As usual, it was what he said and how he said it that makes many of us miss that noon-to-3pm routine of hearing that reassuring “guiding light” of calm “through times of trouble, confusion, murkiness, tumult, chaos, riots, looting — and even the good times”.

Rep. Thomas Massie posted a 2015 video of Washington, D.C., Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton parking poorly near the Capitol in an escalating Twitter feud between the two lawmakers. The Kentucky Republican recently wrote on Twitter that his office “will not comply” with Washington, D.C.’s vaccine mandate to enter some public spaces, such as restaurants and entertainment venues. Norton, who represents the district as a delegate in the House, as the city is not a state, responded she would provide sandwiches for Massie’s staff who are vaccinated but “afraid they’ll get fired if they order in.”

“If that description fits you and you’re hungry, [direct message] me and my staff will be in touch,” she wrote. “DC has your back.”

Massie taunted Norton in response, tweeting the resurrected video and asking her not to drive to get the sandwiches.
— The Gazette, 1/18/22

Good call….

Speaking exclusively to FOX 5’s Tom Fitzgerald on Thursday, Norton said she was late for a TV interview, in an area where she doesn’t normally park, and wasn’t expecting construction or the six-point turn she would need to execute in order to park. Norton’s staffers say the car next to her reported no damage. Capitol Police say no report was ever made.
— Fox 5, 3/26/15

Must be nice.

At his memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., his daughter Robin shared some of his last words from his penned letter.

It was quite the timely and apropos dig….

No doubt there was a chuckle or two in the heavens.

It’s not hard to imagine how those in federal and state federal government can be so casual when it comes to their evolving time schedules as to when the nation will be fully open for business because it’s as simple as follow the money. They’re getting theirs thus there’s no sense of urgency, the “process” of politics can run it’s course because certain taxpayer-funded paychecks have been assured to come in uninterrupted.

United States Congressman and Senator weekly salary: $3,346 (assured through 9/21)
Average federal employee weekly salary: $1,730
Average state employee weekly salary varies: (highest) Washington, D.C $2,222,
….Maryland $2,086, Virginia $1,967
Former president lifelong pension benefit weekly: $4,051
Congressional lifelong pension benefit weekly: $2,676

Here’s how the elected have been financially weathering the shutdown while the American people have to live with their edicts….

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) weekly salary: $2,848
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) weekly salary: $3,878
Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) weekly salary: $1,730
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) forgoes his weekly $2,884 salary
Delaware Governor John Carney Jr. (D) weekly salary: $3,288
Hawaii Governor David Ige (D) weekly salary: $3,051
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) forgoes his $3,411 weekly salary
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) weekly salary: N/A
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) weekly salary: $2,500
Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) Weekly salary: $1,346
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) weekly salary: $3,269
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (R) weekly salary: $3,557
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) weekly salary: $3,063
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) weekly salary: $2,454
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak (D) pledged to donate his $2,876 weekly salary
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) weekly salary: $3,365
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) weekly salary: $3,846
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) weekly salary: $2,775
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) weekly salary: $2,954
Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D) weekly salary: $1,896
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) weekly salary: $3,747
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (D) weekly salary: $2,802
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) weekly salary: $2,956
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) weekly salary: $3,365
Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) weekly salary: $3,520
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) weekly salary: $2,937

Everyday life gets even harder to endure at the mayoral level….

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) weekly salary: $4,975
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) weekly salary: $4,771
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) weekly salary: $4,157
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) weekly salary: $3,846
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D) weekly salary: $3,365
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (D) weekly salary: $3,292
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) weekly salary: $2,833

Remember this when the political class drags this process out to collect more COVID-19 “data”, fat-and-comfortable government employees go on social media and tell those who fund their incoming paychecks to shut up and stay home, humble yourself and visit a food bank, decline to pay your rent and bills, never leave home (and if you must risk killing us all, not without a mask), and succumb to your movements being tracked and stored.

It must be nice.

