A Belated Halloween

"The Scream" - oil painting - 1893, Edvard Munch

"I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature."

- Edvard Munch, referring to his painting "The Scream". This painting was found on this Laughing Squid page, along with a mention of an animated film of the painting - by Sebastian Cosor - set to a Pink Floyd soundtrack (also) found here.


"To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish."

- Charlie Chaplin from "The Great Dictator," via boingboing's Cory Doctorow article: If ever there was a time to watch Chaplin's speech from "The Great Dictator...


"You always were a headache and
you always were a bore. 

Thanks for the last and greatest
betrayal of the last and greatest
of human dreams."

- From William Burroughs' Thanksgiving Prayer. (Hat tip to boingboing's Rob Beschiza's article: Trump elected president.) See video below.

***

You know and I know, if Mac had a grave, he'd be spinning in it right about now. Donald Trump as president really is comparable to Donald Duck as leader of the free world.

Bring us your racists, your misogynists and the clinically insane... and then go back to boingboing and read another Cory Doctorow offering: A madman has been given the keys to the surveillance state.

But, whatever you do, don't imagine for a minute that all Americans are encouraged by the catastrophic events which have just occurred. Hardly. Some of us are on suicide watch... numerous others are considering emigrating to Canada. Is this the "End Times"? Frankly, I 

don't know. The encouraging aspect is that Donald Trump did not win by a landslide. There's still enough of us to make all the difference... here and abroad.

So, regardless of which side of the Great Divide you're on, remember: This, too, shall pass.

Of further note: Vigils and protests swell across U.S. in wake of Trump victory.