What Does Trump Mean For Startups?

I got this tweet around 11pm last night:

Clearly the news that Trump will be the next President of the US is creating all sorts of financial jitters in the US and around the world this morning. There is a ton of uncertainty right now as many investors, me included, were not expecting this outcome. If there is anything that investors hate, it is uncertainty.

For me the best framework I have is Brexit. I feel that the economic and societal unease that has been brewing in much of the developed world over the past decade is coming home to roost and I believe that we will see more “brexits” in the coming months and years.

I wrote this right after Brexit:

But more than that, going into a foxhole right now seems like the wrong idea. Some of the best companies have been created in times of great economic turmoil. And, because of that, some of the best venture capital investments have been made in times when everyone was risk averse. I am not for getting too excited when times are good and I am not for getting too conservative when times feel bad. I am all for looking for opportunity at every turn.

I am certain that USV will continue to invest capital in interesting startups. While the financial markets may be in for a tough time, possibly a prolonged tough time, there is no correlation between startup success and strong financial markets. And those investors who understand that will act accordingly and be rewarded over the long term for doing so.

For entrepreneurs, this means be cautious and maybe even a bit conservative while all of this shakes out but don’t panic and don’t confuse uncertain times with a lack of opportunity. If you were excited about your business yesterday, you should be excited about your business today. But don’t be blind about the macro environment you are operating in. It’s going to be choppy for a bit here.

#entrepreneurship#policy#Politics

Comments (Archived):

  1. Anne Libby

    Well. that I anticipated this outcome as even a possibility is mostly due to folks I met here, people I came to know here, on Twitter, and some in real life. It’s important to see outside of our own bubbles…Not much of a thought, but it’s all I’ve got.

    1. LE

      Not sure if you live in super liberal NYC but I know many others who post here do. You are in a bubble.In Starbucks yesterday (in a suburb of Philly) two upscale women whispered to me (you know in the ‘cancer’ tone people take when discussing that subject) that they were Trump supporters when I asked them who they were voting for. To them this is simply a big “fuck you” for liberal causes and the direction of that the country has been going in. These women drive nice cars… they are not working class and my guess is their husbands are the family breadwinners. (They are always dressed as if they came from yoga class when I see them).Driving though my neighborhood last night I noted that there were not any Trump or Hillary signs anywhere. I was surprised because it’s heavily democratic. I figured out that the Trump supporters must not have wanted to draw any fire from what they felt was overwhelming opposition to someone they wanted to support. And the fact that there were no HIllary signs was telling, most people aren’t ashamed to say they support her. So she had little support in an area that was clearly her turf by voting patterns. So there was clearly voters out there who weren’t answering honestly when asked by pollsters but when they got into the booth in private they did what they thought was best and brought Trump a victory.

      1. Susan Rubinsky

        I think there were also a lot of “unlikely” voters. These are the ones not counted by the polls.

    2. Girish Mehta

      I made this comment here after Brexit that the Brexit outcome had reminded me again of the filter bubble we live in despite our efforts to avoid.https://disqus.com/home/dis…After Brexit, was more conscious to try and look outside *my* information bubble in the past few months. Several instances pointed to the real possibility that ‘availability bias’ (information that is more easily available to you does not become more right) had seeped in to commentaries on both sides. Either outcome was equally possible. I did not anticipate or predict this outcome, but was not surprised at the outcome either.p.s. Don’t know if you read Chris Arnade’s posts. Or Naval Ravikant’s “American Spring” (I did not find American Fall as valuable, but American Spring was, to me atleast).

      1. Lawrence Brass

        Looking at both vote maps now it is inevitable to think about how the people in the country, the inner cities feel abandoned or ignored by the elites living in the metropolitan areas and who are defining their lives.With the exception of Scotland in the Brexit case.

      2. Anne Libby

        I joined Twitter after reading an interview with William Gibson where he called it a “novelty aggregator,” and spoke to exactly your point.So though I’ve got a wide range of people’s opinions in my “bubble,” I haven’t read either of these sources. Thank you, I will check them out.

        1. JamesHRH

          I can totally vouch for Chris Arnade.Eye opening.

        2. Girish Mehta

          To echo what Donna said, Thanks and appreciation for your thought.

          1. Anne Libby

            Oh, so lovely of you to say. Thank you so much!Onwards.

    3. JamesHRH

      It is THE thought Anne.

    4. Susan Rubinsky

      I know lots of people that were very vocal about voting for Trump. Some of them are very smart and educated people. Many of my personal friends voted for Trump for a lot of different reasons. I also know many working class white people (I’m from a white working class background and still am close with many people from my childhood) who feel hog tied by the system. They are sick of being taxed and regulated to the point that it’s practically impossible to make a living. So, because of that I wasn’t surprised at the outcome. Disappointed, yes. Surprised, no.

    5. Donna Brewington White

      Anne, this comment is an example of why I so respect and appreciate you.

      1. Anne Libby

        Aww, thank you, Donna. You are so gracious.

  2. Mario Cantin

    He started out with a conciliatory speech. Hopefully, that sets the tone of what’s to come.

    1. awaldstein

      You are presuming that there is a connection between words, beliefs and actions of course.If so which words matter–those of the last 18 months or yesterday.We will be fine. There are opportunities but socially and culturally this is really a huge step backwards, dark ages shit.

      1. Mario Cantin

        On what I said: I’m not holding my breath.On the dark ages stuff: I agree.It’s still better in my mind that he at least started to sound normal in his winning speech rather than keeping going with the nonsense. It’s not much hope to go on, I’ll concede.

  3. LE

    Financial markets? When I went to bed last night (roughly 2:30am) the dow futures were down roughly 800 points and I couldn’t wait to get some buy orders in when I got to work. Now I see they are only down 335 points. I was hoping to buy some stocks on the dip but I guess others were as well (duh).

    1. Rob Larson

      Agreed, anyone betting on prolonged financial turmoil will be disappointed/surprised. The president doesn’t have that big an influence anyway.

  4. Tom Labus

    The Trump Recession will make 08 look like a walk in the park. A Tariff War will hammer the middle class into the ground. Basics like food clothes will go through the roof. Your next pair of running shoes $2K , iPhone $5K.This one is one is on all of us for voting for him knowing the destruction he will bring.

    1. Parkite

      Funny.

  5. andyswan

    LOWER taxesLOWER regulationHIGHER ENERGYPlenty of room on the Trump Train for all of the highest energy founders… no hard feelings and no brakes!

    1. Rob Underwood

      I expect the IT security sector will also do quite well.

    2. Mario Cantin

      That’s all good if you don’t mind the odd reality tv show being run by the Klu Klux Klan, et al, as the ‘new normal’. And don’t forget to set your clocks back 75 years folks!

      1. sigmaalgebra

        You really believe that KKK lie?Nearly all the delay in Trump answering the KKK question was inserted by editing the video tape.That whole KKK thing was just dirty politics.So, the charge was made. That the tape was edited was just ignored by the mainstream media (MSM). Then the charge was just repeated, over and over, without any details, evidence, references, etc., and a LOT of voters believed it.The whole KKK thing was yet another case of totally fabricated dirt with an organized, deliberate gang up and pile on by the MSM. Contemptible. I’m for a free press, but maybe we can and should have some laws that stop what the MSM just tried to do — they came close to ending the US and much of the world.There is no way I will ever forgive the MSM — the NYT, WaPo, Boston Globe, LAT, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX (except for Hannity and a few more specific persons), MSNBC, NBC, Slate, Salon, Huffpo, etc. are all “dead to me”. They distorted, fabricated, lied, piled on, and came close, within 2% of the popular vote, to ending the US and much of the world.One lesson is how bad the MSM were, totally in the tank for Hillary, just a Hillary propaganda machine, as bad as Stalin’s Pravda and Hitler’s Der Sturmerand how they got that way.Another lesson is never to believe anything from a newsie without at least common high school term paper writing standards of complete context, complete quotes, primary sources with solid references. Then need more than one of such articles. And, when see a video clip, understand that it might have been edited like the KKK clip was. Remember that in debates, one side may have gotten ALL the questions in advance. Remember that debate moderators might deliberately lie to sabotage a candidate they don’t like. Remember that the MSM is for sale and can be bought, and for actually not very much money, all things considered. Remember that essentially everything you get from the MSM, even from all the MSM sources at the same time, might be, likely is, deliberately strongly distorted, totally fabricated from nothing at all, or just outright lies, and then promulgated with an organized pile on.Broadly, the MSM have zero, zip, zilch, zero, credibility, integrity, etc. Worse, the MSM are enemies of the US Constitution, the US, and the world — e.g., just came darned close to sending the US on the way of Rome and starting WWIII.Apparently the MSM have lost enough revenue to be close to going out of business (although that does not explain the fact that about 80% of the actual newsies in the news rooms are total leftists dreaming of various cases of socialism and globalism, totally devoted to affirmative action for anyone but a white male of European descent), and all wound up with political correctness that lets them get their coveted headlines and scoops from even the tiniest, cooked up, distorted, contrived, fabricated lies about offenses of someone’s hypersensitive feelings.Then with this MSM sewage, way too many voters ignored the really good view of Trump on racism is inhttp://spectator.org/64643_…where he worked really hard, and successfully, to get rid of the racism in the high end clubs in Palm Beach.That article has been there since 11/13/2015, but lots of people fell for the totally cooked up, lying MSM propaganda.The popular vote was way too close to call. The US has maybe 40% of the voters willing to be lead around by the MSM sewage. Another 10% are drunks, deranged, delusional, druggies, etc. That situation is a serious threat to the US.With Hillary, the US would have sunk deeper into the outhouse Obama built, with the help of the MSM, and been well on the way to the fate of Rome. Hillary and the MSM came really close to ending the US or anything like it and via WWIII most of the world.With Trump we are moving in the direction of sanity, but that 40% and the MSM remain a threat to the future of the US and the world.My view is that the 40% is too much too bad; the US voters are not up to continuing the US; and the US is still about to die — give it a few more 4 year election cycles, and the US will be irreversibly on the way of Rome.In the short term, small players on the Internet will replace the MSM. So, NYT, WaPo, Boston Globe, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, and more will shrink back to trivial entertainment and irrelevant to informing voters.It is still the case “A republic if you can keep it” — well, with the MSM and the 40%, we can’t. John Adams was correct: Our Constitution needs moral people and can’t stand otherwise., and we are very short on moral people and have far too many, e.g., ready to edit a video tape and then have a coast to coast MSM pile on promulgating that lie. Our Constitution and our country can’t take much more of that.Now Obama will pardon Bill, Hillary, Huma, Mills, and everyone who could be seriously prosecuted and, in particular, call Obama for testimony. As his last act as POTUS, Obama may take Air Force One to, say, Kenya and be gone.It would have been weird: If Hillary had won, then as Commander in Chief she would have needed the highest security clearance. That would have had to have been granted by the FBI. If Comey, with a 10 year term and difficult to fire, had granted the clearance, Congress should have impeached him. If he didn’t grant the clearance, then Hillary could not have participated as Commander in Chief. But if she did participate as Commander in Chief, as soon as she touched, saw, or heard anything classified, Congress could/should have impeached her.Look, we know now that five foreign governments got ALL of Hillary’s work e-mail with likely some thousands, call it 33,000, highly classified e-mail messages, and it was trivial and obvious that they would have. That witch — totally neurotic, pathological, disconnected, uncomprehending, clueless, nasty — was a grand disaster to the US and the world, and she came within a gnat’s ass of ending both.With such garbage as Hillary, our country can’t hope to stand. The MSM need to go, be replaced by small players on the Internet. The 40% need a good civics lesson. Voters need to insist on moral people in leadership in DC. Else we’ll go the way of Rome.Good news: I voted in Upstate NY. I didn’t know just where to vote so drove to the Town Hall of Lagrange. On the way, on Route 55 in eastern Poughkeepsie, I saw a just gorgeous new, huge Christian church. GREAT. The people at the Town Hall were REALLY nice, JUST the great US people Trump talked about yesterday. They found my actual polling place on Route 82 and gave me instructions. I drove out there: BEAUTIFUL, huge Christian church with REALLY nice people. A lot of old people but also a few families with several young children!The 40% still leaves 60%.But the MSM MUST be stuffed into the outhouse Obama and the MSM built and then covered over — say, with one of Trump’s kids driving a D-9. Then we need a civics lesson for the 40%. Then we need more, good, small news sources on the Internet.And now that we got rid of Obama and Bill/Hill and have Trump, we have a new chance, “A New Hope”, to save our country and much of the world.

        1. Mario Cantin

          You can see a screenshot of the KKK newspaper with the Trump slogan in the headline, along with his picture. https://www.washingtonpost….

          1. sigmaalgebra

            Your point is?

          2. Mario Cantin

            I’m skeptical, that’s my point, but the good news is time will tell — in 4 to 8 years, I’ll know.

          3. sigmaalgebra

            The newsies really like headlines and will go low without bounds to find some.There are a lot of wackos out there, including some KKK wackos.A politician can’t know about all the dirt in the lives of everyone who votes for him, but that a person in the KKK votes for a politician does NOT mean that the politician agrees with the KKK. Of course, the newsies want to shock and scare people with hints, etc. that a KKK person voting for Trump means that Trump supports the KKK. Dirt.Or to respond to your newspaper image, that some KKK people voted for Trump means nothing about Trump being racist.Trump is just not racist. Lots of media people kept claiming otherwise, but it’s just not true. I’ve explained here several times. But, there’s just no solid evidence that Trump is racist.The bigger picture is that we “Have a republic if we can keep it”. For that, we need some reasonably smart voters. If dirt bag politicians can win elections by stupid stuff such as the Hillary claims that Trump is racist, sexist, etc., then we are very much in line to losing our “republic”.We are very close to losing the US now. The last election was very close, what, Hillary won the popular vote by a gnat’s ass, and Trump won the Electorial College by, what, 9 votes? We have about 40% of the voters really in need of a serious civics lesson, and until then they are a threat to end the US and much of the world.We can’t keep the US going with 40% of the voters dumb enough to be influenced by the Hillary dirty tricks or vote for someone as bad as Hillary.God or whatever gave us Trump and four more years,but due to that 40% the US is still at risk. A few more election cycles with candidates as bad as Hillary, and a Hillary will win and destroy the US and much of the world. That KKK headline was a symptom of something ready to KILL the US.

          4. Mario Cantin

            Alright, read it all. As usual, thanks for taking the time to communicate your views.I must say you convinced me more about the algebra vs machine learning thing a few months back, ha ha!But I get what you’re saying and I’ll mull it over.Take care.

          5. JLM

            .Be just a little skeptical about the media, if for no other reason than how completely wrong they got everything. Why would they be right on this?The big loser in all of this is the media and the revelation of their wholesale lack of fairness and objectivity.I wouldn’t trust they get the date right on their newspaper.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          6. Mario Cantin

            In my original comment, I’m using the KKK more as a metaphor for what Trump stands for as an American.

          7. JamesHRH

            You’re just wrong. Trump used shock radio tactics to dominate the news cycle, leveraging the financial shortcomings of traditional electronic media to his advantage.No one seems to see that Trump is a new media genius, smarter than every Dem strategist on the planet.Why does everyone think that’s how he will govern? Did Obama hold big rallies and talk about Yes We Can in the first 100 days ?And if you want to think about just how clueless HRC is on the people left behind, staying at the Peninsula last night was a less than stellar call.

          8. JLM

            .The symbolism of staying at The Peninsula says it all.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          9. Mario Cantin

            I’m not sure what we’re arguing about. I hear you and I want to agree, but you’re just speculating. He could turn out to be the best leader that there could be, doing what’s right and not caring what people think; or he could be a catastrophe. Maybe you’ve got a crystal ball, or maybe you’re more intelligent than all the world leaders and financiers who’ve been talking about that very uncertainty all day today; but I maintain that only time will tell and either one of us could be wrong. And trust me, I want to be wrong on this one.

          10. JLM

            .Mario, you can’t trust me with a metaphor. I’m still struggling analogies and similes are killing me.Remember the average Trump supporter is poorly educated, ill-informed, and basketed deplorable. We have no capacity for metaphors.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          11. Matt A. Myers

            Being blinded by bias, media companies taking one side or the other and leveraging their reach to manipulate, and someone rallying the troops by tapping into anger via a racist, sexist, and bigoted stance are all different and all play a role in the election result — in part assuming that people wouldn’t elect such an openly racist, sexist, and bigoted person – which in reality is a more civilized person projecting their own place in evolution onto others.The media didn’t lose anything, they are wanting profit – and the industrial complexes are starting to (hopefully) reach its extremity.

          12. JLM

            .The media lost their souls and they didn’t end up in Lost & Found. They destroyed any shred of credibility they had. The NYT is not even a bird cage rag any more. They are an adjunct to the DNC.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          13. Drew Meyers

            “Be just a little skeptical about the media”I’m more than a little skeptical. I don’t believe much of anything they publish anymore.

        2. Sam

          “You really believe that [insert scandal here] lie?Nearly all the [negative inference] was inserted by editing the video tape.That whole [scandal] thing was just dirty politics.So, the charge was made. That the tape was edited was just ignored by the [other side’s] media. Then the charge was just repeated, over and over, without any details, evidence, references, etc., and a LOT of voters believed it.The whole [scandal] thing was yet another case of totally fabricated dirt with an organized, deliberate gang up and pile on by the [other side’s media]. Contemptible. I’m for a free press, but maybe we can and should have some laws that stop what the [partisan media] just tried to do.”It’s very easy to swap the brackets out for the Comey-email scandal and be just as indignant on the other side. Can you see it as clearly? Hopefully you can.We have a media problem in this country. And we are culpable because we continue to eat up the sensational and largely bypass the thoughtful.I can imagine the rest of the world thinking today, “Americans, bless their hearts. They are so easily duped.”

          1. sigmaalgebra

            Yes, but:The MSM/Hillary side of the media was MUCH larger than the, say, PoliZette, etc. side.Just because I HATE the NYT doesn’t mean I like the National Review. I also HATE the National Review.What I HATE are distortions, fabrications, lies, manipulations, incompetence, waste, lost good opportunities, and big disasters.E.g., for socialized medicine, I’m willing to consider it — carefully. Then much more CAREFULLY. Then much, much, much, much more CAREFULLY. Then maybe do some small scale but VERY well designed trials where have about 10 researchers watching every medical test, needle prick, prescription, result, collecting the data, etc. For some years. Build some theories. Test them, over and over and get repeatable results. Then do it all over again. Several times. Then try a SMALL roll out with THOROUGH monitoring and analysis. Hope it’s a lot better. Else junk it.For Comey, I don’t know what the heck he did. I don’t think he is really partisan. I conclude gutless and incompetent. He did badly fumble the ball. Coming out with that weak statement a few days before the election and then a weaker statement just hours before the election was just plain stupid in all respects. What he did in July was equally stupid.Usually there are (A) many ways to be badly wrong and (B) only a few ways to be really right. I want (B), not (A).Shouldn’t all this be totally obvious?Just why should we insist on having half of our soup total BS?

      2. BLSavini

        IF analyzed, there is no real difference between open aggression or passive aggression except elements of style. Both usually wind up doing more harm to the aggressor in attempting to elevate themselves, by putting down another.

    3. Susan Rubinsky

      I think Trump may support renewable energy like wind farms. Imagine if we killed the corn subsidy and filled those fields with windmills? Results:-Killing an “establishment” subsidy -Jobs for Americans (to plan, build, and run it)-Payout for farmers who own the fields (I know a guy here in CT who is putting together financial packages for doing solar on farm fields and it has positive financial outcomes for every participant in the deal. Farmers are scrambling to sign up.)-Possible manufacturing jobs (though almost all of it comes from China right now and I haven’t really done the math. just throwing out ideas here.)-Lower CO2 emissions (and, hell, it’s way better than fracking if you want to further the discussion)I spent election day (I voted ahead of time) out on Block Island checking out the first U.S. Offshore Wind farm. While chatting with the innkeeper, she told us how excited everyone on the island is about the wind farm. The inn was filled with consultants, mechanical engineers, etc. out there working for the wind farm. If you’ve every been to BI in November, it is highly unusual to see so many off-islanders there. She also told us some of the details in how much it’s going to reduce electricity costs on the island. So, double whammy in returns: lower electricity costs, Inn and other businesses in town are making money off season. She also told us that lots of tourists who had never come to the island before were coming just to see the wind farm, though, obviously, that’s a short-term perk.https://uploads.disquscdn.c

  6. LE

    Jeez change is opportunity in business. It really doesn’t get any clearer than this actually.On another note Gini Rometty CEO of IBM and an all in positive opinion piece on the blockchain yesterday in the print WSJhttp://www.wsj.com/articles…… https://uploads.disquscdn.c

  7. kenberger

    #We’reWithoutHer

    1. JLM

      .She was never with us. She was only with herself.JLM (deplorable)www.themusingsofthebigredca…

      1. kenberger

        I’m with you.but… how bout *him*?!

  8. Salt Shaker

    The Divided States of America:Blue/RedUrban/RuralHaves/Have NotsNever more clearer.

    1. pointsnfigures

      Yes. In Illinois, Cook County was the only county that went for Clinton, and she won the state.

      1. JamesHRH

        That played out everywhere: FLA, PA, OH, MI, WI, MN.

  9. kidmercury

    WITH republicans getting congress Obamacare is finished. CORP taxes probably going down. We might also see gay marriage and abortion go the other way with supreme Court nominees, which I think I’d the most troublesome part of trump. the other stuff especially Obamacare going away will be great for entrepreneurs. National debt remains huge risk

    1. LE

      We might also see gay marriage and abortionWow you might be surprised that a large amount of the population that is suffering [1] doesn’t give two shits about gay marriage and many other progressive and liberal achievements over the past years.And Obamacare (and medical care in general) ? My daughter called me for money to pay the high deductibles for some physical therapy that she needs. The initial appoint was $250 (not covered) and follow ups (not covered) are $180 until the deductible is met. And this all runs yearly so it will rest in January I can’t even imagine what people do who don’t have a dad to bail them out and I feel bad for them. And the high costs are not exclusively as a result of Obama the entire system (and regulation and tort bar of the past) bears much of the blame as well. Time for a reversal of that entire nanny state way of thinking that has gotten us into this mess.[1] And of course a significant amount of the population that isn’t suffering doesn’t care either.

      1. Richard

        All true but why didn’t your daughter set aside money for her heathcare? The problem is people just don’t take redponsibility for their healthcare costs. If you have a car you set aside $ for maintenance, this is a educational issue as much as anything.

        1. LE

          She actually does have the money. It’s a divorced dad thing (see ‘disney dad’). Besides I was the one who pushed her to get a job in NYC so I feel partly responsible to kick her some extra money if she feels she needs it.

    2. Richard

      That about sums it up. Could see end of several departments? Could see end of carried interest?

  10. Rob Underwood

    More generally – and especially if you were pulling for HRC – I hope we all recognize that the tone we set today and this week is the vibe our kids will pick up on and that’s important. Not surprisingly, the tone on social media is pretty panicky by some, but we need to think about what our kids pick up on. As a parent of 3 I can tell you first hand – they don’t know what to make of it all and are looking for models of reaction.I also think we need to put things into perspective. Things – both societal and financial – could be tough (though, on the latter, the rebound in the futures markets is noteworthy). Our grandparents faced the Depression and World War II. I don’t think a Trump presidency reaches that level of crisis, again despite all the social media posts saying otherwise. As always, perspective.As far as startups there could be numerous new opportunities. I think IT security, privacy, will be a huge growth opportunity for example.All in all, the tone we each set over the next few days is crucial.

  11. Owen

    If everything was going great we wouldn’t be starting companies that solve problems.

  12. Mike Cautillo

    Long Bitcoin, technology & entrepreneurship-Short politics, popular media & centralization.

  13. Karen Cahn

    I am feeling more bullish than ever about http://www.ifundwomen.com When women own their own money, they own their own power. For anyone reading this, please go support women-led startups on iFundWomen.

