I agree with this, but want to add in something else that has permeated my thinking. It relates to what you said about the speed of the news cycle. Too many of us are reacting with a similar speed and not taking time to digest new information. Also too much of "the news" is repetitive ad nauseam. It has been said that a lie repeated often enough and vigorously enough soon becomes perceived as the truth. That's one of the premises in Orwell's 1984. Trump literally flooded the zone with his lies with the result a significant portion of the electorate was convinced despite the actual facts.
After the loss, I stopped watching/listening to broadcast media and turned only to a number of respected and trusted print/online sources . . . I try to stay away from the corporate news behemoths, but do realize I cannot completely ignore them either.
it is like this . . . when voters go to the polls and vote for someone (or something) that cuts against their interests one needs to consider why that happened.
Good advice, Elliot. But if we wait to long to find a way out of this quagmire that has been thrust upon us, we may wake up to find ourselves in the depths of a dictatorial morass.
Hi Fay, I totally agree with what you say. My fear is, we entered the election with a half-cocked idea no one would vote for !!!. (Just can't write his name.) His backers have spent 50 years honing and subverting opinion. We can resist... but it seems better to move in the right direction than to move quickly and to have a long term strategy. The Federalists have convinced both/all sides we cannot trust each other. If we try to do something before we've thought this through it will simply increase distrust. We are going to be stuck in said morass what ever we do. So like 'tar baby' we need a prickly briar patch. That is not going to be people's first thought.
High Lynn, I agree with you, Fay, and Elliot. Thank you for the term briar patch. That took me back to my Southern childhood education. Between you two, and Elliot's clear and generous description of his process, which includes his briar patch, y'all have given me plenty of food for thought. My mind is spinning with definitions of skepticism, cynicism, and apathy regarding my thinking and that of the majority of voters, commenters, and writers of articles I have recently read from the New York Times.
We are hoping you, Elliot, help us see how we use the briar patch we are caught in to escape (ala 'tar baby') or at least build immunity for everyone... like medicine uses weak pathogens to build immunity.
There are democratic organizations on the ground who are starting the resistance already. So find who they are and hitch your wagon to their star. I will gladly sign petitions by the hundreds if necessary. I have little money, but will do what I can. My biggest worry is what will happen to my social security and medicare , it is all I have. I'm aware that his supporters don't care if everyone else has to live under a bridge. But if THEY end up under a bridge, wait for the screaming. It will commence when prices do not go down. Let the whining start!!!
Hi Marjorie, For us seniors it will more likely be dying under a bridge. I'm having a hard enough time staying alive in my apartment. So it seems like whining is the proper response. How else are these young'un going to know what harm he is doing. I think everyone cares, it's what they are willing to ''care for' that is to be determined.
I agree Marjorie. The majority of seniors are dependent on Social Security and Medicare. I have 2 small pensions that pay my rent phone bill and food for me and Callie (my cat). But if I lost Social Security I'd only be able to pay for my rent and phone. As for Medicare everyone who isn't super rich and over the age of 65 must have Medicare in order to have any insurance because the insurance companies insist on it.
The voters decided they prefer a convicted felon with many more indictments to an accomplished Black woman. They prefer to ignore mainstream media to reside in a right wing house of lies and distortions. They don't want truth. They think whatever Trump does will be done to Others. Not to them. They think a couple of billionaires understand them and will make their lives better. They either didn't read Project 2025 or chose to ignore it. Just wait. A year from now there will be buyer's remorse with no way to improve their lives. Maybe they will come to understand that Trump lied to them. More likely Trump will blame any and everything on Democrats, migrants, Jews, Black's and Hispanics. Because he is never at fault.
I have been told unequivocally that Kamala Harris is unqualified to be president. That summed up for me the parlous state of American political thinking.
I found very similar comments on X last week. Like they are all using right wing talking points. Clearly, no woman who served as a prosecutor, attorney general, senator and VP is stupid!
But what really frosts me is the " she slept her way to the top." The absolute idiocy of saying an elected official slept their way up!
The misogyny is horrendous. And women were making the same remarks!
Thanks Elliot - to extended on your cake metaphor - Those who supported tfg will have this “claggy” cake and eat it too - in time I suspect it will give many of them indigestion.
