November 30, 2024: Welcome to our November cocktail hour. I’m happy you’ve dropped by but I must apologize for my dark and gloomy mood. Instead of drinking celebratory drinks as I’d hope to do after our election, I feel more like drinking myself into oblivion, either that or never getting out of bed again. Hopefully I will find myself among people who enjoy reading my blog, people who haven’t revealed themselves (as yet) to be fascists and racists, and people who love to travel, to have adventures, to explore the world and get to know other cultures. People who aren’t afraid of, but rather celebrate, the diversity among us, and those who hope for progress in the world and in humanity.
Let’s go for the hard stuff today. A pour of tequila, a dirty martini, a glass of Scotch — anything to numb ourselves from the disgusting realization that we, here in the U.S., live among almost 77 million freaking a$$holes. This is how I categorize them: imbeciles; willful ignoramuses; greedy power-hungry billionaires and rich people who don’t want to pay their share of taxes for the common good; “Christian” nationalists; Fascists; or racist white supremacists. Or the idiots that were worried about the freaking “price of eggs” just because right-wing media has fed them a bunch of lies about what is mostly one of the strongest economies in the world following the pandemic. Sure, we have inflation, but it’s been coming down and most other countries are suffering the same problem.
I also have a variety of beers, soda or seltzer water if you don’t want a hard drink. 🙂
How are things going after the beginning of the demise of the U.S.? Actually, I imagine many countries will gleefully watch as we fall into a hellscape our children could never have imagined. Have you read any good books that can inform your worldview, seen any good movies, binge-watched any television series? Have you planned any adventures or had any fall getaways? Have you dreamed any dreams? Gone to any exotic restaurants, cooked any new dishes? Have you been surprised by anything in life? Have you found something to be thankful for during the U.S. Thanksgiving, or in your life in general if you’re not in the U.S.? Have you learned anything new, taken any classes or just kept up with the news? Or have you decided to bury your heads in the sand and cut yourself off from all news sources for the next four (or more) years? Have you sung along with any new songs? Have you undertaken any new exercise routines? Have you marched or otherwise participated in political protests? Have you been battered, or alternately, uplifted by any news?
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On November 2, we went to see the deeply troubling yet powerful movie, Lee, about War correspondent & photographer Lee Miller. She documented the horrors people faced, especially women, under fascism during World War II. Lee Miller, played by Kate Winslet in the movie, was a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II.
The movie felt especially prescient in the days leading up to our election where one candidate, Trump, has brainwashed a huge number of American citizens to embrace violence, hatred and fascist rhetoric. This has got to be especially disturbing to the Greatest Generation who sacrificed so much to fight the despicable Nazis in World War II.
Once out of the dark movie theater we went to Artie’s to embrace the light, have a drink in hopes of a positive outcome to the election, and to eat a delicious meal with our friendly bartender Remy, who greets everyone with “Hello beautiful people!” I’m hoping that the beautiful, loving and caring people of this country come together on Tuesday to reject the fascism, violence, retribution, and divisiveness which would be the hallmarks of another Trump presidency.
After our dinner at Artie’s, I continued my regular daily walks in Reston and Vienna and tried not to think about the coming election.
Then, on November 5, the election was held and all hope was crushed. The despicable convicted felon and insurrectionist-in-chief, Donald Trump, won the presidential election. It’s unbelievable that a criminal (he has 34 felonies), a traitor (tried to overthrow the election results on January 6, 2021), and the most vindictive and hateful person in this country, who ran a campaign on divisiveness, fearmongering, hatred and gloom, won out over a highly-qualified, sharp-minded woman who has shown herself to be a tough prosecutor and who ran a campaign, with Tim Walz, on unity and joy.
I had so many hopes for our country, but in this sickening vote by just under 50% of American voters (the rest voted for Harris or someone else), the most disgusting scumbag won our election over a highly qualified woman. Plenty of pundits have tried to analyze the results and I have my own opinions, mostly about the huge amount of misinformation gullibly swallowed by those who are mired in right wing media outlets, especially Fox News and Elon Musk’s cesspool, the Nazi swastika-look-alike X; the rampant greed of the top 1%; and the willful ignorance of the American people. It’s embarrassing to be an American right now.
Anyway, I am going to be disengaging from politics for the next 4 years, and have deleted almost every news source from my Instagram, especially sources that I used to trust who failed miserably by normalizing Trump (NPR & many others) or by refusing to publish, in the final weeks before the election, already-written endorsements for Harris for president (The Washington Post & The LA Times).
