At this moment, I am "beside myself." I don't want to talk to anyone or see anyone. I was holding out hope and find where we are almost unbelievable. I had to research the expression's meaning. It fits. Two of our local churches have opened up for reflection and to seek some peace. I stopped going to church about 40 years ago, but, today I might just walk up to the Baptist church on Salem Street.
I am in utter disbelief. Republicans will likely take it all. Gafs, lies, violent rethoric and all, the majority has chosen. That majority of ignorant, amoral, unpatriotic, rude people will damage our lives. Let's find a way to regroup and plan for a better 2026 election cycle. Thank you, Ken. Thanks, everyone for your thoughtful comments. New York remains a beacon of hope. Proposition 1 passed. Peace to all on this heartbreaking day.
One thought that might give you some hope. The fact that New York is such a liberal state means there are far more protections in place than in many other places. Don't move to Florida and I'm not saying that because of the hurricanes.
You're right about the benefits of being in a blue state. But I worry about Project 2025 and the damage Trump and his mob will do to our rights as citizens and what the GOPers and Christianist (sic - like Islam vs Islamist) Nationals will do to women and girls. They have a national abortion ban as well as a ban on contraceptives on their docket. This is where "The Handmaid's Tale" becomes reality. I'm well past that time in my life but misogynistic men are allowed total deafness when it comes to what women have to say. In their eyes, we're just stupid little bunnies who need a firm hand and the logic of men...when men are often so illogical. This is bad news. And I can't afford to move to Florida, nor would I with Trump's mini-me DeSantis. What else worries me is that I live on Social Security alone and if they cut it or ok I'll it, I'm dead in the water.
Thank you and Will Doolittle for this Substack. You two offer such a valuable service and keep us in touch with each other. It's so good to meet my "fellow travelers" in the area even though we've never met. You offer a place of gentleness and good company.
Florida is nice about 5 months of the year. I like to visit but would not move there. I am hoping that whatever the next congress devises against women's rights will not be implemented before the change of the guard in 2026. 🙏
I am feeling truly hopeless.... As I write this, the decision is in and I am truly just plain horrified. I didn't want to hear anything but my husband turned on the TV and now, it's too late. I know the result. Our poor dear world...what have the people who voted for him done to us and to the world. How? I will never be able to understand.
My absentee ballot write-ins for unopposed Stec, Simpson and the Town Justice were Ken Tingley…Will Doolittle…and Ruth Bader Ginsburg… in that order. Three heroes in the battle for Truth and Justice in the face of inconceivable threats to democracy.
We all need a safe place to mourn our losses today… and all the days ahead. Whether a church, temple, mosque, hair salon or communing with the ducks at Crandall Pond.
That's the thing about free elections -- voters are free to make a rational, ethical choice, or use their poor judgment to make a bad choice. Half the country will get what they wanted -- a venal, unfit criminal as president. And the other half, as well as the country as a whole, will suffer for it.
We can still take some solace in the fact that half of us voted for democracy and a candidate who demonstrated her ethics and good character, putting our country and its people first.
The evidence is clear. And too many women are choosing to stay with men/vote on behalf of men who have thinly veiled contempt for them… and the rest of womankind… and their female offspring.
Today feels the worst day in the USA since 9/11…with the now confirmed collapse of what were once the pillars of American Democracy.
But, like NYC, and the true patriots across our country, we still “own” our resilience and resourcefulness… to rebuild buildings… and the infrastructure of the still-viable parts of both parties to eventually rise from the ashes of this catastrophic firestorm within our country.
Because it is a beet red district. Now it's because she is the chief Trump ring kisser looking for a way back to the WH as V.P. at least. Of course, she also competed against Tedra Cobb a few years ago twice and this year against Paula Collins who stepped in late because the man who said he was running stepped out late. Beet red until the district sees the damage Trumpistan II causes.
So tell us, W., didja vote for the rapist who was Epstein's best friend? Epstein spilled the beans about how Trump loved to bed his friends' wives. Then there are those photos of him with young underdressed girls on his lap. And all those stories of him peeping in on the underage girls in his beauty contest while they were undressed. Yeah, boy! Wotta man, right?
I’ve had people say to me “ it’s not about Trump personally… It’s the economy… it’s the borders… “ I say BS…So therefore it’s ok to excuse every single atrocity this man has committed- all for the almighty $ and to perpetuate bigotry and prejudice.
