"Hope Will Never Be Silent"

Plus "I'm As Mad As Hell..."

If I’m to believe the headlines and “news” reports—and I don’t completely—the election results leave me feeling despondent, discouraged, and, frankly, disgusted.

I’m doing my best to channel my inner Harvey Milk. “Hope will never be silent,” Milk famously said. And then he was assassinated by Dan White, a “man” who would have definitely voted for a “man” like Don The Con.

When will The Cult of Trump adopt Twinkies as its official snack?

Instead of channelling my inner Harvey Milk, I woke up with a fire in my belly, wanting to open the windows and scream out—à la “Howard Beale” in Network—”I’M AS MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GONNA TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!”

And yet, even Network’s late, great screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky wouldn’t believe the drama-farce of this motherfucking election cycle.

It’s a three-ring circus of disinformation, media manipulation, performative outrage, and reality tv stars jockeying for the spotlight. Every day, we’re bombarded with sensational headlines and social media skirmishes, all designed to distract us from the fact that nothing meaningful ever seems to change.

The political and social problems in Network, released in 1976, seem practically quaint compared to today’s dystopian AI-powered alternate “reality.” A film once viewed as an unsettling critique of media manipulation now feels almost naive in a world where algorithms amplify outrage and digital propaganda runs rampant.

By some estimates, between $10 and $15 billion were spent on the 2024 campaigns. And for what? Election results only underscore how divided the so-called “United” States of America really are, with both sides entrenched in echo chambers, polarized, and isolated, refusing to find any common ground or solutions for any of our real-world issues and problems.

Long story short: Our “imperfect union” has been hijacked by con men and grifters more interested in selling collectibles, merch, NFTs, and sponsorships than actually doing the jobs they were elected to do. They’re not public servants—they’re brands, hustling their way to fame and fortune while the country teeters on the brink. It’s a dystopian twist on democracy, where civic duty takes a back seat to personal profit and celebrity, and the rest of us are left footing the bill.

This election extravaganza-spectacle might make for a guilty-pleasure drag show, soap opera, or wrestling match, but it’s no way to govern or lead. If only those in power would put those billions to better use, spare us the drama, and flip a damn coin next time. Because clearly they don’t give a fuck about anything but being in power.

Seriously, no “fair election” is possible in a game so infected by billionaire donors, decades of gerrymandering, domestic and international terrorism, political lobbyists, special-interest groups, and state-sponsored chaos and misinformation campaigns.

It’s just political theater with billionaires and oligarchs standing behind the curtain, pulling levers and strings on their marionette show while the rest of us are left to believe our voices and votes matter.

If I were Kamala Harris, I’d demand a recount and refuse to concede—just to give the asshat a taste of his own medicine. After nearly a decade of daily reminders that rich shitheads like him float their way to the top while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet, this is personal. And I’m not just talking politics here. I’ve lost more than a few family and friends to his cult of personality.

For those keeping score, I don’t love Harris either.
And I openly loathe the Democratic “Party” and its political status quo machine.

I’m tired of watching this country stumble backward into the worst parts of world history. In case you missed it, the reboot’s called Project 2025 and was authored by conservative “think tank” The Heritage Foundation:

This far-right, Dark Age bullshit scares the hell out of me. Because it’s happened before. And too many people are too willfully ignorant to admit or even see how straight out of the fascist/Nazi playbook this really is.

At this rate, I might as well get used to wearing a pink triangle.

So what now? Here’s my “going forward” plan: I will do my best to tune out the “news” and political noise for a while. My heart and stomach just can’t take much more.

Instead, I’m going to double down on the ABCs—Art, Beauty, and Creativity—that spotlights history, lives, and stories that deserve to be remembered, honoring the courage, grit, and resilience that legacy mainstream media likes to forget ever existed.

Because, as Harvey Milk once famously said, “Hope should never be silent.”

Thanks for reading,
Clint

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NEWS + VIEWS

• “Kamala Harri Didn’t Lose, America Did…” (John Pavlovitz)

• Outside Spending On 2024 Elections Shatters Records (Open Secrets)

• Here Are Trump’s Top Billionaire Donors (Forbes)

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ON THIS DAY = NOVEMBER 6

BIRTHDAYS

• 1854 = John Philip Sousa = American composer and bandleader

• 1926 = Zig Ziglar = American businessman and author

• 1931 = Mike Nichols = German-born American actor and director

• 1946 = Sally Field = American actor

• 1948 = Glenn Frey = American singer-songwriter

• 1966 = Peter DeLuise = American actor and filmmaker

• 1968 = Jerry Yang = Taiwanese-American engineer and Yahoo! co-founder

• 1970 = Ethan Hawke = American actor and director

• 1972 = Rebecca Romijn = American model and actor

• 1988 = Emma Stone = American actor

• 1990 = Bowen Yang = Australian-born American comedian and writer

CELEBRATIONS

• Movember

• National Nachos Day

• National Stress Awareness Day

EVENTS

• 1860 = Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States with only 40% of the popular vote, defeating John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas in a four-way race.

• 1900 = President William McKinley is re-elected, along with his vice-presidential running mate, Governor Theodore Roosevelt of New York.

• 1947 = Meet the Press premieres on NBC, the longest running TV show in the US.

• 1975 = Sex Pistols perform for the first time.

• 1976 = Patrick Dennis, author of Auntie Mame, dies in NYC at the age of 55.

• 1984 = California voters decided to turn a previously unincorporated portion of Los Angeles into the nation’s first “Gay City”, West Hollywood.  An estimated 40% of the population is LGBTQ.

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PHOTO + QUOTE OF THE DAY

“My success is not due to any personal superiority over other people.”
John Philip Sousa

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