  14. Twain Twain

    Before the election, SV’s position on a Trump presidency was about concerns with:(1.) H-1B visas;(2.) US hardware makers like Apple needing to produce in US instead of China (which may impact their profit margins); and(3.) Tech cos being forced to unlock devices such as in San Bernadino case.http://uk.businessinsider.chttps://uploads.disquscdn.c…If Trump can do these three things, it would help the US:(1.) Implement STEM training programs for the disaffected and under-employed who voted him in, moving them on to higher paying skills sets and redistributing opportunity beyond the coastal metropolises.(2.) Reduce energy costs — maybe this will help with the Bitcoin mining thing.(3.) Keep the current CTO and team of the US and get up the curve (FAST) about how inclusion and diversity are VITAL for data and AI to be representative rather than biased and holding back innovation.What’s at stake? https://uploads.disquscdn.chttps://uploads.disquscdn.chttps://uploads.disquscdn.chttps://uploads.disquscdn.c

    1. LE

      Sure because SV (and the tech sector) needs to continue gobbling up all the money in this country (as does Wall Street). [1] I have benefited from much of this but even I think it’s enough already. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. The cheer has not been spread around and the answer is not more handouts for those displaced. Tech is not the answer (and to repeat I benefit from this so it’s not sour grapes) to every ill in society. Honestly I’d be fine w/o being able to get something from Amazon overnight if it meant that people got to keep their jobs.[1] Just read where Goldman is doing high fives because they will be able to now do deals in China w/o partners. As if they aren’t doing well enough at the expense of others already. (As is NYC for that matter)….https://uploads.disquscdn.c

      1. Twain Twain

        If STEM training is not the answer then what do you propose? Reopening places like Bethlehem Steel in Pennsylvania and/or creating FoxConns in Ohio?I was in Vegas earlier this year and they’re building north and south of the Strip, a lot of it via Chinese investment. This includes a huge production plant for electric cars over 18,000 acres by the Chinese version of Tesla. “We are now looking at over a quarter of a trillion dollars over 20 years for the impact of the whole build out,” said Dr. Robert Lang, Brookings West economist.Meanwhile, David Dowell, Executive Director of Hong Kong-Apec Trade Policy Group, writing on 6 November 2016:”Note one set of Trump’s inflammatory claims thrown out at a rally last Sunday: “America has lost 70,000 factories since China entered the World Trade Organisation [in 2001]. They [Chinese] come in. They take our jobs. They take our products. They make a fortune. And we owe them US$1.5 trillion.” In Trump’s fact-free universe the fact that not one of these claims stands serious scrutiny does not matter a jot.According to the US Government’s Reshoring Initiative, 100,000 manufacturing jobs have returned to the US from overseas over the past five years – 60 per cent of these from China. Add in plants in the US opened by foreign investors, and the number of jobs created jumps to 250,000.It is true that there are fewer manufacturing jobs in the US today than there were at the peak of 19.5 million in 1979, but from a low of 11.45 million manufacturing jobs in 2010, nearly 1 million new factory jobs have been created. Most of those lost since 1979 have been lost because of automation, robots and improved productivity and have nothing to do with outsourcing to China and offered the kind of paltry wages that no self-respecting American would be willing to accept.As for China’s manufacturers making a fortune at American’s expense, you need look no further than Foxconn’s iPhone manufacturing headquartered in Dongguan. Out of a price at the point of export from China of US$179, China’s manufacturers capture just $7 of value. The rest of that price was made up of components imported from overseas, often from the US. And who captured the value from US$179 to the retail price of around US$500? Why, Apple in the US of course. But in Trump’s fact-free universe, such untidy and inconvenient details will never get in the way of a rabble-rousing story.It is also true that the US runs a large bilateral trade deficit with China – it exports about US$100 of goods to China for every US$300 it imports. But remember that the US runs a very significant trade deficit not just with China but with the whole world – and has never recorded a trade surplus since 1975 – while at the same time it is the world’s biggest services exporter, never having run a deficit in its services trade since 1970.”The US banks weren’t able to do independent business in China before for a very simple reason: the banking infrastructure was under-developed so it would have been too risky.

        1. LE

          If STEM training is not the answer then what do you propose?STEM training for who? How many blue collar factory types have you ever worked with? You are not going to give these guys things you learn by studying and reading books.As far as the rest of your facts and figures I would rather believe my lying eyes.

          1. Twain Twain

            So you’re saying that blue collar factory worker types can’t be STEM trained to fix and/or make robotics and electronic devices in the same way they might have repaired car engines or assembly line faults before?If what you’re saying is that blue collar workers don’t have the intelligence to be STEM trained, then Trump is in trouble in his plans for regeneration and if he means to repatriate production of electronic devices like Apple’s back to the US. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…+++++++I started working with blue-collar factory types when I was 17. I invented flavors in my lab and then went to get the flavors carbonated by guys who’d left education at high school. Then I went across the yard to the blue-collar types who helped me with packing my drinks for delivery.That’s why I have utmost respect for their intelligence and their adaptiveness.They sure as heck can be STEM TRAINED.

    2. DJL

      It is much easier than this. Silicon Valley is afraid of Trump because they all hide billions of dollars in tax revenue and reinvest it overseas. (All of the big ones do the Irish or double-Irish.) If you lower the corporate tax rate and then start exposing this scam – a huge amount of money (I mean a massive amount) goes out of their pockets and into the US economy. Bad for them and VC’s? Sure. But very good for the US.

      1. Twain Twain

        It’s called “Double Irish Dutch sandwich”.Recently, Trump discussed his corporate repatriation plan whereby companies like Apple can bring their overseas profits back to the US at a one-time 10% tax rate rather than the current 35%.Of course, the DID sandwich is also the mechanism that caused the UK to threaten boycotts of US techco’s a few years back. https://uploads.disquscdn.chttps://uploads.disquscdn.c

        1. DJL

          My understanding is that this “holiday” was done in the 80s and was a huge success. I don’t see any losers in this scenario.

  15. jason wright

    The world will continue to turn.US foreign policy will be less bloody, and fewer people will be killed over the next four years than if HRC had won. That’s a good thing and we should be pleased about it.Petroleum politics is in decline. Information politics is on the rise. That means better democracy…because the people produce the information.Clearly the 1%’s mass media machine is slowly grinding to a halt. That’s another good thing that we should be pleased about.This is a new era of disruption,…and the world will continue to turn.

  16. William Mougayar

    I think the best thing we can do is hold our breath, and wait to see what this all means. Predictions about Trump have been wrong before. It would be unfathomable to think that someone who has been in business all his life is going to do anything that would hurt businesses. I’m sure that many Trump extremes will not be realized, and that the pendulum will swing to more realistic and sensible changes. The Internet, the web, online businesses, network effects, the blockchain, cryptocurrencies are all very permeable. They know no borders, and innovation will continue to float seamlessly. To my friends in the US: move on, and make the best out of it. The US is still the most entrepreneurial country in the world, and the envy of many others. Keep producing Teslas, Googles, Amazons, Apples, Kickstarters, Twitters, Facebooks, etc.

      1. LE

        Well that is why Bezos bought WAPO. By the way Bezos and his world beating Amazon (I am a happy customer) are certainly putting lots of people out of work with that disruption. And quite frankly the world was fine before I had the ability to go to a convenient website for everything I need and have it show up the next day at my door.Last several deliveries were by Amazon driver (finally made it to where I am). Used to be UPS and Fedex provided good jobs (union even) to delivery guys now they will end up being on the skids in coming years because of Amazon and alternate delivery methods.

        1. JamesHRH

          Amazon driver on our last pkg was an indept contractor too.

        2. Twain Twain

          Like Otto, self-driving truck, soon to be followed by Uber self-driving deliveries.https://uploads.disquscdn.c

          1. LE

            Exactly. So will put more people out of jobs.

          2. pointsnfigures

            and create new ones

          3. LE

            Yes but not the blue collar ones that are being replaced.Honestly my pet peeve is no brains and no effort going into helping people living in the shitty neighborhoods who make their living doing nothing or in crime professions.

          4. Rick Mason

            Truck driving is one of the more popular jobs in America. The real disruption will be when a single team directs five trucks headed down say the I-80 corridor. These super convoys are already being testing in Europe. Two thirds of those driving jobs will disappear in just a couple of years.

    1. Jess Bachman

      Uh, no. The last thing we should do is hold our breath and wait and see. Policy changes in the first 100 days are going to be swift and stunning. We need to be prepared for that.The pendulum only swing the other way if millions of people push against it.

      1. Adam Sher

        Outside of executive orders, the GOP does not have the seats in the houses to smash through legislation (e.g. ACA). It is possible the GOP could gain the super-majority in 2018 mid-terms. I expect that President Elect Trump will be able to act unilaterally about immigration, but other things will take time. It will be interesting to see how quickly he establishes a cabinet.

        1. JLM

          .The House Republicans (in the next Congress) will hold 239 seats. The Dems will hold 192 seats.The Republicans can do whatever they want to do if they can keep their caucus together.Obamacare was passed in March 2010 when the Dems held 255 seats and the Republicans 178.It only takes a simple majority to advance legislation to the Senate.The Republicans should ensure legislation is advanced in regular order meaning subcommittee meetings/discussion/votes, committee meetings/discussion/votes, hearings (if necessary), floor debate, amendments, sufficient time for the Congress and the people to read and react to the proposed legislation.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          1. Adam Sher

            I was referring specifically to the ability to end a filibuster

          2. JLM

            .The cloture rule, Rule XXII, is likely one of the first casualties of the new Senate. Harry Reid already revised it as it relates to judicial appointments other than SCOTUS.The ability to limit debate is applicable only in the Senate and by a vote of 60 Senators.There is no necessity to limit a filibuster in the House as there is a strict time limit to consider bills. One cannot really filibuster in the House.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          3. SubstrateUndertow

            It will be interesting to see just how creative the republicans will be at discovering novel new way to obstruct themselves now that they control both houses and the executive branch of government.Now that they are in charge it is time to put up or shut up.No more blaming the democrats. It is show time!The next four years mandates them to show us”the goods”or “be ideologically unmasked”.

        2. creative group

          Adam Sher:Trump’s Billionaire’s club cabinet is really the Populist theme the deplorables were brainwashed into thinking they wouldn’t get. People get the government they deserve. Shameful con job.

          1. Adam Sher

            It’s fun to revisit posts. No one was brainwashed, and in many cases, Trump is working to deliver on his campaign promises. What was upsetting were some of the Philly and PA election results.

      2. William Mougayar

        But the election is over.

    2. Donna Brewington White

      Thanks for the wisdom from the North.Except, instead, slow, deep breaths.

  17. george

    Really appreciate the tone of your first message, post election. Totally agree, there are things/risks we need to be aware of and watch closely, but we shouldn’t bury our heads.My view, How we treat one another and work together is ultimately what will propel us past political and philosophical differences. Perhaps government has become more of the middle man but there is plenty of operating room for creativity and innovation to continue to lead change and our future.

    1. creative group

      George:We have no idea if you live in the United States or are a citizen. If you viewed how the Republican party obstructed Obama for seven years and you are suggesting a prescription of some Utopian Kumbaya work together.The weak progressives need to follow the exact playbook. Scorch the earth. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren platform. Stop with the meek Kumbaya. The Ult-Right has completely tilted the Republican party.Cry corruption even when none exists, hearings, witch hunts, Conspiracy theories. A viable prescription that ultimately elected a (No one word describes him)The Progressives will bow down.Do what Trump would have done. The election is rigged folks. The election process is totally rigged. (Trump speak=dumb speak)No matter how you dress it up a pig in a dress and lip stick is still a pig.

  18. sigmaalgebra

    Yup.

    1. Mario Cantin

      He’s consistent on the business front.He says he loves his country and I believe that much.He’s clearly a top notch negotiator.He’s street smart, hence he puts Russia on his side, for example.His children are respectable.He has the potential to do good things,…that is if he doesn’t bankrupt America and then tries to buy it back for pennies on the dollar.And…if you stand in his way, he might just grab you by the ‘p_____’.

      1. DJL

        Well said. The media and establishment will continue to attack him. But he seems very capable of learning and delegating. And the lobbyists are going to be VERY nervous. It should be fun.

      2. Drew Meyers

        Isn’t america already bankrupt (based on our massive debt)?

        1. Mario Cantin

          I was in Atlantic City in 1997, staying at the Trump Hotel & Casino. I asked the person at the registration desk how they liked working in a Trump property. He said, “Are you kidding?” He’s a f***ing crook. He hired the whole town to build this and instead of paying for it, he declared bankruptcy and then bought it back for pennies on the dollar. He f**ed the whole town.”That’s the ethics standard I was referring to.

    2. Matt A. Myers

      Business shouldn’t be afraid of Trump – depending on what area of business they are in.People should be afraid of un-checked business however — yes, regulation to make sure a business isn’t killing people or the environment.

  19. Peter

    Plenty of new business opportunity for analytics companies that can accurately predict outcomes.

    1. creative group

      Peter:Every polling agency that predicted HRC would win needs to close immediately.Anyone using their services would be ignoring their fiduciary duty.

    2. sigmaalgebra

      Maybe. But there is a HUGE problem: Tough, super tough to sell the truth to people to pay cash for it. Why? Nearly no one with any cash to spend is willing to tolerate the truth — they “Can’t handle the truth.” More generally, any help in their business they take as an insult to their competence.The polls and pundits were wrong because the people paying the bills WANTED what they got. Someone who walked in and said “Here is how to do a poll with some good predictive accuracy” would get tossed out on their ear.But there CAN be good value in “analytics”, but have to be careful about who the customer is and where the money comes from. There are some good opportunities in ad targeting if just do the targeting yourself, that is, for your own Web site, and collect the extra money from getting paid by the click. If go to someone else and claim that you can do better targeting for them and make them more money, then you will be laughed at, sabotaged, resisted at every turn, resented, feared, etc. — no possibility of success.This situation is quite general: For big success, you need to do better than nearly everyone else, but none of those people will tolerate having you around their operations since you would hurt their egos, threaten their jobs, etc.So, if you have something better in “analytics”, then you also need to have a business were you can exploit that advantage internally out of sight of everyone else. The most anyone else sees is your nice business success.That’s what my startup is doing: It uses my original math derivations for both the content the users see and like and also the targeting of the ads they see, but no one but me has or will have any idea at all about what the math is or even that there is some math involved. They don’t want to hear about the math details, and I don’t want them to know about them.Never again will I try to sell some powerful, valuable math to someone who doesn’t understand it and, thus, will be resentful, fearful, angry, etc. And if they did understand the math, then they’d do it themselves.The more fundamental problem is professionalism — law, medicine, and some parts of engineering have that, and customers are willing to respect and accept the work/advice. Math doesn’t have that, and at first people don’t want it more than snake oil and later, if it does work, are just afraid, resentful, etc.

  20. Kurt Stangl

    Great words Fred. Thanks as usual 🙂

  21. Twain Twain

    By the way, we can look at Thiel’s graphic from ‘From 0 to 1’ and decide for ourselves which characteristics Trump showed.It certainly wasn’t “average”. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…Thiel wrote that “competition is for losers” and founders need to swing for the fences by creating whole new markets and monopoly domination rather than make incremental improvements.So Trump is a ‘From 0 to 1’ type in political terms. Whether he and his policies are good/bad for the US and RoW remains to be seen.As an outsider aiming for ‘From 0 to 1’ to happen in data and AI, to break us free from the limitations of binary logic and Bayesian probability (which means the machines can’t understand us and our values), I can identify with that “Go for it!” quality in Trump — even if a lot of his campaign rhetoric was, “Seriously?! Did he really say that?!”Trump doesn’t change the vision-mission of my system.

  22. Vendita Auto

    Tribal is the scary mortal ingredient. Aleppo is all about leverage NATO based in the Ukraine & russia having to reassert its position, what would the USA do if Mexico decided to become part of a Russian or Chinese alliance ? Guessing Noam Chomsky would tell.

  23. Neeraj Shukla

    It might actually mean good thing for US businesses because he might actually understand the problems of running a business.Lets hope so at least!

  24. Salt Shaker

    The SCOTUS appointment will be more disconcerting and far reaching than anything else. A GOP led Congress will aprove someone who, minimally, makes Scalia look like a left wing liberal.That said, our country isn’t a dictatorship and many in the GOP were disillusioned w/ Trump’s extremist views and rhetoric. He’s not operating in a vacuum. Many of the things Trump says he wants to do, in all practicality, can’t be done. All these policy issues are far more nuanced than he was willing to, or even able to, admit. Healthcare reform, yes. Dodd Frank, prob. Job creation, needs serious corp tax reform and repatriation. Deportation, not practical. Build a wall, get real. ISIS, more bluster.Trump’s positioned himself as some kind of savior for the downtrodden and disenfranchised. I do agree our reach abroad is far too expansive and neglects too many needs at home. The Presidency has both strengths and limitations. There are circuit breakers and stronger voices of reason in DC to keep his inexperience, impulsive and short-sighted policies in check, though he’ll continue to blurt shit out, which the media will eat up, but now he’ll face far more accountability. The system is still larger than any one individual and let’s all pray the circuit breakers keep him in check, for his good as well as ours.

    1. JLM

      .The appointment to the Supreme Court will replace a Justice, Antonin Scalia, who was conservative. It will have no impact on the Court or the country. The man has already revealed 20 judges he would appoint to things.If you want to worry, worry about the next three SCOTUS appointments.This one will just put the Court right where it was before Justice Scalia died. Territory we’ve lived in and through before.It’s all going to be fine.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  25. Henry Yates

    My american cousin just asked me if I felt better about Brexit “now that you’ve seen what we’ve done?” My first impression was yes, it puts Brexit in the shade as Trump has such a potentially global impact (US economy/foreign policy/environment). However, what I have realised is that a lot of this comes down to what it makes you feel like as an individual. The UK choosing Brexit has had such a big impact on me as it is so opposed to my view of what the UK is all about, and my identity is inextricably linked with that. I imagine many US citizens are feeling the same this morning.

    1. JLM

      .There are a lot of Americans who are feeling pretty damn good about things this morning. Count me amongst them.This will be the best thing to happen to the US in my lifetime.Give it a chance.Everything is going to be fine.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

      1. Henry Yates

        Hey JLM – yes, likewise in the UK, although I’m not sure it is still the entire 52% who voted for Brexit.I sincerely hope it works out. None of us will benefit if it does not.Keep well.Henry

        1. JLM

          .Same to you, Henry. Get ready, the $$$ flowing into your industry are about to explode.Guess what I was drinking last night, my friend?Haha, did you ever think that I’d be toasting the election with THAT vintage?Be well.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

      2. Lawrence Brass

        Congratulations for your winning preference and sharp and clear diagnostic JLM. Today I’ll do your lawn, wax BRC, or whatever you want.I am concerned about the implications this has for my US business, mostly because I don’t know what will they be, but always prepared to correct course.

        1. JLM

          .What America needs to do right now is to process the info, take a long walk, heal a bit, and get its work clothes on cause we’ve got a lot of work to do to Make America Great Again.Trump needs to form a gov’t.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          1. Lawrence Brass

            He talked about infrastructure in his speech, that should work for a while. The rest of the book in unwritten.

          2. JLM

            .Not really. We know that Federal revenues go UP when taxes go DOWN. We learned that from every tax cutter since JFK.We know that the military is going to be rejuvenated and that our enemies will not be as adventurous.We know that ISIS will receive its due.We know that American corporate funds overseas will be repatriated.We know that immigration will be tightened up and legal immigration will become more important than illegal immigration.We know that the contraction of illegals with low skills and low wage expectations will become real which will make American wages go up with their resultant increases in the quality of those people’s lives.We know that Obamacare will be repealed and a better plan featuring no state boundaries, tort reform, and market driven pricing will come to life in its place.We know that there will be real pressure on the swamp in DC and that people will be looking for the drain plug.We know that the Keystone pipeline will be built and that the US will attain energy independence.Any book is a compilation of words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters before and after its written and read.We know that America is a good and generous people who can accomplish anything when their minds, hearts, souls, muscles, voices are united.Everything is going to be fine. This is going to be one of the greatest times to live in the history of the world.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          3. Lawrence Brass

            I sincerely hope so, and that it all works out as intended. For the good of the US and the rest of the world.Ending the campaign is certainly a good thing.

          4. JLM

            .We are not even at the end of the beginning yet.I do suspect Pres-elect Trump, Sen McConnell, and Speaker Ryan may have a chat with an empty yellow pad in the next week.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          5. Lawrence Brass

            They will both emerge from the meeting with orange faces and a surplus of orange powder for 4 years. Respectfully, orange is the new black.

          6. Donna Brewington White

            I see what you did there.

          7. sigmaalgebra

            We’ve still got the destructive, essentially subversive, MSM and about 40% of the people who drink that toxic Kool-Aid. We’ve got to stuff the MSM into the outhouse Obama and the MSM built and cover it over with a D-9, support small news organizations on the Internet, and give a really big, remedial civics lesson for the 40%.We came within 2% in the popular vote to an irredeemable path of following Rome and, for the rest of the world, WWIII.Hillary is a profoundly sick, destructive, dangerous person.Due to nukes, Hillary would have been more dangerous to the world than Hitler.

          8. Lawrence Brass

            Sigma, you won.. stop trashing Hillary, you can even keep the Skittles now. I saw Donald yesterday began to play the rigged election script in advance, just before the balance tipped his way. It is over.

          9. sigmaalgebra

            Yes, the rigged election stuff, the NV suit attempt, etc. look like defensive, preemptive stuff to forestall dirty stuff. I didn’t really like it, but I don’t blame him; the threats of dirty stuff were very real (e.g., letting 60,000 felons vote in VA thus giving VA to H); it was crucial that he win; and, thankfully, he did.Hillary deserves no sympathy. But IMHO Obama will pardon her (he doesn’t want to have to testify in court),and then we can all f’get about Hillary.Maybe God just smiled on the US.

          10. sachmo

            “We know that Federal revenues go UP when taxes go DOWN. We learned that from every tax cutter since JFK.”–Except during the disastrous presidency of George W Bush. During his tenure, taxes went down, yet debt as an overall share of GDP incerased.”We know that the military is going to be rejuvenated and that our enemies will not be as adventurous.We know that ISIS will receive its due.We know that American corporate funds overseas will be repatriated.”–Good on all of this stuff, except overspending on the military at the expense of everything else.”We know that the contraction of illegals with low skills and low wage expectations will become real which will make American wages go up with their resultant increases in the quality of those people’s lives.”–I’m fine with the wall and tightened border security, but I think raiding low income neighborhoods for illegals is going to be a disaster if he is serious about this. I think it has the potential to create a secondary internal US ‘army’ under the Homeland Security Dept. which will remain long after Trump leaves. I sincerely hope this part of his agenda never comes to pass.”We know that Obamacare will be repealed and a better plan featuring no state boundaries, tort reform, and market driven pricing will come to life in its place.”–We needed something like Obamacare to address millions of uninsured and under-insured people. I think tort reform, less regulation on the plans, no state boundaries are all great things — but the outline of an exchange based healthcare platform not linked to your employer needs to stay. I sincerely hope Trump gets this part right, that it looks largely like Obamacare but more market based, and frankly I don’t care who gets the credit for it. This is in my opinion, probably the most important thing for him to get right.”We know that the Keystone pipeline will be built and that the US will attain energy independence.”–This was going to happen anyway. Fracking has made that a reality. Climate change is real, and what worries me the most about Trump Presidency is that he believes the entire thing is a hoax, as does everyone whom he is seriously considering for his cabinet. We really don’t have another 8 years to putz around on this. This is going to be one of the worst aspects of the next 4 years.”Everything is going to be fine. This is going to be one of the greatest times to live in the history of the world.”–What you haven’t mentioned here is any of the white supremacy rhetoric present at his rallies. Honestly, for a lot of people it probably won’t be – minorities, muslims, LGBT. But I hope I’m wrong.

          11. JLM

            .Sach, I’m feeling a little fatigued today. Up late last night. Could I just say I disagree with most of what you say and go get my nails done?The Bush tax cuts (just for the record, Bush was a fabulous Texas Gov but I was never impressed with him as President and I am against the financial investment in the wars. I like cheap wars.) had a two year lag before revenues blossomed. Don’t make me send you a chart.I guess since I have criticized Pres Obama from time-to-time, I have somehow inherited the full throated defense of George W Bush — who I think is a cowardly punk for his “no vote for president” femininity. So, pardon me for not rising to his defense.I am going to have to call “bullshit” on the white supremacy rhetoric threat at his rallies. I saw some bikers there but I’m not out buying a Harley Davidson.Believe me, you have a great capacity to be wrong, so don’t fret.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  26. pointsnfigures

    No effect on startups. If anything positive for them. Deregulating gives them a better chance at unseating big corporate. The march of technology won’t get slower. I saw an article about AI in meat processing robots: http://www.porknetwork.com/…If the Republicans are smart (questionable), they repeal Obamacare and separate work from insurance once and for all-good for startups. If they do immigration correctly, it will be good for startups. Repealing Dodd-Frank and Sarbox would be good for startups.If they focus on social issues and trod down the familiar path they did in 2000, it will be bad for everyone. If they are vengeful it will be bad for everyone. But, Trump isn’t Bush (thankfully) and Ryan isn’t Hastert (thankfully).

    1. awaldstein

      We agree my friend.Business will be OK. That is not all there is to life.I see a dark ages of social reform and freakin horrible consequences for the social causes I have fought for my entire life.Ethnicity, face, gender, choice, environmental concerns are what scares the shit out of me.

      1. sigmaalgebra

        > Ethnicity, face, gender, choice, environmental concerns are what scares the shit out of me.You have been profoundly misled by people with just ugly techniques.Ethnicity? We are, and should be proud about it, a country of English and European descent.We are a lot like Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Baltics, more in Central Europe, Western Russia, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, the British Isles, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel.We are not much like Africa, Turkey, the Mideast, South Asia, India, Pakistan, SE Asia, the South Pacific Islands, Eastern Russia, China, Korea, Japan, or Central or South America. GOOD.For “environmental concerns”, I responded above to the flim-flam, fraud, scam of human sources of CO2 causing climate change.”Gender”? We are going extinct, literally, and, thus, need renewed emphasis on MOTHERHOOD.Just what is it about motherhood so many people are having such a tough time understanding?Hint: Motherhood is not the same as feminism. Feminism is weak, sick, dead limbs on the tree.But, for the importance of motherhood, we have Darwin on our side, and he is very much in the process of winning again.Any questions?

