wv wrote:

Zooey wrote:

Man, oh, man. As january 20 approaches, I just get sicker and sicker in my stomach. These cabinet appointments…Jesus Christ. And Pence and McConnell and Ryan. The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

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Well, zooey we were totally screwed either way. As you know.

I dont know if Trump will be worse than Hillary, because i dont know what effect the Trump presidency will have four years from now. I also dont agree with noam that every single policy of Trumps is worse than Hillarys. I mean its conceivable to me that Trumps trade deals will be better than Hillarys. I dunno.

He’s a monster though. No doubt. And his cabinet and supreme court justices and fed judges are gonna be nightmarish.

But maybe it will shock people into some kind of leftist-resistance. I think you agree that is our one ray of hope.

…Speaking of Trump tweets andd trump talk…Someone today told me Trump supporters take him seriously, but dont take him literally. And anti-trumpers take him literally but not seriously.

I dunno if that makes any sense but thats what i heard at the water cooler today.

Oh, he will be worse.

I also disagree with Noam that he will be worse in every measurable way. I tend to prefer de-escalation of tension with Russia, for example, and hope that leads to an end of the Syrian conflict, and a relaxation of our murderous exploits in oil-producing countries.

But he will be worse. Look at his appointments. Hillary would have supported pipelines and fracking, but Trump wants to do away with the EPA entirely. Hillary wouldn’t outright assault public education. Trump will. Hillary wouldn’t roll back civil rights with judicial appointments and an a-hole attorney general like Sessions. You can go right down the list. He is more extreme than status quo corporate, planet-killing. He is for killing it faster.

She would have been bad, no doubt. But Trump is worse.

zn wrote:

“[They] are sinking into hopelessness, despair and anger — not directed so much against the institutions that are the agents of the dissolution of their lives and world, but against those who are even more harshly victimized,” he said. “Signs are familiar, and here it does evoke some memories of the rise of European fascism.”

.

This is the key difference between Sanders supporters and Trump supporters. In many ways, they were talking about the same disease: wealth disparity, opportunity disparity, and all that comes with that. But Sanders supporters generally identified our institutions as responsible for that disparity, while Trump supporters blame blacks, latinos, muslims, women, PC libruls who give away their “rights” as handouts to others.

Man, oh, man. As january 20 approaches, I just get sicker and sicker in my stomach. These cabinet appointments…Jesus Christ. And Pence and McConnell and Ryan. The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

The Republican plan to repeal Obamacare and delay the implementation of the repeal — with a promise to come up with a terrific replacement later — is probably the party’s best way to destroy Obamacare. Unfortunately for Republicans, it’s also the best way to destroy the Republican majority in Congress.

That second sentence is why a part of me wishes they would repeal the ACA. There is no way they can replace it with what they promised: the same coverage for less money. If they repeal the ACA, Republicans get killed in 2018. They probably will anyway…but repealing Obamacare would seal their fate before the end of Trump’s first week even with all the gerrymandered districts.

PA Ram wrote:

I get the whole “wide-net” search but some of it is probably more for show than anything else. There are probably 3 guys they really are looking at and some of them can’t be hired right now so they want to look busy in the meantime.

I mean–Mike Vrable? Really? He was a smart player. Perhaps he’s a good coach. But that seems to be quite a leap to HC. Maybe he could try DC first?

Like I said, I think it’s just part of the show.

My guess is that McDanials is near the top of their list, along with Shanahan and they can’t hire either right now. Mcvay may be the dark horse.

Maybe, but it’s smart to do that anyway. Get to know guys. Find out what they think about the Rams situation. Pick their brains. Something is gained by doing that.

Furthermore, the Rams aren’t after just a HC. The HC needs assistants. If Vrabel, for example, doesn’t win the HC job, maybe the Rams suggest to whomever they hire as HC to consider Vrabel as DC.

And the more guys you interview, the more certain you can be of your decision in the end.

wv wrote:

Billy_T wrote:

<
It does seem to work. But it’s amazing they view Trump as on their side: a purported billionaire who ships all of his manufacturing overseas, goes to war with his employees and unions, constantly, and brags about stiffing small businesses…

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Yup. That part i agree with. It is ‘amazing’.

How did American voters become so easily mislead? Well, weve discussed the system and corporate-propaganda a gazillion times.

