# Are you doing anything in your life differently because of the new President? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 25, 2017, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126 "2017-01-25T07:14:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/121 "2017-02-01T13:30:51Z")
The only thing really different for me is I won’t be vacationing in the USA this year. And that’s just my small little economic protest, I’m not worried about crossing the border or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/122 "2017-02-01T14:21:09Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Our institutions depend entirely on the voluntary adherence to norms by those who hold power. It takes a very small number of people to decide to reject those norms and things will crumble. They’re crumbling now. And the only people who have the power to stop it are giving every sign that they’re going to just go along with it. > > Right now there are people I know who are afraid that they will be locked out of the country or that they would be stopped from returning if they leave. > > Right now the immigration restrictions apply to only a few cases, but it takes only a flick of the pen to broaden that group more and more. > > I’m happy for you that you find all of this funny. I’m sure there were people like you every time a country’s political atmosphere crumbled. People are being sent back to die in dangerous places. I saw a picture of a _child in handcuffs_ yesterday. Yeah, I’mma take the cautious route and say maybe we can’t rely on all those nice warm norms anymore. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/123 "2017-02-01T14:29:00Z")
We have a CD coming due soon. Would be putting it in the stock market normally (such as if Clinton won the Electoral vote) but … Egad what a dreadful situation. So many things could happen, practically none of them good. Might want to invest in MREs, water purification, etc., instead. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/124 "2017-02-02T05:45:31Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > People are being sent back to die in dangerous places. I saw a picture of a _child in handcuffs_ yesterday. Yeah, I’mma take the cautious route and say maybe we can’t rely on all those nice warm norms anymore. Treating people badly at the border is actually a pretty strong norm. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/125 "2017-02-02T13:03:11Z")
So my colleagues and I met yesterday and we have decided not to submit any papers to conferences being held in the US. This is both to act as a minor protest, but also some my colleagues have students from the banned countries or are simply Muslim. Some of those students are afraid to travel to the US. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/126 "2017-02-02T14:10:04Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > People are being sent back to die in dangerous places. I saw a picture of a _child in handcuffs_ yesterday. Yeah, I’mma take the cautious route and say maybe we can’t rely on all those nice warm norms anymore. That was fake news, the picture was from an earlier news story unrelated to immigration. [Was a Small Child Handcuffed at Dulles Airport Due to Entry Restrictions? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/small-child-handcuffed-at-dulles/) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/127 "2017-02-02T14:31:24Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > We have a CD coming due soon. Would be putting it in the stock market normally (such as if Clinton won the Electoral vote) but … > > Egad what a dreadful situation. So many things could happen, practically none of them good. > > Might want to invest in MREs, water purification, etc., instead. Gold Krugerrands… ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/128 "2017-02-02T18:48:59Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > And yet he’s president, the fact that the person who gets the most votes doesn’t win elections is one of many shameful facts about America. Shameful how? The US is NOT a direct democracy and was never intended to be. It was intended to be a Republic. More specifically, it is a representative Republic. In practice it is a Federal Constitutional Representative Republic form of a Democracy. It was created to be such specifically to protect against tyranny by majority. “Majority rules” is a pretty lousy form of government in all but the most homogenous societies. [To wit](https://medium.com/@lessig/the-united-states-is-not-a-democracy-it-is-a-republic-54e8036c781c#.c9d55d7dc): > [@](#): > > The Federalist №14 (James Madison), 77 (“The true distinction between these forms was also adverted to on a former occasion. It is, that in a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person; in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents”) and > [@](#): > > The Federalist №39 (James Madison), 233–34 …It is sufficient for such a government that the persons administering it be appointed, either directly or indirectly, by the people; and that they hold their appointments by either of the tenures just specified”). > [@Acsenray](#): > > I’m sure there were people like you every time a country’s political atmosphere crumbled. And I’m just as sure that Chicken Littles have always and will always outnumber Humpty Dumptys. As such, I will not change my life until such time as it proves necessary to do so. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/129 "2017-02-02T19:31:04Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Shameful how? The US is NOT a direct democracy and was never intended to be. It was intended to be a Republic. More specifically, it is a representative Republic. In practice it is a Federal Constitutional Representative Republic form of a Democracy. It was created to be such specifically to protect against tyranny by majority. “Majority rules” is a pretty lousy form of government in all but the most homogenous societies. [To wit](https://medium.com/@lessig/the-united-states-is-not-a-democracy-it-is-a-republic-54e8036c781c#.c9d55d7dc): > > and > > And I’m just as sure that Chicken Littles have always and will always outnumber Humpty Dumptys. As such, I will not change my life until such time as it proves necessary to do so. Your use of random capitalized words really makes it clear you are a serious thinker. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/130 "2017-02-02T19:32:37Z")
I’m usually the polar opposite of being paranoid, but I am considering selling some stocks and squirreling away a good amount of cash in the house. After two weeks of obsessive and frantic news-hounding following the election I now exercise a “30 minutes a day” media check-in. I do BBC in the morning, NPR on the way home from work, and a quick check-in at my online site before I go to bed. We’ve also imposed a “no politics lunch day” for our group of lunching women at work. On Tuesdays we don’t go there; we’re all rabid liberals and get each other whipped up, scared and angry . . . we talk about kittens instead 🙂 (Thursdays are “talk politics if ya want” lunch day). ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/131 "2017-02-02T20:10:44Z")
