Weekend Reading: The Onward Edition

I broke my cardinal rule of Facebook and posted something that wasn't a picture of my kids or about our travels. I posted something about the election result, and wanting to make sure hate speech doesn't become normal. So far, so good. The only slight argument was from exactly who I expected it to be from. I have said I won't engage in argument except in private messages, because the examples of actual real people for whom I worry are not mine to share in public. We'll see if she contacts me. I'm going to try to explain the worry if she does. I want the "it will be OK" folks to understand why a lot of us don't trust in that.

Anyway, on to the links.

First some perspective on how amazing it is that Hillary got as far as she did:

Dr. Jen Gunter on not giving up, because most of our advances don't happen on the first try.

Christina Wolbrecht on the historical context of Hillary's run.

She won the popular vote. By a substantial margin.

Some news that apparently doesn't bother any Republican leaders much:

Russia acknowledges they were in contact with the Trump campaign.

Trump is already breaking long held democratic norms, and why it matters.

Racist emails at Penn, apparently sent from a group in Oklahoma.

I haven't heard any Republican leader say anything about the hate speech and scattered racist attacks that are being reported. If I had a Republican representing me in Congress, I'd consider writing to ask why. As it is, I wish a reporter or two would take it upon themselves to call every single Republican in elected office in this country until they can find someone willing to denounce this. Report back to us what they say. Contact Trump's staff after every single reported incident to ask for comment, and let us know what they say.

(Speaking of the press: the press outlets we respect need our support right now. They are gearing up for legal battles, too. I've started back in on my list of press outlets to support. I hope you'll all make your own lists and support how you can. We need our free press more than ever.)

Trump's "blind trust" is not blind:

This is not what a blind trust is. Huge credibility point for media to not use the phrase. https://t.co/Xj8whRCh4G

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 11, 2016

Everything we know about how Trump has behaved to date tells us he is going to try to extract as much money as he can from being President. This is not normal, and it definitely is not OK.

And who knows? Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell may get screwed over by Trump, too. He's all over the place about Obamacare.

If someone tells you we just need more empathy for the white rural voter, here are a couple of things to send them:

Patrick Thornton, who grew up in rural Ohio and now lives in DC, writes persuasively that the people in the bubble are his friends back home.

Still, I'm happy to learn more about the problems whites in rural America face. In return, I'd like them to think about how hard it is to explain this election result to a child who is brown. I'm sending this link to everyone who sends me those Cracked articles from now on. I have struggled to answer my children's questions. My kids are two privileged white kids who are at no increased risk for teasing (or worse) because of this election result, and I have struggled. Spare a thought for our fellow parents who have a much harder explanation to navigate.

On moving forward:

A letter from Leslie Knope, written by one of the writers on Parks and Rec.

The SPLC's post about responding to everyday bigotry.

David Frum asks if the Republican party can contain Trump. It doesn't look to me like they're trying, to be honest. Which means Democrats in Congress will have to be very smart about how they work with what power they have to contain him. This is why I hope we don't get into a stupid drawn out fight over who should be the next DNC chair. We have more important tasks at hand.

Speaking of the Democrats: Kamala Harris (my new senator) puts Trump on notice.

California's state legislative leaders are ready for a fight to protect all Californians.

Surviving in an autocracy. (This one you might want to read with a good stiff drink, if that is your sort of thing. That it is the "freedom isn't free" crowd who brought us here will be hilariously ironic to future historians, I'm sure.)

Ken White of Popehat on what we do now.

Brian Beutler's comparison to a hurricane is a good one. We don't really know how bad it will be, but we should still prepare.

Charles M. Blow signs up for the resistance.

Facebook is facing criticism for its problem with fake news. Mark Zuckerberg's case that it doesn't spread fake news is perhaps undermined by the fact that today, Facebook declared a lot of very much alive people dead. It is impossible not to laugh at this. Here are my favorite jokes:

The carriage held but just ourselves
And what happen next, you totally won't believe! https://t.co/xYKKcjdkg7

— kzstan  ʕ•ᴥ•ʔノo (@kzstan) November 11, 2016

I'm only dead on the inside, @facebook.

— Alex Fitzpatrick (@AlexJamesFitz) November 11, 2016

Hold onto and share the good response stories, to remind us that we can do this:

In response to a girl getting shoved and told "no n*ggers allowed", about 100 Baylor students are walking her to class today. So proud pic.twitter.com/oeFeAM3p3k

— spaghetti (@HannahSpag) November 11, 2016

And finally, we need some fun to replenish us for our fight. Here, have a rap about Homo floresiensis:



And a bunny, ready to fight:

pic.twitter.com/tJhc2F8xR8

— うさぎ島の写真bot (@rabbit_isle_bot) November 11, 2016

Coincidentally, that is my new pinned tweet, too.

Wishing us all luck and as much happiness as we can create in the days ahead.