Contact:
WWP Statement on the Election of Donald Trump
Erik Molvar, Executive Director, (307) 399-7910, emolvar@westernwatersheds.org
LARAMIE, Wyo. – These are dark days for public lands and environmental conservation, with Donald Trump set to assume the presidency of the United States. President-elect Trump will have the power to assign political appointees to oversee all of the of the federal agencies who manage western public lands on behalf of all Americans, oversee the recovery of rare and imperiled wildlife and plants, as well as agencies established to prevent pollution and environmental destruction of clean air and clean water. We call upon President-elect Trump to eschew the impulse to appoint anti-environmental politicians or corporate shills to top posts in his administration.
The fact that Mr. Trump has advanced Republican Representative Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) to his short list of candidates for Secretary of Interior indicates a hostile stance toward public lands and responsible land stewardship. Rep. Lummis has been an entrenched opponent of conservation throughout her tenure in the House, even voting against the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, a bill supported by both Republican Senators from Wyoming as the dying wish of Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY). Rep. Lummis’ anti-environmental voting record has been both consistent and extreme throughout her tenure in the House of Representatives.
Western public lands belong to all Americans, and are treasured for their beauty, wildness, and diversity. We are concerned that assaults against our bedrock environmental safeguards will amplify during the coming four years, and it will be more important than ever to have vigilant environmental watchdogs like Western Watersheds Project, willing to take strong stands against unlawful abuses of our public lands, waters, and wildlife.
Conservation should not be a partisan issue. The cost of reversing progress on curbing carbon emissions and addressing climate change would be catastrophic – in dollars, lives, property, and irreversible ecological damage. All Americans have an ownership stake in our millions of acres of public lands. Private uses of public lands must only occur where they are sustainable, fostering the health of the land and supporting thriving populations of native wildlife, which also belong to the public and are managed in trust for the public good. America’s legacy and inheritance of public lands, waters, and wildlife must be carefully managed for the long-term health of the land and its wildlife, not sacrificed for the short-term corporate profits of an elite few. The mantle of responsibility for environmental stewardship that now passes to President-elect Trump must not be taken lightly.
Comments
What We need is expert advice on how to counter this probable threat to wildlife and the environment.
What We need is expert advice on how to counter this probable threat to wildlife and the environment.
No experts in Trumps camp, just barbarians at the gate.
I thought one of his kids, either Trump Jr. or Eric, had expressed an interest in interior at one time also (which might be even worse than Lummis…if possible). Either way, somebody needs to start building an ark…not for water, but for bad legislation. It’s coming.
Luckily, Trump appointing any blood relation would be against Federal anti-nepotism laws. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/3110
“As for his take on whether it’s ethical to hunt endangered animals for fun like his sons did, even if it was legal? Trump steered clear of answering, saying, “I’m not necessarily in favor of that. I know nothing about that. That’s up to other people.””
Not any more, Mr. Trump. Its up to YOU.
I think civil disobedience, direct and immediate offensive action, and collaboration to reject Trump’s policies are necessary. Quiet and polite expectations did not work under Obama and that approach certainly won’t work with Trump’s camp. There are too many issues at stake, the “theft” of the SC justice nomination, LGBT, civil and women’s rights not to mention foreign policy challenges in a nuclear armed world. This man has never been a serious candidate and he never will be become an intelligent, thoughtful uniter and protector of democracy or protector of public trust resources.
While the civil rights and nuclear threats are being carefully analyzed, what is hardly mentioned is the potential catastrophe awaiting public lands, wildlife and natural resources under a Trump reign.
No disrespect meant to Western Watershed for whom I have tremendous respect but calling on Trump to “to eschew the impulse to appoint anti-environmental politicians or corporate shills to top posts in his administration” is like pissing in the wind.
If this election taught us anything it is that the dialogue has shifted. Truth, science, logic and experience do not matter. Much of the electorate religiously watch reality television and are fed a steady diet of it, they do not have an interest in researching facts, many appear to be latent bigots and millions thrive on drama, gossip and sensationalist reporting. Otherwise why does reality television preoccupy so much of american’s time and interest?
Regardless of the popular vote, the “people” elected the most unqualified, disrespectful, ignorant, self important, morally bankrupt demagogue I can think of.
They did so knowing that he ran on a platform of jobs creation and that he bankrupted most if not all of his businesses, cheated his vendors and partners and outsourced his jobs and materials. They did so accepting his resistance to produce tax returns. How stupid can we be?
Today I read, when asked if he had gone too far in the campaign, that Trump replied, “no I won”. To Trump scorched earth policy is standard. This is how he operates, so we don’t have to guess at what he will do with our public trust resources.
The carnage that he created in his businesses will be repeated with our economy, our domestic and foreign policy and our public trust resources are earmarked to be sacrificed for development and extractive industries.
Calling on Trump to do anything responsible is wasting valuable time.
Instead I call on all NGOs whose missions include protecting the environment, wildlife or public lands to stop sending me e mails for donations. I want to see you prove that you are engaged in collaborative advocacy. I want to see you stand together to fight this man and his plans to trash the environment, kill off predators, eviscerate the ESA, defund the EPA and generally rape and pillage.
I only hope this happens fast. I wonder how you plan to work differently to fight this terrible threat that is about to be realized.
I’ve worked in advertising and production for many years. I Think a smart national advertising campaign is needed right now. Advocates need to appeal to republicans and democrats, to protect wildlife and the many parks, wilderness areas and refuges that are threatened by administrative appointments under potential cabinet choices like Palin, Lummis or personal friends with an interest in natural resource extractive industries.
I think many who voted for Trump did so without understanding the potential ramifications for wild animals and places under a Trump Administration.
It’s time to show them just what is at risk. The Trump campaign was masterful in their defaming of Hilary Clinton. If they succeeded in turning horrible lies into truths to get votes, we can certainly succeed in using terrible truths to expose Trump’s candidates and policies and turn the tide. But we have to change tactics, be relentless and find common outrage, and then not to let up!
Part of me says wait and see, but, like you, I have observed over the past eight years that nice does not work. The man will be under the spotlight for many different reasons.
RISIGN! TRUMP! RESIGN! GOP Hands Off Me!
