F*@k This S&@t

So another week, another shooting in America. Nineteen children 10 years old and younger dead.

It’s yet another Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment.

We are being told stories of how these young victims could only be identified by the clothes they were wearing or their parents’ DNA. The teachers’ bodies were found trying to protect their students.

Hearing these stories, it reminds me of the mother from Parkland who screamed to President Trump that we need to do something to stop these shootings.

DO SOMETHING!

I shouldn’t have to say imagine if this was your own child to any of these politicians. They should feel the horror of what has happened at Uvalde and Buffalo and Parkland and Sandy Hook. And it should make them want to DO SOMETHING besides offer up empty thoughts and prayers.

Our usual suspects are saying how their thoughts and prayers are with the families but this is not the time to re-write legislation. I would compare Ted Cruz to a slimeball weasel but that’s insulting to weasels. Instead of running to Cancun, he ran to Houston for the NRA convention that took place on Friday.

Having meetings in rooms where guns are not allowed.

Well, Fuck this Shit!!!!

People are angry and tired and they want solutions.

Real solutions, not the next line of BS that this is not the time to do such things, are desired. Or the other line of BS of getting schools more security and training our police more extensively. Especially as more stories come out about the poor decisions of the police in Uvalde.

Scream it with me. FUCK THIS SHIT!!!!

This problem in our country that does not happen in other countries. Other countries don’t have mass shootings constantly. Other countries don’t have their schools shot up on a regular basis. This happens only in our country on a regular basis. Other countries banned guns after the first mass shooting. But not our country, we don’t want to give up our guns, especially those miltary grade killing machines.

Well, Fuck this Shit!!! It’s time for solutions.

And I am not talking about Cruz’s idea to give more money to police departments to get these bad guy shooters in jail and not out on the streets.  I am talking about some real changes.

DO SOMETHING!!!!

Forget increasing gun accessibility, as Texas laws have done. How else does an 18-year-old get a military grade weapon legally? LE-GA-LY!!!!!

I want to know why the freedom to own whatever gun you want trumps the right to people living, especially children. Why do 90% of people have to live in fear of the 10% who don’t give a shit about our safety?

FUCK THIS SHIT!!!!

I am no longer accepting the line that there is nothing that can be done to stop evil. I was given that line by an idiot after our town’s school were on lockdown for a third time in eight years because a disgruntled person brought a gun on the property. One was prepared to shoot a specific staff member.

DO SOMETHING!!!!

It’s time to bring back the ban on assault weapons. Don’t try the old lie that they are being used for hunting. Any hunter will tell you that kind of weapon destroys the meat you are trying to harvest. Instead, make the weapon of choice for these shootings harder to get.

While you’re at it, start acting as if guns are like cars. Buy a gun, then buy insurance, a license, and take gun safety classes.

Nationalize Red Flag laws so that these laws go across state lines. Want to know the truth behind Chicago’s high rate of violence despite some of the toughest laws regarding guns? Most of the guns used in crimes come from Indiana and Wisconsin where the gun laws are more lax. Make that National Registry have real teeth by connecting it with Red Flag laws so that domestic violence victims might believe that order of protection has real teeth.

And finally, stop blaming mental illness without doing something about it. Make mental health services a required part of any health insurance policy. Beef up the services people can get and expand Medicaid in your state so it is widely available.

HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO DO!?!?!?!?!?!

I have had people tell me you can’t prevent evil. But like many in this country I am SICK of these mass shootings where the only intent is to kill as many people as possible.  90% of the people in the country are sick of them and want some action.

So it is up to the 90% to do something. We need to start by writing letters to our own and all senators, especially the ones who only want any gun to be able to be bought by any person at any time. If you have a gun violence story, tell them. Make them cry. And then tell them what you want. Remember to not swear in your letter, you want to be taken seriously. At the end of this rant, I have a letter to senators you can adapt for your own. Use it as a template.

Send them a letter every month, don’t stop until we get legislative action. Call your senators every month. Keep the pressure up until they do something. Peacefully march whenever possible. Pay attention to who voted for the new legislation and who didn’t. Use your power of the vote to get rid of the ones who will not do something.

Don’t stop because when we stop, they will stop until the next shooting. This awful cycle will repeat itself. And the thing is, there will be another one sometime soon. The pattern is all too familiar, all too scary. And we should not allow ourselves to get use to it.

Now it’s your turn.

DO SOMETHING!!!!!!

Here’s your sample letter. You’re welcome!