Mike dragged me out to dinner at Ariake on that dreadful night, Nov. 6, when we got the final results. I felt like someone had beat me up with a sledgehammer and I look like it in the first photo. But I attempted a smile and will attempt to find whatever joy I can find while trying my best to disengage politically as the country is destroyed by forces equivalent to the American Taliban. I refuse to listen to all the pundits on mainstream media (I never do anyway) and will only listen to the late night comedians, especially Seth Meyers (“A Closer Look”), Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, because they are anti-Trump and at least they put a humorous spin on things. Anybody that posts any photos or videos of Trump on my Instagram or elsewhere will be immediately blocked. I never want to see his orange ugly face nor hear his disgusting voice. I’m hoping to spend as much of the next four years out of this country as possible, for the primary reason that I cannot bear to be in the midst of 77 million “Ugly Americans.”
I took down my yard sign while wearing my Harris-Walz T-shirt and I’m still keeping my signs on a chair in my garage where everyone can see them when we open our garage door. Here, I record for posterity that I voted on the right side of history and I will NEVER regret my vote as I watch the country descend into madness. As for The Washington Post headline below, this shows how awful the media in this country has become at normalizing Trump. The Post is my local paper but we are cutting back our subscription, one because in the weeks before the election, they refused to publish an endorsement of Harris that editors had already written. Then billionaire Jeff Bezos, who owns the newspaper, went to meet with Trump personally (and kiss his ring?). The headline makes the election result seem like a good thing! This is despicable coming from a paper that has historically leaned left.
Leonard Cohen said it all in his song “Everybody Knows:”
“Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes Everybody knows.”
A trip to Union Market and a night out at Mazadar on the 9th and 10th helped us continue to process our grief over the ongoing demise of our democracy, the wholesale destruction of the environment, the erosion of human rights and dignity for every single person, the hateful and demonizing rhetoric, and the already-underway attack on our Constitution by a new administration bent on burning it all to the ground to line their own pockets.
We found a sense of community at Union Market as we discovered murals that celebrate our diversity and our need to vote for women. We met and commiserated with others who were as disgusted and disappointed by the outcome of the election as we were. We ate food from other cultures and Mike got me a couple of gifts for our anniversary (on Nov 13) at a Latino market. I LOVE the diversity and richness of this country and DESPISE the attitude of white supremacy that now seems to prevail. A bookseller at Politics & Prose recommended a book, I think it was post-apocalyptic, where a Native community in Canada was living in perfect harmony until a bunch of white people came and ruined it. I said, in a joking way but not really joking at all, “White people ruin everything!” I got several nods and a young white man pushing a baby stroller said, with great angst in his voice, something to the effect that “That election was a disgusting travesty,” as he overheard my rather loud comment. Walking around there in D.C. made me calm down a bit and to realize there are many people who feel as I do. We who voted on the right side of history are NOT ALONE. There are actually large numbers of us and we do have power.
We celebrated our 36th (29th) anniversary at Mama Tigre (Mexican Remixed… infused with Indian spices) on Wednesday, November 13th. It was a good way to add a pound or two just in time for Thanksgiving. 🙄😤😳🙃
Over the month, the kids sent us some family pictures, which helped us feel connected to the family.
Mike and I took a 4.8 mile walk one beautiful Sunday, the 17th, around Burke Lake. I continued to do my daily walks and enjoy the beautiful leaves, which still seem to be hanging on to the trees late in November. We’ve had an unusually warm fall.
On the 23rd, Mike and I made a trip to Richmond to look at houses with a realtor. I imagined that selling our house in Northern Virginia, where real estate is outrageously expensive, would give us plenty of money to find a decent house in Richmond, a much smaller city. This was not the case at all from what I saw. The whole trip, where we drove around Richmond neighborhoods and looked at 8 houses, turned out to be extremely disappointing. Now, I’m not sure I want to move to Richmond at all. I’m not going to move to a worse house than the one we have (unless it’s an apartment in another country)!
Thanksgiving here was a subdued affair, with Mike’s sister Barbara the only one in attendance. We commiserated about the election loss and what it means for the country and the world. I know the U.S. is the laughingstock of the world right now, and I hate it because I’m not one of those who voted for one of the worst humans on the planet. I didn’t want to bother cooking a whole Thanksgiving dinner for 3 people, so I bought a prepared meal from Whole Foods and just reheated everything. Pumpkin pie is my favorite of the Thanksgiving meal, and of course I indulged in two nice slices topped with whipped cream. The three of us played a game of Ticket to Ride, with Mike winning, and then watched a couple of Thanksgiving episodes from Friends.
