Skin

I remember reading an article from the Nation titled: What Time is it? Here's what the 2016 Election tells us about Obama, Trump and What Comes Next. It was an insightful read that really goes to task about Trump and what he means and that Obama was a figure that tried to fight against Reganomics but ultimately failed. The writer likened Trump to Jimmy Carter as a "disruptor" or a disjunctive President that won't get much of anything done because he isn't aligned with his party and he thinks he can do everything himself. Ultimately we need to know where we stand as a nation. There were white working class voters who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, that did not vote for Hillary in 2016. Is there any way or path for the Democrats to get back things that they should have never lost in the first place? Part of the thing that was most frustrating about this election cycle was that there was an organic effort in the Democratic party that touched the same vein Trump did in regards to income equality and lobbyists - but it was snuffed out and stifled by the DNC, to their own destruction. Is the far left out of touch with "modern" America? And by how much? Do we really have to sacrifice big revolutionary changes for incremental change? Or is Trump just an inflation and representation of an America that is tired of the same old, same old - and Democrats just needed a better alternative that wasn't apart of the system? These are the questions the party needs to answer and quickly. Trump will be a disaster, but what happens next cycle?

The problem with this election is that everything is so completely skewed that it's hard to make heads or tails out of what just happened and how to move forward because so much of what once was has been turned upside down. Does the majority of this country really skew Republican, and are we really that far backwards ideologically? Or are people really just fed up with government and the Republicans and just decided to say the hell with it all and elect Trump as a way to screw the system? Democrats really need to do their research here and study what the problem is, because if they over correct themselves based on this one election they could make themselves even weaker and more irrelevant than ever by turning their backs on their base supporters. The Trump base is so ideologically screwed I don't know what to make of them. They vote Republican and then cry about losing Obamacare. They hate taxes, and yet don't realize how much they benefit from those taxes by living in red states which statistically are provided the most aid. Was Hillary such a bad choice in a candidate that they couldn't bear voting for her, and would they have won had they chosen another candidate that wasn't mired in endless scandal and corruption gossip? Trump won by such a slim margin and was completely trounced by the popular vote so there is hope. But we need a detailed and complete analysis of what the hell happened this year, and we need leadership to unite the party and move it forward. It's a shame that this loss happened but I fear that the party will remain divided. It reminds me of what the Democrats were like prior to Bill Clinton, during the Reagan years. Is the Republican party a true representation of this nation or has it been artificially inflated due to Trump's ignorant populism? His approval rating is low - lower than an incumbent President's ever been, which bodes well for the nation, and the democratic party - but some of these people are just so ideologically backwards I don't have much hope. They don't trust media, they don't trust government, and they seem to have these crazy conspiracy theories that the government is out to get them.

I said this before, but I can't believe that pollsters didn't take into consideration that white women would vote to protect and further sheath their white men. Their a packaged set in this red states. Not everyone is as progressive as the urban woman.

Well that is the myth of the presidency, without Senate or Congress you can't get much done that will be effective in the long-term. The Republicans really worked to make sure he could and would accomplish nothing, and they succeeded. I remember in 2015 feeling as if he had accomplished so much to bring the nation forward: same sex marriage, universal healthcare, economic progress, bank regulation, death of Bin Laden, Climate regulations, etc. But all of that looks to be undone. The Republicans want to bring the entire nation back to the dark ages, and it's only going to get worse. 2020 can't come fast enough. But I fear what the disgruntled white population will do when Trump fails. I feel like race relations will just get worse.

I'm worried that Fox News and the like are going to end up brainwashing all of the people that view their news into believing that Trump is the great job bringer, they already started with Carrier and now they have continued with Ford and that Asian mobile company investing 50 billion dollars into the US. If those voters end up really buying this we may be in the red for generations.

He stopped Carrier from leaving to Mexico by threatening their Government contract. This is a huge boon for Republicans. Indiana may end up staying red.

He went on Twitter and said it wasn't true.