How many Nobel economists have compared Harris’s economic policies with Trump’s. They said hers would cause some inflation but his would cause a steep recession within the first year and would add $5 trillion more to the already estimated $10 trillion from his first term. Golly, maybe that’s why he went bankrupt so often and left his creditors holding the bag while he escaped scot free, except for the fact that no U.S. bank would lend to him personally..
On the other hand, now we have a clear example of just how far behind the 8 ball we women are when we’re “competing” with a man for a public services job. The man doesn’t even have to have the mindset of a public servant. He can - and is and always has been - completely self-serving. Then the misogynists say there’s no discrimination. It’s all in our pretty little heads.
Last Paragraph “As vice president, Harris clearly supports the actions of the Biden administration and many of the same economic policies as the president, but the Nobel laureates didn’t analyze her plan, as she said.”
Thanks, W, for the Factcheck.org link. Given that Trump will take office in January, what the FactCheck article says about Trump is actually more relevant than what it says about Harris.
And I think what FactCheck references about Trump’s plans is rather worrisome:
"PWBM’s analysis of Trump’s tax and spending plans concluded that his would cause even bigger deficits.
“We estimate that the Trump Campaign tax and spending proposals would increase primary deficits by $5.8 trillion over the next 10 years on a conventional basis and by $4.1 trillion on a dynamic basis that includes economic feedback effects,” the analysis stated."
"Moody’s also said that “under the Republican sweep scenario,” consumer price inflation increases from 3% in 2024 to 3.5% in 2025, “fueled by the higher tariffs, outflow of foreign immigrants, the resulting tighter labor market and more quickly rising labor costs, and tax-cut-fueled fiscal stimulus.” Real incomes and consumer and business sentiment would be weighed down by the higher inflation and interest rates, starting a recession by the middle of 2025, the analysis said"
"The survey, which the Financial Times wrote about on Sept. 14, asked 37 economists: “If the Harris or Trump economic platforms were to be enacted, which do you think would be more inflationary in the medium term?” In response, 70% said Trump’s plans would be more inflationary; 27% said that there would be “no material difference in their inflationary consequences,” and 3% said Harris’ plans would be more inflationary." There was a similar response to the question about federal deficits: 70% said Trump’s plans would lead to larger deficits; 19% said there would be “no material difference,” and 11% said Harris’ plans would “produce larger federal budget deficits in the medium term.”
"On Trump’s plans, the letter said: “Nonpartisan researchers, including at Evercore, Allianz, Oxford Economics, and the Peterson Institute, predict that if Donald Trump successfully enacts his agenda, it will increase inflation. … We believe that a second Trump term would have a negative impact on the U.S.’s economic standing in the world and a destabilizing effect on the U.S.’s domestic economy.”
Honestly, I think it’s more than humor. We may have a long, ugly few years ahead of us, but at least we don’t have millions of angry Americans (many of them armed) believing something was stolen from them.
I hope you"re right. But I think it’s possible that for Trump and many of his supporters, winning the election won’t be enough to assuage their anger and hate.
Pfft! DJT will blame the economy on Biden! Or better yet, Obama! "The worst presidents in the history of the world made such a mess it will take at least 10 years to fix. Sorry about your Social Security. Temporary pain."
I cannot fathom how/why Americans think it’s great to be represented by a vicious, rude misogynist… Is this how we’d like other countries to view us????
I am amazed at how people are willing vote against their own best interests. I guess I'm not surprised in today's America. Many would vote for Putin as president if it meant a woman of color wasn't elected.
At 2 AM this morning I folded up the flag that has been flying for the last 4 years off of our front porch. Perhaps in 4 years there will be reason to unfurl it again...
I’m donating my large outside American and U.S. Navy flags today. Not feeling the pride as a 20 yr. veteran who has witnessed disgusting posters on lawns of other veterans, or on their trucks, with obscene sayings and Confederate flags. I may fly a POW flag instead…since we will all be “prisoners” of Herr tRump’s regime and their War Against Women in January…
Thank you, Ken, for waking up on this tough morning and trying to put perspective though the power of the word on how to go forward.
