Waiting for The Crazy to be over

I can’t remember when I’ve wanted an election over so badly. This is the nastiest election in my memory, especially locally.

I blame the Facebook groups here – both sides are ugly. Rob Berry, Faceblob gadfly, who has worked as an attorney for PG&E, leads the charge with threats of “boobytrapping” his campaign signs to keep thieves away. Rob, you were asking for it there, Buddy. You should have better sense, Mr. Lawyer.

Meanwhile, queen of the bum camps, Jessica McLaughlin, attacks people for having yard signs she doesn’t approve of, giving specific addresses in her anonymous posts on Reddit, and calling out Code Enforcement. This is especially ironic since she vociferously defends the creeps who are breaking the laws in our parks and other public spaces.

Wow – this is what we have to offer the young people of our town? I’m so embarrassed.

Yvonne, I’m sorry your yard signs were taken down, but, judging from your own video, they were posted illegally on the outside of your fence. Both sides are guilty of illegal posting. And, it’s the citizen’s right, sorry Yvonne, to take down and dispose of illegally posted sign. Although, if it were me, I would have put the sign in your yard and left you a nice note with Debbie Presson’s contact info on it.

What a town. Reminds me of the story of Little Black Sambo, a controversial folk tail about bullying. Here’s my analogy – Sambo is the average voter, a guy who’s trying to inform himself about the candidates and issues. On the way to the polling station he runs into a pack of tigers who are circling his city hall building with angry mobs, both sides rabid, shutting down sidewalks, disrupting public meetings with honking horns. They’ve created a hostile atmosphere of total anarchy.

Suddenly, the Chico First, One Chico, Citizens for Safe Chico, and the Stand Up for Chico folks start chasing each other around City Plaza, shouting threats and obscenities and waving signs at each other. As Sambo watches in horror, the howling mobs turn into a river of shit, polluting the entire town.

Sambo moves to Idaho.

And then there’s national politics. It’s so deja vu – 4 years ago we watched Hillary Clinton barking at the crowds about what a disaster a Trump presidency would be. She also attacked Biden pretty viciously – and we can’t help but wonder why she is not supporting him now, along with her dirt-bag wife-cheating husband Bill. And where the hell is Michele Obama? Pissed off because Biden chose Harris? So we have the Barack and Biden show – air bumping their way across the country, with threats of shutting down society as well as the economy.

The press is shameless, I can’t believe the lack of professional journalism. But here’s what I see – the Democrats are so desperate they are trying to play the polls game. The press is presenting one poll after another saying Biden is ahead.

Sound familiar? Cause that’s what we heard leading up to Election 2016. It’s all coming back to me. I was so disgusted with being forced to choose between Hillary and Trump, and no real campaign coming out of my old stand-by, Ralph Nader, I just didn’t vote for President. I went to bed expecting to wake up to Fascism, Hillary-Style.

Boy, was I shocked – it was SURREAL – when my husband woke me out of a dead sleep about midnight to say, “HILLARY CONCEDED!”

I won’t lie, I thought Trump would be a total disaster. That didn’t happen. Instead, according to fact-checked data, the country has more jobs and more people employed, programs in place to ensure better drug prices and more transparency in medical billing, more accountability in the Veterans Administration, reforms to the justice system that ensure fair treatment – read it here:

As I read through this list, I saw stuff I knew was happening without being told. Some highlights:

1. The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost in November 2019, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country’s highest-paid workers. More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs created since his election. The poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration as a result of a jobs-rich environment. Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the U.S. began collecting such data.
2. Trump signed a bill this year allowing some drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down.  In the eight years prior to President Trump’s inauguration, prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year. Under Trump, drug prices have seen year-over-year declines in nine of the last ten months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.
3. He also signed an executive order this year that forces all health care providers to disclose the cost of their services so that Americans can comparison shop and know how much less providers charge insurance companies.  Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept.
4. Trump created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans. He also issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.
5. In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill that enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society. The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes. The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in the sentencing of nonviolent crimes. Over 90% of those benefiting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans. The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping them successfully rejoin society and not return to crime.

So, I will be sheltering in place the next few days, got my groceries stocked up, errands run, outside chores done – waiting for The Crazy to be over. Good luck, keep your head down.

Tags: Chico California Election 2020, Chico November 2020, Election 2020, TRUMP 2020