Inauguration Day and after

Sanders voters started off as leftist college kids. But they ended up being people who wanted to vote outside the system. Sanders and Trump promised the same thing-- to combat Wall Street or "drain the swamp" and give America back to the average blue collar worker (or make America great again-- which can mean whatever you want.) Trump just also peppered his message with tons of bigotry, which I guess lots of people are fine with.

The people who pissed me off the most weren't even the Trump supporters, they were the Bernie or busters-- the ones who said they weren't going to vote for the lesser of two evils and if it could be Bernie sanders it would be Jill Stein or no one. Well, first of all, Jill Stein was not competent. But more importantly, she had a snowball's chance in hell of winning. So voting for her wasn't a protest against the system-- it was throwing away your vote.

Even that would be one thing if the Republican nominee hadn't been Trump. He's not normal. So, if you cared at all about your country, it wasn't okay to throw away your vote. And Hillary Clinton, whatever criticisms there were to be made about her, was not on his level. She was light years better than him, even if you saw her as a flawed candidate-- they weren't equally flawed. So you either had to be dumb as bricks to claim "Bernie or bust" or you really had to be a bigot in disguise.

I think many people are dumb as bricks.

A year ago I predicted fearfully that the Bernie or bust people would do this crap, but was really happy when he didn't run as an independent. I have a few friends who voted for Stein. They live in a freakin' bubble - I seriously do not understand their views. They're very liberal hippie or just jaded and hated Hilary soooo much. I wanted to yell at them but they still are so set in their ways, I'm like, whatever. They're also the ones whining the loudest right now which makes it hard to even look at their FB posts. I just hide them from my feed lol. I know of a lot of other Bernie people (family included) who did NOT vote independent though... they were like, No way lol.
Having a 3rd party would literally take about 20 years, people need to get on a grassroots movement and not just vote independent when they feel like it at the last minute, because it's not like the independent will win or even like come remotely close. If you want an independent, be more committed and move forward consistently with it instead of just whining about how awful both parties are every couple of years and then essentially screwing over the entire country in the process.

I mean it's obvious the Democrats are just dead, they need to regroup and really start getting it together. At this rate, I have no idea what's going to happen but after that press conference today nothing surprises me anymore.

Well Sanders is actually working officially as chair of outreach for the Democratic Party right now-- he's helping to restructure the party. I think they are going to revise themselves and come out more to the left, under the leadership of Sanders and Warren. (It's about time)

The press conference is basically what you'd expect from a third grader who had to give a presentation but didn't do his homework. That's essentially what Trump is-- right?

I've heard that he likes to have his intelligence briefings summarized and reduced down to a few sentences-- not kidding. Or he won't listen to them. Because he doesn't want to have to sit through the whole thing. I heard that from someone being interviewed in NPR this morning.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/4573592/bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-democrats/%3Fsource%3Ddam?client=safari

Any truth to the story that an elderly Trump supporter was beaten and pepper-sprayed at Berkeley? I'm having trouble finding an original wire service report.

Well, it's the Trump supporters who used pepper spray and the "elderly man" looks like a sturdy 50-year-old to me: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-supporters-idUSKBN16B0O8

Found the original Reuters news after wading through pages of so-called news sites drooling over "liberal terrorists" nearly murdering "poor elderly US-citizens".
The way the right-wing media twist facts makes me puke.

I don't understand why they keep saying protesters are like paid or George Soros people, it's so weird :/ I know some people at town hall meetings are organizers for stuff but paid protesters, that is insane. That's like saying most of the people I know are paid protesters... I mean is it so hard to believe some people just cannot stand what you represent?

