Two occurrences in the same neighborhood really point out the difference between reactions of members of the two different parties.
Vice-President Elect Mike Pence has moved into a short-term rental house in the mostly democratic Chevy Chase neighborhood of DC. When residents realized he was living there, the reaction was this, courtesy of the Washington Post:
Photo courtesy of the Washington Post, (taken by Gary Cameron/Reuters)
They put out rainbow flags.
The other occurrence took place at a restaurant in the same neighborhood, a pizza place called the Comet Ping Pong. As written up in the Washington Post,
A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he walked into a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington carrying an assault rifle and fired one or more shots, D.C. police said. The man told police he had come to the restaurant to “self-investigate” a false election-related conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton that spread online during her presidential campaign.
This restaurant was the subject of false news accusations that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring from the restaurant’s bathrooms. (Who the hell believes such stupidity?) Other than General Mike Flynn, soon to be Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser:
I feel very secure now, don’t you?
Nevertheless, the gunman was arrested, several area businesses went on lock-down.
A D.C. police report made public Monday says Welch had been armed with an AR-15 assault-style rifle. The report also says police seized a Colt .38 caliber handgun and a shotgun. One of those weapons was found inside the restaurant; the other in the suspect’s car.
Exactly five and a half years ago tonight, I was in a bit of a snit. A tiff. I was, in a word, miffed.
The result of those feelings was this blog. And in fact, it was the reason* for the stupid name. And my first post where I wrote:
Because I am fifty-four-and-a-half years old, the world is against me. The world would be treating me just fine, thank you very much, if I were just six months older. Read the news lately? Some folks in Congress want to change Medicare — starting with me. Starting with folks currently under 55. Am I the only fifty-four-and-a-half-year-old who is seriously pissed off about this?
Well today, I’m no longer 54-1/2. But I am not in a snit. A tiff. And I’m no longer miffed.
Today I’m mad as hell.
Did you see that Donald of the small hands plans to put this guy in charge of Health and Human Services? Congressman Tom Price (R (Suprise!)-GA).
Photo Image Credit: Gage Skidmore
Folks are lining up in opposition to Price. Not only will he piss me off by trying (and god help us, failing) to derail Medicare, but as the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, he is the author of the House bills to repeal Obamacare. He is adamantly opposed to abortion in all cases. He opposes including provisions in Medicaid to permit low income women to afford birth control. He’s probably in favor of hangers.
Here is Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly’s comment opposing Price:
Tom Price has led the charge to privatize Medicare, and for this reason, I cannot support his nomination. I am ready to work with anyone who wants to improve access to quality health care for Hoosier families and seniors, but the nomination of Tom Price would put us on a direct path to end Medicare as we know it, which would raise health care costs and break a fundamental promise to seniors. I have fought to protect Medicare, and I will continue to oppose efforts to privatize Medicare or turn it into a voucher program.
I, personally, will do what I can. Because I really do fear that before long, this is what Trumpcare will look like:
*Shortly after starting the blog with the stupid name, I realized that 54-1/2 was the average age my two late sisters reached. I kept the name because, as the “sick” member of the family, it reminds me that really, every day is a gift.
I’ll continue to believe that. Until, of course, I am an old Crohn’s patient whose Medicare has been taken away. Then I will — literally — poop all over Congress and Donald Trump.
This year I feel incredibly lucky at Thanksgiving. Nobody at my feast will have voted for Donald Trump.
Nobody.
And they will all be relatives.
Didn’t I tell you that I’m lucky? It’s true — I will gladly spend then next two days cooking for them.
But I know that not everybody is as lucky as me. I feel your pain, I really do. One of my brothers voted for Trump, as did a nephew and, I’m pretty sure, a great nephew. But none of them are coming — they don’t usually come so I did not banish them.
It’s hard to talk to folks about this election and why we feel so strongly that the wrong side won.
It’s hard to talk about this election and not place all Trump voters into Hillary’s stupid basket of deplorables.
It’s hard to talk about this election to Trump voters and not slap them upside the head for being stupid, for placing our democracy at risk, for threatening the future of the planet either by a Trump tiff or by his unwillingness to accept that climate change is real and to do something about it.
