I can hardly wait to go out today and photograph in a free democracy again. It feels as though we turned a giant ship just in time to avoid the nastiest iceberg I could imagine.
I'll celebrate with family tonight but after I type this I'll head out and walk with a camera in my hands and hope in my heart. That's my idea of a personal celebration.
* Added after 5 pm. Was just at our friendly, neighborhood wine shop (Twin Liquors) thinking I'd duck in and get a really nice bottle of Champagne to have with our celebratory dinner this evening. I don't know why I thought I'd be the only one in our neck of the woods to have this idea. I ran into half my neighbors there. All of them had ecstatic smiles on their faces and bottles of bubbly in their hands, waiting to get rung up. I guess we're not the only ones in our zip code who are planning to celebrate tonight.
Went by the state capitol today and ran into a camera crew from one of the local TV stations. I asked them, "Where are all the crazies today?" They laughed and told me that three people from Trump-Land showed up to protest. The protesters hung out for about 30 minutes but as there were dozens and dozens of National Guard soldiers with automatic weapons on the other side of the gate, and no one outside the gate to yell at, the protesters crammed into their rusty and bumper sticker covered Ford Pinto and went off to find a Denny's.
All in all it's shaping up to be a really good day.
48 comments:
I drank too many toasts and am waiting out the arrival of a crippling headache. It was worth it.
+1
Amen, Amen
It was indeed an emotional morning. My daughter texted me and said she couldn't stop crying, seeing a woman VP. A great day for America just 2 weeks after one of its most terrible days. Let's hope things continue to look up.
All of that, and ...
Wasn't Amanda Gorman something?
A very wonderful feeling of euphoria as we watched as it happened!
On shores of Lake Ontario, one can see building sout of us in the States..
At times it felt dangersously close.. .Enjoy!
Kt,
I felt a weight off my shoulders, I stood a little taller.
Amen.
Jb
The positive waves were well felt all the way to Hamburg, Germany.
The WORLD breathed a gigantic sigh of relief.
As a European I breathed a sigh of relief too. When liberal democracy is hampered in the USA it's not really that safe anywhere in the world (not to mention the countries that were on the eastern side of the iron curtain some four decades ago which was the case with Poland).
The Trump voters are still there..
We have been watching with bated breath herein Spain; we drank a toast to them both. We are so relieved and pleased for you.
Certainly a good day for the U.S. - and for the whole world, too. Andrzej Rojek is right, in many aspects America is much needed as a role model.
I concur. My wife and I took a long lunch to watch the ceremony and enjoy some Champagne we've been saving for this occasion for four years:)
Phew! I think I will sleep well tonight!
CDC
Glad I skipped work to watch. What an interesting day. The first woman VP. Amanda Gorman. Jennifer Lopez's “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" in Spanish. Had to look that up. Living in Texas, I really should learn Spanish. I can talk to my Mexican-American niece. :) Lady Gaga. Hoping we get back to some of the unity Biden spoke of.
I never would have imagined that just the thought of a return to decency and level headedness would be so exhilarating. But it was.
It's always darkest before the dawn.
I was working on a print, but kept the silent video going in a corner of my monitor, just to assure myself that it was really happening. There still remain 74 million voters who... But I don't want to think about that today.
I do not believe it's over yet. I hope it is, but I believe it's going to get stranger than fiction. Let's hope I'm wrong. I believe the crazies are just getting started.
Stay Safe
Roger
I am certainly glad to be alive to see this day!
Ken
I’m not even American and I feel like a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Congratulations to my American friends. Hope, love, kindness...it’s a new day.
I really, really hope I’m wrong, but I reckon the Capitol siege was just two toes in the water.
Here’s to being wrong.
Peace,
Peter
Yes!
Much love to our American cousins. You still have a huge job ahead, but I think there is a light of you. But take this chance to reflect and prepare for the tasks ahead.
Congratulations. Very good for the USA and the rest of the world, but also hope that Biden and his people can do something to make the 74 million that voted for the "Dark side" happy again.
