifesaving liver transplant; they got insurance through Obamacare, and Mills is hoping the law won't be repealed.

"I don't know what we'll do if it does go away," Mills said. "I guess I thought that, you know, [Trump] would not do this. That they would not do this, would not take the insurance away. Knowing that it's affecting so many people's lives. I mean, what are you to do then if you cannot ... purchase, cannot pay for the insurance?"

Mills, who supported Trump for other reasons, figured Obamacare repeal was just talk. "I guess we really didn't think about that, that he was going to cancel that or change that or take it away," she said. "I guess I always just thought that it would be there. I was thinking that once it was made into a law that it could not be changed." "

funny. definitely on the funny column.

this was also on the washington post

[ilduclo]

there's some good stuff in the article about how red "taker" states will be hurt the most under tRump. So have a great time, righties!

[Severian]

Originally Posted by greenlight

isn't he filling swamp instead of draining it talking about his cabinet? espec. goldman sach people.

To be fair, Betsy DeVos is not a politician in the strictest professional sense of the word... she's just one of the biggest independent "don't-call-her-a-lobbyist" lobbyists in the fucking world. Chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party, with more money any of us will ever see in our combined lifetimes tied up in school choice/charter school/voucher programs. So... y'know.. not part of "the swamp" ... more like a nasty toxic bacteria floating around on the surface.

Oh, hey, she had also accused Michigan workers of being overpaid. Michigan (now where has that word come up lately? Hmm...) where the minimum wage is lower than the federal, and were people make about $15,000 less than they need to to make ends meet. Oh, also, where Betsy Devos lives in a mansion, doesn't work, and throws parties for the Bushes. BAAAAAHAHAHA!