Kevin's Watch

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 9:58 am**

Well, it's done. And I'm in first.

Hashi can probably lock the other thread.

Let the Republican bashing begin.

Dunno how good this source is, but interesting if true...

Donald Trump Recruits Corporate Lobbyists to Select His Future Administration

As Donald Trump finishes his campaign with a promise to break the control of Washington by political insiders, his transition team is preparing to hand his administration over to a cozy clique of corporate lobbyists and Republican power brokers...

--A

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 12:34 pm**

Might as well start as we mean to continue... with the degree of respect we all always show any incoming POTUS...

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 1:03 pm**

Well that was interesting. I guess the anti-Clinton vote really turned out to be stronger than the anti-Trump vote.

As much as I would have loved to see a bully like Trump fall on his face, Hillary and the DNC only have themselves to blame. They rigged the primary system in Hill's favor and this is the result. She certainly didn't inspire people to go out and vote for her like Trump did.

It's now Trump's turn to put up or shut up, he's in charge now.

My only worry is that the GOP controls all branches of government. It'd be nice to see some more checks and balances at the Federal level.

-jay

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 1:10 pm**

Well said Jay. One has to wonder what would have happened had the primary not been rigged.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 1:17 pm**

I think it might be the first time that a billionaire is moving into
public housing vacated by a black family..

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 1:21 pm**

Cail wrote:Well said Jay. One has to wonder what would have happened had the primary not been rigged.

No kidding.

-jay

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 2:26 pm**

Once I link election results here I can close the prognostication thread.

Those "orange is the new black" and "public housing" jokes are funny.

On the one hand, I am glad that Trump is a Washington outsider. On the other hand, it is a shame that he is going to populate his Administration with Washington insiders...but I suppose he has no choice, given that he isn't a politician. (correction: he is now)

The Republicans do not have a majority in the Senate so all those appointment confirmation hearings--especially for the Supreme Court--are going to be bitter, ugly battles.

Now we get to make two more threads, one where we applaud the good things the Trump Administration is doing and another one where we give him scathing condemnations for all the mistakes and poor choices.

Aside from the results themselves, if we take one thing away from this election it is this: the Clintons are done. Do not continue to investigate them or try to prosecute them, just let the Clinton Foundation die on its own and let the Clintons themselves retire into relative obscurity as private citizens. Continuing to hound her at this point is pointless. She won't get the nomination in 2020 because she will be "damaged goods"...but perhaps she might finally get around to divorcing Bill--she no longer needs to remain married solely for the sake of appearances.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 2:38 pm**

Hashi Lebwohl wrote:Aside from the results themselves, if we take one thing away from this election it is this: the Clintons are done.

I wholeheartedly concur... that's a nascent wannabe dynasty nipped (sort of) in the bud. No bad thing either - and yes as Jay said, the movers and shakers in the DNC realy only have themselves to blame for putting that piece of damaged goods forward as their proffered choice for the electorate.

Hashi Lebwohl wrote:Do not continue to investigate them or try to prosecute them, just let the Clinton Foundation die on its own and let the Clintons themselves retire into relative obscurity as private citizens. Continuing to hound her at this point is pointless.

...and in the next breath I wholeheartedly disagree. Just because Hilary's managed to lose what should have been an unloseable election does NOT (and absolutely should NOT) mean that any investigation into her potential criminality and/or corruption and/or mishandling of emails and/or whatever (I'm sure there are plenty of particularly nasty smelling skeletons in her closet to choose from) should hit some sort of Statute of Limitation? If there are grounds to impeach and prosecute her, then impeach and prosecute her - she doesn't deserve any "get out of jail free" card, just because she lost an election?

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 2:50 pm**

She cannot be impeached because she doesn't hold any political office at this time. The reason I advise walking away from the investigation into the e-mail issue is to stop the pendulum from swinging so wildly. Continuing to go after her now that she has lost will result in future Democrat people continuing to pursue Republicans in a witch hunt even after they have lost. I am advising to stop the cycle of revenge now before it gets started. The FBI said there isn't anything to charge her with at this time so let that be the end of it (even though Director Comey should still resign with the remains of his dignity and credibility).

Obama will be meeting with Trump in the White House tomorrow, the first of many "pass the baton" meetings they will have over the next two months.

I guess the New York Times isn't bothering to put the finishing updates on their map. They should officially call AZ and MI for Trump and NH and MN for Clinton, putting the final tally at Trump 306 Clinton 232. It looks like she did get the popular vote, after all, albeit by a slim margin...but it is a shame that popular vote isn't how the winner is determined.

If you click on the "change from 2012" link, though, you will see that the shift from Democrat to Republican was quite strong all though the Midwest and Rust Belt. If you click on "counties" you will see, just like what happened in 2008 and 2012, that people in the large cities voted Democrat while people outside those cities did not.

New Mexico bears special consideration, though. Ms. Lebwohl wasn't sure why NM went blue. I know why: many California transplantees left their home State because they couldn't afford to live there any more and they would rather die than move to Austin, where the rest of the CA expats go, so they settle in New Mexico and have turned that State to the Democrats.

Also interesting is Mississippi. Most of the State is red except for the section between I55 and the Mississippi River, which is blue.

update: now the bitching, whining, and general salty sore-loserness is settling in. A Trump effigy was burned at a protest in Los Angeles. Hollywood celebrities are so upset that some of them were Tweeting about their physical symptoms.

Speaking of celebrities, we are still waiting on confirmation that the following ones are really going to leave the country:
Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Lena Dunham, Neve Campbell, Cher, Miley Cyrus, Barbara Streisand, Ne-Yo, Amy Schumer, Chelsea Handler, Whoopi Goldberg, Keegan-Michael Key, George Lopez, and Al Sharpton. Well? I'm waiting. Haven't they left yet? I won't miss them--only whiny crybabies leave the country when things don't go their way.