I’ve been more active about contacting my congresspeople and am planning to make regular donations to PP and the ACLU. > [@madmonk28](#): > > That was fake news, the picture was from an earlier news story unrelated to immigration. [Was a Small Child Handcuffed at Dulles Airport Due to Entry Restrictions? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/small-child-handcuffed-at-dulles/) I’m not sure what Zsofia saw, but there is another picture going around showing two adults and a small child, all with their hands behind their back, as if in handcuffs. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/132 "2017-02-02T20:17:47Z")
Home-loan interest rates have been at historic lows her for a while now. With Trump in charge I expect that to change soon. We went to the bank yesterday and fixed our rate for the next 5 years to give us some protection against the market bouncing around. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/133 "2017-02-02T20:21:49Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > That was fake news, the picture was from an earlier news story unrelated to immigration. [Was a Small Child Handcuffed at Dulles Airport Due to Entry Restrictions? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/small-child-handcuffed-at-dulles/) No, this was a different photo. I looked all over to try to prove it real or false and could not. (It’s a picture of a whole family with their hands behind them, presumably handcuffed, standing in a hallway.) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/134 "2017-02-02T20:23:59Z")
Got my new slippers today. Comfy. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/135 "2017-02-02T20:27:37Z")
I deactivated my Facebook account and stopped talking to my family as much. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/136 "2017-02-02T21:25:26Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > People are being sent back to die in dangerous places. I saw a picture of a _child in handcuffs_ yesterday. Yeah, I’mma take the cautious route and say maybe we can’t rely on all those nice warm norms anymore. I would think that the cautious route would have been to verify that the photo was actually what it was supposed to be. Because of the proliferation of fake news/news that is fake, you can’t rely on any of those nice warm norms anymore. Maybe someone could verify if for you, if you provide a link to the picture in question? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/137 "2017-02-02T22:35:40Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I would think that the cautious route would have been to verify that the photo was actually what it was supposed to be. Because of the proliferation of fake news/news that is fake, you can’t rely on any of those nice warm norms anymore. > > Maybe someone could verify if for you, if you provide a link to the picture in question? Snopes has verified at least one pic of a “child in handcuffs at an airport” doing the rounds is actually a child at a school somewhere in the US with behavioural problems. Obviously that doesn’t change the fact kids are getting handcuffed by authorities and that’s not good, but in that case it wasn’t at the airport as part of an immigration crackdown. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/138 "2017-02-03T15:28:43Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Your use of random capitalized words really makes it clear you are a serious thinker. So, in the face of facts you can’t support your contention and instead delve in to ad hominem. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/139 "2017-02-03T15:43:47Z")
for historical reference - > [@Zsofia](#): > > People are being sent back to die in dangerous places. I saw a picture of a _child in handcuffs_ yesterday. Yeah, I’mma take the cautious route and say maybe we can’t rely on all those nice warm norms anymore. (underline added) for historical reference - > [@Zsofia](#): > > No, this was a different photo. I looked all over to try to prove it real or false and could not. (It’s a picture of a whole family with their hands behind them, presumably handcuffed, standing in a hallway.) (underline added) > [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Snopes has verified at least one pic of a “child in handcuffs at an airport” doing the rounds is actually a child at a school somewhere in the US with behavioural problems. > > Obviously that doesn’t change the fact kids are getting handcuffed by authorities and that’s not good, but in that case it wasn’t at the airport as part of an immigration crackdown. According to **Zsofia** ’s follow up post, the picture in question didn’t actually show a child in handcuffs. 😕 Please correct me if I’m wrong, but **Zsofia** is the only one here who knows which picture he’s talking about. Generally-speaking, kids being handcuffed by authorities is not a good thing. OTOH, anyone (not **Zsofia** ) who posts a picture of handcuffed child in a school to prevent him from hurting himself, or others, and claims it was a child handcuffed at an airport by immigration/airport authorities is guilty of creating fake/false news. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126/140 "2017-02-03T18:19:46Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > So, in the face of facts you can’t support your contention and instead delve in to ad hominem. Got it. The electoral college is an undemocratic remnant of a bygone era. It was written when women voting was inconceivable and when multitudes of people were owned as property. It is because of the electoral college that we have red America and blue America. Politicians running for national office do not even bother mounting serious campaigns in “red” or “blue” states because if the lopsided winner take all feature of the electoral college; it is why we have swing states that receive disproportionate attention during elections and disproportionate federal resources. It is why 80% of the votes cast in a national election do not count. People like to fetishize this anachronistic, undemocratic mechanism because they find it comforting that the founding fathers were some quasi-divine body instead of just men who had good ideas and bad ideas. Taking comfort in the fact that the electoral college prevents the will of the people from being accurately reflected in the outcome of our elections is to look at elections as shamanism whereby as long as we say the magic words and use the totems of the ballot box we have fulfilled the wishes of the founding fathers in the sky. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-doing-anything-in-your-life-differently-because-of-the-new-president/778126.md?page=8)