For me besides the obvious implications of a Trump victory for global peace and balance and equal rights for all, climate action is a top priority. While we still have the mandate from the NYS CLCPA to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% by. 2030. I am going to put my energy into relentless pressuring of town and county gov'ts and on Hochul to pass and initiate the important legislation that will give teeth to that law. I believe the Governor needs to sign pending climate bills such as the Superfund Act immediately and to iunderline and accelerate her commitment to a strong NYS climate agenda in her 2025 state of the state and budget. Climate action is one area in which we can be effective before any impacts from the Trump administration start to weaken or eliminate climate guardrails and protection. Under Trump the planet and those we leave behind to an unthinkable heat and turbulence are terribly endangered without committed action now while it is possible.
A majority of Americans decided hate and inequality should be the American way of life. I am devastated. I look at my neighbors and know that a majority of them decided a racist, ignorant, sexual predator and convicted felon should lead us. Which means a majority are just fine with racism, ignorance, sexual predation, misogyny, and self-serving greed and fraud. I fear for my daughter. I especially fear for my grandson. Climate change will continue unabated, self-serving wealthy men and women will continue to have their way with no thought for future generations, and our democracy will wither.
True statement Ken. We have to keep working. Paula Collins is coming back in 2026 and so should we.
At this moment, I am "beside myself." I don't want to talk to anyone or see anyone. I was holding out hope and find where we are almost unbelievable. I had to research the expression's meaning. It fits. Two of our local churches have opened up for reflection and to seek some peace. I stopped going to church about 40 years ago, but, today I might just walk up to the Baptist church on Salem Street.
I am in utter disbelief. Republicans will likely take it all. Gafs, lies, violent rethoric and all, the majority has chosen. That majority of ignorant, amoral, unpatriotic, rude people will damage our lives. Let's find a way to regroup and plan for a better 2026 election cycle. Thank you, Ken. Thanks, everyone for your thoughtful comments. New York remains a beacon of hope. Proposition 1 passed. Peace to all on this heartbreaking day.
Hate won. This is a nightmare.
That about sums it up.
One thought that might give you some hope. The fact that New York is such a liberal state means there are far more protections in place than in many other places. Don't move to Florida and I'm not saying that because of the hurricanes.
You're right about the benefits of being in a blue state. But I worry about Project 2025 and the damage Trump and his mob will do to our rights as citizens and what the GOPers and Christianist (sic - like Islam vs Islamist) Nationals will do to women and girls. They have a national abortion ban as well as a ban on contraceptives on their docket. This is where "The Handmaid's Tale" becomes reality. I'm well past that time in my life but misogynistic men are allowed total deafness when it comes to what women have to say. In their eyes, we're just stupid little bunnies who need a firm hand and the logic of men...when men are often so illogical. This is bad news. And I can't afford to move to Florida, nor would I with Trump's mini-me DeSantis. What else worries me is that I live on Social Security alone and if they cut it or ok I'll it, I'm dead in the water.
Thank you and Will Doolittle for this Substack. You two offer such a valuable service and keep us in touch with each other. It's so good to meet my "fellow travelers" in the area even though we've never met. You offer a place of gentleness and good company.
I 💙 New York! 😊
Florida is nice about 5 months of the year. I like to visit but would not move there. I am hoping that whatever the next congress devises against women's rights will not be implemented before the change of the guard in 2026. 🙏
I am feeling truly hopeless.... As I write this, the decision is in and I am truly just plain horrified. I didn't want to hear anything but my husband turned on the TV and now, it's too late. I know the result. Our poor dear world...what have the people who voted for him done to us and to the world. How? I will never be able to understand.
I totally a.gree with you!
My absentee ballot write-ins for unopposed Stec, Simpson and the Town Justice were Ken Tingley…Will Doolittle…and Ruth Bader Ginsburg… in that order. Three heroes in the battle for Truth and Justice in the face of inconceivable threats to democracy.
We all need a safe place to mourn our losses today… and all the days ahead. Whether a church, temple, mosque, hair salon or communing with the ducks at Crandall Pond.
Thank you. High praise to be in the company of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
That's the thing about free elections -- voters are free to make a rational, ethical choice, or use their poor judgment to make a bad choice. Half the country will get what they wanted -- a venal, unfit criminal as president. And the other half, as well as the country as a whole, will suffer for it.
We can still take some solace in the fact that half of us voted for democracy and a candidate who demonstrated her ethics and good character, putting our country and its people first.
We won't go back.
America still hates women.
Exactly… This election has proven that … Women and POC…
And the lgbtq community in its entirety.
