In Case You Missed It (v70)

Got your cuppa or glassa or bowla or your whatever?  Here's your recap of last week's posts. 

The week started with a note from the Update Desk on my post about 'true followers of Trump" and Dan Scavino, the guy who had the job of riling up the base. Here's Megyn Kelly mentioning him after she was attacked by Trumpers for, you know, asking him questions in an interview. 

December 2016: After Trump bullied then-Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly for months, Kelly said that Trump’s social media director was responsible for inciting the many death threats she was receiving. “The vast majority of Donald Trump supporters are not at all this way,” Kelly said, according to the Guardian. “It’s that far corner of the internet that really enjoys nastiness and threats and unfortunately there is a man who works for Donald Trump whose job it is to stir these people up and that man needs to stop doing that. His name is Dan Scavino.”

I updated the post because Scavino, you, see, was just awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.  

In light of Scavino's role as Secretary of Offense for the president, and of keeping Trump's social media accounts unpresidential, and of attacking any and all comers, for any number of made-up reasons, it's kind of hard to swallow this line from Scavino's citation:

As a result of his tireless efforts, the United States is safer, stronger and freer. 

Safer? Ask any of the Capitol Police officers who were injured during the insurrection. Ask the Vice President, Mother, and their daughter if they felt safe at the Capitol. Ask any of the members of Congress who were trapped, or ask their staffers, barricaded in rooms with Trump supporters banging on the doors trying to get in.

Safer? Hardly.

Your Sunday School included highlights from This Week, including George's interview with Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI), one of the ten Rs who voted to impeach president Trump for his acts vis a vis the insurrection. He talked about that, and offered his thoughts on what President Biden can do to help heal the divide in our country. 

Finally, on what incoming President Biden can do to help heal the divide?

I think it's incumbent on both parties to ensure that they are not promoting folks within their ranks who are engaged in a politics of deception, but rather having open, thoughtful, honest, engaged conversations. I hope that President Biden will do the same, that he will not give in to some of the more, you know, some of the lower impulses that -- that folks in the progressive wing may try to bring out, but rather say that this is a time for the country to focus on rebuilding; this is a time for the country to focus on rebuilding trust, rebuilding our institutions, rebuilding governance. You know, we need to get through the pandemic. We need to deal with the economic consequences and the fallout. But we also need to heal all of the divides that have been exposed over the past several years.

George (and everyone else who asks the 'what can Biden do' question) did not follow up on the "lower impulses" of the progressives comment, nor did he ask what the Rs are going to do to help unify the country. Apparently, the media is still not sure what their role is here.

Chris Wallace had Brian Deese, the Biden administration's chief economic advisor, in the Fox News Sunday classroom, and that was the focus of your Extra Credit last week. Here's their exchange on the filibuster. 

And if the Rs were to block it, to filibuster the bill, would Biden ask the Senate to get rid of the filibuster?  Deese pointed to recent skepticism, about Biden being able to win by calling for unity and working together, or that Congress could pass a bipartisan COVID bill in December. Both of those things happened, 

So let's see where we can get here. There is a lot of, again, a lot of elements of this plan that have support across the board, both in Washington and in state capitals and around the country. But we need to act. We need to act quickly. And that's what the economy is telling us. That's what the experts are telling us. And so that's our priority.

So, I guess that means one thing that's off the table is talking about ending the filibuster... 

On Wednesday, inauguration day, I offered up My Middle-aged White Lady Perspective on President Biden's inaugural address, and how, with eyes wide open on what's to come, it was such a refreshing change of pace. Here's a slice of that.

It did not have to come to this. It never should have come to this. And a night-and-day different president is what we need, and what we got, and who we heard from today. 

What are the common objects we as Americans love, that define us as Americans? I think we know. Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect, honor and yes, the truth. 

Opportunity, security, liberty - not "we will make America wealthy again."  

Dignity, and respect, and honor. After four years where disrespect was encouraged, and celebrated, and retweeted ad nauseum, we now have a president who will not stand for it.  Tonight, when President Biden swore in his appointees, he told them that he would fire them on the spot if he heard they had treated others - anyone - with disrespect. 

