Amidst the confusion, and despair, and disbelief, it was suggested to me by a very close friend of mine (I won’t say her name to protect her identity) (Ann. It was Ann) that perhaps a few people would enjoy hearing my thoughts on this election. So I sat down at my computer, cleared my head, and opened a document.

Then I started crying....

...I acknowledge that Donald Trump is the president. I understand, intellectually, that he won the election. But I do not accept that our country has descended into the hatred-swirled slop pile that he lives in. I reject out of hand the notion that we have thrown up our hands and succumbed to racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and crypto-fascism. I do not accept that. I reject that. I fight that. Today, and tomorrow, and every day until the next election, I reject and fight that story.

we did get hit hard but we rise up #election2016

Taking stock of the damage --> If Trump delivers on his campaign promises, we could be facing the end of Obamacare and a repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms that sought to check the banks following the financial crisis. But the biggest casualty of his presidency could be the planet. The Paris Agreement, an insufficient but important first step hammered out after years of negotiations by the countries responsible for the majority of the world's climate change-causing pollution, will become largely impotent without American participation. But Trump's advisors have a plan to pull us out of it during his first 100 days in office.

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, noted early this morning, "The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism... On January 20, 2017, we will bid farewell to the first African-American President -- a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit -- and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety."

"... But despair is no answer. To combat authoritarianism, to call out lies, to struggle honorably and fiercely in the name of American ideals -- that is what is left to do. That is all there is to do."

crying helps me grieve

I'm numb

The Trump Nightmare Is Here!

by Hrag Vartanian

It's a dark day in America. I'm numb. Many of us are right now.

I didn't think Leone Ermer's "The Nightmare," which I posted at the top of yesterday's liveblog, would be so prescient, but, sadly, it is starting to look that way. In the image the female personification of liberty is exposed, passed out on a mattress while a hate-donned monster sits on her chest. The creature is looking at us, trying to figure out if we will help the green woman or ignore her.

That woman once personified a vision of America and she died tonight. She represented the idealism of a country that imagined itself as a beacon of hope for all people but she may have committed suicide, we still don't know. Read More →

How To Talk Politics With Your Worst Enemy (Who You Love), from Only Hum...

Milo and the Book Trailer

Steal Like An Artist Book Trailer from Austin Kleon on Vimeo.

riots?

Miley or Edie?

ANSWER:
After starring in a number of Warhol movies at The Factory , Edie Sedgwick began living at the Chelsea Hotel, where she became close to Bob Dylan. Dylan's manager Paul Morrissey explained that Sedgwick had developed a crush on Dylan and that she thought he reciprocated and were beginning a romantic relationship. Unbeknownst to Sedgwick, Dylan had secretly married his girlfriend Sara Lownds in November 1965.