How are fed moms holding up? oh... [ Jeff of DCUrbanMoms writes many thousands of words after inauguration ]

The most active thread over the weekend was the thread I discussed before about childfree weddings. That topic turns out to be more divisive than even I expected. After that was a thread titled, "Inaugural on Monday Moved Inside" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. As I am sure everyone is aware, today is Inauguration Day and President-elect, cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump will become President, cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump. I'll have to update my macro. While I am sure that we were all looking forward to hearing about the biggest crowd ever that stretched from the steps of the Capitol to the shores of the Potomac River, we will have to live with our disappointment. Instead, Trump's inauguration has been moved inside the Capitol rotunda. This is said to be due to the weather, which is quite cold in D.C. today. However, it was colder during former President Barack Obama's inauguration, and that was held outside. But, this is what happens when a Florida man wins the election. This is a strange thread because liberals are mostly poking fun at Trump for being a wimp who is afraid of the cold. Conservatives, on the other hand, repeatedly accuse liberals of "raging" and being angry about the change. I am not sure to which liberals these posters are referring, but they don't exist in this thread. The conservatives clearly have a difficult time dealing with mockery. Several even blame liberals for the move. Rather than the weather, they claim liberal plans to disrupt the inauguration (plans that only appear to exist within MAGA minds) are the reason for the change of venue. Others claim that there are security concerns. After all, Trump only has so many ears that he can give for his country. I suppose that this thread is representative of what we have to look forward to for the next four years or so. MAGAs tend to thrive on resentment, and their primary technique for political discussion is to manufacture outrage. That is a little harder to do when your party controls every aspect of the federal government. As such, MAGAs will either fight among themselves, invent imaginary enemies, or attack liberals whose primary "crime" is likely to be criticizing MAGAs. In that regard, criticize is something that you can count on liberals to do. Whether it is capitulating to the weather or cutting social security, there will be plenty of Republican actions to criticize.

The next two most active threads were the Blake Lively thread and the ECNL soccer league thread that I have discussed previously. After those were a thread posted in the "Off-Topic" forum and titled, "Goodbye TikTok (for now)". The thread is mostly posters arguing about whether TikTok is good or bad. I'll just take this opportunity to recount the whole sordid affair, which is really a low point in our political history. Part of the anti-TikTok fervor that once hit America was based in the perennial battle between the young and the old. While older folks were immersing themselves in Facebook or Twitter, the younger generation was filming themselves dancing or demonstrating makeup on TikTok. This would have been okay, but then TikTok became a medium for political messaging as well. I think it is safe to say that the olds didn't like the politics that was reaching the youngs on TikTok. President-elect, cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump was particularly bothered that TikTok was owned by a Chinese company. He argued that China was manipulating the content presented to users and spying on them by using the application to gather information about them. Trump was correct on the second point. TikTok is basically a spy application, but so are most of the apps on your phone. Trump could have led an effort to protect Americans' privacy by championing laws to regulate how information about users is collected and what is done with it. Instead, he issued an executive order that would effectively ban TikTok. That order was struck down in court. Things got even worse for TikTok after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas. TikTok became a hotbed of posts favorable to the Palestinians. This was not the message that the U.S. political establishment wanted anyone to hear, and several politicians from both parties began justifying banning TikTok due to its pro-Palestinian messaging. This led to Congressional legislation requiring that TikTok be sold or to stop operating in the U.S. While the legislation was bipartisan, its strongest proponents were Republicans. After President Joe Biden signed the measure into law, Trump was visited by Jeff Yass, a billionaire investor in ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok. Yass is also a major Republican donor. After Yass met with Trump, Trump had a change of heart about TikTok and all of a sudden became a fan of the service. As the deadline for TikTok to close neared this weekend, politicians from both sides of the aisle realized just how unpopular shutting the service would be and ran for cover. Biden basically tossed his arms in the air and said TikTok would become Trump's problem. Saturday night, TikTok underwent what might be described as a performative shutdown. Biden had said that he would not enforce the ban, and Trump had offered similar assurances. Nevertheless, TikTok stopped providing service in the U.S. While nothing new actually happened, TikTok restored service Saturday afternoon, giving credit to Trump. Trump, of course, is happy to take credit. How a move inspired by Trump and led by Republicans turned into a Democratic political disaster is something that only today's Democratic Party could engineer.