The evidence is clear. And too many women are choosing to stay with men/vote on behalf of men who have thinly veiled contempt for them… and the rest of womankind… and their female offspring.
Today feels the worst day in the USA since 9/11…with the now confirmed collapse of what were once the pillars of American Democracy.
But, like NYC, and the true patriots across our country, we still “own” our resilience and resourcefulness… to rebuild buildings… and the infrastructure of the still-viable parts of both parties to eventually rise from the ashes of this catastrophic firestorm within our country.
I can’t be that optimistic.
Putin won. Xi won.
Imagine being a Ukrainian today. A Palestinian.
Will NATO hold.
And what will be the consequence of all top levers of government being in the hands of climate deniers?
And of course the story that was buried today. North Korea jumped into the Ukraine war.
True. A rapist, serial fraudster, malignant narcissist up against a truly remarkable, talented and qualified woman. The rapist won.
Sad.
A country that loves women does not force 10year old girls to bear their father’s child.
Mike, if Americans hate women how did Elise Stefanik beat Aaron Woof and Matthew Funiciello in her first run in 2014
Because it is a beet red district. Now it's because she is the chief Trump ring kisser looking for a way back to the WH as V.P. at least. Of course, she also competed against Tedra Cobb a few years ago twice and this year against Paula Collins who stepped in late because the man who said he was running stepped out late. Beet red until the district sees the damage Trumpistan II causes.
So tell us, W., didja vote for the rapist who was Epstein's best friend? Epstein spilled the beans about how Trump loved to bed his friends' wives. Then there are those photos of him with young underdressed girls on his lap. And all those stories of him peeping in on the underage girls in his beauty contest while they were undressed. Yeah, boy! Wotta man, right?
I’ve had people say to me “ it’s not about Trump personally… It’s the economy… it’s the borders… “ I say BS…So therefore it’s ok to excuse every single atrocity this man has committed- all for the almighty $ and to perpetuate bigotry and prejudice.
How many Nobel economists have compared Harris’s economic policies with Trump’s. They said hers would cause some inflation but his would cause a steep recession within the first year and would add $5 trillion more to the already estimated $10 trillion from his first term. Golly, maybe that’s why he went bankrupt so often and left his creditors holding the bag while he escaped scot free, except for the fact that no U.S. bank would lend to him personally..
On the other hand, now we have a clear example of just how far behind the 8 ball we women are when we’re “competing” with a man for a public services job. The man doesn’t even have to have the mindset of a public servant. He can - and is and always has been - completely self-serving. Then the misogynists say there’s no discrimination. It’s all in our pretty little heads.
Harris Misleadingly Cites Some Economic Analyses of Her Policies and Trump’s. https://www.factcheck.org/2024/09/harris-misleadingly-cites-some-economic-analyses-of-her-policies-and-trumps/
Last Paragraph “As vice president, Harris clearly supports the actions of the Biden administration and many of the same economic policies as the president, but the Nobel laureates didn’t analyze her plan, as she said.”
Thanks, W, for the Factcheck.org link. Given that Trump will take office in January, what the FactCheck article says about Trump is actually more relevant than what it says about Harris.
And I think what FactCheck references about Trump’s plans is rather worrisome:
"PWBM’s analysis of Trump’s tax and spending plans concluded that his would cause even bigger deficits.
“We estimate that the Trump Campaign tax and spending proposals would increase primary deficits by $5.8 trillion over the next 10 years on a conventional basis and by $4.1 trillion on a dynamic basis that includes economic feedback effects,” the analysis stated."
"Moody’s also said that “under the Republican sweep scenario,” consumer price inflation increases from 3% in 2024 to 3.5% in 2025, “fueled by the higher tariffs, outflow of foreign immigrants, the resulting tighter labor market and more quickly rising labor costs, and tax-cut-fueled fiscal stimulus.” Real incomes and consumer and business sentiment would be weighed down by the higher inflation and interest rates, starting a recession by the middle of 2025, the analysis said"
"The survey, which the Financial Times wrote about on Sept. 14, asked 37 economists: “If the Harris or Trump economic platforms were to be enacted, which do you think would be more inflationary in the medium term?” In response, 70% said Trump’s plans would be more inflationary; 27% said that there would be “no material difference in their inflationary consequences,” and 3% said Harris’ plans would be more inflationary." There was a similar response to the question about federal deficits: 70% said Trump’s plans would lead to larger deficits; 19% said there would be “no material difference,” and 11% said Harris’ plans would “produce larger federal budget deficits in the medium term.”
