Michael Moore on Democrats and why 2016 was lost.

From a recent VARIETY cover story, excerpt found on the Hollywood Elsewhere site:
Variety: “Did the Russian hack of the DNC play a decisive role in swinging the election to Trump?”
Michael Moore: We need an investigation into the hacking, but the Democrats should not be thinking that they lost because of the Russians. The Democrats lost because of the Democrats. It’s the second time now in 16 years where the Democrats won [the popular vote] but lost. That is so revolting that the old guard of the Democratic Party should all resign. They let us down, the majority, now twice. I’m done with it. I’m going to help lead the charge to take over the Democratic Party.

No avoiding Trump now.

Mitch McConnell, quoted by the Associated Press, summarizes the mixture of economic despair, pushback against social change and fiery blasts of hate (not counting Hillary's campaign flaws, Russian and FBI interference, etc.) that led to November's election and yesterday's Electoral College rubber stamp:

"Trump was able to convey — oddly enough a message from a billionaire who lives in Manhattan — a genuine concern for people who felt kind of left off, who felt offended by all the political correctness they see around them," he said.

New poem: THE COWARDICE POEM

here’s to the people who look the other way

when someone is encouraging the crowd

to close their eyes to simple decency

and hit strangers they don’t like--hard

>

here’s to the television news channels

on the left and the right

who look at neo-fascist rallies

as ratings opportunities,

waiting until old-fashioned newspapers

do actual reporting

before asking questions--

but not saying “fascism” or “lies”

because it displays a lack of “balance”

>

here’s to the people on social networks

who “don’t want to get political”

when friends and family

post ugly remarks and bigoted jokes

>

how will you cope with

the future you helped to create?

by doing the same old things

in the same old ways?

New poem: WEREWOLF TAKES THE WHEEL

werewolf takes the wheel

of the bus called America

and drives it first

to the Canadian border

yelling over the PA:

get out you sensitive liberals

who keep telling me

I can’t make money off my brand

while I’m President

>

then, after the forcible ejections,

the werewolf locks the doors

and speeds to the Mexican border

and shouts over the PA:

get out you people who aren’t citizens,

aren’t white,

and are those I don’t want to spend time

deciding who’s a good American

and who might be an enemy combatant

>

now that the bus is almost empty,

the werewolf and his wealthy supporters

feast on gourmet frog legs,

take a leisurely journey to New York City,

the new capital of the USA,

since the White House

has been sold by executive order

and will become

superexclusive luxury condos

for the biggest donors

and other people wanting the werewolf

to bite them in all the right ways

Garrison Keillor on Trump as Bully of the Free World.

Some of Garrison Keillor's column on the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency lapses into the kind of punching down he's done before (when Keillor wrote a stick-tongue-out book about Jesse Ventura's gubernatorial career) plus crotchety "those young people" ranting updated to refer to "electronic  devices" instead of watching television.

But this excerpt is worth repeating here:
Don’t be cruel. Elvis said it, and it’s true. We all experienced cruelty back in our playground days — boys who beat up on the timid, girls who made fun of the homely and naive — and most of us, to our shame, went along with it, afraid to defend the victims lest we become one of them. But by your 20s, you should be done with cruelty. Mr. Trump was the cruelest candidate since George Wallace. How he won on fear and bile is for political pathologists to study. The country is already tired of his noise, even his own voters. He is likely to become the most intensely disliked president since Herbert Hoover. His children will carry the burden of his name. He will never be happy in his own skin. But the damage he will do to our country — who knows? His supporters voted for change, and boy, are they going to get it.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/40218-trump-voters-will-not-like-what-happens-next

Glenn Greenwald explains last night's defeat of Hillary Clinton.

(1) DEMOCRATS HAVE ALREADY BEGUN FLAILING AROUND trying to blame anyone and everyone they can find — everyone except themselves — for last night’s crushing defeat of their party. You know the drearily predictable list of their scapegoats: Russia, WikiLeaks, James Comey, Jill Stein, Bernie Bros, The Media, news outlets (including, perhaps especially, the Intercept) which sinned by reporting negatively on Hillary Clinton. Anyone who thinks that what happened last night in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Michigan can be blamed on any of that is drowning in self-protective ignorance so deep that it’s impossible to express in words.