Next was a thread titled, "Why do you engage with MAGA on DCUM?" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. The original poster said that she had been up with a sick child and, during that time, read a number of threads in the political forum. She said that it appeared to her that there were only a few very active MAGA posters who were likely Boomers. She wonders why others don't simply ignore them rather than essentially "feeding the trolls". First, let me say that while neither I nor the original poster have precise data available to us, it is my impression that the original poster is basically correct. It has been my observation for years that the vast majority of MAGA posts come from a small number of users who post an inordinate number of messages per day. I have also felt that most of those posters are retired men for whom posting on DCUM is their hobby. I have often wished that they take up golf instead. The MAGAs in this thread deny that there is a small number of them or that they are old. Of course, neither the original poster nor I suggested that all of them are old men, just that generally that is true. Of course, there are exceptions. There are plenty of female MAGAs as well, though I also suspect most of them are also Boomers. While MAGA posters constantly insist that they come to DCUM to engage in serious discussion, I have not observed that to be the case. It is my impression that DCUM, known as an extremely liberal site, attracts MAGAs because they want to challenge liberals. If they only wanted to discuss conservative politics, there are plenty of other sites that would be better choices. But, it is the liberals on DCUM that they want to debate. From the liberal viewpoint, these debates are not necessarily welcome. Liberal DCUMers are not always interested in debate, but rather simple discussion. In their view, the MAGA posters are trolling. The reasons for engagement are pretty simple. If someone responds to your post in a contradictory manner, there is a strong urge to reply to them. Moreover, MAGA posts are often so inane that they are low-hanging fruit for a rebuttal. Even the most disciplined liberal cannot resist responding. MAGA posters often accuse liberals of wanting our own bubble. That's not necessarily wrong. Why wouldn't a group of liberals want a place in which they can talk among themselves? Moreover, it's not like most of the MAGAs are engaging in particularly stimulating conversations. They post a lot of talking points and "whataboutisms". There are MAGA posters who will turn every thread into a discussion of immigration or Hunter Biden regardless of its original topic. Frankly, the vast majority of the MAGA posters are simply tiresome and DCUM would be better off without them.

The final thread that I will discuss today is another one that was posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. Titled "Feeling of pending dread", the original poster says that she feels like there is a collective sense of denial about what is going to happen after President-elect, cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump is inaugurated. She expects the next four years to be "crazy" and wonders where the resistance is, saying she is truly scared about what is coming our way. It has been my observation that a significant number of those who might ordinarily compose the opposition to Trump are demoralized, tired, and simply uninterested in fighting at the moment. Part of that is a lack of leadership. The Democratic Party is currently rudderless. President Joe Biden is basically unacknowledged and being treated like a feeble uncle that is hidden in the basement. Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be headed back to California and probably couldn't garner much support as the Democratic leader in any case. Speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries has hardly emerged from the shadow of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. None of the candidates to lead the Democratic National Committee has much national stature. Elected Democrats appear more interested in trying to work with Republicans rather than opposing them. Senator John Fetterman, whose own wife is a Dreamer who came to the U.S. illegally, recently cosponsored a bill that would subject Dreamers to possible detention and deportation. With leaders like that, no wonder we are demoralized. In addition, a significant number of Democrats are White and affluent. They have determined that they will personally be fine under Trump. As such, they are not motivated to protest. Others have gone even further and accommodated themselves to Trump. Apparently, they are big believers in the "if you can't beat them, join them" theory. Moreover, I think a number of potential resisters are waiting to get to the "find out" stage of "F around, find out." Their hope is apparently that future resistance will involve a number of current Trump supporters. One way that both Trump supporters and Trump opponents have tried to put the best face on things is to say that things will not be as bad as one might think based on Trump's words. For example, there is a debate about whether the mass deportations that are supposed to start tomorrow will turn out to be small affairs meant to be symbolic — as some would have it — or turn into massive attempts to deport millions as Trump has promised. The first case may keep resistance mostly in check, but the second would likely see it ramp up.