And yes, the truth. 

 Not over 30,000 lies or false statements - the truth.

And then, almost before I knew it, it was Friday and time for a TGIF. The theme, appropriately, was goodbye and hello. 

We've said goodbye to Executive Orders in lieu of legislation (217 in four years), and hello to Executive Orders in lieu of  legislation (30 in three days).

We've said goodbye to long red ties, and we've fallen in love with a pair of mittens. 

We've said goodbye to the president who won 306 Electoral College votes in 2016, and hello to a president who won 306 Electoral College votes in 2020, one who must abandon his agenda now in order to create unity with the 74.2 million voters who are upset that 81.2 million other voters picked someone else. 

We'll likely learn more about just how hard breaking up with 45 will be as we go into the first full week of the Biden presidency.

See you later for Sunday School. Go Bills, and go Bucs! 

TGIF 1/22/21

What a week, eh?

We've said goodbye - sorry, we've said have a good life and we'll see you soon - to one president, and said 'hello' to another. 

We've said goodbye to OrangeVerse, and hello to "there is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it."

We've said goodbye to American carnage, and hello to humanity and decency. At least, we've said the words 'humanity and decency,' even if there's not necessarily a lot of acceptance of that idea quite yet. 

We've said goodbye to hundreds of bills going to the Senate to rot on the Grim Reaper's desk, and hello to 'shared' control of the US Senate, if Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell can figure out how to make it work. The fullabluster on the filibuster is currently a huge hang-up - or, at least, it's the excuse for the delay in getting things organized.

We've said goodbye to Executive Orders in lieu of legislation (217 in four years), and hello to Executive Orders in lieu of  legislation (30 in three days).

We've said goodbye to long red ties, and we've fallen in love with a pair of mittens. 

We've said goodbye to the president who won 306 Electoral College votes in 2016, and hello to a president who won 306 Electoral College votes in 2020, one who must abandon his agenda now in order to create unity with the 74.2 million voters who are upset that 81.2 million other voters picked someone else. 

But we also had some pretty cool fireworks, from multiple locations in the nation's capital, and a pretty cool celebration leading up to those fireworks, one that looked like us and sounded like us and was shared by lots of us Americans in a way that inaugural balls never were. 

I'll close with this, which I saw on Twitter earlier today.

TGIF, everyone.

My Middle-aged White Lady Perspective: Oh, What a Difference!

I didn't watch the last inauguration. I couldn't. 

I watched this one. I had to.

I wanted to hear words of comfort and truth and reality and understanding. I wanted to hear about equality and I wanted diversity and I wanted to hear words that were meant for everyone, instead of for only some people. I wanted to hear words that hopefully will calm our allies, but not embolden our enemies. I wanted to hear from someone who doesn't think he's the center of the universe, nor God's gift to the rest of us. 

It needed to be different from the one four years ago; it had to be different from the one four years ago. The man is different from that other one, the moment is different from that other one, the world is different now than it was four years ago.  I needed it to be different, as did many other people. 

And it was different. I heard what I needed to hear, to take some of the weight off my shoulders, to ease some of the stress I have felt for more than five years. 

 ...my fellow Americans, this is America's day. This is democracy's day. A day of history and hope of renewal and resolve through a crucible for the ages. America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge...

For now, on this hallowed ground, where just a few days ago, violence sought to shake the Capitol's very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible to carry out the peaceful transfer of power, as we have for more than two centuries. 

And he reminded us that "the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us, on we the people who seek a more perfect union." And that 

This is a great nation. We are good people. And over the centuries, through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we've come so far. But we still have far to go. We'll press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibilities, much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build, and much to gain. 

Climate change, and the pandemic, and the economy, and racial injustice - much to do - and this, too, perhaps our biggest challenge: "... a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat." 

To overcome our challenges, we need "the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity. Biden referenced Abraham Lincoln, who famously said, "if my name ever goes down into history, it'll be for this act. And my whole soul is in it.” And then, told us, with conviction,

My whole soul was in it today. On this January day, my whole soul is in this: Bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause.