When a political party is demolished, the principle responsibility belongs to one entity: the party that got crushed. It’s the job of the party and the candidate, and nobody else, to persuade the citizenry to support them and find ways to do that. Last night, the Democrats failed, resoundingly, to do that, and any autopsy or liberal think piece or pro-Clinton-pundit commentary that does not start and finish with their own behavior is one that is inherently worthless.

Put simply, Democrats knowingly chose to nominate a deeply unpopular, extremely vulnerable, scandal-plagued candidate, who — for very good reason — was widely perceived to be a protector and beneficiary of all the worst components of status quo elite corruption. It’s astonishing that those of us who tried frantically to warn Democrats that nominating Hillary Clinton was a huge and scary gamble, that all empirical evidence showed that she could lose to anyone and that Bernie Sanders would be a much stronger candidate especially in this climate — are now the ones being blamed: by the very same people who insisted on ignoring all that data and nominating her anyway.

But that’s just basic blame-shifting and self-preservation. Far more significant is what this shows about the mentality of the Democratic Party. Just think about who they nominated: someone who — when she wasn’t dining with Saudi monarchs and being feted in Davos by tyrants who gave million-dollar checks — spent the last several years piggishly running around to Wall Street banks and major corporations cashing in with $250,000 fees for 45-minute secret speeches even though she had already become unimaginably rich with book advances while her husband already made tens of millions playing these same games. She did all that without the slightest apparent concern for how that would feed into all the perceptions and resentments of her and the Democratic Party as corrupt, status-quo-protecting, aristocratic tools of the rich and powerful: exactly the worst possible behavior for this post-2008-economic-crisis era of globalism and destroyed industries.

It goes without saying that Trump is a sociopathic con artist obsessed with personal enrichment: the opposite of a genuine warrior for the downtrodden. That’s too obvious to debate. But, just as Obama did so powerfully in 2008, he could credibly run as an enemy of the D.C. and Wall Street system that has steamrolled over so many people, while Hillary Clinton is its loyal guardian, its consummate beneficiary.

Trump vowed to destroy the system that elites love (for good reason) and the masses hate (for equally good reason), while Clinton vowed to more efficiently manage it. That, as Matt Stoller’s indispensable article in the Atlantic three weeks ago documented, is the conniving choice the Democratic Party made decades ago: to abandon populism and become the party of technocratically proficient, mildly benevolent managers of elite power. Those are the cynical, self-interested seeds they planted, and now the crop has sprouted.

Of course there are fundamental differences between Obama’s version of “change” and Trump’s. But at a high level of generality — which is where these messages are often ingested — both were perceived as outside forces on a mission to tear down corrupt elite structures, while Clinton was perceived as devoted to their fortification. That is the choice made by Democrats — largely happy with status quo authorities, believing in their basic goodness — and any honest attempt by Democrats to find the prime author of last night’s debacle will begin with a large mirror.

Link to entire article:

https://interc.pt/2ekJt9O

Summary of how Donald Trump is on track to become President.

From Calvin Woodward article for Associated Press:
To those in Trump country, no boastful, stomach-turning video about women, no "lock-her-up" insult from the stage, no toxic tweet in the wee hours, could peel them away from the man whose crudities only made him more authentic in their eyes. To many of the Republicans who didn't come to the rallies — and to some of the lawmakers who faced the prospect of working with him in Washington — he was a disaster, a Republican Titanic sailing alongside Clinton's Democratic Lusitania. To the country at large, and much of the world, he polarized, repelled, entertained, shocked and fascinated.

Don't throw away your vote on Donald Trump.

A lot of people I grew up with in Wichita County TX (and some of them now live in other parts of the state or other states entirely) believe in the anti-Big Government myth of the Republican Party and are likely to pull the straight-ticket lever out of habit.

Some of them (regardless of religious beliefs) have probably rationalized their need to vote for Donald Trump in this way: "He's not perfect, but, then, he's not Hillary Clinton either."

Donald Trump may be loud and coarse and say incorrect things, but he's not one of you.

Donald Trump isn't going to improve the lives of people suffering from poverty.

Donald Trump isn't going to wave a wand and reverse the dying coal industry.

