The Watering Hole, Wednesday, November 5, 2014: HUMP DAY!!!!

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Yeah, I know. It’s the day after the “mid term election.”

Hump day has been traditionally defined as the middle of the week; Wednesday, for those of us the believe the week starts on Sunday.

Then there’s “it’s Wednesday” from the old movie Watermelon Man, that gave hump day a whole new meaning.

Any way you care to interpret Hump Day, one thing is certain: no more political robo calls, for at least a couple of days, anyway.

The mid terms are over…on to 2016!

Dare I say it? …

OPEN THREAD
OR
TAKE TWO ASPRIN AND BLOG ME IN THE MORNING….

87 thoughts on “The Watering Hole, Wednesday, November 5, 2014: HUMP DAY!!!!”

  2. “If, of thy mortal goods, thou art bereft,
    And from thy slender store two loaves
    alone to thee are left,
    Sell one & from the dole,
    Buy Hyacinths to feed the soul”
    – Muslihuddin Sadi,
    13th Century Persian Poet

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  3. Worst
    Hangover
    Ever

    And I didn’t drink.

    The question has been presented numerous times with no clear logical answer.
    Why do people vote for people and issues that are clearly going to screw them over?
    I hate sheeple.

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    • Clearly these midterm elections will expose the GOP and the agenda it has but always denies. The paybacks to corporate masters will directly effect everyday life as we know it, and that could be a blessing for 2016.

      I’m also waiting for the filibuster to magically become the evil spawn of Satan.

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      • The environment can’t take two more years of this. Twelve percent turnout among people under 30? Jesus. Do they know we will never have voting by mobile phone?

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      • I’m not agreeing with you FB – with the corporate media in the tank for selling the ‘race’ and the ‘perception’ (see my (2) above) …. no one is going to know. And no one is going to notice.

        Let’s face it, because of Citizens United and a bought and paid for media have managed to blame the Democrats for sub 6% unemployment, 25% drop in uninsured, corporate profits and stock market records, energy costs dropping (not much to do with Obama) , deficit dropping like a brick and house prices coming back….. and persuaded voters to hand the petrol can back to the arsonist.

        And now on your TV tomorrow – the race for 2016 – let me know the first media program segment that brings it up. I give it maybe 2 days.

        I am so glad I am getting out of the USA for a week on Friday.

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  5. Thank you, Carla J. Turner:

    “Marianne Williamson sums it up and recommends future action: “We need a massive movement — a peaceful, non-violent rebellion against the new corporate order of things. We need to give up the illusion that the Democratic party is the nurturing mother who will balance the excesses of the critical father. Like hell it is. It’s become the silent mother who stands in the hall just wringing her hands while Daddy takes his whip out and wallops us. We can’t just wait for Mommy to stand up to this anymore. We ourselves simply have to grow up.”

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  6. “Since voters are unhappy with Obama’s handling of the economy, I suggest he raise unemployment and lower the stock market.”

    ~Andy Borowitz~

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    • I am thinking again about: “When you think about how stupid the average American is, you have to realize that….”

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  8. Every candidate and measure I voted for won. Clearly, we can save a lot of time and money in future elections by counting only my ballot.

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  9. Here in Colorado, the “Personhood” proposition was defeated. Agaim. Third time. Waiting for fourth time in 2016. Our progressive Senator, Mark Udall, lost big time to wingnut Kochian idiot Cory Gardner, all the while Dem. Governor John Hickenlooper — the guy who signed anti-gun legislation and marijuana legalization, the guy who was soundly despised by wingnuts and liked by liberals — was reelected. I have no idea how to explain such rampant electoral disparity.

    Still, the Koch boys should be happy, their multi-million $ electoral purchase paid off. They got a wingnut into the Senate. The fact that everyone who voted for him will wind up getting fucked by his insane program is beside the point: they voted for him anyway. Just like people in Wisconsin voted for the crook Walker, just like Floridians voted for the crook Scott, just like N. Carolinians voted for the corporate stooge sack of shit Tillis, just as Iowans voted for pig-castration expert Joni Ernst, and Arkansasians voted for the nut who said ISIS was sneaking in thru Mexico to attack Arkansas. Bottom line: the American electorate is too stupid to pour piss out a a boot, and in this election they removed all doubt over the thought that democracy in the US is an abject failure. It is that.