We need to be united to "fight the foes we face: anger, resentment, hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness and hopelessness. With unity, we can do great things, important things." And yet, he's a realist.

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days. I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real, but I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we're all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart.

But, he said, "In each of these moments, enough of us, enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward. And we can do that now."

We can see each other not as adversaries, but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature. For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos.  

Let's begin to listen to one another again. Hear one another, see one another, show respect to one another. Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war. And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.

It's not a cage match. It doesn't have to be a slugfest. It doesn't have to be calling for bipartisanship, and never inviting anyone from the other side to participate. It doesn't have to be proudly not speaking to leaders from the other party - for months on end. 

Those calls for unity were completely fake, and everyone knew it, including the person doing the talking. He's gone now, thankfully.  And our new president, before his swearing-in? He invited the leaders of both houses of Congress, leaders from both parties, to join him this morning. Not to stand with an upside-down Bible in front of a church, but to pray together, for our country, in a church.

My fellow Americans. We have to be different than this. America has to be better than this. And I believe America is so much better than this. Just look around. Here we stand in the shadow of the Capitol dome, as was mentioned earlier, completed amid the Civil War, when the union itself was literally hanging in the balance. Yet we endured, we prevailed... And here we stand just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground. 

It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Not ever.

It did not have to come to this. It never should have come to this. And a night-and-day different president is what we need, and what we got, and who we heard from today. 

What are the common objects we as Americans love, that define us as Americans? I think we know. Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect, honor and yes, the truth. 

Opportunity, security, liberty - not "we will make America wealthy again."  

Dignity, and respect, and honor. After four years where disrespect was encouraged, and celebrated, and retweeted ad nauseum, we now have a president who will not stand for it.  Tonight, when President Biden swore in his appointees, he told them that he would fire them on the spot if he heard they had treated others - anyone - with disrespect. 

And yes, the truth.  Not over 30,000 lies or false statements - the truth.

Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson. There is truth and there are lies, lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders, leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation, to defend the truth and defeat the lies.

 Not by turning inward, but turning towards each other. 

We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts. If we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes, as my mom would say, just for a moment, stand in their shoes. Because here's the thing about life. There's no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days, when you need a hand. There are other days when we're called to lend a hand. That's how it has to be. That's what we do for one another. And if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future. And we can still disagree. 

Not by stepping away from our allies, not by barging in front of them, not through abusive "America first" policies, but by honoring and embracing our alliances. 

So, here's my message to those beyond our borders. America has been tested and we've come out stronger for it. We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again. Not to meet yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's challenges. And we’ll lead, not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. We'll be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security.

Strong and trusted. Contrary to some opinions, we can be both. We need to be both. And I hope we will be both, again.

My fellow Americans, I close the day where I began, with a sacred oath before God and all of you. I give you my word, I will always level with you. I will defend the Constitution. I'll defend our democracy. I'll defend America and I will give all, all of you. Keep everything I do in your service, thinking not of power, but of possibilities, not of personal interest, but the public good. And together we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness. May this be the story that guides us. The story that inspires us and the story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history. We met the moment. Democracy and hope, truth and justice did not die on our watch, but thrived. That America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forbearers, one another and generations to follow. 

I really needed to hear these words today. 

I was proud of us again, today. I was hopeful again, today. 

My eyes are wide open, but today, my heart was wide open, too. 

TGIF 1/15/21

I don't know about you, but I can't wait for next Wednesday, the changing of the guard, the end of an administration I found incredibly distasteful, the departure of a man ridiculously unqualified to lead our country, and the start of a new administration - one that we all should look at with open eyes, of course, but one that I hope will help erase the some of the worst of the one that preceded it. 

I don't for a second think that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going to walk on water, get blood from a stone, turn water into wine, or make a purse from a sow's ear. I do think, however, that they won't be on the attack 24/7/365, and I'm confident they'll spend a lot less time watching television, playing golf, and tweeting than the one who's done next week. 

