Veteran’s Day Friday
Posted: November 11, 2016 Filed under: 2016 elections | Tags: Elections have consequences 43 Comments
It’s Veterans Day.
Many of us have family who fought against fascism and white nationalism back in the day. I’m sure none of them thought it possible for a man brandishing these viewpoints and values to be headed to the White House. I’m not sure what the Greatest Generation would say to us about undoing all their sacrifice and by putting a man as President whose idea of sacrifice is taking his Daddy’s money and building stuff but I’m sure it wouldn’t be particularly flattering. We’re about to see the Constitution challenged in way that hasn’t occurred since the Civil War. Prepare for a war in the courts.
This is my daddy who I sorely miss. He’s been gone just over two years now. He was a Vet of WW2. He served in the US Army Air Corps and once his squadron was led by Captain Jimmy Stewart. Imagine hearing that voice over your com! Remember all those movies and bond drives to make sure that Europe was free from Fascism and that we would never see them here?
Daddy was a bombardier who flew out of Ipswich in England. He bombed targets between Belgium and Germany so Allied forces could advance into Berlin. He was on many missions where few planes returned to England. He was my hero on many levels.
My father fought fascism. I’m glad in some way that he didn’t live to see a Fascist in the White House. He knew first hand the cost of white nationalism.
It costs dearly. This Veteran’s Day I keep a special thought for the Khans. I know Memorial Day is for Gold star families but it’s still the day to thank all our Vets. I certainly hope we can hold on to our Constitution and to our laws out of respect for their sacrifices.
I have a list of attacks on minorities of all sorts for you. In the last three day, we have numerous reports of children crying and afraid to go to school. We’ve had reports of verbal assaults and attacks on Muslims, African Americans, Jewish people, women, and Hispanics. The North Carolina KKK will be holding a parade to celebrate the election of their glorious leader to President. Damascus is happy. The Russians are ebullient. The Chinese are pleased. The OIC countries are threatening to remove their embassies from this country should Trump follow through with his promise to move the US Embassy to Israel into Jerusalem.
Multiple TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Ohio: Racist graffiti, swastikas mar Clintonville in night
Women Rush To Get Long-Acting Birth Control After Trump Wins
Minnesota: Secret Service probing van’s violent, vulgar message aimed at Clinton on I-94
Maple Grove School Investigating Racist, Pro-Trump Graffiti
North Carolina: Downtown Durham graffiti takes aim at black voters
A rash of racist attacks have broken out in the US after Donald Trump’s victory
It is not an external enemy that has done this.
Pence has promised Dobson that the first rights to be removed will be those of GLBT. We’ve already had physical attacks and verbal abuse of gays over the last 3 days.
During an interview with James Dobson, host of the wildly homophobic Focus on the Family, Mike Pence assured his interviewer and his supporters that any progress made toward protecting LGBTQ rights under President Obama will be swiftly undone under President Trump. Issue by issue, he asserted over and over again a plan to marginalize and invalidate an entire group of citizens whom he is about to lead as vice-president.
Remember President Obama issuing orders to protect transgender citizens from being exposed to transphobia, hatred, and violence in public restrooms inside schools and federal buildings? Those protections are over.
I’ve got many more examples, but I think you can see that this is turning ugly.
Has any other election brought us to a situation where children are afraid to go to their schools and are crying about it?
Here is an article by Bill Moyers I thought I would share. It’s titled: Farewell, America. No matter how the rest of the world looked at us on Nov. 7, they will now look at us differently.
We all knew these hatreds lurked under the thinnest veneer of civility. That civility finally is gone. In its absence, we may realize just how imperative that politesse was. It is the way we managed to coexist.
If there is a single sentence that characterizes the election, it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.” That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of white Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans? Who knew that tens of millions of white men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power? Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise. Now we aren’t.
This country has survived a civil war, two world wars, and a great depression. There are many who say we will survive this, too. Maybe we will, but we won’t survive unscathed. We know too much about each other to heal. No more can we pretend that we are exceptional or good or progressive or united. We are none of those things. Nor can we pretend that democracy works and that elections have more or less happy endings. Democracy only functions when its participants abide by certain conventions, certain codes of conduct and a respect for the process.
