What a got damn shitshow. [warning politics]

[Admin]

For me, the big picture is that it was government policies, subsidies, government monopoly powers granted, and cronyism.

Agreed, but look at the replacement crew.  Tillerson?  Exxon Tillerson?  The oil subsidy king?  We are already picking winners and "incentifying" some at the expense of the rest of us.  We elected selfishness.  We will get selfishness.

[Area 10]

Personally, I don't care if he gets golden showers daily. The sexual antics of politicians is meaningless as long as it's with consenting adults, and I've never understood why we want to hold politicians (or anyone in public life) to standards of behavior that we can't meet.

Speak for yourself. I don't "grab women by the pussy" and I don't have sex with prostitutes. Is it too much to ask that the person holding the highest office in the land not be a sexual predator? The US seems to be almost making this a job requirement rather than an excluding characteristic. The problem with it is that it undermines the authority of the figure when he or she enforces laws that he/she breaks themselves.

I think it is one of Trump's finest tricks that now people don't care if the president is a pervert. Maybe he's raised the bar in some directions (and I only say this to assuage STC and the other "true believers" here) but he has sure lowered the bar in many other areas.

Decent, honest and articulate is NOT too much to ask for, surely?

[addapost]

Most people did't want continuation?
Then how come Hillary got 2.9 million more votes that Trump.

haha! EXACTLY!! Most people can't count and do not understand the meanings of the words "win" and "lose". 

[stoneaxe]

For the next post maybe we should do Civics 101.... . The only counting that matters is 306 to 232. If Hillary had won 306 Dems would be spouting about her electoral landslide instead of whining about the popular vote.

And here I thought Bill Clinton was responsible for making perversion OK

Again...people looked the other way because they didn't want a continuation of the progressive and globalist policies that Hillary represented. I wish it someone better than Trump but I'm very glad it's not Hillary.

Go ahead...I know saying popular vote makes you feel better.

[Tom]

I   was replying  to  your  comment  saying  most "people ", I   did  not  know  you  ment most "electors  "

[Subber]

For me, the big picture is that it was government policies, subsidies, government monopoly powers granted, and cronyism.

Agreed, but look at the replacement crew.  Tillerson?  Exxon Tillerson?  The oil subsidy king?  We are already picking winners and "incentifying" some at the expense of the rest of us.  We elected selfishness.  We will get selfishness.

Well, we knew what Hillary was all about.  And, we are hoping Trump isn't pretty much the same thing.
- But it looks like he is filling the swamp with the same type of animals.  We'll have to see how they act.
I think it is pretty much the same thing, unfortunately.  Goldman Sachs was one of Hillary's biggest supporters.
How many G/S guys is Trump appointing.

I thought Bernie and Trump (and maybe Paul) were the best at identifying the problems the country was having.
Berine was really good at it; but Bernie's solutions sounded even worse - more and more government. 
With Trump we got no real solid answers on what he would do - just "make America great again" -
- very much like Obama's completely ambiguous "hope and change" which didn't work out very well -
- our downslide just tempered temporarily by the $10 trillion doubling of our national debt.

Now that we see who Trumps installing - I doesn't look to me like we are going to be linking responsibility
and action back together, removing government favors at all levels.  The potential for continuing corruption &
cronyism looks very high at this point - like nothing has changed versus the previous administrations.

But, we'll just have to wait and see what they do.

[Weasels wake]

Most people did't want continuation?
Then how come Hillary got 2.9 million more votes that Trump.

Because California was overwhelmingly in the tank for Hillary, done, next.

[PonoBill]

A new book I'm reading that you really don't want to unless you can handle a bit of stress: The Dictators Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Always Good Politics.

Makes way too much sense in a grim, people really suck kind of way.

Trumps choices make perfect sense if he's really going to drain the swamp. Career bureaucrats are hopeless when it comes to reining in the nasty smart folks--they get bought off for lunch and someone being nice to them. Been there, watched that. If you really want to make changes you need to have the smartest guys in the room. How he would control them is an open question. They are more likely to raid the treasury than show the way to stop the general theft. But they actually do know how.

[SUPcheat]

A new book I'm reading that you really don't want to unless you can handle a bit of stress: The Dictators Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Always Good Politics.