“civil disobedience” I agree, lets take over a real Federal Building and not some rinky-doik wildlife refuge edifice. George Soros is sure to send some moolaa & BLM protesters for such a task.
Western Watersheds thank you for your amazing advocacy work over the years.
Advocacy towards transparency (that of which is not expected with a trump’s suspicious administration to reveal, whether before or after the fact(s).) Regional public notices or discovery’s, of terse “implicit collaboration,” will oftentimes require many times once over for the repeated uses of meeting financial obligations stemming from litigation, and or whatever there may be on the table at any time, reassuring the public with educational and or informative notices to impact awareness with the use’s of an age old national advertising campaign, advocating collaborative “activism 101” for the protectionism of North America’s wildlife, environmental stewardships, national resources, and public lands is a useful solution, though effectual at a glancing moment’s notice, its effect’s will usually be determined at another time, and place.
There is a petition circulating with more than 2.2 million signatures in one day to ask the electoral college to vote for Clinton
A long shot but a true patriot would look at the first actions this man has taken as an indication of an incompetent hostile autocrat
His children and son in law operating herb”blind” trust and as members of the transition team selecting cabinet members
Dear god
This is where it all started folks.
Perish the universe, provided I have my revenge!”
— Cyrano de Bergerac
Stick around for the entire speech following this short clip. Its hilarious. Going to miss this man.
Correction – The entire speech following the clip is from this year’s press dinner. No punches pulled.
Interested read published by The New York Times, Sunday, October 9, 2016 Section: National Parks, Editorial by Karen Schwartz, In the Woods Etiquette: Don’t Act Like the Animals; “the-not-so-rare wildflower called the ‘toilet paper bloom’” that gave instructions on how to pee and poop properly in the woods. Besides suggesting the editorials point-of-view, in retrospect for myself, personally. I never had in my lifetime, squatted to plant a toilet paper wildflower. Well, anyway to move on to the presidential election. Interesting enough to note the (2015) U.S. population census is 321,42 million and, BBC news illustrated a U.S. voting map of Wyoming, as flaming hot red republicans in election voting. At least looking back to October, the month had mild weather. Though interesting enough is Clinton’s received votes of 60,143,547 million, and D. Trump received votes of 59,830,190 million. Total U.S. population votes: 119,973,737 million. In the meantime the petition calls for the Electoral College to “ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton.” Dec. 15th is the deadline. Isn’t it wonderful in knowing that the intelligence, and feelings is by choice to “don’t act like the animals”.
Perhaps Dr. Maughan could enlighten us as to the potential for states to “ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton.” and what it would take to do that?
a miracle and that hasn’t happened since fishes and loafs night.
loaves for you spellers
Electors could do that if they chose. In some states that would violate state law, and they might be punished.
Do you know who your electors are? You could contact them.
What kind of an administration would Hillary have if she was elected that way?
Here’s another if, in particular since Trump has alienated many in his own party. What if so many electors were to void their votes, to the point that Trump no longer had his 271? Then what? More of a question of curiosity.
Trump is a man that raised two sons to be serial wildlife slaughterers that enjoy canned trophy hunts. Hoping he will do anything but attempt to extract revenue from our public lands is a pipe dream. The DNC and the corpse of a candidate they spewed forth have cost us far more than we can yet imagine.
This from the New York Times earlier today 11/12:
++It is the stunning paradox of American politics. In a bitterly divided nation, where Tuesday’s vote once again showed a country almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, one party now dominates almost everything in American governance.
With Donald J. Trump’s win, Republicans will soon control the White House, both chambers of Congress, the tilt of the Supreme Court, more state legislative chambers than any time in history, and more governor’s offices than they have held in nearly a century.++
Source: via msn link ( http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-expand-control-in-a-deeply-divided-nation/ar-AAkc9fE?li=BBnb7Kz )
The left pushed too damned hard and this is what it got us. I told you this could happen, and it did. And, to add salt to the wound wolf advocacy which was far too strong in the Western states contributed to it.
So, let’s just say you contributed to screwing all of us in the middle! And I am keeping my fingers crossed that a new Secretary of Interior is not the likes of Cynthia Lummis
Oh please WM, give me a break! The 2016 “race” for President was a joke from the get go. PLENTY of blame to go around on both sides.
And speaking of middle:
Nancy, I think you missed the important part of the post. It has to do with both Houses of Congress, state legislatures and governorships. Please re-read and hopefully comprehend. Just wait until the Western States agenda gets forwarded to Congress, and lobbied.
Pop song videos amuse me, but mostly don’t reflect reality. What is your point?
WM,
Many of us and especially the young people who will inherit the earth after the likes of Trump are long gone, do not accept your comment that they “pushed too damned hard” on clean air and water, acceptance of climate change, opposing king coal and mining techniques like mountain top removal that fills in watersheds with the overburden and destroys communities, sending young soldiers into foreign countries like Iraq and pouring $1T down the drain to create chaos, resisting the waste of our taxes on construction of another Berlin wall along our borders, treating young women like objects to be grabbed and fondled as we choose, fracking anywhere and everywhere and injecting the toxic fluids into our aquifers, asking billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes, promotion of pipelines throughout the country to transport oil wrenched inefficiently from tar sands and shale while devastating vast areas of the planet, expecting that health care should be available to everyone even if they do have preexisting conditions perhaps brought on by drinking water laced with toxic compounds placed there by nearby industries, expecting industry to protect the environment, buying Chinese steel and other foreign products produced in factories using near slave labor while our steel and other industries collapse, and the list goes on. Even many top Republicans in leadership positions resisted Trump’s siren call of extremism in defense of greed. Are those with an environmental bent really the only ones who were “pushing too damned hard” for a kinder, gentler world and now must accept the consequences?
Rich, you can certainly accept or reject my comment. I’m just stating what happened at the polls. And, forget Trump for a moment. As state legislatures and governorships shift further to the right, do you have a better rational explanation for what happened? We’d love to hear it.
WM,
The right moves farther to the right and the left becomes more centrist, with the possible exception of Sanders. It’s become so skewed that any thing to the left of a moderate republican is looked upon as ultra liberal. The continual shit storm of lies has been thrown in such great volume that the walls can no longer be cleansed.
