[Michael Cantor]

Resignation got us where we are, Perry. We were resigned, and Obama was a class act who played by all the rules - and the Republicans won in the state legislatures and made up the rules, and gerrymandered up the kazoo, and jiggled every crappy voting law in every state they could; and they ended up with a minority of total voters but a majority in the House and Senate; and a 3,000,000 vote minority of the popular vote, but an electoral college win - and we've got an ignorant, psychotic racist as President.

Stop seething, and start protesting. We need pressure, pressure, pressure to turn a few votes. And financial support for the organizers in key states in November. Being devastated and resigned is the last - the last - attitude we need.

[James Brancheau]

Don't know why the power to nominate judges isn't stressed enough. And given his mixed record, I'm thinking it's health reasons. If it isn't, he's lost his mind like over a third of the country. And the electoral college should be abolished immediately.

[Max Goodman]

Originally Posted by James Brancheau

Don't know why the power to nominate judges isn't stressed enough.

A NYTimes opinion piece (which I can't find at the moment) argued yesterday (the day before?) that it's only on the left that it isn't stressed, and that Clinton would have won if she'd stressed it.

Anecdotally, I think it's correct that the right thinks about this very much. I remember an army vet who told me hated what W had done in Iraq, but that he'd held his nose and voted for his reelection to prevent Kerry from appointing Supreme Court justices.

[Perry James]

The right is obsessed with certain issues, moreso than the left, so people on the right cast their votes more narrowly. They are terrified of having their guns taken away from them (I have never touched a gun in all my life). They also identify with the fetus -- they imagine in horror that they themselves could have been aborted and been unable to stop it. This fuels their general contempt for women and mothers. Even my sister, who is a liberal, is against abortion -- and why? Because my mother treated her badly. My sister won't admit this, but she resents the idea that my mother could have just cut her out of her body. Both my sister and I believe in reincarnation, and believe that the soul of the fetus will find another "host", but my sister is still against abortion because of her resentment of our mother. On the right, it is all about rights and grievances, whereas liberals are more mature.

People on the right also fear the government more than people on the left. I tend to see the government as benevelent and helpful, especially now that I am on Social Security and tapping into about five different safety-net programs.

Oh, and let's not forget that people on the right tend to be racist. To me, it is a huge irony that the conservative Republican party has become the populist party; but in this country, racism among poor whites is so strong that whatever party is racist becomes the populist party.

Just last week I learned that the wife of the hog-riding right-wing guy across the street is a liberal -- that was a great moment!

[Julie Steiner]

After a very uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago, I feel compelled to post a warning that General Talk threads are indexed in search engines and are thus easily retrieved by family members, neighbors, employers, etc.

--Sadder and Wiser

[Jennifer Reeser]

Please do continue, Mr. James. You have my full attention now.

[Jim Moonan]

Jennifer: "Just last week I learned that the wife of the hog-riding right-wing guy across the street is a liberal -- that was a great moment!"

That is the hope... The fear is there are not enough of us. That there are wolves in sheep’s clothing everywhere. The world itself feels in disguise.
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[Jennifer Reeser]

LOL, Jim. You have no idea how close to Home your initial quip hits.

It is most interesting to learn that all Republican right-wingers are racists and such. I am sure that none of them would ever, say, marry a Native American Indian. Nor surely ever allow, support, bankroll and advance the little woman's career in any field (especially of the liberal arts) so un-lucrative, financially, as poetry. I mean, they are all greedy, right?

Most importantly, I am sure that no Republican right-winger (all being homophobes, of course), would ever allow a spouse to have anything to with a homosexual like, say, Timothy Murphy.

*snicker*

Jennifer

[Nigel Mace]

A fairly devastating discussion of the court's recent performance is here... http://www.scotusblog.com/2018/06/sy...rst-amendment/

It seems that your entire Supreme Court system is indeed in deep, deep trouble.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

I don't really give a dam about what people on the right do on their day off. Many of the policies they have championed in the last decades are overtly racist in application even if the intent is written between the lines in dog-whistle ink. Other policies are selectively racist. Or toxic to the underclass. Or other species. Not every policy but way too many to squint at. And the right has gone all in with the land-rapers and betrayed the indigenous nations over and over again. The consistent results of their applied theories doesn't leave any cover for honest reactionaries, no matter how lovable, to claim clean hands anymore. We built the fascist architecture, made the hole in the birdhouse just the right size for an authoritarian pigeon to come home to roost, and here we are. The only thing in our favor is that the first one into the perch is narcissitic idiot that telegraphed his kung fu and enough folks woke up before it was too late. Maybe. It is still a catastrophe, on top of the last decades of catastrophes, liberal and other. We are caging brown people. Paying millions to keep them in cages. It serves no real economic purpose. The entire thing is based in a fear based in a lie designed to give power to men who would otherwise have no human traits that would recommend them to control. This the right is doing. All of them. That the liberal mess of half-measures failed us as well only deepens the disaster but it doesn't leave ony cover for anyone not opennly engaged against the policies being toyed with by these pigs.