PGT: President-Elect Donald J Trump

[GirlySports]

yes, those are Canada numbers.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

That is a really good point, GirlySports. Politics is local, so saying the Canada unemployment numbers are down is cold comfort for those in Calgary who have lost their jobs. I can see now why the American electorate (in the Midwest swing states in particular) would vote against the status quo. Just so unfortunate that somehow Trump is somehow viewed as a viable alternative to the status quo.

The more this election is in the rear view mirror, the more I think Clinton and the Democrats royally f'd up the campaign. They needed more stops (even one stop!) in those states. If it is about how the electorate "feels", then you best show that you care by attending rallies and kissing babies. Sounds stupid, but I think it might have really made a difference.

[troutman]

So, you really want to know what men talk about in the locker room? Not grabbing women.

At my weekly shinny game, one of our players started hinting at this massive dark conspiracy called "pizzagate" that would topple governments and economies. It involves some vast pedophile ring at the highest level of the US government. I said I had not heard about it, but that these pedophile ring conspiracies have been alleged in the past, and almost always turn out to be false. The player seemed convinced that the markets were about to be doomed when this news all gets disclosed.

Well,
The saga of 'Pizzagate': The fake story that shows how conspiracy theories spread

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-38156985
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/te...site.html?_r=0

The new world of fake news and alt-right conspiracies.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

The more this election is in the rear view mirror, the more I think Clinton and the Democrats royally f'd up the campaign. They needed more stops (even one stop!) in those states. If it is about how the electorate "feels", then you best show that you care by attending rallies and kissing babies. Sounds stupid, but I think it might have really made a difference.

The Democrats had a candidate that, from all reasonable appearances, truly cares about how the electorate feels and who has tried, and is trying, to address their concerns and feelings.

The Party decided not to support that candidate, and instead went with someone else.

Who, from all reasonable appearances, doesn't care at all about how anyone other than herself and---maybe, just maybe---her favored friends feel.

Clearly, that was a bad decision on the Party's part, but I'm not convinced that the chosen candidate would have allowed for any other decision to have been made.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by wittynickname

Honest curiosity here, does anyone actually get genuinely offended when people make fun of their height? Like, people can be discriminated against because of race/gender/sexuality/weight/etc but height?

I mean, outside of someone with an actual disorder that causes dwarfism (and that is very likely not the PC term for that and if so I apologize but I couldn't find one on a google search that was going to be understandable without another google search), I never thought of height as a major source of bullying or anything like that.

You'd be surprised. There are actually a number of studies that have shown that shorter men tend to make less money, die younger, are more likely to never marry, etc., etc.

[nik-]

I'm short and my life is basically in shambles

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by rubecube

You'd be surprised. There are actually a number of studies that have shown that shorter men tend to make less money, die younger, are more likely to never marry, etc., etc.

Also less likely to be able to ride all the rides at Disneyland.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by rubecube

You'd be surprised. There are actually a number of studies that have shown that shorter men tend to make less money, die younger, are more likely to never marry, etc., etc.

Weird. I heard the opposite that tall people die sooner. The heart and other organs have to work harder to keep a larger mass alive. Just anecdotally, I rarely ever see someone over 6' tall and over 80 years old.

[nik-]

Christopher Lee was 6'5" and lived to 238 years old.

[Sliver]

Short people seem to live in perpetual comfort. Every car fits awesome. Every theater seat is comfy. Every chair is comfy. At 6'4" I feel like an overgrown adult in an elementary schooler's desk sometimes and envy how the world is made for shorter people.

Chicks like throwing their panties at us, though, so there's that.

[ResAlien]

So anyways...

A Pro Trump superpac is fighting to stop the Wisconsin recount and has filed a federal lawsuit. Michigan's AG is also fighting a recount in his state. Trump only won Michigan by 10K votes I believe.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/1...recount-232121

[driveway]

It's unfortunate that how the electorate feels is at all important.

People feel all kinds of stupid things all the time; I feel hungry, but I just ate.

People who vote based on their feelings are as dumb as I am for eating this third slice of pie.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by nik-

The facts also don't matter when the facts have no impact on your life whatsoever.

Why is someone in some small town with no jobs supposed to be swayed by a jobs report showing a decrease in unemployment when it doesn't affect them at all?

If your reality is shuttered factories, what difference does the reality in another county make?

It's more than that though. By every measure things around me in Virginia are very strong economically, yet there are many people and people who have good jobs, that are convinced things are horrible. There really aren't that many people who are out of work due to factories closing. But for some reason, there are millions who feel their life is affected by factories closing.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by driveway

It's unfortunate that how the electorate feels is at all important.

People feel all kinds of stupid things all the time; I feel hungry, but I just ate.

People who vote based on their feelings are as dumb as I am for eating this third slice of pie.

that's like saying falling in love is dumb. People are not cerebral robots.

[driveway]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

that's like saying falling in love is dumb. People are not cerebral robots.

I'd argue it's pretty easy to tell when a decision should be based as much on reason as possible and when it's entirely okay to let emotion be a significant factor.

I think pretty much everyone would agree that selecting members of government would fall into the first category and not the second.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

that's like saying falling in love is dumb. People are not cerebral robots.

Except for sureloss.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

that's like saying falling in love is dumb. People are not cerebral robots.

If people decide on a politician the same way they decide on a significant other, or vice versa, they are going about it very very wrong.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

It's more than that though. By every measure things around me in Virginia are very strong economically, yet there are many people and people who have good jobs, that are convinced things are horrible. There really aren't that many people who are out of work due to factories closing. But for some reason, there are millions who feel their life is affected by factories closing.

I'm not suggesting that every voter is rational. I'm just saying that there are a lot of voters who have legitimate complaints about their economic situation even when the economic picture as a whole is improved.

[photon]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

that's like saying falling in love is dumb. People are not cerebral robots.

Falling in love IS dumb (i.e. meaning not guided by reason). How many people do you know that go from destructive relationship to destructive relationship? "But I love him/her, they'll treat me better when we've been together longer/get married/have a child". Or people that fall in love but then get divorced after having a child because they can't agree on what religion to raise it. Or the simpler case where people just grow apart and if there's nothing more than love it's likely to end in separation.

There's a lot more to a successful partnership than love.

Emotions are important and shouldn't be discounted, but we should also realize that they can lead us astray from what's right, cloud our judgment, and we should also take that into account.

Reason is the only way anyone successfully navigates reality, when people claim that there are no facts, only what one believes, it's just a way to rationalize what they want to believe.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by driveway

I'd argue it's pretty easy to tell when a decision should be based as much on reason as possible and when it's entirely okay to let emotion be a significant factor.

I think pretty much everyone would agree that selecting members of government would fall into the first category and not the second.

Except this election, Brexit, any number of other populist based movements over the past few years have proven that people largely vote on what resonates to them on a base, emotional level.

You are kidding yourself if you think the average person (which is just the average....there's 50% of people below that average.....) is going to bother to actually put in enough time and critical thought to make an informed decision. Not going to happen.

Appeals to base emotions, biases, desires. That's how you win the vote of the uninformed. Trump put on a master class.