The virus that kills democracy is extremism because extremism disables those codes. Republicans have disrespected the process for decades. They have regarded any Democratic president as illegitimate. They have proudly boasted of preventing popularly elected Democrats from effecting policy and have asserted that only Republicans have the right to determine the nation’s course. They have worked tirelessly to make sure that the government cannot govern and to redefine the purpose of government as prevention rather than effectuation. In short, they haven’t believed in democracy for a long time, and the media never called them out on it.
Democracy can’t cope with extremism.
I wish I could say that things will get easier or better from here on out. That maybe the Fascist in waiting will rise to the occasion. 
Unfortunately, I’ve seen the list of cabinet suggestions. It’s Orwellian. They’re some of the biggest fattest cats of all the Washington insiders. There’s also plenty of crazy to go around. I’m trying to put this information to you in links so you can see it if you want. I’m sticking to the broader theme of why I am very despondent and very full of fear. I have the right skin costume albeit the wrong reproductive parts. There are neighbors, friends, colleagues and family that will be very much threatened.
The callous notes that bother me the most are the ones that tell me that maybe this all will work it. It reminds me of the people that kept saying that awful campaign was going to look more presidential. Not.GOING.to.HAPPEN.
I’ve turned off the TV. I may watch a few escape programs but I cannot under any circumstances deal with TV News. I have, however, found out that pool reporters are being denied access all over the place. Amazon stock has taken a hit on the market because Jeff Bezos own WaPo and President elect Trump has threatened revenge.
There are all kinds of protests out there still. There are all kinds of petitions. The problem is that none of it will work. Only the type of organization and movement led by Dr. King with folks of total discipline and manner and in it for the long run are going to make a difference. Now is the time to organize. Now is the time to steel the nerves of Democratic Congress Critters. Now is the time to stop any Vichy-style collaborators. After all, the Democrats received none for 8 long years.
I agree with Joseph Cannon. It is time to mount The White Rose Society for our country.
I can only heal right now.
Take care and I love you all.
Discuss whatever among st yourselves.
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/paul-ryan-says-medicare-privatization-is-on.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2016/06/22/what-paul-ryans-latest-health-proposal-would-mean-for-seniors/#1ac6a59c5f39
I will turn 65 in 2020. I have no plans to retire at 65 – because I can’t. I’m just hoping my job lasts and they don’t kick me out. So I’m wondering if this plan affects the over – 55 crowd.
Anyhow that’s a sacred cow – I don’t think they’ll survive that.
When I read this yesterday, my heart broke. I’ve tried so hard to plan for my retirement, terrified and I thought I had a semi plan. This hits me directly. The article read starting with people born in 1958 and that’s me. WTF am I supposed to do now?
I know. It’s terrible. The Dems in Congress have to fight.
Please fight and we have to work the mid terms. HARD
Read and shared. I want to get this across to my 7th graders. They need to develop critical thinking skills.
Did Russia hack the voting machines? Important read, not conspiracy theory
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157855450785389&id=614520388#_=_
BB, a friend and I earlier in the week agreed that the poll numbers looked very suspicious.
Here’s a quote attributed to Stalin:
“It’s not the people who vote that counts. It’s the people who count the vote.”
Hillary lost these three states by a tiny amount and if won would have put her total at 274:
Michigan, .3% loss, 11,423 votes
Pennsylvania, 1.2% loss, 68,226 votes
Wisconsin, 1% loss, 27,257 viotes.
A small % of g. johnson’s votes would have her winning all 3 states.
*source, politico 2016 presidential results
That was g.johnson’s sole job – and he was paid big $$$ by Koch-related organizations for that service.
My first thoughts Wed. morning
I read that article yesterday and in republican controlled states, NOT going to happen.
From June: Newt Gingrich wants a new House UnAmerican Activities Committee.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/14/politics/newt-gingrich-house-un-american-activities-committee/
Trump’s Win Signals Open Season for Russian Hackers.
https://www.wired.com/2016/11/trumps-win-signals-open-season-russias-political-hackers/
ACLU report on FBI abuses (pdf)
Unleashed and Unaccountable
Must read!
