By Jace, a Trail Mix Contributor
That which may have been lost this week may not be fully realized or appreciated for months or even years to come.
What has been set aside, perhaps forever, during the course of this campaign is the elegance, beauty and persuasiveness of well-reasoned argument presented with passion, clarity and without apology through the beauty of our language and the age-old traditions and norms of civil discourse.
For this there is plenty of blame to go around. Many have played a part. My desire is not to blame but rather to question. If our republic cannot rely on these attributes during what might arguably be the best of times, how will we retrieve them in the darkest of times as we have done so often in our past?
Today’s selection might well be seen as either a call to arms or a eulogy. At least here on the ‘Trail’ I have the unbridled confidence that it will be the former — that reason, civility and passion will not only survive but flourish.
Two American originals: Aaron Copeland and Abraham Lincoln.
Thank you Trailmixers for who you are and what you do. Bless you.
jace
More Posts by Jace
jace, thank you.
peace be unto you too and to all our trail friends
The absolutely perfect Kate McKinnon cold open in tribute to both Hillary Clinton and Leonard Cohen
https://youtu.be/EQTazdYD9VI
Jace
Thank you for your Sunday gifts to all on the trail and your wise words and presence always.
Jace… spectacular!
For me it’s a call to arms. All this talk about moving to Canada…. pfft I’m of Canuck descent…. but I am an American. I will stay right here and give voice to that which I believe in. Anyone who truly wants to go… well… don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
If I DO go to Canada (maybe Halifax or Toronto) I can guarantee that no door will ever get anywhere near hitting me in the ass.
🙂
It begins to look already as if Trump will be responsible for upending many a decent basket, what with the conglomeration of mindless boorish buffoonic sub-cretins he seems set on unleashing…..monkeys with guns and power.
it will not be pretty, no matter what kind of high-sounding terminology they use. (They lie).
But for the NEXT recession……..I will, like Orr, be prepared.
Rebellious
I may not have to move. Canada is coming for me. 🙂
I couldn’t move to Canada and never threatened to other than in jest. Too old to start a new career and don’t have a law license good there. Don’t have any other skills worth anything. My best friend sent me a link to New Zealand immigration info, but same problems there as Canada. I’ll just hang here, continue to assist people discard their no longer needed spouses and criticize our new president.
It’s not a new thing for me…….I’ve long explored the possibility of becoming a Canadian……toured around up there for a bit early eighties, and Canada and Canadians were everything one might expect to find in a civilized country…..for one thing only, they don’t celebrate the anti-educational ignorance of their bozos.
I live a mile & a half from Canada, Sturgeone. If you need a place to stay, give a call. 😉 Ever been to Sudbury? A whole different world.
****
I supported & protested years back with Occupy; still believe in the movement. However I did not & will never support violence & vandalism in any way. The whole point of coming out in force is to inform & attract people, or at least explain your point of view. A protest just to protest is simply propaganda for the other side. Will be interesting if this election can be used positively or if the anger was simply venting with no tangible results.
****
Thank You, Jace for your eloquent piece.
Looking forward, would appreciate information about any new face in our Political World to discuss, investigate, discover. Who knows, a uniter may be in our own backyard. Just needs a little buzz.
Finally someone came up with something to make me laugh
Step one might be in the Gilboa area……
How is Washington, Mr Crawford? I ask this as someone curious about the backstories/behind the scenes poop: Are the Clintons toast? Who has the upper hand in the quest for the vision of the Democratic Party? I would be asking the same stuff if the Republicans had lost to an amazingly flawed candidate they never should have lost to. The operative word here is Ouch.
I’ve walked my dog in Moose Jaw, when the temp was forty below
“Blizzard’s coming.” They would mention as they passed you in the street.
I’ve seen the worst they got and used the hotel windows as refrigerators.
Ive seen the worst they got, and sent out for ice cream.
Maybe this is much simpler than most people are making it out to be. When you look at the pictures of Trump and Obama together, or of Trump and Ryan together, things become clearer to me.