What’s even more amazing to ‘me’ was the popularity of Bernie. THAT one came out of left-field. I just assumed the capitalist-corporate-machine had done its work so well, that from now till the End, the voters would blindly vote for either a Neoliberal-crush-the-poor candidate, or a Rightwing-biosphere-destroyer — but then there was all that support for Bernie. How did THAT happen? And is there any hope at all it can lead to anything ?

w
v

Bernie’s popularity was surprising given his age, and lack of polish. But this was the year of kickback against “polish.” Polish is precisely what worked against Hillary and Jeb! And Sanders and Trump had very similar messages: the middle class and poor are getting screwed by the 1%. Sanders didn’t win because the DNC stacked the deck against him. After Hillary got surprised by Obama, the Clintons didn’t take any chances this time, and did their best to stack the deck for Hillary.

The RNC hadn’t learned that lesson, and took it for granted Bush would win the nomination, so they didn’t bother to rig the primaries. I am pretty sure you can count on the RNC trying to rig their primaries at the next opportunity.

I also believe the forces that rallied behind Sanders have been growing for a while. And I think that as long as Trump is president, those forces will remain invigorated. I don’t know what will come of that, but – yeah – there is some hope.

I think it’s too late in the game, but I hope I’m wrong.

Billy_T wrote:

Unlike Trump, he’s fully capable of hiding his despicable nature, and his plans.

And he is more practical, more focused, and less divisive.

It will be easier to rally opposition to Trump than to Pence.

nittany ram wrote:

Dear Zooey,

Thanks for your continued support. We couldn’t do it without ya, Brah.

Love,
Pete

Say…isn’t that the same Pete Carroll that coached USC to multiple national championships?

Yeah, I’ve been thinking about how lucky we are the Rams don’t have to go on the road this year in the playoffs.

Billy_T wrote:

Zooey wrote:

Yeah, that’s not going to happen.

What Obama should have done…and I can’t think of why he didn’t…is appoint Garland to the Supreme Court as a recess appointment. That would have circumvented congress and directly placed Garland on the SC (temporarily – for one year) which would have been a practical and legal thing to do.

But he didn’t do that.

And he’s not going to pardon illegal immigrants.

Picking Garland in the first place was a huge mistake, IMO, and indicative of the Democratic Party’s false sense of its own cleverness and its bad faith. Obama and the Dems knew the GOP would block anyone he chose, so why not go big, go to the left of liberal, and really make a statement showing the stark contrasts between the parties — even though they don’t actually exist?

Fire up the base. Inspire new people to get out and vote.

But they thought it would be really clever to choose a moderate-to-conservative jurist, and force the GOP’s hand. The GOP just slapped that hand away and laughed.

Which brings us back to your original suggestion. Yes, he should have done a recess appointment, but how much better would that have been if the judge had been at least a true progressive?

A lot better. Because it would be political difficult and expensive to toss the justice aside in December. So Obama should have done it.

But.

We know who Obama is. And that’s why he didn’t do it.

I’m not shedding tears if he goes, but I prefer to keep him for the reasons you mentioned.

I think Barron in particular is a very good player that only Williams uses to maximum effect, and a new DC is likely to miscast Barron, or dispose of him. Doing that would create two linebacker jobs to fill, along with a couple of DEs, and secondary help, to say nothing of an OL or two, and a WR.

Williams is better for continuity. Let’s not forget that the defense is pretty good. The problem is the offense. And revamping the whole thing is too big of an assignment for one offseason.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen.

What Obama should have done…and I can’t think of why he didn’t…is appoint Garland to the Supreme Court as a recess appointment. That would have circumvented congress and directly placed Garland on the SC (temporarily – for one year) which would have been a practical and legal thing to do.

But he didn’t do that.

And he’s not going to pardon illegal immigrants.

They can’t give it to him.

If they do, then everyone and his agent will be approaching owners and saying, “We missed by THIS much,” and it becomes a nightmare.

In any event, I don’t think the league would allow it, either. A contract is a contract. It has nothing to do with goodwill.

nittany ram wrote:

Penn State will make USC look like the Rams.

Wait, sorry. That was terribly unsportsmanlike of me. I’m sure Penn State will demolish USC but they won’t make them look as bad as the Rams. There is no place where that sort of talk is acceptable and I do apologize.

Pfft.

Sure. Your boys have never SEEN weather like this. The temperatures have plummeted to the mid-50s in Los Angeles, and there is even a slight chance of drizzle.