Snow and an ending.

It snowed today, like real snow this time, not an inch covered in ice, it looks like four or five inches outside my door right now and as I write this it is still coming down.

I am incredibly pleased by this, despite it being inconvenient and making my drive home from work(we closed early) somewhat more exciting than usual, I just love snow so much, I love how it looks, I love the sound, and how it completely changes the world when you go out in it.

Tomorrow I am going to go play in the snow and it's gonna be great.

President Barack Obama gave his final address to the nation today, speaking from Chicago, he said good things and he said them well, speaking of the need for unity going forward as well as the need to hold our officials accountable and to pursue the cause of equality, it was specifically not a fiery speech against his political opponents, which I guess is not unexpected from him.

Obama wants us to change our system by acting within it, and to convince our leaders to be better by showing them we want better, it is a noble ideal and being who he is, I suppose it is appropriate for him to say that, having run, as he reminded us, on the idea that "yes, we can".

As much as I liked his speech, and I did, I can't say I agree here, the current leadership, not just in the White House but congress as well, has no interest, or need, to work across the aisle or even talk to anyone with different ideas to get most of their agenda passed. The assumption that both parties can work together ended long ago, virtually the day Obama took office, and now with them in control of the government, it is not going to return this year, or the next.

This is not to say I disapprove of the notion, I just don't see any realistic way they put forth any palatable policies, they are horrible reactionaries tied too closely to their equally horrible voter base, their districts too gerrymandered for them to even think about attempting a broader appeal, and these days most of them have convinced themselves they never wanted to anyway.

The only way progressive policies will be implemented, or even maintained, will be by the most vicious fighting possible and the use of whatever measures are available, that means some ugly compromises sure, but mostly it means filibustering.

For the rest of us, it really doesn't mean being nice to Trump supporters, or to conservatives in general, they need to know that their actions aren't appreciated, that stupidity, bigotry, and hate will not be accepted as the de facto law of the land, no matter what their leaders encourage, the majority of us didn't vote for him, this shouldn't be their country.


For Barack Obama, I will miss him in the White House, he wasn't perfect, but no one is, and damn if he didn't do a good job of making you feel, even for a minute, that anything is possible.