Dear Skinner: let's leave 2016 behind on... Dec. 31st 2016

[question everything]

I think many of us cheered Jon Oliver when, on his last program - for the year - he ran around Fuck 2016!

I appreciate the Postmortem 2016. I gave it a shot myself. And I understand the desire of many to revert to the old Hillary and Sanders camps and blaming game. I took part of it myself.

But let's have a fresh start on January 1st 2017. Let's have GD 2018. We did gain some seats in the House and the Senate and we should continue with this. Mostly, I think, we need to go down to the local level to hold back the tide that cost us so may office holders.

Let's leave 2016 behind, including in the name of a main forum.

Thanks

(Unless there are important elections in 2017, than it should be GD 2017..)

[HassleCat]

1. No more bashing and baiting?

There goes about half the content.

[melman]

29. That is the truth

That's all many of the most prolific posters do.

[Warpy]

2. Shittiest year since 1968.

I mean that. 2016 SUCKED.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

3. Not as bad as 2011 (for me)...

But very close.

[Initech]

8. Lewis Black was right.

Good people die young and pricks live forever! Look at this year - Bowie gone, Prince gone, Lemmy gone, Alan Rickman gone, Leonard Cohen gone. Ted Nugent... still alive!

[Hekate]

56. Leonard Cohen died full of years. Rickman was not young.

Prince and Bowie I grant you were too young.

To absent friends!

[Initech]

58. Yes cheers to that!

[FailureToCommunicate]

19. I would say 2001 was WAY worse...

the nation reacted to 9/11 like Pearl Harbor.

[Warpy]

32. In 68 there were assassinations

a very large and bloody war, the rise of the biggest crook until now to the presidency, riots of many descriptions, and the seeds of all sorts of things like media consolidation and televangelism being sown in the poisoned fields.

2001 was bad but not nearly as bad as 1968.

[PJMcK]

33. All true, Warpy

But 1968 also gave us this:

http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/82000/82693/earthrise_vis_1092_lrg.tif

There was a story at NASA that a woman wrote a note to the Apollo 8 astronauts saying, "Thanks for saving 1968."

[FailureToCommunicate]

42. Well, in addition to the nationwide tragedies, I lost close friends to Vietnam and

the attack on the World Trade Center, so...

I'll consider it a tie.

[awoke_in_2003]

60. Born in Feb 1968

pretty shitty year altogether, for sure.

[Demsrule86]

44. A Trump presidency will be worse than 9-11 in my opinon.

And it will last for four long horrid years.

[lagomorph777]

54. No, after Pearl Harbor we attacked Japan.

The analogy would apply if we had attacked New Zealand.

[progressoid]

57. Yup. n/t

[sheshe2]

4. Agreed.

Give it a rest!

[TwilightZone]

5. Not a bad idea.

Not a bad idea at all.

[hrmjustin]

6. Agreed! Let us put this horrible year in the past!

[jimlup]

7. Yeah it's been a disaster but...

with what looks like is going to happen on January 20th or 2017 and beyond I'm quite worried about what happens next. We may look back on this as a "good" year.

[Initech]

10. I'm really surprised we didn't have more time travelers on election day.

I keep hearing when time travel is invented in the future, time travelers are going to point to Election Day 2016 as the day humanity got fucked.

[jimlup]

13. As a Ph.D. Physicist

I search for meaning in Quantum Reality. I often think the "Many World's" explanation is the most sensible.

When the news of 11/9 broke I couldn't help but wonder if we had just experienced a quantum branch and that we are in the Universe where the disaster of Trump being elected happens. In most of the other quantum realities, Trump was NOT elected.

We're just the unlucky suckers who have to live in this horrible branch of reality. Man I wish we could go back to November 8th and just quantum tunnel to a regular reality.

[niyad]

18. so how do we get into those other worlds?

[Silver Gaia]

23. Hey, I hear you. I've had those same thoughts.

It's horrifying. I want to go home.

[tblue37]

26. 9/11 and 11/9--both days that will go down in infamy. nt

[marybourg]

53. On NPR yesterday

(The Takeaway-WNYC) the host referred to 8/11, mentioning that in the rest of the world that's how dates are written, anyway.

[tblue37]

27. We need Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) "to set right what once went wrong." nt

[lagomorph777]

55. If we'd had any time travelers, it wouldn't have happened.

I think this proves, more definitively than Steven Hawking's dinner invitation, that time travel is impossible.

[bravenak]

9. Yes

[apcalc]

11. Leave it behind? How can we as long as Drumpf is around.

No can do. He's the worst thing about 2016.

[question everything]

12. By looking forward to shrinkg the majority in Congress so McConnell et al will stop jumping

and by getting a good candidate in 2020. But we have to start now.

[andym]

14. The Primaries forum should not have existed in 2004, 2008 or 2016

It may drive traffic, but it creates far too much rancor among people who would likely otherwise really enjoy each other's company online. DU is not the largest site, but that is no excuse to stir up trouble-- and anytime and anywhere folks believe they can take on the role of keyboard warrior, they will, creating huge problems for a diverse community. My only advice for the future is to eliminate it forever.

[JI7]

22. this is a political board, the arguments will happen even without that forum. and i think the forum

was created to keep the primary battles in that one forum and allow for people to discuss other things in the GD.

[andym]

30. DU is a political board that is supposed to support Democrats

Enmity among Democrats does not help Democrats. Keyboard warriors can't help but battle. Far too many come to DU to fight and "win" the battles against their fellow Democrats, which is so not a good idea. Sure they can go elsewhere to fight-- and they should. DU should be a constructive place, not a destructive one.