Dear Senator,

I am writing in regards to the recent shootings that have taken the lives of 31 Americans. I am a part of the 90% that wants to see legislation happen to stop these killings.

First and foremost, we need to re-institute a federal ban on assault weapons.  These weapons are made for mowing down people. Why are we selling these weapons with little or no restrictions, as the Texas shooter was easily able to do on his 18^th birthday.

Secondly, create federally mandated background checks on all gun purchases. So what if a person has to wait a few days for their gun? Isn’t it better to have someone wait? Connect that to mandatory insurance for each gun/rifle/assault weapon owned.

Third, make Red Flag laws federally mandated. One of the problems with tough gun states is that they are surrounded by states that have fewer restrictions, such as Illinois and Indiana. Perhaps domestic violence survivors would feel safer knowing their abuser could not get a weapon.

Lastly, if we are going to blame mental illness issues for these shootings, let’s require health insurance companies to give better coverage of this health problem. Expand what is available through Medicaid. But do not pretend we don’t have to address mental health. Depression, anxiety, and other disorders need to be addressed, especially if they are going to be blamed for the increase of mass shootings.

Americans want these mass shootings to stop. 90% of Americans want federally mandated background checks. Please take these minimal steps to make our country safer, to make our country more like other industrialized nations that do not have this problem.

Thank you,

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Open Letter to All Senators

What did you do on January 17 to fulfill it as a day of service?

I crafted a letter that I sent not only to my senators but several other senators, including a few I really dislike, regarding the two voting rights bills that are on the senate floor.

In sending it to my own senators, I am preaching towards the choir. They are voting for Voters’ Rights. But there are others who need to stop acting as if voter fraud happened when no one , not even the former guy, has proven that it happened. I hoped by voicing my opinion, politely, maybe they would listen.

So I am putting that letter here. Perhaps it will get more attention, perhaps not. But I want senators to now that not every one who contacts them wishes them ill.

Dear Senator,

I am asking you to vote for the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Amendment.

I feel that these bills will protect the rights of voters everywhere in our country. I believe strongly that all Americans should have the same experience I do when I go to vote. Many times, I am in and out of the voting booth within 15 minutes. And that includes waiting for the election judges to find me on the rolls and give me a ballot.

No one should have to wait hours to vote, especially if they have time limits because of their work hours.

No one should have to bring along a day’s worth of food and drink along with fold-up chairs in order to vote. Or be denied the opportunity to be given food and drink while waiting in line to vote an inordinate amount of time.

No one should be denied the opportunity to use absentee ballots, especially our military serving overseas or people worried about contracting Covid-19 in all of its variants.

Early balloting should be made easily available to all. I know I used it when I served as an election judge in November 2020 and was glad I did. I ended up being assigned to a voting site not in my area. People who have to work on voting day need the opportunity to vote as easily as possible.

Voting polls should be abundant, especially in states where the counties are the same size of our smallest states.

I ask you to vote for these bills to help all Americans, not just a few. Justice denied to some means justice denied to all.

I ask you to work with the party across the aisle to make these bills passing into law a reality. These bills are for all of us, not some of us. When it comes to voting rights, we should stand together as a nation and show the world how it is done.

I may not live in your state but your vote doesn’t affect just your state. It affects everyone in our nation. Please work to make these bills become reality to help all Americans have the right to free and fair and accessible elections.

Sincerely,

Karyn Bowman

Dear Mike Pence,

Can we talk? I want to have a calm conversation with you.

I ask this as a fellow graduate of a church-based college. Yours is Presbytarian and mine in Church of the Brethren. If it makes you more comfortable, our spouses can be in the room as well. I realize that your wife went to a private college but my husband went to a church school, so that should aid in your comfort.

Please, have a seat. I can make some tea or coffee, set out some cookies, or cheese and crackers.

You’re going to need the sustenance because what I am about to say is going to be hard for you to hear.

Donald Trump, the former president and your former boss, is not your friend.

I know, I know. You worked hard for him, believed in his platform, and that he was the shining light in the Republican party.

But the man does not have your best interests at heart. I’m not sure he cares for you at all.

Why do I say this?

Because on January 6, 2021, the day when you chose to live by the law, his followers were looking to kill you. They were yelling “Hang Mike Pence” and set up a noose on scaffolding that was there for restoration work.

By minutes, you and your family were able to get out of the Capitol building before the insurgents calling for your death rushed through looking for you specifically.

