Police in Portland, Or., used pepper spray and rubber projectiles against protesters early today after anti-Donald Trump demonstrations erupted in several big cities and on college campuses across the U.S., USA Today reports.
Police ordered protesters who gathered in Portland for a third night to disperse after a peaceful demonstration turned into what they called a riot, citing “extensive criminal and dangerous behavior.” At least 26 people were arrested. About 4,000 protesters assembled downtown last night, chanting “we reject the president-elect!” the Associated Press reported.
The protest was mostly peaceful until demonstrators met with an anarchist group, after which protesters vandalized buildings, kicked cars and knocked out power. Police said the crowd, which contained many people armed with bats, threw projectiles at officers. Trump himself tweeted today, “Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!” It was a change of tone for Trump, who complained last night about “professional protesters, incited by the media … Very unfair!” Demonstrations also took place in Columbus, Madison and Milwaukee, Wi., and Minneapolis last night.
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With Hillary Clinton showing as the sure winner in all the polls until the last day before election, Donald Trump’s election fell like a smashing boulder on the majority of Americans. After all, Clinton won the majority of Americans vote, with more than 100.000 more votes than Trump. In every other democracy in the world, the party with the more votes win, and Clinton – under Aristotle’s democracy has been the winner. Our Constitution, however, the elite number of politicians elected in every state -the so called electoral college, choose the president. Our system, therefore, is oligarchical -even under Aristotle, but it was designed that way to keep power in the hands of the plantation owners and the corporate America – not in the hands of the multitude immigrants, low or middle classes. In some way our elections are like the Chinese elections, but designed to be more open, by electing more pols who can spend $ millions on TV ads and march thousands of door-to-door vote canvassers.
Do the protesters have a point? Certainly! But our Constitution is designed to make it pointless! Nikos Retsos, retired professor, Chicago
An interesting comment by a college professor – who obviously never did any serious research on history, but just accepted the “textbook” history. The reference to “plantation owners” really got my attention as it reflects ignorance of history. Consider the locations of protests. Based only just a quick review of media reports, the vast majority of protests are in northern states and also involve students – where again history is taught not via facts, but through use of texts. Why is it that in the north there are protests, white supremacy slogans used, swastikas painted on signs, etc? The south came to grips with racism years ago and has moved on. The northern states, some of whom had banned blacks from their states around 1850, are still the hotbed of racism. But the media and academia blames it on the south out of ignorance of the real history
Professors select the best book on a subject , mostly in consultation with colleagues, and assign it for the semester. They don’t do their own research on a subject; they accept the research done by the authors of books, and the review by national newspapers, like the New York Times, the Washington Post., etc., Yes, Mr. Rogers, the “textbook” history is what is taught at colleges and universities. One’s own history, like yours, is the personal opinion that is argued wildly in the coffee shops of Middle East, and in the village meetings in the undeveloped countries by mostly illiterate patrons. There is a fallacy among nobodies challenging academics. They think that when they challenge an academic, the readers think of them as superior learners. Well, yes, if the readers are fools. Academics are the cream of society, and prove their worth by their profession – not here where the qualificati0ns to write something is “Zero!” Aurevoir my friend! There is an adage that says of slanderers at the bottom of society trying to take on those at the top: “If you cannot reach them, slander them!” Good luck to you! Nikos Retsos
also – she only won the popular vote because conservatives/republicans in certain blue states like NY, NJ and California have recognized that their Presidential voting is irrelevant– if they got rid of the Electoral College, you would have far more disenchanted voters voting directly for the president – and she would have lost the popular voite too
I agree. This happened to Gore also.
Nikos and AK: You would profit by learning a little as to why the founders put the Electoral College in our Constitution. In short, it was to guarantee that all sections of the country be heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6s7jB6-GoU
The Austin city protests were faked they brought in twenty buses paid fake protester paid for by George Soros
I would encourage the protesters to leave America and live in the whatever country, other than the Constitutional country of the United States, they wish. We will be much better off without them.
