Chris Christie vowed to do it several months back. But that was before his entire political career fell apart and before nearly a dozen states had legal weed of one form of another.
See, this is where I don't understand republicans at all. "We are the party of states rights and smaller government. We want to keep the government out of your life!" "So I can get an abortion?" "No." "Weed then?" "Nope." "How about birth control, or sex education?" "Think again." "I can get married if I'm gay?" "Ha! No." "I can still keep my guns, right." "Of course. Freedom!"
Honestly, I've been trying, and I'm not seeing it. I'm genuinely questioning if I'm able to share a country with the kind of people who voted Trump at this point. If you strip away all the normal political bullshit, even the really contentious culture war stuff like abortion and gay marriage, here's what I feel you're left with: 1) Climate Change. I keep harping on this because it's that important. The Republican position on climate change and the environment only makes sense (and I say "makes sense" not "is good policy") if there is a massive worldwide conspiracy of the nerdliest to perpetuate a hoax that benefits... no one. It's literally a conspiracy theory on a scale that dwarfs "The US faked the moon landing." And it's now the official policy of the United States as it deals with an environmental and existential crisis. 2) War Crimes. This is something that I remain baffled was overlooked and undermentioned in comparison to his comments on pussy-grabbin' and race-baitin', but Donald Trump openly advocated for committing war crimes. He wasn't caught on a hot mic 20 years ago joking around about it either, he said it publicly, as part of his campaign. The fact that this was not immediately disqualifying for him as a candidate is stunning. It is a moral failing of the electorate that eclipses anything we've ever seen.
I so agree with you on this. It never made any sense to me either that the Repubs are like this and it's one of the reasons I stopped counting myself as one. I'm also glad Christie is out and Giuliani is in. He is totally against weed period. No way they are able to do anything about it now though, but Christie would have definitely tried.
I'm riding the same struggle bus. I'm struggling to understand ignoring things that have nation and worldwide negative impacts on other people by saying "yeah but it's about me and what I need". I'm not understanding the "but but but" willingness to overlook such awful things.
This is probably what I'm angriest about with the whole Rust Belt Jobs argument. It is so immeasurably short-sighted and selfish, and all these think pieces are expecting me to sympathize and grovel at the feet of these electoral terrorists. If you offered me a world where we were aggressively dealing with climate change, but a full half of my salary went to some blue collar worker in Michigan, I'd jump at the chance and call it cheap.
I wonder how much of what Donald says is just ignored because he's Donald? He's known for just saying shit, and then flip-flopping on it right after. SNL made fun of it many times. It makes me think that even when he says totally fucked up things, people apply the "yeah, he says a lot of stupid shit, and this is one of those things he will change his stance on" math. But that still doesn't explain Pence. That dude is just straight-up Crusades-level religious, and it's scary as hell having him in as VP.
Gods honest truth: I don't want my mother in law around my daughter knowing she voted for Trump, and she believes in him. The argument I cited earlier? It stems from me telling her she'll be seeing her grandkids a lot less, because I don't fee they're safe with her and they're learning the wrong behaviors (I.e. If a brown person is walking down the street, cross to the other side). My daughter is especially prone to follow grandma, but grandma will tell my daughter she dresses like a whore (she said that many times to my wife in high school for wearing a shirt that showed her stomach when she lifted her arms) and if she gets assaulted it's her own fault. My daughter is only 4 now, but I don't want her overly attached to a woman that is going to slut-shame her into oblivion for being a normal tween/teen. Fuck, my wife just bought her first pair of yoga pants (she is late to the game fashion wise) and her mom said they were too tight and made her look like a slut. My wife is a 31 year old with a doctorate, and she still gets shamed by her mom for wearing leggings of all things. This election was my last straw. They're not completely cut off, but they won't be seeing their grandkids as much because this has exposed to me that grandma and grandpa are both empirically terrible people.
You've spent 50% of your time here bitching about how terrible your in laws are. The way they voted is the straw that broke the camels back? Interesting. I voted for Hillary not because I think she is great, but because I couldn't vote for a racist, climate change denier running with a man that embodies 99% of the things I hate. I have gay friends that were literally disowned by their parents because of their sexuality. The best thing that had ever happened to them from a public stand point was the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. Mike Pence wants to take that away. We are a heart attach away from Mike Pence running this country. That's fucking scary.
And 7 heart attacks or a single large bomb away from President Palin. I guess that's better than last time?
And that's the struggle. How do I reconcile friendships with people who are not only diametrically opposed in viewpoint but also actively engaging in regressing our world? One of the major issues I've had with conservatives is that overwhelmingly, the ones I meet not only want to be conservative but want to force me to abide their moral culture as well through legislation. I can't get with that. I'm all for conservatives living their lives - but allow others the freedom to live their lives as well.
