How do you feel about the new president of USA?

[Baruch]

He'll be the death of the GOP.

Optimist ;-)

[Baruch]

The one thing, and ONLY one thing, that Trump has going for him is that he's not an uber Christian lunatic. For that, I am grateful.

President Pence is waiting in the wings ;-(

[Baruch]

It is the people who voted for him that I worry about more.  Trump will be gone soon.  They will remain.

They have been around, since before the US Civil War.

[SGOS]

I just lay awake with a sense of dread 24/7. I want to ignore it, but I can't. 

Push it out of your mind.  When it creeps back in, push it out again.  When it gets to the point that it seems it will never go away, push it out again, and again, and again.  This works for me, and I have actually gotten better with it with time.  Eventually, it goes away.  There is nothing helpful in dwelling in that place.

And the kicker is that things could be worse.  The corollary of that is that things are never as bad as they seem.  Sometimes it seems like they are.  But you can't solve these problems.  You can only ignore them.

I've often wondered if this isn't training ourselves to repress feelings and memories, which is seldom looked as healthy in the world of psychology.  I've decided I don't care.  Not one person among us is without psychological defense mechanisms.  As stupid and shallow as they are, those mechanisms exist as an alternative to insanity.  Choose repression in an emergency.  It's really no different than obsession or rationalization, or all the rest of the stuff we fool our minds with.

Or as the song says, "Don't worry.  Be happy."  That little song was much more than just a playful tune. My God!  It's more like a personal message from the Dalai Lama.

[Atheon]

I'm just glad I'm not living in the US right now. I am still scared. Nothing Trump has done so far has reassured me this won't lead to the US becoming a fascist dictatorship. These aren't Reagan Republicans or even George W. Bush Republicans. These are alt-right and the Religious Right. They care nothing for the Constitution, and have all the checks and balances on their side.

America is in deep trouble, and I don't know what to do.

The funny thing is that I saw this coming since I was in high school. I saw this frightening tendency - the desire for dictatorship and a hatred for freedom - in the Republicans even back in the Reagan years. This is (one main reason) why I have always been vehemently opposed to the Republican Party.

[Baruch]

I'm just glad I'm not living in the US right now. I am still scared. Nothing Trump has done so far has reassured me this won't lead to the US becoming a fascist dictatorship. These aren't Reagan Republicans or even George W. Bush Republicans. These are alt-right and the Religious Right. They care nothing for the Constitution, and have all the checks and balances on their side.

America is in deep trouble, and I don't know what to do.

Get another citizenship, seriously.  For your own health and sanity (see Canada).  The US needs a Holocaust ... just to show that we aren't that exceptional or un-German ... we need to be taken down a rung or two.  Russia and China are the future.

[Jack89]

Check out this blog post: https://www.allthink.com/1902322

I've started following James A. Lindsay but I haven't read his books yet.

Excellent article. 

[reasonist]

Get another citizenship, seriously.  For your own health and sanity (see Canada).  The US needs a Holocaust ... just to show that we aren't that exceptional or un-German ... we need to be taken down a rung or two.  Russia and China are the future.

Yep, the system needs to be flushed and renewed. Not to be condescending but it seems the election of Trump might be a sign of the degeneration of values and ethics. Besides that, if you look at the statistics of US rates of asthma, autism, diabetes, ADHD, arthritis and such, they are doubling and tripling in the last 30 years only! Is this a ticking time bomb also? Is the US on the way out politically, economically and degenerating at the same time?

[Baruch]

Yep, the system needs to be flushed and renewed. Not to be condescending but it seems the election of Trump might be a sign of the degeneration of values and ethics. Besides that, if you look at the statistics of US rates of asthma, autism, diabetes, ADHD, arthritis and such, they are doubling and tripling in the last 30 years only! Is this a ticking time bomb also? Is the US on the way out politically, economically and degenerating at the same time?

Yes.  But not because I am a conservative (I am centrist) and not because of gays (I am pro-gay).  Corruption knows no skin color, no class, no sexuality.  As Livy proposed about the Roman Republic becoming the Roman Empire ... it is the corruption, stupid!  The Roman Republic was too successful 146-30 BCE.  The US has been too successful 1945-2061?  Or a little shorter ... it is an American Century myth, but which start date?  From the start of the First Punic War to the end of the Third Punic War ... Rome had an existential threat, so they had to get real or die (264 - 146 BCE).  The expansion of Rome from then until the end of the Republic ... was pretty much inevitable, given that they had no serious enemies (other than Persia, but Persia could never give a knock-out blow, even until the time of the Arab Conquest, it was a permanent war for Rome like the PNAC).  The have-nots on the rest of the periphery who wanted to be Roman (for all the wrong reasons) ... were a constant threat.  Roman imperial history was a self contradiction (like the Soviet Union) ... which can continue for a long time on inertia ... but the Soviet Union, had a constant threat of China and Nato, neither of which were an existential challenge, but kept eating up resources.  The Soviet Union failed as much to internal corruption as internal contradiction.  Military intervention in civilian affairs, military expenses, and monetary failure were fatal.

As Livy would also say ... the rot starts from the top, with the ruling class.  You can see this since Eisenhower's administration and the growth of the MIC and financial shenanigans since 1971 (going off the gold standard).

[GSOgymrat]

Sam Harris describes Trump "The Most Powerful Clown" taking office from Obama. Starts at 25:30.

https://soundcloud.com/samharrisorg/51-the-most-powerful-clown#t=25:30

[pr126]

https://youtu.be/TsRxWty5SlI


https://youtu.be/1d9lm-T87AQ

[drunkenshoe]

How does one fund a protest? What did he do, pay everyone one by one to gather and get out to protest and act like they hated the result of the election? If people agree and joined in how is that fake?

Of course advocacy groups will organise them. All protests get organised, otherwise you have violent riots but nothing else.

Yes, pr. Because Americans looooved the government and they didn't have any anti- sentiments before Turmp, right?

Oh yeah and nonwhite people had nothing to fear or even feel bad to protest if it wasn't for Soros' push.

These protests are NOT real, guys. It's the first phase of a conspiracy to take over the United States government.

Holy fucking' Carlin!

[pr126]

George Soros is starting to organize his 2017 destructive campaign (riots) for the Netherlands.
Be prepared, in case Geert Wilders is going to win the elections in March.

[drunkenshoe]

Yeah the scribbling has worked very good. Nobody has an idea how to reach to the Gender Concern International; genderconcerns.org about what now. Please share that in all the social media accounts you have. People should learn the truth.

Please don't forget to add the following detail from the notice to take attention better. Young people 'who are highly motivated to be part of this initiative for change' GO FOR genderconcerns.com.

I support you % 100. I bet a few guests interested in the protests will even see that here. Let's repeat the post.

[pr126]

https://youtu.be/FkKWqlBJsU0