NOTE — We’re not including self-centered celebrities because they don’t have the power over us they believe they have.

In this particular case, simple numbers explain why things don’t get done in an efficient manner in our nation’s capital.

Americans’ incomes have risen in recent years, but the wealth hasn’t been evenly distributed, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. There were 21 counties with median household incomes above $100,000, the new estimates show, and half of the top 10 fell in northern Virginia, just outside the nation’s capital, which itself boasted a median income of $77,649.
— US News & World Report, 12/6/19

The Washington D.C. region including The District, Southern Maryland and Northern Virginia is unsympathetically referred to as “recession proof” because when cyclical economic downturns befall the rest of the nation, certain people are almost always spared the pain.

The Great Recession is one of the most severe economic downturns in American history. Washington D.C. appeared almost unscathed as the rest of the country suffered. The capital city was also one of the first places to start seeing growth when the recovery started. Washington’s success stirred resentment as the region thrived amidst the downturn. New buildings and a wealthy economy were fueled by the federal government and taxpayers.
— Inside Sources, 8/7/17

One would think those fortunate enough to be gainfully employed with generous compensation and benefits would be grateful to those who pay to maintain those comfortable lifestyles.

Alas, that is not always the case….

…
Unlike most industries that actually create and manufacture products that people are willing to purchase, D.C. creates virtually nothing aside from constant reasons why they should keep their jobs, if not create more for those with mediocre creativity and incentive to improve their skills.

One possible reason there is so much resistance to the Trump presidency is that the president’s business acumen has exposed a culture where the actual completion of a project puts fat-and-happy incomes in peril. After a building is erected, those who built it move on and look for another construction project. In D.C., simple tasks are oh-so slowly performed as to not put their jobs in peril and that philosophy trickles down to the lackluster approach of foreign policy, health care, or mostly anything that could improve the lives of citizens by making a solvable problem go away.

The cost of living is also much higher in this area because higher-paid federal employees have more disposable income and those who service them took note many, many years ago.

One thing that drives the capital and its environs is those very large federal paychecks, which now amount to about $90,000 a year in money wages and just under $125,000 a year in total compensation. Washington pay has long been above the national average, but it is pulling away. In 2000, the median compensation for an American worker at large was about 74 percent of the median compensation for a federal employee; today, the average working taxpayer makes only 55 percent of what the average federal tax-eater makes. Our would-be class warriors talk about “transfers of wealth” and “transfers of income” when they mean mere changes in those metrics, but in this case, there is a literal transfer, with the most fearsome agency of the federal government — our corrupt and politicized IRS — raiding our households and businesses to support $1,000-a-night La Tur habits in Washington.
— National Review, 11/6/16

This has also had the negative effect of gentrification which, despite the faux laments, makes these areas whiter, more “progressive” thus less tolerant of those not well paid, liberal and white.

The mediocrity, when it comes to the calibre of the typical federal employee, is also a self-maintaining mechanism because they are in the majority. Federal employee unions have made it almost impossible to shed dead weight and generous pensions are one of the sole motivators of those who’ll do just enough to do their “25” so taxpayers can enjoy the privilege of supporting them for the rest of their lives.

And that is why you see Hill staffers who put in ten years at modestly-paid jobs and then go to work at lobby shops that pay them enough to drive a Bentley and live in one of those horrifying weird $3 million suburban piles in Arlington.

The nonprofit sector (representing many ideologies and causes) also thrives where principles are sanctimoniously packaged; principals are lavishly compensated while they suck up to those in the immediate area who enjoy annual tax write offs. Their overheads are many times more than those in private sector, and they really don’t have to achieve their promoted missions. The media is hardly any better as so many employees never leave their office spaces to collect news, but simply search online for interesting stories they can repackage (aggregate) and make their own.