        1. awaldstein

          Many.None that i need you to school me on.

          1. sigmaalgebra

            I never wanted to be a college prof. And there I learned that some students are just hopeless.

          2. awaldstein

            how does that relate to me or the comment?

          3. sigmaalgebra

            Hopefully it doesn’t.

        2. ShanaC

          technically @SixgillBlog:disqus and I are of middle eastern and mediterranean descent (via Israel, but that country technically did not exist, alongside Judaisms as they exist today, when Philo of Alexendria was alive)

          1. sigmaalgebra

            Ah, you are wildly wrong!!!!! 🙂 You can’t fool me, not this time!!!!!I’m talking culture, not genetics, and you are solidly from European culture, no ifs, ands, buts, exceptions, excuses. And I’m not going back to ancient Egypt if only because nearly all the European culture happened since then. And that culture goes, went, two ways so that you have even more trouble escaping: A LOT of European culture is from Jewish culture! That is you are even more European!Heck, I don’t know from which direction came the sour cream, perogies, potato pancakes, etc.!And geographically, where the heck would you escape to? I’m not well informed on the diaspora, but it has appeared to me that a huge fraction of Jews of the last few hundred years have lived in the geographical areas I mentioned. Right, I omitted the details of Spain and the move to Poland, etc., sephardic versus ashkenazi, Russia, Kiev, the Baltics, etc.Sorry, Shana, you have at least 1.9 feet in the areas I mentioned!!!!! Own up!!!And for Arnold, gee, I was no good with French so in college took German. I’m no good with language, but, let me see, in German, Wald is forest and Stein is rock or some such, so Arnold is forest rock or some such, but, details aside, definitely from Germany, that is, part of the area I mentioned.Gee, the guy who got me started in violin was Waldman from Kiev and a student of Gingold, music prof at SUNY, etc. It was European, Shana!!!!! And it was a lot of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc. and not all just Ernest Bloch and Baal shem!Gee, sure, it would be good for me also to understand Japan, China, SE Asia, Pakistan, India, …, etc. but there’s no chance and no hope. I wish them well, but I can’t understand them.

  27. Ana Milicevic

    I can’t muster any semblance of patriotism today – only shame, disgust, concern for friends, family, colleagues and deep re-evaluation of what continuing to live here means for my own moral compass.As a business owner I am shellshocked.

    1. Kirsten Lambertsen

      Same. At a loss today. Completely.

      1. Ana Milicevic

        Hugs and love, K. Let’s go catch that Stooges movie.

      2. Twain Twain

        Have hope. Maybe this incredible, strong, smart, eloquent and considerate talent will run in 2020.* https://uploads.disquscdn.c… .@aexm:disqus

        1. Jess Bachman

          Psst, hey America, lets stop trying to get our leaders wives, sons, and daughters elected. Doesn’t reall help the whole “elites” thing.

          1. PhilipSugar

            This is the only comment I will comment on. I agree +100. That is what got Trump elected.

          2. Girish Mehta

            That was the top highlighted comment in American Spring written 10 months back.”Statistically speaking, what are the odds that the two most qualified candidates to be president out of 300 million people are siblings? Or married?” – American Spring, Naval Ravikant.https://medium.com/the-miss

          3. Jess Bachman

            Yeah, why this wasn’t an issue I just don’t understand. It was the biggest issue for me.

          4. JamesHRH

            It was in the top 5. Just not spoken.

          5. Twain Twain

            EagleAI from Havas on what got Trump elected.* http://www.campaignlive.co….https://uploads.disquscdn.c…@JLM:disqus @ccrystle:disqus @wmoug:disqus @MsPseudolus:disqus @aexm:disqus @jessbachman:disqus @le_on_avc:disqus @jameshrh:disqus @pointsnfigures:disqus @SixgillBlog:disqus @lawrencebrass:disqus

          6. Kirsten Lambertsen

            That was a great share. Thank you.

          7. Twain Twain

            You’re welcome, Kirsten :*).Christopher Graves, Chairman of Ogilvy, shared this analysis: “Conservatives, they claim, have a larger right amygdala, the emotional fight-or-flight center that governs fear) versus liberals having more grey matter in the anterior cingulate cortex (which handles uncertainty and conflict). One experiment (“Political Attitudes Vary with Physiological Traits” by Oxley et al) found sensitivity to threatening images and loud noises correlated more with conservatives.”When we think back to Trump’s aggressive body language and loud words throughout his campaign and what people referred to as his “stalking/prowling behavior” towards Hilary Clinton during the second debate, it reinforced his dominance in the minds of his voting constituents. https://uploads.disquscdn.chttps://www.linkedin.com/pu…Nigel Farage, one of the architects of the movement that resulted in Brexit, had likened Trump’s behavior to a “silver back gorilla”:* http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…What’s done is done and the reverberations are being felt not only in the US but elsewhere.The best the American people can do is to hold him to account that he improves economic conditions for everyone and doesn’t incite hatred of Americans during negotiations with the rest of the world.

          8. LE

            Sure it’s a big waste of time to comment but it feels so good to be able to express what you think.

          9. Twain Twain

            LOL, quite. The French and Chinese did away with dynastic rule, after all …

          10. Susan Rubinsky

            Exactly.

          11. Salt Shaker

            Wait a minute, Donald Trump Jr., is quite capable and well poised to be the next Mayor of NYC. He read off that TelePrompTer just beautifully at the RNC. Didn’t you see it? Nuff said.

        2. LE

          Maybe this incredible, strong, smart, eloquent and considerate talentSee that is exactly the problem in politics. My wife likes her for the same reasons I think. Sounds similar to why I like one of my cars (totally impractical but I like the way it sounds, drives and looks and shifts). Party in the brain actually for both of us.Explain to me why you feel that the qualities that you mention make you think she will be able to lead the country to a better place? Why is she the most qualified. 80% of it is because you know who she is. There are almost certainly more qualified people out there. You and others are just not willing to interview them. Imagine if business picked employees this way. Just hear how she speaks and appears and make a decision. Eloquence.Her ‘accomplishments’ are a) she hung around and helped a President get elected and has a knowledge of what the job involves now. b) She has a law degree from Harvard. c) She comes across and presents herself well. d) She probably has no dirty laundry I am guessing. e) She is well educated (to be redundant).How does the above vault her to being the most powerful person in the free world exactly?I get that you like her ‘look and feel’. But it has to be more than that. Imagine if Presidents picked Supreme Court justices or federal judges the same way.You are not alone in how you feel and her political prospects the way politics rolls. What’s unfortunate is that someone who is more qualified (and they are out there) will not run if Michelle runs in 2020.

          1. Twain Twain

            LOL, LE! Trump just tore up the playbook of qualities and qualifications to be President. He has no political experience and presented himself as all the unelectable qualities (sexist, racist, egotistic, thin-skinned, poor temperament etcetcetc).So … why shouldn’t Michelle Obama run and become President in 2020 when she’s actually had 8 years of closer insights into political processes (whilst not being a politician) than Trump has.

        3. pointsnfigures

          While I don’t agree with Mrs Obama’s politics, she is a helluva public speaker. If she ran in Illinois, she’d win big.

          1. Twain Twain

            Parking aside political leanings, Trump and Clinton aren’t as good at public speaking as Michelle Obama.Trump said a lot of alienating things and Clinton didn’t connect either.

        4. JamesHRH

          No she won’t – she never wanted anything to do with it.Oh, and her greatest asset: no political experience.

          1. Twain Twain

            What woman would want to run for Office after this?https://uploads.disquscdn.c…In the tech sector, the whole sexism problem is at a critical point because it’s why the data and the AI are inadequate.http://spectrum.ieee.org/tehttps://uploads.disquscdn.chttps://uploads.disquscdn.c…@panterosa:disqus @MsPseudolus:disqus @susanrubinsky:disqus @ShanaC:disqus @aexm:disqus @annelibby:disqus @donnawhite:disqus — Hilary Clinton won the popular vote and that adds to her list of achievements.How to inspire young girls? Keep being ourselves, expressing our views openly and freely, womensplaining to balance the mansplaining and delivering on our potential as human beings.Also, share and show every female we know this list of all the things this remarkable woman, Hillary Clinton, did over a lifetime — not only her graciousness in defeat on 8 November.•First ever student commencement speaker at Wellesley College.•President of the Wellesley Young Republicans•Intern at the House Republican Conference•Distinguished graduate of Yale Law School•Editorial board of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action•Appointed to Senator Walter Mondale’s Subcommittee on Migratory Labor.•Co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families•Staff attorney for Children’s Defense Fund•Faculty member in the School of Law at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville•Former Director of the Arkansas Legal Aid Clinic.•First female chair of the Legal Services Corporation•First female partner at Rose Law Firm.•Former civil litigation attorney.•Former Law Professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law.•twice listed by The National Law Journal as one of the hundred most influential lawyers in America•Former First Lady of Arkansas.•Arkansas Woman of the Year in 1983•Chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession•twice named by the National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America•created Arkansas’s Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youth•led a task force that reformed Arkansas’s education system•Board of directors of Wal-Mart and several other corporations•Instrumental in passage of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program•Promoted nationwide immunization against childhood illnesses•Successfully sought to increase research funding for prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institutes of Health•Worked to investigate reports of an illness that affected veterans of the Gulf War (now recognized as Gulf War Syndrome)•Helped create the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice•Initiated and shepherded the Adoption and Safe Families Act•First FLOTUS in US History to hold a postgraduate degree•Traveled to 79 countries during time as FLOTUS•Helped create Vital Voices, an international initiative to promote the participation of women in the political processes of their countries.•Served on five Senate committees: -Committee on Budget (2001–2002) -Committee on Armed Services (2003–2009) -Committee on Environment and Public Works (2001–2009) -Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (2001–2009) -Special Committee on Aging.•Member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe•Instrumental in securing $21 billion in funding for the World Trade Center site’s redevelopment•Leading role in investigating the health issues faced by 9/11 first responders.•In the aftermath of September 11th, she worked closely with her senior Senate counterpart from New York, Sen. Charles Schumer, on securing $21.4 billion in funding for the World Trade Center redevelopment.• Middle East ceasefire. In November 2012, Secretary of State Clinton brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.•Introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act, intended to protect children from inappropriate content found in video games.•First ex-FLOTUS in US History to be elected to the United States Senate (and re-elected)•Two-term New York Senator -(senate stats here: https://www.govtrack.us/…) -(voting record here: http://votesmart.org/…)•Former US Secretary of State•GRAMMY Award Winner•Author

          2. JamesHRH

            Amazingly productive person.Very flawed role model.

          3. Twain Twain

            The same could be said of the other guy, James. The great thing about democracy is that each of us gets to choose the parts of a person we respect as role models.Their flaws we take full stock of, acknowledge and hope they’ll improve upon.The fact you acknowledge Hillary Clinton is an “amazingly productive person” is a positive difference from Trump’s stance which was that she “did nothing for others”.

          4. JamesHRH

            I am on record online in lots of places that I think they are both pretty much despicable people.He just did something brilliant, which Has me wondering if there is more to his campaign than meets the eye.

          5. Twain Twain

            Christopher Graves, Chairman of Ogilvy, shared his analysis of the neuroscience Trump tapped into:* https://www.linkedin.com/pu…Trump didn’t tap into people’s brilliance, though, and that’s sad. He tapped into people’s basest fears.It certainly is an interesting social media, marketing, branding etc case study —Albeit it’s also the very bleak reality / cause for celebration that millions of Americans now have to live with.Media pundits and others are saying he represents “Hope and change to the forgotten men of the rustbelts.”Trump’s messaging of “hope and change” is clearly very different from Obama’s 2008 campaign and those messages are targeted at and appeal to different demographics. https://uploads.disquscdn.chttps://uploads.disquscdn.c

    2. JLM

      .Patriots love their country and act upon that sentiment.Our government is not our country.I have always loved our country. I served our country and was prepared to lay down my life for it. Some very good men did just that and I was honored to serve with them.I have been skeptical about our gov’t and we should continue to be so but we should probably allow Trump to form that gov’t before we decide it’s going to be a problem.Patriots will continue to love their country and their countrymen through good and bad times.It’s all going to be fine. Right now, everybody is feeling a sense of their own stake in the big picture. Let’s let things come into focus.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

      1. Ana Milicevic

        I can understand why your position here would be so very different than mine, as I hope you can too.

        1. JLM

          .The election is over. I no longer have a position.I am anxious to see our new President enact good policy. When he does, I will applaud. When he does not, I will write him a letter and complain.I am prepared to serve in whatever capacity I can.The election is over. The American people have spoken. They were mad because the elites, the GOPe, the MSM, the pundits, the pollsters were not listening.Now, it is time to focus on the future and heal.I am long neosporin and intend to plant some more azaleas next month.It is going to be fine.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          1. Ana Milicevic

            I meant position as world view, not as support of one or other party.

          2. Jess Bachman

            The electorial college has spoken. The America people have a different take.

          3. JLM

            .Some very weak nonsense, Jess. It’s the game we play as a representative republic. That’ how we select Presidents.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          4. Jess Bachman

            Just trying to represent this as a non-mandate. Because it’s not. Low voter turnout included.

        2. JamesHRH

          Patriotism is love for the idea, not the outcomes.If you need America to be what you want, you are missing the main idea and, to be honest but also mean, pretty self involved.Again, follow Chris Arnade on Twitter and then ask yourself if their outcomes are less important than yours.

          1. Kirsten Lambertsen

            You’re in a very poor position to lecture Ana about anything at all.

          2. JamesHRH

            How so?All day, online, people I really like are displaying the educated liberal flaw of complete self involvement.In what way is Ana’s experience more important than the experience of a under educated blue collar labourer mother in Macomb County?It is not.She’s offended by the tactics Trump used to win an unprecedented political victory. That Mom in Michigan is eating rust.And HRC is staying at the Peninsula after selling out American labour.

          3. Ana Milicevic

            I’m mostly offended that as a country and system of government we’ve failed your heroine so colossally on everything from education, social safety net, healthcare, opportunity through economic prospects that the empty promises of a demagogue would appeal to her in the first place. Unlike her, I (for the moment) have the advantage of means and options when I hear a certain dog whistle and joyous celebrations by what should, at best, be fringe radicalized groups at home and abroad. I’ve also learned from ancestors who put too much faith in systems of government that when you hear that dog whistle you run for cover, for safety. Unlike her, I don’t believe that returning to the world we had in the 50s & 60s is a realistic prospect and yet I feel her pain viscerally. Who’s looking out for her interests a year from now? It’s pretty clear who won’t be. What’s not so clear is who should she turn on then: after the Mexicans, refugees, nasty women, elites, Muslims, the blacks, etc. – which group of society will be left to lay the blame on? Because this is what she voted for.@MsPseudolus:disqus

          4. Salt Shaker

            We’re all a product of our own history and experiences. The filter you view the world in is different than how I or someone else might view the world. I’ve never experienced atrocities that you and your family have likely seen or experienced firsthand. I’ve never served my country in war. My experiences are fundamentally anecdotal and what I’ve read in text books. It’s easy to see how you might blow “caution to the wind,” where I, without having your or similar personal data points, need to hang onto hope and optimism. Despite the bigotry and discord, that’s my, and many others, only choice at this juncture.

          5. Ana Milicevic

            Here’s hoping the world’s more like your version than it is mine. The day has been weighing on me heavily. Tomorrow’s a new one.

          6. Ana Milicevic

            “Patriotism is an emotional attachment to a nation which an individual recognizes as their homeland. This attachment, also known as national feeling or national pride, can be viewed in terms of different features relating to one’s own nation, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects.” –> https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…It’s the idea that I mourn: that in a nation of immigrants the concept of equality of race & gender was the first to be sacrificed under the umbrella of fear and anxiety. I’ve lived through the outcome of another chauvinist demagogue who sold the same script and cannot recommend it. I don’t need America to be anything but I lament what it clearly no longer is.

          7. JamesHRH

            A typically elegant response.I am parsing here, but:Trump is no worse or better than the Clintons. The Clintons parsed legalese to slither out of scandals: Trump parsed ‘dog whistle’ messaging to incite a very small, but atrocious, alt right fanbase.The Clintons parsing kept their political options alive; the message parsing by Trump created the opportunity for his victory.He completely played the MSM and the xenophobic tools of the altRight. He is not a chauvinist demagogue, he just plays one on TV.More so than anything, the American Idea is that anyone can come to America, work hard, better their situation and maybe, one day, watch – or look down as – their child becomes President.Obama’s Pops was looking down, as was Fred. Neither of those two guys are terrific role models as fathers, from what I know.And, both of their sons became President by campaigning in the way they needed to campaign, in order to get elected. That’s the job.Obama did not bring Hope or Change to DC, he hired Rahm Frigging Emmanuel as his CoS (there is no one who is more of a back room / leverage politico on the earth).Trump will not bring authoritarian depostism – that’s not going to play well in the 2018 mid-terms.So, I think you should remember:- Founding Fathers were a pretty tight group- checks and balances baby- people blame others first, that’s human nature and there is no where that you and your family can move to escape that factWhite supremacist a$$holes blame other races for their situation just like everyone involved in getting HRC the nomination and running her campaign will never look in the mirror.How many of us highly educated, liberal, wealthy people thought more than once about the hollowing out of North American labour?

      2. Jess Bachman

        My father and brother bought faught in our counties wars. Neither of them felt particularly patriotic about their service. What is our country if not the values it was built on and the values that have made it great.Should patriots still love their contry if those values are perverted by a con man?Being a soldier requires subservience. Being a citizen does not.

        1. JLM

          .I never really read the Constitution before I went into the Army. I never did it for noble reasons. I just did it. I was a kid. It seemed like an interesting idea and I wondered if I was good enough to finish the toughest training they had to offer.I learned about myself.You are conflating our country and our gov’t. They are not the same thing.I love my country. I don’t trust my current gov’t. I hope to be able to do so in the future.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    3. sigmaalgebra

      You have been profoundly misled by people with just ugly motives and techniques.

      1. Matt A. Myers

        You don’t think it will get worse with Trump? I am curious to see how his self-interest and character traits play out – and perhaps how well he can or attempts to do it discreetly. Analysts in Canadian news painted very bleak and real, reasonable, outcome of what he is likely to do with his new power/position.

        1. LE

          Analysts in Canadian news painted very bleak and real, reasonable, outcome of what he is likely to do with his new power/position.The Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia effect almost applies here.You want to believe what they say about the future when they were clearly wrong about his chances of winning (everyone was wrong).http://www.patheos.com/blog

        2. JLM

          .Yeah, cause right now the pundits are on such a roll of getting stuff right, Matt?Come on. Give the guy a chance to settle in before jumping him.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

        3. sigmaalgebra

          Hillary was a dangerous monster. That was totally clear.That there is anything at all seriously wrong with Trump was never supported in any meaningful way by the media and was just part of the MSM-Hillary propaganda machine. Canada should NOT have fallen for that sewage.We need to stay rational on this stuff, say, up to the level of common high school term paper writing standards with complete context, complete quotes, references to solid sources of primary data, etc. That simple, elementary filter throws out 99 44/100% of the MSM-Hillary sewage.

          1. Matt A. Myers

            Racism, sexism, and being a bigot isn’t something seriously wrong to you? Are you racist, sexist, a bigot?

          2. sigmaalgebra

            > Racism, sexism, and being a bigot isn’t something seriously wrong to you?You were not clear, but it seems that you are assuming that Trump is racist, sexist, and a bigot. Well, this is how the MSM-Hillary propaganda machine tried to paint him, but it is all 100% BS with no solid evidence and a lot of quite solid evidence on the other side.Again, yet again, once again, one more time, this time just for you, Trump is NOT a racist.Proof: Look athttp://spectator.org/64643_…where at great effort but with good success Trump beat back the racism of the high end clubs in Palm Beach.Done.For sexism, who was Trump’s campaign manager, KellyAnn Conway, very much a woman.For a bigot, look at who he has hired in his business life and who he worked with in this campaign.Look, Hillary has a little deck of cards, and she plays the cards. So do a lot of Democrats. Their most popular card is their racism card. It doesn’t matter who the candidate is, what they do, who they are, what they say, what they have done; nothing matters; but the Democrats will try to play the race card. If the guy doesn’t like broccoli, then the Democrats will try to play the race card.Similarly for the sexism card. Then the bigot card. And the xenophobia card. Now the Islamophobic card. Oops, I left out the misogynist card — they play that one, too.So, the way this works is, the campaign makes the charge, just makes it with little or no evidence or support.Then their buddies in the MSM all grab on to that charge and just repeat it, often as just a subordinate clause in some other charge, say,”Given Trump’s sexism, we would not be surprised at his admission that he groped women.”Well, there is no Trump “sexism”; no solid evidence was given that he is sexist; he never said that he groped women; in the second debate he explicitly stated that he never had; and there is no solid evidence that he has groped women.Gee, I should go for a job as a newsie attack flack before the next election!If you believe that Trump is racist, sexist, or a bigot, then you have swallowed a lot of totally cooked up, fabricated. lying, unsupported, dirty propaganda sewage.from the MSM-Hillary campaign.A LOT of people in this campaign seem to be awful gullible for simplistic dirty propaganda tricks, eager to believe just nonsense, and slow to look for meaningful evidence.My guess is that the real concerns are not being stated.If you have something against Trump, then out with it. It’s his hair, right? It’s his hair you hate. You wanted Hillary because you hate Trump’s hair! That’s it????

    4. DJL

      Ana, use this event to consider this possibility: Trump supporters (or whatever label fits for us) are not a bunch of backward, hateful racists who want to destroy the world. That is what the news media wants you to believe. We are instead a very large group of Americans who want all people to succeed to their fullest. We simply believe that the best way to do this is not through big government, but through individual liberty and freedom. Imagine how differently you might feel if – just for a moment – your perceived enemy was actually very much like you and shared many of the same values. Maybe its worth a shot?

      1. Ana Milicevic

        I like your sentiment of hope and very much wish I could share it. I can’t, and I don’t see (m)any shared values or this spirit of wanting everyone to succeed to their fullest that you mention. I do hope it’s there somewhere in the rubble of insults and assaults, verbal and physical, that we’ve all endured during this campaign.

        1. DJL

          The campaign was brutal. All I can say is that if we listen to the US media (TV, paper and web, CNN, Fox) the world is doom and gloom and we are at odds. I believe they amp up these petty attacks because (1) it gets ratings, and (2) it fits their agenda. Once President, if Trump becomes an attacker and divider – then I will be one of the first to jump his case. But I am hopeful things can be different.

          1. Drew Meyers

            The media is to blame for a lot of the fear mongering of this election imho. Seth wrote about this topic recently: http://sethgodin.typepad.co…I don’t see how any of this will change though, unless people pay for their own news and not consume endless garbage supported by ads.

          2. DJL

            I agree 100%. They do NOT focus on the real issues. Perhaps if we are all just aware of the fact that the media is in the business of creating fear and division, we can work from there.What we just learned is that the media is not as powerful as they think they are. Thank goodness for that.

        2. JamesHRH

          Its a new low, but, I truly believe, it is a bottom.People are still learning how to use the web and social media. Something like 80% of the NeoNazi / Alt Right hate posts came from something like 6700 accounts.That’s a mighty big megaphone that we will figure out how to silence.Growing pains.

    5. Donna Brewington White

      Why shellshocked as a business owner?

      1. Ana Milicevic

        Part of my business is working w/ foreign companies looking to enter the US market. Several of our clients were waiting for the results of the US election to temporarily move senior staff here and accelerate expansion early next year. All of that has been put on hold as of this morning. We’re in the process of looking at new health care plans so I’ve been on the phone with our broker several times today; the unanimous takeaway is uncertainty, anxiety, many questions answered with ‘I don’t know’. My professional network is very global & international: many wonderful, capable, well-educated, experienced folks who have called the US home for years have woken up to find themselves on the unwanted side this morning (just like many adopted Londoners did the day after Brexit) — lots of folks needed emotional support today and my tank is empty. Finally, just as Brexit served as a reason to reevaluate our presence in the UK, the door is opening on the very real discussion on whether or not we should continue to build here and at what personal cost.To top it all off it’s been raining all day in NYC and you can feel that the energy has been completely sucked out of the city. Neighbors are numb, the air is heavy. We’ll see what tomorrow looks like.

        1. Donna Brewington White

          Wow, Ana. Thanks for explaining. I’m not sure what words would help right now, but I feel your angst.I’m using few words today. We needed to listen to each other before the election, and even more so now.I think that the reason we have the election result that we do — or at least part of the reason — is that there are many who have not felt heard. And so they voted loudly.