Autocracy: Rules for Survival, by Masha Gessen
Excellent article!
Trump dumped Chris Christie
The Associated Press
Vice President-elect Mike Pence to lead Trump transition team, replaces Chris Christie as chair.
________________
Also on Trump transition team executive committee:
Eric Trump
Ivanka Trump
Reince Priebus
Stephen K. Bannon.
Nepotism, schmepotism…..IOKIYAR
that means we’re still stuck him, poop!
I sometimes have trouble printing a reply post, so I’ll write this as a new post, though it directly pertains to BB’s link to the possible Russian hacking of the voting machines.
I’m not a statistician, but the systematic error in the polls in these key states is simply not credible. When Virginia, which came in maybe a 1% win for Hillary, when she was leading in every single poll there by at least 6, and as much as 10 or more, is simply not conceiveable by polling error or variance–unless the entire national polls were far off, which they wee not. Polls were only :”off” in battleground states. Not in CA, or NY, or MD, which is right next to Virginia. But VA was way off, and WI, and MI and OH. VA does not have the demographics of the Rust Belt, so this cannot be explained as “oh, a bunch of undercounted white voters in rural blue collar areas in the Rust Belt.” In Wisconsin, the gold standard poll is supposed to be the Loras Poll. That came out about a week away from the election, and showed Hillary up by about 6. Josh Marshall, who is a smart guy, said that this was the key poll, because it showed Hillary maintaining a solid lead in a key state, even with the Comey corruption. How could that poll have been so wrong? And all the other state polls, some of which were done by national groups in many states, but many of which were individual state polls conducted by an in-state organizations, often connected with universities and their polling experts. How could they all have been so off? I have never seen it before.
When we know that the Russians have hacked everything in this election; when we know that many states begged the federal government agencies to protect the sanctity of their process; why would we not think of the obvious conclusion: that the Russians did hack these machines, and threw the election? What other tortured explanation is there? And we all remember Trump saying things like, “It will be interesting,” the day of the election; what kind of strange statement is that? And about a week ago, that they should just cancel the election and give it to him. And in PA, months ago, when he said that there is no way he can lose PA, unless it is rigged? (Every PA poll had HIllary up at least 4 points, and some as much as 6-8, right before the election. That kind of “error” in a fairly large state, is almost impossible). But of course nothing will come of this, because the corrupt media would not let it be pursued; and because Democrats never do it. Edwards wanted to protest the results in ’04, but Kerry let it go, “for the good of the country.” It has now become fairly accepted wisdom that the machines in Ohio were rigged then.Remember, that was the election of the “erroneous exit polls.” This is even more obvous. I do hope that at least everyone out there tries to push the narrative, because it is NOT sour grapes, it is NOT sore losing, it is the very strong possibility that a foreign power threw the election to a madman, because it benefitted them; and that the result will forever change this planet.
Joseph Cannon is looking seriously at the evidence for hacking, and he’s not a conspiracy theorist.
That is good. Time is limited, of course. If only this could get to Maddow or Hayes or someone who might give it wide exposure on the mainstream media outlets. I will never believe that Hillary legitimately lost this electoral vote, not with the polls; and I even read that the exit polls in battleground states showed her winning.
William do you have a link for the exit poll stats?
Of course the system is rigged in much larger ways, such as the fact electoral votes are weighted so heavily in favor of rural states. California has the same number of senators as Wyoming, and so forth.
I never learned how to provide links, and I am not sure where this is. But I think it is a real clear politics (a site I basically hate) and they provided a running exit poll count on that day. Also, the link might be in the thread provided by BB above, or at Sarah Kendzior’s twitter page, where she also linked to a thread on this.
do we have an up to date stat on the vote count?
Thanks William – I’m just being lazy. I agree about RCP.
None of this will matter. The FBI will never pursue this. GOPers stole Ohio in 2004 and they got away with it. They continue to commit voter suppression anywhere they can – and SCOTUS repealed the laws against that to facilitate the behavior.