    The only potential bright spot — and it’s a dim one — is that the GOP will prove itself to be so completely uninterested in anything other than giving shit to billionaires and taking it away from the mass of idiots who voted for them, that maybe enough idiots will wake up and vote for their own best interests come 2016. Our only other hope is that browns, blacks, and Asians will quickly assume the majority over dumb-ass white bigots and change things for the better. But I’ll not hold my breath in either case. I’ll probably simply sit back during my few remaining years and watch as the nation of my birth topples over the abyss and plops directly into the waiting sewage pit of failed oligarchies. Not sure whether I’ll applaud or curse when that happens. Maybe both, actually.

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    • I am seriously contemplating moving the rest of my family onto the farm and cutting all ties with the outside world. I just don’t seem to live in the same reality as those around me.

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    • The public allows themselves to be distracted by the Republican, “look, a squirrel” technique. The Democrats should have been reminding the public about how the Republicans blocked raising the minimum wage and shut down the government. There wasn’t a peep said about those winning issues.

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      • How true, how true. The Dems have long had the habit of not speaking out on matters that count, that are real. The repugs, otoh, constantly scream ‘foul’ and spout lies lies lies. Unfortunately, the largely uninformed electorate only listens to the noise, and once they’ve heard it several times (Fox Noise) they believe it. Doesn’t speak well for the future of the country; glad I’m an old fart.

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        • I’m an old fart, too. The youngun’s stayed home and played on their cell phones. They haven’t learned to hold their nose and vote because that requires two hands and one of the hands must hold a cell phone. It’s their future. I hope that there is a habitable planet left for them.

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          • On the habitable planet thingee, I truly doubt that it’s in the cards. Without immediate and drastic anti-carbon actions, global warming will, in 100 yrs or less, be devastating to the global human population (along with, of course, hundreds of other species). Without serious and immediate action, i.o.w., it’s all over but the screams and moans from several billion hominids who are dying from the effects of climate change.

            Given all of that, I’m willing to bet my social security raise that nothing — NOTHING — will ever be done until it’s too late.Glad I’m an old fart.

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    • In my vernacular, I’ve changed the words “Global Warming Denier” to “Mass Extinction Advocate.” I wanted to put the word “stupid” in there, but decided it wasn’t needed. It’s implied, after all, plus “Inhofe” is, I’m pretty sure, the aboriginal linguistic equivalent of “idiot” so I quit worrying.

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  12. He’s probably right. Republicans will try to nix any Iran deal that they deem unsatisfactory — which is virtually any deal.

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  14. This is very troubling. From Forbes:

    “The Republicans actually won among white voters under 30, 53% to 44%, even as they lost 30- to 44-year-olds, 58 to 40. If these trends hold, the generation gap that many Democrats saw as their long-term political meal ticket may prove somewhat less compelling.

    If they are losing the middle and working classes, and even some millennials, what are the Democrats left with? They did best in states like California and New York, where there is a high concentration of progressive post-graduates and non-whites, and where many of the sectors benefiting most from the recovery have thrived, notably tech, financial services, and high-end real estate.

    Yet these areas of strength could also prove a problem for the Democrats. A party increasingly dominated by progressives in New York, Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Seattle may embrace the liberal social and environmental agenda that captivates party’s loyalists but is less appealing to the middle class. Unless the Democrats develop a compelling economic policy that promises better things for the majority, they may find their core constituencies too narrow to prevent the Republicans from enjoying an unexpected, albeit largely undeserved, resurgence.”

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    • Democrats should start shouting that they support TAX breaks for jobs brought back to this country and higher taxes on jobs that are outsourced to other countries. What’s is disheartening about the under 30 is that less than 13% showed up to vote. That 53% isn’t much when taken as a whole.

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      • The problem is that it doesn’t really matter much what a politician says. It’s all about finding a platform that will report it. Case in point:

        Al Franken has made some wonderful speeches in his six years in office but the only way to find them is on his Senate web site. Alan Grayson is a similar case. The only time he gets any air time is when he says something “crazy” and then the establishment Democrats are quick to repudiate his “craziness”.

        The one encouraging thing is that, with the GOoPers in control of both houses, the corporate media will pretty much have to give Dems more time if they want to keep the controversy machine running and their advertising dollars flowing. They won’t do it for any ideal but they will do it if it improves their profit margin.