          1. Ana Milicevic

            Hear, hear. Sending you hugs & love

  28. JLM

    .Nothing bad is going to happen. Everything is going to be fine.In fact, the environment for investment probably took a turn for the better from a national perspective and even from a global perspective.If you want to make a buck, buy something today cause this will flush through the system by Friday. I already laid out my bets.The Dow futures were down almost 1000 last night and have recovered two thirds. Even the markets are recovering nicely.Give the country and the world a week or two to process this information and then get your work boots shined up.Do not take advice from anyone who was so wrong about this stuff as they were. Not from the elites, the GOPe, the MSM, the pundits, or the pollsters. Do listen to the voices of the “little people” who gathered into a tumult and spoke together yesterday.My father once told me what it felt like the day the Allies won in Europe. He said it was unbelievable. That’s the way I feel.But, the big play was the years and decades thereafter when American prosperity was built on what had been learned in that war.It’s all going to be fine.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    1. someone

      JLM 2020!

    2. Jess Bachman

      As a straight white man with modest means, I agree!

      1. JLM

        .Let’s get you some immodest means, my friend. You are a whip smart guy in a time when being smart can be converted into lucre. Filthy lucre.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    3. DJL

      Absolutely, my deplorable friend.

    4. JamesHRH

      Didn’t progressives freak when Reagan won? Worked out OK ( turned out he wasn’t a kook Conservative, but a common sense conservative ).

      1. JLM

        .Every entity that finds itself on the losing side of any hotly contested election thinks the world is ending and they wake up a couple of months later and say, “Oh. I guess the world didn’t end after all.”JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

        1. Susan Rubinsky

          I don’t feel that way and I’m on the losing side. A bit disappointed, but the last thing I posted on Facebook last night before going to bed was this – https://www.youtube.com/wat

          1. LE

            Actually one of the most mature responses that I have seen from anyone on ‘the losing side’. Really.

      2. TJ

        Reagan was a disaster of a president. He tripled the deficit and raised taxes. His trickle down economics left our country in shambles and in a bubble and get who had to clean it up? Bill Clinton.

    5. TJ

      JLM, I’m sorry, but your thinking is foolish at best. I can give you a long list of lies that Donald Trump blatantly stated. You guys cover those up or ignore them. You also brush aside his sexism. But the real awful truth is, Republican trickle down economics have never worked. Take a look at history. It has NEVER worked. The Republicans run up the deficit and the budget and the Democrats have to come clean it up.The real fact is, no one knows what trump is going to do (because he has stated no real policies) except lower taxes on the rich- which has never worked.. and he’s going to try and repeal Obamacare which will leave tens of millions without health insurance and allow insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing conditions.Which states are doing the best economically? The blue ones and this is due to their economic policies. California is an example. Yes, you can rattle off some bad things here, but compare us to Alabama or any other red state.This is a democracy and we will abide this vote. We will let you fail and let the racist people of this country have a shot. If you cry you’re not racist, well then, you just supported one. The white racist voters of this country just gave the finger to every minority in this country. We will see how that works out in the future.Just dont make excuses when things go down the tubes. You guys have a tendency to do that. Its your time to shine my friend. Its just that your economics have never worked and they never will- and denigrating minorities and women will come back to bite you. I promise.

      1. JLM

        .”The Republicans run up the deficit and the budget and the Democrats have to come clean it up.”TJ, you do know that Pres Obama ran up quite a bill on the credit card, no? More than doubled it since Geo W Washington. Come on, that’s not even close to being true about the Dems cleaning things up. The guy doubled the national debt. Doubled it.As to what states are doing well these days? Shall we consider Texas? We sort of have to since all of California seems to be moving here. No income tax, nice little robust economy. Can’t swing a cat on a ten foot rope without hitting a transplanted California.Yeah, Texas — every statewide office held by a Republican — is doing fine. Some oil bidness and stuff like that.As to racism? Our President has managed to enflame the country with his utterances and race baiting. If there is racism afoot, it lays at the feet of Barack H Obama.I promise not to make any excuses, if you promise not to write anything as ill reasoned as this bit of nonsense. Deal?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

        1. TJ

          Wait. You’re holding up Texas as an example? One state out of thirty? Is that well reasoned? Texas is lucky due to oil.You do know how the deficit works, right? It is in place due to the economic policies passed by congress. The ones that are currently in place are from the BUSH era. It lowered taxes on the rich, started a very expensive war, and lost millions of jobs. That’s less revenue. Due to Republican obstructionism, we have not been able to pass new laws to correct these issues. And guess what? Trump is not going to get any passed either.Saying Obama has race baited anyone shows you are truly out of touch. Trump just called a good deal of Mexicans rapists. You are completely delusional!Just dont make any excuses and I promise to keep making sense.

          1. JLM

            .Trump has a Republican House and a Republican Senate — yeah, he’s not going to get any legislation passed. You’re right on it.So, after 8 years, it’s still Bush’s fault? Haha, grow up.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          2. TJ

            Again, your lack of knowledge is showing. First, you need a super majority or a part of the minority to pass legislation (and then there’s filibusters) The fact that you didn’t know this disqualifies you to speak about politics the way you do. This political fact is why the Democrats could barely pass anything in Obamas term and create more revenue to pay down the deficit. You Republicans protected corporations and the rich. As you always do.Second, we have had 73 months straight of job growth under Obama. We will see how long that continues. And yes, when Bush put us trillions in the hole it takes a long time to crawl out. Especially when there is no revenue due to a Republican Congress.I truly weep for the future as people like you who do have a brain do not use it to educate yourselves. Ignorance is the true enemy of democracy. Again, let’s let history be the judge. You will see very shortly.

          3. JLM

            .OK, so, Einstein, you know there is no such thing as a filibuster in the House anymore, right?You know that Senate has changed its rules — Rule XXII — to provide for a simple majority to pass Federal Judges (not including SCOTUS Justices) and that the Senate can change the rules as it relates to cloture (the requirement to obtain a vote of 60 Senators to end debate on a bill which originates in the House — just to be clear, cloture technically limits the balance of the debate to 30 total hours including all administrative functions such as calling roll).You know that the presiding officer will be from the majority party and that the presiding officer is the one who recognizes or ignores the individual Senators who desire to speak on a bill, right?So, when a bill is reported out of committee for floor debate, if the presiding officer suspects a filibuster — not debate which is not only perfectly fine but desirable — then guess what? He is careful as to who he calls on.And that only the original speaker can continue to speak without the presiding officer calling on a Senator from the other party which effectively ends the floor debate.The longest filibuster in the history of the Senate is 24 hours and 18 minutes by …………………. Strom Thurmond (Civil Rights Act of 1957).Taken together, the Dems can delay but they cannot stop consideration of a bill. The Dems don’t really have a great filibuster speaker. These guys are getting a little long in the tooth and they are reluctant to risk losing support in their home state.Sen Chuck Schumer, anticipated to replace Harry Reid, is not likely to allow his minority members to do such a thing as the Republicans will simply return the favor and the Republicans will turn to Teddie Cruz or Paul Rand to work their magic. These two guys will, in fact, talk for half a day or more. Even they have not been able to kill a bill, only delay it for a day or so. Again, all time record, 24hrs 18min.I would love a bit of drama in which the Dems make a big public stand and then get their butts knocked in the dirt when the bill is passed. This is the kind of thing which will end up on the front page of the media at a time when the electorate is already pissed off.The Dems will have a total of 23 Senators up for re-election in 2018. The Republicans will have 8 Senators up for re-election. There are two Independents up for re-election.These guys were all elected in 2012 and have not felt the heat of the maddened electorate in 2014 and have not had to defend Obamacare or defend their votes. One hundred percent of the Dems up for re-election voted for Obamacare.The best thing for the Republicans would be a balky Senate and a pissed off electorate. So, some obstruction in the Senate would be a good thing. These races get into gear in less than a year.Stay tuned, you’ll work this all out shortly.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          4. TJ

            I of course know all of the above but consideration if a bill and passing it are two different things.Do you really truly believe we will back off as an obstructing because of the electorate? That’s what we, the electorate, want them to do! Herein lies the problem, we don’t believe what you believe. We believe in helping the poor and the middle class. Republicans believe in helping the rich and corporations. It’s truly that simple.We will fight you at every turn and we will continue to elect the people who will do so.The biggest problem is, Trump and the Republicans need us to cooperate, and I’ve never seen a party and leader who has engendered more distrust and enmity. He has denigrated minorities and women and run on a platform of white supremisicm, exclusion and isolationism. Do you really think we are going to allow that? We will regroup. We are growing and will outgrow you. We are coming. And theres more of us (good people of all colors (including white) and religions) who will not rest until we see your downfall.

          5. JLM

            .Coulda, woulda, shoulda — have President Hillary Clinton explain that to you, TJ.There is nothing better than a good competition to sharpen the competitors’ skills. Competition is a good thing.Remember what a great ground game Hillary had. Y’all missed the fact that the Republicans (Reince Priebus) figured it out and closed the gap.By your own admission, your strategy is to be obstructionist and that worked out pretty good for the White House — ooops, my mistake.The Republicans would like nothing better than to have a couple of bills be obstructed in the Senate before the 2018 Senate races — these 23 Dem Senators who are vulnerable are all Obamacare supporters. They have to vote for anything that is an alternative to Obamacare if they even hope to have a shot.Yeah, the Dems are very deep strategic thinkers — well, except for getting their clocks cleaned in 2014 and losing the White House to President-elect Donald J Trump in 2016. And that repudiation of the Obama legacy.Can’t wait for 2018.Y’all are the good folk and the Republicans are the evil guys but they seem to have won it.Dream on.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          6. TJ

            I’m glad we can agree that we are the good and you are the bad. I think it will be proven in this presidency.You are missing the fact that the Democrats want their politicians to fight and obstruct. This is what the Republicans did the last eight years =more than any other congress in history). They will get re elected for fighting, not agreeing to the idiocy of the Republican platform.I will agree with you on one thing. The Democrats are wusses and don’t know how to shine a light on Republicans and their awful policies that have failed throughout history. They refuse to call them the evil they are and they refuse to go to political war. Republicans, believing in war and violence (see Trumps strategy on the Middle East), do a better job of declaring war on the other half of the nation (us). We do a pretty terrible job. I think this election will force us to become better fighters and more strategic.See, we can agree on something.

          7. JLM

            .The Dems had the Congress for the first two years of the Obama administration. So, if the Republicans were a problem for the sweet Dems, it was only six years not eight.The bigger problem for the Dems is the sheer failure of their governance. When Pres Obama said that he would consider it a repudiation of him if Trump were elected — guess what?He got repudiated. Same as happened in 2014.Pres Obama is one of those odd folks — liked personally (NCAA Final Four-ish kind of way) but totally ineffective.His eponymous legislation is a stinker. Poorly designed. Poorly stood up. A disaster in its execution. A referendum on competence.Thirteen of 23 exchanges bankrupt or close; and, eight more to close in 2017. This legislation is a classic POS and that was his signature, legacy, centerpiece. So, that’s not so good.TPP is in the meat locker over at the coroner’s office. Dead meat.Then, there’s the whole Arab Spring Middle East debacle. That’s a turd floating in the punch bowl. The ISIS thing. The war on terrorism. The whole Radical Islamic Terrorism thing. And, then, there’s the ecomomy, LFPR, home ownership, racial tension.His final report looks spotty, no?Worst. President. Ever.So, it’s going to be a little tough.The FBI — those crazy meatballs — are going to keep the Clinton Foundation on the front page for the next two years, at a minimum. They’ll be working with a Trump DOJ and that’s not good. And, that’s not going to smell very good.Then, it’ll be time for the mid-terms and there are 23 Dem seats up to be plundered by Reince and the boys.So, it’s actually looking a little grim. But, hey, take comfort in the notion that y’all are the good guys.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          8. TJ

            What you’re failing to mention is all the great things Obama has done. Mainly, brought us out of a recession and supplied health care for 13 million more people. This was done in his first two years. Once the Republicans came in, they obstructed everything. The health care bill was flawed and it needs amended but Republicans wouldn’t allow it.Republicans created isis and the whole middle eastern crisis. Please don’t forget that. Cleaning up your mess is not easy.There are many other great things Obama had done without a supportive congress. Look up what the F has Obama done.com. The country is in a decent place but there’s a lot of room for improvement. Unfortunately, it will take a step backward with Trump.And trust me, being the good guys not only comforts us but it spurs us to fight you.

          9. JLM

            .TJ, I was tempted to dismiss you as a lunatic or a jerk. Glad I didn’t.You’re a comedian, right?The “Republicans created isis [sic] and the whole middle eastern [sic] crisis.” I get it you mean ISIS and the Middle East and that, my friend, is some funny stuff.Worst. President. Ever. REPUDIATEDJLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          10. TJ

            You do know George Bush took us to war in Iraq and that is what led us into the whole conflict that unraveled the region, right? You seem to leave put very important parts of your argument.Also, I knew as you lose argument after argument, you would resort to name calling. It’s very typical of your ilk.Lastly, you do know Hillary won the popular vote right? There are more of us than you. That’s not a repudiation. It shows how flawed our electoral system is. It does show that more people think Obama is a good president. Now your argument has been turned on you and you won’t admit it.

          11. JLM

            .You are correct that George W Bush led us into war in Iraq. You have fallen into the trap of believing that if I criticize Pres Obama, I must somehow defend his predecessor. It is not sound logic.The vacuum in which ISIS was bred was the inability (some folks think “unwillingness” might be the better word) to obtain a SOFA (status of forces agreement) with the Iraqis.Upon not being able to negotiate a SOFA, the US Army came home thereby creating an intel vacuum and a force vacuum.Of course, now we have about 8,000 troops in Iraq without a SOFA, so apparently a SOFA was really not an impediment.There is also the fact that we provided arms to anti-Assad forces in Syria who morphed into ISIS (some folks say they always were ISIS).In any event, it is the product of the Worst. President. Ever. and his legacy of foreign policy failures.As to repudiation, I was only using Pres Obama’s own words. Take up your beef with him.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          12. TJ

            Wait. You just admitted Bush was the start of all of this but Obama is the worst president? You dont have any facts to back you up. I do. We can talk about statistics from the unemployment rate, to job creation, to health care etc. All facts and statistics.I will admit that Obama was complacent in Syria. It’s the one place I think we messed up in. We should have gone after Assad before the Russians were involved.Again, I think anyone reading this can see how I am able to indulge in nuance and admit faults in my leadership and party. You cannot and that makes you weak and unreliable. You just resort to name calling and say worst president ever. I believe it was George W Bush (so many statistics to back that up) and I also believe we just elected someone who will trump him.

          13. JLM

            .That mess in Libya was a boner, no? Unseated its leader (killed the old boy), no candidate to pick up the slack, let the country drift into civil war, and left it a mess. Yeah, that was a good one.Then you have that cock up with the Iranians, no?Messy business with the Russians and the Crimea and the situation in Ukraine isn’t looking very good. Luckily, we got that “restart” business taken care of.We allowed the Russians get a toehold in the Middle East after Henry Kissinger pried the Egyptians from their Russian masters upon their defeat in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, thereby creating peace for 40 years on the western border of Israel.Now, the Russians are the stud duck in the Middle East. So, the Obama administration is going to have to retake the freshman level course in strategy and diplomacy.Worst. President. Ever.I didn’t flog you with the Labor Force Participation Rate or the declining level of single family home ownership or the decline in median family income, no?You have a lot on your plate and I don’t want to overburden you.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          14. TJ

            So you would have had us get involved in Libya’s politics? We did not unseat his leader, the people did. We supported them without getting into an Iraq situation. That was the best that could be done in that situation.The Iranian deal was actually a good one. It avoided a war which I know Republicans hate, but it also stopped the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons and normalized relations which is better for the world.You’re really blaming Obama for the Russian and Crimea issue? That’s just absurd.Peace for 40 years in Israel on the western border? The Palestinians and Israelis would laugh at you. Again, completely absurd.The Labor Participation Rate is a joke. It is down to due to aging Baby Boomers and a giant recession. The real statistic to look at is the prime age LFPR. Which is at its lowest rate of all time.The median family income is down due to the fact that the Republicans have not allowed any financial legislation to pass! The Republicans cant even pass a government budget for more than 3 months. It’s truly incredible.Notice I can bat down every single one of your arguments with real facts and statistics. Something you cannot do. That is the real burden for you here.

          15. JamesHRH

            If you cats had it going on so heavy, how the hell did you nominate a candidate that has consistently been unable to connect with American voters on a reason to elect her (short of I’m a Woman & I want to be President).

          16. TJ

            Honestly, I would have preferred Bernie, but Hillary was more than qualified. The most qualified candidate to ever run actually. She did win the popular vote. More people in this country wanted her than didn’t want her. The electoral system is skewed however. I’ll admit, she wasn’t perfect but far more qualified than Donald Trump who is facing gridlock and a very divided country due to his own rhetoric. You are right about her not connecting, James. She is a lecturer not a crowd stirrer. She should have stuck to that. She should have been the mean grandma who will fight for you instead of trying to be “likable”.

          17. JamesHRH

            I like to think of her as Mr Wolfe from Pulp Fiction.Or one of the Hungry Hungry Hippos (such a fun game for toddlers).She’s experienced, qualified and completely unelectable due to her ridiculous track record of self serving behaviour. She’s fighting for you? Holy Cow, I want that gig (seeing as it banks $100M).Her life story is not exactly an Arlo Guthrie song.I will give you that Bernie versus The Donald would have been something.Your crew putting on a classy display tonight too.

          18. JLM

            .When a country leads in killing the head of a sovereign nation, they are, in fact, engaged in the politics of that country. The country of Libya did not have weapons with which to rebel until we picked winners and armed them. This was our doing.There was no particular reason for the US to get involved in Libya. It was HRC’s wet dream. Old Mo was toeing the line, letting foreign companies develop his energy resources, keeping Al Qaeda out, and was seeking contact with the US.The result of our involvement was a civil war and a vacuum into which Al Qaeda has now crept. To this day, it is still unstable and breeding terrorism.The Iranian deal was a clear path to a nuclear weapon at a time when the economic sanctions were crushing Iran. Our relief of those sanctions, taken together with the funding of their terror operations (both the Pres and Sec of State admitted that funds provided by us would be used to fund terror inside and beyond the region) has allowed Iran to export its mischief to Iraq, Syria,and Yemen as well as continuing to fund Hamas and Hezbollah which puts Lebanon into the soup.If we hadn’t released those sanctions, Iran would have been crushed beneath its non-convertible currency, a weak energy business, and the inability to fund mischief.The western border between Israel and Egypt from the Suez Canal into the Negev has been occupied by American and other foreign nation troops since the conclusion of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It has resulted in keeping the Egyptians inside Egypt.The West Bank troubles — funded to a great degree by Iran — are a different problem. A stable Egypt provided a harder path to import and transport missiles and trouble. When we allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to control Egypt, we lost control of the pathways into the West Bank.When we funded Iran, we gave the West Bank bad guys hope that they would be resupplied, which has now happened. Missiles and tunnels are expensive.Two different problems. The forty years to which I referred are measured from 1973, so they expired a few years ago.The LFPR has nothing to do with Baby Boomers — most of them are too old to figure into the cohorts being tracked. Once they are of Medicare age, they no longer figure into the “labor force.”You do know that the LFPR being low is a bad outcome. A low LFPR means too few people are IN the labor force.The reason median family incomes are down is because there is an anemic economy recovery — the worst in the history of the US. Couple that with a flood of low skill, low wage expectation illegals and there is no upward pressure on wages. Wages are stagnant.Taken together with the disastrous pricing health insurance — increasing premiums, increasing deductibles, no co-pays — and the middle class is being squeezed from both ends.Low wages. No wage increases. Higher health care costs. It is a disastrous recipe and one of the big reasons for the 2014 and 2016 electorate anger.What legislation specifically do you think Republicans have thwarted? Vaporware.The Republicans do get bad marks for their management of the budget process and for funding many things that the electorate sent them to DC to de-fund.Deficits are creeping up again even in the face of record Federal receipts. That is symptomatic of a spending problem.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          19. TJ

            The Libyans had ALREADY started a revolution. We armed because they would have been slaughtered en masse by a brutal dictator. We did the ethical and moral thing by helping them and NOT getting involved like we did in Iraq. We do not, however, have a responsibility to continue baby sitting the country, and even if we did, it would cost billions of dollars and a lot of lives.You are completely wrong about Iran. I have friends inside Iran and friends here, and am also a member of several middle eastern think tanks. The sanctions would not have crushed them. In fact, they were doing fine. The sanctions, did prevent them from obtaining more wealth, and was not good for them for sure. That they were starving is an Israeli and Republican tale that has been told many times. I actually dont blame you for believing this as I’m sure you don’t have many foreign friends (I’m not saying that to be snide). I promise you the sanctions would not have worked. They have been and will continue to export their mischief either way. They proved this many times over. Look how many rockets Palestinians have fired during the sanctions.We did not ALLOW the Muslim Brotherhood to take hold in Egypt. It was the people’s vote there. What could we have done?I referred to the PRIME AGE LFPR. This is a true measure of the economy. That unemployment rate is historically low. That is how one measures the economy- not the lfpr for the reasons I mentioned.Allow me to give you a small list of the bills Republicans have obstructed since I deal in facts: equal pay for women, maintain infrastructure, hire more teachers, raise the minimum wage, stop tax breaks for millionaires, stop tax breaks for sending jobs out of the country, provide student debt relief, and extending unemployment benefits to name a few. Vaporware, huh? They also filibustered over FIVE HUNDRED bills in six years- an all time record.I’m glad you mentioned deficit. You know it has decreased one trillion dollars under obama. That is the average low over 50 years. It was at 9.8% under bush and obama has it at 2.5%.

          20. sigmaalgebra

            Good to hear. If the Democrats had made all that clear instead of playing their racist, sexist, xenophobia cards, their various lies, gone for open borders, promised to ‘save’ ObamaCare, promised amnesty to all illegal immigrants, supported sanctuary cities, etc. and if Hillary had not been nasty, lying, crooked, and a disaster, then we could have looked more closely. It was really bad that Obama has a record of hurting the US, e.g., encouraging illegal immigrants to vote.Competition is good stuff. If the Democrats are not very competitive, then the Republicans don’t have to try as hard.Hillary and the Democrats were so bad that they threatened the US and the world. Hillary is a very sick person; no way could we have had her.

          21. Lance

            He asked you to back up the fact that Obama is the Worst.President.Ever. as you have called him more than once on this thread. Then you resorted to taking a joking tone after calling someone else a comedian for defending their views. That’s not right.Donald Trump has to defend his past with people that are distrustful of the massive lies he sold, during the campaign, and his record of stiffing the so called “little people”, as you refer to them, in his business dealings. That’s his record thus far. My former company was stiffed for $100K by his organization. We convinced his daughter to sign up for a service called Twitter (she had no idea, this is 2008) to promote the new NYC hotel that she was the face of, called Trump SOHO. If went off great, with tons of free press and us pre-buying media on our network that connected her tweets to dynamic ads that carried same tweets. Her father was very aware of the idea we created and likely came to Twitter after his daughter had success with it, not just promoting the new hotel, but her and her brand and tweeting her engagement. Then Trump’s company told us to sue him for the $100K after his Russian developer friends at the Trump SOHO told us to eat crow once they took over the project.This is who will be running the country and how he does his “business”. What I said above is factual.

          22. creative group

            TJ:We are true Independents and we have called out both parties based upon facts. You have no less than fourteen contributors who blog worship diatribes not based upon history or facts. Unable to decipher opinion, commentary verses facts.You will be one of the few that called JLM out. One of the many reasons I call the Progressives weak. Afraid to challenge that opinion and commentary. The reason an imbecile, liar, race baiter, misogynist, xenophobic fool is President Elect.The Kumbaya has begun with Obama and HRC presenting civil servant decorum along with well wishes. DJT would not have accepted defeat and would have pushed his rigged schtick.But isn’t rigged when he won.Progressives better learn fast and return the favor received the pass eight years of obstruction. They may be less educated, ignorant, deplorable, racist, etc but they are loud and stick to the talking points of conspiracy theories, Enquirer news.In the face of weakness and elites frame of mind they are much above the gutter submitted by the Right that will result in the country receiving eight years of DJT.#termlimits#UnapologeticallyUnequivocallyIndependent

          23. TJ

            Creative Group, you are the kind of person I can get behind. Thank you for your post.

          24. JamesHRH

            Rigged was Donna Brazile giving HRC the questions – it refers to the lack of ethical standards.Rigged is a dog whistle about how its a club that you need to be in to win. His Reagan Democrats know that feeling.Stop taking him literally and take him seriously.

          25. JLM

            .Rigged was HRC accepting the questions and her staff acting like it was a normal thing.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          26. creative group

            JamesHRH:are you actually thinking we supported Donna Brazile providing the debate questions in advance to HRC? You haven’t been paying attention to our posts.We just detest DJT race baiting, bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia more. And have no issue calling it out to the dismay of the Progressives who are civil and Right Wing in deflecting, apologetic and denial overdrive.

