My friend Ann left me this comment:

Just read all your “this, this, and this” links, and it all makes me want to cry. I just feel so discouraged and horrified and frustrated and sickened by all of those stories. Feeling rather depressed and hopeless about the next 4+ years. As I watch news coming in about his appointments and White House staff, it just gets worse and worse. I kept hoping he would find intelligent, capable advisors to temper things a bit, but that clearly isn’t happening.

So much empathy, Ann! It is really depressing to see all these decisions being made and the fact that Trump has no clue (and possibly no desire to be clued in) about how they’re affecting people.

The good news: you’re not the only one who feels this way.

With regard to Bannon, there’s a planned postcard avalanche to denounce him. (Details are here.)

There’s also a planned Women’s March on Washington on January 21st that has local events all over the nation. To find them, search for “women’s march on washington – [insert your state]”.

THe biggest thing you can do is something I know you’re already doing with your girls. Teach them to be kind and to show respect to people who may be different from them. Teach them to say, “no, that is not appropriate” when they see someone making fun of another person because they’re different or when you see a story in the news like one of the ones I linked. If you start teaching them now to speak out against racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all those other things, they’ll grow into young women who will stand up for those who need it. Trump and his advising choices are all bullies. Bullies hate when people stand up to them. If enough people stand up to them and say, “no, you are not doing this to my country”, they may eventually back down.