"Is that all there is?" Peegy Lee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCRZZC-DH7M

Is there, in truth, an election when the election is fraudulent? Do we have, in truth, a democracy if there is no election? Is there a democracy if it exists only as a mass delusion in the minds of our citizenship? Every 4yrs we have a string of 'chat' and accept for a few tweets now and then the board goes silent. I have been listening to this thread for 16yrs. Is that all there is? Is that all there will be; a sound of discontentment followed by silence?

Disturbed - The Sound Of Silence [Official Music Video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

(Apologies to my Simon and Garfunkel generation, but I find that there are less of us every year)

TomDorr's analysis is no doubt correct that this election was largely a referendum on the fact that the Democratic establishment elite abandoned the middle class for the donor class. However,his -- and certain others' -- hope that somehow any good will come out of it, in regards to the really important issues like anthropogenic climate disruption, war, healthcare, and the myriad of issues important to workers and their families, seems a little too Pollyannaish considering the track records of the reprobates just handed all the key levers of power.

Reading through the rest of the thread, the points expressed by ikeberltersen, ajackson23, 2950-10k, Janet Cruz, Suze O, Legend, and so many others, implying that we must resist, each in our own way, should better light the way forward out of this dark place. Being half Irish (the angry half), and knowing their long, sad history resisting the English occupiers, my first thought was, godamnit, armed rebellion! But the peacenik side of my schizophrenia realizes peaceful resistance is far more powerful and lasting.

I can't bear all the hand wringing on the inter-tubes by Democratic bloggers, pundits, and failed strategists, so the following is my own postmortem liberal lament. Anyway, the energy of anger and disgust is better directed into words than sticks and stones, or punching out the windows of my petrol-mobile with arthritic knuckles.

As a likely tail-end-charlie on a long thread, I don't really expect to get any eyeballs -- and this post will probably end up being impossibly long. But for the sake of whatever (or for the typing practice), here goes anyway:

I'm getting too old and lazy to hassle with all the paperwork of seeking asylum in an actual democracy -- one envisioned by the Founders; not the bastardized hellscape cobbled together by the Constitutional untruths and misquotes of goofball "intellectuals" to the right of Jefferson Davis. So I've decided to stay put and hurl politically incorrect insults at the brain-dead zombie hordes of "conservative" (What a misnomer!), grab-em-by-the-p---y, mostly white, religious hypocrites.

Or, as I prefer, "radical Christianist terrorists." A label so well deserved shouldn't offend sham followers of the "Prince of Peace," considering that their last great savior instigated an unlawful, immoral religious war of choice in the wrong countries. FYI for dummies: The bulk of 9/11 conspirators came from and were funded largely, albeit indirectly, by our staunch (ha ha) ally, Saudi Arabia, harboring Wahhabi "princes of war" squandering their oil wealth derived from American rednecks driving gas hogs. Radical Salafist killers are still supporting asymmetric terrorism (as opposed to our variety of state-sponsored terrorism), and clueless American taxpayers are still funding the more mainstream Sunni wars engulfing the Middle East, ensuring an ever increasing supply of new terrorists.

Why? Because of oil -- the same oil destroying Earth's climate. Why? Because of the for-profit, mega-corps defense industry -- a "defense" destroying Earth's civilization. Why? So that billionaires can suck up all the good times for themselves. As Smedley Butler said, "War is a racket."

Neither do I cut any slack for Obama's and Hillary's culpability for following suit; still, George Choke-on-a-pretzel Bush's signature achievement and lasting ... and lasting ... legacy is a senseless, futile conflagration that has slaughtered far more Muslims than Christians -- a Nuremburg-worthy war crime of the highest order. That's the chickens--t (not sure if I can cuss on this blog) reason the village idiot pulled America out of the World Court. Does anyone seriously think the latest, greatest Republican messiah, sporting his phony head of hair and 330-word vocabulary, can bluster his way out of this neocon, self-induced quagmire? No, I didn't think so!

Trump. My God! Duh, let's toss the nuclear football to a total narcissistic, reality-show media creation/sensation -- a small-minded, loudmouthed, schoolyard bully who made his political bones disseminating a rightwing, fever-swamp lie about Obama's damn birth certificate and then fanned the flames of Hillary's damn emails. The compliant corporate media gifted this fool two-plus billion dollars of free exposure (Bernie almost none), never mentioning the fact that the "Dubya" Bush Administration deleted over twenty-two million emails -- and, yes, from a private server! The double standard and selective outrage is breathtaking! Sure, Trump had a lot of bad press; but then, remember what P.T. Barnum said about publicity, "I don't care what they say about me, just make sure they spell my name right!"

He also famously said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." Stupid people vote for, well, stupid people. Ignorance is not necessarily stupidity, but willful ignorance certainly is. Being the shameless, self-centered showman he is, Trump correctly identified the mood of the populace, filched Bernie's truth, and out-maneuvered Hillary's poorly run campaign. If you think this greedy huckster will go to bat for us, watch the Scottish documentary by Anthony Baxter, "You've Been Trumped Too."

"Dumbocrats" used to be the party of the average working stiff, but over decades of compromising with the "Republi-cons" and lusting after wealthy donors, they abandoned their base for corporate-minded ideology and so-called "free" market principles. Nothing is free! The horrible cost of this titanic shift was a rapid transplantation of America's manufacturing base -- the true wealth of a nation -- to low-wage countries mostly free of laws regulating pollution, and an irresponsible down-scaling of our lunch-bucket citizens without college degrees and without any realistic fix. It's no wonder they hate the party that sold them out. (TomDorr is absolutely right about this!)