          27. JamesHRH

            No, I am saying she is more flawed than he is ( and he has been a nasty guy in the last ).

          28. Noah Sam

            There are 50 US states….

          29. TJ

            Yes. I was referring to the 30 or so states I consider pretty red.

    6. ShanaC

      I can’t. Jared Kushner and Ivanka might be more immune, but Trump did not yell at some of his core supporters driving his vote.As a result, I had an actual conversation with my fiance where I had to ask him if people threatened him because he’s seen as white would he leave me, because I’m ethnically really Jewish, with a really Jewish legal first name. He said he would punch those people, but I can’t believe I actually had to have that conversation in the first place. I am so thankful he loves me that muchJLM, you have a Jewish son-in-law now: if you were still in the military, and push came to shove, would you disobey POTUS for him?

      1. JLM

        .’Shana, WTF are you talking about?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

        1. ShanaC

          i have aquaintances/friends of friends through various Jewish press outlets (first that pops in my head, bethany mandel) who now own guns because of the alt-right and the trump campaign after they have been outright harrassed and recieved death threats.There are swastikas and sig heils with trump’s name in philadephia today, celebrating Trump’s electionhttp://www.phillyvoice.com/…You have a Jewish son in law. See those swastikas: Stuff like that is either going to either get better, or get worse. If it get worse, are you going to help your son-in-law? Are you going to help people you know who aren’t your son-in-law?I’m trying to figure out what to do in response to all of this, because, Jeesus, I have a yiddish first name. Going “hi, I’m shana” sounds almost impractical unless I’m fairly certain that under trump this sh*t goes away, because it basically makes me a walking target outside of NY.And I don’t understand why. I genuinely want more jobs, better healthcare, better lives for everyone. What did I do to deserve hate. I really want to know what I did.

          1. JLM

            .Uhhh, Shana, there are two spray painted swatstikas on an abandoned building in a bad part of Philadelphia, right? There are two “seig heils” and the word “2016.”That’s all I read in the article. Did I miss something?I don’t consider this a wave of anti-Semitism and I surely don’t attribute it to Donald J Trump, President-elect Donald J Trump.The “alt-right” is a myth just like the “vast right wing conspiracy.” There is no such thing.I think everyone should own a gun and I applaud anyone who buys one and gets trained to use it. The NRA is a great place for gun safety and marksmanship training.My son-in-law and my daughter are full grown, have a dog, live ion a house with a security system, and can go get a gun if they want to. I encourage them to do just that.You’re a little dramatic anointing yourself a “walking target” outside of NYC. Don’t quite make the connection.I think it’s all going to be fine but in the interim, why don’t you avoid that neighborhood in Philadelphia with the two swastikas?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          2. ShanaC

            I know some alt right types in person, including have had drinks with them in bars in nyc, such as my ex cofounder, who definitely when pushed is antisemitic, and is often very misogynist to the point of publicly admitting that he1) prefers non western women because “feminism mmakes them bratty and gold digger like”2) has admitted he prefers virginal women3) has admitted he punched his ex once.The ONLY big difference is he thinks that the idea of borders/a nation-state is an act of violence on the individual, which is fairly nonstandard within the all-night.They most definitely exist. and They are very useful people to spy on if you want to learn how to build your own vpn and twitter bot army that is correctly aged. (Because even white hat people have to observe bad yucky stuff to understand how it works in a network)I’m also ironically telling you all of this on the anniversary of Kristalnacht. Even more ironically, I’m also telling you this as both the granddaughter of my grandmother, who left Germany soon after on the Kindertransport,and as someone who had up until late in this election process thought that her experiences were basically it, because this election is the first time I’ve actually witnessed antisemitism from non-Jewish people EVER.If I had thought I’d ever give a warning about antisemitism because of who the president elect id a year ago I’d laugh at you about how we’re past that point in history. I’d never thought I’d see this post ever. Yet here I am, freaked out about about the next time I go to see my to be in laws and if I walk around by myself and say my own name. That’s a future I never imagined.

          3. JLM

            .The person you describe doesn’t sound like a particularly political person. He sounds like a jerk. Anti-Semitism is a real thing but the notion it is related to some body of political thought makes me very skeptical.I get around in Republican circles but I don’t know anyone who is a mythical Alt-Right just as I was not aware of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy which turned out not to exist. Bill Clinton was just carrying on with an intern. Nobody made it up. It was true.Be careful and be safe.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          4. ShanaC

            People are tracking antisemitism, racism, ect who are not me. I’m trying to be safe, but I have a reality that if the alt-right is getting bigger and/or its ideas are becoming normalized even though it itself are fringe wackos, that walking around in not nyc type places and going “hi, I’m shana” is potentially very unpredictable and dangerous. That’s crazy. I appreciate that you agree with me that my ex-cofounder is a dickball.

          5. Dan Epstein

            Assuming you follow Shaun King. If not, here’s his Twitter feed. Documenting antisemitism and racism: https://twitter.com/ShaunKing

          6. Anne Libby

            The way you’ve talked to Shana in this conversation — about her own experience — is unworthy of the person I’ve come to believe you are.Unsatisfactory.

          7. Kirsten Lambertsen

            Here, it looks like you might be able to use this gif ;-)As a woman, I’m feeling like a target today (as someone who should be punished, apparently). I can’t imagine adding something else into the mix like being Jewish or Black, or Hispanic, or Muslim.The Trump Bros here will try to make you feel like it’s your imagination. It’s not. This line of “Trump doesn’t mean it” is as bad as the abusive boyfriend who “doesn’t mean it.” The gas-lighting going on here is exactly why we are feeling unsafe.No one has the right to tell you your experience is wrong.You are justified for the way you feel today. But you’re also not alone. There’s strength in solidarity and solidarity is showing up today, too, every bit as much as racism.”You’re a little dramatic anointing yourself a “walking target” outside of NYC. Don’t quite make the connection.” This is one of the rudest things I’ve seen said here, and that’s saying a lot. I hope you’ll see it for what it is and ignore it hard. It’s from someone who feels Black Lives Matter is a problem, not a movement. Someone who feels entitled to patronize you. https://uploads.disquscdn.c

          8. sigmaalgebra

            Already today I’ve seen news reports of right wing, wild eyed wackos coming out of the woodwork.Maybe some of those wackos were just back there in the walls waiting and today assumed that now is their time — it’s not.And maybe and more likely the MSM is trying to paint Trump and his administration as for the right of Hitler crowd.Again, got to ignore the MSM dirt bags. The election is over, but the MSM is still there and still very dirty and biased.

          9. JLM

            .They are also emotional, defeated, and dangerous. All this blows over in a week.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          10. ShanaC

            At the end of the day, I’m the one with brown curly jewish hair, a very jewish big and almost hooked nose, slightly deep set eyes, pale olive skin, and an explicitly yiddish legal first name. I also throw punches very poorly to be honest.I could say the msm is wrong about the wackos, but that runs actual bodily risk for me (and people I know) if I stray too far from areas of “people like me” and/or communal risk for outside of big jewish communities/large urban areas communities.It is also not how I totally want to live my life, and not something I believe in as an American. Basically if that’s true it’s America repudiating part of citizens.For all that I get that he’s a signal about elites in Washington being crony like, I wish his supporters at large would come out and repudiate the wackos and potentially even trump himself if he doesn’t so that everyone who is an American can actually be an American in America without fear

          11. sigmaalgebra

            I was just talking about the US being a lot like Europe. Since nearly all the Jews are very European, the US is also a lot like Israel.Gee, I would guess that a lot of Jews in Israel speak, read, and write English quite well. Maybe nearly all the academic work is in English.Israel is not much like the rest of the Mideast because the Jewish population of Israel or their parents nearly all came from Europe and/or America where they had been for generations.The issues of Jewish assimilation in Europe and the US are ones I can’t address well.I am surprised to hear that a Jewish woman in the US can sense physical danger in public outside of Jewish neighborhoods. Of course, sadly, in many parts of the US, a woman alone on the sidewalks is not safe, but it appears that you sense more danger than most women would, and I’m surprised by that.It appears that you are getting married. Good! Security is one of the main reasons!

          12. ShanaC

            Actually, only ~1/3 – ~1/4 of the Jewish population in Israel is Ashkenazi. Most Jewish people in Israel are from Eidot Mizrachi communities, like Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Algeria, and Iran. There are some large properly Sephardi communities as well in Israel (Like Turkey or whomever does that silverwork in Jerusalem..) there’s also the impossible to classify communities like the bene menashe (India) and falasha/eithiopian community.At best, Ashkenazim make up 20-30% of the Jewish population. That said they are the ones most commonly seen in the foreign public eye because 1)outside of France, Morocco, and what’s left of the Jewish community in Iran that’s still there, the vast majority of Jewish people who don’t live in israel are ashkenazi (of eastern European descent) 2) historical reasons relating to the history of Israel and the history of zionism means israel is not a colorblind society even among its jewish populationAnd there are plenty of Israelis who speak English poorly outside of urban areas (things you discover accidentally when you essentially can’t speak hebrew and decide to go to a basically all israeli women’s prepatory seminary before college in the middle of bumnothing nowhere in israel. You learn hebrew fast, because otherwise no water pitchers for you, ect)For the record : I’m actually kinda bad at sensing danger, even compared to some other women I know, depending on the type. OTOH, I’m really good at walking into dangerous situation and getting out of them unscathed through sheer force of will. This type, however, is setting off my danger will Robinson signals. Wackos on the loose because of a presidential election is really abnormal

  29. reece

    trying to be optimistic, but then there’s that whole thing where our president-elect thinks scientists are wrong and/or that climate change is a hoax…

    1. JLM

      .Forget what the President-elect thinks, focus on what your countrymen think. If you want to relive the fight, then you miss the chance to be part of the victory.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    2. sigmaalgebra

      The climate always changes. That there are changes is not a hoax.But there is a movement, e.g., funded by about $1 billion from the US to the UN, etc., to claim that changes in CO2 concentrations are the main cause of global temperature changes and, thus, climate change and that human sources of CO2 will cause significant global warming. That claim is 100% total BS, hogwash, scientific sewage, cooked up nonsense, a flim-flam, fraud, scam to get money and power. The claim is not science at all.The claim is trivially simple to debunk, and here in just a few words is how to do it: Some ice cores were taken in Antarctica, from Vostok station, etc. The ice in the cores is from as far back as ballpark 800,000 years. From careful analysis of the residual gasses, etc. in the ice, can tell what the temperature and CO2 concentrations were when the ice formed.There can see that the temperature and CO2 concentrations changed. But, there was no case where first the CO2 went up and then the temperature did. And there was no case where the CO2 went down and then the temperature did.Instead, several times the temperature went up, without the CO2 going up, and then about 800 years LATER the CO2 went up. And later, without the CO2 going down, the temperature went down and, later, the CO2 went down.So, the temperature went up but for reasons other than CO2. AFTER the temperature went up, the CO2 went up due to more biological activity from the higher temperature. Later what was driving the temperature (NOT CO2) had the temperature go down, and the higher CO2 did not keep the temperature up.More recently, we got the Medieval Warming Period, but it was not preceded by more CO2. Then that warming period ended but was not preceded by less CO2. Then we went into the Little Ice Age, which was significantly cooler, but was not preceded by lower CO2. Then slowly over a few hundred years, we came out of the Little Ice Age but without higher CO2.So, net, there are causes of global temperatures changing, but CO2 concentrations are not among the significant causes.For more, recently there were a lot of computer simulations on what recent CO2 concentrations would do to temperatures. Well, essentially all the computations predicted much higher temperatures by now. So, essentially all the computations were wildly wrong.Net, for climate, f’get about CO2 from human sources, volcanoes, etc.All the stuff about the dangers of human sources of CO2 are scientific sewage and just a flim-flam, fraud scam to get money and power.Done.Any questions?BTW, wherever you got that climate change sewage, stuff it into the outhouse Obama and the MSM built and use a D-9 to cover it over.

      1. Matt A. Myers

        I skimmed over this and you’re missing the followup reasons as to why some of the calculations were off — that’s how science works: you put a model into place using math, you see what happens, and if the model doesn’t match then you see what variable you could have been missing.. e.g. oceans and forests absorbing more CO2 than expected, etc.Research (e.g. pay attention) past where your own bias wants the result to be.

        1. sigmaalgebra

          Modelling won’t work here. Don’t have nearly enough data. And data fitting promises over fitting with no predictive ability.The calculations were supposed to be from first principles from the basic chemistry and physics.But essentially all the calculations flopped, that is, made predictions that are already wildly wrong.So, IMHO, the whole exercise was just part of a bought and paid for, flim-flam, shake-down, kick-back, fraud scam for money and power.A few billion here and a few billion there, and after a while it adds up to real money, bought and paid for rotten science, lots of propaganda in the NYT, etc.

          1. Matt A. Myers

            The way we understand the universe is through mathematical equations, not the quantity of data in the system.The calculations would be from first principles – however, as I said previously, things like how quickly all oceans can absorb CO2, etc. aren’t so predictable – just like with the complexity of weather patterns, we can’t know exactly what the weather will be.The models today have been evolving, just like the mathematical theories, laws like gravity, etc..You didn’t say anything here that counters my previous comment.

          2. sigmaalgebra

            > The models today have been evolving, just like the mathematical theories, laws like gravity, etc..To me “from first principles” and “models” are in conflict. If have “models” then aren’t really calculating just “from first principles”.For the climate, we’re not expecting any principles to be “evolving”. If climate calculations are “evolving”, then they are not “from first principles”.

      2. JonB

        Your line of reasoning is incorrect.Yes, scientists do agree that in the past CO2 level increases have lagged temperature increases by ~800 years. In these cases, the CO2 increase was not the cause of the initial temperature increase. The cause of the temperature increase was variations in the earth’s orbit. However, after the time lag, the increase in CO2 levels did contribute to further warming. We know this because the changes in the earth’s orbit alone were not significant enough to account for the total observed increase in temperature. You have to add in additional warming due to CO2 level increases (and the greenhouse effect) to calculate the correct historical rise in temperatures.Scientists are not trying to “prove” the greenhouse effect by using this type of ice core data. The proof of a greenhouse effect is rooted in physics and chemistry. We know what types of radiation CO2 absorbs and emits, and using that data one can show that the greenhouse effect is a real thing and it leads to increased temperatures. Calculating exactly how much temperatures will go up when CO2 levels rise on a planet like earth is tricky because there are lots of feedback mechanisms that can alter the rate of temperature increase. But, that does not mean that we are uncertain about the greenhouse effect. We know that it is real and we can look at the planet Venus to see that the greenhouse effect leads to increased temperatures.Scientists are alarmed now because the CO2 levels are increasing faster than they ever have and are reaching levels they have never reached before. Furthermore, the recent increase in CO2 levels was caused by man and not caused by natural mechanisms. Thus, we are in a new regime where this rapid increase in CO2 levels is actually driving the increase in temperatures. Without accounting for the greenhouse effect, we cannot explain the recent observed warming. Simply put, the data show that the warming we are currently experiencing is not like past events. Just because CO2 level increases did not precede warming in the past, doesn’t mean it cannot happen. It is happening, it is caused by humans, and scientists do understand why it is happening.

        1. sigmaalgebra

          This stuff about CO2 and climate change is not just curiosity about X-rays from Pluto. Instead we’re talking shooting the US economy in the gut. Just simple examination shows that all the reason for shooting the US economy in the gut is a flim-flam, shake-down, kick-back, rip off, fraud scam to get money and power.And the science is bought and paid for and awful, and here I outline why.Nasty, lying, crooked, disastrous Hillary was in on it. So was Obama. Gore started it.> The cause of the temperature increase was variations in the earth’s orbit.Maybe, in some cases, in part. My point is that the cause was not CO2.> However, after the time lag, the increase in CO2 levels did contribute to further warming.100% made up, imaginary, cooked up, guess work, total scientific BS.> We know this because the changes in the earth’s orbit alone were not significant enough to account for the total observed increase in temperature.BS. You are trying to explain and be able to predict the climate, and when your work fails you stuff in some effects from CO2 and, then, claim you now know what CO2 does. Or, you believe that CO2 does something to climate; see a place where your climate work fails; stuff in your CO2 fix; and then claim you have evidence of the effects of CO2. That’s circular. It’s BS.Flatly, absolutely, totally, without doubt, you don’t have even as much as a weak little hollow hint of a tiny clue what the effect of CO2 is.> You have to add in additional warming due to CO2 level increases (and the greenhouse effect) to calculate the correct historical rise in temperatures.BS. You don’t know what the effects of CO2 are. Your climate work fails, and you want a CO2 patch up and, then, claim that you know the effects of the CO2. Again, circular nonsense.> The proof of a greenhouse effect is rooted in physics and chemistry.BS. 99 44/100% BS. My ugrad physics prof was big on radiography, especially in the infrared, had a really, nice, juicy long term USAF contract that read “To further the science of the infrared” (gee, the USAF interested in infrared!), kept talking about the greenhouse effect, sure, was a John Strong student at Johns Hopkins, did work for the US Navy on what the atmosphere absorbs, etc. So, right, I DO, thank you, know about the CO2 greenhouse effect.And, maybe on Venus, with its extremely high concentration of CO2, there is an example of a CO2 greenhouse effect — there may also be other causes, e.g., being so close to the sun — uh, think that could matter. Duh.Uh, might also want to consider good old H2O and its greenhouse effect? And clouds? Might want to consider clouds? They are said to have a cooling effect.Sure, first cut, for a short time, more CO2 will warm the atmosphere. So will lighting a match. Problem is, in the CO2 case, in the short term, we don’t know how much, and in the longer term with biological effects, ocean effects, we don’t know even dip squat or jack shit.> We know what types of radiation CO2 absorbs and emits, and using that data one can show that the greenhouse effect is a real thing and it leads to increased temperatures.You know for the short term, but there you don’t know how much, not even within two factors of 10. And otherwise you don’t know ANYTHING at all significant about the effect of CO2 on temperature. Nothing. Not even jack shit.> Calculating exactly how much temperatures will go up when CO2 levels rise on a planet like earth is tricky because there are lots of feedback mechanisms that can alter the rate of temperature increase.Yes, “tricky” is a grand understatement. And you get zero sympathy. And for the reason you gave, maybe.And there are other problems: E.g., you are trying to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for the planet, for nanoseconds, for cubic nanometers, with a LOT of chemistry, radiography, biology, ocean effects, turbulence effects, etc., along the way, for decades. Ah, little things like those! Even then you will be ignoring quantum effects. What a HOOT!And as you pass off this month old fish, you expect me to eat it? I won’t come within a mile of it. And no way do I want you to use your rotten fish to justify shooting the US economy in the gut.Ever hear of Carderock, MD? Uh, there is a big swimming pool there, carefully made to consider the curvature of the earth. They call that pool a towing tank. The place is at the NE corner of the Potomac River and the northern crossing of that river by the DC Beltway. Uh, they have been interested in, amazing, sit down for this, right, the Navier-Stokes equations. Yup, early in my career I worked there, right, on the Navier-Stokes equations. Later I got recruited as a grad student in the Division of Applied Math at Brown and warmly advised “Stay away from the Navier-Stokes equations.”.And you don’t even have the initial boundary conditions. And you need to take into consideration the oceans, and there we are in the dark much as seven miles down in the Marianas Trench. We know next to NOTHING about the role of the oceans.And for the data from at least the past 2000 years, you are totally omitting likely the biggest cause of all.Exercise: Name that cause and describe how it works and the observational data for it.Hint: It has nothing, not even dip squat, to do with CO2.> But, that does not mean that we are uncertain about the greenhouse effect. We know that it is real and we can look at the planet Venus to see that the greenhouse effect leads to increased temperatures.Total, 100% reeking, bubbling, fuming, flaming, thick, black and orange, toxic sticky stuff.Again, once again, over again, yet again, one more time, you have no idea at all, not even within two factors of 10, what the effects of CO2 are on the temperature of the earth, not even in the short term, and even less in the longer term (e.g., you have totally zero ideas about the biology which you can’t even begin to describe with Newton’s second law or partial differential equations).Ah, hint, there’s also significant biology near the surface of the oceans.> Scientists are alarmed now because the CO2 levels are increasing faster than they ever have and are reaching levels they have never reached before.Scientists are alarmed because they want grant money passed out by Saint Laureate Al Guru and his buddy Obama (and, until today, their partner Hillary) as part of their flim-flam, shake-down, kick-back, carbon tax, money-power grab scam.Otherwise I’d need some really good references for this claim.Moreover, you don’t know where the CO2 is coming from. I can’t believe the guilt-ridden, quasi-religious sin claim of evil humans. I’d want really good information on other sources, especially (1) volcanoes, including, really, especially under the seas, and (2) out-gassing from the oceans.Put on your scuba gear, swim seven miles down, carefully measure all the volcano activity down there, and I’ll look at your report when you come back. Also, while down there, map all the currents — I’ll want to see those, too.Then, say, in a year, go to the North Poll, dressed for the balmy tropic breezes from human caused global warming, and measure all the high temperatures and melting ice, and I’ll eagerly look at your report when you return in the spring! Ah, all that stuff you hear about 60 MPH winds and -60 F temperatures are just propaganda from the fossil fuel industry, right? Short sleeve shirts, now, y’hear?> Furthermore, the recent increase in CO2 levels was caused by man and not caused by natural mechanisms.You don’t know that.> Without accounting for the greenhouse effect, we cannot explain the recent observed warming.That’s true, but trivial and meaningless because it is just a small, special case of the much more general situation that you can’t account for anything significant in the climate. Period.> Simply put, the data show that the warming we are currently experiencing is not like past events.Claim: BS. Clearly, obviously, trivially 100% total BS. Outrageous, irrational, uninformed, misinformed, neurotic, hysterical alarmism.Proof: Look atCommittee on Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years, National Research Council, Surface Temperature, Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years, ISBN 0-309-66264-8, 196 pages, National Academies Press, 2006,available athttp://www.nap.edu/catalog/…There we see that as far as we can tell from some of the best data and best analysis (e.g., time series analysis with D. Brillinger at Berkeley, former J. Tukey student at Princeton) (A) the temperature of the earth in 2006 was EXACTLY the same as in year 1000 and (B) the increase in the temperature from 1906 to 2006 was EXACTLY the same as the increase in the 100 years before year 1000.Net, there is nothing now new, special, rapidly changing, warm, hot or anything else special from CO2 or anything else.Done.> Simply put, the data show that the warming we are currently experiencing is not like past events.BS. Just read the NAS report and see the close match between years 1000 and 2006. You do know how to read? As a real expert, you are up on the NAS report?> Just because CO2 level increases did not precede warming in the past, doesn’t mean it cannot happen. It is happening, it is caused by humans, and scientists do understand why it is happening.You have zero, zip, zilch, and zero, evidence that CO2 from anything, human activities or anything else, is having any significant effect on climate.

          1. sachmo

            For anyone following this thread, I had a protracted debate with Sigma citing actual articles, debunking almost every single point he has made.1) That CO2 and Temperature have no relationship.2) That specifically the past 2000 years bear out this relationships, as do the past 800,000.Look at my comment history and you can see actual graphs and charts from the articles demonstrating specific data sets from ice cores and other sources. All from peer reviewed journals and such.@sigmaalgebra:disqus it’s wonderful to use a veneer of science to try and make points, but a real scientist has an open mind and takes peer reviewed literature seriously.

    3. JamesHRH

      Sheesh – Howard Stern called Trump ‘ the most reliable guest we could ever book’.He’s a master of shock jock radio in the social media age.He didn’t care about credibility because credibility isn’t a social media metric – attention is the only metric.

  30. James Ferguson @kWIQly

    I was in a northern German city meeting some Execs from a very large enterprise this am. I found their reaction interesting.A – Trump will create major uncertainty for European countries that border on Russia.B. – Climate change issue is going to be thrown up in the airC. – The UK / US trade revisions MAY make Brexit more palatable and so are in effect anti-EuropeanSo not Trump fans and not surprising – However…D. This should mobilise political engagement by erstwhile lassez faire centrists and may be good for democracy in the long term.I found these unsurprising – but a good laugh was had about the potential for a first meeting between Angela Merkel and Trump – As they have “not a lot in common” !Summary – Many Europeans see this as the presidential version of a reality TV show.

    1. JamesHRH

      I have a funny feeling your friends in Germany are going to get tuned.

  31. Kirsten Lambertsen

    What does this raging trash fire in my living room mean about which earrings go with this necklace?