The problem with the special forum for such battles is that the primary wars leak into all of the other forums, as well as the high probability of members being expelled or suspended, weakening the community. DU was initially created as a site to fight a common 'enemy' and restore some balance to the political conversation. That enemy was never supposed to be each other.

[Calista241]

39. People will just go elsewhere to fight those battles

Reddit, 4chan, DI or somewhere else. You can't suppress primary supporters

[andym]

43. That's exactly what I advocate-- that they go elsewhere

and reserve DU as a positive, constructive location as it is in the "general election" mode. Why is GE so diffrent? because they insist that the Presidential candidate not be attacked. If the same rules about attacks applied to the primaries and the various candidates and the Primary forum was eliminated, DU would be a lot more constructive place.

[bettyellen]

46. Based on what I've read Skinner has regrets about allowing some people here past the time they could

Say anything good at all about any Democrats. So I do think that in general he will not allow things to go that far. It was disconcerting to see RW crap and fake news posted here but a lot of people fell for it.

[liberal N proud]

15. It has been a very bad year

I lost my job, then 2 got trump and his shit show.

[question everything]

21. Sorry to hear about it. Are you still unemployed?

If yes, I hope that your search is encouraging.

[liberal N proud]

36. Yes, going to an outplacement meeting this am.

Maybe they can get my resume shaped up to get me through the door.

[Demsrule86]

45. My son is getting laid off in February.

My sympathies...hubs works a temp job these days, but it looks like his contract was renewed thankfully.

[liberal N proud]

59. That first 24 hours after they tell you your being eliminated is hell

Then it is a roller coaster.

I had a rejection today, applied for another position and in 30 minutes had a request for good times for a phone screening.

[Demsrule86]

61. Congrats! and good luck.

yes I have been laid off, and it is hell...my son will move out of state...making Ohio a little more older...

[liberal N proud]

64. We are leaving Ohio as well

Try and turn a red state a little less so.

[BainsBane]

16. How about Dec 10?

So we can have a more peaceful holiday season?

[rumdude]

17. Is it worse than 2004 was?

I don't know, I think 2004 ran a pretty good game in the suck-itude department.

[Demsrule86]

63. it is worse...we were decimated this year and will lose the courts...

and decades of progressive policy.

[pressbox69]

20. If this year was food

it would taste like unseasoned ass.

[mountain grammy]

24. I'll gladly kick and rec this one!

Please, for goodness sake. We have real enemies that want to silence us forever with the new fascist in chief and the rest of the GOP crawling on their knees to their new god.

We all know we didn't lose. We all know this was rigged. If we're ever to take back our government, we better get busy and set it straight. Grassroots for the next two years. My teabagger senator comes up for reelection in 2018 and he's going down. So is my fuckface state senator. None of this will happen fighting my fellow Democrats, of which there are precious few here in rednecksville. Two thirds went for Bernie in the primary, but all (and I mean all) voted for Hillary. Two precincts at the other end of the county actually went for Hillary, but idiots vote for idiots, and trump won our county. Hillary took the state, but it was too close for comfort. Time for Democrats to close ranks. We'll elect a new governor in 2018 too.

[Sunlei]

25. That's not over until Friday, January 20

[ancianita]

28. We've got to move on. We've picked more remains than a temple priest in a Greek tragedy.

Unity. Not uniformity.

A unified vision
with unified leaders
with a unified strategy
run by an brilliant, innovative, energetic full time party chair.

[WheelWalker]

31. Agreed. It's time we faced the danger.

[Cha]

34. Oh good vid to go with your OP, qe!

[jfern]

35. Even Fidel Castro got 2016ed

[boston bean]

37. I am for this. But I don't think I cannot say anything when people are posting bernie statements

that bash democrats and are agreeing with it.

I'm not down with that.

[Vinca]

38. An excellent idea. It's time for the postmortem forum to go.

[demmiblue]

40. It was nice having all the drama llamas in one place, though.

Now they are spilling into GD at a rapid rate.

But, yes, I agree... we need to look forward to the future.

[Paladin]

41. Yes, please.

All the 2016 Postmortem forum is doing is maintaining the acrimony between Hillary and Bernie supporters. We've got way bigger battles to fight, right now.

[Demsrule86]

47. I have been bitter and angry about this election loss...many of you know this.

That being said, I too feel it is time to move on...and have decided to trash the postmortem...I said I would not go there anymore but of course something captures my eye, and I am back at it...it doesn't really matter who is to blame. Unless the recount is more successful than I expect (yes I believe they cheated but can it be proven?), this is the hand we have been dealt...so it is time to stand up and fight Trump and the evil Republicans with everything we have ...our kids and future grandkids are depending on us. We can work to regain the Senate in 18...yes I know it is uphill...but we have Trump and he is going to suck so that should help our effort. And God willing we can make him a one term president thus limiting the damage. Time to move on. I am not waiting until the end of December.

[Demsrule86]

48. I did it. I trashed the postmortem...full trash.

Already, I feel better.

[bravenak]

50. I better do it too

[Demsrule86]

51. I had to...the anger and bitterness was tearing me up.

[bravenak]

52. Alot of them are old hands at lighting fires to watch them burn. I need to ignore them

They love attention. I think it must be that boring at JPR for them to sneak back in here.

[Demsrule86]

62. Me too...and I head over to JPR and have seen them...it is very boring.

[lillypaddle]

49. Yes please! nt