Donald Trump won't bring back jobs destined to be forever lost--and likely won't support job retraining either.

Donald Trump sees poor people only as a fanbase to wave to from a distance before
he boards a plane with the TRUMP brand and flies to the next town.

Donald Trump won't give you a living wage.

Donald Trump is the imperfect vessel the Republican Party is clinging to--in hopes that a Trump victory will restart the wrecking ball to government and social programs (aka "spending cuts") last seen knocking things over en masse during Ronald Reagan's Presidency.

If you're rich (or very rich), Donald Trump will care about you and see that legislation benefiting only you (and no income brackets below you) will be passed.

In summary, Donald Trump is just a bullying fake using your prejudices, your anger and sorrow over lost jobs and lower income and disappearance of certain "ways of life" to get you to pull a voting lever and, likely, fill the Breitbart empire's mail/e-mail lists with valuable information about you and your beliefs.

Don't let Donald Trump use and discard you.

Don't throw away your vote this Tuesday by falling for a fantasy that does not exist at all whatsoever.

New poem: TRUMPELSTILTSKIN

Start subdued
Adjust the microphone
Then kick a hole in the floor
Move the microphone a little more
Kick until the hole gets bigger
Keep kicking
Harder
Harder
Harder
Until the hole is large enough
For you to fall through the floor
Dropping towards the Earth's core
As you yell:
I WON'T ACCEPT LOSING!
And
YOU NASTY WOMAN!
Until your voice is no longer heard.

The 2016 Election Year Playlist.

Old and new songs relevant to this year's slugfest.

1. Winning Ugly--The Rolling Stones
2. It's Money That I Love--Randy Newman
3. Lawyers In Love--Jackson Browne
4. You're No Good--Linda Ronstadt
5. Surrender Under Protest--Drive-By Truckers
6. Magic--Bruce Springsteen
7. American Idiot--Green Day
8. Troubled Times--Green Day
9. Wristband--Paul Simon
10. Weary--Solange

New: ELECTION POEM

I want to be there when it doesn't happen

When the nation steps away from the cliff

And decides that the woman running to be the boss

Is infinitely preferable to the man

Who plays the role of a boss on TV

Where there are retakes and downtime

For him to discuss all the female

Contestants and crewmembers who

Excite him sexually

Please remember,

When marking your ballot,

The pretend boss/hateful candidate on TV

Got out of paying taxes

And won the goldmine

While his former Casino employees

Plus shareholders

Plummeted down the open mine shaft

The Presidency isn't a job for charlatans

And that's why I want to be there

When informed choice prevails

Over infantile notions of Greatness

Today's multiple-choice Donald Trump question.

How does your conservative friend/family member rationalize his/her continuing support of Donald Trump for President?
A. He'll have a lot of smart people helping him
B. I don't agree with everything he says, but he's the best choice
C. The liberal media makes mountains out of molehills
D. I can't not support the Republican Party
E. Stop Hillary!
F. More than one of the above

America and the Free World deserve someone better than a star of a Mark Burnett-produced reality show.

Omarosa Manigault, who achieved fame as a caricatured villainess on the early run of Mark Burnett's THE APPRENTICE (which starred the current Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump) spoke these chilling words recently:
“Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump,” she says. “It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, whoever disagreed, whoever challenged him — it is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

The perils of phrases like "basket of deplorables."

As I see it, Hillary Clinton's use of the phrase "basket of deplorables" to describe the different varieties of prejudiced people supporting Donald Trump's campaign was a misstep--even though, in advance, she prefaced it with a mention of generalizations.

Of course, the Trump campaign cut together a rapid response ad; it mixed the victimization tropes that fire up fundamentalist conservatives with footage of the Trump/Pence Louisiana flood photo-op where they briefly pretended to care about people other than themselves.

This reminds me of the self-pity ad made years ago by the Proposition 8 opponents of same-sex marriage featuring Gavin Newsom at another gathering of supporters.

Here's what the site prop8report.lgbtmentoring.org said about the Prop 8 Newsom ad:
The Newsom ad opened and closed with [then] San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom saying, “It’s gonna happen—whether you like it or not.” As much as the words, the ad’s raucous and abrasive tone told voters they were not in control and that others were forcing them to accept same-sex marriage.