News Update from Canada
The flood of Trump-fearing American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week. The Republican presidential campaign is prompting an exodus among left-leaning Americans who fear they’ll soon be required to pray, pay taxes, and live according to the Constitution.
Canadian border residents say it’s not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, liberal arts majors, global-warming activists, and “green” energy proponents crossing their fields at night.
“I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,” said southern Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. “He was cold, exhausted and hungry, and begged me for a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn’t have any, he left before I even got a chance to show him my screenplay.”
In an effort to stop the illegals, Greenfield erected a high fence, but the liberals scaled them. He then installed loudspeakers that blared Rush Limbaugh across the fields, but they just stuck their fingers in their ears and kept coming. Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals just south of the border, take their money, pack them into cars, and drive them across the border, where they are simply left to fend for themselves.
“A lot of these people are not prepared for our rugged conditions,” an Alberta border patrolman said. “I found one carload without a single bottle of Perrier water, or any gemelli with shrimp and arugula. All they had was a nice little Napa Valley cabernet and some kale chips. When liberals are caught, they’re sent back across the border, often wailing that they fear persecution from Trump’s lunatics.
Rumors are circulating about plans being made to build re-education camps where liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer, study the Constitution, and find jobs that actually contribute to the economy.
In recent days, liberals have turned to ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have been disguised as senior citizens taking a bus trip to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans in blue-hair wig disguises, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior citizens about Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney to prove that they were alive in the 50s..
“If they can’t identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we become very suspicious about their age,” an official said.
Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage, are buying up all the Barbara Streisand CD’s, and are overloading the internet while downloading jazzercise apps to their cell phones.
“I really feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can’t support them,” an Ottawa resident said. “After all, how many art-history majors does one country need?
Is there enough support to change the constitution in order to delete the electoral college? We have four years to make a change. Can it be done?
These kids really need to get a job and do something productive with their lives.
If President Trump refuses to pay government contractors, including military contractors, who are over budget and late and deliver poor quality, I say good — even excellent.. Same applies to civil servants. America will save hundreds of billions of dollars and prevent taxes from rising — and all will be forgiven by those who dislike him, including young people who hate paying taxes as much as any age group.
Our constitution was designed to do the exact opposite of what the professor is claiming. We are not a “democracy,” we are a constitutional republic. We are the “United States of America,” not the democracy of America. Our electoral system was designed to prevent the autocracy of the large dominant states at the expense of the citizens of smaller states. A true democracy has been defined as 2 wolves and a sheep voting on what is for dinner. Thank goodness the founders, (after long and hard deliberation) decided against such a system.
Years ago our educational system spent time on these issues, even as early as grade school. As I speak with my grandchildren they have no knowledge of our history on these issues.
We don’t need a constitutional amendment to negate the electoral college. We just need enough states, that add up to 270 electoral votes total, to agree to give their votes to the popular vote winner, regardless of results in their own state. Here’s a link: http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/
Clearly there are a lot of people who don’t understand the founding fathers knowledge of an “Oligarchy”. The electoral college has only overthrown the popular vote 4 times in american history. 4 times out of 45 elections. TWICE in 20 years though. Why two times in 20 years? Because it’s a defense against an Oligarchy. AND to be perfectly clear about the anti-american sentiments: The electoral college hasn’t voted yet. If there was no electoral college, we’d leave the vote for the president up to NY and California. California’s votes would trump 39 other states. Those states would have no voice in any of it. What state do you live in? I’m hoping for the #CalExit honestly. 🙂
Ignorance is not the hallmark of experts, but the hallmark of those who read any facade and believe it it is a gospel. If we accept that, China is a full democracy,
because its proclamation states so. Experts analyze the proclamations, the result, and the result of comparative political systems – the hallmark analysis that made Aristotle the best philosopher in the history of mankind- and their success/and, or failure, and make conclusions. Those conclusions are not certainly similar to those whose knowledge is based only on watching the news on TV or read the paper. Nikos Retsos, retired professor