The most active thread yesterday was the thread about moving the inauguration inside that I discussed yesterday because it had also been the most active thread over the weekend. Skipping that thread, the next most active was titled "School Opening Predictions for Tuesday?" and posted in the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum. This thread was started early Sunday by a poster concerned that if it snowed, as was predicted, staff would not be available on Monday due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and, therefore, the snow might not get cleared before Tuesday. Therefore, the poster was asked what others predicted with regard to Montgomery County Public Schools opening today. Posters in this forum are beyond obsessed with weather-related school closures and delayed openings. I can't count the number of posters who posted at least a half-dozen times in the thread. But that's nothing compared to the numbers put up by others. One poster posted at least 30 times, another at least 60. But the winner, by some distance, was a poster who posted over 100 posts. That poster, to put it mildly, was not happy about the possibility of a closure or delayed opening because it would interfere with her job. This morning I even noticed a poster sock puppeting. The poster repeatedly posted the same question and then began answering her own question. I have no idea what she was hoping to accomplish, but she is currently experiencing a delay using DCUM that is significantly longer than the two-hour delay that MCPS ultimately decided upon. A threat of snow closing schools soon dissipated because there wasn't very much snow. But that didn't stop the clamor among posters for closing or delaying school. These posters were worried about the cold and ice which they thought would make getting kids to school dangerous. As I have said in previous discussions of snow day threads, school systems can never win when it comes to decisions like this and will be criticized regardless of what they decide. In this thread, there were those like the 100-post poster who didn't seem willing to accept a delay or closure under any circumstances. Others didn't want to open schools if there were a square foot of ice anywhere in the county. The delay opening was criticized because no other area employers implemented such a measure. The thread also contained a lot of criticism of teachers as a result of the belief among many posters that teachers are lazy and want schools to be closed. There is actually no evidence that many teachers have such an attitude, and I ended up locking the thread after the teacher-bashing got out of hand.

Last July during the Republican National Convention, I wrote in one of these blog posts that "If there is any silver lining that our generally liberal-leaning audience might see in a second Trump administration, it is likely the revival of "The Trump Women and their Fashion Mishaps" thread, which is currently on part 3 but would easily be a mainstay of the most active list if the Trump women were to return to prominence." To show that I know our audience, on the first day of the second Trump Administration, the thread titled, "The Trump Women and their Fashion Mishaps - Part Three", posted in the "Beauty and Fashion" forum, was yesterday's second most active thread. The thread was actually started last March and has been active on and off since then, reaching 56 pages before yesterday. But yesterday the thread added over 20 additional pages. I would actually mark the revival of the thread to a post by the thread's original poster who returned to say, "We are BACK, baby!" and then reacted to a photo of Kellyanne Conway by saying, "This isn't a dress, this is belly dancer regalia...It's too much for the ice capades, even." The thread is supposed to be about fashion mishaps, but it frequently includes fashion choices that at least some posters applaud as well. For instance, Melania Trump's Inaugural Ball dress received quite a bit of praise, as did Ivanka Trump's. Part of the fun of these threads is watching posters try to decipher the messages they believe are being sent by fashion choices. While some posters are convinced that something as simple as a scarf is actually a statement about their view regarding marginal tax rates and carried interest, other posters are skeptical that the Trump women are really up to such endeavors. As one poster put it with regard to Melania, "Her hat looks dumb but I do not think she is trying to send any kind of message except 'look at my hat.'" Sometimes, however, posters' interpretations sound somewhat plausible. For instance, in response to a picture of Melania standing next to cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, wearing a dress with a stripe that wound around her, finally ending pointing at Donald, a poster wrote, "It looks like she's wearing one of those tops that says 'I'm with this Jacka$$' and it's pointing to him."

Next was a thread titled, "Biden pardons Fauci" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. The original poster embedded a tweet which itself contained an image of a White House press release announcing several preemptive pardons issued by then-President Joe Biden. Among those given such pardons was Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. The original poster asks why Biden would pardon Fauci if Fauci had done nothing wrong. Several posters suggest, as the original poster implies, that a pardon such as this would only be given if Fauci were indeed guilty of something. Therefore, a number of posters interpret this as an admission of guilt. Others argue that cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has threatened revenge against Fauci and that, even if Fauci is completely innocent, he is likely to face considerable legal battles as a result of what could very well be drummed-up charges. Those who believe that Fauci served in good faith and provided a valuable service to the country do not believe that he deserves such a fate. Posters in this thread make a couple of good points. One poster writes that, "I think Fauci is a target of America's unprocessed grief about Covid." I think that there is something to this. Many Americans remained traumatized by the COVID pandemic, angry about everything from school shutdowns to vaccines. One way they are working through that trauma is by looking for someone to blame, and Fauci is a convenient target. The MAGA movement is built on resentment, and a quest for revenge has been a central theme of Trump's. The MAGAs literally want to see blood, and Fauci's has been one of their favorite targets. Several MAGA posters in this thread are convinced that Fauci acted illegally and is guilty of crimes, though their allegations are generally not supported by facts. Some of these posters are convinced that the COVID virus is actually a product of Fauci's work, and one suggests that there "are millions dead possibly because of his work". What MAGAs are apparently hanging their hats on is testimony by Fauci to a Senate committee in which he denied that his agency had never funded "gain-of-function" research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. However, emails recovered later showed that Fauci had discussed possible gain-of-function research at that institute. MAGAs say that shows that Fauci lied, an allegation that the Republican-authored investigatory report doesn't even make. What Fauci appears to be discussing is research that was not funded by NIH or other U.S. entities. There are a number of similar nuances involved in this discussion that MAGAs appear either incapable or unwilling to admit. Instead, they simply seek vengeance. As such, the need for a preemptive pardon for Fauci is fairly obvious.