"On Trump’s plans, the letter said: “Nonpartisan researchers, including at Evercore, Allianz, Oxford Economics, and the Peterson Institute, predict that if Donald Trump successfully enacts his agenda, it will increase inflation. … We believe that a second Trump term would have a negative impact on the U.S.’s economic standing in the world and a destabilizing effect on the U.S.’s domestic economy.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/23/politics/nobel-prize-economists-harris-economic-plan/index.html
Also, from Forbes 2 weeks ago:
https://fortune.com/2024/10/24/nobel-prize-winners-kamala-harris-economists-endorsement/
And you fail to quote your FactCheck article which states that Harris's claims are mostly true.
And this is what you get for voting this century's premier con man and serial rapist.
Well said.
Carol that would be a three times no. Although I did think about applying for the TV show the Apprentice for a short time.
I don't believe you. Have a wonderful, fruitful life. Be well, be happy, be prosperous. Goodbye.
Hard not to conclude that.
On the bright side, we won"t have to listen to Trump’s incessant whining and propaganda about a stolen election….
(Too soon for some humor?)
Honestly, I think it’s more than humor. We may have a long, ugly few years ahead of us, but at least we don’t have millions of angry Americans (many of them armed) believing something was stolen from them.
I hope you"re right. But I think it’s possible that for Trump and many of his supporters, winning the election won’t be enough to assuage their anger and hate.
I guess we’ll find out. Especially when his magic wand fails to address their grievances and instead makes the rich richer.
It will be way too late by then.
Can’t argue that. Color me desperate for a ray of optimism.
Pfft! DJT will blame the economy on Biden! Or better yet, Obama! "The worst presidents in the history of the world made such a mess it will take at least 10 years to fix. Sorry about your Social Security. Temporary pain."
That is the real fear. The election victory is just the beginning.
Too soon!
I cannot fathom how/why Americans think it’s great to be represented by a vicious, rude misogynist… Is this how we’d like other countries to view us????
They do now.
It feels like the fall of the Roman Empire…..But I will not contribute to it. Never
OY VEY! ….That’s all I can write right now. 😢
At least we aren't Liz Cheney.
Or the Obamas or a lot of high profile Never Trumpers. I think they’ll probably all be alright, but no guarantees.
All politics is local. If you speak out, you are in danger.
I am amazed at how people are willing vote against their own best interests. I guess I'm not surprised in today's America. Many would vote for Putin as president if it meant a woman of color wasn't elected.
At 2 AM this morning I folded up the flag that has been flying for the last 4 years off of our front porch. Perhaps in 4 years there will be reason to unfurl it again...
I’m donating my large outside American and U.S. Navy flags today. Not feeling the pride as a 20 yr. veteran who has witnessed disgusting posters on lawns of other veterans, or on their trucks, with obscene sayings and Confederate flags. I may fly a POW flag instead…since we will all be “prisoners” of Herr tRump’s regime and their War Against Women in January…
Or perhaps fly our American flag upside-down for the next four years….
Thank you, Ken, for waking up on this tough morning and trying to put perspective though the power of the word on how to go forward.
For me besides the obvious implications of a Trump victory for global peace and balance and equal rights for all, climate action is a top priority. While we still have the mandate from the NYS CLCPA to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% by. 2030. I am going to put my energy into relentless pressuring of town and county gov'ts and on Hochul to pass and initiate the important legislation that will give teeth to that law. I believe the Governor needs to sign pending climate bills such as the Superfund Act immediately and to iunderline and accelerate her commitment to a strong NYS climate agenda in her 2025 state of the state and budget. Climate action is one area in which we can be effective before any impacts from the Trump administration start to weaken or eliminate climate guardrails and protection. Under Trump the planet and those we leave behind to an unthinkable heat and turbulence are terribly endangered without committed action now while it is possible.
A majority of Americans decided hate and inequality should be the American way of life. I am devastated. I look at my neighbors and know that a majority of them decided a racist, ignorant, sexual predator and convicted felon should lead us. Which means a majority are just fine with racism, ignorance, sexual predation, misogyny, and self-serving greed and fraud. I fear for my daughter. I especially fear for my grandson. Climate change will continue unabated, self-serving wealthy men and women will continue to have their way with no thought for future generations, and our democracy will wither.