Worse yet, your boss did nothing to stop the violent behavior. He never called the national guard to stop the attack on the Capitol but you did. Oh, he put out a tweet a few hours later telling people to go home.

But he did nothing to stop the insurgents. He did nothing to safe guard the Capitol police, members of congress, or you and your family. You ended up calling the National Guard.

What I don’t understand is how you can say it was just one day, it was another day in Washington D.C.

What I don’t understand is how you can still support Donald Trump.

Is this a PTSD reation to discovering that your boss didn’t care if you and your family was harmed, or worse killed, because he loved that his supporters’ mis-guided notion that Trump won the election?

Is the idea of continuing being vice-president or being president someday perhaps more important than your life? Or the life of your family?

We both know that January 6 happened, that it was real. We know that while protests might be a daily part of D.C., we also know violent protests are not a daily occurrence. We know that the Capitol does not experience violence like this on a daily basis. Congressional members do not have to hit the floor or bar the doors or quickly get out of the building on a daily basis.

I don’t pretend to know what motivates you. I haven’t been able to figure out why you continue loyalty to a man who doesn’t care if you live or die; he only cares that you give him what he needs by any means necessary. And just because you served him loyally for nearly four years, doesn’t mean that counted on the day he wanted to remain president.

I cannot figure how how you can justify all of that. Perhaps you can explain that to me.

Someday.

Meanwhile, I feel concerned that you don’t understand the danger you were in, that your family was in. I feel concerned that your naivete doesn’t get that Trump doesn’t like you and will put you in danger – again – if it means he wins.

Is it your Christian faith that chooses to believe Trump is the guy to make your Republican dreams come true or is it greed and a desire for power?

What would Jesus say to you if you were to actually speak to him?

I don’t think you would like the answer he would give you.

But this is one time you should listen to it.

Just a “Secular Jew”. . .

There is so much going on this past few week, I have no idea where to start.

I am finding myself angry about a number of happening. Since I try to go with one topic at a time, let me start with on that hasn’t made much notice.

Many of us have heard about the increasing violence against the Jewish community. There were attacks every day of Hanukah. It takes a lot of guts to find the different looking people in your area and attack them. (sarcasm).

But that wasn’t the worst story I read. Newsweek reported that Dennis Prager, a conservative radio host, stated that Anne Frank held no wisdom for him. That would be fine if it weren’t for the fact he ridiculed her age and the fact that Frank was a secular Jew.

Prager himself was born into an orthodox Jewish family in New York. After college, he left his orthodox faith but maintains those practices he deems important. He also worked to help Soviet Jews emigrate to the US. So I was surprised by his comments about Frank.

Picture from Britannica.com

It is true that Frank’s family was secular and that she was 16 when she wrote the diaries.  Despite everything that happened, Frank still believed in the goodness of people. Was that naive of her? Was it ill advised despite all of her experiences?

I don’t know and I am not going to judge Frank if she was wise enough. She was living through a situation that I can not imagine. She dealt with the stress of being in hiding from people who wanted to kill her because of an ethnic identity. The fact that she felt hopeful after being in hiding and knowing the outside world was dangerous is amazing to me. She chose to look at the world with the feeling of faith in mankind to always want to be better.

There is something I would like to give to Mr. Prager as a reminder. Nazis didn’t care if you were orthodox, conservative, or liberal. They didn’t care if you were an observant Jew, a passover and Yom Kippur Jew, or a fallen away Jew. All that mattered was that if you were a Jew, you needed to be eliminated. Maybe that was shut up in the ghetto, sent to a camp, or simply dead in a trench the Jews were forced to dig.

As we see increased violence towards the Jewish population, now is not the time to pick each other apart. Maybe Prager did this because currently because it is en vogue to criticize teenagers who take a stand against evil. Maybe he considers this young girl inconsequential because of her age and secular religious habits. All I can say that it takes a small man to disparage a young person to make him feel better about himself. Almost as small as the people who have to kill those who are different from themselves.

 

Sex and birth control and women’s rights

In this current climate when each Southern state feels the need to come up with a crueler-than-the-one-before legislation regarding abortion and women’s health, I keep seeing this meme.

 

 

My initial visceral reaction is to scream “Fuck You! Are you fucking nuts!?!”

But that is not how I respond. I say something along the line of how cruel this statement is to women who are raped, who are unwilling partners, girls who are raped by family members. women who are in abusive situations and cannot afford to leave.

