Anybody else noticing any weird stuff happening on the ordinary ground level that might be related to the political climate? I swear I'm not making this up, but I just got harassed on two straight nights at karaoke bars, one of my only reasons I ever go to bars, by guys younger than me that were clearly redneck types and probably also Trumpers, tho only one of them identified as one. These were at two different bars, and the first guy was someone I knew from the karaoke scene, never liked, and just did my best to avoid, ignore, and not speak to him, even tho he would regularly try to force me into talking to him whenever he ran into me. He has been aware for some time, I think, that I don't like him, but, like another bully I've run into at karaoke, he tries some weird sort of alpha male act on me of trying to force me into "submitting" to him by acting friendly with him and talking to him.

I just walk away from him and ignore him and it drove him up the wall on Sat. night so I and the friend I was there with reported him to the bartender before we left, since the friend was sitting with me while we were talking before he interrupted us and started harassing me. He saw that we had done that (reporting him) and tried to intimidate us on the way out, told me that if he followed me outside he would kick my ass, etc. The bartender was sympathetic, said she would tell her boss about it, and I hope they bar him for harassing me and threatening me after that, in front of the bartender. This guy identified as a Trumper. The guy last night, heard me talking to my friend at her karaoke show in another town, right before she started the show. I gave her a quick rundown of the previous night's incident, ending with saying the guy was a redneck asshole. Bad choice of words, it seems, because it so happened that another redneck asshole happened to be sitting at the end of the bar within earshot of where I was talking to her.

But instead of minding his own business, I noticed that as soon as I said the word redneck, his head suddenly turned and he glared at me. I then went down to the other end of the bar to sit and talk with a fellow older guy I had chatted with on previous visits there. Mr. Redneck follows me all the way over there and then interrupts the conversation with the other guy for a full five minutes to call me an asshole and tell me off on every single thing he hates about me and "all you other karaoke people that come here and don't spend any money" etc., He was standing over me while I was sitting down in my bar chair, clearly trying to bully me, etc. This time, fortunately for me, another bartender who works there was in the crowd and she came up and intervened fairly soon, since the bartender on duty was staying out of it, even tho I turned to her and asked her if she was just going to allow this guy to bully and harass me. She said she agreed with him, and that everybody else there felt the same way as him about how I was always being negative about things, etc. Wow, thanks for the support and how gutless, considering that she even sings once in a while at that karaoke show while working.

To wind it up, I'm glad the other bartender stepped in, and sent the guy home, tho I don't think she was that sympathetic or supportive of me, she just didn't want him to beat me up for the trouble it would cause the bar and the fact that I would be able to sue both him and the bar, because the bar as a special duty under civil law to protect their customers from attack, and she knew that. The point of me posting this here is that it seems to me that lately, with the Trumpers and Repubs winning these big victories on the political front, it has the rednecks and conservative asshole bullies really feeling their oats and that they can get away with anything as far as bullying and harassing the libs, or at least those they feel are "the libs", so watch your back if you are out around them and alcohol. Fortunately for me, at this last incident, I also had a friend that had my back, the woman hosting the karaoke show, and she was up there right behind the bartender that intervened, with her cell phone out and ready to record it if he started hitting me and to call 911 if a fight started. Because it was clear to me that if he started hitting me, I might be on my own as far as the bar calling the cops for me. My state now allows open carry of guns, but at least bars don't allow weapons inside, otherwise the bartenders would need police grade guns to keep the peace.

Both incidents occurred in small suburbs, around 60K each, of the Des Moines area, the kind of places that still have lots of rednecks and country music is king, another reason I hate country music, the way the two go together so often. This kind of shit is why for some years now, liberals and lefties in Iowa, have been referring to the state, more seriously than jokingly, as North Mississippi. Because it's become a lot like that state culturally and politically, just that Iowa is actually more all-white than Mississippi.

Update: I just found out from my friend Carol, the karaoke host at the show on Sun. where I got bullied and the guy was sent home. They are NOT going to bar him from there, even tho the bar person who intervened said that he started it and it was all his fault. Good ole bar injustice, all about money and numbers, nothing to do with fairness or justice. They only intervened and stopped him from hitting me because they didn't want the cops coming or called and didn't want to get sued by me for not protecting me. Typical shithead bar owner and manager... I will probably not go back there, since he is allowed to be there on karaoke night and with no consequences for his bullying, I am not going to assume he will behave himself if we run into each other again there. So the bully wins in the end and the bar indirectly forces me out of there. Ain't that America?, as Mellencamp sang.....