    1. JLM

      .It means everything is going to be fine and that pearls and diamond studs go with everything.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  32. DJL

    This is going to be great for startups for a simple reason: Startups need customers. Customers need jobs. If you take all of the money locked up in the big banks (Dodd-Frank) and lend it to people and small businesses – you will light a fire. it is called Capitalism. (And “Venture Capitalists” around the country should perhaps remember what got them rich and be respectful of the system. How do you become a venture capital socialist anyway?) Lower taxes and lower regulations and everyone wins. Works every time.The lesson: What we learned today is that the views held by the elites on each coast do not represent the views of most hard-working Americans. The F-bomb spewing Hollywood stars. The insanely biased media. The technical and financial elite who abandon the middle class and keep themselves rich. The billionaire donors to the Clinton Foundation that were buying access to our government. The Bernie-cheating DNC. The tech giants (Facebook, Google, Starbucks, Uber, GE) that hide billions of tax dollars overseas – and then support a candidate that claims “corporations don’t pay their fair share.” They got their assess handed to them by people who have had enough. They are “shocked” because they believed in their own self-importance. Listening to that bubble burst is one of the sweetest sounds ever.I was very encouraged by Trumps acceptance speech. You should all watch it. It was gracious, humble and unifying. My hope and prayer for our country is this: No more black versus white. No more rich versus poor. No more war on police. I believe we are going to enter one of the greatest times of healing in our countries’ history.God Bless the United States of America. Proud to be a deplorable redneck today.

  33. BLSavini

    I KNEW you’d write about this, so I had to wander in.The following was what truly impressed me about Trump:https://www.youtube.com/wat…I relate very strongly to the earlier sentiments, because I have “stepped up” more than once, when no one who might have been better qualified was willing to tackle ‘the job’.:) His win means that MY temperament will be en vogue again. America NEEDS HIS LOOSE CANNON APPROACH TO GET THE REVERSAL OF DECADES OF going along to get along, started.In time, there will be greater opportunities, because THIS PATRIOT HAD THE CAJONES to apply disruption to OUR country.A lot of bad habits, slop work, and no sense of accountability, or obligation to those below you has festered in America for a very long time.WE THE PEOPLE have spoken!

  34. LaVonne Reimer

    At about 2:30 am (ET) when it really sank in, this thought came to me. Now more than ever we need to empower more decentralized networks to organize. Not for social chit chat but for getting real work done. Fred, you made a comment about this many blog posts ago. I believe the context was how VCs value various business models and you said something like you weren’t sure how you’d place a value on decentralized networks but had to figure it out because they are inevitable. Now is the time. Why? There is very real potential for us to organize ourselves virtually to engage the world and each other. I have examined such models outside my own world of small business access to credit primarily for ideas on designs, marketing, and pricing but I can’t really speak to their substance. But I am resolved now more than ever before to bring my version of this future to the market. I had already been pondering utilitarian value prop as compared to something much more galvanizing. Today I not only believe this is exactly the time to introduce many more such models but to speak to the “heart side” of their potential. I can think of no venture capitalist anywhere more prepared to take it on than you. I can think of no venture capital firm anywhere more prepared than Union Square Ventures to show us the way. You and Albert and others have been talking this up for years. Now we have the “perfect storm” in which you can unleash all that wisdom and mental preparation and tech savvy to bring about this construct, not some day but now.

  35. John Fein

    Fred, thank you for that post. My mind has been reeling since last night and your measured assessment is reassuring. As a VC I’m going to continue working my butt off to support founders and will lobby my co-investors to do the same.

  36. JLM

    .I wonder what the impact will be on donations to the Clinton Foundation from foreign governments and others?Is there any truth to the matter that it was renamed this morning: The Clinton Legal Defense Fund?I’m just screwing with y’all. Come on, let me have a minute of fun, no? It’s all in good sport.Fred’s been telling me I have my head up my ass for awhile. Can I get a little love?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    1. LE

      let me have a minute of fun, no?Judging by the seriousness and the sky is falling attitude by those who supported Hillary, they aren’t thinking that this should be a time for fun. I wonder how many of them are old enough to remember when Kennedy was shot and how people reacted. I actually can’t find any pictures of that I guess getty has them all protected. To them it’s like making a joke during the perfectly choreographed funeral (you know the one where they took the time to dig up what they did when Lincoln was shot). You certainly remember the gasps and looks on peoples faces.

      1. JLM

        .Anybody who ever saw that will never forget it.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

      2. Susan Rubinsky

        I voted for HRC and ended up doing tequilla shots — in celebration of the exodus of taco trucks before January — with my boyfriend (Indeed, somehow a boyfriend happened to me!) at some ungodly hour when it became apparent Trump was going to win. In the end dark humor got us through. We were disappointed but we also were not surprised.https://uploads.disquscdn.c

        1. Salt Shaker

          Congrats on the boyfriend! Sometimes it just requires finding a solid third-party candidate:)

        2. JamesHRH

          Bad news, recent poll showed 70% of CDNs have no interest in US anti-Trump immigrants.

          1. Susan Rubinsky

            lol.

        3. LE

          I just got left a message from my mom (who is almost 90). She said she was upset along with 2 of my nieces (and I am sure my daughters will be added to the list later).This worry has really been blown out of proportion.Here is a short dialog:You: After Hillary lost my boyfriend and I ended up doing shots of tequila to sooth our pain!!Me: Maybe you should worry about something you can do something about, like liver damage rather than something that you don’t even know is going to happen.You: We were dissapointed but not surprised.Me: Then why did you need to drink yourself to oblivion? And what’s with that celebration of drinking culture anyway?

          1. Susan Rubinsky

            I believe you missed the overall gist of my story.We didn’t drink a whole bottle of tequilla. We just did two shots for fun, making fun of the taco trucks and the wall. Because, well, it is funny.We chose to laugh instead of cry.

          2. LE

            Got it. I am just a square and don’t look highly on any type of shot drinking (never have done shots ever).

          3. Drew Meyers

            Never?

        4. Donna Brewington White

          Indeed, somehow a boyfriend happened to me!;)

          1. Susan Rubinsky

            Funny how that happens the minute you stop looking.

    2. Dan T

      Clinton Foundation will be shut down before the end of 2017. Too much scrutiny already. Too many questions to answer . . it will be in their best interest for it to be gone.

      1. JLM

        .If she’s smart, she will never set foot in that building again and have that baby aborted immediately.The big question will be what will Huma and Cheryl Mills do?I predict that Pres Trump will pardon her. That’s what the nation needs.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

        1. sigmaalgebra

          I still predict that Obama will pardon Bill/Hill, Mills, Huma, maybe Lynch, etc. so that really there can’t be much prosecution of them and so that he won’t be called to testify. And he may pardon himself. That Obama let Bill/Hill get away with their scams suggests to me that he was tied in and counted on pardons to get away with it.

    3. Salt Shaker

      Okay, maybe you’ve earned your status as AVC Minority Leader, but like Chuckie Schumer in the new Congress, you’re still gonna be under constant fire. Always appreciate your well positioned arguments (and biting humor), even if it’s occasionally hard to swallow.

      1. JLM

        .I have even been under real sniper fire.I am convinced that almost everyone I meet loves our country. Before I even hear their first words. I just sense it.We were treated to a full buffet of bullshit in this election. A smokescreen of gargantuan proportions in which we were never allowed to see the truth of anything.The elites, the illuminati, the cognoscenti — both sides — wanted to tell us who our President was to be and intended to allow us to rubber stamp their decision at the end of it all, as a formality.The MSM, the cable media, the pundits, the pollsters — many of them full fledged members of the DNC or the Clinton Campaign — manipulated the flow of information and ganged up on Trump.The GOPe, the DEMe turned on us when we began to misbehave.The Obama administration tried to put a thumb on the scale and used the full power of the gov’t against Trump.Who knows WTF was going in Dir Comey’s head? What is going on at the FBI? At DOJ? At the IRS? Wikileaks? The Russians (bit skeptical on this one but willing to consider it)?All of this had the objective of pulling the covers over our eyes. It did.But, everyone forgot that we’d seen this movie in 2014 when the Republicans ran the table. The electorate was mad and they were mad at the Obama administration and Obamacare. Then, Obamacare doubled down on crushing us.I really don’t care about the outcomes of a lot of policy issues as long as we get the correct and real information. If I’m in the minority after a genuine and deliberative effort to digest the information — so be it.The system is rigged and the American public is on the wrong side of the rigging.Trump got the anger and the rigging. No saint, he knew who the sinners were and how they worked their deal because he was one of them.What we need is the truth of things and to get some big problems fixed and then we can go back to pissing on each other’s legs and mumbling about rain.I think Trump is going to be OK. If he isn’t I’ll be there calling for his replacement. The Republicans have the levers of power in their hands. Now, they need to perform like they’re Michael Jordan.In the meantime, we need some economic vigor to get America prosperous and optimistic.Do not tell anyone I told you this or I will be drummed out of the Alt Right — I keep trying to find their meetings but no luck yet.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

        1. Salt Shaker

          Still would like to see an analysis of early voting data to see what impact pre-to-post the Comey letters had on ballots. That nine day window could have been a large swing, but then again, perhaps not.Pollsters and MSM (wrongly) controlled too much of the narrative. We’re shocked cause they sucked at their jobs.Melania’s Q Ratings, particularly in Slovenia, are up trending, though I do get the distinct feeling she’d rather be shopping on 5th Ave.

          1. JLM

            .The Comey business is bizarre.There is no way an FBI Director ever opines on what “he” thinks about an investigation. No way he goes to report to Congress on an active investigation.They take their evidence to the DOJ or a US Attorney and list out the statutes they think apply, the evidence of any violations, and a recommendation as to what they can produce as to witnesses and hard evidence.The DOJ or the US Attorney makes the decision to indict or to throw it to a Grand Jury.I guess that meeting between WJC and the AG spooked him.The pundits and the pollsters should be banished to wander in the desert for two years on bread and water. What a mass hallucination.I think Melania is going to be a very good asset for Trump. We shall see.I want him to invite the Chinese President and serve him cheeseburgers. Did you know Trump has decided to refuse his salary?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  37. Lells

    Startups and entrepreneurship are extremely important to the economy, but to be perfectly honest, Fred, this is the least of my concerns right now.

  38. Sumeet Gajri

    We need to talk to people who hold different opinions from us. Otherwise Trump + Brexit are not going to be black swans. https://medium.com/@S27G/th

  39. JLM

    .Well, the Dow was up; 256.95 today — so much for the Trump Recession and on to the Trump Rally, no?Last night the Dow futures were sinking into the Seventh Level of Hell (where they put the people who wore skinny jeans when chubby, I think). They were down 10,000,000,673 (nah, just a thousand or so).And, today, the smart money began to bet on Trump. Anticipate a robust Santa Claus Rally, especially if we can convince Pres-elect Trump to get in the Santa suit.So, yeah, this is going to be a financial disaster. Not a long lived one. Maybe a couple of hours this morning.Everything is going to be fine.Serious question — does Trump fill out NCAA Tourney brackets? I’m trying to get a jump on my 2017 schedule and I want to go to Mexico on the cheap peso.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    1. Salt Shaker

      If Trump does NCAA tourney brackets he’ll pick Univ of New Mexico, just for the symbolism.

      1. JLM

        .Haha, funny. Good one.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  40. DisentAgain

    He’s projected to be a disaster for entrepreneurship – of course. The man’s concept of global economy, technology and science are humiliatingly bad. You can’t start trade wars, create a china-favoring global trade vacuum, and pretty much strut around like an unstable goon and expect entrepreneurs to be able to thrive.Welcome to idiocracy.

  41. Paul Dowling

    Comparing with Brexit is wrong. Brexit hasn’t happened yet and when it does it will have a very negative impact. It will essentially reduce the number of startups being formed in london by half. Everyone knows that the reason Silicon Valley succeeds is the pure number of startups launched and nurtured there. Trump and Brexit are an all out assault on the ‘urban elite’. This probably means you and your friends. It is crazy to think it will have no impact.

  42. jason wright

    Donald is not a Trumpoid about to enter the Earth’s atmosphere and detonate above the US devastating the landscape. he is someone who will disrupt the comfortable networks of power and privilege that started with Reagan, developed on during the Bush and Clinton eras, and held fast during Obama’s ‘Yes We Can’ glossness. it’s time for a brush to sweep away the dust, the dirt, the grime. it’s time for renewal. it’s a good time for a smart entrepreneur and a nearly as smart investor to see the future and make it happen.

  43. Mary E. Pacheco

    Honestly, we do not know what will happen. If you read through the campaign materials, and listen to all of the President-Elects comments, it’s hard to discern what he will do. We know one thing for sure, he has promised a trade war! See here: http://www.wsj.com/articles…However, one of the best ways to deal with business uncertainties is to work with American Indian Tribes. In a more relaxed business environment, you can grow your business model.Why not shelter your business from politics and antiquated tax code regimes? Walk away from burdensome regulations. Regardless of the new President, we simply offer a better way to do business.We have an open business model, known as a strategy platform. You can come plug and play. We’re a business innovation firm. We offer a smarter way to invest and grow new or existing companies.Our strategy platform works just like the UBER model. However, instead of driving your car for revenue, we help drive your business towards stronger revenue and long-term growth.We can take any good business and serve as your Force Multiplier. We’re a tool that helps you amplify your business efforts.So if you want to overcome politics and perform better, while growing market cap, we may be able to help. Mary P. / TeKeni Economic Development Corp. – http://tekeni.wixsite.com/thttps://uploads.disquscdn.c

  44. Andu @ Widgetic.com

    You guys should be ashamed it has gotten to the point where your president is not someone we can look up to, but someone we’ll all make fun of. Very sad times!

  45. Mark

    It means that startups have to come up with business plans that involve earning a profit (as capital won’t be constantly misallocated to unprofitable startups), and the workers used will need to be reasonably compensated US citizens, not H-1Bs.If your business plan as a ‘startup’ merely involves swapping cheap labour in place of expensive labour, tax avoidance, or giving the nation’s technology away to foreigners for free, those types of startups are likely to fail. But otherwise, Trump’s policies should help the overall startup culture in the long run by empowering engineers.

  46. Jeff

    While I absolutely disagree with Trump’s xenophobic immigration policies, I do agree with his plan to lower corporate tax rates and incentivize companies to bring their operations and money back to America. As business owners you are acutely aware of how much it actually costs to hire someone (not just what you pay them in salary). And investors know that when less money goes to government coffers (mostly to pay for national defense, a.k.a. bombing other countries) more money is available to private citizens and companies to reinvest as they see fit.More investment = more jobs, and more growth. It’s really that simple. Besides, every new worker hired will also be paying taxes. So the bottom line is money will be used for more productive purposes instead of building and arming the next generation of predator drones.And if you believe that lower taxes = more profits for fat cat shareholders. Just remember, it’s those fat cat shareholders that often become the venture capitalists that fund your startups.

  47. Mark

    Trump should be very positive for the startup community as engineering salaries should rise as H-1B’s are sent back to India. Higher engineering salaries and greater job security means that engineers can take more personal and financial risks in the startup realm. Younger engineers will actually be able to afford garages in which to do garage-based tinkering, the source of many startups. Trump may very well be seen, in hindsight, as one of the most STEM-friendly Presidents elected out of wartime.

  48. John

    Don’t hold your breath and wait for anything. As a startup, you should just stay focused on your customers, providing solutions they need (enough to pay you for) and executing well. Trump is not going to be your excuse for success or failure.

  49. JLM

    .Charlie, go get a 90 minute deep tissue massage and decompress. [Send me the bill. Honestly. Do it.]You are totally wrong as to who put Trump in the winner’s circle. It was the little people who had been marginalized by the elites, the MSM, the pundits, the pollsters, the coastal wise guys. This was an uprising that started in 2014.I spent all day yesterday manning the Brykerwoods School Precinct 214 polling as the Alternate Judge (we rotate the head Judge between the parties in Texas) and it was gratifying to see democracy in action.Everything is going to be fine. I can’t even find a good phone number or email for the ATX KKK office.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  50. LE

    Any number of things could have thrown the election the Democrat’s way; first among them would have been running a less flawed candidate without the baggage.Like an airline accident there are many things that go into any ‘failure’. [1] In this case what’s shocking is how bad of a candidate she really was if she got whipped by someone who operated the way Trump did w/o party backing and with numerous (even supporters will admit) super flaws. Off the bell curve non traditional approach never been seen before. I mean she (and all of them) must really feel like ‘smacked asses’ given the firepower and money that was behind her victory. This is really similar to how Jeb got beaten. Typical of how political parties work. Name recognition, good looks (well not in this case) over actual ability. Because unfortunately that is how voters operate.Noting how you are saying “running a less flawed candidate” which implies clearly how ‘the machine’ works and ironic given the lack of backing and desertion of Trump by the Republican machine.I guess we now know definitely what people really think of the Obama Presidency and his legacy is now clear.[1] For god’s sake you can trace the win back to things like Mark Burnett and the Apprentice because of Survivors success. And without the writers strike there would be no reality tv boom which allowed Mark Burnett to even give Trump a show and more fame than he already had. The list of events is endless that contributed to Hillary’s loss.

  51. creative group

    Charlie Crystle:”A lot of good people voted for Trump. Some of them are on this blog.”Could you please point them out?Trump lost us at the straight out racism, misogynist and xenophobic rants.Justification will be the order of the day. Weak Democratic apologists. We represent them more then themselves. Do to them as they have done to you. They prey on your weaknesses (civility)#termlimits#Twopartysystemsucks#UnapologeticallyUnequivocallyIndependent

  52. Quantella Owens

    ” SEE ALL” +1,000

  53. ShanaC

    I’m sorry

  54. sigmaalgebra

    > The oligarchist defeated the plutocratGee, where’d I miss that?I don’t get the labels oligarchist, plutocrat.IMHO, the US is in deep, profound trouble, right on the edge, sometime in one of the next few POTUS elections, to losing the US and destroying much of the world.As we know, what we have in the US is”A republic if you can keep it.” Well, I conclude that now, without some improbable changes, we can’t. E.g., I don’t think we can make it through, say, 10 more elections for POTUS: So, 40 years the US will be gone and much of the world destroyed.Why? First, IMHO, Hillary is a profoundly sick, mentally confused, incompetent, evil and dangerous person that as POTUS would — with SCOTUS appointments, refusing to support various laws, especially on immigration, deliberately import ISIS soldiers, sell out to the Saudis, and create massive foreign policy and military disasters — ruin the US, in some ways quickly, in others, e.g., SCOTUS appointments, more slowly, have riots in the streets of the US, and get us into a nuclear WWIII. No joke. Hillary is something out of Hell.Then, with (A) a Hillary, (B) the mainstream media, (MSM), (C) the propaganda from MSM-Hillary, and (D) the 40% of US voters so bad in their civics lessons that they are ready to be totally fooled by the propaganda, the US can’t hope to make it through, say, 10 more POTUS elections without electing another Hillary from Hell who would destroy the US and much of the world.(A)-(D) taken together are just that bad.Three Crucial Steps to Save the US:First, tell the voters to f’get about the MSM, to regard essentially everything there as serious distortions, total fabrications, dirty lies, and, in total, a severe threat to the US and the world. No joke.I deeply, profoundly, bitterly hate and despise as saboteurs of the US and huge threats of WWIII the NYT, WaPo, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, BI, Slate, Salon, Huffpo, etc. No joke. They have no integrity, sense of decency or responsibility, or credibility. They are eager to lie for any reason or no reason. They are just sewage.Second, tell the voters that they must be very skeptical about the information they get and not let themselves be fooled by propaganda, cliches, platitudes, smiles, styles, and unsupported campaign mud slinging. So, as in common high school term paper writing standards, voters need good references to primary sources. The Internet now is good for such sources.Third, the voters have to raise their grade in US civics up from D and F to B and A.The alternative is somewhere in the next 40 years electing another Hillary, ending the US, starting nuclear WWIII, and destruction of much of the world. No joke. Hillary is JUST that bad, a real She-Devil from HELL.But about 40% of the voters really like Hillary. The US can’t live with that 40% — they will kill the US and much of the world.Apparently our material prosperity has brought some wildly dangerous — literally fatal — lack of discipline.Back to the present:On your> The oligarchist defeated the plutocratmore simply and directly, I just thought that Trump beat Hillary.Why: Hillary’s proposals, Obama’s record, Hillary’s nasty, lying, crooked, disastrous baggage. Hillary is a She-Devil from Hell and a threat to the US and the world.Then, Trump is a good guy, good father, with a great record of getting good things done, good proposals, determination, lack of baggage.> Call them the white male voters without college degrees,I’m for Trump, and I’ve got three college degrees, one with Honors in Mathematics and, also in mathematics, from a world famous research university, a Master’s and a Ph.D. Does that change the averages?> Today’s the day when I’ll ask you, Fred, and your class of Democrats who have for so long backed the neo-liberals eager for your sector’s substantial backing (the Patricofs, Gorenbergs, neo-liberal bundlers of the world, lovely people, of course), to reconsider who you elevate and support in future elections.Somehow lower Manhattan is totally dyed in the wool Democrat. Blame it on, say, some of the immigrants near 1880 or so.> Any number of things could have thrown the election the Democrat’s way;IIRC, Hillary won the popular vote by a gnat’s ass, and Trump won the electoral college by only 9 votes — so it was tight. The flapping of a butterfly’s wings might have changed the outcome.So, we almost got She-Devil Hillary, lost the US, and put the world through nuclear WWIII.The US is still in trouble: We have about 40% of the voters ready to elect another Hillary. Due to the threats of (A)-(D) above and without the three crucial steps above, I don’t see how the US can go, say, another 40 years without electing another Hillary and destroying the US and much of the world.> but I’ll repeat the request: please stop backing the neo-liberals.It’s simpler: Call Hillary what she really is — a She-Devil that would have destroyed the US and much of the world. She is a profoundly sick and dangerous person.> In the meantime, the right is preparing to eviscerate regulations that protect human health and the health of our environment. The war machine will crank up again, if only to extract more from the US Treasury.You seem to think that the W, Cheney, Romney, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rush Limbaugh, National Review crowd just won the election. They didn’t. They were the NeverTrump crowd, and they lost.Really, Trump is a pragmatic, get things done, quit being just totally dysfunctionally, even suicidally She-Devil STUPID, stop wasting money, help people who need help, center-left candidate who wants to help the poor Blacks, suffering women, and the Sanders supporters along with making America rich, safe, strong, and great again.That’s just NOT the National Review crowd. It’s NOT W.> Bullying and outright racist behavior can easily become a cultural norm.Where’d you get that garbage? That was just MSM-Hillary propaganda. It has nothing to do with Trump.You swallowed the sewage. Dangerous.It’s the 40% of voters doing that that in the next 40 years will end the US.You have seen the cause of the end of the US — YOU and people like you. The US can’t last with that stuff.Look, the racist slander was given with no evidence and is super easy to debunk with rock solid evidence. You didn’t see that evidence and let the MSN-Hillary propaganda lead you around by the nose?To debunk, just seehttp://spectator.org/64643_…where, with great effort and with at least one law suit, Trump beat racism in the high end Palm Beach clubs.You don’t like racism, right? Well, then, Trump’s your candidate. You didn’t know this? You get a D- in US civics.> That said, Trump is a chameleon, a classic salesman, changing the pitch to whatever works best to close the deal.I have watched Trump carefully, have a file system directory with 300+ files on Trump, have copies of and have read nearly all his position papers, and have seen no significant changes.That he has been changing is more of the MSM-Hillary propaganda sewage that will end the US if people like you fall for it.> I think he’s going to go along with a lot of Republican-led schemes to completely restructure the government.Again, the NeverTrump crowd LOST this election.Yes, Trump won the Republican nomination, but that does not mean that he is for the long standing, rock solid, fundamental conservative, Republican principles, policies, and plans. Instead, Trump is now the leader of the Republican party. He doesn’t have to, and doesn’t, follow the NeverTrump crowd, the Reagan crowd, etc. Instead, if you want to know what he thinks, just watch several of the many YouTube videos of his speeches and read his position papers at his Web site. That is, go to PRIMARY sources. Net, to heck with the NeverTrump crowd — they are no longer in control of the Republican party. Trump owes them nothing. Indeed, W claimed that he didn’t vote for POTUS.Here you get a D- in US civics. You and others like you need to raise your grade to B or A or will end the US. No joke. To raise your grade, a big step is for you to get your information from primary sources and not the MSM-Hillary, distorting, fabricating, lying propaganda machine. E.g., that machine convinced you that Trump is a racist. You let them do that to you. They gave you no meaningful evidence. The truth was right there in that article I referenced.We have a republic if we can keep it, and with such poor US civics work we can’t even hope to keep it.> The working poor and poor are going to have a very rough road ahead, as supports for them are slashed in favor of tax cuts for those with money.You are returning to, what, Goldwater stuff? Some of the worst of the National Review crowd? Where’d you get that stuff? Come on, pay attention only to good sources.Again, Trump’s not one of those old, far right Republicans. He never was, and he still isn’t.Again you get a D- in civics and threaten the US and the world.> which will very likely hit our high-poverty city pretty hard.Trump wants to put people in cities like yours back to work, getting incomes, paying taxes, and helping people who need it. Trump is the guy who wants to save Medicare and Social Security. For Federal Medicaid funds, he didn’t say he wanted to cut them; he just said that he wants to block grant them back to the states.Trump wants to make America rich again, rich enough to improve the poor people, the infrastructure, the military, communities like yours, etc.Again you get a D- in civics and threaten the US and the world.Didn’t you hear, Trump wants to “Make America wealthy again.”?> already scared to send their kids down the block for Skittles.Didn’t you hear, Trump wants to “Make America safe again.”?Again you get a D- in civics and threaten the US and the world.> the racism, bigotry, and bullying Trump’s campaign fosteredThat’s just MSM-Hillary campaign dirty propaganda.Why do you drink that MSM sewage?Above I debunked the racism slander.For the bullying, that was Hillary campaign paid thugs sent in, for $1500 each and an iPhone, to set up something the MSM could report as bullying.Again you get a D- in civics and threaten the US and the world.A republic if you can keep it. Well with so many D- to F grades in civics, we can’t keep it much longer.