Hate crime is up 55% yo. Look it up. "Get out of my country" said some douche in Kansas to a Sikh guy and shot him and some others. Not the first time it's happened. Bomb threats to synagogues. Desecration to their cemeteries. Mosques blown up. Trump confronted by a Jewish journalist about condemning this kind of stuff and his response is, I am not anti-Semitic... no one was asking him if he was, he was being asked to condemn what's been happening. 900 or more cases of hate crime since elections, 45% of which tagging MAGA type stuff. Took him weeks to condemn it in his speech.
Mark my words: He is speaking to his base and he is counting on his base to act as vigilantes. Actually, btw, if I am to be very specific here - it's not Trump really, I don't think Trump is entirely that racist or anti-Semitic . Trump wants what's expedient for money and business. Look to Steve Bannon. Look to him. Breitbart is the problem. Authoritarian rule is not going smoothly in this country. Bannon deliberately said he believes in Lenin style stuff and that means deconstruction of every cabinet. The choice of unqualified people into those candidates is an exact translation and a thumbing of his gin blossom nose at what those cabinets represent. This is not propaganda. Read it - he literally said it.

If you're going to take away some of the spine and vertebrae of this country, what are you replacing it with? We are not a nation built on this kind of thinking - and if we will be, we at the very least, deserve an honest, open dialogue. You don't just attack any news place which doesn't leave glowing reviews of you as 'fake news'. That's trashy.
Even Fox won't have it. When Fox goes against the grain somewhat, it means.... well, it means they need more viewers LOL. But even Fox isn't willing to let everything slide.

Sorry, Trollbabe, I know that wasn't an answer to your question. I am just so damn mad, girrrrl. I am mad as hornets and I don't like what's been happening at all.

Because trump paid people to rally for him. He really did. He hired actors.

As Trump has already filed to run for re-election, has anyone actually said that they will even consider running against him? There is plenty of speculation.

Yes. Elizabeth Warren is going to run, among others I'm sure

Warren isn't running for president over the longterm. She's a great occasional attack dog, but she's not going to run longterm. She's too freakin' nice and not sly enough to be president lol. She's also not corrupt enough - and yes, presidents here are corrupt even minimally. Look at how long the runs are for, and how much money is involved now. Almost 2 years campaigning. Crazy.
She won't find the funding, she's not going to sell her soul. She's got too much of a moral compass. IMO what really needs to happen is they dial back election money but the lack of regulation has created a new kind of corruption which is really going to be hard to overcome. Warren will have some backing but not enough. She's not going to kowtow to the lobbyists and as we know, that's where the money is coming from and that's how elections work now. We need a president within this sphere who is just corrupt enough to take the money but also anti-establishment enough to actually turn that money against them in the long term for the good of all the people - and I mean all the people, not just their base. It's a tall order. And I'm not just being cynical either.

Before you argue with me about Warren running, Lunakat, let's see how it works out. I'll happily be wrong and eat my words.
And if she runs for 3rd party like some gluten free tofu Palin (Jill Stein) , I will shave my goddamn head. I don't have any patience for that kind of shit again.

Expect to hear about who is really going to run against him in another year and a half or two years. Someone new is coming, as in 'new' for us. Someone anti establishment on the left, and no it won't be Warren. Widen the vision, there's someone new coming.

Does anyone else remember the video of the attractive young lady who walked around New York City, receiving catcalls and innuendo from strangers?  It's just as hard for people who don't follow the herd politically:

http://nypost.com/2017/03/18/i-survived-wearing-a-make-america-great-again-hat-in-nyc/

Meanwhile, veteran actor Tim Allen said on the Jimmy Kimmel show that being a conservative in Hollywood right now is like living in Nazi Germany.

I can't imagine what kind of abuse my Republican parents would suffer if they were around today.

You know, I do remember that video. I lived that video for many years.

Sorry about the intolerance, Trolbabe. Yeah-- wearing a Donald Trump hat right now in a city or restaurant that is full of immigrants, nonwhites and gay people is a lot like walking into a synagogue with a nazi propaganda shirt or walking into a black church with a white supremacist hat on. It's like going to a girl's baseball game in a "free Brock Turner" hat, or wearing an alt-right tshirt to a gay club. Or having a homophobic bumper sticker on your car in West Hollywood.

Such a shame. Right?