In our lifetime, I don’t know if it will ever come back to the center. I don’t know if fighting fire with fire or the evolution of a third party is the answer. I understand a presidential protest vote, but not for this impostor.
Immer,
The link below does not reflect my view, but it apparently does the view of a good friend (Navy Captain (equivalent of an Army Colonel); Columbia U-Ivy Leaguer, and lawyer). He lives now in AZ. He is a very smart man. He and his wife live modestly. They are moderate R’s. We have exchanged emails over the last three months, and I have been merciless in my attacks on Trump, who he supported from the beginning. On election night I was watching the results roll in on a NYT computer feed. Nobody, and I mean nobody, was more surprised than I as the Electoral College votes tallied favor of Trump.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/were-called-redneck-ignorant-racist-thats-not-true/ar-AAkf3sG?li=BBnbcA1
I was astounded by the geographic sweep that showed a sea of red across the Country, as county after county went in the R column. I still cannot believe it. But, for now I do accept it as a snapshot of values which many hold over a large geographic area.
The caption of a map my friend sent me said “Trump has better coverage than Verizon.” http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/35862/does-trump-have-better-coverage-than-verizon
I can’t say for sure how accurate the colors are in any state, but I can for WA. Everything East of the Cascades went red, pretty strongly. Something is going on. And, as an aside here in uber-liberal Seattle I there is a growing undercurrent that is tired of deadbeat heroin addicts now crowding our streets as campers and a huge drain on City services and dollars. If Trump and an R Congress can do anything about that I’ll go along for the ride, because the liberal/progressive view has sure screwed that one up. Sorry for going off topic, but I had to say that.
Generalizations/over generalizations rarely pay dividends. That sea of red does not represent the many who voted for Clinton, nor are the areas of blue indicative of the Trump vote. As I have written before, more people voted against Trump than for him, and the same can be said for Clinton when the Libertarian and Green votes are added in to the mix. With present counts, somewhere close to 4 million more voters voted against Trump than for him. The maps don’t show that.
The maps are just another form of statistic that drives the wedge between all of us, and I don’t see it getting better anytime soon.
Trump told so many disenfranchised just what they wanted to hear. Though he may sound like the “straight talker” Australian comedian Jim Jeffries commented, “if you believe that, you’re dumber than shit”…
The rural vote…most of those logging and mining jobs that drew folks to those areas are never coming back, if for no other reason, mechanization. The few jobs that become available must also be open to women, where the new misogyny may make that problematic.scrape the earth of what it has remaining, despoil the surrounding areas, and in twenty years time there will be nothing left, and the land unlivable.
The far right has been working for this day since Goldwater’s defeat. The people now literally have a golden calf for the purpose of worship. Christians in general evangelicals in particular have been exposed for the frauds they have always been. They have their new false messiah, this one bedecked in the gold and opulence of the elite that are the antithesis of their dogma.
Who would have thought, not only do the Cubs make it to the World Series, they win; and Trump becomes president, in the same year. Perhaps the end of times is near.
I know, it truly is hard to believe. Looking back, many I talked to in day-to-day interactions such as shopping, salon, etc were pretty closed-mouthed about the election. I live in a blue state, but in one of a few red enclaves. But the mood this weekend was cheerful, and I hope people won’t be disappointed.
Blue collar jobs are what keep the country running and deserve respect. But we live in a world now that has changed and is more inclusive in that group. Women and minorities need to be given respect in these jobs as well.
Immer,
I’m not so sure these are “generalizations.” From what I have read, the only places Clinton won popular vote were high density urban areas. Those are represented in blue on the map in the previous post. This map tracks very closely the one I followed on the NYT real time voting site. Go to the “counties” map.
If you can open it (NYT has a pay wall for some of its stuff), you will see this very closely tracks the other map I linked to:
http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/president
And in the sea of red, there are islands of blue, like Blaine County, ID; Teton, WY; Glacier, MT and Pitkin, CO. ALL of these are affluent ski area/tourism counties inhabited by “I’ve got mine [maybe even from Wall S. investing or working there], so screw you, now I’m blue,” types. Amazing how wealth and a rural address can change one’s politics.
A lot of opinions floating around out there, here’s another one:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/09/trump-won-because-college-educated-americans-are-out-of-touch/
Looking at the voting map of Montana, most blue areas were located around towns & cities with colleges.
WM,
The sea of red only tells part of the story, as do the areas of blue, as the opponent in these areas sis receive votes. The point I’m trying to make is that the maps only show who garnered the majority of votes, only if it was ten or twenty more. If that’s the way one is going to look at the map, perhaps we should just go to the popular vote, eh?
Also, in some other outlet, I saw %’s of voting blocks taken by candidates. Tellingly, Clinton took the overwhelming majority of voters with a Batchelor degree or higher. Trump overwhelmingly won those earning <50K. Interpret that how you may, but apparently higher education represents elitism, and Less education represents the oppressed. How in the world Trump represents the latter is beyond my comprehension, and most probably that particular group itself.
Corner a scared dog, and you will get bit. How long will it take that cornered dog, if ever, to find out it's been duped.
We also don’t want the destruction of our health care system, open borders, Iran with the bomb, all out warfare on our police, criminals being released by the hundreds, and being made the laughing stock of the world. Thanks Obummer.
How bout this for starters:
“The left pushed too damned hard and this is what it got us”
The left didn’t push hard enough on what a disgusting individual Trump really is and the right (GOP leaders) all but cowered in the corner.
Hopefully the left can pick up the pieces next election provided the damage isn’t too great.
And this:
“And, to add salt to the wound wolf advocacy which was far too strong in the Western states contributed to it”
Not ALL western states had a problem, WM – WA, OR, CA, CO, NM
Actually Nancy, if you see the policy positions coming out of the Western Governor’s Conference, it would be real hard to tell the Blue from the Red Western states. It is an interesting alliance, and most behind the scenes will say they don’t really like the federal government on natural resource policy matters (by analogy you can also tell by the way they thumb their noses on marijuana policy – what 3 more states joined the ranks of legalization this round?). All the states you list, by the way, with the possible exception of CA would rather manage their own wolves if they have or are likely to get them soon. None like this DC Circuit ruling that stopped the WGL delisting dead in its tracks – and then there are those once Blue heartland states that have gone over to the Dark side as well.
