It’s December 2016 and America has elected an authoritarian with explicitly anti-democratic ideals to the office of President. This makes me deeply, desperately, poisonously, angry. Even though it follows a pattern that closer examination suggests has not accelerated particularly in the last couple months, it feels like a break. There is a great deal of accommodation going on at the moment. There is an ongoing effort to normalize the extreme rightwing worldview that underpins Trump’s message; the message that just won the support of enough Americans that we are now expected to use the shorthand “won the support of America”, and indeed, apply that contraction to how we think about America. Read more...

Yesterday, on my way to San Francisco to meet with my co-workers and spend a bunch of time with my friends, I was unexpectedly refused entry to the United States. I’m writing this down so I can point people at it rather than repeat myself. I’ve been working for American companies for almost 20 years now. I lived in America for 4 years until 2004, but outside the US before and after that. Read more...