  55. sigmaalgebra

    > The oligarchist defeated the plutocratGee, where’d I miss that?I don’t get the labels oligarchist, plutocrat.IMHO, the US is in deep, profound trouble, right on the edge sometime in one of the next few POTUS elections, to losing the US and destroying much of the world.As we know, what we have in the US isA republic if we can keep it.”Well, I conclude that now, without some improbable changes, we can’t. E.g., I don’t think we can make it through, say, 10 more elections for POTUS so that in 40 years the US will gone and much of the world destroyed.Why? First, IMHO, Hillary is a profoundly sick, mentally confused, incompetent, evil and dangerous person that as POTUS would, with SCOTUS appointments, refusing to support various laws, especially on immigration, deliberately import ISIS soldiers, sell out to the Saudis, and create massive foreign policy and military disasters, would ruin the US, in some ways quickly, in others, e.g., SCOTUS appointments, more slowly, have riots in the streets of the US, and get us into a nuclear WWIII. No joke. Hillary is something out of Hell.Then, with (A) a Hillary, (B) the mainstream media, (MSM), (C) the propaganda from the MSM-Hillary, and (D) the 40% of US voters so bad in their civics lessons that they are ready to be totally fooled by the propaganda, the US can’t hope to make it through, say, 10 more POTUS elections without electing another Hillary from Hell who would destroy the US and much of the world.(A)-(D) taken together are just that bad.Three crucial steps to Save the US:First, tell the voters to f’get about the MSM, to regard essentially everything there as serious distortions, total fabrications, dirty lies, and, in total, a severe threat to the US and the world. No joke.I deeply, profoundly, bitterly hate and despise as saboteurs of the US and huge threats of WWIII the NYT, WaPo, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, BI, Slate, Salon, Huffpo, etc. No joke. They have no integrity, sense of decency or responsibility, or credibility. They are eager to lie for any reason or no reason. They are just sewage.Second, tell the voters that they must be very skeptical about the information they get and not let themselves be fooled by propaganda, cliches, platitudes, smiles, styles, and unsupported campaign mud slinging. So, as in common high school term paper writing standards, voters need good references to primary sources. The Internet now is good for such sources.Third, the voters have to raise their grade in US civics up from D and F to B and A.The alternative is somewhere in the next 40 years electing another Hillary, ending the US, starting nuclear WWIII, and destruction of much of the world. No joke. Hillary is JUST that bad, a real She-Devil from HELL.But about 40% of the voters really like Hillary. The US can’t live with that 40% — they will kill the US and much of the world.Apparently our material prosperity has brought some wildly dangerous — literally fatal — lack of discipline.Back to the present:On your> The oligarchist defeated the plutocratmore simply and directly, I just thought that Trump beat Hillary.Why: Hillary’s proposals, Obama’s record, Hillary’s nasty, lying, crooked, disastrous baggage. Hillary is a She-Devil from Hell and a threat to the US and the world.Then, Trump is a good guy, good father, with a great record of getting good things done, good proposals, determination, lack of baggage.> Call them the white male voters without college degrees,I’m for Trump, and I’ve got three college degrees, one with Honors in Mathematics and, also in mathematics, from a world famous research university, a Master’s and a Ph.D. Does that change the averages?> Today’s the day when I’ll ask you, Fred, and your class of Democrats who have for so long backed the neo-liberals eager for your sector’s substantial backing (the Patricofs, Gorenbergs, neo-liberal bundlers of the world, lovely people, of course), to reconsider who you elevate and support in future elections.Somehow lower Manhattan is totally dyed in the wool Democrat. Blame it on, say, some of the immigrants near 1880 or so.> Any number of things could have thrown the election the Democrat’s way;IIRC, Hillary won the popular vote by a gnat’s ass, and Trump won the electoral college by only 9 votes — so it was tight. The flapping of a butterfly’s wings might have changed the outcome.So, we almost got She-Devil Hillary, lost the US, and put the world through nuclear WWIII.The US is still in trouble: We have about 40% of the voters ready to elect another Hillary. Due to the threats of (A)-(D) above and without the three crucial steps above, I don’t see how the US can go, say, another 40 years without electing another Hillary and destroying the US and much of the world.> but I’ll repeat the request: please stop backing the neo-liberals.It’s simpler: Call Hillary what she really is — a She-Devil that would have destroyed the US and much of the world. She is a profoundly sick and dangerous person.> In the meantime, the right is preparing to eviscerate regulations that protect human health and the health of our environment. The war machine will crank up again, if only to extract more from the US Treasury.You seem to think that the W, Cheney, Romney, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rush Limbaugh, National Review crowd just won the election. They didn’t. They were the NeverTrump crowd, and they lost.Really, Trump is a pragmatic, get things done, quit being just totally dysfunctionally, even suicidally She-Devil STUPID, stop wasting money, help people who need help, center-left candidate who wants to help the poor Blacks, suffering women, and the Sanders supporters along with making America rich, safe, strong, and great again.That’s just NOT the National Review crowd. It’s NOT W.> Bullying and outright racist behavior can easily become a cultural norm.Where’d you get that garbage? That was just MSM-Hillary propaganda. It has nothing to do with Trump.You swallowed the sewage. Dangerous.It’s the 40% of voters doing that that in the next 40 years will end the US.You have seen the cause of the end of the US — YOU and people like you. The US can’t last with that stuff.> That said, Trump is a chameleon, a classic salesman, changing the pitch to whatever works best to close the deal.I have watched Trump carefully, have a file system directory with 300+ files on Trump, have copies of and have read nearly all his position papers, and have seen no significant changes.That he has been changing is more of the MSM-Hillary propaganda sewage that will end the US if people like you fall for it.> I think he’s going to go along with a lot of Republican-led schemes to completely restructure the government.Again, the NeverTrump crowd LOST this election.Yes, Trump won the Republican nomination, but that does not mean that he is for the long standing, rock solid, fundamental conservative, Republican principles, policies, and plans. Instead, Trump is now the leader of the Republican party. He doesn’t have to, and doesn’t follow the NeverTrump crowd, the Reagan crowd, etc. Instead, if you want to know what he thinks, just watch the many YouTube videos of his speeches and read his position papers at his Web site. That is, go to PRIMARY sources. Net, to heck with the NeverTrump crowd — they are no longer in control of the Republican party. Trump owes them nothing. Indeed, W claimed that he didn’t vote for POTUS.Here you get a D- in US civics. You and others like you need to raise your grade to B or A or will end the US. No joke. We have a republic if we can keep it, and with such poor US civics work we can’t even hope to keep it.> The working poor and poor are going to have a very rough road ahead, as supports for them are slashed in favor of tax cuts for those with money.You are returning to, what, Goldwater stuff? Some of the worst of the National Review crowd? Where’d you get that stuff? Come on, pay attention only to good sources.Again, Trump’s not one of them. He never was, and he still isn’t.Again you get a D- in civics and threaten the US and the world.> which will very likely hit our high-poverty city pretty hard.Trump wants to put people in cities like yours back to work, getting incomes, paying taxes, and helping people who need it. Trump is the guy who wants to save Medicare and Social Security. For Federal Medicaid funds, he didn’t say he wanted to cut them; he just said that he wants to block grant them back to the states.Trump wants to make America rich again, rich enough to improve the poor people, the infrastructure, the military, communities like yours, etc.Again you get a D- in civics and threaten the US and the world.Didn’t you hear, Trump wants to “Make America wealthy again.”> already scared to send their kids down the block for Skittles.Didn’t you hear, Trump wants to “Make America safe again.”Again you get a D- in civics and threaten the US and the world.> the racism, bigotry, and bullying Trump’s campaign fosteredThat’s just MSM-Hillary campaign dirty propaganda.Again you get a D- in civics and threaten the US and the world.A republic if you can keep it. Well with so many D- to F grades in civics, we can’t keep it much longer.

  56. LE

    My hats off to you for staying the course and recognizing what most people who are financially secure didn’t realize. That there are people out there who are not living in well educated, healthcare paid for, secure job, elite land, who are really suffering while the others are off masturbating over transgender bathrooms and other liberal nonsense.

  57. JLM

    .I have cancelled all bets and all duels though I am seeking a Presidential appointment to The American Commission on the Reinstatement of Dueling as a Dispute Resolution Technique.We have a little MeetUp once a month.Be well, friend. Now, we can stop pissing on each other’s legs and telling each other it’s raining.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  58. JLM

    .In reality, it’s only 15% of the people. We have 320MM people and how many votes did he get?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  59. Jess Bachman

    +100. If people get caught off guard here, they were never paying attention.

  60. awaldstein

    so right.less fortunate. women. minorities. immigrants. all.there is more than business in life. to me at least.

  61. LE

    You have to have a little faith for trickle down you know.

  62. JLM

    .Total nonsense. Trump arrives in the Oval Office with a debt owed to whom?NOBODYHe is the most unfettered President in history.He does not owe the party, the establishment, the king makers, the K St gang, the donor class, the MSM, the pundits, the pollsters — nobody.He has the luxury of doing right by the little people who hired him.Let a few days go by and it will become apparent.I think the Chinese President IS going to get cheeseburgers when he visits.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  63. JamesHRH

    Charlie – I agree w JLM. What do you know about Donald?1. He is a master of social media ( trained by NY tabloids & Hoeard Stern )2. Pretty good negotiator ( even if it is screeing partners into horrible positions or working his way out of a bankruptcy, which may have been caused by horrible luck / tragedy versus bad Mgmt ).3. He got to the White House virtually on his own. No chits.Is he a fiscal conservative? Don’t know.Is he a social conservative? Don’t think so.Unique position.

  64. pointsnfigures

    I don’t agree with that assessment, and hope for the country’s sake you are terribly wrong. From my side, I don’t see that coming. If the Republicans take revenge, or go out for blood they are wrong and will be dismissed in two years.

  65. JLM

    .This election started with the 2014 mid-terms. I have been saying that for two years. In that election, the little people gave the Senate, the House, governors’ mansions, statehouses to the Republicans.The Republicans squandered their opportunity which made the people even angrier.Then, Obamacare imploded. Who can afford these kind of premiums and deductibles? Nobody.The people began to get really angry when they were told they were deplorable for wanting a better life.Make no mistake, this was a referendum on President Obama, the corruption of the Clintons but at its core it was all about the little people no longer believing DC existed to help them. DC exists to put sugar on the public tit and nothing more.This is an historic moment when the little people found, maybe the only guy in the world who could have pulled this off.The elites, the GOPe, the MSM, the pundits, the pollsters got this so wrong as if they were blind, deaf, dumb. It was the greatest failure of understanding the man on the street in a century.It started in 2014 and grew, unabated.Oh, yeah, ground game. Ground game is really, really important, right? The guy who figured this out is going to do just fine running the joint. Let’s give him a chance.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  66. sigmaalgebra

    > masturbating over transgender bathroomsIt was a deliberate attempt to sabotage the US. Obama hates the US and did all he could to hurt it.The big smiles were because the MSM went along with it.That sabotage is dangerous stuff.Hillary would have, in service of the Sunni Saudis, deliberately imported ISIS soldiers who would have gotten a nuke and behaved if Hillary did just what ISIS and the Saudis wanted. For that reason and many more, Hillary was a She-Devil out to destroy the US. I explained more inhttp://avc.com/2016/11/what…

  67. Matt A. Myers

    Trump will redirect attention away from himself by blaming others – when the poor etc. are negatively affected by whatever he does – and they seem likely to believe him; an army of people he can manipulate to be angry towards any target sounds a lot like Turkey’s present state.

  68. JLM

    .Can we at least allow the guy to be inaugurated before we turn on him?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  69. Jess Bachman

    Yes. People expecting Trump supporters to all of a sudden be disillusions are fooling themselves.

  70. someone

    What I’ll never understand is why Robby Mook let her take weeks – not days, but WEEKS – off the campaign trail.Wisconsin didn’t forget that.

  71. LE

    The elites, the GOPe, the MSM, the pundits, the pollsters got this so wrong as if they were blind, deaf, dumb. It was the greatest failure of understanding the man on the street in a century.I watched until roughly 2am EST last night. Boy did they have long faces. Rachel Madow had the droopiest of faces. Chris Matthews was (as many others) shell shocked and bewildered. It was the ultimate case of ‘fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me’. What schmucks. Along with the Republicans that backed the losing horse of a different party no less.Obama handed this election to Trump. Had he been less of a dick with Obama care (sorry ladies that’s the word for it) there wouldn’t have been as much gridlock that led to dissatisfaction of the status quo.

  72. LE

    To be clear about why the pollsters got it wrong.People not wanting to admit that they would vote for Trump to the extent that they did. People in my neighborhood supporting but not putting Trump signs out (I wouldn’t do that either why invite criticism and trouble?) . Most likely never has there been a candidate where people were so likely not to want to openly say they supported someone. But when they got in the booth with nobody looking they voted for him. Pollsters couldn’t track this the way they poll. I don’t know much about polls but I wonder what would happen if people didn’t have to reveal their answer to the pollster. In a sense a bit of that happened when Obama got elected.This reminds me a bit about the popularity of Howard Stern. Says (back in the day) appalling things that people would never say themselves but they are glad to listen to him saying those things and secretly wish they could as well.

  73. LaVonne Reimer

    It’s more about reacting to the people who brought him to us. This movement has been building for roughly 25 years. That is what we need to understand. It’s a whole new meaning to skating ahead of the puck.

  74. LE

    Imagine the anxiety level that some of these liberals are foisting on their kids today about the world ending.

  75. Matt A. Myers

    Curious if this is the attitude you took when Obama was elected?Trump’s character and strong self-interest are what concern most – which he has already shown plenty of.

  76. Richard

    the end of carried interest ? It’s long overdue.

  77. Kirsten Lambertsen

    Because we shouldn’t take him at his word?

  78. SubstrateUndertow

    That sounds fair enough given that inauguration is well known to rewrite a lifetime of a personal character development.Lets wait and see if that inauguration magic works on Trump ?

  79. Pete Griffiths

    That’s fair. I don’t like him and I don’t trust him but he deserves a chance.

  80. JLM

    .They told her it was a coronation. She told them she would deign to be their queen. WJC told her it was her turn. President Obama told her she was his pick to protect his legacy.The MSM stood and quietly applauded. The pundits genuflected and the pollsters did her bidding.The American people had a different idea.Her campaign — revealed in 2008 v candidate Obama — skills are weak and her lack of energy was obvious.Trump took a gargantuan beating, a vicious hammering and the guy doesn’t have a mark on him. He did it with sheer moxie, energy, and balls.He didn’t just win. He shocked the world.Hang on, this is going to be fun.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  81. LE

    Like I said there are those out there that actually feel the opposite and see this as a big ‘fuck you’ to liberal causes, thinking and protections.But the important thing is this. It’s not that they don’t care about people that are less fortunate. It’s just that they feel the issues should be handled in a different way than they are now (via handouts or regulations). This doesn’t mean they have all of the answers or that they are right. Just that they see things differently. A different approach. Like child rearing there is no one right way.As mentioned previously I’ve been caught by the government on some of this regulatory (both dem and republican responsible I agree) rules as I’ve noted. Labor department lawsuit. Because work breaks are dictated by labor code buried and obscure and quite frankly not necessary by common sense (some things are of course but not what I got nabbed on). There are thousands of these ridiculous ‘protect nobody’ out there that business must adhere to. Same as with unions, some good things but mostly restrictive bad things over the top (NYC rubber rooms?)In my particular example (from memory it was quite some time ago) you didn’t have to give people breaks but if you did they had to be at least 15 minutes. You read that right. So no breaks are ok, but not 10 minute breaks (not ok). (Or something like that I’d have to dig up the lawsuit from the labor department that I settled). Lack of common sense in implementing things, by people who don’t actually operate businesses because they think everybody is running a sweatshop and all employees deserve the maxi pad tampon.You know often you will walk into a major chain (say Starbucks) and see people taking a break doing nothing when they are busy. Because you know they have to get their fucking break (according to the government) even if they don’t need it and even if it makes more sense to skip it and/or take it later. No flexibility. This is not ‘don’t let the pilot fly more than 8 hours’ (good). This is totally ridiculous shit that impact everybody because maybe a small amount of employers push limits.

  82. JamesHRH

    Less fortunate women are the demo that elected him Arnold.Anne is right – you need to get out of the bubble.When we lived in Sarnia, I spent a lot of time in Reagan Democrat territory like Macomb County ( NE of Detroit ). Those people are a disadvantaged minority that have been ignored for decades.

  83. JLM

    .My Perfect Daughter asks — Dad, what do I buy today?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  84. JLM

    .You don’t need to react to anything. The “people” who brought him to us are us.This started in 2014 when the little people gave the Republicans the Senate, widened their hold of the House, gave them a ton of statehouses and legislatures.What did the Republicans do?They voted the entire Obama agenda into law.The people got madder.Last night, they decided to give someone other than the GOPe a chance at the helm.Trump was the only guy who realized this. He beat 16 challengers like rented mules and last night the little people stood shoulder to shoulder and said, “This shit is over. Right now. Right here.”It was the lack of concern about their fears. The corruption. The lies. Obamacare. The lies.Today, people are mucking about looking for the drain plug for the swamp.The GOPe, the elites, the MSM, the media, the pundits, the pollsters — all got it horribly wrong.This guy, Trump, owes nobody anything. He put his money where his mouth is and he arrives at the Oval Office with no chits weighing him down.He’s a dumbass but he’s smarter than anybody else looking at the mood of America and he’s not a dumbass after all.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  85. JLM

    .Yeah, well, don’t worry, Trump will never get the nomination anyway.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  86. JamesHRH

    You don’t know that, you just feel that.Not a fiscal conservative. Blue collar champion. For a non-college educated woman, having you & your husband have steady work will improve your lot.And, as Chris Arnade has exhaustively documented on Twitter, the right play when the system is not working for you is the high risk play.

  87. JLM

    .Sheer nonsense.The House has to run for office again in two years and they will be running on how they supported the Trump legislative agenda. Those races started this morning at 7:30 EST.Nobody will tee it up with Trump for two years.In the meantime, Trump will put as much legislation on the books and strip clean as much regulation as he can.Trump is not a social harpie. Nothing will touch gay marriage though Roe v Wade may arrive at the SCOTUS for a re-look.The soccer moms will continue to vote for their husbands to get better jobs and to make more money.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  88. JLM

    .Do the math –1. House Republicans have 239 seats.2. Senate Republicans have 51 seats.Takes 2/3s to override a veto. They do not have a 2/3 majority in either body.Do you ever base your statements on facts? Or do you just write whatever you feel like?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  89. JLM

    .You take fewer casualties on the attack than you do on defense.On the attack, you set the point of contact.On the defense, the enemy sets the point of contact.Expect to see Trump on the attack.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  90. LE

    Hah. And as of right now the market is actually up a bit, 18,400 DJIA.

  91. panterosa,

    My Perfect Daughter asked her father to take her to school, not on the subway. She arrived at her all girls school and first class all the 9th grade girls are in tears being consoled by the teacher, who is french. She texted me and her dad “i live in a country that doesn’t respect me”.What do you suggest I tell her?

  92. LE

    I think there is a buying opportunity (haven’t researched it but you may want to) in some media stocks. The reason is most networks had their best year ever because of Trump and were expecting when Hillary got elected they would suffer declines. Trump is the best thing that happened to many people in the media. We are talking OJ level (remember how he elevated some outlets) king making (Megyn obviously only one of them). Remember how Iran Hostages spawned Nightline and Ted Kopple? (Of course you do). People used to watch every night to catch up.With Trump being elected media will now have an endless stream of interesting news and be able to sell to many more captive advertisers. This will almost certainly last for the term of his Presidency. People will tune in [1] to the news and read more that with Hillary (or with Obama) just to hear the latest controversy and how he handles himself.[1] Like they did with Howard Stern ‘what is he going to say today’.

  93. LE

    That’s up for debate. From my perch and experience and personal habits it does.

  94. sigmaalgebra

    Call it what you want, but the Walter Heller, JFK tax cut and the Reagan tax cut worked. We’re nowhere near inflation, and we have lots of people to put back to work and start paying taxes.

  95. JamesHRH

    Ok, so you’ve left massive program cuts behind, left those women being worse off behind and now are already blaming stasis in DC as the reason these people are screwed.Get any sense why liberal folks who mean well but accept a lack of results from government might, over the course of a few decades, create a swell of support for someone who says he’s going to get results ( and just proved he will ) ?

  96. JLM

    .Tell her that this country exists because we had an alliance with France against the Brits. We have a long and glorious history.Tell her that France is free today because the US came to its aid in WWI and WWII.Tell her that we are their ally in the war on terrorism.Tell her that tears from little girls are not all that uncommon and that they will all be fine.Tell her that she will be growing up in a country with better prospects for her.It will be fine.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  97. LE

    Oh shit that is so fucking ridiculous. You have to set her straight and tell her that things will be fine. Project strength. That it’s not all bad and most certainly could work out for the better. Nothing to see here, move along. Don’t fall apart and give them anxiety.Let me ‘axe’ you this (as some lower class people say I hate when they do that). If you found out (god forbid) your daughter had a dreaded disease would you give her positive forward looking thoughts “this will work out” or would you paint a picture of gloom and doom? Would you stoke anxiety? Of course not.Further this is a teachable moment. Let’s wait and see what actually happens not speculate that because someone doesn’t think like you the whole world will fall apart and in the end the system of checks and balances won’t end up bringing actually to a better place.Lastly don’t think for a second that because a guy like Trump says degrading things about women or even (like Clinton) may have taken advantage of women that means that things won’t be good for women (or any group) in this country. I don’t buy that.

  98. JamesHRH

    Tell her that well educated people living in big cities can’t just ignore blue collar labourers in smaller centres.Or, at least, not yet.

  99. sigmaalgebra

    Tiffany, Ivanka, and Melania are all very highly respected.

  100. Matt A. Myers

    It’s Wallstreet, it’s gambling. ‘Smart’ people bought when it dropped, that got the price going up; it’s why Bitcoin is still alive. It’s all artificial and not a real sign or signal of success. It’s the idea of GDP vs. GPI; Genuine Progress Index.

  101. JLM

    .Yeah, well the country will be facing a financial disaster. The futures are pricing a -1000 open.Ooops, that didn’t last long.Sorry.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  102. JLM

    .Pres Obama famously said in 2014: “Make no mistake, my policies are on the ballot.”The Republicans won the biggest reversal of fortune in a century.Pres Obama said, “This is a vote on my legacy.”A guy nobody gave a chance to win, won. Big league.That is the evidence. What is your conclusion?Just like Pres Obama ran against the sitting Pres Bush and then blamed everything on his predecessor, Pres-elect Trump ran against Pres Obama.Again, that is the evidence. What is your conclusion?Worst. President. Ever. — propelled Pres-elect Trump to victory.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  103. LE

    JV team lack of common sense. Born of well educated but lacking in broad life experiences regarding human nature and how people operate.Funny when I was first exposed to Trump in the late 70’s with his first project (I was in college) I remember thinking ‘I can’t imagine where this guy will be in 30 years’ (or some future time frame). The hype was that big. It was clear that he had some magical power back then over getting people to do things they would never think they would do.

  104. JamesHRH

    This is as good a summary of the situation as you will find.

  105. Kirsten Lambertsen

    Except those little people happen to be affluent white people. That’s who voted Trump in.

  106. LE

    I am surprised that some smart people didn’t think it would be close at all.’Smart’ people rely on the data they are given when making decisions. As of yesterday I didn’t think he would win because the data said he was behind and had little chance at that point. You can’t predict human behavior that led to Trump winning. There are just to many factors. Hillary being less corrupt, Hillary having a more exciting personality, Hillary looking better as far as how she dressed as well as a combination of many other things could have led to a Trump loss. To many factors involved.What is suprising though is liberals (some who post here) thinking that everyone should care about what they care about and think that anyone who doesn’t think like them is deplorable. That is surprising. I certainly don’t expect everyone to think like me or even think they should. That to me is shocking how rigid they are in their thinking.

  107. LE

    Yeah I mean for real. I am guessing that the ‘all girls school’ that Panterosa’s daughter goes to is not a public school but a private school.

  108. Kirsten Lambertsen

    Or apparently affluent white yoga pants wives.

