Two years ago I adopted a teacup (“guaranteed” to stay under 40 pounds!) pig from a family that had bought her to live in their apartment in Harrisburg, PA.

Goddam, I love the ratties. Look at their wee little hands.

“Get your motherfucking pigs outta here! This our town, ya bastids!”- said a spokesman of NYC’s majority species.

I find the silver lining in the fact that assuming we make it through this it’s possible everything can swing very progressive in 2-4 years. People really despise losing rights and Trump isn’t smart enough to make people feel comforted by authority (a vital piece of the puzzle).

I’m afraid the mechanism by which we “bounce back” from upheaval will be the first things Trump will dismantle. This is why the GOP went after their own congressional ethics committee right away. This is also why he’s going to gut federal agencies which are capable of collecting evidence of their kleptocracy, and…

Just look at the reaction to repealing Obamacare. It’s gone from “keep government out of my healthcare” to “but what are you guys going to replace it with?”

It’s not like he’s going to actually pay her. How many times can people keep crawling back to this sadistic leech thinking it’s going to be different with them???

“the deal was reached a week ago, but has been kept ‘a big secret’ because Michele’s camp feared the seven days of criticism that would surely lead up the divisive President-elect’s big day.”

I think it’s *possible* that the United States’ deep history of creative, subversive speech and civil disobedience makes *some* sort of difference in how the dismantling of democracy plays out. On the other hand, working against that is the tendency for us to take these rights and institutions for granted (see: not…

A bright spot. Talking to my Republican, non-Trump voting mom after the election and I mentioned that Holocaust survivors are feeling a sense of familiarity to Nazi Germany. She.....okay brace yourselves. She said that this is what she felt when Obama was elected. Because....oh god.....Obamacare. Yes, my mom compared…

Only WE can save us. The idea that a one savior could swoop in and single-handedly fix what are really complex and collective problems is the type of thinking that allowed Trump to thrive. A massive surge of grassroots participation in democratic institutions might mitigate or slow down the destruction of those…

Perhaps this is me grasping at straws, but I wonder if part of the inevitability of autocracy and failure of resistence in Gessen’s experience is at all related to the fact that Russians had already lived under an oppressive government for generations before Putin came along.

In my more Pollyanna moments, I hope that…

She and Sarah Kendzior  are two clear-eyed writers I read with increasing fear and loathing.

The thing with fascism is that for the majority of people, it’s really easy to just accept it and go along. Too many of us have good enough lives and won’t want to risk safety or comfort for the sake of those who are being attacked. This is a country where half the voters couldn’t even be bothered to go and vote.…

“Write a note to yourself about what you would never do. And when you come to the line, don’t cross it.”

Masha Gessen’s remarkable composure when she discusses impending doom makes her case all the more terrifying. Her interview with Sam Bee was scary, but her writing is downright paralyzing (and vital):

And these are the people who claim to be Christians.

96 %! He only got 4 % of the vote, though Hillary only got 90 %. Still... the city is showing up in droves the next day at the March... I know literally two people not going and one won’t be in town.

I have to assume that Chrisette Michele is minutes from homelessness and just needs any old gig (she hasn’t had a hit in ten years), because otherwise her performance makes absolutely no sense. There’s no overlap between her fan base (well, former fan base) and Trump supporters. Her music doesn’t have a lot of…

And like 90% of the city voted against him, so I’m not sure D.C. will really be there in spirit.