The final thread that I will discuss today was another one posted in the "Beauty and Fashion" forum. Titled, "Usha Vance - Fashion Thread", the original poster wonders whether Usha Vance, wife of Vice President J. D. Vance, will undergo "Trumpification" or will "remain her usual frumpy self". I received a number of reports suggesting that this thread should be combined with the Trump women thread, but given that it is currently 27 pages long, it makes sense to keep it as its own thread. Moreover, this is not the first thread about Usha Vance. The previous ones have been locked because they got out of hand. Posters have remarkably strong opinions about Vance. Many posters seem to identify with her and are more than willing to give her a break for not meeting the exact fashion standards of this forum's posters. Others, however, are not willing to cut her any slack whatsoever. As one poster writes, "it is not that difficult to prioritize fit and appropriate tailoring, especially when preparing for a long-planned public event." Another adds, "She just needs a stylist and someone to help her prep for official/formal events." Some posters find Vance to be attractive, some don't. But the main point of divisions seems to be those who see her as a working mom who dresses appropriately for an attorney. Many of these posters point out that she has no interest in being a fashion icon and does not try to act like one. Others, however, suggest that, like it or not, she is now in a high profile position that has higher expectations for fashion. What is notable about this thread is how posters can have such divergent opinions. For instance, in response to Vance's ball gown, one poster said, "She looks ridiculous". Another, however, wrote, "What? Ok, now it's clear you're simply so blinded by your politics...". Taking a more middle position, a third poster said, "It's okay. It's not fashionable but it's inoffensive. A little figure skater-y but that's a standard evening wear look." Still another poster was deep into the pro-Usha camps, saying, "Love the inaugural ball dress! She looks beautiful!" Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we shouldn't expect everyone to have the same opinion, but the spectrum of opinions in this regard is remarkable. Moreover, this is nothing compared to the opinions about Vance's hair.

For the second day in a row, a thread about a weather-related delayed opening in Montgomery County Public Schools was the most active thread. This one was titled, "School delayed and no sports or activities for 3 days straight just for cold weather?!?" and, of course, posted in the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum. Due to the cold and icy conditions in Montgomery County, the school system has delayed opening by 2 hours for both today and tomorrow. This has upset a number of posters, including the original poster of this thread, who writes, "So many musicals, concerts, after-school clubs, school events, sports just cancelled...". Several of those responding complain that, in the past, schools didn't close simply because it was cold outside and they don't see a need for these delayed openings. Other posters, in contrast, insist that MCPS has always closed or delayed opening due to cold weather. There just hasn't been such cold weather for the past couple of years. Several posters also argue that the delayed openings are justified due to safety reasons. A trend that I've noted before continues in this thread. That is, posters who clearly oppose the delay for their own personal reasons argue against it because it will be harmful for others, such as the poor and less privileged. This seems a bit disingenuous. Once again, the biggest opposition to the delay comes from working parents for whom the delay interferes with their job schedule. Some of these posters believe that the school system is going beyond simply being inconsiderate to working parents and actively trying to make life miserable for them. As one poster writes, "MCPS administrators despise working parents." Another poster quickly weighed in to say that it is not only administrators, but the Board of Education as well. Other posters argued that it was actually the teachers' union, the Montgomery County Education Association, that is calling the shots. Teachers were accused of being drunk and hungover and, therefore, unwilling to get to school on time. I will once again ask why parents who seem to have so little respect for teachers always seem to be the ones who are the most adamant that their children should be in the care of teachers. If you disrespect teachers so much, why aren't you homeschooling? Why are you entrusting the education of your kids to those you claim to be lazy drunks? As it turns out, some of the original poster's concerns may not have been justified. It appears that unclear wording on the MCPS website may have led some to believe that afternoon activities were cancelled when, in fact, they were not.