However, going for Trump was just plain stupid. He and his minions of orcs are a basket of unwitting fascist chumps. The historically accurate definition of fascism is the melding of corporate interests with the militaristic and police state powers of government, a concept first introduced by Mussolini and later adopted by Hitler (as Thom so often reminds us). The road to ruin is a distinct sequence of events, and America is nearing the end of Naomi Wolf's ten steps to fascism. (Think Standing Rock, Dakota Access Pipeline, and broken treaties.)

Instead of holding hands and singing Kum bay ya with Herr Drumpf to "Make America Great Again," as Hillary and Obama suggested in their spineless, defeatist concession speeches, I'm rooting for this sick version of "Ameerkkka" to fail utterly. The world needs it to fail! Otherwise, we'll be the generation that allowed rapacious scavengers to feed on the rotting corpse of our once great Republic. I hope they choke!

A paraphrased quote, oft misattributed to Sinclair Lewis but nevertheless reflecting one of his salient points, shouts out to us, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross." Indeed.

Okay...that's enough; back to running guns south and drugs north. Hey, Homeland Security snoops, I'm kidding!

Chuck thanks for the read. I think the left is way off on Trump. Trump is not coming out of a recession like "Raygun". He is not going to spend he is going to cut and cut big. The economy is going to explode because poeple with money will feel comfortable investing with a business man in power. Old rich white guys are opening their wallets right now. Look at the stock market right now. The best thing I heard Trump say is "I am running for President of the United States not President of the world" great news for America not so good for the rest of the world. Trump is a long way from Reagan

Ajackson23 -- Thanks for the reference. What makes it even worse is that the exit polls cannot include the voters who gave up trying because of the long lines in North Carolina at the polls, the long lines at the DMV in WI, etc.

The hypocracy of the Republicofascists knows no bounds. Instead of protesting he is not my president, they should be protesting a stolen election. All of the the States that engaged in blatant voter suppression should be shutdown by protest until either people's votes are counted or the electors annull this farcal election.

I don't understand why Thom and a few others want Keith Ellison to be the new DNC chair. While Mr. Ellison may be a great Guy and a fine legislator, is it really a good stategic idea to have a muslim represent the party? I can see that as a protest against Islamophobia, but it really paints a target on the DNC's back as the true secret Muslim party. Howard Dean has proven he can get the job done. Protesting is fine but is it really working?

I have to scream, WHY IN HELL ARE WE IGNORING THE FACT THAT KARL ROVE IS STILL THE ARCHETECT AND HE'S BEEN PERFORMING ELECTION FRAUD EVERY 2 YEARS? WHEN DO WE DEMAND THEY ALL BE SCRAPPED?

THOM,WHEN ARE WE GOING TO MAKE IT THE TOPIC OF DISCUSSION? HRC won!

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/can-we-count-election-results-exit...

Not much left to say. Masses of the poor, and those who get why it matters, voted for President Obama on the chance that he could launch a legitimate discussion about our poverty crisis, and begin reversing the anti-poor agenda implemented by the Clinton administration. It was worth a try. Many are keenly aware of the role Hillary Clinton played in formulating that agenda. Others were aware of Clinton's long record of support for military aggression, and for corporate empowerment. In 2016, the only choice for these people was to vote third party or withhold their votes.

Reference exiting polling results:

http://tdmsresearch.com/2016/11/10/2016-presidential-election-table/#comment-1070

The science of statistical analysis led the revolution into modern agriculture in the study of seed test plots and the revolution into modern manufacturing in the development of machine capability. If the statistical results were ignored then as they are in today’s polling results, modern agriculture and manufacturing would not exist. To ignore the science of these results is equivalent to ignoring climate change and its science. As we honor the Veterans who gave their lives for our democracy, we dishonor them with our apathy. Our nation has suffered a coup d’état of third world proportions. Yet we as a nation cower to those who too readily speak of the Constitution and the right to vote while actualizing fraud and contempt for these instruments of democracy. Has our nation become so blind, deaf, and dumb that it will just acquiesce to today’s demigods of power and corruption? Have we become a nation so ignorant of truth and reason that we placidly subjugate ourselves and our nation to people who have no interest in democracy but for how it can be manipulated to serve as a means to their own ends? The science and truth of these exit polls have brought no uproar, no outrage, no calling for a re-election with paper only ballets. The science and truth of these exit polls shout of fraud, insurgency and treason. Our nation now stands on the gallows and the perpetrators of our demise are pulling the lever. Millions of people have suffered horrible deaths over the centuries to bring the ideals of democracy and freedom to birth within our mass consciousnesses and actualized in the formation of The United States of America. We have put great energies and effort to develop a vast military to protect our very existence. But we are now being devoured from within by parasites who perceive our great nation as nothing but fodder for their own feast. We do nothing about the enemy within; within our borders and within ourselves. We have been very cleverly wooed to sleep by people who speak of service and concern yet act to dominate and control. Will we wake up? Will we come to our senses? Will we perceive the deceptions woven around us? I fear I may have only lived to see us die.

A sobering thought. What if Trump does "make America great again". If he does bring back mfg. jobs, improves. health care, stops the out of control spending spree and government corruption. Etc. It could be the end of the lefts socialists movement. I think the world is extremely worried that America is going to look after it self for a change As a Canadian I am. 75% of our exports go to the US and it looks like an additional 800,000 barrels a day of oil once keystone is approved. Interesting times to come

Hey Thom, did you buy Louise 11 roses for your anniversary?

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Trump Vacates His Promises

{… a rhyme …}

It’s hard to tie

Mister Trump to his lie, -

- since his lie was just a bargaining position

to trick himself into a transition

to the cherished Presidency,

to a White House residency.

Yuuge ambition.

Truth’s in attrition.

No contrition.

Gummint’s in a yuugely terrible condition.

================================