In my head, this statement says we always have a choice when the truth is we don’t. The truth is someone we know or don’t know will force us into something we don’t want. And should we complain, tell, or file a report our word will be questioned every step of the way.

All of these new laws carry dangerous ends for women. Some of them want to force a woman to report a miscarriage to the local police. Some want to imprison women if their miscarriage is found to be an attempted abortion. So the mother will be at fault if something goes wrong, depending on how the judge and jury finds her liability. So does that mean women with hostile wombs will be in jail a lot? I hope it isn’t because her partner hit her in the stomach on purpose because we all know what will happen. His jail term will be much shorter than hers.

Some of these laws will make a woman guilty of filing a false report of rape if the case goes to trial and the man is found not guilty. Considering only 2 in 10 rapes make it to trial and 1 in 10 get a jail sentence. Even then there is no guarantee the judge will give a justified sentence as we saw in the Brock Turner case.

Do we really want this for our daughters or granddaughters? Do we want to judge them all so harshly?

Considering birth control isn’t always covered by insurance (but viagra still is), considering that there are many options that may not be available to a person, I am not sure there are affordable options, let alone those free options are that the meme talks about.

But more importantly, in an age when the birthrate is the lowest it has ever been in America, this meme slut shames every victim who couldn’t fend off a relative or a religious person or a serial rapist or a person they thought was a friend or a true love. I don’t care that you think this  meme is speaking the truth. What you are really saying to these women is “Fuck You! Too bad you couldn’t get your happily ever after. I got mine and I don’t give a shit about you.”

I wouldn’t say or imply that too loudly because you never know when the laws set forth by these Christian Sharias will turn on you and take away your rights as well.

Resolution

Have you made any resolutions this year?

Is there a change in your life you are willing to make to make the next step of your life better?

I have.

I have decided this year I am no longer using or tolerating the words rethuglican or libitard.

I am sick of the devisiveness. I am sick of any argument ending with those insults. If that’s the best you can do in the start of an argument, think again.

Where does this get any of us?

Oh, we throw down that insult and it feels so good. But it does no good, it creates ill will and breaks friendships. There are people who used to be my friends that I will never speak to again because a snowflake is just another libitard.

Well to hell with that!

You want to argue your point then bring it on. Use facts from irrefutable sources and not websites that show they are only conservative or only liberal. You want to spout tea bag party bs or progressive pie in the sky dreams. fine and back it up with statistics and facts. Actually take the time to look it up.

And trust me when I say that is what I am planning to do as well. I don’t need to call Mitch McConnell a turtle. And I will not call Bernie Sanders an old fart or a commie. I don’t need to because I know how to research.

If I want to prove your point is false or wrong all I have to do is a little research. I don’t have to call you names, insult your political affiliation, or insult your family tree.

That’s right, I don’t need to insult you. It won’t make my remarks feel that much more powerful. And I want to look myself in the mirror without self loathing.

So this year I am not using those words, I am not insulting people with those decisive labels. We have enough ill will floating in the air. Let’s not add to it with hateful labels.

So join me. Make the effort to use facts and not insults.

It could make the run up to the next presidential very interesting.

 

 

Open Letter to Governor-Elect J.B. Pritzker

Dear Governor-Elect J.B. Pritzker,

You won a hard election, congratulations!

I want you to know that even though I voted for you, I did so with reservation. You are a businessman, just as our previous governor was. I have high expectations for you and I do expect you to be better than the last guy.

I was happy to see you put together a transition team quickly. I hope this means you are hitting the ground running. But there are a few things I want from you.

Do not, and I mean this, do not work your policy agenda through the budget. I understand that cuts need to be made and some taxes increased. But we also need to have good consistent budgets and consistent bureaucrats  for business people to work with. No one wants to work with a group in which no one knows what is happening.

That said, I know you have to make cuts. Please remember to not let down our neediest citizens. Those people who are medically fragile need to continue to have the care they need. Special need kids need therapies to get better, to learn how to make gains that will improve their standard of living, to be more than people ever expect.

I also know that you want to legalize pot. And there are many therapeutic reasons to do so. Pain relief would surpass that of opioides without the high rate of addiction. Unfortunately, pot is mixed with other drugs when sold on the street creating dangerous combinations. Do us all a favor when you legalize pot and make the same penalties for pot usage while in a motorized vehicle as we do for alcohol.

I know, crazy idea, right? But hear me out. We learned the hard way that taking liquor off the market made things bad. We learned that making liquor legal again caused a rise in drunk driving accidents and fatalities. Thanks to MADD, we learned how to legislate to decrease drunk driving fatalities by nearly 50%.