I absolutely love this post. Love the baking analogy, love the term claggy (and that it came from the British Baking Show). And I love that you are promoting grace in the analysis of the things that could have gone better, and in the path forward. I am currently occupying the space of building community and getting busy locally. For now this is helping.
I do think we lost sight of the ball. As a rural voter, I feel like it is important to hear from other rural voters, especially those who vote differently than I do as well as those who don't vote at all. So I am heading out to the local coffee shops to begin a listening journey.
Thanks again for all you do. We are all grateful for you and for these posts. Peace.
Thank you, I appreciate your comment. I always told my students that listening is a powerful form of communication. More often than not, we find that the things folks are motivated by, interested in, etc. are not at all what we might have assumed them to be.
Listening is also a great way to build trust. I feel like trust is one of many things that has been eroded in our communities over the last few years.
So off I go on my listening journey to the local coffee shops! Let's create a coffee shop coalition, and perhaps we can start to make a difference. Peace.
Your writings ground me. I know grief in many forms and have tried to step back and let the dust settle before jumping to more conclusions other than this is truly dark time. It sounds trite and cliche though it’s the truth. Step away, regroup and stay steady to your convictions and the importance of defending our democracy.
Nice. It certainly is a tough time to be clear. Let’s control the few things we can, make good personal choices, and give time a chance to heal some of the wounds. I realize some among us won’t have the luxury of waiting very long before things start to come into focus, but I will stand by and help them if I can.
If fingers are to be pointed, I’d direct my own pointing at media, social and otherwise. Faux news, for one, but a majority of the big news companies over the past near decade have watered down trump’s negative rhetoric and personal/political bad behavior. They haven’t come out and printed the truth about this disaster of a man, from demeaning our fallen dead, his dismal and catastrophic handling of Covid 19, his whining about how hard done by he is when the judicual system tried to hold him accountable, two impeachments, obstruction on to of obstruction, demeaning the handicapped, his festering misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia, his constant lying, lying and more lying to hide theft of classified and secret documents upon leaving the White House. And then there is Jan 6. If ever a man should have heen charged with treason it was trump. Why didn’t they plaster tge truth across the front page? And when journslists were belittled, attacked and their questions not answered where was their publisher’s support in getting to the truth? And shall we discuss the humanitarian crisis he caused when separating children, especially young children of immigrants from their parents, not to mention the cases where ICE agents were accused of sexual misconduct towards them? Every moment of this slug-bait’s existence is a cautionary tale of woe. How he got to this state of human misery is beside the point. That he has been allowed to foul the minds of those attending his rallies with hatred, violence and lies is incomprehensible and should have been investigated for the harm they cause. They are hate crimes used to incite violence. Call and response is evidence and ongoing. Finger pointing should also be leveled at Garland; too slow to act, too meek to follow through, and totally ineffective. There is no blame to be foisted on VP Harris, who ran a perfect, honorable campaign of intelligence and integrity.
Garland is lazy and has been incompetent. I love Joe, but some of the fault lies with him. He kept Garland in the job. John Flannery, former federal prosecutor, has been honest with his opinion of same. And now all charges in NY are being dropped. It is not true that you cannot indict a sitting President. It is giving in without a fight. So disgusted. And with those who did not bother to vote. We have become a lazy citizenry and EVERYONE will now suffer.
Your wisdom, Elliot, is so clear about what accurately is so claggy, a word I just learned from you. The desire to explain, to have some certainty, is (I believe) a very human strategy to deal with too much discomfort when there is no clarity. Pointing fingers is dangerous, because when your index finger is pointing out, there are three more fingers pointing back at you. People often forget that. For each factor that one of us could identify as “the problem“ or “part of the problem“ there are so many other factors we either overlook or just can’t identify. That applies to what others might accuse each of us as not having done or doing less than well. I think you are correct in encouraging waiting and looking forward with some attention to the past but not exclusively looking to the past. I so appreciate being able to move through the fog with you andyour readers.
"Claggy" sounds interesting, but since I've never heard the term, it doesn't really clang any bells with me.
However, in reading Al Pacino's new autobiography, "Sonny Boy," he used an expression to describe how he's viewed some of the not-so-hot films in which he acted apart from the blockbusters like the Godfather, etc. He, at least, admired them.
"I guess I thought there had to be a pony in all that horseshit."