The pendulum may swing again, but not before a lot of damage is done which takes us back a couple decades in environmental protection advances. Some folks just don’t understand the consequences of pushing too hard and then why they get slapped silly like when a sweep like this happens. Last time R’s had this big a rout was in the 1920’s. Hold on to your hat, because it has potential to be a real shXX storm.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/a-neuroscientist-explains-what-may-be-wrong-with-trump-supporters-brains/
We’ve experienced shXX storms before WM, maybe not of this magnitude but, there are enough sane people “left” in this country, who will rally together if Washington gets out of hand, especially when it comes to protecting our environment.
The left pushed too damned hard and this is what it got us
+++
You feel Sanders is doing the right thing?
Chomsky: Pretty much, I think. People said he was depicted — and he depicted himself – as a political revolutionary, but he’s not. He’s a decent, honest New Dealer. He wouldn’t have surprised Eisenhower very much. It’s just the country has gone so far to the right, that when he takes sort of New Deal positions, he looks like he’s from outer space.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/38237-noam-chomsky-on-hopes-for-democracy-in-2016-and-beyond
so much for ‘the left’-thing
good article with plenty useful links about US political system:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/06/ferguson-clinton-sanders-election-democratic-party-trump/
It is clear if you look at commencement speeches and other indicators that major parts of the business community think Clinton is too far left, as odd as that may sound to Sanders supporters. That spells trouble down the road.
You will, for sure, see a lot of reluctant endorsements on a professed one-time-only basis. The result, I suspect, will be an influx of money from normally Republican circles into the Clinton campaign.
That’s likely to distort the political forces at the top of the Democratic Party; you may see some very strange things happening.
Clinton’s strategy for winning votes is now very simple: you go to women and say the magic word: “Trump.” You go to African Americans with the same mantra: “Trump.” And you go to Latinos, just pointing and repeating “Trump,” while the media plays “Ride of the Valkyries” 24/7.
How did 2014 telegraph 2016?
Walter Dean Burnham and I analyzed the election’s results in detail. We both believe historical analysis of voting returns is crucial to understanding political systems, and we knew, like everyone else, that voter turnout typically drops in the off-year congressional elections following a presidential election.
But when we looked at 2014, we were astounded. The fall in voter turnout from 2012 to 2014 was the second-largest of all time: 24 percentage points.
In many states in the East and Midwest, voter turnouts collapsed to levels not seen since before the Jacksonian revolution, when property suffrage laws choked off voter turnout.
Some states in the West recorded their lowest turnouts since their admission into the union. And for the first time since Reconstruction, turnout in the South finally caught up with turnout in the North — thanks to the latter’s collapse.
Very few pundits or political scientists believed us, but we couldn’t have been plainer about what was happening. We wrote that the outcome ‘likely heralds a new stage in the disintegration of the American political order. Though Republicans jubilate now, the trend is probably as threatening to them as it is to the Democrats. The reason is stark: Increasing numbers of average Americans can no longer stomach voting for parties that only pretend to represent their interests.’
+
links to the papers connecting dots about economics, elections, soaring death rates of working-class whites, the generational gap in the Clinton/Sanders support etc.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-team-rivals-231277
Between the infighting and those pesky lawsuits:
http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/10/31/trump-has-75-ongoing-legal-battles-which-media-are-ignoring-during-their-breathless-fbi-letter/214211
I wonder if Trump will even have the time to concentrate on running the country.
Hillary endorsed by 360 newspapers and mags, Trump by 13. Nah, sure that didn’t influence coverage.
http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/11/has-election-2016-been-a-turning-point-for-the-influence-of-the-news-media/
remember all that bad publicity wolves got in the US & Canada? probably don’t mean that much
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2012/09/01/of-wolves-and-trophic-cascades-on-the-costs-and-benefits-of-wolves/
“Attitudes Toward Wolves in the United States and Canada: A Content Analysis of the Print News Media, 1999–2008.”
I’ve been appalled by the media this election, the worst I’ve seen in my life. Whatever is reported has been many times flat out false, exaggerated, fearmongering, and influencing voters. I wish people would quit with the Electoral College criticism – that is unless people want their elections to be decided by New York, LA, Chicago, and other big cities (and I’m sure they do).
We wouldn’t even be having this kind of conversation if HRC had won the electoral vote. I voted for her after much deliberation of whether to vote Green or Democrat – HRC had her problems re her emails, but her party ultimately did her in, by not staying with the issues and mudslinging, and assuming that scandal would dominate issues in the public’s mind. She would have stood far ahead without all of that negativity.
Not all people are ‘reality tv’ minded, and I think that’s where the Democratic party failed. Plus, it’s rare for a party to serve for more than two terms. People wanted a change, and I hope people will work together. Giving it back to the GOP is childish.
I’m sure that President-elect Trump will be sobered by being in the same company as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Meeting with President Obama, he even looked a little awed, it appeared to me. He knows whatever he did in the past, he has to serve all the people now. As someone rightly pointed out, there is a law against nepotism. He himself is not a hunter, even if his kids have. And they are not the only ones.
I have to say, the people have spoken, roared actually, and you’ve gotta respect that. Wow. We’ll keep fighting and negotiating, for what we believe in anyway. No rest for the weary, unfortunately. We ask that President-elect Trump will be fair and impartial.
You keep asking, hoping, “fighting and negotiating”. Good luck with that. The incoming administration and Congress have no need for and no interest in negotiating. It’s time to do. Not talk about it – but, do. Science, global warming, public lands, education, civil and human rights for women, minorities, for all, standing up to rogue bullies internationally, beginning to overhaul a failing infrastructure, setting economic polices that benefit the middle and lower classes and not trickle-down failure part 3 benefitting Wall Street, big banks, and the 1%, maintaining environmental policies and regulations, wildlife/biodiversity/functioning ecosystems, progressive and realistic immigration reform, a Supreme Court that does not revert to the dark ages and more Citizens United BS – those and more – take your pick – and do something. I suggest working with millennials – the largest voting block in the country, the ones about to inherit a shit sandwich that may reverberate for decades, and the ones that might be amenable to education, organization, and action. And not coincidentally – the generation that did not vote for this de facto Pence, Ryan, and McConnell presidency (because it’s quite clear even this early that the GOP machine is going to eat Trump alive and prop up his tweeting carcass as a figurehead in the never-changing “swamp”).