It has emboldened them, especially the mother in law. Examples: My son, who is 20 months, has never had a haircut because my wife doesn't want to cut off his baby curls. His hair is long and a pain to deal with, but my wife doesn't want to cut it. My mother in law responded to this by saying "if he turns out gay it's your fault." What? They used to watch PBS kids or Disney Jr when my kids were over. Lately, even with the little ones in the room, nothing but Fox News. Facebook post after facebook post she's been tagging me stories about Obama being a Muslim, Hillary Clinton being secretly gay, conspiracy theories about Clinton having people killed, etc But the true killer that came up about two weeks before the election: She has always said she thinks Obama is Muslim, but she stated saying it in front of my daughter who parroted it back. I knew she'd be a Trump voter. I've known she is racist and my father in law is even more so. The difference is my father in law, despite being racist as fuck, never talks politics and especially never in front of the kids before. Since this election cycle, though, that changed. She has been talking about it constantly, and my father in law seems to be joining in. Trump and his ideas going mainstream has emboldened her to feel like she can say all the racist, hateful shit she wants and it's okay now. The same as that twitter link I posted earlier. Racist dirtbags have always existed, Trump winning just gave them the green light to bring it back to the forefront. It used to be shameful to be racist, but more and more I see people proudly spouting racist shit and playing it off as "telling it like it is" or refusing to be "politically correct." No. it's hate. It's bigotry. It's fucking wrong. The fact that racism being wrong or not is even up for debate in 2016 is the saddest part of this whole thing. People wonder why the nazi comparisons keep coming up, it's simple. Hitler rose to power and was elected by a large group of Germans who had just been told they were the worst people ever after World War I (whites feeling attacked by "pc culture"). Hitler gave them a scapegoat (Jews then, muslims/Mexicans now), told them they were amazing and he'd make their nation great like it used to be (MAGA), said he'd bring back jobs and fix the economy as only he could, actively attacked any media that disagrees with him... is any of this sounding familiar? It's fucking scary. I don't want my kids hearing that shit. Let me finish with this. The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was widely viewed as a dark chapter in American history. Would anyone here honestly be surprised if they began internment camps for muslims? More importantly, based on what I've read on this board, I honestly think there are members here who would be in favor of such a measure, and that shit is scary.
So, there's been a lot of talk that what Trump has said on the campaign trail is not what he actually believes and he in fact isn't a racist or sexist, etc, etc. Now with a Republican Congress and Senate they have carte blanche (mostly) to pass what laws they see fit and nominate a Supreme Court justice they want. If we believe the theory that Trump isn't as bad we think, is he going to start vetoing laws that are too extreme? Is he not going to nominate a SC judge who wants to repeal Roe v Wade? Is he actually going to stand up to the far-right contingent of the Republican House and Senate? He rejected the RNC's help and most donors as well, so technically he isn't indebted to the Party like other nominees have been in the past. I wonder if he will actually try to put his own agenda through or if that is just a hopeless wish.
And this is what scares me. I've heard Newt Gingrich for Secretary of State, Chris Christie or Guiliani for AG and Ben Carson for Secretary of Education?!?! If he defers, I want him deferring to smart intelligent people, not those who were most loyal.
Not to cherry pick your post, but if my memory serves me correctly, it was one of the "best" presidents ever and the Democrat party who put Japanese, Germans and Italians into internment camps, tried to stuff the Supreme court with people who only agreed with the Democrat way of life, and needed a constitutional amendment created to put term limits on future presidents, but who's really keeping track at this point.
Well, at this point he isn't even convinced that he should be in Washington all that much. Donald Trump Prepares for White House Move, but His Tower May Still Beckon by Maggie Haberman and Ashley Parker for the New York Times 11 November 2016 A few key quotes: I think the above all point to someone who doesn't really have much interest in running the country. Or maybe worse it points to him being totally clueless about the nuts and bolts about how shit is going to need to work. This is partially true for all presidents. There is a steep fucking learning curve. But an old dog is going to have to learn some very new tricks. I don't think D26 ever said that being a Democrat made someone above criticism.
But that's not what that says... it says that some unnamed source won't say he's going to spend all his time at the White House. It's a bullshit, fear mongering story. This is part of the problem... people are "reporting" on crap, and then everyone's getting all bent out of shape. How about we wait and see what HE says, or what he actually does, before going down that Catastrophic Thinking path?
Perfaps someday, in a dream, that may happen. Like not having lunatics in positions of power over education and science. Carson is a brilliant SURGEON. He is also a 7th Day Adventist (Apocalypse wishers) who thinks The Great Pyramid is a grain elevator. What grade did the rest of in here learn that's horseshit? What will every single history teacher and professor in the country think having a guy like that with stroke over the entire lot of them? Trump thinks climate change is a conspiracy drummed up by the Chinese. When CO2 are approaching We Are Honestly Fucked Beyond Repair levels. Ignorance is very dangerous when picking the most powerful committee in the entire world. It can't be comforting to think it might get stacked with the people who put tongue up ass the furthest. Like drooling cartoon character Sherriff David Clark, who if they put in charge of homeland security I can forget about visiting your country for a few years. They won't let you in America NOW if you ever admit to smoking pot or being arrested. Kicked out for good from USA until you re-apply for an expensive re-entry. Bye bye, tourist money. In my own opinion: Smart thinking would to bring in a rival or two putting Sanders close to him would be risky but bold, and would win over a LOT of the people who are pissed right now. What he needs to do is take it slow and not snap everything in a hard 180 the other way. Being impulsive and trying to cancel everything you don't believe in would be disastrous.