Skin

18 hours ago, Juliajms said:

Trump also didn't have a single thing to offer black women. He offered non white males the continued power of the patriarchy and white women continued white privilege. Really it was more like the illusion of those things, but people fell for it.  I still can't believe so many white women voted for this man, but it does tell you the state of feminism in this country. It's pretty damn sad. I guess some people don't mind that they are completely disrespected as long as they can believe they aren't at the bottom of the totem pole.

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.

3 hours ago, Khan said:

Just shows to go you how ineffectual and inconsequential I always thought he'd be in the end.  If we're all concerned that Trump could wipe out Obama's legacy with a few strokes of his pen, then maybe Obama's legacy wasn't that strong to begin with.

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.

This season has revitalized so many different characters, so I can't say the show is bad anymore. They have finally managed to coalesce the series into a unified drama that has paid off for them in spades. I don't know when precisely it happened but every single character is more or less on a high mark. Fiona's business decisions and managing expertise has paid off a ton, and she finally feels tied to something in a way she hasn't felt in the earlier 3 seasons. She really has come into her own, and her sabbatical from relationships has proven how much she has grown as a person. I like that she is focusing and prioritizing her future, and now that she has made her future a priority the entire family has blossomed. She finally looks to be in a place where she is free from self-destruction and this season has finally given her a redemption that seemed so unlikely at the tail ends of season 4.

Ian has also changed for the better, for so long he has floundered and felt lost, but this most recent episode really showed his coming of age moment of maturity and responsibility. Rejecting Mickey was difficult, but their were so many call backs to their relationship that I can't help but think that their ending was beautiful. It's not a happily ever after, but it's as good as in my opinion. I can't think of a better ending to a 6 year relationship and this also opens up opportunities for growth for Ian as a character next season. I was not sold on Caleb, but I am coming around to Trevor. But both in essence have kind of shown the incapability of the Gallovich relationship as they are now, which was nicely displayed in several moments of the past episode.

Even Debbie has turned around which I thought was merely impossible after her character assassination a few seasons ago. There are problems storylines: Frank, Lip, Carl and throuple storyline but I have gone back to enjoying the show more then I have in seasons. I can't remember the last time I really enjoyed the series as much as I have now.  

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. 

Regina King is a given, seeing as she continues to seal award nominations. I don't know if I am going to watch this season. Season two left me so deeply unfulfilled, that I've lost trust in the writing. I don't think I can become invested in another character the way I did Connor and have the world completely turn against him as it did in the second season.

Several of ABC's shows are not doing well in the ratings, but I feel like this is still relatively safe. Not sure if that's right or not but I feel the Rhimes connection and Viola in the lead role help it. Don't know what to say about who was under the sheet. I totally thought it was going to be someone else. Crazy

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.

1 hour ago, JaneAusten said:

But it's really the millennials who are the worst, many of them with college degrees that apparently are either worthless or they aren't looking hard enough for jobs or not going to areas where they may be able to find jobs that meet their educational requirements. 

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.

7 hours ago, Juliajms said:

I'm having a hard time processing this. I feel like I need to understand the details of exactly how this happened and how so many people got it wrong. I guess for now it's time for ambien and sleep.

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.

29 minutes ago, Juliajms said:

I know that's true, but at the same time I'm not sure I believe Sanders or Biden would have won either.  He said some nasty thing about Hillary, but he didn't flat out bully her the same way he did his Republican opponents. Apparently his staff told him that would come off badly. He would have been free to go all out of a male opponent.

 

I don't know, I guess I do think this was like Brexit. People wanted change no matter the cost.

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.

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...