So, I looked up the expression on you.com, the AI search engine. It reports that the line was a favorite of Ronald Reagan, who knew something about the subject.
It kinda raises the distinction between optimism and pessimism, the story being that a psychiatrist puts two young brothers in separate rooms, each containing a lot of manure, asking them to find something of value.
The pessimist throws up his hands and quits immediately.
The optimist comes out with the quoted line.
I'd hate to try and describe which room we've living in based on what's promising to come up, since either way, optimist or pessimist, I suspect we're in for a ride.
3% is not a mandate. Trump won 51%. Harris won 48% … so a 3% difference …. How is that a landslide … how is that a mandate … that is a razor close election … 1/2 of America does not agree with Trump/MAGA
THIS has to be the best thing I’ve heard since the election. It reminds me that I need to take a deep breath and take a break from the hysteria that’s so plentiful. I’m older and reasonably concerned, however, I refuse to feed the news cycle with my attendance….glad to say that I did this after Kamala’s "run for the roses❣️" I’ve been disappointed before and will again, but I’m finding wise choices in my reading and your well balanced, encouraging articles will continue to calm my soul❣️ THANK YOU, ELLIOT
I think if Harris had been a white man, running against Trump, she would have won. Clearly the men of this country are too (insecure? Unenlightened? Untrusting?) to vote for ANY woman.
The second problem, and one the Left can't change, is the dominance of Right Wing spin in so much of the media. People believed the propaganda, which is typical of a Fascist state.
As the headline of the top German newspaper put it this week "Fucked". That pretty much describes it.
I agree with this, but want to add in something else that has permeated my thinking. It relates to what you said about the speed of the news cycle. Too many of us are reacting with a similar speed and not taking time to digest new information. Also too much of "the news" is repetitive ad nauseam. It has been said that a lie repeated often enough and vigorously enough soon becomes perceived as the truth. That's one of the premises in Orwell's 1984. Trump literally flooded the zone with his lies with the result a significant portion of the electorate was convinced despite the actual facts.
After the loss, I stopped watching/listening to broadcast media and turned only to a number of respected and trusted print/online sources . . . I try to stay away from the corporate news behemoths, but do realize I cannot completely ignore them either.
it is like this . . . when voters go to the polls and vote for someone (or something) that cuts against their interests one needs to consider why that happened.
Good advice, Elliot. But if we wait to long to find a way out of this quagmire that has been thrust upon us, we may wake up to find ourselves in the depths of a dictatorial morass.
Hi Fay, I totally agree with what you say. My fear is, we entered the election with a half-cocked idea no one would vote for !!!. (Just can't write his name.) His backers have spent 50 years honing and subverting opinion. We can resist... but it seems better to move in the right direction than to move quickly and to have a long term strategy. The Federalists have convinced both/all sides we cannot trust each other. If we try to do something before we've thought this through it will simply increase distrust. We are going to be stuck in said morass what ever we do. So like 'tar baby' we need a prickly briar patch. That is not going to be people's first thought.
High Lynn, I agree with you, Fay, and Elliot. Thank you for the term briar patch. That took me back to my Southern childhood education. Between you two, and Elliot's clear and generous description of his process, which includes his briar patch, y'all have given me plenty of food for thought. My mind is spinning with definitions of skepticism, cynicism, and apathy regarding my thinking and that of the majority of voters, commenters, and writers of articles I have recently read from the New York Times.
Love the term briar patch. An apt metaphor.
We are hoping you, Elliot, help us see how we use the briar patch we are caught in to escape (ala 'tar baby') or at least build immunity for everyone... like medicine uses weak pathogens to build immunity.
I borrowed it from Lynn Geri
Agreed, but we must act before we reach the point of no return
There are democratic organizations on the ground who are starting the resistance already. So find who they are and hitch your wagon to their star. I will gladly sign petitions by the hundreds if necessary. I have little money, but will do what I can. My biggest worry is what will happen to my social security and medicare , it is all I have. I'm aware that his supporters don't care if everyone else has to live under a bridge. But if THEY end up under a bridge, wait for the screaming. It will commence when prices do not go down. Let the whining start!!!
Hi Marjorie, For us seniors it will more likely be dying under a bridge. I'm having a hard enough time staying alive in my apartment. So it seems like whining is the proper response. How else are these young'un going to know what harm he is doing. I think everyone cares, it's what they are willing to ''care for' that is to be determined.