More than anything, though - I hope we get to next Wednesday, and through it - without any of the stuff we're being warned about actually happening. Attacks on state capitals; threats on members of Congress on both sides of the aisle; and the ongoing threat of more violence in DC, including the potential for improvised explosive devices - IEDs - to be used in our nation's capital. I hear that, and I don't even know how to react, whether to rage against the abject insanity of it, or hunker down with the curtains closed, waiting for the 'all clear' signal.

 It's a weird feeling, to be sure.

I listen to reports on what 45 is going to do, whether there'll be more pardons before he leaves, whether he'll pardon himself, how he's going to leave Washington, and when, and I shake my head. His last chance at finally acting presidential - you know, participating in the changing of the guard, to greet the incoming president and First Lady at the door, to ride with them to the Inauguration, and to stand there and take it like a man. Like a patriot. Like an American? Yeah, that's out the window, of course - I really shouldn't be surprised. 

The chance that he would do that were nil, from the beginning, way before the insurrection. He just doesn't have it in him - no matter how much he talks about his patriotism and love of country. And, apparently, no one in his circle has it in them either, to make him do the right thing, no matter how much he doesn't want to. We're not asking a three-year-old to eat his peas, for Pete's sake. He's the president of the United states, to my great dismay - he can act like it for one day.

I wish Joe Biden had said, when asked about Trump not attending the inauguration, "Listen, he can be a man and show up, even though it would be uncomfortable for both of us, or he can slink away. The choice is his."  That would have been a great way to handle it, right? Be the better man? Opportunity lost, IMO. 

I'm appalled by reports that so many current and former law enforcement officers participated in last week's attack, and heartened (at least initially) that investigations are already underway in departments across the country to identify any who did, and to what extent. To be sure, I'm less confident that action will be taken, but hopeful I'll be proven wrong on that.

Significantly more appalling are suggestions that members of Congress were at least sympathetic to what happened, if not accessories to what happened. I want to know - we all should want to know - if the latter is true, and how fast we can get them out of office if it is true.

I don't care who you are, or who elected you - if you are actively engaged with people who are in the Capitol with weapons and zip ties, chanting to hang the Vice President, kidnap or kill the Speaker of the House, smearing feces on the walls and floor, and so on, you do not belong in office. You belong in jail, for a very long time - much longer than the ten-year sentence for people who attack monuments.

It's exhausting, paying attention to all of this. Exhausting, but necessary.  Maybe if we all had been paying attention all along, we wouldn't be where we are right now, holding our breath and hoping we can have an orderly, peaceful transfer of power next week. 

TGIF, everyone. 

Random Thoughts 12/5/20

Friends, I've got to tell you, I've been in a funk since for the past two or three weeks, and I haven't found a way to break through that. 

I've drafted at least a dozen posts in the last month; some never made it past some word-cloud stuff, some have actually included sentences, some have been coherent posts, with links and quotes included. And yet... 

I've deleted all but one of them. And the one that remains is literally a list of words. Not even a bulleted list, just words typed on the page, randomly spaced, seemingly in no particular order. 

Thinking that having more 'structure' around these stray thoughts would help, I had a post called 'Use this Post for ideas' and started dropping article links and tweet links  and even a couple of meme links - and then deleted the whole mess of it, either because it was outdated, or dumb, or boring, or whatever. I couldn't summon the energy I had when I first found whatever it was that caught my eye and turn them into anything meaningful.

It's that bad right now. 

It's worse than an occasional bout of writer's block - it feels like my brain is constipated, and my heart, and they both needs a strong laxative or something. 

Or maybe a nice glass of port. 

Or some really good ice cream. 

Or maybe both, in the same glass...  

Maybe a change of scenery? A pandemic vacation? I could write in a different room, I guess...

I'm open to suggestions.

Do you think the laxative might kick in as we get closer to noon on 1/20/2021? 

I sure hope so.

In the meantime, I can't promise any really regular posting, but I'll give it my best shot, and will post anything that gets past my own 'what a bunch of crap, just delete it, will you?' test. And, I'll try to stick to most of the regular features, including Sunday School. 

Thanks for sticking around - hope to talk to you again soon.