Tim Allen is full of it. He may be socially shamed, but Nazi Gemeany took away people's basic human rights. I don't believe his civil rights are threatened, no matter how socially ostracized he is by his peers for supporting a racist, sexist man who wants to cut social security, Medicare, defund public schooling, eliminate environmental protections and, school lunches for impoverished kids and meals on wheels for I'll people and seniors. I think that's not living in Nazi Germany. That's just getting the message that people don't like your mean, sh*itty,  selfish politics. Tim Allen is just going to have to suck it up while he votes to penalize trans people for using bathrooms. It's his bad luck to work in an industry full of the very folks whose civil rights he prefers to violate. They aren't required to be his friend.

So, people showing support for the President of the United States is like being a Nazi or White Supremacist?

I've been trying to get six or seven days of work a week, and caring for a sick husband.  (Better now - Activia is a miracle product.)  So I've only browsed the news about the proposed budget for next year.  I'm not yet sure if the President is cutting the budget overall, or just moving spending around toward the military, homeland security, and veterans.

No President would ever get elected by promising to do what we really need to do:  make deep cuts in federal spending across the board, before this nation goes belly up.  I care about kids, poor people, the elderly, the environment, animals, the arts, etc.  I care about Medicaid, an wish it applied to us in our state.  But the national debt is fast approaching twenty TRILLION.

To put that in perspective, scientists believe the first dinosaurs appeared 225 million years ago.  If the first dinosaurs had the foresight to put away a collective hundred thousand U.S. dollars a year, without interest, and continued this practice until the present day, they would have enough to pay off the national debt.

Eight years of Obama didn't help much:  https://conservativecritic.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/obama-throwing-money.jpg

My husband continues to give people rides in a car that may not pass inspection, share food that frequently runs out, and pay for other people's medicine when he can barely afford his own.  Yet unlike the federal government, we do not borrow money to help other people.  Realistically, we know what we can afford. We also know that moving spending around from one place to another, does not reduce spending.

The liberal Washington Post offers an update on the "Meals on Wheels" controversy here:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/03/19/is-trump-gutting-meals-on-wheels-his-budget-director-says-no/?utm_term=.c2797f392ee5

If the American public actually cared about the things I mentioned earlier, they would skip the middleman and make direct donations.  (Also, they would have demanded a far better choice of candidates than Trump and Clinton, but that's sludge under the bridge.)

Trollbabe, your husband sounds like a good man. I'm sorry he's sick. I commend him for trying to help others.

In no way will the Trump administration's budget or the current GOP health care plan help you or your husband get back on your feet. If anything, it may reduce what benefits you have. I know they are looking to cut health care subsidies and Medicare, and elimate regulations that prevent insurance companies from dropping you or rejecting you due to preexisting conditions. They are also targeting programs that help the elderly, poor and disabled, including social security and Medicare. This affects me personally, because my mother in law lives in government subsidized housing for low-income seniors, uses food stamps and relies on her social security benefits for much of her living expenses. My fiancé (soon to be husband) subsidizes the rest-- and we going to try to help her more after the baby is born.

You asked if supporting our Presdient is the same thing as supporting nazis. Well it is the exact same thing (not figuratively, literally) as supporting white supremacists. His chief advisor is Steve Brennon. Brennon is a sexist and a white nationalist. If you don't believe liberal news sources, ask Glen Beck:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/305932-glenn-beck-bannon-has-clear-tie-to-white-nationalism

Or Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/28/trump-still-facing-concerns-about-white-supremacists.amp.html

Brennon turned Breitbart News into a mouthpiece for the alt right-- and now Trump uses it as one of his primary news sources. They are beyond conservative. They racist, xenophobic, homophobic, sexist and anti Semitic. So yes, it is exactly like supporting Nazis. Even if the Nazis are promising to make your country great again.

As for slashing the budget where it needs to be slashed to bring spending under control-- of course no one will do that, including Trump, becaus that would involve cutting military spending. The programs Trump wants to cut won't make a dent in the budget-- they will just hurt vulnerable people in our country-- people living near or below the poverty line, children from low income families who rely on school lunches, public schooling, head start programs and free after school programs... seniors who rely on meals on wheels and government aid... working single mothers (like my fiancé's mom) who work two jobs with no child care and still can't make ends meet. His budget is not going to reduce our debt. It's simply mean.