I agree Marjorie. The majority of seniors are dependent on Social Security and Medicare. I have 2 small pensions that pay my rent phone bill and food for me and Callie (my cat). But if I lost Social Security I'd only be able to pay for my rent and phone. As for Medicare everyone who isn't super rich and over the age of 65 must have Medicare in order to have any insurance because the insurance companies insist on it.
I agree.
The voters decided they prefer a convicted felon with many more indictments to an accomplished Black woman. They prefer to ignore mainstream media to reside in a right wing house of lies and distortions. They don't want truth. They think whatever Trump does will be done to Others. Not to them. They think a couple of billionaires understand them and will make their lives better. They either didn't read Project 2025 or chose to ignore it. Just wait. A year from now there will be buyer's remorse with no way to improve their lives. Maybe they will come to understand that Trump lied to them. More likely Trump will blame any and everything on Democrats, migrants, Jews, Black's and Hispanics. Because he is never at fault.
I have been told unequivocally that Kamala Harris is unqualified to be president. That summed up for me the parlous state of American political thinking.
I found very similar comments on X last week. Like they are all using right wing talking points. Clearly, no woman who served as a prosecutor, attorney general, senator and VP is stupid!
But what really frosts me is the " she slept her way to the top." The absolute idiocy of saying an elected official slept their way up!
The misogyny is horrendous. And women were making the same remarks!
Very well stated. I find you may be totally right!
Thanks Elliot - to extended on your cake metaphor - Those who supported tfg will have this “claggy” cake and eat it too - in time I suspect it will give many of them indigestion.
I love your analogy and quick wit.
I absolutely love this post. Love the baking analogy, love the term claggy (and that it came from the British Baking Show). And I love that you are promoting grace in the analysis of the things that could have gone better, and in the path forward. I am currently occupying the space of building community and getting busy locally. For now this is helping.
I do think we lost sight of the ball. As a rural voter, I feel like it is important to hear from other rural voters, especially those who vote differently than I do as well as those who don't vote at all. So I am heading out to the local coffee shops to begin a listening journey.
Thanks again for all you do. We are all grateful for you and for these posts. Peace.
Thank you
Curtis, I like your coffee shop listening idea. It's been too long since I've done that.
Thank you, I appreciate your comment. I always told my students that listening is a powerful form of communication. More often than not, we find that the things folks are motivated by, interested in, etc. are not at all what we might have assumed them to be.
Listening is also a great way to build trust. I feel like trust is one of many things that has been eroded in our communities over the last few years.
So off I go on my listening journey to the local coffee shops! Let's create a coffee shop coalition, and perhaps we can start to make a difference. Peace.
When did that little child I knew get so wise? Good advice, Elliot. I’ll take it.
I had some pretty good role models and teachers.
Your writings ground me. I know grief in many forms and have tried to step back and let the dust settle before jumping to more conclusions other than this is truly dark time. It sounds trite and cliche though it’s the truth. Step away, regroup and stay steady to your convictions and the importance of defending our democracy.
Nice. It certainly is a tough time to be clear. Let’s control the few things we can, make good personal choices, and give time a chance to heal some of the wounds. I realize some among us won’t have the luxury of waiting very long before things start to come into focus, but I will stand by and help them if I can.
I pray."God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Good luck with that. I have failed at serenity 101.
It has worked for me for 35 years.
Had a friend tell me he is praying this prayer from now on.
I pray it several times most days.
If fingers are to be pointed, I’d direct my own pointing at media, social and otherwise. Faux news, for one, but a majority of the big news companies over the past near decade have watered down trump’s negative rhetoric and personal/political bad behavior. They haven’t come out and printed the truth about this disaster of a man, from demeaning our fallen dead, his dismal and catastrophic handling of Covid 19, his whining about how hard done by he is when the judicual system tried to hold him accountable, two impeachments, obstruction on to of obstruction, demeaning the handicapped, his festering misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia, his constant lying, lying and more lying to hide theft of classified and secret documents upon leaving the White House. And then there is Jan 6. If ever a man should have heen charged with treason it was trump. Why didn’t they plaster tge truth across the front page? And when journslists were belittled, attacked and their questions not answered where was their publisher’s support in getting to the truth? And shall we discuss the humanitarian crisis he caused when separating children, especially young children of immigrants from their parents, not to mention the cases where ICE agents were accused of sexual misconduct towards them? Every moment of this slug-bait’s existence is a cautionary tale of woe. How he got to this state of human misery is beside the point. That he has been allowed to foul the minds of those attending his rallies with hatred, violence and lies is incomprehensible and should have been investigated for the harm they cause. They are hate crimes used to incite violence. Call and response is evidence and ongoing. Finger pointing should also be leveled at Garland; too slow to act, too meek to follow through, and totally ineffective. There is no blame to be foisted on VP Harris, who ran a perfect, honorable campaign of intelligence and integrity.