Speaking of ‘doing’ anything, did the millennials actually get out and even vote this time? I haven’t seen the election turnout statistics entirely. For Brexit, they didn’t. For Demexit in America, I’m not sure? Because we in the past have been so consumerist, I think that all of us are going to have to make big societal changes – so big I don’t know if we even can. Changes to consumption habits, automobiles, energy use, etc. Vague promises of ‘green jobs’, and sending someone off to a climate ‘talk’ aren’t enough, thanks to us never thinking of the future.
So don’t look at me, I already do more than most people. I prefer to be constructive, though. Are you suggesting we storm the Bastille? Too late and won’t work. 🙂
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/11/prediction-professor-who-called-trumps-big-win-also-made-another-forecast-trump-will-be-impeached/
What caught my attention during the debates (shocking!) was his talk of keeping more jobs in America, and making sure our trade agreements don’t give away the store – but ‘decreasing regulation on business’ has me leery. We can’t afford to keep beating up on our environment and natural resources the way we do. I know President Obama early in his Administration proposed a program with incentives for companies to keep more jobs here, but will all of the congressional obstruction, I don’t know what ever became of it.
Blue collar workers, to me, are an important part of a functioning society. Differently educated doesn’t mean uneducated, nor stupid or incapable of understanding. I know HRC may have not meant it this way and her words got a little blown up in campaign rhetoric, but she and others calling people deplorables, uneducated, etc. is terribly elitist.
It used to be that the Democratic Party was the working man’s party, but now no party is. Plus, the private server issues bothered me, the avoidance of accountability and the FOIA. For the party of ‘anti-isms’ of any kind to blame her carelessness (at best) on a Vladimir Putin army of Russian hackers, promoting a Russo-phobia, was just too much. The stuff of old Cold War novels. It’s like the GOP.
So these things and the Wikileaks reading are what made me vote Democrat reluctantly. The Reluctant Democrat, there’s a new novel title.
A longish but compelling read
http://www.notesfromberingia.com/
As a nation, we are embarking on—to put it mildly—an unfortunate political experiment. Through the electoral college, and against the popular vote, we have elected a president who is probably the least qualified ever to hold that office. And if that is not enough, the people with whom he surrounds himself are also questionably tethered to the realities of the world the rest of us live in. Some people are saying that the inmates are in charge of the asylum. The problem is that the majority of the rest of us, who clearly did not want to see Trump as president, are locked in here with them. Right now, the most important question to me is how badly will he and his cronies damage our country? And, next in importance, how much will we let them?
First impression? I love the blog. Will read.
“Right now, the most important question to me is how badly will he and his cronies damage our country? And, next in importance, how much will we let them?”
Maybe sort of silly but the guide in regualtions for wetlands ‘no net loss’ policy keeps running through my head: 1) Avoid; 2) Minimize; 3) Mitigate. In that order.
With Trump and the right and alt-right:
1) Avoid (the damage)
– We failed to avoid the damage so,
2) Minimize;
– We work to find ways to minimize the damage of Trumpism. This is fresh and we don’t yet know what he will try, but we do know he put a White Nationalist (Aryan type) in one of the highest cabinet positions. We also know Paul Ryan is wasting no time in going after dissolving Medicare and privatizing it. Time will tell how soon it takes for them to salivate over taking our federal lands for oil and gas development and/or mining.
3) Mitigate;
– Similar to minimization, we mitigate what damage they do. I see minimization and mitigation fluctuating back and forth.
I can’t help but wonder about the reaction the many retired people who voted for Trump will react to Ryan privatizing Medicare. Plus, where the heck does all the money that we’ve paid into the program go? It’s not an entitlement. I have been purchasing it over my entire working life.
Ryan privatizing Medicare indicates he’s in bed with big insurance.
One of the typical nonsensical statements made by media is how we now have to “come together” and “work for the common good.” A great idea in principle, but we can all see we’ve entered an era that will be pivotal for public lands.
No point in playing nice with any of the monsters. We should adopt the tactics of our foes and be just as nasty as they have been. We should facemask, chopblock and engage in more than a little unportsmanlike conduct each and every day. Let’s be the loyal opposition and loyally oppose every last thing that is excreted by the Trump monstrosity.
Let’s give Trump and his clown show all the respect, support, and good will that was shown to Obama. Too bad our outgoing prez is unlikely to even throw us a bone to assist in defending our public lands. Others have said it above: we’re going to have to throw down the gauntlet going forward. We’ve experienced only a skirmish thus far; real battles lie ahead.
Do that, Kyle. I can almost guarantee the center will move further to the right, and the far right will get nastier. These demonstrations (some destructive in several venues) will not produce the result you think. But go ahead and see what kind of a backlash that produces.
Real progress will be made by regaining lost Congressional seats, governorships, county commissions, and most of all not doing the same stupid shit that got us here in the first place.
WM,
“Real progress will be made by regaining lost Congressional seats, governorships, county commissions…”
And therein lies the problem as this is where a substantial amount of Koch money has gone. With their campaign, they have essentially castrated any burgeoning opposition, all but guaranteeing that it remains red for the foreseeable future, as Rome/the Reichstag burns.
WM,
Essentially, I do not disagree with you. My concern is extrication from the cesspool.
I think as long as there’s some form of ‘sunshine laws’, some way to guarantee (haha) that most things done are done in the light for all to see, things will go uneasily but successfully. Watch the hellfire when something gets slipped in. If Trump can get term limits for congress, I’ll be impressed.
“Swamp” Immer, “swamp,” if The Donald is to be believed, his draining analogy and all. Well, there’s a deep subject in and of itself. Guess we have little choice except to watch, listen and learn.
As much as I am saddened by Trump being the next president I am equally thrilled Hillary will not be. We have over 320M people in this country and this is the two people we had to chose from. It seems to me we’ve sunk about as low as we can go as a nation.
I don’t think it’s higher education by itself that means elitism, but a snobbery by some (not all) that is associated with it. Just read any comments and the tone of a lot of newspaper articles associated with so-called liberals. There’s a looking down upon and an association with that as being the epitome of success. It isn’t the only way.