I know you don't have time to read lengthy articles about the national budget. You are pretty darn busy just taking care of life-- it sounds like you have a lot going on. So I found some visuals that break it down.

This from Bernie Sanders' Facebook feed. These are Trump's proposed budget cuts and increases (along with Sanders' commentary which you can take or leave I guess!):

This is a breakdown of the budget- with regard to discretionary spending. You can see that the programs Trump wants to cut aren't even a significant slice of it. They already take up very little space in our budget. Notice what he isn't cutting:

This is a breakdown of the basic federal budget-- and again, you can see that many of the programs Trump wants to cut (national endowment for the arts, the department of education, the EPA, etc.) are still only minor aspects of the budget. You will also note that the interest we pay on our national debt is recorded here and is also not of huge significance-- not in the way politicians make it out to be:

The purpose of a government isn't to run like a corporation and make profit. The purpose of a government is to serve the people it governs, to manage the country in such a way that the most people enjoy the maximum they can in benefits and quality of life, to maintain the country's infrastructure, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and ensure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. That's the point of government, and the stated purpose of our government. Nothing more, nothing less.

I may be wrong-- but I sort of get the feeling you think I'm coming at this from an elitist perspective. I'm not. But I think that our politicians are. I think it was maybe Spicer who said that, in crafting this budget, they were thinking of the "steelworker" and his family. Well excuse me, but does a steelworker's kid not deserve after school classes or a head start program? Are they not entitled to PBS, Sesame Street and other wholesome, educational children's programming? Is the steelworker expected to take his kids to enrichment classes that he pays for because the school can no longer offer them? Or do those kids just go without because they weren't born into a lucky enough family?

What about the steelworker's mom? Does she get to have her senior housing defended? Does she not deserve food stamps if she needs them? What about her health care? What about the steelworker's healthcare? What about the protections afforded him by being part of a union? What if he gets injured on the job and can't work anymore? What if he needs disability? What if his son is mentally disabled and can't work? What if the steelworker dies and his pregnant wife is left to support herself and their children (and his elderly mother, since her government aid was cut!) ?

These policies don't help blue collar families at all. They only allow a justification for tax cuts. And tax cuts don't be for us-- we don't make enough money for the taxes we save to offset the services our nation will lose. They only benefit very wealthy folks who can very honestly afford to miss that money in the service of their country.

The new one I love is that in order to get Medicaid you must work. Uhmm, Medicaid is there for those who don't have a job or not enough work. Talk about an oxymoron.

So true, Golden.

Medicaid is the only thing saving the life of my friend who can't work because she has a permanent medical condition that makes it impossible. Without Medicaid, she will be up sh*t's creek. She'll basically die.

She's worked all her life up until five years ago when this hit her. She's not a lazy person. She just had a bad turn of luck that could happen to any of us.

Lunakat, thank you for the graphs. They are very helpful.

I do hope the increased budget for veterans accomplishes something. With advanced medical technology, we are saving young men who would have come home in body bags. (Last I heard, there were five living Purple Heart veterans who had lost at least both hands and both feet.) The number of veterans sleeping on the streets is a national disgrace.

Regardless, I don't think either side of the aisle cares much about healthcare for the working class, or the middle class. The first baby boomers are now in their seventies. I predicted back in the 1990s that they will probably just line up the least healthy of us and shoot us.

You're welcome Trollbabe. Yes, I too hope the increased funding at the very least helps veterans more.

As far as whether politicians care... I think some do and most don't. If you research individual members of Congress and look at their voting records and what organizations they have been part of, it becomes clearer where they stand. Some really have been working all their political lives for the well being of the country at large. Many more, as you point out, have been working for their own well being. But their records are public.

On the subject of homeless veterans. What about some tiny homes on some of these vacant lots. They can be easily put in place. But oh wait, Trump wants to cut funding for HUD.

Someone did that in LA-- had a plot of land and built tiny houses for the homeless on them. The city made him tear them down and evict everyone because they weren't to code. They didn't have plumbing-- they were just a place for people to live and sleep.

Stupid as heck

Well, the Republican Lead Congress failed to pass their own health plan. Good thing too.