Your post is prescient. Before seeing your post, I too had checked my blood pressure as well today and overnight it had dropped 40/20 points from a consistently scary high to very near normal. I also brought home a bottle of Roederer tonight.
And here in the UK I felt that the world had just become a bit safer for us all in numerous ways. Plus, that decency has been restored....let's hope we follow suit here in due course!
Congratulations to America, pulling back from the brink.
Looking on with admiration and envy from the UK, as we head further into the dark under 'Britain Trump'.
Sue and I felt a weight of worry being lifted today.I thought it was a good touch that the organizers of the evening concert included Bon Jovi doing "Here Comes the Sun," with an absolutely faithful instrumental part, and another Sun song that I can't recall at the moment. We had planned ahead and had a bottle of Domaine Carneros Ultra Brut chilled in the fridge. Amanda Gorman's Inaugural poem: Wow. Find the transcript online and read it.
Cheers all,
-GH
"I can hardly wait to go out today and photograph in a free democracy again." Really? If America had ever ceased being a free democracy we wouldn't be celebrating a new President today. How about pumping the brakes on the hyperbole.
Congratulations America! Back to normal.
John Roberts: "How about pumping the brakes on the hyperbole."
How about NOT.
I rarely comment publicly on political issues. Yesterday was a wonderful day, especially the dearth of news about our former President. After four years of someone who could not see past himself, it's great to have a President who seems focused on the country.
We were dangerously close to losing our free democracy. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
My shoulders have un-clenched after four years of listening to the willfully ignorant yammering. To steal a line from an old Sci-Fi series, "That was the worst case of testosterone poisoning I've ever seen!"
It feels wonderful to have leadership that acknowledges reality and listens to science instead of trying to pull a con-job on it....
Many challenges ahead, and the crazies are still face down in the Kool-aid, but I am hopeful!
I loved waking up this morning to Trump not being president.
Hyperbolize all you want. Even the day after. These vents all need a good blowing out.
But now that the Agent of Evil has been evicted, we still face the task of fixing everything we now clearly recognize as wrong. A feeling of great relief? Yes. Comfort? No way.
Congratulations to you all from Norway. The madness, lies and randomness spread all across the Atlantic and affected us as well.
Congratulations! as Levi Eshkol, once PM of Israel, said: “when America sneezes the whole world gets a flu “.
I hope America is on it’s way to recovery.
Cheers
Glad you are happy. New Presidents usually give us a renewed sense of hope but unfortunately we are usually disappointed. Maybe this time will be different. I think regardless of your political affiliation you have got to be glad that the crap from twitter is over and that we hope that President Biden can find a way to tone down the rhetoric and divide.
We need some fresh hyperbole to offset the hyperbolic crap that we've suffered the last four years.
Listening to the news on the clock radio this morning, I smiled when I heard the phrase "the President," and the picture in mind was not big, fat, and ugly.
Time to bring back that old favorite, "Happy Days Are Here Again."
40 comments for, 0 against. Huh? Censorship of anyone who disagrees with you. The Democrat way.
Dear Anonymous Asshole. Not a single comment has been moderated or trashed. Not one. Consider the comments a poll of how many decent people are left versus assholes like yourself. 40 to 1. A good start. Reflect, and then go do something useful and non-treacherous.
Nastiness and pettiness. The Republican way.
For Anonymous:
As usual, "you guys" are confused.
1 - Kirk is not running for public office, nor is he part of a federal agency. He is not obligated to entertain opposing views.
2 - I was a member of the Republican party years ago, they tolerate NO disagreement. They will "Primary" you if you vote against them, or storm the castle while wearing animal skins, face paint, and a pair of viking horns.....
3 - Never mind. I was going to get into an intellectual argument with you, but I realized that you are completely unarmed....
It's hard to find the words to say how HAPPY I am. My anxiety and blood pressure deflated tremendously.
Now what to do about those two Texas senators . . .
I started drinking at 0900 PST. The champagne had been chilling overnight.
The GRU have come close to, if not actually achieving, their goal. Christopher Steele: worth reading about.
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