Snobbery? The ability to think critically and have a view a world exists beyond ones back yard? By all means then, let’s rid ourselves of these institutions.
No, not at all. But to turn around and belittle or make stereotypical assumptions about someone who either hasn’t chosen that path, or for whatever reason cannot, is the problem. People for the most part are intelligent and don’t need a PhD for most of life’s decisions. Unless we want to go back to the times when voting and education were based on social class.
One thing about DT, he has a conversational approach, even talking with the audience about his off-the-cuff stance – ‘ok, I’ve been told to chill, etc.’ or words to that effect. Even too blunt, as we know – which is translated as honesty. There’s not that Politian distance that others have.
Translated to honesty and equality, I have to say, even though he is a billionaire. Demagoguery to some; honesty and equality to others:
http://www.vox.com/2016/8/18/12423688/donald-trump-speech-style-explained-by-linguists
Ida, that was a very interesting article (says the former English teacher). And not terribly flattering. “His speech suggests a man with scattered thoughts, a short span of attention, and a lack of intellectual discipline and analytical skills. …It’s bursts of noun phrases, self-interruptions, sudden departures from the theme, flashes of memory, odd side remarks. … It’s the disordered language of a person with a concentration problem.”
Honesty? “Take, for example, Trump’s frequent use of “Many people are saying…” or “Believe me” — often right after saying something that is baseless or untrue. This tends to sound more trustworthy to listeners than just outright stating the baseless claim, since Trump implies that he has direct experience with what he’s talking about.”
Trump’s “salesmen’s tricks”: “Or when Trump keeps calling Clinton “crooked,” or keeps referring to terrorists as “radical Muslims,” he’s strengthening the association through repetition.”
Finally, “Leadership is hard; it needs discipline, concentration, and an ability to ignore what’s irrelevant or needless or personal or silly,” Pullum says. “There is no sign of it from Trump. This man talks honestly enough that you can see what he’s like: He’s an undisciplined narcissist who craves power but doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to exercise it wisely.” Out of the mouths of linguists.
Well, I think for some they seem him as honest, or at least more honest than the establishment politicians and an outsider. We can hardly call them honest! I also think there is more than one approach, to leadership for example, and the experts need to realize this and think outside the box. I also think only licensed doctors ought to be giving out psychological assessments of people.
I like language and to listen to good or interesting speakers, and I found Trump had this style too – speaking with, not at or above. Something has made him appeal overwhelmingly to voters, and I also thought this was an interesting article. They also did give the reasons why he does appeal.
I hate to say this, but there is a certain dishonesty or ‘crookedness’ if you will, about Hillary and her party. Just read those Wikileaks for all the political stances people are tired of – waffling, we need a minority, not treating the minority as a human being, but a means to win, giving classified information about Benghazi to her daughter! It’s a confirmation of the grey area that we see operating far too often in politics. There’s a loosey-goosey approach to classified information, as if the rules apply to the little people that certainly disappointed me. As did the character assassination approach to winning, instead of concentrating on the issues.
I’ve been told, I read it on the Internet, I heard it on the radio…all great sources of conversational information, but not for the POTUS.
Any good social studies teacher in this country is more qualified to be POTUS than Trump. He’s just beginning to find out what it’s all about. He is unqualified for the position. That’s not elitism or snobbery, it’s fact.
I’m just saying or trying to analyze his appeal to voters and why he won. But who knows, let’s at least give it a chance?
Good comments also from Kayla and of course Yvette.
http://www.rollcall.com/news/opinion/im-a-coastal-elite-from-the-midwest-the-real-bubble-is-rural-america
My little Trump-voting rural town may be predominantly white and hetero, but not exclusively, thank goodness! But we still are on the East Coast.
Speaking of political speeches, I always find President Obama’s speeches when he’s talking with an audience quite mesmerizing too.
Nancy, excellent article which says it better than I ever could.
It looks like the news media is not going to let up, and it is going to be to our country’s detriment. What’s more important, the greater good? Or pettiness? We’ve been asked to work together constructively. Do we want to behave the way it’s been the past eight agonizing years just for payback time?
Now personally, first will say that I personally voted for Donald Trump. In no way could I vote for Crooked Hillary. And if some one is offended, then be ‘Offended’. I could NEVER vote for a ‘Crooked’ Hillary. And I personally am thinking that Donald Trump could indeed become a Great President. Now every President has the chance to become Great. See What Happens for it is a very very chaotic world out there and a nuclear bomb going off would be everyones bad day. Do think we all need to get together and give him our best and have him, his administration, and family in our prayers and meditations.
But as concerning the environment and a Trump Administration. His sons are Avid Hunters. I have met many a hunter and a fisherman in the Yellowstone’s Thorofare who care and love the land and the wilderness as anybody. There are sooooo many, including many many environmentalists who are so alien to the Mother Earth – to the land and everything in this economic consumeristic world. I many a time have been dragged thru the mud by some freaking liberal for the smallest things including for using the edibble and medicinal plants in my wilderness sojourns. They criticized me for killing plants. I also have been severely criticized by some for even going hiking in the deep back wilderness areas. Sheesh!
If one is all afraid of a Trump Adminstration, then think of this. How many many administrations have come and gone thru the decades and decades. And today how much of the wild country still exists out there beyond the end of the road. And I bet after a Trump Administration it will still be there, along with our National Parks, our Wilderness Areas, or Wildlife Refuges, and such. In my years of hiking, it seems many of these areas are wilder now then they were in my youth, so many less people going back into the deep wilds it seems.