Yesterday's next most active thread was posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. Titled, "Washington Bishop Appeals to Trump's Humanity", the thread is about remarks by Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, at the inaugural prayer service held at the Washington National Cathedral. With cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, Vice President J. D. Vance, and their families in attendance, Budde spoke directly to Trump saying, "Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now." She went on to describe the fears of "gay, lesbian, and transgender children", those who "pick our crops", and "work the night shift in hospitals." She added, "They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors." Trump appeared uncomfortable hearing this message and later responded on his Truth Social network saying that Budde was "nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart." He said the service was "very boring and uninspiring". Contrary to Trump's post, many posters in this thread found Budde to be very inspiring. As one poster wrote, "That is what you call courage, integrity, and faith." For their part, MAGA posters were appalled. Budde was accused of grandstanding, being a "Disrespectful clown", and being out of touch. Her words were described as "radical woke garbage." MAGAs are at their worst when asked to observe simple human decency. Being asked to show mercy is treated as a terrible insult. More than anything, Budde highlighted divergent views of Christianity. Her version is based on compassion, caring for others, and kindness. These are all values that her church believes that Jesus exhibited. The Trump version of Christianity is self-serving, used to justify one's own actions, and rather than being based on serving others, used to restrict others' freedoms. Budde espouses a Christianity that is based on serving. Trump's version of Christianity is based on being served. One other view that was repeatedly voiced in this thread is that while the Bishop was correct in her remarks, this was ultimately a futile gesture. It is unlikely her statement will change Trump or any of his cult members for the better. Rather, the incident will only feed their normal resentment upon which they thrive.

Next was the Usha Vance fashion thread. But since I've discussed that thread already, I'll go on to the next most active thread which was titled, "Trump pardons roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. This thread is about the pardons and sentence commutations issued by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. Trump pardoned approximately 1,500 January 6 convicts and commuted the sentences of six others. Predictably, reaction to Trump's move is divided along political lines. Many posters are very opposed, noting that a number of those pardoned had attacked police officers. MAGA posters, on the other hand, are overjoyed. The January 6th insurrection attempt has become part of the "separate realities" in which MAGAs and non-MAGAs frequently live these days. For non-MAGAs, January 6 was an attempt to prevent the democratically elected presidential candidate from taking office. It was a violent effort that resulted in the injury of several police officers, the death of one due to a heart attack, and the suicides of other officers which have been declared "line of duty" deaths due to their connection to January 6. Those charged and imprisoned are viewed as violent criminals who deserve their punishment. To MAGAs, however, January 6 was a peaceful event, those attacking the police were just "tourists", and those in prison are political prisoners or "hostages". Trump's pardons were far broader than had been expected. Just days earlier, Vice President J. D. Vance said that those who had attacked the police should not be pardoned. Presumably these pardons were a surprise to him therefore. For that matter, Trump might also be surprised that he pardoned those who violently attacked police officers. When questioned about this by a reporter, Trump first appeared confused, then avoided directly answering the question. Given that Trump signed over 200 executive orders in addition to the pardons, it is unlikely that he read much of what he was signing. He probably has no idea about the details of what he put to his pen. At any rate, the pardons caused one of the first rifts between Trump and police organizations. While Trump has enthusiastically supported police in normal circumstances, pardoning those who harmed police officers resulted in condemnation by the Fraternal Order of Police, the country's largest police union. Separately, the District of Columbia's police union also criticized the action. A number of Republican Senators also distanced themselves from the pardons, with some offering criticism of the move.

