It’s hard to concentrate on anything besides what Trump and the Republicans are doing and saying:

*Tax “reform” that’s a giveaway to their rich corporate and individual donor/owners and will bust a huge hole in the deficit, which will only be closable by enormous cuts in entitlement programs (effectively ending the New Deal, a long-sought, right-wing wet dream). As economic adviser Gary Cohn said, “The most excited group out there are big CEOs, about our tax plan.” Duh.

*Trump bumbling around the world, dancing with dictators and sucking up to Putin while he calls long-time American public servants “hacks”

*The ex-Eli Lilly executive/Big Pharma lobbyist – Alex Azar -- who has just been raised from the Swamp to be new Health and Human Services secretary

*Roy Moore, the pedophile GOP candidate from Alabama, the one who’s really, really Christian

*Trump packing the courts with highly unqualified, young right-wing ideologues (and McConnell jamming them through)

*Trumpworld in suspense, waiting for the next indictment: Michael Flynn or his son? … Jared or Donald Jr.?

As Stephen Sondheim said in a different context, “Every day, a little death.”

There was some hope on Election Day: good results in Virginia, New Jersey, and in pockets all across the country. But let’s see what happens in 2018. The Democrats will be fighting a lot of money, gerrymandering, and a lot of voter suppression. And we don’t know what Russia, Trump’s ally, has planned for us.

It’s hard to stay positive, and yet what choice have we? I focus on my little life: working on this draft of WHEN I GOT OUT and taking care of my family, especially my exquisite grandson Calder.

And I try to take courage from the fighting words of others:

“I believe that we are lost here in America, but I believe we shall be found.” – Thomas Wolfe, YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN

“Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.” -- Aristotle

“Most of the things worth doing in the world have been declared impossible before they were done.” – Louis Brandeis

“That which the fascists hate, above all else, is intelligence.” – Miguel de Unamuno

“I believe that all men, black, brown, and white, are brothers.” – W.E.B. DuBois

“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” – Samuel Johnson

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.” – George Orwell

“My experience has been that the people who talk the loudest about morality are the people who possess the least amount of it.” – James Carville

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy, that is, the search for a superior justification for selfishness.” – John Kenneth Galbraith

“What the people want is very simple. They want an America as good as its promise.” – Barbara Jordan

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nutured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”” – Isaac Asimov

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell

“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.” – George Jean Nathan

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.” – Mother Jones

Until recently, I had the Dodgers to distract me. I’m still licking my wounds over the Dodgers’ Game Seven loss, but it was a great season. I watched more baseball games this year than any year in my life. The TG and I got many hours of pleasure from the Dodgers, watching them almost night after night: 162 games in 180 days, and we saw way more than half. (Thank goodness for Tivo, marriage of two wonderful appliances: the television and the computer.) I’m not going to let a 104-win season be ruined by the fact that they were knocked out in the very last round by the Team I Feared all season long.

We pulled for our favorites: Clayton Kershaw, who almost got the post-season monkey off his back … Justin Turner, who ran out of gas or was injured in the Series (I have his bobble-head on my shelf, a freebie from the stadium) … Cody Bellinger (the NL Wonder Rookie who is going to duel Aaron Judge, the AL Wonder Rookie, for many years) … Kenley Jansen, the game’s best closer most the time … Yasiel Puig, as entertaining a player as there is, with an arm like Clemente … Chris Taylor, the Surprise Player of the Year … Corey Seager, Chase Utley, Logan Forsythe, Alex Wood, Rich Hill, Austin Barnes, Joc Pederson, etc. Every player had his dramatic arc, interior dramas within the ups-and-downs of the Dodger season.

We also enjoyed Joe Davis, the new young play-by-play announcer, with the impossible task of following Vin Scully in the booth. I think he was fine, working easily with his two “expert” partners – Orel Hersheiser and Nomar Garciaparra. Joe Davis is going to be the Dodgers’ announcer for quite a while; maybe not as long as Scully’s 67 seasons, but a good long time.

How Trump Is Reshaping the Judiciary
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/11/us/politics/trump-judiciary-appeals-courts-conservatives.html?smid=fb-share

2017 World Series highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNrNwwDU1O0

ALL the Home Runs from the 2017 World Series
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxnDnAZaOVk

Dodgers Vs. Astros – Game 5 Highlights – one of the greatest games of all time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsdC7NJKwR0

Dodgers vs. Astros – Game 6 Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC6nEhXlw84

Justin Turner’s 3-Run Walk-Off Home Run to beat the Cubs in NLCS Game 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC6nEhXlw84

Great Defensive Plays – just for fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxZqTWBWXI4

“Every Day A Little Death” – from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (from the OBC with Patricia Elliott and Victoria Mallory)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snru5gtCyWA

“Every Day A Little Death” – from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (Diana Rigg in the misbegotten movie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpiON4UqDgg

Alison Krauss – GENTLE ON MY MIND – a sweet live version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJwdUtL1_wE

and just so I have it on my Blog –

David Foster Wallace’s magnificent THIS IS WATER – his commencement speech from Kenyon College in 2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI

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