Posted by the director of "Zootopia": The announcement: This will probably do it for me for awhile, at least in World Events. I'm starting to suspect that the health issues I'm having these days (nothing earth-shattering, just terribly style-cramping) are partly stress related, and ain't nothing as stressful as the political situation these days. So I'm stepping away from the news for a bit to see if it helps any - with the full knowledge that this is the worst possible time to do so. I'll probably be back in a month or two, either because I feel much better, or because I definitely don't. Please call your congresscritters for me. You have ammo like never before, because Trump and his toadies are violating just as many conservative principles as liberal ones. As my parting shot, I'm going to call my tea party guy's office tomorrow just to tell him how totally freaked out I am about the press harangue that Rick Moore is referencing above. As another tweeter quipped - that press event (calling it a conference is inaccurate) was as un-American as pedophilia. The worst case scenario is here, folks. The Nazis really, really are here. Even Godwin wouldn't be able to argue with that after that press event. Another note: In the last 48 hours, Trump and company have announced that they're moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and have expressed a desire to steal Iraq's oil - at the same time as they've been freaking out the intelligence agencies of our allies. That means the risk of terrorism is about to get a lot worse, and the ability to detect it before it happens is about to disintegrate. You can expect a couple of really impressive terrorist attacks in the near future, and you can imagine what the "press conference" will be like after that. Also, Trump just signed an executive order to stop enforcement of the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which will force (yes, force) insurance companies to either opt out of the program or raise rates through the roof to compensate. Basic economics. Again, the Trumpsters and their GOP fellow travelers are setting this up beautifully. Prepare for it. Anyways, here I am still doing it to myself so I'll sign off. Stay strong. Stay FOCUSED. Ally with sensible conservatives whenever possible even if you don't agree with them about LGBT issues and abortion and such, because sorry kids I hate to break it to you but we have bigger problems than that. And please please please beware of fake news. The mainstream media are going to make a lot of mistakes in the coming weeks, I promise you that. They've never been in this situation before, at least in this country. But mistakes are not the same thing as fake news, and they'll learn from them. The Trumpsters are going to do everything they can to make YOU lose faith in our institutions, and waving those mistakes around is going to be part of it. They've got 1/3 of the country believing everything they say, so their end goal is to get another 1/3 that doesn't believe anything at all. That's the Putin playbook. It works in Russia, and it's working now here. Don't be part of that other third. See you in the animation threads.
Don't stay away too long. Breathe. There's hope. Even the usually too-pliant Chuck Todd just told spokes-cobra Conway flat-out that "alternate facts aren't facts." And you had people protesting in literally every state of the union yesterday, including more in DC than came to the inauguration. That inauguration wasn't the largest in history (not even close), but the protest of it was by far the largest ever. How to turn that energy into something concrete? Start here: Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda
I did just that a few weeks after the Fukushima disaster (you might recall how stressful *that* was for me), and stayed away for the better part of a year. Didn't miss it a bit. Probably doing something like that pretty soon again. It's very liberating. Meh. If there's something that directly affects you, you'll hear about it one way or the other. Worst case, your local authorities will let you know what's what. And besides, the President has an emergency information link to every cellphone in the country and don't think he won't use it! Anyway, get better and don't stress so much! See ya when you're feeling like chatting (and I promise if you want to start a non-Washington topic, in WE or wherever, I won't spoil it with Trump talk). Check your private messages before you take off, will you? Dave
I understand how you feel. This is where I get most of my news cuz I don't have the guts to go looking stuff up myself. I just get too upset. Stress can certainly aggravate any condition. Take care of yourself. I have gotten so much from your posts.
Totally understand the need for a break. I hope you'll return soon, I'll miss your words in the meantime. Be well!
