Model Train Journal

to quote a line from a Grateful Dead song.

...sad fact, it is not over yet.

Now, it's over, and one wonders what has begun.

......and so now we move on to a song from the Stooges - "The Weirdness"

I feel so estranged
Fear runs around my brain
I had to leave
I could not stand the heat

They look at me with scorn
One more dead life was born
Formed from the clay
Of their unhappy ways

I sincerely wish that amidst all the scratching, hissing, and fur-flying during the campaign that the talking-heads of the News or somebody who actually cared would have held the candidates' feet to the fire until they offered concrete solutions to what could be done to revive, rescue, and resuscitate such areas as West Virginia and the former steel-mill towns of the entire metropolitan Pittsburgh area; Detroit, too. These areas have needed help for decades. I couldn't have cared less about how iPhones got used, or how crude talk was about female anatomy, or whose hair was the bigger disaster. And I am still waiting to hear solutions.

MurphOnMillerAve wrote:And I am still waiting to hear solutions.

They don't have any....

I saw, on the News, visual tours of counties in West Virginia, and one in particular which went from hundreds of thousands of residents doing well by working in the coal mines to a few tens of thousands, with endless small towns with shuttered stores aplenty. An immense Walmart stood empty, with it's even larger parking lot devoid of any life or vehicles. That was stunningly sad.

What does a high school graduate do in such an area? Where do they go for a career or simple job? Why do they even stay in school until graduation - what is their motivation? (Not everyone is so esoteric/recondite as to want to learn simply for its own sake.)

MurphOnMillerAve wrote:What does a high school graduate do in such an area?

Nothing new in what you saw - Appalachia has been on a barely survival status for decades and more.

What do they do? They either stay or find a way to escape.

This is not unlike what my father did - joined the Marines, got a higher education, and escaped to make a life for himself and his family on his terms.

3 supreme court justices are 78 plus Scalia. Clinton would have been a disaster for the rest of my life to me.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:

MurphOnMillerAve wrote:What does a high school graduate do in such an area?

Nothing new in what you saw - Appalachia has been on a barely survival status for decades and more.

Going way back, to the 1870's, at least. Think Molly Maguires. And, not helped by John Lewis post-WWII.

...and it's getting even stranger (expected) as we speak: his children need security clearance?! What for? So he can pull an end-run around the law that as President he has to be separated against involvement in business matters? So the kids can be privy to info that will aid them with insider advantages? What in the world would they NEED security clearance for ? The shite has begun already. Yup.

Yes, it's strange, but give him a chance and allow him to screw up. Everyone else got a chance and lord knows most did to some degree. His administration promises to be the most scrutinized administration we've seen during my lifetime. The press and the people are not going to allow him to run amuck. As long as his pluses are more than his minuses, we should be ahead of the game and the supreme court appointments were not just a minor point with his supporters. As v8vega pointed out, we dodged a major turning point in this country, as the Constitution would have been changed forever by another democratic administration.

BH

So he can pull an end-run around the law that as President he has to be separated against involvement in business matters?

Well, all this stuff about his having business interests and the need to separate himself from that and put it into a blind trust, etc., is something that President's have done over the years, but there's actually no real legal requirement for him to do that and turning over the business to the children doesn't qualify as a blind trust anyway. His office isn't covered by the same laws that I'm held to.........

up148 wrote: His administration promises to be the most scrutinized administration we've seen during my lifetime.

I hear that with every change of administration although it might be more true now given the continuous monitoring of everything through social media and then there's his childish inability to put his phone down. 5 year old's have better self control..

....the Constitution would have been changed forever by another democratic administration.

So the Constitution will be changed forever by another republican administration. Again, every administration carries that burden on its shoulders. Whether they do something good will only be determined in the future....

up148 wrote: His administration promises to be the most scrutinized administration we've seen during my lifetime. The press and the people are not going to allow him to run amuck. As long as his pluses are more than his minuses, we should be ahead of the game and the supreme court appointments were not just a minor point with his supporters. As v8vega pointed out, we dodged a major turning point in this country, as the Constitution would have been changed forever by another democratic administration.

BH

I put the Supreme Court appointments at the top for my voting decision; even above national security as without adherence to the Constitution, we can't have security either.

On the points of every administration being the most transparent, as we look at the current administration with all the lies and deceit, we look forward to just how tough the press will be on the Trump administration.

New York Times, already this morning, says Trump transition team in "total disarray", just because he's shuffling people around. When you only have a short time to get a team together, and you didn't really expect to win, there's gonna be a little confusion before ya get it straightened out. He's a businessman, knows how to lead, and he'll get it together.

Oh, and last night he took the team out to dinner and did not inform the press, and the Press is livid! Check it out on NBC. That's really funny to me.
Wouldn't piss me off if they had a picture of Trump giving the Papparazzi the bird.

Agreed...we need to get back to SCOTUS interpreting the law, not making the law.

Similarly With regards to the press, they need to report the news, not manufacture it. They are laughable. They have done a huge disservice to this country over the last 2-3 election cycles.

It will be interesting to watch this play out. Having been involved in some business dealings with one of Mr. Trump's development companies back in the early 2000's and seeing how they operate, I'm guessing the next four years will be one long dog-fight.

Healey

healey36 wrote:...
Similarly With regards to the press, they need to report the news, not manufacture it. ...They have done a huge disservice to this country over the last 2-3 election cycles...
Healey

I had thought I was alone in that deduction, especially during this presidential election's selective presentation and obvious manipulations. And during on-screen interviews, how many substantive questions were actually asked?
murph