1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

No - I was taking it too seriously. The Berlin attack just rattled me. I don't mean to make anyone here feel bad for enjoying the reviews and humor. 

 

Your concerns are valid, I hear what you're saying.

 

In a way, I think we may be communicating two slightly connected but somewhat different viewpoints.

 

ETA- Speaking of areas of concern in Europe, I think Poland could and should be added to that list, given their gradual lurch toward the less culturally tolerant right more weaponized, which may have a lot to do with their geographic proximity to Russia.

Edited December 22, 20168 yr by DramatistDreamer

1 hour ago, marceline said:

 

 

The problem is that there simply aren't any decent Republicans anymore. Sure you've got John McCain and Lindsay Graham at least trying to be sane but any member of the GOP who might be willing to stand up has been neutered or drummed out of the party entirely. Plus with the Russian hacking don't think for one second that a lot of these people aren't being blackmailed into silence. I think our only real hope is some kind of massive backlash in 2018 and given the rampant stupidity and learned helplessness from people on both sides I'm not hopeful that can happen.

I give the democrats until the end of the year to get over this election and to begin organizing. Lots of groups are organizing now and the party needs to get their *hit together to leverage them. At least here in Illinois they are doing their job and getting party people involved in the organizing. I have a feeling since Bernie is too polarizing, we might see Obama resurface to help.I like Keith Ellison but there are a ton of Hillary people who don't want him due to his allegiance to Sanders. There is also someone needed beyond the party lines.

3 hours ago, JaneAusten said:

I give the democrats until the end of the year to get over this election and to begin organizing. Lots of groups are organizing now and the party needs to get their *hit together to leverage them. At least here in Illinois they are doing their job and getting party people involved in the organizing. I have a feeling since Bernie is too polarizing, we might see Obama resurface to help.I like Keith Ellison but there are a ton of Hillary people who don't want him due to his allegiance to Sanders. There is also someone needed beyond the party lines.

 

Obama is definitely coming back. He said so on a post election conference call with volunteers. He said basically what you did. We have a little time to lick our wounds then it's time to start organizing. He said that he's limited in what he can say or do until he's a private citizen but once he is, he and Michelle are going to take a vacation then come Feb/March they are jumping back into the ring with us. "I'm still fired up and still ready to go." No lie, I cried when I read his remarks. 

And I believe him.  I really do.

I think a lot of the party infighting will die down once Obama's out of the White House. Once he's out, he and Michelle become the face of the party. He's already said that his next big issue will be redistricting. It's not fun or sexy but it's necessary as hell and Obama has the same talent Bill Clinton has for taking nerdy policy stuff and making it accessible. While Bill Clinton will move into a more Jimmy Carter style role. Meaning he becomes the face of another former Dem president saving the world.

ICAM, marceline.

 

Granted, I am new to comprehending much of this stuff, so forgive me for coming across as ignorant or naive.  However, it seems to me that while the Democratic party SHOULD be doing some stock-taking in the wake of all their defeats, they shouldn't necessarily throw out the metaphorical baby with the bathwater.

 

What I mean is, Hillary DID win the popular vote (which the Republicans think is meaningless, but of course, I disagree) and she won it by a very surprising amount, too.  (In fact, isn't her victory margin the largest in election history?  I might have that wrong, so feel free to correct me.)  Ergo, all this talk of Hillary or the Democrats failing to get their message across -- or even that she was a "fatally flawed candidate" -- I can't say anymore whether that argument holds weight with me.  I think the message was getting across just fine, regardless of how the US maps looked on election night.

 

True, we are where we are, because she lost the electoral vote.  But here's my question: wouldn't things like redistricting (which Obama says he plans to focus on post-WH) do more to remedy the issue than a full-scale tear-down and rebuild of the Democratic party; so that, come future elections, we DON'T have situations where less populated (rural) areas that seemingly hold more electoral weight end up determining the outcome for over three hundred million people?

 

Again, I realize I'm probably just being naive.  Yet the more I think about the numbers, the more I question whether the "white working class," or whatever the heck Trump's voting base in these places was, actually merits so much concern from the country at large.

Edited December 23, 20168 yr by Khan

Did any of y'all see Oprah's interview with Michelle Obama?  What a great hour.  I'm going to miss her.

 

Watched it last night. Great hour of television.

25 minutes ago, slick jones said:

Watched it last night. Great hour of television.

 

I wonder how Ms Quartermaine is doing? I know she was having a hard time with the election results.  Michelle Obama is certainly right. Now we really now what it is not to have hope. Not that I'm completely hopeless, I don't think this dark time is forever.

The 53 percent issue: This time, the problem in American feminism has a name

1 hour ago, DeeeDee said:

The 53 percent issue: This time, the problem in American feminism has a name

 

Thanks. That was interesting. I think what a lot of groups who try to contort themselves to pander to conservative white voters (in this case female voters) may not see is that a lot of those voters will never, ever support them, more than anything because of abortion. They won't throw that under the bus, obviously, but they seem to be willing to throw a lot of other people and causes. 

I'm sure most of you saw this case in Texas where the black mother was arrested after calling the police when her son was assaulted.  I'm really at a loss on how these types of bad police can be reigned in or how the system can be changed to prevent them from getting this kind of power over people.  Then again maybe under Trump no one is even going to try.  The officer is just so calm and collected, which I suppose his way of baiting this woman, it's really upsetting to watch.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/12/22/a-black-mother-told-police-a-white-man-assaulted-her-child-they-arrested-her-instead/?utm_term=.619b3091aa2e

saw that this morning. that story and Trump's IDIOTIC tweet this morning were the top stories. 

^ "Let's make it an arms race". Brilliant! Let's waste a lot of money on nuke we don't need.