Whenever the gloom-and-doom of a government shutdown reaches public awareness, it’s been shown many Americans are fairly indifferent because they’re rarely inconvenienced. But it the D.C. area, it’s time to panic. The media throws government employee sob stories in our faces. We’re to feel sorry for those who’ll suddenly find themselves out of work while most everyone knows as soon as the shutdown ends, these employees will be back to work and receive compensation for the forced time off.

But the most ironic is how the media mismanages optics by presenting federal employees, most of whom one would think is primarily worried about how to pay rent or a mortgage, daycare costs, make car payments, etc.

One in five new vehicles sold in those states is from a luxury marque (about a third higher than the national average) with BMW leading the way, because D.C. is exactly that douchey, and Mercedes-Benz in second place. Aston-Martin is unusually popular in Virginia; Bentley sells unusually well in Maryland.

It turns out most important to these employees is food, which bad optics is manifest when you see the obese whining on broadcast news, alerts are issued by local supermarkets and restaurants that a federal government identification card entitles them to free meals, goodie bags and breaks on bills because we should all sympathize with them; a concept not bestowed on Americans when politically-bollixed bad times hit the rest of the nation.

Restaurants are offering free food for workers who present their government IDs, historic sites are offering passes to federal workers, major banks are rolling out special assistance programs, and some centers are even offering free knitting classes for government employees.
— The Hill, 1/3/19

So, pay attention whenever census numbers again reveal the have-and-have-nots are not just a rich vs. the poor political narrative. It’s also a reminder that there are hundreds of thousands of people in one relatively small region of the United States that are living a comfortable life and despite what they’re not doing or doing TO us, expect us to maintain them.

Washington, D.C. is no different and with the future opening of an Amazon HQ right across the Potomac in Crystal City, real estate is now at a premium and “affordable housing” needs are not only a necessity, but a tax lure for overspending politicians. DC’s mayor is no different and she wants input from her constituents.

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration will host community meetings throughout the city this summer to establish neighborhood targets laying out how to distribute a total of 12,000 new affordable housing units over the next six years.
— The DC Line, 5/13/19

Be careful what you ask for….

Great, a Democrat mayor hooking up “city employees” but that’s not going to mean much for those who see what’s happening all around them.

Washington, D.C.’s neighborhoods have experienced intense gentrification, resulting in the displacement of more than 20,000 African American residents from 2000 to 2013, a study released Tuesday said. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s study of that 13-year period found that the District had the highest percentage of gentrifying neighborhoods out of all the cities analyzed.
— NBC4 Washington, 3/20/19

Here’s the problem: whenever government gets involved, the needs of the people are secondary, especially in areas where show-politicians know they really don’t have to make good on promises to get reelected. Now, where government agencies and career-welfare nonprofits DO overperform is pointing to someone else to provide customer service.

And when you go to DC Housing Search, you won’t find much by way of “affordable housing”. For example, if you search for a 3-bedroom home between $1 and $200,000, the pickins’ are slim… like two.

When you up the price between $200,000 and the website’s “affordable housing” max of $350,000, the available home choices skyrocket… to ten and a few of the pricier ones managed to sneak through.

Kinda’ makes you wonder who owns the more expensive units because seldom does anything happen in a predominantly black district that doesn’t benefit the grease-palming, well-connected.

It’s not like blacks haven’t seen this movie before and it usually ends with them being forced out and upwardly-mobile whites (who donate much more to political campaigns than blacks) moving in, demanding and getting bike paths and dog parks.

The tens of thousands who have migrated to the Washington, D.C., over the last five years live in a city that rolled out the proverbial red carpet for their arrival. Infrastructure has been altered, public property has been privatized, the will of voters has been rescinded, minority-owned businesses have been shuttered and the bodies of people of color have been stopped and frisked to accommodate and enhance the respective presence and comfort of newcomers.
— National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 3/18/19

And speaking of surveys…

The District had the highest rate of homelessness in a new survey that looked at the problem in 32 U.S. cities.