Makes way too much sense in a grim, people really suck kind of way.

Trumps choices make perfect sense if he's really going to drain the swamp. Career bureaucrats are hopeless when it comes to reining in the nasty smart folks--they get bought off for lunch and someone being nice to them. Been there, watched that. If you really want to make changes you need to have the smartest guys in the room. How he would control them is an open question. They are more likely to raid the treasury than show the way to stop the general theft. But they actually do know how.

That's the one I have been reading on kindle on my cell phone during idling car time.  It's pretty good, but I don't think it is really the 'explanation of everything' in politics, more like citations of typical behavior and consequences.  I think there are greater complexities that are probably beyond either optimism or cynicism.  I do enjoy the case studies.  The review of the Bell, CA situation in the beginning was excellent.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

I'm very concerned that our public education system will be dismantled.

[Bean]

IS, you can't seriously be content with the current ed system.  I'd like to see considerably less admin and bureaucracy.   Asbury Park spends close to 40k per pupil per year...less than 10% of that goes to the teachers.  There must be a better way.

[PT Woody]

I think it is one of Trump's finest tricks that now people don't care if the president is a pervert. Maybe he's raised the bar in some directions (and I only say this to assuage STC and the other "true believers" here) but he has sure lowered the bar in many other areas.

Decent, honest and articulate is NOT too much to ask for, surely?

I think Trump's other great trick was convincing a large number of people that he was the only one speaking the TRUTH. He managed to redefine the term to be something along the lines of a strongly held opinion that resonates best with the bias of a particular audience. Previously, truth would have been regarded as a measured position, weighing up all the facts and being open to alternate evidence that might prove an alternate position. But we are now in a post fact world where the loudest voice is apparently the only one speaking the truth.

Interesting times.

As for the Russian Kompromat and the golden showers story, I think you are right to the extent that American has possibly elected the only human male on the continent who is incapable of embarrassment and humiliation - he simply cannot be blackmailed over something he is not ashamed of or that he thinks might cost him substantial votes.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Bean, I can't answer for the Asbury Park statistics. I do know that education is not a job for amateurs, and most people who start alternative schools are not educators. You should not be educating kids with the profit motive in mind. The secretary of education candidate has no experience with public schools and seems to despise them, based on her actions. She also comes from tremendous wealth, which means she most likely has no hands-on experience dealing with disadvantaged kids or kids in poverty.

Education isn't a game where you get to experiment with pet theories about how kids should be taught. Do that on your own kids, maybe. When you come at it with an ideological mission, like our secretary-in-waiting has, you're sure to mess things up. Children need to be nurtured and helped, not treated like profit centers.

I've been teaching kids for over fifteen years, and I'm learning new things every day. My assumptions constantly get challenged. I think I'm right about something, and then I turn out to be wrong in another circumstance. (Yes, I realize that might include my opinion about the new secretary.) I'm worried that a fixation with tearing the public system apart instead of working to make it better will just hurt everybody.

[Chan]

From what I can tell based on Trump’s statements on his pending economic plans, he may be the first President in history to effectively promise and carry out a political dine and dash strategy.  For boomers, like himself, no problem.  A great meal (i.e. lower taxes, improved, infrastructure, plenty of fossil fuels pork programs, a giant wall that nobody needs and possibly even a few health care freebies for regular folk) for free.   Everything should be fine, provided he and his cronies (particularly his construction buddies who are going to have a hard time making a quick exit with the ridiculous amount of Trump Mexico wall cash in their pockets) get out the door before they get caught by the waiter (in this case the tax payers, or more precisely the future tax payers).
The national debt is so high, most people won’t even notice or care as the trillions pile up.  Trump won’t.  He thinks debt is good, provided you can stick some poor patsy with it from time to time.  The stock market and the economy are doing better than ever since Trump’s nomination.  Hmmm, the stock market and the economy were thriving during the housing credit bubble as well. 
Millennials had better get their political activism together or they are going to be stuck with a mighty big tab.

[tautologies]

Traditionally this kind of rhetoric would have GOP on the barricades. There is no greater gift for a strengthening of Putin and weak Russian democracy than Tump:

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-15/trump-calls-nato-obsolete-and-dismisses-eu-in-german-interview