#NeverTrump Answers to #TrumpVoter Questions

It's January 21, 2017 and it appears that at least a very vocal, and, it seems, a very large percentage of Trump voters are stuck in a 'sore winners' rut and don't know how to get out of it. Which means I guess it's up to people like me, a #NeverTrump, to try and help them out.

Wish me luck.

Q: Are you lumping all Trump supporters into one bucket with this post?
A: No, I'm not.  As noted in the very first sentence, I reference "a very vocal, and it seems a very large percentage" of Trump voters. Only you can decide whether that includes you.

Q: Right. Just like Hillary Clinton called all of us Trump supporters deplorables. You're all alike.
A: So, she didn't call all of you deplorables. It might make you feel better to think that she did, but she actually said it was half of you. The other half, she said,

are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well. 

If you consider yourself in the deplorable half, rather than in the desperate-for-change half, that's up to you.

Q: Whatever. Why do you non-Trump people want the President to fail?
A: I can only speak for myself, but while I didn't want him to be President, and I am embarrassed that he is President, I never once said I want him to fail. The truth is, I desperately want him to rise to the occasion.

Q: It sure seems like you want him to fail. You can't stop complaining about him. Why are you Clinton fans such sore losers?
A: Aha! Do you really think everyone who is #NeverTrump is #AlwaysHillary or something? You can't be serious!

Q: Then why do you protest so much? Trump won!
A: That's correct - he did. But I read his policies, his speeches, I watched the debates, I continue to follow him on social media, and based on what he says he stands for, I could not in good conscience support him. I disagree with his vision of and for America; I disagree with him and his positions on many issues that are important to me, and because of his feelings about sexual assault, I could never vote for him for anything. None of which has anything to do with Hillary Clinton.

Q: You liberals are full of it. He didn't say anything more than any other guy says all the time. And where were you when Bill Clinton was messing around with Monica Lewinsky in the White House? And where were you when Hillary Clinton was attacking the women who accused her husband?
A: I can't prove it to you, because we didn't have social media back in the 1990's when Clinton was impeached for his actions, but I can assure you I found his behavior disgusting and beneath the office he held. I cannot speak to why Hillary stayed with him or why she defended him. You'll have to ask her that.

Q: Trump was just talking, he never did anything. And besides, he said that a long time ago.
A: Well, no, if you listen to the tape, Trump didn't say "I wish I could..." do anything I want, including forcibly kissing women and grabbing them by the vagina. He said he DID it. I did not consider Bill Clinton's behavior when assessing Donald Trump's behavior, and I'm not sure why you would want me to - particularly when, as I noted above, Bill Clinton was president in the 1990s and the election was in 2016. Certainly if I should forgive Trump for his behavior in 2005, I cannot be expected to judge Hillary Clinton on what she did, felt, or said a decade earlier, right?

Q: Why are you protesting? Why can't you just accept the fact that you lost?
A: I do accept the fact that, against my best wishes and best judgment, Trump won. However, the America I love fully supports me protesting the government and protesting people who don't agree with me.

Q: Well, what's the point of protesting? It's not going to do any good anyway. Why don't you just get over it?
A: Because I was raised to participate in our political process. That means that I vote. That means I decide what issues are important to me, and I educate myself on the candidates themselves as well as their positions, and make my decision based on that research. It also means that I try and hold my elected officials accountable. That's what I'm supposed to do. You do think it's OK to hold them accountable, right?

Q: I don't understand what you hope to accomplish. You're not going to change anyone's mind.
A: And similarly, I have to wonder what you hope to accomplish by trying to shut me down, and shut me up. How do you benefit by everyone going along with you, and with Trump?

Q: Well, he's only going to be successful if we stop arguing and come together.
A: Actually, he's only going to be successful is his administration does the right thing for America. But if you think the only way he's going to be successful is if we all stop arguing, why don't you stop arguing with me, and instead join me in trying to hold him and the rest of our elected officials accountable to all of us?

Q: I don't have to agree with you - you lost. You should support him. We're all Americans, we need to stick together.
A: Let me ask you this. Say you're a huge SU basketball fan, your whole life you've been an SU hoops fan, way back to when you were a kid. Did you stop being an SU fan when John Thompson declared "Manley Field House is officially closed?" Or did you keep being an SU fan and root even harder for them every time they played, and especially every time they played Georgetown? Pretty sure the answer to that would be you fought harder for your team. So why are you asking me to give up my deeply held beliefs and become a Trump fan?