During the campaign, Trump had an interview with the magazine ‘Outdoor Life’. It was a good interview. He is very much on the side of the hunter with concerning the right to bear arms. But also he is on the side of keeping the public lands ‘public’ and people having access to them. For those that are interested, here is a link to the interview conducted in January of last year.
http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/hunting/2016/01/qa-donald-trump-guns-hunting-and-conservation
Work is already starting. The termites took over and the wood in this house is rotten. It is not salvageable. Tear it down and rebuild. It’s not that the left pushed too hard; it’s that the left didn’t push at all. Oh, they pretended to push but it was phony. They kept making the same ole’ same old plays. It no longer works. The left did screw up by not listening to what one sociologist calls ‘the deep story’. This deep story is that of the working people who do what they’ve been told to do; go to work, work hard, pay their bills, and don’t complain. But then the jobs get sent overseas and these people dry up in the job drought, or if lucky, stagnate. People want and need jobs and a clean environment but do not want the ‘guvment’ regulating without common sense. The story of the poor Whites, working poor and underpaid/underemployeed has been building for decades. This isn’t even about what is really happening or why it happened; it is 100% about how these people feel. Left out and looked over. Forgotten. The anger has been building and we have talking heads come along and say: Blame the intellectuals, blame the liberal professors, blame the Blacks, immigrants, Mexicans, Gays, no prayer in the schools, women and whomever has the target for that day. Trump saw his mark and tuned in and tapped into their anger. We are now in a crisis. We have a cross between Mussolini and Hitler.
We all failed. One of the frustrations with so many of the young adults and a few jaded old people like me is they see how working ‘within the system’ norms does not work. It never worked for us Indians; we never fully bought into that Norman Rockwell illusion. ‘Trust the government?’ Are you kidding? The same government that has broken every treaty it every signed with every tribe? It does me no good at all to call or write my senators. Our system is no longer a democracy, if it ever was, and it certainly wasn’t for my full-blooded Indigenous dad who was not even legally an American citizen until 1924! Corruption is on both sides. The DNC and democrats are just as corrupt as the republicans. In many ways we will need to rip this system to shreds and rebuild, especially the democrats.
These Trump/Ryan/McConnell people are not going to respond to niceties. They won’t respond to negotiation and working ‘within the system’. Indeed, I expect Trumpism to not even pretend to work with conservationists.
I fear we have many dark days ahead. The ugly underbelly of genocide and holocaust on which this country was built has risen. It will take all of us in varying capacities to control this beast.
We shall see how things shape up but Louise’s first post is spot on.
This is war. So be it.
I generally consider myself a fair-minded individual, with a philosophy that that springs from our earliest childhood teaching the golden rule and that what you mess up you, need to clean up. Although those who voted against trump fully understood that he does not abide by this policy, as he favors loyalty over fair play, and money over country, we couldn’t create a cogent message that could articulate the lack of patriotism this man and his minions have, at the same time as developing policies that would address the loss of solid middle class jobs to offshoring, automation, and immigration.
Environmental regulations are not the culprit. They have been put in place because somewhere down the line, someone tried to game the system for private gain over the public interest. I tend to agree with Louise. What is needed is for like minded individuals to forcefull make the case against those that would sell off or exploit public lands, and roll back “regulations” to clearly emphasize that the folks most benefitting from this are the same people who sold the American worker down the river. They see an opportunity to make massive personal gains at public expense, and if we’re not careful, leave us with a pittance of jobs and a massive cleanup after they have enriched themselves and leave the party. You can see it is already starting. It is incumbent on us to call them out as thieves and jackals, bereft of patriotism and fully un-American.
Sad news story in my neck of the woods, hope its not a sample of what’s to come from the most recently emboldened fanatics out there:
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/keci/american-nazi-party-flyers-have-missoulians-on-heightened-alert/157706163
And from NPR:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/14/502013652/hundreds-of-hateful-incidents-reported-in-wake-of-trumps-victory
insightful interview
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/38360-trump-in-the-white-house-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky
+
in the text is a link to downloadable-for-free book by economist Dean Baker who predicted the collapse of the housing bubble many years before it crushed in 2007-08
http://deanbaker.net/images/stories/documents/Rigged.pdf
Trump broke all records in the support he received from white voters, working class and lower middle class, particularly in the $50,000 to $90,000 income range, rural and suburban, primarily those without college education. These groups share the anger throughout the West at the centrist establishment, revealed as well in the unanticipated Brexit vote and the collapse of centrist parties in continental Europe. [Many of] the angry and disaffected are victims of the neoliberal policies of the past generation, the policies described in congressional testimony by Fed chair Alan Greenspan – “St. Alan,” as he was called reverentially by the economics profession and other admirers until the miraculous economy he was supervising crashed in 2007-2008, threatening to bring the whole world economy down with it. As Greenspan explained during his glory days, his successes in economic management were based substantially on “growing worker insecurity.” Intimidated working people would not ask for higher wages, benefits and security, but would be satisfied with the stagnating wages and reduced benefits
There are other factors in Trump’s success. Comparative studies show that doctrines of white supremacy have had an even more powerful grip on American culture than in South Africa, and it’s no secret that the white population is declining. In a decade or two, whites are projected to be a minority of the work force, and not too much later, a minority of the population. The traditional conservative culture is also perceived as under attack by the successes of identity politics, regarded as the province of elites who have only contempt for the ”hard-working, patriotic, church-going [white] Americans with real family values” who see their familiar country as disappearing before their eyes.
One of the difficulties in raising public concern over the very severe threats of global warming is that 40 percent of the US population does not see why it is a problem, since Christ is returning in a few decades. About the same percentage believe that the world was created a few thousand years ago. If science conflicts with the Bible, so much the worse for science. It would be hard to find an analogue in other societies.
“One of the difficulties in raising public concern over the very severe threats of global warming is that 40 percent of the US population does not see why it is a problem, since Christ is returning in a few decades.”
I don’t believe this. I’m sure it’s true for a minority, but in general I truly believe that most people do not care about climate change. They can’t give up their wants and creature comforts. I see more ‘yuge’ pickup trucks and SUVs than you can believe in my town (of course there are a lot of construction businesses and farms). I think sales of these larger vehicles always are high as well. Emissions standards are not going to be enough when a population keeps growing and buying more large vehicles.
I always have to laugh, I drive a Prius and to see one of those pickup grills obliterating everything in my rear view at a stop sign is interesting. Some of them had their Trump stickers at the voting center too. Oh well.
If I recall correctly, Ida, the Ford F series pick-up remains the most purchased new car in America (and they have very good repair records and resale value). This is followed by the Chevrolet Silverado pick-up and Dodge pick-up, then some sedans, suv’s and small pick-ups. Electric doesn’t appear to make even the top 30 with any weight. Remember the “guvment” told us for years that we were running out of oil and cheap gas was a short lived phenomenon of the ’70’s. About that running out of oil thing, and now…climate change. I bet its just a corporate ploy to sell us more expensive to buy and keep electric cars. And, ya can’t haul nothin’ in them. So, ya gotta borrow some yokel’s pickup down the road. As for climate change, it’s guvment scientists and administrators wanting more money to support their cushy jobs with benefits while suckling off the teat of the American taxpayer, as they study more and more about less and less.
