joepinetree

Sorry if I sound a bit too angry here, but this white house is counting on people not paying attention.


http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/01/27/511861645/trumps-immigration-freeze-omits-those-linked-to-deadly-attacks-in-u-s

So the Muslim ban doesn't actually include any of the countries where people responsible for the deadly attacks since 9/11 come from.

Why would that be?

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/tracking-trumps-web-of-conflicts/

hmmm. It turns out that Trump has businesses in Turkey, Egypt,Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where terrorists have come from.

Now, I am not in favor of any bans. But if this doesn't make it clear that the whole Muslim ban thing is a cynical ploy to benefit from people's fears, I don't know what will. And if you are a Trump supporter, I don't know how you don't feel like a fool by now.

One thing that I wanted to make people more aware of. The new administration has blocked the National Institutes of Health from sending any correspondence to any public official at any level, even if it is to reply to questions. If they need to communicate anything to any public official at any level, every piece of correspondence must be approved by the Trump administration. I mean, if this isn't authoritarian, what is? Even a fucking senator now can't talk to the biggest agency related to health in this country without Trump approving of the replies.

And for the few Trump supporters who may doubt this, here's the full email sent to the NIH today:

“Colleagues,

 For your additional awareness, please note that we have been directed not to send any correspondence to public officials (to
include Members of Congress and state and local officials) between now
and February 3, unless specifically authorized by the Department. If you
or your staff have any questions about whether a letter should go
forward, please contact me or NIH Exec Sec. 
 Thanks and best wishes,
Larry Tabak”

Part of the issue of the democratic party is their base is largely composed of younger voters. And younger voters are notably fickle. I teach college, and the number of students who didn't vote or even register and are now super upset that Trump won is incredible.

People misunderstand American elections completely. If you want to make a difference in 2018, the thing to do is NOT getting into these crazy political arguments with Trump supporters like many people think. The thing to do is to make sure that that friend of yours who considers him or herself to be apolitical, but is generally socially liberal, that their vote matters a lot.

The Electoral College was put into place because the founders didn't trust democracy 100%. This seems like as good a time as any to invoke that feeling. The only thing that is keeping me from 100% despair is that we have over a month until the Electoral College votes, the votes will be counted and Clinton will win the popular vote, and if we see a lot of shenanigans, bad market reactions, outbursts by Trump supporters, etc. the Electoral College could still save us. I'm not holding out hope that it will happen, and most likely we're facing 4 years of President Trump, but theoretically it could happen.

Actually, the electoral college exists because of slavery. Since slaves obviously couldn't vote, a one man one vote system would limit the influence of states with a large number of slaves. With the electoral college and the 3/5s compromise, slave states could have a large impact on national election despite having few people who could legally vote.

But the electoral college won't change. Most states have laws against faithless electors, so no one is going to change their vote, or if they do they get instantly replaced.

Hillary is still expected to win the popular vote. So for the second time in 16 years the winner of the popular vote will not be president.


Hillary has now pulled ahead in the popular vote. Trump on pace to have fewer votes than Romney or McCain. What decided this election are traditionally democratic voters deciding to stay home in swing states.