Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I'm with you on that, jnfr
  

    
The other side organized for 160 years to get to this point. You
could also say they organized since Brown, or since Roe. That's how
I'm thinking about it today.
  

    
Republican Bill Kristol on responding to the Trump/MAGA victory:

"This requires organized opposition. This requires figuring out what
levers of power are available to limit the damage Trump can do, and
to thwart or delay or impede Trump's plans. It requires Democratic
elected officials to be serious about leading different aspects of
the opposition. It requires others with institutional help or
personal credibility to work with them in myriad ways.

"These next couple of months are important. The adversarial work
shouldn't wait until Trump's inauguration. If Trump as
president-elect sails through these next two months unimpeded and
unmarked, he'll take office in a position of great strength. If, on
the other hand, there's effective opposition to his worst
appointees, if real obstacles can be put in place ahead of time to
his worst policies, if real efforts are organized to protect
individuals the Trumpists intend to go after, Trump could start off
with much less ability to do damage than one might expect.

"Trump and his allies will control the federal government. This is,
to say the least, no small thing. But this is a big and diverse
country, and it's a big and complicated government, and there are
laws and institutions in place that can't be steamrolled as easily
as they were in Hungary or Venezuela."

From The Bulwark,
<https://www.thebulwark.com/p/no-honeymoon-for-trumpism>
  

    
>the precincts with turnout below the county’s average were
clustered in liberal areas

I suspect mail-in ballots from those precincts were intercepted and
trashed by Louis DeJoy. I'm not buying the lower turnout narrative.
  

    
It seems to me that 15 million physical ballots would be a lot to
hide, axon. Someone would notice...
  

    
I do wonder what fuckery went on that we haven't heard...
  

    
>Someone would notice

Evidently not. Not a lot to shred, certainly.
  

    
I am truly appreciating all of these posts. It's good not only not
to be alone, but to be with smart, feeling people, too.

What are you hearing from friends and family? I've been talking to
the Wellbeings here; I sent an email of love and caring to circle of
good friends; and my sisters and I have been zinging messages back
and forth. These are all like-minded people. I haven't talked to
anyone who may have voted for Trump, but tbf, that's my life. AFAIK
I don't know anyone who would have.

Amongst my circle it's been messages of shared love and support,
shell-shock, and a great deal of discussion about where to move. 

You?
  

    
My circle is much the same. Lots of anger, but also lots of
self-care and people looking out for each other.
  

    
Same here.
  

    
Good day all. 

Yes, there has been a lot of checking in with friends and family
over the past day, and a lot more to do, too. It's tangible and
feels real.

I've been an environmental journalist for about two decades now.
Compared to activism, this work has felt like a very good fit with
my skills and worldview (accuracy and facts over groupthink and
cant), and has given me a mission — since I have believed that good
journalism contributes to improving the world, at however small or
large a scale.

For a combination of institutional, personal and health reasons my
work load is modest right now. So I can't just burrow into work to
get myself through this latest grief, coasting on my past
convictions until they start to feel authentic again.

So today, I am spending a solid chunk of time cleaning and
organizing my apartment, to try and ground myself in the immediate
reality that I have a safe, pleasant home and haven, one that's
likely to remain my home (if I want it) no matter what comes next,
and it's a privilege to have these things and good for my spirit and
soul to remember all of that.
  

    
I baked cookies and ate them with some neighbors last night. It
didn’t fix anything, but for a short while we remembered that there
are still good people and delicious things to eat.
  

    
I was deeply moved by something <jonl> posted elsewhere

<https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/>

and by something <therese> posted elsewhere

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCna8cLHgMI>

and both suggest reconnecting with friends as part of healing and
moving forward in resistance
  

    
I've been reading a book that goes into detail on American history in the
late 1800s. That's when the spoils system that had been the default in the
federal government was gradually abandoned and civil service reform led to
the professional, nonpartisan, independent federal workforce that made
America great. Trump plans to upend that with an executive order and stock
the bureaucracy with hacks and cronies five levels deep by firing the lot of
top managers and leaving the rest open to manipulation.

This ought to concern Republicans and Democrats alike. Congress ought to do
something. The near certainty that it won't kept me awake a lot last night.
  

    
I've been stress baking as well.
  

    
Larry, I've been reading that article Jon posted, as well. Yesterday
I could not get far. Today I'm almost to the end. 
  

    
Of all the ways I thought our republic might end, I never dreamed it
would be because a fake reality TV show host couldn't take a joke.
  

    
Over at Vox, political reporter Andrew Prokop writes,

"Kamala Harris lost the presidential election and Democrats lost
control of the Senate.

"But when you zoom in on the details of that result, there’s a
striking pattern: Democratic Senate candidates are outperforming
Harris. Or, put another way, Republican Senate candidates are doing
worse than Trump...

"...Some might argue for racism or sexism explaining Harris’s
struggles, but I’d note that several of the Democratic candidates
who overperformed Harris were nonwhite or female. Others might argue
that she was a uniquely flawed candidate or campaigner, but
President Joe Biden was on track to do much worse if he’d stayed in
the race.

"My suspicion is that Harris’s electoral struggles were more about
Biden’s unpopularity and her association with his administration
than any newfound love of the American public for the Republican
Party generally."

https://www.vox.com/2024-elections/383197/kamala-harris-results-underperformed
-democratic-senate-candidates
  

    
I don't understand why Biden was so unpopular, but I agree that was
a big headwind Harris had to face. I also don't understand why she
didn't do more to try and set herself apart from his administration:

Kamala Harris Lost Her Way After ‘The View’ Interview Left Her
Campaign Stranded With Joe Biden 

<https://variety.com/2024/tv/columns/kamala-harris-the-view-joe-biden-123620302
2/>
  

    
>didn't do more to try and set herself apart from his administration

Because it had a Hall of Fame season.
  

    

Good news: Democrat Laura Gillen has won New York's fourth
congressional district. Talk about every vote counting: It was
182,771 for Gillen, vs 176,623 for Republican Anthony D'Esposito.

That puts the House currently at 196 Democrats, 209 Republicans.
Thirty races have not yet been called.
  

    
Oh that is awesome news. Thank you Emily!
  

    
Unsurprising, but my Congressmember, Val Hoyle, has been reelected
in a district that last elected a Republican in 1972.
  

    
Oops; the link:
https://www.kezi.com/news/freshman-democrat-val-hoyle-wins-reelection-to-us-ho
use-in-oregon-s-4th-congressional-district/article_7acecd26-9275-5adb-9003-00f
21e30e8a6.html
  

    
Good to focus on the victories.