Garland is lazy and has been incompetent. I love Joe, but some of the fault lies with him. He kept Garland in the job. John Flannery, former federal prosecutor, has been honest with his opinion of same. And now all charges in NY are being dropped. It is not true that you cannot indict a sitting President. It is giving in without a fight. So disgusted. And with those who did not bother to vote. We have become a lazy citizenry and EVERYONE will now suffer.
Your wisdom, Elliot, is so clear about what accurately is so claggy, a word I just learned from you. The desire to explain, to have some certainty, is (I believe) a very human strategy to deal with too much discomfort when there is no clarity. Pointing fingers is dangerous, because when your index finger is pointing out, there are three more fingers pointing back at you. People often forget that. For each factor that one of us could identify as “the problem“ or “part of the problem“ there are so many other factors we either overlook or just can’t identify. That applies to what others might accuse each of us as not having done or doing less than well. I think you are correct in encouraging waiting and looking forward with some attention to the past but not exclusively looking to the past. I so appreciate being able to move through the fog with you andyour readers.
Death Throws
The flag is burning
red engulfs
the space of stars.
Morning clouds
turn to raging fire.
An eagle drags
a salmon through
fiery sky
to the top of a broken
fir tree.
Daily minutia dissolves
to interesting
times, that old curse
to test if
there is worse than death.
While Liberty melts
into the Atlantic
virgin postmortems
sacrificially leap into the
volcanic fire
insuring not a thread is left.
Very touching
Thank you Veronica.
Thank you Lynn. Do not go gentle into that good night.
Other than Liberty, it also reminds me of Red Shift, the proof of the expansion of the universe, and the darkening of galaxies flying away.
"Claggy" sounds interesting, but since I've never heard the term, it doesn't really clang any bells with me.
However, in reading Al Pacino's new autobiography, "Sonny Boy," he used an expression to describe how he's viewed some of the not-so-hot films in which he acted apart from the blockbusters like the Godfather, etc. He, at least, admired them.
"I guess I thought there had to be a pony in all that horseshit."
So, I looked up the expression on you.com, the AI search engine. It reports that the line was a favorite of Ronald Reagan, who knew something about the subject.
It kinda raises the distinction between optimism and pessimism, the story being that a psychiatrist puts two young brothers in separate rooms, each containing a lot of manure, asking them to find something of value.
The pessimist throws up his hands and quits immediately.
The optimist comes out with the quoted line.
I'd hate to try and describe which room we've living in based on what's promising to come up, since either way, optimist or pessimist, I suspect we're in for a ride.
3% is not a mandate. Trump won 51%. Harris won 48% … so a 3% difference …. How is that a landslide … how is that a mandate … that is a razor close election … 1/2 of America does not agree with Trump/MAGA
Thank you for your thoughtful “thoughts” on the current world we are living in. They reflect the confusion I have been living in.
THIS has to be the best thing I’ve heard since the election. It reminds me that I need to take a deep breath and take a break from the hysteria that’s so plentiful. I’m older and reasonably concerned, however, I refuse to feed the news cycle with my attendance….glad to say that I did this after Kamala’s "run for the roses❣️" I’ve been disappointed before and will again, but I’m finding wise choices in my reading and your well balanced, encouraging articles will continue to calm my soul❣️ THANK YOU, ELLIOT
I think if Harris had been a white man, running against Trump, she would have won. Clearly the men of this country are too (insecure? Unenlightened? Untrusting?) to vote for ANY woman.
The second problem, and one the Left can't change, is the dominance of Right Wing spin in so much of the media. People believed the propaganda, which is typical of a Fascist state.
As the headline of the top German newspaper put it this week "Fucked". That pretty much describes it.