The “Hunger and Homelessness” survey from the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that D.C. has 124.2 homeless people for every 10,000 residents in the general population. The city also had one of the fastest increases in homelessness between 2009 and 2016, with a 34.1 percent gain. By comparison, New York had the largest increase during that period, at 49 percent.

The office of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said the report shows that more work needs to be done to battle the city’s shortage of affordable housing.
— Washington Post, 12/14/16

That was then and gentrification only exacerbates an “affordable housing” problem.

Bowser technically isn’t a “liar”. New housing units WILL be built in Washington, D.C. and some will be “affordable” for her constituents.

Who those constituents will end up being is a whole other story, but as long as they vote her back in, do you think she really cares?

UPDATE: #DontMuteDC

As these things gain relevance once a hashtag is attached, DC’s gentrification has gained national attention. Here’s what set it all off.

For 24 years, Donald Campbell has been playing go-go music from his Metro PCS storefront in Shaw, at the corner of 7th Street and Florida NW. Until now. Campbell says that T-Mobile, which acquired Metro PCS, reached out to him about a month ago: “They said, ‘get rid of the music.’ It came from up top that we had to get rid of it,” he says.

According to Campbell, T-Mobile told him that a nearby resident threatened the company with a lawsuit over the sounds that have blared from the speakers since 1995. He says that he had to turn off the music two weeks ago, and since then, “Every day all day, people think we’re closed. People have been complaining, asking what’s going on.”

According to Campbell, the complaint came from a resident in The Shay, a nearby luxury mixed-use development. “We can’t confirm or deny that,” says the person who answered the phone at The Shay’s office, and declined to provide their name. “There have been complaints about the music being extremely loud, but it’s not just The Shay. It’s people who live all over or are visiting the area. It’s not The Shay that has the issue.”

Since one tweet called out the lack of music at Metro PCS on Saturday, people have been using the hashtag #DontMuteDC to talk about the situation. The hashtag is currently trending locally.

Long a tight-knit, predominantly black community, Shaw has changed at such a dizzying pace over the past decade and a half that the neighborhood is often used as a symbol of gentrification across the District. Shaw saw its black population plummet from 78 percent in 1990 to 44 percent in 2010 (that’s from the most recent Census data, but the numbers have almost certainly continued to drop in the ensuing years). Meanwhile, property values have jumped—pushing out many longtime residents, while developers co-opt Shaw and U Street’s history in the names of luxury condo buildings.
— The DCist, 4/8/19

If this isn’t a clear example of the ramifications of gentrification, what is?

And guess which America the media and punditry sympathizes with?

For example, a Boston restaurant which has been open since the late 1820s (no, that isn’t a typo) will soon be closing because of mandatory minimum wage hikes that will make it harder for them to compete. There is scant media, social or otherwise, outcry for the looming financial harm to their employees.

Michael Weinstein, CEO of Ark Restaurant Group, which owns and operates Durgin-Park, this week said the restaurant will close on Jan. 12 because fewer customers are coming through the doors and costs have risen. Manager Kenneth Thimothee said the state’s new minimum hourly wage, which rose from $3.75 to $4.35 for tipped workers and from $11 to $12 for other employees, is partially to blame. And Durgin-Park will not be the only high-profile restaurant that will close this year, said Bob Luz, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
— Boston Herald, 1/5/19

The minimum wage law was passed by the Massachusetts Democrat supermajority and signed by the RINO governor, which is why so little of its destructive and predicted ramifications are being talked about. The federal government #shutdown is now being given headline status because a Republican president can blamed and all we’re hearing is how adversely it’s affected federal employees.

“As we discussed, I am a federal employee who has recently been furloughed due to a lack of funding of my agency. Because of this, my income has been severely cut and I am unable to pay the entire cost of my mortgage, along with my other expenses.”
— Office of Personnel Management “sample letter” for employee creditors

Remember that when you have hard times and you’re pleading for compassion from some of these very same people.