Q: Well that silly. That's a sports team. We're talking about our country here.
A: Why yes, yes we are. Which is why it's even more confusing that you would want me to set aside things I believe in to support a person I find disgusting, unethical, uninformed, and completely unprepared to lead our country.

Q: Well, you say all of those things about Donald Trump, what about Hillary Clinton? She's a liar, corrupt, she's killed 50 people, her email server was hacked, Benghazi? What about all of that?
A: See, again, I've not mentioned Hillary Clinton as a reason for being #NeverTrump and I've not mentioned her as a reason for my protesting him. It seems the only person mentioning Hillary Clinton or anyone other than Donald Trump is you and others who are complaining about me and others protesting.

Q: Yeah, well, those protesters set fires and broke windows and terrorized people. They need to go to jail. Those are your 'protesters.'
A: Some 200, maybe 220 people were arrested for setting fires and breaking windows and rioting. Which is exactly what should have happened. But they do not represent me, or anyone else I know who marches, protests on social media, or writes their elected officials to protest bills that are proposed, or anything else like that. Why do you put all of us in the same bucket, when you complain so much about us supposedly doing that to you? Remember that whole deplorables thing we talked about...

Q: Well, you didn't disavow them. I don't see you telling everyone you think they were wrong.
A: I'm sorry, but you must not be paying attention; I've said that repeatedly, in public, about what happened yesterday in DC. But can I ask you a question?

• Did you disavow Donald Trump when he made his comments about Mexican immigrants being rapists, drug dealers and the like? Or about banning all Muslims from entering the country? 
• Or about the "Mexican" judge who was being unfair to him in the Trump University case?
• About women, whether he was talking about Rosie O'Donnell or not? 
• Or when the white supremacists supported him? And the KKK? 
• Did you disavow his attack on the Khans, the Gold Star family he attacked on Twitter and Fox News - for days? 
• How about when he called for his follows to boycott Macy's, and when he took credit for the falling fortunes of this American company that employs American workers? 
• Or when he mocked the disabled reporter, and pretended he didn't even know him?
• Or, of course, when he made his pussy-grabbing comments?

I never saw you disavow any of that, and as we've discussed, you defended his comments about sexual assault as "nothing more than any other guy says" so you must think all of this stuff is OK.

Q: That's ridiculous. What makes you think I agree with everything he says?
A: Exactly -- so what makes you think I agree with looting and rioting, or why would you think they represent me?

Q: Everyone just chill out. People need to just chill out.
A: You are absolutely right. People need to just chill out. Let me know when you're going to start.

Q: I'm not the one with the problem, I'm not the one protesting the election.
A: Nor am I protesting the election. I'm protesting the policies, statements, ethics and character of the person who won.

Q: Well you need to just get over it.
A: And you need to just get used to it. Because I'm not going to stop.

Q: Yeah, well that's bullshit.
A: Right back atcha.

My Middle-Aged White Lady Perspective: Inauguration Day

Today marked the peaceful transition of power from one presidential administration to another.

It did not, however, mark a making of peace in the United States between the fervently Trump and the fervently Clinton, or between the #NeverTrump and the #Setasideyourpersonalbeliefs #forthegoodofthecountry or whatever the opposite of a #NeverTrump would call themselves. And, it appears, it also didn't mark the understanding of the difference between a protester and a rioter, as far as I can tell.

I did not watch the inauguration live - I chose to spend the day doing something enjoyable, rather than to spend it doing something I knew would be a frustrating, depressing exercise (at best). And, I admit, I was deeply fearful of what was going to happen. Not because of the promised protests, but because of comments from Tom Barrack, chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

What we've done instead of trying to surround it with what people consider A-listers is say what we're gonna surround it with is the soft sensuality of the place. So we have all of that, but it's in a much more poetic cadence than having a circus-like celebration that's a coronation, and that's the way this president-elect won.

