
Progressives woke up the day after the election anxious and downhearted. The Blue Wave had turned out to be a Blue Trickle, and progressives, so accustomed to losing, felt predictably lost. Trump, using his deflect-attention-from-his-failures tactic, shrugged off his midterms disaster and promptly fired Jeff Sessions, naming a Trump loyalist (under FBI investigation!) as the acting attorney general who would close down or sharply limit the Muller investigation. Then Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fell and fractured three ribs, and progressives thought oh god oh god Trump will now get to make three Supreme Court appointments! And then a white (again) male (again) killer slew 12 people in yet another mass shooting, this time in California (again). Not to speak of that state being on fire (again). Progressives were pretty depressed. OK, progressives! Time to wake up, sit up, and perk up! Democrats won the House of Representatives—by a little at...
Dear Dr. Blasey, I long to address you as Christine, as do millions of other women who recognize you as a sister in suffering and endurance. But I wish to show respect for your scholarship and the work and expertise that earned you multiple graduate degrees plus your doctorate. I know that you’re married and have children but prefer to use your birth name professionally, hence the address I've used above. Writing this stings my eyes with yet-again rising tears. There is no way to know if you will ever read these words—and indeed, why should you? There's no way to know if or when you'll have the energy, desire, or time to even sample the millions of communications you've received from women spilling out the stories of their own survival from sexual assault, and expressing their gratitude for the inspiration of your courage in coming forward. Whether are not you...