Federal Workers, Some in ‘Panic Mode,’ Share Shutdown Fears on Social Media

Many Americans who’ve interacted with federal employees are less than sympathetic.

Voters are overwhelmingly aware that there’s a partial shutdown of the federal government, but so far at least it isn’t bothering them.
— Rasmussen, 1/4/19

Maybe because more of us have had to endure the negative ramifications of the illegal alien presence in our country than any interaction (good or bad) with a faceless federal employee.

While we know some federal employees who fall into that “essential” column, too many others are publicly whining about their paychecks (which they will recoup in full once the shutdown ends), and despite what they say, it’s all about them; NOT the general public who they claim to care so much about.

Federal workers already collect bigger salaries, on average, than workers in the private economy doing comparable jobs. Their benefits packages are also on average 47 percent fatter, according to the Congressional Budget Office. They get up to 49 paid days off a year. And firing them is often impossible. Then, at age 55, if they’ve put in 30 years, they get a gold-plated ­retirement package almost ­unheard of in private enterprise, including defined benefits that protect them from inflation.

In short, federal employees are riding the gravy train, and the rest of us working stiffs who pay the taxes to support the federal government are taken for a ride.
— New York Post, 1/2/19

We’re being inundated with news story after news story about the hardships these employees are now facing because of the Democrat/Trump impasse over the relatively meager funding of the border wall.

Our personal experience with federal employees has been mixed, but I will say some of the conduct we have been exposed to would NEVER be tolerated in the private sector, but then again we all know how some private sector coworkers would conduct themselves if they knew they couldn’t easily be fired.

There is also a very visual consistency when it comes to federal employees and media stories tend to back this up: they are literally well fed and comfortable.

When we lose our jobs, how many restaurants and schools offer us a free meal?

Jose Andres, who owns restaurants in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and other places across the U.S., has reached out on Twitter saying that his D.C. locations will be providing a free sandwich for lunch to federal workers impacted by the partial shutdown.
— Fox 5, 1/4/19

A Maryland school board member is seeking immediate action to make school lunches free for all students in his county during the federal government shutdown. Prince George’s County is home to several federal offices, including the Food and Drug Administration, National Archives, Goddard Space Flight Center, the Census Bureau and National Archives.
— Fox 5, 1/5/19

We were always on our own or left to the dubious mercy of some of the very public sector employees who saw no sense of urgency in our situation, in fact, some of them considered us a nuisance.

Again, look at the local news reports with footage of federal employee as well as interviews, and you’ll see one thing in common: gluttony.

How many of these government workers, when we go to them for help, really give a shit but we’re supposed to care once the shoe is on the other foot. We’ve personally experienced horrible customer service at the VA hospital in Washington, D.C. and the employees involved will remain because things rarely get fixed within the government club.

Public employee unions are trying to stop reform of the Veterans Administration, where in 2014 it was uncovered that employees doctored patient waiting lists to make themselves look good. Vets on the phony waitlists died waiting for care.

We’re now talking about federal employees who’ve lived off the taxpayer dime for literally decades so they can retire in manners few of us can relate to. Unlike the private sector where performance is essential to the survival of the employer, public sector employees don’t have to do a good job because the government will never go out of business, per se. Unlike the private sector where bad service means fewer people coming into a restaurant, federal employees will have a job even if their customer service skills suck and they know it.

Federal employees even showing up for work has become a topic of discussion….

Now, multiply this by the 438 agencies and sub-agencies and you understand why (despite media insistence Americans care) most Americans are somewhat unsympathetic regarding a government shutdown.

Seeing how inflated wages aren’t enough, the American people are given an entire week annually to show government employees just how much we couldn’t survive without them.

Honor public servants in your community with a note of thanks by organizing a letter writing or e-mail campaign. You can also distribute an electronic thank you card which can be forwarded to other public servants.
— Public Service Recognition Week “Celebration Toolkit”

The Southern Maryland/Northern Virginia region is one of the wealthiest in the nation. When I first moved here in 2009, the first thing I noticed was the head-turning number of very expensive cars driving north on Route 1 heading into D.C. every morning.