Bannon is incredibly dangerous, he is against globalization and against diversity and inclusion - and pretty much only cares about the white half of this country. I would say not just millennials, but also the older citizens who also want to retire but can't. The Republicans are going after medicare and medicade, which will devastate the older citizens who already don't have enough to live off of. If it gets much worse you will end up in a society not unlike that of a depressed China. Where we have the Generation X-er's sheltering everyone - their children and their parents - if they can afford it.There's a bottle neck happening on both sides here and they are both getting squeezed. You have people not wanting to vacate jobs because they are unsure about being able to retire, which directly effects the graduating students because there are no opportunities for them to enter the workforce. Their both getting squeezed, the middle can't move, and prices for everything are continuously escalating. The student debt is also a massive issue, these students can't pay back their loans and they can't create additional costs like moving to a place they have no foothold in. Most of them don't have good enough credit to pay for things they can't afford when they are already hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. That's what happens when you tell an entire generation they have to go to college in order to get a good job.

Those manufacturing jobs are not coming back. This is a reality of the world we live in. America over the past 20+ years has become a consumer culture, and getting into a trade war with all of these countries will be a disaster. No one wants to pay $100.00 for a bag of coffee grounds, or $5,000 for a spare tire. We are vulnerable because we consume everything from every other country and our dependence has fueled this behavior for decades now. Going back to everything being American made is no longer feasible and corporations aren't going to foot the bill for it. I feel bad for Wisconsin and Michigan because their economies have been devastated but at the same time this is exactly what has been happening to the millennial generation since the 2007 housing crisis tanked the economy. Their insistence that they are too good for customer service jobs and refuse to learn new skills is only an impediment to themselves, and blaming immigrants, people of color, women, LGBTQX and other minorities is ridiculous.

I remember reading an article from the Harvard Business Review that in the middle red states she was never going to win them over because she couldn't straddled the need to be both Presidential and a woman. In their eyes she performed well in the first debate but when she went on the attack she was deemed to be "unlady like", another thing that was mentioned was that all of her preparation served her adversely. She had such a long record, that any mistakes that she made were immediately used against her, and due to her long public record she gave the republicans much fodder from the banks, to the super predator lines, to the emails, to the trade deals, etc. She just had so much material used against her. She was almost too overqualified for the position which then made her unqualified for the role. It's a shame but in elections like this is almost feels like it's better to either perform perfectly or not have anything at all to be used against you. I think from here on out we need perfect candidates, otherwise we're just going to fail. I have no faith that these red states can vote the right way next time around. The Popular vote is ridiculous. More than 2 million extra people will have voted for Clinton, which means we are basically jailed by these red states over the will of the people's votes.

Just realized we lost everything with this past election. - Lost the White House - Lost the Senate - Lost the House Of Representatives - Lost the Supreme Court nominations for the next 4 years. The Republicans are in a position to pretty much pass whatever they want. They will completely erase all of the progress Obama made with regards to everything. It will be like he was never even in office. Have the Democrats ever received a trouncing this bad in the history of the understanding of the current two party system? Having all of the Democrats saying they are willing to work with Trump is disgraceful, but they have no bargaining ground whatsoever. All they can do is pretty much beg.

Honestly Hillary was a weak candidate - that's what the numbers consistently say. She lost all of the states that Bernie picked up in the primary, which more or less forecasted her failure. Combine that with the emails and that was more then enough for a failed bid for the presidency. Another potential red flag was this mistaken belief that white women would not support their white men in those red states. I think these polls need to take into consideration that not every woman is a individualistic vote. I think if anything this underscores that in those deep red states, and even the ones that leaned Trump, that those women will support their men. No matter what. IT's a value's based decision based on their lifestyle choices and upbringing.

Trump is projected to win 57 electoral votes. Such a shame. Democrats chose the wrong candidate.

You are dreaming if you don't think Hillary and her investigation didn't hurt her brand in the mind of voters. Joe or Bernie could have cut into Trump's source of power: white middle/working class men.

Now they are talking about this being another 2000's with Gore vs. Bush.

She's holding out for Detriot, but her performance has been horrible in pretty much most of the battle ground states. She's losing all of the states she originally lost in the Primary. It's hard to deny at this point that Biden and Bernie would have been stronger performers in cutting into Trump's lead. Democrats have completely fractured under her nomination.

I read something in the paper today about some economists praising his plan at some special meeting with Wall Street. Is this really happening? Are people really on board with him. I read an article a few weeks ago that Michael Moore posted: 5 Reasons Trump Will Win I really do think that this could be a possibility. I feel like people may just spite vote in the end just like the Brexit people earlier this year.

