1

It’s semi-official now that Russia wasn’t just messin’ with our minds, but trying to help elect Donald Trump. Here, here and even here (sorta).

Ees outrage!

We’ve been dishing it out. Can we take it?

2

Because the usual suspects are involved, some folks seem to think “the Religious Right is back.” But it looks to me that the usual suspects are being pretty realistic about what they can accomplish under the new administration:

Despite these expectations, the religious right’s goals have shifted since the last time Republicans were in power—reflecting the difficulty of reversing social changes that occurred during the Obama years.

Few conservative Christians are calling for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, as they did during President George W. Bush’s tenure. Instead, their immediate goals are more incremental.

In interviews, social conservatives said they expect Mr. Trump to promptly rescind an Obama administration executive order that bans federal contractors from discriminating against gay, lesbian and transgender people. They also anticipate that health-care regulations that require Catholic hospitals to offer contraception will be reversed, something Vice President-elect Mike Pence, a staunch social conservative, promised during the campaign.

…

“There’s no question we are losing the culture war, but we haven’t lost it,” said Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary. “There’s been incalculable damage done by Mr. Obama, but much of it can be undone just by undoing his executive orders.”

Ian Lovett, Religious Right Reinvigorated by Donald Trump, WSJ)

Their counterparts on the Left, though, are panicking. Considering Donald Trump’s lack of so much as a gesture to end same-sex marriage, for instance (and totally apart from what it would take to reverse Obergefell — these folks presumably would have flunked civics), it’s absurd that we have people rushing to the “altar” like it was last call at the singles bar.

* * * * *

“In learning as in traveling and, of course, in lovemaking, all the charm lies in not coming too quickly to the point, but in meandering around for a while.” (Eva Brann)

Some succinct standing advice on recurring themes.