In the other pathetic-yet-ironic twist, #CalExit is trending on Twitter. There are many people on the Pacific Coast who are now seriously considering secession because the other guy won. On the one hand, those sore losers need to suck it up--they will have a shot again in 4 years. On the other hand, I support self-determination so if enough of them really think that is what they need to do then they should try it...but don't expect any help from the rest of us when you fail. Unlike Texas, California could not relatively support itself.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:16 pm**

Wouldn't be like Donald to nominate Ted Cruz to the SCOTUS?

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:22 pm**

It's interesting seeing people's reactions to this. Even when presented with resounding evidence that they were wrong about Trump's potential, they still won't change their minds about his potential.

I think he's going to defy expectations as President precisely as he did as a candidate. I think he's going to do exactly what he said he'd do.

I think he's going to make America great again.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:27 pm**

*ugh* Don't even joke about nominating Ted Cruz to the Supreme Court. There have to be better choices out there even if I don't know who they are at this time. (disclosure: Ms. Lebwohl is good friend with the Republican district chair, James, who is good friends with both Ted Cruz and his father (who lives in the same city we do)).

People on the Democrat side are worrying over nothing. There isn't going to be a wall. No one is going to round up illegal immigrants or Muslims by the millions and deport them. We aren't going to be the ones who start World War III. Those folks need so settle down and quit seeing only the worst-case scenarios.

edit/update: 0941 UTC -6
Clinton to give her concession speech soon.

The general expectations: Trump is going to reverse many Obama executive orders on day 1. First on the chopping block: no Iran deal--he will strike that down immediately.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:45 pm**

Boy was I wrong in my assessment of this race. Zarathustra called it right. I hope I'm wrong about who I believe Trump is too.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:58 pm**

After an unbroken string of former generals, lawyers and politicians I am curious to see what a non political president with a great deal of business experience will do with the opportunity to influence the day to day operation of the federal government of an entire country.

I was one who believed that a vote for Clinton or Trump was really no vote at all but now that the election has concluded I am trying to be hopeful (as I would have been if Clinton had won). I am not concerned that President Trump will flip out and start a war and I don't think he'll end up being the most unorthodox president on record. What I'm hoping for is that he'll find ways to work with Congress to fix what needs fixing and improve what needs improving for the benefit of everyone and cause as little pain as possible in the doing.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:00 pm**

As I said in the now locked thread, I have an inkling that Trump will be better domestically for the US. When it comes to foreign policy and international relations, I suspect that Hillary would have been more able in that arena.

It depends which you think is more important, I guess... if you have to choose between the two at all, that is.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:13 pm**

We need some introspection at this time. Infrastructure is failing and failing people--remember that the EPA knew about the Flint water situation for months yet did nothing. The ACA is dying on its own--it needs to be restructured or abandoned and HSAs pushed (the money in them needs to be allowed to roll over on an annual basis). People in the Rust Belt need jobs. We need to quit allowing unvetted refugees in. We need to quit engaging in our current military actions.

Clinton's foreign policy would have been a continuation of Obama foreign policy and that hasn't worked out so well.

update: 1041 UTC -6
Hillary is finally making a public appearance to give her concession speech. She is giving it the "brace face" or "stiff upper lip" treatment but, truthfully, I cannot imagine how badly it must burn for someone so power-hungry to be so close to finally attaining power only to lose it--again--at the last minute.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:56 pm**

Saw this on a BBC site and I think it speaks correctly to what happened.

Donald Trump, in his uncharacteristically gracious victory speech, said that the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. Forgotten? They werent forgotten. They were dismissed, disregarded, and despised by Americas elites, all of whom got their comeuppance in Trump's staggering victory.

And I know that the coming days are going to see a furious outpouring of spite from the same elites Trump just thrashed. They will call Trump voters racists, fascists, bigots, haters, and so on. They already have been doing so for quite some time now and it has blown up in their faces.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 7:55 pm**

SerScot wrote:Boy was I wrong in my assessment of this race. Zarathustra called it right. I hope I'm wrong about who I believe Trump is too.

I kinda hope I'm wrong about who I think he is, too...because no one deserves to live in a place run by someone who is who I think he is.

If I'm right, though---things are really gonna suck, unless some Republicans decide to rein him in.

OTOH---there might be a very important lesson to learn if he IS like I think, and does what he said. A painful lesson, but maybe necessary.

Can't wait to see the new threads, what plans, exactly, he can/will put in place that people think are good things. I don't remember hearing any good ideas during his campaign. A few ultra-generalized platitudes that might not be terrible is about the best I recall.

Posted: **Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:44 pm**

Read some reactions on DailyKos, those people over there are cracked. If that represents any sort of large number of people, this country is in trouble.

Well, at least next 4 years should be entertaining. Might watch SotU speeches now, for the unintentional comedy. And maybe Z's right, Trump actually knows something about governing.

Posted: **Thu Nov 10, 2016 12:56 am**

SoulBiter,

Did you see this one from the UK. It is Spot On from what I have observed recently. I'm both a professor and a musician, so many of my friends are liberal, while I am the odd duck conservative. I don't engage much with them on FB regarding politics, mostly because it is pointless. There is only one way to look at things, and clearly I am too stupid to see that. They were all "Can't wait to welcome the Pantsuit to the Oval Office" in the morning and posted the obligatory "No matter who wins, we should all strive to work together to support the winner for the betterment of all." I haven't heard much about that today (though I appreciate the few who have indeed stood by their word and are trying to embrace the results).