The last thread that I will discuss today was posted in the "Jobs and Careers" forum and titled, "RTO EO is up". The original poster is noting that the executive order that cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump had promised regarding a return to office by federal workers had been posted on the White House website. In addition, the original poster posted the entire text of the EO, which was very brief. As posters soon noted, the EO refers to "remote work". In the federal government, "remote work" refers to jobs that are permanently conducted remotely. Such employees don't have offices to which to return. What most of us think of as "remote work" is called "telework" by the federal government. Telework, in contrast, is not mentioned at all in the EO. This leaves those responding very confused. By a strict reading of the EO, remote workers should return to their duty stations which are, in fact, their remote places of work. In that case, the EO is completely ineffectual. One school of thought is that the EO was drafted by someone unfamiliar with the federal government and, therefore, it inadvertently was rendered meaningless. Another school of thought is that the measure was meant to be symbolic and, therefore, the EO was cleverly drafted so as not to have any real impact. So whether by intention or accident, both of these schools of thought agree that the EO will not really do anything. Others argue that the technicalities don't really matter. They argue that managers who want to force employees back to the office will use the EO as justification. The biggest takeaway from this thread is that federal employees largely just don't know what to expect. Other posters repeatedly advise others to wait for guidance from their departments. As that guidance began being relayed to the thread, it appeared that those who predicted that not much would change were correct. Multiple posters who telework reported that they have been told that their schedules will not change. Early in the thread, several posters gloated over the idea of federal workers being forced back to their offices. As it became apparent that this probably would not happen, or at least not as a result of this EO, those posters largely fell silent.

The two most active threads yesterday were the Bishop Mariann Budde thread discussing her remarks at the inaugural prayer service and the Blake Lively thread, which actually inspired a second thread in the Website Feedback forum asking for it to be closed. Since I have discussed those threads already, I will start with one titled, "DEI RIFs" and posted in the "Jobs and Careers" forum. Among the slew of executive orders issued by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump immediately after his inauguration was one prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within the federal government. The Office of Personnel Management then followed up by ordering all DEI staff members to be placed on paid leave by 5 p.m. yesterday. Agencies are expected to develop a "reduction in force" policy for the DEI staffers within a week. The original poster of this thread wants to know if these staffers will have the right to "bump" less senior employees in other parts of the agency. Trump's EOs have generally followed a pattern of being poorly thought out, confusing, and fairly amateurish. OPM memos have not been much better and, in some cases, arguably worse. In this case, posters can't even agree about whether or not a RIF is mandated. Posters have a host of questions, including who exactly is considered DEI staff. In some cases, DEI duties are shared with other responsibilities, and posters wonder whether someone who only handles DEI as a small part of their duties will be included. Many of those responding seem to hate the DEI programs in their agencies and hold DEI staff in low regard. For the most part, they are glad to see them go and don't really care what happens to them. Others are concerned with the legalities of the move and are mainly interested in discussing the technicalities of it as a labor issue rather than specifically tied to DEI. Several other posters, however, are concerned about the fate of the DEI staff. A number of such posters explain that the DEI staff in their offices are simply human resources personnel that rotate through the role. Some took the position simply because it was a promotion or seemed like an interesting opportunity. They are not "DEI careerists," and many posters seem to dislike them being caught up in this matter. Eventually, this thread turned into nothing more than a debate about DEI, which is really irrelevant to the thread's topic. Personal views about DEI don't really matter to this discussion. More important is the fate of those who are being swept up by the OPM memo.

Next was another thread that was posted in the "Jobs and Careers" forum. Titled, "New OPM memo on RTO", like the previous thread, this one deals with a memo from the Office of Personnel Management. In this case, the memo deals with the return to the office by federal employees. I discussed a thread about a federal RTO in yesterday's blog post. That thread was about the executive order issued by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. Whereas that EO was so poorly written as to have no real impact, the OPM memo discussed in this thread is blunt and to the point. Posters are shocked by its aggressive tone. The biggest issue that those responding have with this memo is that it is a blanket policy across the entire federal government. Federal agencies are not all alike. Some have remote work embedded in their culture. Circumstances are different from department to department. Normally, agencies would have been asked to develop their own policies. This meat cleaver approach will cause a number of unnecessary problems. Several posters say they expect it to result in huge numbers of people quitting the government, and some posters say that they plan to do that themselves. Of course, this is part of the goal. Shadow President Elon Musk has made clear that he wants RTO to be as painful as possible in order to encourage employees to leave and help downsize the government. Many posters point out that the memo is not consistent with the laws it cites for authority and, therefore, will likely be subject to legal challenge. For the most part, those responding insist that this will make the government less efficient. Many agencies don't have sufficient office space for their entire staff. Many offer commuter subsidies. So both real estate and transportation costs will go up. Moreover, many posters insist that while they are willing to start work early or end late and work extra hours while at home, if forced back to the office, they will no longer do that. Many say they won't even bring their laptops home with them. What a lot of non-federal employees may not understand is that some agencies have had extensive telework and remote programs from well before the pandemic. In such cases, this is not a return to the status quo, but rather a turn to something completely new. Even in cases where remote or telework only started with the pandemic, that has been long enough that it is the only situation that many employees have ever known. Therefore, this policy is very disruptive in many cases. Complex scenarios always appear simple to those who are ignorant. The current Trump administration policy-making is a perfect example of that rule in action.