{sigh}
I said to my hubby at dinner last night that this reminds me of the Manchurian Candidate.
An example of the perfect being the enemy of the good. She actually thinks she’ll get something better and cheaper than the ACA under Trump. She’s mad at Hillary over allegedly not saying Islamic terrorism. And she’s doesn’t believe there will be violence against Muslims under Trump. Oh, and she mentions emails. Naive, naive child!
Enjoy your expensive healthcare with gaping holes in it insurance with no pre-existing conditions coverage and higher premiums because you’re female. And take that headscarf off before it’s ripped off.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2016/11/10/im-a-muslim-a-woman-and-an-immigrant-i-voted-for-trump/
dak, my dad also served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He never went overseas and was unable to be a pilot (although he desperately wanted to and tried to pass the physical test several times) because of some scar tissue on his right knee. Apparently there was a reflex test that you had to pass in order to become a pilot and he just couldn’t pass it. So he operated the radio and communication system on the planes and trained new recruits. He always regretted not getting the chance to go overseas.
My dad started as a pilot but switched because he said he’d rather not see it coming. The B25 crews could do any position if necessary . His crew has a Jewish navigator from Washington state and a Puerto Rican co pilot from NYC. He was a kid from Oklahoma. Quite a crew.
Some thoughts about the election. I don’t know about the hacking. Maybe. But I think that even if it is investigated and proven, our government will never admit it. They would never let the people know that the election is invalid. I think it would totally undermine the people’s faith in our democracy and Homeland Security would rather have the wrong guy in the White House than do that.
In general, as I see the reactions of people who voted for Trump I’ve come to the understanding that I totally underestimated the depth of the resentment people had because there was a black family in the White House. They fucking hated it every single day for 8 years and there was no way they were going to let a woman in there. I think part of the problem is the reverence we have for the office of the President. Much more so than for the occupants of the other branches of government. I think that may be a mistake because bigots and misogynists can tolerate blacks and women being lawyers and doctors and judges and CEO’s but not POTUS. I think the office of the President is the ultimate symbol of privilege and white people cannot stand it being occupied by someone they (the white people) are supposed to have an advantage over. That’s the conclusion I have come to after pondering this disaster over the past few days. For 8 years I’ve listened to people carry on about Obama being a horrible president and counting down the days until he leaves office and all of the rest of it and I’ve wondered what the hell they were talking about. Unemployment is down, gas prices down, stock market has recovered, housing market has recovered, what the hell is their problem? Now I know and the swastikas and hate speech that we are seeing since the election is the proof. They hated that a black family lived in the White House.
Similar to the way law enforcement never admits they are wrong.
I agree Janicen. This is whitelash against our first black POTUS, and it is genderlash against the first viable female candidate for POTUS. Nearly 70 of whites who voted, voted for Trump, many of them Gen X women. I know these people, they live all around me. They fear anyone in leadership who isn’t white/anglo/christian/straight/male. They believe men are meant to lead, women to follow. I actually know women who believe that their god tells them to be subservient to their husbands and men in general. And these aren’t particularly overtly religious people. Their brand of Christianity is rooted more in superiority, white privilege, control, “do as I say, not as I do”, the concept of male leadership.
But let’s remember that half the country didn’t vote at all and among those who did it is estimated that when the vote is all counted Hillary will win the popular vote 52-48.
Well worth the read…
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/uselection/2016/11/11/us-broke-its-public-education-system-got-trump-mallick.html
Yes – this is spot on
I agree, but that explains why younger people voted for Trump. Plenty of people around my age and older voted for him and I grew up in the golden age of public education. I think education is definitely a factor but there is something more at play.
Thanks, Luna.
I want to know more about the investigation of possible Russian hacking. We know we’ve been hacked, but to what extent and how did it affect the election of POTUS
I feel I need to send her a note of apology, not thanks.
Awesome! Thank you. I collect beautiful vintage greeting cards – I know I will have something pretty to send. What a wonderful gesture and thank you for the suggestion!