Perhaps to apply a little Occam’s razor here; Trump is so overwhelmed with the water so far over his head that his administration will be nothing more than that of a traditional very conservative flavor. If you look at who he is surrounding himself with – this is the most reasonable conclusion.
If this is true, there will be little for the middle-class or his supporters in policy. Trumps’ minions will see this as a way to foster a far-right wet dream which will do nothing more that thoroughly p-off his supporters.
A close friend of mine who is involved in party politics told me the other day that the only chance the Republican party had to save itself was to lose the election and re-build. This individual thinks the party might be through now. He may be right.
How far is Moose Jaw?
“Moose Jaw six feet from Moose Ass,” the old Cree said.
The long and the short of it. As in short end of the stick.
pogo, new Zealand just had an earthquake and tsunami so might want to scratch that one off for awhile. this is a good time for folks on the coasts who are in the move mood to think inward and maybe upward. rising waters, droughts and heat acomin’
DV… I hope your friend is correct. From what I see the Republicans still haven’t learned a thing and now we can watch them really implode.
Seriously…. if you are a baby boomer wanting to move to Canada… too late. They will take Americans only if they have a highly needed skill… or already have a job waiting for them… and must be able to contribute to the Canadian economy for at least 15-20 yrs. Baby boomers looking for free healthcare and a free ride may not apply.
So Sturg… we lucky Americans hopefully are blessed with your presence here for many more years to come… 🙂
Jace: So beautiful! Aaron Copland, Zubin Mehta and Gregory Peck, that’s how you do a tribute to a great American President! The images put together for the video added greatly to the piece. Thank you for ending this sad week with something memorable and uplifting.
Jamie: I was hoping someone would post that Hallelujah video. I don’t watch SNL except for YouTube clips and this was one of the most perfect, appropriate and timely show openings ever. RIP Leonard Cohen
SJ, I’m getting together with some DC Dems across next couple days, will see if I conjure up some thoughts on your questions.
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/12/1597886/-It-was-Democrat-voters-who-let-Hillary-down-not-the-other-way-round
Couldn’t say it better.
History will record that in the two most consequential elections in recent memory, 2010 and 2016 democrats sat on their hands, and then had the temerity to bewail the out come and denigrate their candidates. The candidates were there the issues were there, The blame if there be any is with those who couldn’t be bothered to vote. Blaming Hillary absolves no one from their failure to exercise and defend their right to vote!
So the BBC is reporting that Trump just told CBS that part of his big beautiful wall on the Mexican boarder could be fence.
He he he he he he he
Leon Russell passes away at 74 http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/13/501911289/leon-russell-dies-southern-rock-legend-was-74?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social
There has to be a bottom to this rotten month somewhere.
Craig
My major problem is the Electoral College which was creatd to grant power to white males in a time when there was no direct election of the President. Will there actually be an effort to fix it. Because the size of the House of Rep cannot increase and the population has increased dramatically as it has moved away from agriculture, the EC no longer serves the purpose of a Representative Democracy. Either it has to go or the House size has to increase from its size in 1919.
A week in the doldrums after a sad election, and now the weekly tussle with St. Paul. I must be a glutton for punishment. Sometimes I think I need to get a life. I swear that man has the unique ability to say in a hundred words that which most mortals could say in ten. Pray for brevity.
Oh well enough of hating the Doofus Elect. If you want to see something really scary, watch this
Jace
Paul didn’t like women either …. lol
The weather here is lovely. People still have tomatoes and peppers in their garden – fresh salsa for Thanksgiving.
This is a great alternative turkey recipe —from El Salvador It’s a little like Chicken Marbella.
Donald Trump has a financial interest in the Dakota Access Pipeline how is that going to work out. I think this is the first issue an organized opposition needs to heat up –
I wanted to share something. Some of you may think it’s weird, but that’s OK. I am many things to many people as we all are, but one thing I am, that is a large part of me, is a spiritual person. Of the many things I do in this area is following other spiritual people in some way. One of them is Doreen Virtue. I subscribe to her YouTube channel and every Sunday she delivers what she calls Angel Messages for the coming week. Today was very special, and just what I needed after this painful week so I just wanted to share it with any of you who care to watch. There is also the super moon going on right now so I hope you all take care of yourselves in any way that works for you. XXXOOO <3
https://youtu.be/PlwRgeWn-LU
KGC: That Salvadoran turkey looks delish! Just copied the recipe 🙂
Oh, well……..guess I better forget about Canada……..
haha, Y’all cute…….