Do the same for pot. Tax the crap out of it like we do liquor and cigarettes. Allow medical marijuana facilities to operate so parents can get that oil that helps kids have fewer seizures, so people with chronic pain can have relief without opioides, so cancer patients can have an appetite during chemo.

I don’t doubt that there will be abuse. We have that now with alcohol. So emphasize treatment programs and support groups. Regulate those facilities for purity of product. Shut people down when they don’t live to code. Then use that tax money for crazy things like improving infrastructure, creating job training programs, and improving our schools beyond what money we get from the lottery.

I want you to succeed, to do great things for the state. I want our state to be a place people stay, despite the cold winters. But let me tell you this. If you play stupid games with policies, with budgets, with the betterment of the state, the citizens will hate you. Make sure you have this ‘being governor’ thing down or you will be kicked to the curb.

Just like the last rich ‘businessman’ guy.

Sincerely,

Karyn Bowman

Notes From Rumbly Cottage

 

ALL OF US

I recently came across this clever little meme that talks about who is a true American that has given us the right to vote, freedom of speech, freedom to demonstrate, freedom of the press.

 

“It’s the Veteran, not the reporter,
who has given us the freedom of the press.
It’s the Veteran, not the poet,
who has given us the freedom of speech.
It’s the Veteran, not the community organizer,
who gives us the freedom to demonstrate.
It’s the Military who salutes the flag,
who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag.”

 

I have news for whoever wrote this.

You’re wrong because it takes all of us to make sure those rights exist and stay in place.

By excluding the community organizer, you exclude the people who call us to arms, to try to right the wrongs of the community as we see it. Community organizers are not just demonstrating in the streets, they are recruiting people to their cause – be it the army, the alt-right, the women’s march, or their house of worship. And whose words are they using?

They use the words of the poets, the dreamers, those who can speak eloquently about the things the rest of us believe but can’t put into words. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander  were incredible writers who put into words the things that our burgeoning nation wanted and dreamed of. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence that still stirs our souls over two hundred years later. Hamilton wrote various portions of the Constitution and went on to write the majority of the Federalist Papers that define and explain the Constitution even further. Where would we be without the writers of the Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America, or I’m Proud to be an American?

By excluding the voter, you exclude the people  who do the hardest part of this nation. They go to the ballot box and make their voice heard. Sometimes your side wins, sometimes your side loses. Other nations fight for this right. Other nations have election day ruined by those factions who throw acid or shoot at voters. That doesn’t happen here. And let’s work to make sure that never does happen.

You want to prop up the military as the only fighters of freedom. And a part of me understands. But the other part says that’s not going to happen because the military isn’t the only one doing the heavy lifting of democracy. The work belongs to all of us – the poet, the organizer, the artist, the voter, the journalist, the mother and father, the every day joe and josephine, the soldier.

Someone has to inspire, someone has to gather us together, someone has to create the images and flags, someone has to write about it, someone has to work with the children, someone has to do the everyday work of the nation, someone has to protect it. We are in this together despite looking and being different in so many way.

DEMOCRACY REQUIRES ALL OF US!

 

So Together
by Kadir Nelson

The only question left is what are you doing to protect our democracy?

 

 

 

The Day of the Fire

Family Movie Night

By Karyn Bowman

Normally, I am happy to talk about the ridiculous or action packed movies that take us away from the normal daily routines.

In fact, I had planned to watch I, Tonya Saturday night so I could write about it. I was looking forward to the downtime after driving my sons to the various work or activity commitments, and helping my daughter get ready for prom.

But at some point on Saturday afternoon, something was not right. We could see smoke on the east end of town. Slowly it seemed fire trucks were coming, one by one sirens began screaming. The smoke smelled acrid like when plastic burns.

The apartment building next to the post office was aflame, even at the late point that I walked to the site. It was obvious that the building just to the south had been damaged by the fire although I could not tell just how much had been done. However, firemen were on the balcony of the south building sending a high-powered stream of water onto the last vestiges of flames on the very front of the north building. On the back of the building there were at least three other streams working to dampen the flames.

As I looked into the building, I could see the roof was gone. It looked as if the second floor was giving way as well. I heard one firefighter say that the main fire was in the middle of the building and it would be several hours before it would all be out. The firemen’s effort would go on through the night as Momence Fire Department came with their light truck.

