Crowd numbers for Saturday Women's March in multiple cities well eclipse turnout for Mr. Trump's inauguration. You know organizers tend to overestimate turnout and police tend to underestimate it, but the D.C. Metro system reports that more than three times as many folks rode the subway by 11 am on Saturday than on Friday, the day Mr. Trump ascended to the Presidency. As this was happening, new press secretary Sean Spicer said the media manipulated photos to make inaugural turnout look worse than it was, because when the going gets tough, the Trump team whines. Mr. Trump got 46% of the vote, folks, and he struts around like he got 66%, then whines like he got 26%. But we have the power to make this a long four years for him, which is a lot better than vice versa.
Of course, before that, "liberal" media commentators were wringing their hands over Rep. Lewis boycotting the inauguration and questioning the "legitimacy" of the President. Of course, they don't criticizing Mr. Lewis to silence him -- they do it to silence you, so you "accept the results" and keep your mouth shut. Accepting the results does not impel you to keep your mouth shut, of course, even though the "liberal" media seems to think it does. (Read the whole article, of course, lest you miss another imploding Jonah Goldberg argument and speculation about whether Republicans might one day use "guerilla tactics" against a Democratic President, as if that isn't what they just did for eight long years.)
House Speaker Paul Ryan goes on Charlie Rose's show to say that he'd like to replace the Affordable Care Act's "subsidies" with "refundable tax credits," which are the same damn thing. I guess he'll go on to replace "houses" with "dwellings," "money" with "cash," and "food" with "sustenance." You know what's even worse than Democrats who are so smart they're dumb? Republicans who do badly even trying to convince you they're smart. Of course, Mr. Ryan would also make his health insurance subsidies far worse -- he would give almost everyone the same subsidy, regardless of income level, when any deaf, dumb, and blind infant knows that folks who make less money need bigger subsidies.
Behold! Right Wing Watch presents "10 Right-Wing Predictions About Obama that Never Came True." Didn't take your guns, didn't kill his critics, didn't impose Sharia law, didn't scheme to stay in office, and you know what's missing from their list? Didn't bring Godless socialism to America. So, will there be any, you know, shame coming from these right-wing prognosticators? Of course not -- they think shame is for losers, and their new President feels their self-pity.
Finally, Yes! magazine continues to explore "creative ways Americans are stepping up to build strong local economies." You'll meet the Oakland, CA, citizens who organized to ensure that the redevelopment of a long-gone Army base meet created good jobs for locals, the Nebraska ranchers who joined with environmental and tribal groups to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from running through their lands, the Goffstown, NH residents who banded together to buy the mobile home park that was threatening rent hikes and evictions, the Buffalo, NY residents who helped convert run-down buildings into energy-efficient housing, the South Carolina community development corporation that helped residents get good housing, and the good folks of West Virginia who evoked that state's coal-rich past by building museums. Moral: a lot of Americans have a lot of good ideas, and don't need to wait for some politician to "lead" them.
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