Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    <scribbled by lperson Wed 6 Nov 24 10:25>
  

    
"They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them
trample everything and you are not going to let them."

FFS they're going to trample everything regardless of what I do.
"Letting" has no place in this conversation. I can't not "let" T and
his followers do what they want any more than I "let" them win this
election. 

And I don't feel powerless as much as fear and frustration. I'm 61,
and I wanted to be much further down the line by this point. Trump
has just wasted 8 years of potential progress, plus all the years
he'll be taking back. 
  

    
What part of "I won't vote for someone who would give Israel bombs
to  drop on my family" is idiotic? I'm sure many of them didn't vote
at  all, which is just as much an implicit vote for Trump as a vote 
for Stein is.
  

    
Oh, ffs. We all need to take the day off. Thrashing about blaming
this election's most convenient stereotypes and assumptions just
reinforces otherhood and does nothing to prepare us for the next
phase of the fight.

It also leaves us with fewer allies with whom to resume the fight.
  

    <scribbled by lperson Wed 6 Nov 24 10:27>
  

    <scribbled by jonl Fri 8 Nov 24 21:55>
  

    
It might be a premature question, but:

A lot of us have been rocked to the bottom of our souls. It's in the
posts here and on every conceivable social platform.

I'm wondering how you see this affecting your day-to-day life. Not
how you feel today - which this space is also excellent for - but
how you'll approach life differently now. What you'll do and not do,
how you'll see the world - in ways that weren't true yesterday.

Will you still involve yourself in politics - activism, getting out
the vote, sharing campaign information? Or is that over for you, at
least for the foreseeable future?

Anything else you've been doing you're inclined to give up now?
Anything you haven't done (fleeing the country is a big topic today)
that you're more moved to do now?

How will this affect your life?
  

    
The Dems have been over a barrel w/r/t Palestine for a long time. If
they antagonize AIPAC they will be primaried and someone who toes
the line may take their jobs. I think Biden might have leaned harder
on Netanyahu this year, but the nuclear option -- withholding aid
and UN vetoes -- would have been disastrous for many Democratic
candidates, possibly including the top of the ticket. That's the
political reality, and it will be a tragedy for all concerned if
abstentions over Palestine made a difference in this election. At
the same time, it's cruel and useless to call people stupid for
making this choice when American bombs are falling on their own
relatives. 

(slippage)
  

    
Clearly the Democrats need to field more felons and rapists and fascists,
but those seem to be thin on the ground.
  

    
Where was Bob Menendez when we needed him?
  

    
A question much on my mind this morning: How many of Der Fuhrer's
campaign promises will he actually try to put into effect? I suspect
the tariffs will disappear overnight. The mass deportations may
founder on various fronts -- court challenges, lack of funding,
logistical incompetence -- if any attempt is made to pursue them. 

The ideal situation for the Greedy Old Patriarchs might be for the
Dems to get control of the House so they (the GOP) can pretend to
pursue these policies and then blame their failure on the Dems. 
  

    
>>I'm still me.

Thanks, Angie. 
  

    
>how you'll approach life differently now

As I mentioned elsewell, our plan is to GTFO. This is no longer our
homeland.
  

    
Am I still me?

I was an American. A Democrat. A Californian.

I am an ally and advocate for the environment and clean energy.
I am an ally and advocate for social justice.
I am an ally and advocate for criminal justice reform.
I am an ally and advocate for universal health care.

Are those still thing?
  

    
I am obviously not an advocate of proofreading. 
  

    
No, it's not mine either, ax. Not for a lot of us. We're officially
people without a country now. As condorito writes above, "the US has
been an irredeemably evil shithole country forever", and I get that.
But I held hope it could be different. I don't hold that hope
anymore. You can't make people do or be what they don't want to do
or be. Different values, priorities, vision - there's no way to make
a path together.

As to what that means for me day to day? As I noted above, I'm
focusing on the priorities I've always had, minus any efforts to
affect anything national. It's all local and regional for me now -
my money, my effort, my spirit. Won't get fooled again.

To that point: at least on, may some of those are still things,
Richard. You'll still pass homeless people on the street, and you'll
have to see them now as permanently discarded - not even getting lip
service from our leaders anymore. But you can still buy them a meal.

As to the rest: I don't know. It's hard to row forward when everyone
else on board is rowing backward.
  

    
Somebody compared this to the dog chasing the car, and finally
catching it. They're having a "now what?" moment. Yeah, they have a
big plan drawn with Project 2025, but there's no guarantee Trump
will follow it or do much of anything that will distract much from
cheating at golf. I suppose we'll have some bang, but even more
whimper. We'll see.

> How will this affect your life?

Thinking about that. If anything it might finally break my writer's
block. I think the best way I can be useful is by writing.  And I
want to encourage people to be kind to each other, whatever else is
happening, and not buy into the cruelty we've too often seen in the
world of Trump and his minions.
  

    
Angie's <293> is where I'm at.
  

    
<there's no guarantee Trump will follow it or do much of anything
that will distract much from cheating at golf>

I think he's going to try and do everything he said he wants to do
(tariffs, deportation, shrink and weaponize the federal government),
but most especially get revenge on his enemies. 
  

    
The only good news is that nobody is calling the results for the
house yet -- though Dems have a big gap to get to 50%.

No plans, except to hunker down. 
  

    
Good plan.

KALW San Francisco, a small but doughty public radio station, sent
this to its members and listeners just now.

"Dear KALW listeners, family, and friends,

This morning, I want you to hear our resolve.

I want you to know that KALW is going to fight as hard as we can in
support of you—our listeners—in helping to create the community we
want to live in together.

KALW is a unique and powerful place, and our ongoing relationship
with our listeners and members and community is the force that
drives us forward. And we must go forward. There is no going back.

Because this station matters. Our values matter. Our practices
matter. The belief we have in the power of belonging matters. So we
are more committed than ever to help bring us into the future in a
way that combats the silencing, isolation, alienation, and
increasing illiteracy so many in this country are dealing with.

2025 is around the corner. We now know some of the conditions we
will face. We must remain incredibly strong in our resolve to do
right by each other, and in our resolve to do right by the
communities we serve near and far.

We at KALW Public Media are so resolved.

In peace, progress, and sound.


James Kass

Executive Director"
  

    <scribbled by magdalen Sat 9 Nov 24 15:25>
  

    
They’re not running me off. I didn’t come here, and I ain’t leaving.
All but one of my great grandparents were born in California. When
the first of my ancestors got here, they had to become Mexican
citizens to own land. This is my country, and I’ll defend the rights
and freedoms of its citizens from all enemies, foreign or domestic. 

If your answer is to leave, go in peace. It’ll save you having to
choose a side, or surrender to the usurpers. 

My only regret is that I could have spent 6 days working on my barn
roof, instead of annoying hundreds of Nevadans. C’est la vie.
  

    
> If your answer is to leave, go in peace. It’ll save you having to
choose a side, or surrender to the usurpers. 

Or maybe it’ll save your transgender child from being denied
healthcare, from being taken away from her family and forced to go
through conversion therapy. Maybe it will be the only way you can
afford your own health care. Maybe it’ll save you from being
arrested for providing health care for women. Different people will
have all kinds of very good reasons to leave, if they can afford to.
Leaving certainly doesn’t make them cowards. 
  

    
We could go to Canada, as F. was born there and his family is all
there. But I don't want to. This is my country, and now his as well.
This is our home. I have many friends who live here and really don't
have the ability to leave.

So I'd rather stay and try to be an anchor and help to others who
need it here. I'm old anyway, I don't want to make a new life.