🙂
“All is vanity,” saith the preacher.
Apparently there are no conflict laws for the president –
people thought the Clinton Foundation should be dissolved shouldn’t Trump’s company have the same fate
When Ahhnold was gov his family didn’t move to Sacramento and I’ve heard rumors that Melanoma and Baron will still be in NYC and the white house will be an trump guesthouse — probably can book it on Trump B&B
Seriously, hasn’t Trump had a chance? He put a climate change denier in charge of hiring at the EPA
Things could be worse :
FBI Director arpaio, Sec’y of State manafort, Supreme Court Justice roy moore, Sec’y of Interior eric trump, Sec’y of Defense bolton, Commerce Sec’y charles koch, Transportation Sec’y christie, H&HS Secretary ron paul, Attorney General orly taitz, Treasury Secretary grover nordquist, and Chairman of the SEC george herbert walker IV. walker replaces bernie madoff, who is to ill to serve.
That looks bad, eh……
I shall steal across the border in the dead of some mournful deep-winter night somewhere between Maida ND, and Turtle Mountain Provincial Park……carrying only my trusty Telecaster and my grandad’s block plane…….
And my great-grandmother’s Brumby Lady Rocker.
oh, and my dad’s Belgium-made Browning .12
it will be arduous, I do not doubt.
And my cat…..I can’t leave my cat……..
That’s going to be one heavy-ass pack frame……I better wait till the cat dies…….
XR
EWWWWW
but not that much worse than the real list
Stupid cat…. It’s as if he thinks he got a free ticket to Circus of the Universe.
Please Note that the left axis is only for the ‘red line’ (Top 0.01%) and the right axis is for everything else.
Sturgeone,
The attached Income Inequality graph also shows that we are about to have a major problem. Top 0.01% ratio for 2015 (927.9) is approaching its value for 2007 (1,080.9) and above its 1928 value (891.7). The Top 0.1-0.01% ratio for 2015 (116.9) is approaching its value for 2007 (124.1) and 1928 value (128.5).
Top income shares in 2012 were abnormally high due to retiming of income from 2013 to 2012 to avoid the higher top tax rates, which started in 2013. This retiming created a spike in top income shares in 2012 followed by a trough in 2013. Indeed, previous expected top tax rate increases (such as in 1993 for ordinary income and in 1987 for realized capital gains) also produced significant retiming.
Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States
(Updated with 2015 preliminary estimates)
Emmanuel Saez, UC Berkeley
Thank you, Mr Purple….
when I engage in math, it’s usually in 1/16″ increments.
But I can dig it.
Unless there’s a recession and I’m trying to determine whether or not I can have chili on my hot dog…..then I think in dimes……
Jamie, before the thread runs out thanks for posting snl’s “halleluiah”… and just to be sure it got more attention,
I deleted the Chappelle mono so as not to take away in any way from the poignancy of that one.
I had this job oncet….mail and file clerk in the servicemen’s record dept of a large Air Force base…..BC……before computers…….I was in a windowless room with 8 other people. At the back of the room was a WALL of filing cabinets….filled with the personal folders of each and every serviceman on base…..two of us had the job of daily updating the folders, i.e. taking in the new papers, and chucking out the old…. Promotions. Awards, legal actions, whatever, it was on a piece of paper…..There was a cubby against one wall with cubbies labeled A thru Z into which respective cubbies were placed each day the new papers. I had L thru Z……I’d pull the papers out of the cubby and then go to the filing cabinets and pull the folders for everyone who might have a new paper. Stack of folders on the left, stack of papers on the right of my one of the nine desks in the windowless room. Pull out and trash the old paper, put in the new.
