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All right, it's Saturday and there's a new Live from Here show, so I guess this post was pretty much expected from me, but I just have to say: as much as I love Live from Here, and how calming it is to me in this moment (I was seriously panicking mere minutes before Chris Thile started his traditional Instagram Live and hearing him sing and play with some of his friends really calmed me down), I just really, really wish they'd speak out about what's going on in America right now. Especially considering that American Public Media, the company that owns Live from Here, is based in Minnesota, where shit is going down, and even the regular livestream on livefromhere.org (which exclusively streams from the Minnesota Public Radio affiliate) has ditched LFH for tonight and is only broadcasting coverage of the protests. Live from Here is supposed to be an oasis, something to take one's mind off the troubles in the world, and the show is pre-taped tonight so like, I get that they might not address it in the actual broadcast. But jesus, would it KILL Live from Here to at least make a post about it on their twitter or instagram? Many friends of the program have posted about it already, though Chris Thile has stayed silent. I have to believe it's because he's been ordered not to talk politics on the show (this is a theory I've had in my head for a while but I'm not going to go into that right now). I just can't imagine that he wouldn't be moved to say SOMETHING. I don't want to believe it, anyway.

It just feels tone-deaf on the part of LFH. Right now in the YouTube chat, they're asking to donate not only to the show, but to a relief fund for all restaurant workers affected by COVID. I get it, COVID is still a huge issue and I'm not trying to say one issue is more important than another. And it's not like you can't make multiple donations. But I just... I don't know, I just wish they would SAY something.

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Okay, apparently I did miss a post from Chris Thile where he shared a piece by a Black artist and wrote "Black lives matter" so I guess my faith in him isn't completely gone, but still... Live from Here NEEDS to make a statement. I don't care if they're based in New York now and have thrown off most ties to their original incarnation as Prairie Home Companion, APM is still based in Minnesota and APM owns LFH and that's enough of a connection that LFH at least needs to acknowledge what's going on in their "home state."

Anyway, I've been so fucking down all day because of all this and I can't deal. As if 2016 was the worst we were ever going to get.