Um, "the way this president-elect won" was with in an aura of soft sensuality and a poetic cadence?  I mean, I put his words into verse on occasion, but the groper-in-chief-in-waiting and soft sensuality in the same sentence? In the same universe? As I said, I was deeply fearful...

What happened instead? Several hundred thousand people showed up, a reasonable percentage of them participating in peaceful protest; a few dozen instigators performing acts of violence under the cover of the legitimate protests. In all, around 220 people were arrested at the last report I saw; six police officers were reportedly injured, where none should have been.

Our future first lady displayed a perfect blue-collar coat today, and the new president delivered his American Carnage report in, I guess, a poetic cadence. Because carnage, doom and darkness remain this President's current vision of America; that has been constant since the convention in Cleveland.

Here are excerpts of his address to the assembled dignitaries, Americans, and people of the world.

For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs. And while they celebrated in our nation's capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

Remember, this is a message delivered by a billionaire who has his products made outside of the United States, whose daughter's company has her products made outside the United States, and who 'does deals' and develops properties around the world which are ridiculously out of reach for most people who voted for him. But that doesn't matter.

At the center of this movement is a critical conviction, that a nation exists to serve its citizens. Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are just and reasonable demands of righteous people and a righteous public.

But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge, and the crimes and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.

This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.

This, from the man who hires foreign workers on special visas to make the beds and clean his properties and to make and serve drinks to the wealthy guests who go to them; who perhaps doesn't acknowledge that the country is almost at full employment; who ignores the fact that factories in the Rust Belt were replaced by factories in the Sun Belt paying employees much less than the factories they replaced; who, I think, honestly believes that anyone coming out of public school truly is "deprived of all knowledge" which is why he chose a public education foe to head the Education Department, and a man who, with the help of his multi-millionaire daughter, came up with a child care plan that if implemented the way it was presented, precludes single mothers trapped in poverty from benefiting from his child care tax credit plan.

One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world. 

But that is the past. And now, we are looking only to the future. 

We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in ever hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it's going to be only America first, America first.

Every decision on trade on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.  

This, from the man who brought in billionaire Wall Street executives and billionaire businessmen, who, at the very least, come from the world where moving jobs overseas, or from north to south, or completely getting rid of them, or taking people's homes away is 'just doing business' we're told; some may have participated in these activities. Either way, while the wealth of the middle class has been ripped away, Trump cabinet members have not suffered anything remotely similar, nor has Trump himself, nor have any of his family members.

Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. I will fight for you with every breath in my body and I will never let you down. 

America will start winning again, winning like never before.

We will  bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.

Winning is not everything. Winning at any cost is not winning. What, even, does this man think winning is?

At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America. And through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.

I'm not sure where the 'registries' fit into that loyalty to each other?

We have seen, over and over during the campaign, how greatly divided we are between 'patriots' who wrap themselves in the flag and claim it as their own, nary a star nor a shred of stripe to share with anyone who is different: poor, or a person of color, or a person of a different religion, or a person of a different sexual or gender identity. A person who thinks differently, has different strongly held beliefs, or a different vision for our country. There is no room at the inn, so far, for anyone who does not agree with the Trumpian mantra of #MakeAmericaFillintheBlankAgain. Instead, there is prejudice in spades.

Together, we will make American strong again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And yes, together we will make America great again.

My middle-aged white lady perspective?  America is about so much more than wealth, and having a giant military, and protectionism, and nativism, and marching in lockstep with each other and with our leaders. We are so much more than that. And I don't think this president has a clue.

This is, in fact, the beginning or introduction of system, policy, or period. But is it the period of a president more blessed with natural gifts than any other before him? A man who will be so busy doing great things that he cannot take time to answer his critics?

He is just a man, this president. Just a man - one who, if he worked for my employer, would have been fired any number of times for his prejudices, his proclamations, his attitude, his whole shtick.

I remain #NeverTrump, and will continue to do so, until I have any sense that he is different from the person he presented to us all those months on the campaign trail, and all the weeks since he won the election.

It is not time for me to abandon my beliefs and join him out of a sense of patriotic duty; the ball is in his court.