Well, didn’t take long for that to feel like fake shark teeth being dragged across your back and I began to make a middle pile on my desk of the balled up old papers. Every desk had a govt issued metal gray trash can. When I had gathered a goodly size mountain of balled up papers I would begin to toss them at the others’ trash cans.
i became quite good at hitting the can. Nine months of this.
But to this day I can win money in bars tossing crap at trash cans.
Verily.
You know……if I could dictate thru terms of my will that I would have an open casket viewing where they’d have to copy on my visage a face I’d drawn on a napkin I might consider that…….otherwise it’s cremation.
Reince in as Chief of Staff. Bannon as Chief Strategist. It’s getting uglier by the second.
All togther now “eh”. If you cannot master that and cannot answer which were the original six hockey teams, forget it. If you think Calgary is home to only oil, forget it. You will miss some points for answering Roughriders or Stampede and do not have the correct city. If you do not know what Sudbury is famous for (that is not the same as Cadbury), no way north for you. If you were to guess which languages are spoken in Wawa would Spanish be one? No fair looking it up. Toronto is north or south of Detroit? Oh so much to know and I am too old to make my new home in Toronto, I would have liked painting it in rainbow colours.
Sturgeone – look for the app Paper Toss. Best way to drain a battery in a waiting room.
How do you convince someone that the old “one drop” actually does hold when your DNA has the genes for Native American ancestors?
Can sort of tell it is mid-November, a few of the trees are dropping leaves. Coldest night so far, 38F.
Jamies link above to SNL is no longer good
If you haven’t seen the SNL opening last night do so.
The first two hires will not last long
Hey…. Everyone get outside to look at the super moon… It’s spectacular!
Bella Luna!
Reince Priebus and Bannon “equal partners” according to the statement. That’ll be a team of rivals, for sure. Trump must be going for that management style they call “creative tension”
Sunday shows were interesting this morning. Mary Matalin seems to be the only one who understands that journalism failed because the media was trying to operate inside of a bubble.
I actually laughed when Kate/Hillary sang, ” I told the truth; I didn’t come to fool you.”
If Trump supporters were protesting a loss by their candidate, my heavens, you guys would be having a first-class hissy fit.
But I understand your dismay for the choice because that’s how I felt about Hillary after the primary. And I was told to fall in line; I was told not to waste my vote on a 3rd-party candidate.
Trump was a Democrat until he decided to run for prez. He’s already back-peddling on things. In many respects, he’ll probably end up being more moderate than that old, warmonger Hillary.
Bernie & Liz should never have supported Wall Street Hillary. They’ll have to work to regain trust.
As for the next generation of Dems, aside from the Castro twins, nobody is on the radar. I can’t imagine voting Dem, again.
Talked to my sister. Her daughter and college friends went to St Louis yesterday for a day of protest.
Now if we could just harness some of that energy for the long haul to organise for the 2018 elections.
Jack.
So BID, what are you doing to change things, bitching and moaning on face book doesn’t count. That question could be direct at others here too.
Jack
Too late to be in the streets. The only day being in the streets mattered was Nov. 8 No re-dos in Presidential elections.
LIZ/(the good) CASTRO 2020 !
Are you with them ?
Castro can flip Texas in 2020.
Preibus as chief of staff? There’s a pugn insider if ever there was one.
Cory Booker, Keith Ellison…
Your principled vote for the green party in TX was as effective as mine for Hillary in WV, Blue. My odds in WV were like 0 in 100, but they were 1 in 2 overall. How about your odds?
Bernie…that the Bernie you backed to the hilt until he lost to Hillary?
Jace,
Yup, and ditto. Nov 8th was the date to demonstrate. Right now, the 2d Amendment is our bulwark against bad, over-reaching, in-equitable, malevolent government. Sound familiar ?
Can we forgive and forget, and stop the sniping, please ? Please ?
Yep no redo but like baseball there is always next time.
But it looks like the powers that be in Washington want to dictate policy from the top down. rather than building the party from the bottom up.
That didn’t work out so well the last 8 years. And the National party is starting to look like the Missouri and Kansas state parties. Urban minorities, urban liberals and college liberals.
A combination for losing.