We will see the rest of the stateside family in Atlanta for Christmas and Adam & family in February, along with a trip to Mexico and possibly Costa Rica to look for a one-year lease on an apartment (so we can easily drive back and forth to Nicaragua to visit the growing family). I couldn’t live there for more than one year though, because I hate the heat.
Finally, on the last day of November, Mike and I drove northwest about an hour to Frederick, Maryland, where we ate brunch at Isabella’s and then wandered up and down the festive streets of the town. We did some Christmas shopping in small locally owned shops. I have decided I’d rather spend my money with small local businesses than give more money to Amazon, thus making Jeff Bezos richer.
I only finished three books in November , bringing my total to 45/52 (still 2 books behind schedule to reach my annual goal). One of them was pretty good, The Inland Sea by Donald Richie, about the author’s travels through the Seto Inland Sea in Japan in the 1970s; the other, All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy, was best in its second half (I almost gave up on it during the first half). This novel, set in India and Bali, was especially fascinating for its historical side, which took place in the 1930s, and featured the famous Walter Spies, an artist who promoted Balinese culture and yet, as an “enemy” German citizen, was interred by the Dutch in Bali for two years only to die when his ship was bombed by the Japanese en route to Ceylon. We saw three movies in November: Lee, which I talked about above; Släptaget (Let Go), an endearing Swedish movie that we streamed on Netflix; and Blitz , an okay movie which we streamed on Apple TV+. Of course I have utmost respect for what the British went through during the Blitz in WWII, but I didn’t care for the movie itself. We continued watching Grantchester, Pachinko, Trying, Shrinking, Lincoln Lawyer, Another Self, Maestro in Blue, The Bear, and Modern Family.
I hope you’ll share how the year is panning out for you, and what plans you have for December and the wrap-up of 2024. I hope you can share something hopeful to cheer me up, but if you want to share your frustration go ahead! As long as you’re not a pro-Trumper, you are welcome here. Otherwise, NOT.
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Strong words, gloomy thoughts, but I totally agree with you. I’m still worried about the future of the country I love, as I can’t help but think of what happened in my native country, Germany, after January 30, 1933.
Let’s not give up hope, though.
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Thanks for your words, Pit. Yes, these are strong words and gloomy thoughts but I can’t quiet my feelings from coming out on the page. I’m also very worried about this country and I find it hard to believe people could forget or disregard Germany’s history in the 1930s, which led to fascism and the loss of millions of lives, both Jews and soldiers who gave their lives to fight against that madness in WWII. So many people will be affected unless the Republican-majority Senate and House grow some spines and stand up to the outrageous plans of Trump, Elon Musk, and The Heritage Foundation. They have power too, and we can hold out a smidgen of hope that they will exercise it and not let Trump run roughshod over the coequal parts of government. I don’t hold much hope in that regard though, as they had two chances to vote to convict Trump in two impeachments and failed to do so. They could have so easily banned him permanently from the political landscape. I blame Mitch McConnell and all his cohorts for this. I also blame Merrick Garland, who was the most useless Attorney General ever, who sat around for 4 years twiddling his thumbs and didn’t bring Trump to trial for inciting the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
Germany and South Africa have been good, as far as my understanding, at educating their citizens about their shameful histories. With the threatened demise of the Department of Education, I feel we will never come to a reckoning about our horrible history of slavery and colonialism and all the damage we have done all over the world, especially in Latin America. Even during my childhood education in southern Virginia in the 1960s, I was taught that the Civil War had nothing to do with “slavery” but it was about “economics!” So stupid how we all swallowed that myth hook, line and sinker! With the continuing demise of education in the country, the rich will continue to consolidate their power over a stupid populace. I don’t think I’ll live long enough to see progress after this major setback in the American project.
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I hear your pain, anger, and disappointment, Cathy. After venting all these feelings, the only thing left to do is organize and do whatever we can to resist what’s coming down the pipe. We are creating a weekly online group for creatives who will use the time to work on their resistance project. I find myself drawn to historical movies about people who fought the Nazis in whatever form they could. Also reading “Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity and Ingenuity can Change the World,” by Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson. Incredibly inspiring.