Yesterday's next most active thread was titled, "Why aren't people protesting?" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. The original poster points out that with all the disappointing actions by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, there should be plenty of upset people — on both sides of the aisle in the case of some policies — but nobody seems to be protesting. She understands that people are tired of fighting, but says that simply rolling our eyes is not helping. On Monday, one of the threads that I discussed had a very similar theme. Rather than take time that I don't really have today to read this entire thread, I've just looked at a few posts and, based on those and the previous thread, I'll give my impressions. First, it should be noted that there have been protests. They have not received much media coverage, however. There are always claims that "the media" is biased. Never mind that the media is not monolithic, the biases demonstrated by the mainstream media are not as simple as left or right. Rather than devoting space to analyzing media bias, let me just say that the media is currently of the mind that demonstrations are bad. There was a time, especially after Trump's first inauguration, in which protests were seen as fun and trendy. But, sometime after the murder of George Floyd, the public's and the media's attitudes changed. Whether the media reflected public sentiment or vice versa, I can't say. But it is sufficient to note that protests are no longer trendy. The cool kids are not going to them, and "the media" is not covering them. Many have come to the conclusion that protests are ineffective. Of course, not doing anything is also ineffective. Others say that they are just waiting for Trump's policies to really start hurting and inspire more opposition. A common attitude, especially among DCUM fairly-affluent posters, is that while Trump is going to be bad, he won't necessarily be bad for them. They feel like others brought this on themselves and they should suffer the consequences. It is not for those who tried to stop it to protest now. Others try to point out that such people may not be as protected as they believe. While they won't be getting rounded up in a mass deportation raid, they can't hide from a sagging economy or a deteriorating environment. A failed government — which many believe Trump is creating — will impact all of us. As I said in Monday's post, a big problem is a lack of leadership. Elected Democrats are, at best, cowering in fear. At worst, they are actively collaborating with Republicans — we see you, John Fetterman. At the moment, the most prominent opposition leader on the left might be an Episcopal Bishop who, in the space of a few minutes, showed more courage than most elected Democrats have done since the election.

For the past two days, the Montgomery County Public Schools system's inclement weather practices have been the subject of the most active threads that led to my daily blog posts. While the topic was not the most active today, a thread on the topic is the last one that I will discuss today. Posted, of course, in the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum, the thread was titled, "MCPS Code Green Thursday On-Time Opening. Also open for activities Wednesday." Unlike the previous threads which were about delayed openings, this one was about schools opening on time today. This was a reversal of the two-hour delay that had earlier been announced for today. As I have said in all posts on this topic, school systems cannot win when it comes to weather. Instead of simply being happy that schools are getting back to normal, several posters fixated on the grammar in the announcement. Whoever wrote the announcement described the return to normalcy as a "Moment of Joy". Posters reacted to that by comparing it to the style of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump and demanding the author be summarily fired. MCPS parents are clearly as level-headed as ever. Other than the debate about capitalization, the other dominant dispute in the thread is about teachers. I have never encountered a group that seems so bitter about the people they want to educate their children. Teachers are blamed for every school ailment. Posts in the thread are attributed to teachers without evidence that a teacher had anything to do with them. One poster, in an attempt to demonstrate that teachers are angry about opening on time, listed a number of Facebook posts allegedly from MCPS teachers. Other posters said that the posts were wrongly attributed and many of them seemed to be sarcastic rather than serious. Most of the statements were not that bad in the first place. The general feeling I get from these threads is that few posters believe that decisions about school openings are being made with the interests of students in mind. Rather, delays and closings are seen as accommodations for teachers and viewed as hostile to working parents. The fact that delayed openings are also problematic for teachers never seems to enter these posters' minds. Mind you, all of this vitriol towards teachers is taking place in a thread about schools opening on time.