The more times that conservatives get told they're not in control and (by extension) they're being persecuted, the greater the likelihood of them turning out in force on Election Day.

And this makes it even more vital that the alliance of Clinton believers and pragmatic ex-Sanders followers will not take the next few weeks for granted.

Even if it might mean refraining from basketing bigots existing in the pool of voters/potential voters.

Donald Trump must not be anyone's President.

Phonetic pronunciation of a recent Donald Trump catchphrase aimed at African-Americans and other now-unlikely potential voters:
WOT DUH HEHLL DO YOO HAHVE TO LOOOZ?

Quite a bit, as last night's frightening, invective-filled, violent-imagery-laden speech in Arizona (after a muted pass at looking Presidential in Mexico) proved.

New poem: THE UNITED STATES OF NEW YORK

New York is the real America

and the rest of us live in one big Outer Borough

learning the hard hard way

to treat democracy as a sort of treason

and civil disobedience as punishable by death

for we have no right to interfere

with the businesses that rule the world

and we have no business at all

penalizing successful people

when they allow their ugliness to show

>

which President of USNY will we choose:

the loud racist man who puts his last name on everything

or the woman who wants to keep giving war a chance

>

whatever they say now,

neither one of them give a damn about serfs--

only the landowners buying influence and power

>

and now it’s time

for us in New York Nation to be quiet

stop hoping for change

go to sleep early

and wander the Outer Boroughs

playing Pokemon Go

in hopes of qualifying

for the final championship

to be held at Times Square

Between a Brexit and a Trump/Clinton place.

Something I wrote earlier on Facebook:
Yesterday's positivity over Democrats standing up for passing gun legislation in the House replaced tonight by the British far right deploying fear and hate to remove the UK from the European Union.

So, as the United Kingdom tilts further right, the pound drops in value and immigrants (this time, refugees) are once again damned, one wonders if many in the United States will read the gigantic writing on the wall.

As an American, I deeply resent being herded into the usual "lesser of two evils" position where the choice is between a blustering billionaire spewing geysers of prejudice and "he's not a politician" fakery to the general public AND the ethically-challenged conservative Democrat who loves regime change war (just like Bush Jr. and neocons) and counts on other incremental centrists/captains of Industry to vote in lockstep after a primary campaign where the old-school liberal challenger suffered at least 57 varieties of demonization in the primaries.

Of course, if one opts out for third party choices (the leave-business-alone Libertarian buffoon Gary Johnson and the more-sane-than-Johnson Dr. Jill Stein), there's the possibility of post-November centrist Democrat pea soup getting whirled in all directions.

(Remember the 2000-era moaning where Ralph Nader was largely blamed for Al Gore's flaccid campaign and the Supreme Court's thievery?)

Looking forward to buying a NOT SORRY I VOTED FOR BERNIE bumpersticker, if such items are sold.

New poem CENTERED.

it’s neutralized now

the challenge removed

like a jacknifed truck on a freeway

after a few hours of inconvenience

you know what your friends will tolerate

don’t say you’re with Someone Else

listen again

to the arguments favoring settle for less

or letting the monster into the house

you don’t want to have the monster’s

potential rampage

blamed on you,

do you?

The day after the progressives were neutralized.

Here's an editorial cartoon/meme from TRUTHDIG's Dwayne Booth aka mr. fish:

A female GOP operative on the negative effects of Trump misogyny.

From a POLITICO article about some Republicans getting Ready For Hillary:

"If we nominate Trump, [the party] is lost beyond this cycle. I think we lose women for a generation, in big numbers,” said Katie Packer, who served as Romney’s deputy campaign manager and now leads the Our Principles super PAC that spent $10 million in an effort to stop Trump. 

“There’s a feeling among Republican women that I talk to that the people who would nominate this guy don’t have any real respect for us as women—especially professional women. They would rather see us in a Mad Men era, where women knew their place and catered to their husband, cooked dinner and met their sexual obligations and didn’t have any other role in society. And there are other people who are supporting him because the guy’s a blatant racist and they identify with that.

“So there’s a sense that if this is who my party is, I don’t really identify with it anymore.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/republicans-clinton-trump-indiana-222778#ixzz47fJbZ15e