Remember, there was ZERO sympathy for those in the American public who suffered the ramifications of those in the White House and Capitol Hill who were assured they could keep their doctors and health insurance and families would “save” $2500 annually in premiums. The result of those blatant lies were lost jobs, broken families and no one in the federal government issued suggestions to the impacted on how to stave off creditors. No one offered free meals to those who lost hours at their places of employment and subsequently had trouble meeting their financial obligations.

As the government shutdown will be blamed solely on President Trump, we’ll be bombarded with as many federal employee #ShutdownStories sob stories as can be rounded up.

CNN: “Federal worker: I worry every day about food”

Crimes by illegal aliens can be managed and muted. But when the American people are negatively impacted by misguided liberal Democrat policies; policies the political class and their staffs exempt themselves from, there is no sympathy, let alone comparative media coverage.

Despite what you’re consuming from the media elite who are relatively shielded from the long-standing inaction of the federal government regarding the effects of illegal immigration, some federal employees are onboard with the president.

More than half of federal workers approve of Trump’s changes, ­according to a June poll. After all, they have to pick up the slack from these bad apples and resent seeing them promoted regardless of their inferior performance.

Federal employees and contractors are living pretty well off forcibly confiscated tax dollars of the American people. Even though they mostly will be reimbursed for their #shutdown inconvenience, one number we’ll never be told is how much money it would’ve cost to fund the government every day to pay these employees; some of whom are productive but many more who are dead weight.

The response on Twitter from the DC Police, “Sorry to alarm you.”

Wow.

A series of viral tweets is bringing attention to 10 young people of color who were reported missing in Washington, D.C., over the past 10 days.

On Sunday night, Twitter user @BlackMarvelGirl tweeted photos and information about eight black teenage girls who’ve gone missing in the Washington, D.C., area over the past week, receiving more than 35,000 retweets in less than 12 hours.

Additionally, The Root reported that in the past 10 days alone, 10 young people of color have been reported missing in D.C. but haven’t received much media attention other than local news outlet mentions and tweets from the Washington, D.C., police department.
— Teen Vogue, 3/13/17

Let’s be real; if ten young women disappeared right across the river from DC in Georgetown or in any mostly white locale in a week, do you honestly believe it wouldn’t make “breaking” national news and federal agencies joined in on the hunt? While a few of these children were Tweeted as located by the DC police, these has been little media follow-up and/or fanfare to the level it would be if a missing teen female was located in suburbs. And do you really believe the link between the legend of rampant pedophilia with elites in DC wouldn’t have also been mentioned in the potential national media wall-to-wall coverage?

Or could it be because of those who are rumored to be involved?

It’s true that Pizzagate is a uniquely American franchise that operates primarily in Washington, D.C., but also includes operations in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major metropolitan areas.

The ongoing Hollywood Pedogate is joined at the hip with the D.C. Pizzagate. The very reason that many Hollywooders came out of the woodwork to support Hillary R. Clinton and bash Donald J. Trump is because of this close association of decade-long child abuse scandals in both D.C. and Tinseltown.

It’s important to understand that Pizzagate was revealed by the double whammy of the Podesta WikiLeaks and Anthony Weiner’s 650,000 emails. In other words, the time had come for this pedophilia in high places to be blown wide open.

What makes Pizzagate so very explosive is that all of the key players are deep in D.C. politics and Washington power-plays, US government influence peddling and federal power-brokering.
— State of the Nation, 12/25/16

Call it a conspiracy theory or something to be seriously considered, there IS a rash of youth disappearances in the DC area. The media has NOT deemed ten missing in a week newsworthy. Those who may be participating could be high up in the world of politics and the federal government. Anyone who brings the topic up is quickly attacked and discredited.

Meanwhile, children are going missing and few appear to give a damn and that’s the biggest tragedy.