Trump warned the GOP reps about a "bloodbath" in the next election if they don't pass trumpcare, but he's off in his understanding of the voters. If it doesn't pass, the voters that wanted the much "improved and far more affordable plan" trump promised will be furious. If it does pass and voters across the nation watch on the news numerous grandparents and the elderly, who have no family, being booted out of skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes closing and resulting significant job losses, premiums skyrocketing, insurers refusing to cover even maternity care (without it costing major bucks), etc., the voters will be enraged. Either way, they've screwed themselves going into the next election.

Nineteen years and going strong! I'm married to the biggest progressive I've ever known, in stature that is, as he's 6 feet 8 inches tall and not a tiny guy either. He can wear his Dump Trump cap anywhere he chooses and nobody says anything negative to him ever. In fact, sometimes the clerks at the grocery store will spot his cap and they all clap -- how cool is that? Republicans just quietly slink away... hehe

Vladimir Putin's entourage cheered the outcome of the U.S. election – until they saw exactly what they were dealing with.

By Ivan Krastev, Stephen Holmes
February 13, 2017

But Trump’s revolution is also ushering in a period of turmoil and uncertainty, including the likelihood of self-defeating trade wars. Still traumatized by the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia’s present leadership has no appetite for global instability.

With Trump in the White House, moreover, Putin has lost his monopoly over geopolitical unpredictability. The Kremlin’s ability to shock the world by taking the initiative and trashing ordinary international rules and customs has allowed Russia to play an oversized international role and to punch above its weight. Putin now has to share the capacity to keep the world off balance with a new American president vastly more powerful than himself. More world leaders are watching anxiously to discover what Trump will do next than are worrying about what Putin will do next. Meanwhile, using anti-Americanism as an ideological crutch has become much more dubious now that the American electorate has chosen as their president a man publicly derided as “Putin’s puppet.”

What the Kremlin fears most today is that Trump may be ousted or even killed. His ouster, Kremlin insiders argue, is bound to unleash a virulent and bipartisan anti-Russian campaign in Washington. Oddly, therefore, Putin has become a hostage to Trump’s survival and success. This has seriously restricted Russia’s geopolitical options. The Kremlin is perfectly aware that Democrats want to use Russia to discredit and possibly impeach Trump while Republican elites want to use Russia to deflate and discipline Trump. The Russian government fears not only Trump’s downfall, of course, but also the possibility that he could opportunistically switch to a tough anti-Moscow line in order to make peace with hawkish Republican leaders in Congress.

It is emblematic that, in their first telephone call, Putin refused to press Trump on lifting the sanctions or on America’s discontinuing support for Kiev. Moscow has also chosen to ignore some harsh anti-Russian statements issued by certain members of the new administration. The renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine might seem like a counterexample, but the Kremlin swears that the Petro Poroshenko government in Kiev is the guilty party, aiming at getting the attention of anti-Russian U.S. Congress members and thereby providing a potent argument against Trump’s appeasement of Putin. In any case, Russia has been trying to find ways to accommodate the U.S. president, including, for example, echoing the White House’s denials that Ambassador Sergei Kislyak discussed sanctions with Michael Flynn before Trump’s inauguration as well as announcing plans to reconsider Trump’s demand to set up safe zones inside Syria—a proposal that was initially rejected by the Russians.

Far more at this link:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/13/the-kremlin-is-starting-to-worry-about-trump/

Feeling cranky is my new norm since tRump came into power, though I have to admit that I do break into a smile often while visiting the DU. You're all awesome, funny, informative, on basically the same page as me, and I love hanging around here.

I've tried to step back and look at the world from a Republican's point of view, and I can't do it. I have too much compassion for other people, including minorities, immigrants, and the poor. I care too much about equality and fairness. I care too much about the environment. I care too much about the separation of church and state and a woman's right to choose.

Those on the right are too sinister, suspicious, and cruel for me, and they're only getting more brazen and more stubborn. They also make no sense. If they're really concerned about security, then why encourage all the guns and for mentally ill people to carry them, too? Look at the stinking stats! Toddlers shoot more people than Islamic extremists in our country. Does it make sense to ramp up dirty and deadly coal production when clean energy is now far more cost effective and could provide awesome jobs? Does it make sense to build a vastly expensive border wall when illegal immigration is at a 40-year low? If the Republicans despise abortion so much, does it make one bit of sense to be aiming to eliminate birth control?

So, back to I can't understand them whatsoever and they can't understand us (and if you talk with a Trumpist, they've bought into Scrotus's lies and use those as their facts and think we're all nuts or have been listening to Alex Jones or reading Breitbart), so one side or the other drags the other one along (GWB, Obama, tRump... back and forth the pendulum swings...), only this time it's much, much worse because this time they've presented us with a fascist who loves Putin and nuclear weapons and doesn't have a clue as to what he's even doing and possibly can't even read, so he signs executive orders without any knowledge of what he's doing. He's also ripping out everything that was just put in place to protect us from Wall Street and the big banks, and although we can project ahead and see the very likely fallout from that, his followers seem to be oblivious or in denial...

Mine is parasite. He feeds off of people by taking their services or benefiting from their labor and then trying not to compensate them. He enjoys the benefits of the economy, such as paved roads, but avoids paying taxes. He grabs women for his own twisted gratification but then demeans them when they speak up. He stoked up his crowds in order to reap their enthusiasm and hear their applause. He's in the White House churning out executive orders, not to better society, but to feed his narcissistic ego.

Now Ferndale Senator Doug Ericksen wants a law that would make protests a class C felony, if they become what he calls “economic terrorism.”

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/state-senator-some-protests-should-be-treated-as-felonies/

http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/proposed-bill-attacks-first-amendment-rights-to-protest/

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/01/19/verge-trump-era-republicans-push-new-laws-chill-protest-nationwide

Please write your state rep(s) against this bill. Seems ironic that several states are all enacting similar anti-protest bills at a time when the citizens are rallying and protesting against the current fascist government! This senator, unfortunately, my very own, wants to label protesters as “economic terrorists.” "Economic terrorism" could be applied to walking across a parking lot or anything else that could be construed as interfering with businesses, etc. It's just a sneaky way to quash demonstrations. Ericksen was the head of tRump's At the link below, you can plug in your address and pull up your reps and then click on their name to access their email account. Really easy. I just did it. If you haven't already, please join me.

http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

For the first time, our President, as I fully believe will be Hillary Clinton, knows and understands us women, and we can relate to her and also appreciate what she's gone through in her years of public service, especially as she's climbed the ladder and shattered the highest glass ceiling. Though she's incredibly resilient and strong, passionate, brilliant, and goal-oriented, I feel protective of her. And I'll be watching to see just how the Republican men in the Congress treat her, in which manner they criticize her, if they cooperate, and whether or not they demean her. Any misogyny will directly affect me, and I would bet that it will affect most women in this nation, and we aren't a tiny minority either. We rose up to help defeat Trump partly due to his disgusting words and behavior towards women, and we'll do it again and again if those in the House and Senate do not treat President Clinton with the respect she deserves and all women deserve. We'll be watching.