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So the days go by, one at a time, as days always do. Here in America each day brings a new atrocity from our mad king trump. Every time we think he’s gone as low as he can go violating our laws, our ethics, and our humanity Americans have long taken for granted, our mad king goes lower. And lower still.
Meanwhile, our mad king’s brown-nosing quislings continue to fall over themselves in their endless quests to kowtow. While us non-trump-fluffing shell-shocked Americans watch our civil liberties melt away and our retirement funds shrink as the price of essentials rockets to the skies. And we watch the nightly news in helpless fury at new horror each day brings.
A Long Dry Spell
So it’s been a long dry spell of me not writing in this humble blog. It’s not from a lack of things to write about. It’s from being deluged with daily waterfalls of events that overwhelm. Completely preventing any semblance of deciding which events are worthy of writing about and which should be left to drift into forgetfulness.
I’ve also had to face personal impacts of trump’s madness beyond the deluge of newsworthy atrocities. As a federal worker, I’ve been forced into moving back to Virginia to maintain a physical presence in my government office.
Back in Virginia
One of trump’s immediate “Shock and Awe” events upon re-occupying the White House January 20 was ordering all federal workers back into their offices. Also known as “Return to Office (RTO)”, the rationale was that we federal workers were scamming by working out of sight of someone who could look over our shoulders at what we were doing each workday. Proclaimed by the man who works out of the White House every day he’s not out playing golf.
I was working “remote,” out of my home-office, since last July by agreement with my team that was mutually beneficial to all of us. The January RTO proclamation from our mad king turned out to not apply to federal workers who were covered by a union. I had never considered whether I was eligible for union membership as a federal worker, but decided this was a good time to find out. Turned out, I was eligible for membership in the American Federal Government Employees (AFGE) union. So I joined.
The irony that I needed union protections as a member of the Federal Government workforce, once considered the “safest” employment in America, is not lost on me.
No Bargaining For You
Being a “bargaining unit” (union member) kept me working at home past the initial February 13 RTO deadline. Meanwhile, my non-bargaining unit colleagues back in DC needed to deal with the gut punches of commuting every weekday for the first time since the great Pandemic Shutdown of March 2020.
Given that our union contracts required the Government to negotiate with our unions to get us back into the office, I thought I was safe from RTO until my planned August retirement. My basis was that there was no one competent enough on the Government side to do those negotiations. I was correct in the lack of competence on Government side. However, I mis-underestimated the level of vicious lawlessness championed by our mad king. On Thursday, March 13, union members were informed “the Government” had canceled our union agreements, and we were ordered to RTO by March 27.
That proclamation was followed on March 27 by another one stripping away bargaining rights from all federal union members. As insult to injury, that March 27 proclamation also prohibited federal payroll systems from automatically deducting dues for enrolled union members.
Back in Washington DC
Since March 28 I’ve been living in Woodbridge and working in DC as a geographical bachelor with Winnie still in Charlotte. I’m renting a room from a family Winnie knew in Woodbridge, and kept in touch with after we moved. I’m back to commuting five days each week, doing the exact same thing in my office I was doing from home in Charlotte. Along with all my other colleagues.
On a sort of positive note, I’m able to have a front-row view of current events from the belly of the beast.
Conservative Wet Dreams
Meanwhile, Mad King Trump is surrounded by ever-reverent members of his court while living out his wildest fantasies. Project 2025, the blueprint behind trump’s madness, is a conservative wet dream encapsulating every right-wing idea imagined since the days of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich. It follows that, like hotel room cleaners on the morning after Valentines Day, sane non-conservative Americans will be stuck cleaning up the mess.
Civil War Rematch?
I feel like we’re entering a rematch of our 1861-1865 American Civil War. Only this time the people who believe God appointed some men to rule while other men and all women are born only to follow – the spiritual descendants of white southern slavers – seem to be on top.
I take heart that in our first Civil War, the southern slavers had the upper hand until they didn’t. I want to believe the good guys standing on the side of truth, justice, and the American way will eventually get the upper hand again. But America, and our standing on the world stage, has already been irreparably damaged.
Final Thoughts
These past weeks I frequently remember a passage from “Lord of the Rings,” between Gandalf the Wizard and Frodo the Hobbit:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
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