Her album sales were actually pretty solid, and about on average with what most albums sell first week now a days. Had her team been a bit more timely and released the album later she could have had the #1 album this week. However radio is really over her. Her last big hit was about three years ago, as a feature artist for an artist no one really cares about anymore. It's a shame because it seems like she really was excited to promote this album, and seemed reinvigorated in her career with this past album. It just seems like she recuperated to late before she really came back. Her performance abilities have increased ten-fold since 2007, and even since 2011. Vegas did her good in that realm.

I might be showing my age, but I don't remember Cyborg being apart of the original Justice League line up. I wonder what made them pick Cyborg over Hawkgirl, The Wonder Twins, or Marian The Man-hunter.

We already discussed that fact checking doesn't move the pendulum against Donald in any measurable way, and that his voter's don't care re: Donald's presentation being a factor in his electability, but you are entitled to your opinion. My belief is that his presentation is not a factor for voters.

I saw that too. Hillary has 3 months to get people to change their minds about voting for her.

We know. That's why you've been parroting conservative talking points for months. I heard this same stuff about Romney - 'oh, he's too slick, he's a businessman, Obama is too passive, the country is so divided, if Obama wins it'll be real close.' Obama dismantled him and was done with him before 11 PM Eastern on election night. And Romney was far more viable than Donald Trump. I think you are underestimating the changes America has gone threw since 2012, and how much anger there really is from all sides regarding the disenfranchisement of American citizens and how rough the recession truly hit the majority of the USA. Comparing it to 2012 seems fallacious to me. Romney was more "viable" but that was also a time when American didn't have to languor in the effects of a down effected market. Yes, we are recovering, but that recovery still hasn't set in for a lot of people, and there's more part-time work than full time work, and what was lost is not recouped.People remember this which is what has galvanized the Republican Trump base, and it's what has empowered Sanders following, just at different demographics and spectrums. Trump's White Blue Class worker's are pissed they lost their jobs, and they don't know how to compete in a global market without needed skills, and they want retribution. Hillary doesn't fit with this, and she's going to have real problems with that base. The other problem is that Bernie captured the progressive leftists and young voters. Hillary is leaning centrist, and she is losing in effect the young liberal voters who are up to their hairlines in debt by paying for colleges they can't pay for because they were promised a 40k job if they graduated college, and what materialized is a shift a Target part time working 24 hours a week. That's the demographic that Bernie captured and spoke to as if he was a student whisperer. People are angry and they want real change, and Hilary feels tone deaf to that, consistently no matter what speech writers try and make her seem current and sympathetic. It's cringe worthy trying to hear her say things like "I am your Abuela" or "I want Pokémon Go in the Polls." Again tone deaf. Donald might not have the numbers but he is a threat because Hilary is off putting enough to keep people home, and have people discouraged enough to feel like nothing will ever change, or worse that she is just like Trump just in a different way. Some people are not at ease with Hilary's war hawk mindset and may feel she will spy on them, and be just as bad as Nixon. So it's one devil for another, and it's just which one do you want more of? This is a long winded way of saying 2012 v. 2016 is an entirely different atmosphere with two entirely different candidates. Hilary is not as "warm" as Obama was, and the American citizens aren't as easily capitulated as they were in earlier years. Donald being "unpresentable" doesn't factor, because he wiped the floor with more respectable candidates anyway. That obviously doesn't mean anything to the larger party at this time frame.

I pretty much stopped watching once Kevin left. I couldn't deal with the fantasy of Richie and Patrick ending up together happily ever after when their relationship was such a literal train wreck, and they barely interacted with each other in over a year's time.

Britney Spears - Make Me...

She released the first single of her new album today, "Make Me...", it's very 90's Janet Jackson inspired, you can definitely tell the influences especially on the second verses. It also reminds me of TLC for some reason too, I would definitely peg this as a nostalgic 96-98' kind of sound, with some pretty nice updated production, the bass guitar and the synths in particular are heavenly in this. Britney sounds good on this too. Seems like she is progressing her sound out of the dance-sphere which I am happy about. She's mined all that she is going to get from that musical sphere. There's a rent-a-rapper, for cross format airplay purposes, but it works just as well, if not better, without him.