The DNC needs to appoint a governor from the heart land. and start rebuilding the state parties in the center of the country.
Jack
We can take our country back, promote our values, and be positive at the same time.
That is by far the best way to flip the Senate and House in 2018.
Finally starting to cool down from all the losses of the week. One more beautiful song from Leon:
Leon did some hard living
From back when we were young
Willie Nelson Leon Russell Doug Kershaw Waylon Jennings
https://youtu.be/B5jYQBQPTNo
I was asked where i stand….ok here goes: I believe that the ds and the rs created a Frankenstein….and now they dont know what to do with trump……. I have voted for a third party since 1980….just dont trust either the ds or the rs….the dis are much better tho….. I was going to vote for hillary…but when it came down to the very last second….i could not. I remembered (i posted before) how some soldier took a slefie and some information that the government considered secrete info was seen on it…..he was court martial-ed ….there was another person that did the same thing and was punished for it……….then Sec. Clinton also had an instance where she did the same…and a lot more egregiously ……..she got special treatment and nothing was even said about it……then i kept thinking about her hawkishness….she has an itchy finger to me……so i wrote in the name that i have alway admired….john haglen of the natural law part………i did not throw my vote away……i voted my conscious….that is my duty as an American Citizen if feel….i do not vote against anyone……….i think that that would be throwing my vote away for sure………if vote for some one that i think would be best for the county…. I explained that i would have voted for J W…or E W……and thought that i could hold my nose for clinton…..since she would have been the first women……and also because trump just does not look like someone that i want as potus……..but the clintons could not win again……they are the ones that control what and how they wanted to run their campaign…..if they did not get as many votes as obama…..its on them…they are the head hunchos……if they did not motivate more people to get off the couch and vote for them……then why should we blame anyone else….it is simple…..they lost it themselves…..they should not have called people names…the voters (even if its true) did not like being called racist…not all of them were……they did not like to be called any of the number of names that were hurled at… Read more »
I’m not irrevocably wedded to a particular candidate, but Liz is absolutely the most knowledgeable about how the US economy was & is stacked against the US working people, and how to re-deal in order to make Americans great again.
Yes Jack, a Dem governor from the Midwest would be great. The fabulous governor Mark Dayton is not well enough to run for prez. The great former governor Jennifer Granholm is too Canadian and Swedish to run. That leaves Jay Nixon, the former governor of MO, whom the rippers will blame for the Ferguson ‘riots’ and whose last name will cost him several M!LL!ON votes. Confessed lobbyist/insider and proven loser ‘Evan’ Bayh of IN need not waste his time, ‘cuz dlc and bluedung Dems have nearly murdered the Dem brad. Offhand, I can’t think of any other standout ‘heartland’ governors.
Is Bennett ‘heartland’ ? Jerry Brown ?
by the way….im not in the least happy like Blue……that trump is potus…..i would not be that selfish…………my advise….go and talk to John Haglen…..he had the support of all independents….as an adviser…but i know that the dnc is not interested in nothing but being the opposite of the rnc…..they will keep taking turns winning the big show………hell even Michael Moore predicted trumps win….
Xrep
I wasn’t talking about who is going to run for president.
It is saving the Democratic party on the state and local level and it can’t be saved from Washington or by some white knight running for president.
this party right now is too controlled by urban interest groups. They don’t know how to pick up votes out in the suburbs let alone rural areas.
Right now Ellison is the darling of the Washington establishment. That is enough to disqualify him imo
Jack
I agree on that, Jack. White working males have been ignored, and that makes them resentful and ripe for the simplistic right wing groups. Apparently, despite the Clinton’s arguments against it, the top campaign staff wrote off the WWMs at the start. Any idiot should know that winning either PA or OH is critical for the Dems. Eastern OH and Western PA were written off, and it cost Clinton the election.
I know and admire Keith Ellison, but I don’t think he is the man for the job.
Also, asking Japan, South Korea, and commie China to please blackout russia for the next 12 years might eliminate some of our campaign difficulties.
hey, she won the popular vote by bigger margin than anyone in recent prez elec.s (save Obama’s in ’08). not bad for a girl, huh?