Looking at all of the trucks, you could see the names of the various communities that came to help our small town: Pembroke, Kankakee, Beecher, Sauk Village, Richton Park, Matteson. I assume there were others but I did not those trucks. Some were used to block off streets so that a snake of hoses could be used to bring more water to the scene. Eventually, water would be drawn from Cote Lake to combat the fire in the later stages.

Several families have lost their home and belongings. I heard that a fund is being started at the National Bank of St. Anne to help these families. Chris Sutherland sponsored a clothing and toiletries drive this past Monday.

What I didn’t take pictures of was the groups of people watching the fire, including a girl in her lovely peach-colored gown for prom. Her friends came in their party dresses to be their for their friend who is watching her home go up in flames. It was too intimate, too personal. It was enough that I was there seeing their pain; no one wants that broad-casted to the world. 

All of us know that this could be us; a simple malfunction could take away everything. A friend of mine lost her mother when there was an unknown gas leak in their basement. The mother turned on her vacuum cleaner and the house blew up. It was accidental and not the fault of anyone. For my friend, the loss was great.

I know many people are feeling their loss. But I also believe it will get better. Help will come in all directions. That is best thing about a small town; when the unbelievable happens people rally around you.

Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.

Mad as hell and about to blow up!

Ever since the election in 2016, I have been angry.

Some people might say I have always been an angry soul but now I am on the edge of going off at all times.

I want to scream and yell all of the time. I want to eat birthday cake and all the bad things I shouldn’t eat all of the time. I completely understood Tina Fey’s rant a few months ago after Charlottesville.

Everyday our President or our majority party congress does or says or tweets something that makes me want to scream, loudly.

Taxes, sexual harassment, North Korea, Russia, healthcare, racial agitation, nazi sympathies, anti-woman sentiments, anti-middle class sentiments are just a few topics that push me over the edge.

Our president and his supporters creep me out. All they seem to do is hate, hate, HATE!

They hate Mexicans, Muslims, women, blacks, immigrants, gays. Transgenders, journalists, anyone different.

They can’t stand the fact that they might not be in power and they turn their sights on anyone who can take that power away from them. Intelligentsia, the press, the scientists are all evil.

They think their guns are going to be taken away, that a wall will protect us, that the earth is not warming and climate change is a big fat lie. That women are more evil than cats. that stories or videos on what they have said or done is all fake news.

Worse yet, all of the things that 45 decided were not true have become true in his head again.

This is what happens when a business man becomes a governmental leader who does not understand how government works. Businessmen expect to snap their fingers and the changes they want will happen. But it doesn’t work that way as my own governor is finding out. You actually have to work with people, write things out, make sure they are legal, sit through committee meetings.

So these guys are trying to force the world back to something that is great for them and they don’t care if it doesn’t work for the remaining 95% of the country. They turn off their phones and refuse to meet with constituents, the people who voted for them. Who cares about small businesses and the middle class – you know them as the people who buy your products. But after this bill passes and taxes lose all of the deductions for the middle class, life won’t be the same. You can take off your expenses for that jet but not your healthcare costs, state taxes, and real estate and student loan interest.

Who cares about seniors? Or veterans or the disabled? Meals on Wheels simply is “just not showing results” according to Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget chief.

While I call my representatives in Washington, it is like singing to the choir. I do it now for the tallies so they can go back and say “see, my constituents hate this!” On the other hand, my state rep still thinks bump stocks are not worthy to fight about. Shooting up a grade school and music concert and a church is simply not enough reason to make consistent gun laws across the country

I understand why people are going off. I won’t be surprised if senators find themselves in front of angry constituents during the next round of town hall visits. I wouldn’t be surprised if their local offices are egged, tp’ed, or blown up. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they all have armed guards paid for by tax money.

People are angry, fighting mad. They know that around the corner or at the next family gathering is a Trump supporter gloating at all of the winning that is not happening. And on days that another indictment or guilty plea comes out, I feel like we can throw it all right back in their faces even though we shouldn’t.

While I try to keep my cool, I find myself not listening to the news. I have a steady stream of audio books to get me through when the classical station refuses to come in. I’m working on scarves to put on our church’s mitten tree. I am eating more (dark) chocolate and bread. (love white bread but avoiding it like the plague). I am also trying to work out more and drink a little extra alcohol to take the edge off.

Now that the tax bill nightmare has come true, Congress is moving on to net neutrality and social security.

I might need to move on to a gallon of ice cream to get through those issues.

What are you doing to relieve the stress of the Trump administration?