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Hi Annette, Thank you for your comment. I agree, we need to do some part in fighting in whatever way we can. Like you, I try to educate myself by reading books and watching historical movies about people who resisted the Nazis during WWII. Have you ever seen the very long TV series The French Village? This series is a bit unprofessionally done (the filming seems rather novice), but it is quite powerful and thought-provoking about how a French village copes with Nazi occupation during WWII. Some people collaborated, some fought for communism, and others just resisted in whatever form they could. The Zone of Interest was a horrible movie about the cold-heartedness of the German families who lived next door to Auschwitz and went about their daily lives while Jews were burning and being gassed next door. I really hated that movie, but it was probably just because of its slow boil and my hatred of those people. And the movie I mentioned above, Lee, was a great movie about photographer Lee Miller during WWII. Atlantic Crossing was a great series about the princess of Norway during WWII and Norway’s fight against the Nazis. Finally, in a near future depiction of Russian occupation of Norway for its oil, Okkupert on Prime Video is another excellent series.
Do you have any in particular that you recommend?
Thanks too for recommending that book. I have looked for it on Amazon and see I can buy it through a third-party seller. Mike said he’s interested in reading it as well. So we’ll definitely read it for inspiration.
As for the online group, I’m not sure I would do that but it sounds like a great idea. We would really like to be out the country for a good deal of time. We are seriously considering at least a year in Costa Rica so we can visit our son and his family in Nicaragua quite easily. After that, who knows, but it won’t be anywhere hot! 🙂
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Many of us across the Atlantic are despondent too that someone so obviously unfit for any form of public office, can win a presidential election. Just hope the checks and balances in the US constitution will stop him doing too much damage.
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I’m so glad to have people across the Atlantic who are also despondent about our recent election result. Thank you for your support and encouragement. I don’t have much hope that checks and balances will work as all three branches of government are now filled with spineless Republican sycophants. They will all bow down to their dear leader, I’m afraid. I’m concerned not only for us, but for the world and the future of democracy, human rights, and the environment.
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I feel your pain, Cathy, and hardly know what to say. You know I agree about Trump. The more I learn about the American political system, the more bizarre it seems – for example, how he could even be president in the first place with no political background. That seems really weird to an outsider. I was sure it was a blip, however here we are again. It truly is beyond sad that millions of people look at him and see their best hope for the future.
Your Leonard Cohen quote is apposite. We saw him in concert the day after Obama was elected and he took great pleasure in announcing the song Democracy is coming to the USA, which got a huge cheer. I felt real hope then that America was becoming a more progressive country. Sadly, it seems Obama was the blip.
In the short term it’s Christmas! Good will to all, etc. Maybe not all exactly though!
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Sadly, Anabel, I don’t think there is much anyone can say. The American political system is a disaster, if you ask me. I love the European systems where people vote for parties and their platforms, where coalitions must be formed, and where the party decides on the leader. With a two-party system such as ours, there no future for us except continual polarization. No third party candidate has a chance in hell of winning an election, and even for those who find both candidates unpalatable, their vote for a third party is a throw-away. I think the framers of the Constitution never envisioned a right-wing political media machine that feeds uneducated and gullible people lies, and then that so many of those same idiotic people would actually vote to put a shady businessman, criminal and traitor into the highest office in the land. I am appalled that a 34-time felon could even run for office, much less be elected by so many people. I really hate being in this country now and am looking to get out. The sad thing is that this election will set us back generations, and may be the end of the democratic experiment. In the worst case scenario, we have another nationalistic Hitler, who turns people against one another and thrives in an atmosphere of hatred and division. I keep foolishly hoping somehow something will save us, but I know that is pure fantasy. A military coup would be the best solution, in my opinion.
Anyway, we have this peaceful lull before he takes office on January 20, although the daily news about his cabinet appointments is terrifying. I hope to celebrate Christmas with the family and then work seriously on getting the heck out of Dodge! Merry Christmas to you and John.
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Europe is moving to the right as well though. And Musk seems to be turning his attention to the UK and promoting the Reform Party which is quite Trumpian in many ways. Even in Scotland which is generally centre-left and uses a proportional system they are forecast to win seats at our next election. Anyway, enough of the doom and gloom! Happy Christmas to you and Mike too and here’s hoping for the best in 2025.
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Hopefully you can move forward and take pleasure in the simple things and your beautiful family. We had a great November, with a trip to Santiago, Chile to embark on a 21 day journey to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica. It was absolutely amazing.
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