  109. SubstrateUndertow

    Tell her that well educated people who live in big cities have no more power to solve technology based economic structural employment problem that do blue collar labourers in smaller centres. Solving this challenge belong to all of us !Your focus on blaming particular social strata for such economic challenges is and example of a wide spread systemic-level-mixig analytic error so rampant in the face of the organic interdependency challenges endemic to our new network-effect social reality substrate.We cannot map our way out of these new systemic technology-substrate challenges without new language and metaphors capable of resolving/visualizing/discussing the organic-process-literacy reusables inherent within the distributive interdependency network culture we are all now trap in.

  110. JamesHRH

    Wow.Check in a couple of months out when your wounds heal up and you can think rationally.Congress likely owes their majority to Trump, Ryan said as much this AM.Your new President has the most juice any President has ever had. Let’s see what he does with it.

  111. sigmaalgebra

    The change over will have to be slow and careful.

  112. pointsnfigures

    agree big time on trade. Free trade is good for us and abandoning that really concerns me

  113. pointsnfigures

    He got less white vote than Romney.

  114. JLM

    .Wait, wait, wait — I thought they were no college blue collar folk, some KKK members. You have to decide on one set of facts and stay with it.You’re not serious, are you?Fight fair.Just to keep it real –2012 Romney Hispanics 27%; 2016 Trump 29%2012 Romney Blacks 6%; 2016 Trump 8%Recall also that there was 4 years of population growth between those two elections.Again, the pollsters got it all wrong. Trump — who lashed out at Hispanics — got MORE Hispanics, not LESS.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  115. edzschau

    A majority of white men supported Trump, just as a majority of white women support Hillary. However, I would not characterize them as ‘affluent white people’.

  116. sigmaalgebra

    Read the many position papers on his Web site. He has one heck of a legislative agenda.

  117. LE

    “There are Generals reading the Constitution right now because we may have to ship U.S. Citizens out of the country.”One thing many years in business has taught me is the difference between theoretically possible things and what happens and can actually happen in a practical sense given obvious constraints. It’s amazing how such a simple concept escapes some people. [1] It’s scary how everyone here is over reacting as if the worse possible case scenario will happen (while conveniently ignoring what is actually happening out there now with some groups of people). God knows you having to drive 2 hours to work everyday![1] An example of this is tech types thinking that because the government can read their mail they are going to read their mail (as if they would ever have the manpower) and/or lock them up for crimes they are doing and/or discussing.

  118. sigmaalgebra

    IIRC Congress was smart enough to have a time limit on ObamaCare — in 2017 it will die on its own unless renewed, and with a Republican Congress there is zero chance of that.The rest of the health care system is still in place.If the states need a shot of cash to get by with Medicare and Medicaid, then maybe we will print up some (we are a very long way from inflation) and send it to them. Trump has already said that he won’t let the people who need help go without it. Trump is not some wild eyed wacko from The National Review.

  119. JLM

    .13 of 23 state exchanges have declared bankruptcy or are out of business. 8 more have filed paperwork to allow them to close down in FY 2017.No, Obamacare is a ghost already.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  120. sigmaalgebra

    But they don’t have an ally in the White House. You are talking about the old The National Review crowd; they were NeverTrump, and Trump just defeated them. E.g., W claims he refused to vote for any POTUS candidate. W, Cheney, Romney, etc. are OUT’A here.

  121. JLM

    .He is not abandoning free trade; he is re-negotiating it.There are 1MM maquiladora jobs on the Mexican side of the US border that can come home if we are smart. Has nothing to do with trade and everything to do with where those jobs reside.He will enforce anti-dumping laws on steel, which is just current law.If you want access to US market, you will have to provide access to your market. China, Japan — y’all listening?Free/fair trade is a beautiful thing.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  122. JLM

    .No, I am a total hypocrite and flawed person. I wanted to lynch Pres Obama and burn down the White House. I am likely headed directly to Hell with no stop in Purgatory even.Hope that helps.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  123. kidmercury

    def siding with JLM in this beef. the data is already in on obamacare and it is clearly a failure that is dying by virtue of its own inherent unsustainability. i think (just a hunch) people not having insurance options and/or seeing double digit percentage hikes in premiums was a major turning point in trump’s favor.

  124. JLM

    .I think there were three things which were inflection points after one realized the country was madder than in 2014:1. Obamacare — the Dems said it was fine and needed to be tweaked while it was killing the citizenry.2. “The Deplorables” comment. That was mean.3. The never ending corruption and its cousin the “fix.” The rules don’t apply to the Clintons. That chapped a lot of people.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  125. JamesHRH

    Yes Kid, I think the timing of the premium hike announcement was 100x more powerful that Director Comey’s announcement.One motivated the masses; the other frothed the fringe.

  126. JLM

    .But, Kristen, I thought we were talking about “no college blue collar folk”?You just thought I was interested in some unrelated graphs?Good for you.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  127. LE

    I heard a great saying last night. Not sure where it came from. Something like the media takes trump literally and not figuratively and his supporters take him figuratively and not literally.

  128. JamesHRH

    Supporters = serious but not literallyMedia = literal but not seriously

  129. LE

    why would you ever discuss anything illegal in an email?Oh that’s a simple one. Because you start out small and grow after doing things and seeing that nothing happens. So for example anyone doing any crime doesn’t start out with obviously wrong things that are clear. They almost always start out with smaller things and build from there. Each incremental thing isn’t viewed as a greater threat.For example let’s say you park cars. The first time you just take the car around the lot for an extra spin. The next time you take it around the block. A few months later you take it a few miles on the streets and later on you take it to a different city maybe and back because you know the person will be dining for hours. [1][1] This actually happened to my Dad back in the day. He used to mark the mileage on the odometer.

  130. LE

    Thanks a rare case of where I didn’t put the effort into getting the exact quote!

  131. SubstrateUndertow

    He is beholding to no one cuts both ways!He has not been elected king if my vague understanding of the American political system is correct. He will need to work with many other political/economic/international partners to effect meaningful change.He will be beholding to all those other partnering social/economic stockholders not to mention the citizenry to whom he has made grandiose/unrealistic promises of nearly immediate solutions.Welcome to the modern world of vast/volatile/organic social and economic interdependencies.

  132. sigmaalgebra

    Broadly I agree with you, but I always wondered about that “owe” people point: What recourse do the contributors have if the politician doesn’t deliver?

  133. LE

    But the GM of the club could fire them because you need a track record of “three write ups” in California.See shit like that is exactly what I am taking about.

  134. SubstrateUndertow

    The house may have to run for office in two years but your assumption that they will run towards rather that away from Trumps successes or failures is some what premature.There will be a lot of unpredictably complex realities passing under the political bridge before they must decide which way to run 🙂

  135. Pete Griffiths

    Charlie and JLMyour discussion is the absolute crux of what we are about to discover.JLM you may be right but stop telling Charlie he’s talking nonsense. Your points are strong enough to just make them. :)Charlie I hope you’re wrong but I too fear you may be right.I don’t think anyone can be sure what’s going to happen just yet.

  136. SubstrateUndertow

    I thought they could vote to change that ?Or do you assume their political integrity will prevent that ?

  137. JLM

    “Political integrity” — words which repel each other like similar ends of a magnet.Harry Reid invoked a rule change — the nuclear option — by which a simple majority of the Senate can end debate — “invoke cloture” — for certain Federal Judge appointments.The override of a veto is in the Constitution, so nobody is going to “vote to change” it unless it is for a Constitutional Amendment.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  138. JLM

    .Yes, and Donald J Trump will NEVER get the nomination.Right this second, all the reins are in his hands and no Congressman is going to cross him. Period.If the Republicans fail to act in concert, they will be cast out. As they should be.Remember this — this election was the extension of the 2014 election in which the Republicans ran the table. Now, they have the White House. The electorate — me included — are not going to be very forgiving if they screw this up.This is as real as it gets. Trump has to produce. The Congress has to support him. The Republicans have one chance to make this happen.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  139. JLM

    .It may come as a bit of a shock, but, apparently, President-elect Donald J Trump does not really care what others think about things.He faced down the GOPe (Romney, Bush, et al), the establishment of all variations, the elites, the cognoscenti, the illuminati, the pundits, the pollsters, the MSM, and all nature of foreign countries.Pretty sure he isn’t going to wander too far from his voters, the deplorables, the Republican Senate, the Republican House, the SCOTUS when it comes to changing the world.Just my take. I could be wrong.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  140. JLM

    .It’s not the Inauguraton; it’s the first PDB (Presidential Daily Brief) which changes a man’s view of the world. When it sinks in that he’s the Leader of the Free World.It’s all going to be fine.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  141. sigmaalgebra

    I don’t have the best data, but IIRC Reagan got the economy going fast enough that we soon had the national debt totally paid off or nearly so, and Wall Street was worried that they would no longer be able to buy T-bills backed with the full faith and credit of the US.

  142. panterosa,

    Since I know you personally, I will reply as such. I find your suggestion of “little girl’s tears” belittling. Others would call it patronizing.She is the grandchild of an English child who lived thru WW2, who had lunch and a haircut on 9/12 wondering what all the fuss was about. She is child of a mother who lost her father, a WW2 marine, at 16 to cancer. There are no ninnies in this family.I take her being upset seriously. She never cries. The K-12 girls, and the girls’ school itself are in mourning, not out of petulance that they did not get a woman president, though they should mourn that milestone not being met, but because they do not want any part of the behavior displayed by the man who will be president.If, as girls and young women, they feel unsafe, and the women in their lives do too, from any of those behaviors, then I fail to see why she would believe this country will be the place that will provide her with better prospects.

  143. panterosa,

    By whom?

  144. JamesHRH

    Alternatively, Democrats went form being the party of labour to hanging w Wall St and backing globalization, while the Republicans deregulated financial markets that preyed on this strata of society in particular.Elite politicians cared more about the constituency in Lower Manhattan that lined their pockets than they did for the constituency in Macomb County MI.Tech is the toolbox. Politicians approved the building permit.

  145. panterosa,

    Please see reply to JLM. I will not be spoken to in such a tone LE, for I would not use such a tone myself. This kind of swagger is the very behavior women find, all too often, aimed at them almost always by men.

  146. JLM

    .Spare me the histrionics.When our girls skinned their knees and flew to us and we could do nothing — other than bandage them — we kissed them and held them and told them it was going to be fine.That’s our job to give them harbor from the storm.It is not Pres-elect Trump’s problem and it is not a real problem. When kids in college think they need a “safe place” because someone wrote TRUMP in chalk on the sidewalk, that is not a real world problem. That is made up nonsense. That is the world as we have allowed it to spin out of control.If she is of the stern stock that you reference — and I don’t doubt it for a second — then tell her “It’s going to be fine, sweetheart. You come from a strong lineage. We have Marines in our family and women who lived through the Blitz. We don’t frighten in this family. We prevail. Keep a stiff upper lip, baby. I would never let anything happen to you.”All we need to provide our kids is a place at the starting line and then they will run their own race. They will do fine. We are not promised outcomes in life. We are entitled to good starting places.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  147. JamesHRH

    Move to China. Not facetious.Famous financier Jim Rogers is raising his girls in Singapore with a nanny who has taught them Mandarin. He took his large bag of gold and bet on Asia in the 21st century. He thinks America is done.Follow him.Teach them to protect themselves while not becoming someone that preys on others. That’s what all children need nowadays.

  148. JLM

    .He took his big bag of gold he made in America with him to China.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  149. Twain Twain

    I dated a well-to-do Singaporean and almost ended up as the “trophy wife” — except the thought of living in such an anodyne place (when Europe was on my doorstep) really wasn’t my “cup of chai”.http://foreignpolicy.com/20https://uploads.disquscdn.c

  150. SubstrateUndertow

    No daily briefing will rewrite a man underlying character.Yes great men will rise to the occasion/challenge but they must bring that underlying greatness to the challenge.I do hope that the Donald is a diamond in the rough. He clearly has a tor-de-force that must be acknowledged.Whether that diamond can take a political shining is yet to be seem.I must say I am really tired of my dentist but still I hesitate to replace him with my plumber :-)How often have you hired a CEO with absolutely no business experience ?

  151. Kirsten Lambertsen

    So much predictable mansplaining here today. We’re in for 4 years of men feeling empowered to mansplain us to death.

  152. LE

    Well first what reply are you talking about to JLM? I don’t see any reply to JLM in this thread. If it somewhere in one of the other hundreds of comment give a link to it.Second why is this a women’s issue? I would say the exact same thing to a man. In the same tone. And it’s not swagger at all. And we are not working in a business together and I have never met you in person or have any idea of what you even look like.I said (what I think you are bothered by if not please tell me what it was don’t make me guess):that is so fucking ridiculousIn reply to:9th grade girls are in tears being consoled by the teacher, who is french. She texted me and her dad “i live in a country that doesn’t respect me”.The ridiculous part is that kids have been worked up in a lather about all of this and will suffer as a result of that fear. I suggest taking a look at how Obama handled this loss as well as Hillary. And explaining that people (in politics or in sales) will say and do anything to get elected.

  153. Pete Griffiths

    It was patronizing and offensive.

  154. SubstrateUndertow

    You have greater faith that is warranted but lets hope you are right !

  155. sachmo

    I sincerely hope his focus is renegotiating our trade deals and making a health care platform (even if less regulated / more market based) work for most americans than banning muslims and creating a ‘deportation force’ to raid low income neighborhoods for illegals… Let’s see what he does. I’m hopeful that you are right about him.

  156. Kirsten Lambertsen

    My name is Kirsten.

  157. sigmaalgebra

    Tiffany is cuter than kittens and puppies, good in public, and a grad of Wharton. Ivanka was a model, is a Wharton grad, is an entrepreneur, a business executive, a wife, a mother of three kids, and a good public speaker. Melania is in line to be the most admired First Lady since Jackie.I admire them all. Who wouldn’t?

  158. JamesHRH

    No, no, no.Not meant to be insulting. I can’t believe that you think that ‘media Trump’ is actual Trump.Read The Candidate (great book on Pres elections). High points:- only surefire winnable elections are 2nd term (track record) or outsider / change narrative (almost always candidate from party that is not in power- almost all outsider narratives are powered by candidates willingness / abilty to master a media form that others see as ‘unPresidential’. List is insanely long: FDR-radio, JFK-TV debates, Nixon – TV ads, Clinton – Late night TV, Obama – internet / email, Trump – social media / distributed media- all failed campaigns foundered on the candidates inability to get outside his core echo chamber and trust innovators or build a team (HRC & AL Gore get hammered in the book).You may hate Trump for his tactics and Steve Bannon for his cynicism, but the execution of newscylce dominance was innovative and unprecedented. Its as if Trump read the book ( I know, could NOT have happened ( and then drew up a game plan based on it.If Trump is a gifted amateur, he is insanely gifted and the decades he spent in narcissistic egomania as fodder for the NY tabloids and Howard Stern prepared him perfectly for the environment.So, he has all the juice. I don’t see why, at this point, he is about to do anything other than realize that he has created a fantastic opportunity for himself to go down in the history books as one of the greatest American political figures of all time.There is a good chance he was fucking around for a large part of the 80’s & 90’s. He was unfettered, ridiculously wealthy and, to be honest, a compete asshole.But he is 70. He just did something that is insanely great, regardless of how much people think it was a travesty.Why on earth would he start to fuck around now?There is reason to be cautiously optimistic.He’s not a social conservative.He’s more like Governor Jesse Ventura, whose judicial appointment track record, was, not surprisingly, pretty solid.And, he said last night, its all a waste of time and energy if we don’t do a good job. The tough question is: what does a good job look like?No one really knows.

  159. JLM

    .What a tortured series of silly analogies.The last time we “hired” a President, we hired a community organizer. That worked out well, no?Worst. President. Ever.You don’t for a second “hope that the Donald is a diamond in the rough.” What you hope is that he fails miserably and that you can piss on his grave. Be honest.President Trump will not be elected Pope. He will do fine because he will surround himself with excellent advisers, make good appointments, and err on the side of action.All I personally care about is his policies.Taxes. Job creation. Defense. Foreign affairs. War on terror. ISIS. Russia. China. N Korea. Iran. Size of the military. Immigration. Sanctuary cities. Trade. Term limits. Lobbying restrictions. I want good policies. I want the swamp drained.He has two years with a Republican Senate and House. He better get with it because two years is a short period of time.I want the future tomorrow.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  160. panterosa,

    Jeff, I do not subscribe to histrionics. Since I know you to be a generous and honorable man, I take issue with the difference between the “suck it up cupcake” attitude and “stiff upper lip”. The first is the language of opponents, the second is the language of a team. People solve problems together, and children raised to differentiate those two, and have the support of a team, are those who will solve in kind as adults.

  161. JLM

    .No, we intend to have our vocal chords cut and learn sign language. Will that please you? Let me know because I am headed to the doctor right now.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  162. JamesHRH

    Kirsten – if you are in a forum where the main concept is the exchange or ideas, information or opinion, it is complete and utter horseshit to call mansplaining.I certainly am aware that a lot of posts are based on people’s feelings that Trump ran a campaign that is offensive and won.I think there are valid reasons Trump won the election that do not end with ‘and then, Apocalypse’. Understanding them, I feel, should help you deal with the situation and have a solid framework for what the future may hold.Maybe you don’t.

  163. SubstrateUndertow

    I agree with all of that but I think you missed my finer (maybe poorly stated) point ?Tech is more than just a tool kit. Commoditized network-effect tech has quickly become the social/political/economic exchange substrate that dictates the constraining envelop of all effective tech and political organization possibilities.

  164. JLM

    .Kristen, you make this way too easy. Sorry, Kirsten.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  165. JamesHRH

    And it likely should have been taxed like crazy to provide programs for the employment displacement it created.William J Clinton never came up with that one.But politicians aren’t near that with it.

  166. JamesHRH

    That’s splitting it pretty fine.

  167. Susan Rubinsky

    OMG. You are right.

  168. JamesHRH

    Is there a more elitist thing to call your opponents supporters?Talk about confirmation bias / persuasion loading paying off.

  169. JLM

    .Let’s be fair here. He is not banning Muslims, just trying to ensure we have a robust screening process to ensure we don’t let any ISIS or Al Qaeda into the country.As to refugees, I don’t get why having civil strife in the Middle East means you get a free ticket to the US. Why not to Saudi Arabia?I can tell you what’s already happening in Texas. Illegals are contemplating going back to Mexico.I think he starts deporting criminal illegal aliens. I think he begins to build the wall. Living in Texas we are of two minds — we love the Mexicans and we know how bad the drug situation is along the border.Yesterday as I was Election Judging, I had a chance to talk to some Austin Police officers. They were wandering around to all the polling places to see if there was any suspicious activity. They were from the Gang Crime Department.What they told me about gang activity in the ATX was frightening. ATX is, of course, a “sanctuary city.” They said if they got the go ahead, they’d have the city clean in six months.That is the part of the story we never hear. We have MS-13 in town.Good luck to all of us. I’m sure Trump will screw a few things up but I suspect in a year, we’ll all feel much better about things.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  170. JLM

    .The numbers are crushing. I chatted with a friend while I was Election Judging yesterday and on the basis of the increases, he has to either shutter his company or pay the penalties. The company is 30 years old.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  171. JLM

    .You know, I think a guy could get elected something if he decided to kill his opponent with kindness. This name calling has gotten out of control.I get it how Trump used it to generate earned media and to define his opponents but it’s just so damn churlish.I think Trump could have achieved the same outcome with 15% of the bluster.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  172. JLM

    .Hope? Hey, that’s catchy. Hope and change? Nah, nobody would ever go for that. Sorry.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  173. JLM

    .You know, I thought Ryan had gotten electric shock therapy. I guess the guy wants to keep his job — not necessarily baked into the cake.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  174. Pete Griffiths

    “Check in a couple of months out when your wounds heal up and you can think rationally”Stop patronizing Charlie – it’s offensive.

  175. Twain Twain

    When we watch ‘This video will get Donald Trump elected’ it becomes clear that he stood for political office as a measure of last resort.Here’s a guy who in 1980 (36 years ago) looks and sounds thoughtful, measured and typical of polished Upper East Side privilege.Over time, his tone becomes brasher, blunter, more exasperated/frustrated with government and resonant with the blue-collar and disenfranchised.

  176. Kirsten Lambertsen

    Oh gee, well played. So silly of me to not see I was being baited by the ingenious tactic of misspelling my name.

  177. Kirsten Lambertsen

    If you prefer that to altering your way of communication out of respect for others, that’s your choice.

  178. Lawrence Brass

    Quite inline with Trump “smarts”.

  179. JLM

    .I’m sure there are others but the only big one for Trump was Sheldon Adelson who gave his $$$ to pro-Trump SuperPacs, so, technically, they shouldn’t have talked about things.Trump knew a lot of people with $$$.Trump will likely listen to citizens and donors but he’s not part of the K Street – Republican power elite. They will try to get in bed with him. It will be interesting to see if they do.Take a look at who donates to the Inaugural. That will be a sign. Trump might surprise everybody and not have an elaborate Inaugural. We shall see.Once Trump gets into office, there is no real pressure on him from donors. He can always explain it away by saying he couldn’t get it through Congress.The mid-terms — when 23 Dems who all voted for Obamacare are up for re-election — will be on us shortly. Those races will start in a year.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  180. sigmaalgebra

    > Trump might surprise everybody and not have an elaborate Inaugural.Gee, it’s got to be “elaborate” enough so that we can see Melania, sure, along with Ivanka, Tiffany, Laura, to dress up!

  181. Pete Griffiths

    You seem to be confusinga) being in a forum where exchange of ideas is considered valuableb) a style of communicating that is patronizing and offensive.You might want to take another look at some of your posts. You apparently have no sense of what ‘mansplaining’ is.

  182. Drew Meyers

    Ferris Bueller’s day off..

  183. JamesHRH

    You know, my wife never accuses me of mansplaining. Wonder why?Maybe it has to do with the fact that she leads 1400 people in a dangerous work environment and that level of BS is a luxury they can’t afford.If you can’t handle the interchange of ideas and opinions without pulling out PC insults, its your loss. I learn a ton here – that’s the point of being here, isn’t it? – and I often get it explained to me by women.I don’t care about people’s gender, just their sources, thinking and insight. What do you care about here?

  184. Kirsten Lambertsen

    I’ll take responsibility for being too tired to explain to you what is patronizing and misogynistic about your comments.My respect to your wife.

  185. Pete Griffiths

    He absolutely does have extraordinary autonomy. And it will indeed by intriguing to see how he uses it. He doesn’t have long to make his mark. A year?

  186. Pete Griffiths

    It was insulting.

  187. JLM

    .Who appointed you school marm? Others would tell you to fuck off but not me.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  188. JamesHRH

    I find it amazingly arrogant when people set themselves up as Definer & Judge when accusing people of specific types of behaviour:.And check this out, I’d be happy to have you try to explain my transgressions.#skeptical

  189. JLM

    .Hey, these guys are full grown, let them insult each other. Charlie is no weeping willow.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  190. Bdub

    I’m offended by your hypersensitivity. Go power wash the sand out.

  191. JLM

    .The generosity of your respect for the will of the American people is inspiring.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  192. JLM

    .He has six months. Ryan and McConnell have three months to get legislation out on the floor.By that time all of the battle lines will be drawn and everyone will begin to set their positions into stone.This is where I think Trump will have a huge advantage.”Can’t build a 120-story building? How about a 105-story building?”The first Supreme Court Justice nomination will be telling.The Dems have a lot to lose on this front as they have 23 Senate seats up for grabs in 24 months. All of their nominees voted for Obamacare. And that turned out to be the death knell in 2014 and has only gotten worse.The Republicans could end up with a cloture proof majority — likely will.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  193. JamesHRH

    Hey, it was meant to be a joke.

  194. JamesHRH

    I post in a direct fashion.I have seeen multlple definitions of mansplaining.I don’t think I do it and I do think it is overused.

  195. Bdub

    Your constant cries of offense are without merit.

  196. Pete Griffiths

    🙂

  197. Pete Griffiths

    The system is as it is, but let’s not forget that many millions voted for Clinton and indeed it may well come out as being the popular majority. I’m not trying to rewrite the result. But the term ‘the will of the American people’ is a little convincing than it seems at first sight.

  198. Pete Griffiths

    LOL

  199. Pete Griffiths

    BIg of you. 🙂

  200. Kirsten Lambertsen

    Hugs to you, you fine human bean!

  201. Pete Griffiths

    It’s interesting you feel that way.I am of the opinion that times like these are EXACTLY the times where a modicum of manners and good grace are most important.

  202. Pete Griffiths

    Rude is rude.And it’s not just me that feels that way.Fred’s post the week after this one was precisely on the topic of manners and decent behavior.It isn’t hypersensitive to find offense in rudeness.

  203. Amar

    Lots of juice in this If you want access to US market, you will have to provide access to your market. China, Japan — y’all listening? I hope he can make that happen

  204. Amar

    That was the media quoting Peter Thiel btw and boy does he have all of CA calling for his blood

  205. Pete Griffiths

    around 2m now and counting