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  15. I just learned that the re-elected Republican governor of Idaho is named Butch Otter. And if that isn’t weird enough, his former wife’s name is Gay. Butch and Gay Otter.

    Yeah, I am now reduced to finding childish things to snicker about after this vote.

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  17. An observation.

    The “librul media” and the self-described right-wing media did their jobs well. People who were convinced by their chosen “news” sources that everything sucks and it’s all Obama’s fault voted in droves. Those people who realize that things are actually getting better stayed home. When one looks at the freaks who won big it’s obvious.

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    • Those people who realize that things are actually getting better stayed home.

      Why? What do we have to do to make people give a shit? People seem to be losing interest in Democratic efforts — such hard work — and they don’t seem able to understand the consequences of failing to exercise their duties as citizens — batshit insane fuckers in charge of shit that matters to ALL OF US.

      My youngest didn’t vote yesterday. He said he didn’t see the point. I. Don’t. Get. It.

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    • Colorado’s new “Senator” Cory Gardner campaigned almost exclusively using Obama as his fall guy. He said very little or nothing about his wingnut views (he wants to ban contraceptives, e.g.); about all he talked about was Obama playing golf all the time, the economic doldrums (Obama), Ebola (might as well spell it Obola, or something close), etc. etc. He’s a teabagger, but unconfessed.

      Actually, he’s a Kochian asshole and brings forth that profound question: “Where were the liberal abortion laws when we really needed them?”

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        • Yep, he’s not a movie star. He is, however, a staunch environmentalist, remewable energy advocate, progressive in every important way. But he’s not a movie star, and we all know that what we need are really cute dudes and chicks — like Mitch McConnell, like Sarah Palin . . . you know, the real thinkers out there.

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        • Yep, Fascists is what they are, what they’ve always been. Is the Birch Society still active? Not that it really matters, I guess. Their offspring have taken over the Republican party and their continuing goal is to take over the entire of the government. They’ve never been closer than they are currently.

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  19. Robert Reich:

    I’m less worried Republicans will roll back the Affordable Care Act or reduce taxes on the wealthy over the next two years – the President’s veto pen will prevent that – than I am about Obama joining with Republicans to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, the Trans Pacific Partnership, and the “chained CPI” (that would reduce future Social Security payments). Obama has either sought these in the past or hinted he would, and he (and McConnell and Boehner) will be so eager to show they can work together that these will prove irresistible.

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    • If that freakin’ Keystone Pipeline gets the green light, that’s it for me. There’s never been a more STUPID proposition than that one. Obama surely knows that, and it’s hard to imagine he wants to trash what little legacy he’s snagged so far. But, otoh, by far his greatest shortcoming has been his tendency to accede to the Fascist , , , oops, I meant GOP . . . program, so I guess anything’s possible..

      Still, if it speeds up the next mass extinction . . . . hmmm. I will think on this. 😯

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  20. I have another horror story for post-Halloween, when the fookin zombies waited 4 days and then came out….

    … three words…..

    … Ruth….

    … Bader…..

    … Ginsburg…..

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  24. Locally the ‘new’ Mayor is a clone of the outgoing – not a pal to the Police. There will be a great number of the police force quitting. (it is already way below optimum for a city our size).

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  27. Jon Chait declares that “Democrats stand almost no visible prospect of attaining a government majority”:

    “The structural advantages undergirding Republican control of both chambers of Congress are so imposing that only extraordinary circumstances could overwhelm them. Democrats managed, briefly, to gain control of Congress when the catastrophe of the Bush presidency created two successive national wave elections in their favor.

    Only that sort of freakish event would suffice.

    And Democrats might notice that, since winning back Congress requires a backlash against the president, their “positive” scenario requires first surrendering to Republicans’ total control of government. As long as Democrats hold the White House, Republican control of Congress is probably safe — at least for several election cycles to come.

    The second conclusion is simpler, and more bracing: Hillary Clinton is the only thing standing between a Republican Party even more radical than George W. Bush’s version and unfettered control of American government.”

    My italics.

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    • Dude is right – the wingnuts have been pounding out control of local government and using that control to gerrymander every district they can. It would take a vote of over 55% to dislodge the Repubs from the lower house. This will go on for years sports fans, years.

      As I said, the USA is now ungovernable.

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    • I was born in the land of the Joshua Trees, and the high desert holds a special part in my heart. I’ll never live in the desert again, but will certainly visit. 🙂

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