Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week

The Atlantic has published I’m Not Yet Ready to Abandon the Possibility of America, an updated excerpt from President Barack Obama’s memoir—A Promised Land—that ought to be read in its entirety.

I distinctly remember my mother reading to me author Robert Coles’ The Story of Ruby Bridges, a classic about a 6-year-old girl’s work to integrate a New Orleans school in 1960. The story shows the hateful stares and anger-induced racial slurs Ruby faced on her walk to William Frantz Elementary School, and I’ll never forget wondering how so much contempt could be directed toward someone so young and innocent.

The good news is that we at least have a president-elect now (it’s Joe Biden, in case you haven’t heard).

The bad news is that pretty much everything else still sucks.

Take, for instance, the pandemic.

Which is raging harder than ever, thanks to the fact that Donald Trump would rather tweet election lies and hold superspreader events and, well, do pretty much anything else other than take meaningful steps to combat the coronavirus.

A joint statement released Thursday evening by the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee confirms what nearly 80% of Americans already know to be true: President-elect Joe Biden won, fair and square, because over 150 million voters just participated in an election that was the “most secure in American history.

Vice President Mike Pence, who may or may not be the actual Antichrist, has played a long, patient game these last four years. He has embraced Donald Trump’s every white nationalist act. He has slathered Trump with praise at every possible opportunity, and has aggressively declared himself to have never seen any of Trump’s buffooneries, incompetence, or crimes. He protected Trump through impeachable acts.