– Bubba Trump supporter, Kearny, Nebraska.
Could be parts of all the above are actually true (the car sales things are for sure). http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2016/07/usa-30-best-selling-vehicles-june-2016-sales-stats.html
🙂 Yes, although for working needs pickups are necessary. Suburban people won’t be hauling hay (it’s beautiful to see) or construction tools and just get them because they want them. They can’t all be conservative Christian creationists!
Obviously, 7 billion people are leaving their mark on climate and the environment. There’s also natural climate cycles, exacerbated by human activity. But nobody is doing enough, and shifting blame to a group of ‘others’ is hypocritical and does nothing. There’s not a lot that can be done, but saving our wild places is certainly one that should be.
George’s latest article is alarming – is that a Trump decision?
and there is this
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/his-very-long-trip-kerry-producing-much-co2-average-american-1-year
interesting stuff, but the blueskymodel is a swag really, an educated guess on CO2 consumption by aircraft. Try subtracting the amount of CO2 consumed by any other form of transportation from and to the same locations. Also, subtract any needed resources used during slower transportation (food, lodging, powered devices, etc) It’s can be seen as an average for comparison, not as a stand alone calculation. I get the ‘shock value’ of this calculation, but its not accurate without taking how the calculations are taken into consideration (i.e. like blaming an airlines that people are demanding travel to a location)
•18% of Americans still believe that the sun revolves around the earth, according to a Gallup poll
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201407/anti-intellectualism-and-the-dumbing-down-america
And some of them are old enough to vote. Imagine that. It would be pure speculation to guess in which party the majority rests. Sure makes one wonder.
Does indeed.
I have news of a new thing in physics – it’s called relativity. 82% of Americans probably don’t know squat about it, and are sure the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth. The people asking the question probably don’t understand it either – they are so uneducated they think there’s a right and wrong answer.
More intellectual snobbery…I think not, more a prelude to the American Taliban.
Not to defend these people, but I think many of the 18% didn’t understand the question or have never bothered to think about the movements of the earth and the sun. So they guessed.
Bet there was little guessing here – 4 in 10:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/197375/trump-victory-surprises-americans-four-afraid.aspx?g_source=Election 2016&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tiles
The Democratic Party abandoned any real concern for working people by the 1970s, and they have therefore been drawn to the ranks of their bitter class enemies, who at least pretend to speak their language – Reagan’s folksy style of making little jokes while eating jelly beans, George W. Bush’s carefully cultivated image of a regular guy you could meet in a bar who loved to cut brush on the ranch in 100-degree heat and his probably faked mispronunciations (it’s unlikely that he talked like that at Yale), and now Trump, who gives voice to people with legitimate grievances – people who have lost not just jobs, but also a sense of personal self-worth – and who rails against the government that they perceive as having undermined their lives (not without reason).
One of the great achievements of the doctrinal system has been to divert anger from the corporate sector to the government that implements the programs that the corporate sector designs, such as the highly protectionist corporate/investor rights agreements that are uniformly mis-described as “free trade agreements” in the media and commentary. With all its flaws, the government is, to some extent, under popular influence and control, unlike the corporate sector. It is highly advantageous for the business world to foster hatred for pointy-headed government bureaucrats and to drive out of people’s minds the subversive idea that the government might become an instrument of popular will, a government of, by and for the people.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-president-elect-trump-views-science/
Interesting:
https://www.thenation.com/article/when-liberal-elites-spurn-populism-trump-happens/
My one and only comment on the election; to those who are interested, or care, start making time/date stamped hard copies of everything that is being said because the revision of history is already happening, has been for over a week now.
Scary….
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2016/11/16/trumps-rise-first-stage-white-nationalist-movement-says-alt-right-leader-dallas
This guy and his ilk, seem to have forgotten this was a nation of color, long before his ancestor’s lily white asses arrived here.
“Long before the first Europeans arrived here, there were some 500 nations already in North America. They blanketed the continent from coast to coast, from Central America to the Arctic. There were tens of millions of people here, speaking over 300 languages”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_Nations
Trump appears to be picking the best of the worst.
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/18/502636034/racially-charged-remarks-derailed-trumps-attorney-general-nominee-30-years-ago
“Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other ‘isms’ grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class or whatever. You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity” Roger Ebert
http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2016/11/23/a-disturbing-new-website-is-cataloguing-liberal-professors/
Summing it up:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/president-trump-how-america-got-it-so-wrong-w449783
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/i-will-give-you-everything-here-are-282-of-donald-trumps-campaign-promises/2016/11/24/01160678-b0f9-11e6-8616-52b15787add0_story.html?utm_term=.7eea23b6b704
Think I’ll print them off and keep track 🙂
Someone isn’t happy with the Trumpster:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sarah-palin-crony-capitalism-carrier_us_58420349e4b017f37fe4c443
I wonder how many votes Trump got, dangling Palin out there?
“Palin’s brand among evangelicals is as gold as the faucets in Trump tower,” said Ralph Reed, the chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition”
As long as she isn’t in line for Interior Secretary! 🙂
Summed up nicely:
“For reminding Americans that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s, Donald Trump is TIME’s 2016 Person of the Year.”
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/trump-wins-so-big-as-time-s-person-of-the-year-1.3192948
Would that this were fake news…
https://ourfiniteworld.com/2016/11/17/the-energy-problem-behind-trumps-election/
How to fight a shadow
“If the United States is to remain a liberal democracy, then Trump’s non-linear warfare needs to fail. Politics needs to once again become grounded in some kind of stable, shared reality. It’s not clear how that could happen. But there are at least a couple of steps that anti-authoritarians can make right away to ensure that the Surkov style of rhetoric does not go unchallenged”
https://thinkprogress.org/when-everything-is-a-lie-power-is-the-only-truth-1e641751d150#.b7sqhwdkp
For those who don’t want to watch the entire show, 15 minutes & 20 seconds in, some very interesting developments taking place: