In 2016, I threw an Election Night victory party for Hillary Clinton. It turned into a wake.

In 2016, it was obvious to me and to millions of others that Trump was unfit to be President. There were weak excuses that he might turn out to be more pres­i­den­tial after the campaign was over. Instead, we got the worst president we've ever seen in the US. Morally unfit. Tem­pera­men­tal­ly unfit. Ethically unfit. A patho­log­i­cal liar. A shatterer of alliances. A demagogue, stoking the flames of right-wing violent extremism.

In 2018, there are no excuses for not seeing how dangerous Trump is. Trump himself is not on the ballot, but this is nonethe­less a referendum on …continue.

I came across an in­ter­est­ing post on Medium earlier tonight, How to talk to people you disagree with.

It can be hard to have a fruitful con­ver­sa­tion with people you're at odds with, especially online.

Jeremy Caney has 10 sug­ges­tions:

1. Leave the insults at the door
2. Understand what’s driving their views
3. Speak to their values
4. Know what you’re talking about
5. Ac­knowl­edge when you’re wrong
6. Stay focused on the issue at hand
7. Be prepared to take heat from your team
8. Don’t expect ca­pit­u­la­tion
9. Know when to walk away
10. Be mindful of the onlookers

Donald Trump is now claiming (WaPo):

Speaking to the U.S. Central Command on Monday, President Trump went off his prepared remarks to make a truly stunning claim: The media was in­ten­tion­al­ly covering up reports of terrorist attacks.

“You’ve seen what happened in Paris, and Nice. All over Europe, it’s happening,” he said to the assembled military leaders. “It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported. And in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that.”

More: The Atlantic, Vice.

This is ridiculous on the face of it. With literally billions of cellphone cameras in cir­cu­la­tion and hundreds …continue.

Trump was in­au­gu­rat­ed as 45th President on Friday, drawing smaller crowds than either of Obama's in­au­gu­ra­tions. There were prompt, easily disproved lies from Trump and his press secretary that Trump had drawn record crowds.

On Saturday, huge crowds all over the US and elsewhere marched in opposition to Trump and his agenda. 500,000 marched in Washington DC—far more than attended the Trump In­au­gu­ra­tion. That crowd included my 4-year-old niece, her mother, her aunt, and her cousin, as well as other friends from all over the country. 170,000 marched in Seattle. It's estimated that more than 3,000,000 people marched in total, making it the largest protest ever. Trump can pull yuge crowds after …continue.

Twenty-eight years ago today, I attended George H.W Bush's in­au­gu­ra­tion. By accident. Read that post for the rest of the story.

I didn't especially care for Bush Senior. I certainly didn't care for George W. Bush, who was the worst U.S. president in my memory.

We've just had one of the best. Obama was a president of high personal character and competence. His ad­min­is­tra­tion had integrity and remained free of scandals. He inherited an enormous economic mess and cleaned it up. He introduced the Affordable Care Act, something no other Democratic president managed. He faced wholly un­prece­dent­ed opposition and in­tran­si­gence from the Re­pub­li­cans, who vowed early on to make him a one-term president.

In …continue.

As I write this, it's 2320 PST on Election Night 2016. Trump has 248 votes in the Electoral College, Clinton has 218; 270 votes are needed to win. It's not over yet—­sev­er­al key swing states have yet to de­clar­e—but it's likely that I will wake up to headlines about President-Elect Trump.

What. The. Fuck! America!? How could we do this? How!?

The most unsuitable, un­qual­i­fied, unfit party nominee ever to run for US President is closing in on victory. One of the most qualified candidates ever is trailing in the polls and is unlikely to win. How did this happen?

This is the US's Brexit moment. We failed. We fucked up. This is not how I …continue.

History was made tonight as Hillary Clinton became the first woman nominated by a major party to run for President of the US. It's a watershed moment for women's equality and it was long overdue.

I was a Bernie Sanders supporter in the earlier stages of the campaign, as his message resonated more with me. But I was always ready and willing to support Clinton. I can't think of a nominee with a more impressive résumé who's run for President: first lady of Arkansas for more than a decade, First Lady of the US for two terms, US Senator for New York state for eight years, and Secretary of State …continue.

What an awful week for race relations in the United States of America. On Monday night, Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police. One night later, Philando Castile was shot and killed by police in Minnesota. Both men were black and neither was resisting arrest. Both shootings were caught on video, which inflamed passions. On Thursday night at a peaceful rally in Dallas protesting police violence, two snipers killed five police officers and wounded seven others. Micah Johnson was later killed by police in a standoff; three others were arrested.

The police should not have killed Alton Sterling or Philando Castile—or Tamir Rice or Freddie Gray …continue.

When histories of 21st-century Britain are written, the Brexit referendum will un­doubt­ed­bly be prominent. A small majority of Britons voted to do the un­think­able, to secede from the European Union. Xenophobes and racists in coalition with the mar­gin­al­ized and dis­af­fect­ed have delivered a big fuck you to London and to Brussels. Some had cast a protest vote, not believing that Leave would actually win. Remorse im­me­di­ate­ly set in, as the pound has dropped to a thirty-year low, billions in EU funding is set to dry up, and prime minister Cameron has resigned. Scotland and Northern Ireland both voted Remain and now both are making noises about their own in­de­pen­dence from the United Kingdom. Even …continue.

I wrote this last night on Facebook:

Even 25 years after coming out as bisexual, I still censor myself and still check myself about coming out yet again. Even though Seattle is about as safe as it gets and most people here are queer-friendly, it's reflexive. And even in Seattle, queer bashings happen. We came very close to an even bigger tragedy in a gay nightclub in Seattle on New Year's Eve 2013, when an arsonist lit a fire in Neighbours while 750 people were present. The fire was promptly detected and put out, no-one was injured, and the per­pe­tra­tor is in prison.

I became aware of my sexuality in a …continue.