Riding the news rollercoaster ...

"I know how you feel: beat up, battened down, fetal, furious. But just remember, there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s not you—it’s him.

Of course you’re depressed. You know that the news is toxic to your spirit, and you admit you’re addicted to it, but really, with all these nonstop horribles, who wouldn’t be obsessed by political disaster porn? Even though the news leaves you feeling not informed and empowered, but helpless and fearful; even if your neocortex knows that Trump’s game is to hijack your attention, and the media’s game is to monetize it; still, your reptilian brain won’t permit you to peel your eyes from the screen, won’t let you stop refreshing your feed, keeps you texting and posting and tweeting and screaming, “Can you effing believe this?” Your news addiction feels no less compulsive than, but is the reciprocal of an opioid addiction. You’re hooked on pain.

It makes sense to be incensed. You’re enraged by the cowardice of Republican legislators who’ve put protecting their political skins above protecting the Constitution. You’re livid that Trump’s pooh-poohing of “political correctness” has exempted racists, homophobes, misogynists, anti-Semites and other haters from being shunned and shamed. You’re infuriated by the toadies, fools, vipers and schmatta hucksters now wearing staff passes to the West Wing. You’re angry there’s no accountability for Trump’s blatant conflicts of interest, no punishment for stonewalling his tax returns, no penalty for his bullying, laziness, lying, and ignorance ...."