For those of you who need assistance, I give you this video — with a shout-out to my friend Karen:
Last Wednesday as I drove to work heartbroken over Trump’s victory, John Lennon’s song Imagine came on the radio.
It didn’t improve my mood any. Because I was already imagining plenty.
Earlier today while waiting for a doctor’s appointment, I read a blog from my hometown that posted the Democratic Town Committee’s commitment to not permit bullying, acts of hate or discrimination in town.
Expecting to see universal support for this stance, I was shocked to see the first commenters take a stand, not exactly against, the DTC, but pooh-poohing the need for such a stand.
Naturally, I commented that those commenters obviously hadn’t been paying attention during the campaign. The result was a fairly brief round and round with the commenter, named Dan. As it turned out, Dan was a troll; his comments were removed from the blog along with several damn good ones of mine, I will add.
But he made me think.
When George W. Bush was elected, I worried. I didn’t think he had the brain capacity to be president, and didn’t think he could handle the job. Obviously, I didn’t predict 9/11 or the Iraq war, but I did see in him a bully and a person too easily goaded. I was right. His policies led us into a stupid, unnecessary war. His economic policies led us into a severe, catastrophic economic crisis that only the end of his presidency and Obama’s election prevented from becoming a full-blown economic Depression.
I also thought that Dick Cheney would be a good, calming, fatherly influence. My bad. And his, actually.
With Trump, I am afraid on a deeper level. I’ve expressed those fears many times, so I’ll just say that nothing he has said since his election, and nothing he has done since his election, and nobody he has appointed/is considering appointing has allayed any of my fears. He is an ignorant, hate-filled bully with small fingers who will have access to the nuclear codes in two months.
But you know what? This is where this morning’s troll comes in.
I would love to be wrong.
I would love for each and every Trump voter to work towards proving me that I was crazy to worry.
Prevent bullying/hate crimes/discrimination. Step in at your own risk when necessary. If you say Trump will not increase these things, show me I’m wrong in thinking he will.
Protect social programs. Write to Congress. Let them know that programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are programs Americans have relied upon for decades. Show me that I’m wrong in thinking that these programs will all be gutted to my and the middle and lower class populations’ detriment.
Protest against any new military actions. If there’s time, that is. If Trump acts in a huff, then, you have my permission to bend over and kiss your own ass goodbye.
Pay attention. Be knowledgeable about current events. Remember who is doing what.
Assess the economic impacts by something other than your own tax returns. What is happening in the housing market, the jobs market. Have their been improvements in infrastructure;
Evaluate the importance of the industries that are succeeding in Trump’s America. Did Trump deliver his promises to restore the coal industry. Manufacturing?
Remember your history. If you believe, as my troll does, that comparisons of Trump’s America to Hitler’s Germany, watch what they do and prevent them from repeating history. (That’s why we study history, isn’t it?)
Show me that the Federal judges appointed at all levels are interested in justice and not in advocating from the bench a la Scalia. Make sure they protect the rights of the folks who can’t stand up for themselves.
Vary your news sources — none of them provide the full story or an unbiased story
Consider the other side’s position — and I will try to do the same
The list of things that concern me, of course, goes on and on.
Make it so that in 4 years, I will look back at the fears I (and so many others) had about Donald Trump’s election and laugh at myself for my foolish fears.
Make me eat crow
I will gladly eat crow. If there are any left given Trump’s plan to gut all sorts of environmental programs and the climate change pact.
Today I spent the day calling strangers and asking them if they’d made a plan to vote.
You see, scientific studies say that folks are more likely to actually go and vote if they tell somebody what their plan to vote is.
Do you plan to vote in the morning?
The afternoon?
Evening?
How are you going to get there?
Bring your ID.
I figured there were no stranger strangers, so after all my posts on the election for all these months, I figured I’d bore you one last time:
Make a plan for when you’ll vote. And go vote!
*****
My bloggin buddy, NTexas99 sent me this link. It is to the pictures of women, born before the 19th Amendment was ratified, who waited all their lives to cast this vote. It’ll make you smile. And perhaps forgive me for all these political post. Maybe.
Google Image
FiftyFourandAHalf 
