The Opioid Merchants, The Catholic Church, Investment Banks, Big Tobacco, Big Energy … It’s not just Trump. We always let the powerful get away with it. Sure, we report on it. We make documentaries about it. We add chapters to history books. But the powerful almost always walk. That’s not cheerful news, but at least something about this era is normal. Dahlia Lithwick in Slate: The Law Is for Suckers. “Donald Trump staked his career on the bet that if you’re rich, famous, brazen, and unrepentant, the law will let you do it. He staked his presidency on the same.”

+ One thing I’m definitely a sucker for is people who know these realities but still stand up and speak the truth. Marie Yovanovitch: “I have seen dictatorships around the world, where blind obedience is the norm and truth-tellers are threatened with punishment or death. We must not allow the United States to become a country where standing up to our government is a dangerous act. It has been shocking to experience the storm of criticism, lies and malicious conspiracies that have preceded and followed my public testimony, but I have no regrets. I did — we did — what our conscience called us to do. We did what the gift of U.S. citizenship requires us to do.” These are turbulent times. But we will persist and prevail. (If Marie Yovanovitch can stay positive and fight the good fight, so can you.)