Musings, opinions, observations, questions, and random thoughts on island life, Fernandina Beach and more

Musings, opinions, observations, questions, and random thoughts on island life, Fernandina Beach and more

Mr. Rogers Never Met My Neighbor!

1273t1A satirical piece making the rounds on the Internet since the election ended describes those on the left that are unable to accept the fact that Donald Trump won as suffering from Trump Acceptance Resistance Disorder (TARD).

According to the spoof, TARD is a pattern of pathologically dissociative and psychotic behavior, first observed in the late hours of November 8th 2016, that increases in severity over time. Sufferers of TARD it says “exhibit pronounced cognitive dissonance, sudden bouts of rage and display symptoms such as an acute change in demeanor from pompous and arrogant to fearful and combative and claiming that anyone who disagrees with them is some combination of racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, and actually Hitler.”

Whoever wrote this piece hit the nail on the head as liberal America remains in the throes of a massive mental and emotional meltdown after Trump stunned the world by winning the presidency.

I can certainly testify to that as Linda and I have been subjected to vicious public threats on Facebook by our far-left next door neighbor, Bob Weintraub, that are so unnerving we contacted the police at the urging of friends and neighbors.

img_1238Mr. Weintraub’s outrage was apparently prompted by a Trump sign placed in our yard following the election. Here’s what happened. Each year to celebrate Veterans Day, November 11, we put small American flags in our front yard and this year thought it would be appropriate to honor our new President by adding a “Trump” sign to the display as pictured on this page. Our Home Owners Association (HOA) says campaign signs are not permitted, but since the election had been over for several days, and we intended to leave it up only on Veteran’s Day, and we considered it a sign of support and celebration, not a campaign poster.

On the morning of November 11, three days following the election, I put the sign out by the front of our driveway and Linda later placed it in the middle of our Veteran’s Day flag display. The sign caused Mr. Weintraub to come totally unhinged as he launched vicious public threats against us on Facebook.

Mr. Weintraub’s first threat appeared publically on Facebook shortly after the Trump sign went up on November 11 saying: “To my Trumpic bigoted and anti-Semitic neighbors, there is a Jewish motto — ‘NEVER AGAIN’ — so don’t think you can intimidate me with your signs. My rifle and shotgun are loaded and I will be getting a handgun at tomorrow’s sales. I’ll be waiting for you and your ‘brown shirts.'”

WOW!

I responded to his Facebook message saying his comments were frightening and made us very nervous, telling him there was no justification for his violent reaction. This prompted the following and even more irrational and vehement outburst by Mr. Weintraub:

“Dave Scott you voted for a man who supports the American Nazi Party and the KKK. Trump supporters have been openly anti-Semitic. What else am I to think? You are the frightening one, Dave Scott, and I am ready for you and your friends.”

This is chilling for a variety of reasons. First, that we obviously live next door to an irrational, dangerous and unbalanced person who claims he is armed to the teeth and says he intends to use his guns against us. Also the local newspaper, the News-Leader, gives this guy a forum. What the hell are they thinking down there as they obviously condone his irrational behavior and apparently consider him an unbiased, objective reporter? Good grief.

At the continued prompting of acquaintances, friends and neighbors we contacted the Fernandina Police Department and showed the officers that responded Mr. Weintraub’s Facebook postings. They then paid him a visit, and according to their report, Mr. Weintraub said that he is “Jewish and fears with the recent election that there will be a Nazi uprising in the country and feels threatened by the Donald Trump sign in our yard.”

I was also told by the authorities that based on his public Facebook threats we could easily obtain a restraining order against him, but we have decided not to pursue that course of action unless he continues to threaten us or trespasses on our property. However, I’m assuming any further menacing acts by him will cause the Baker Act to kick in. Nonetheless it is very distressing living next door to someone who, in my opinion, is mentally unbalanced and has made violent public threats toward me and my wife.

Funny man in helmet with shotgun sitting on the floor in front of a laptop. Armchair warriors concept
“My rifle and shotgun are loaded and I will be getting a handgun….”

If Mr. Weintraub feels as threatened as he indicated in his Facebook postings and in his response to the police he may want to consider moving to a community populated by people that think like he does as 73 percent of Nassau County voted for Trump. I assume that the 23 percent that supported Clinton are not as unhinged as my neighbor, so I doubt they’ll join his lynch mob as he hunts down folks with Trump yard signs and bumper stickers.

When Mr. Weintraub and his wife — who is a very delightful and classy lady — moved into the house that they rent next door to us, we were one of the first neighbors to greet them, welcoming them to the neighborhood, and offering assistance during their move. We also offered to collect their newspapers and mail when they were away. In fact just a little more than a week before his threatening postings we stood together in his driveway chatting amicably as we prepared to hand out candy to Halloween trick-or-treaters. So his menacing public threats came as a total surprise and shock since in the past we’ve had nothing but a cordial neighborly relationship. We are not close friends and both know each other’s political views and have never discussed them with each other.

So, as we watch the riots taking place in cities around the country and see hate-filled threats like Mr. Weintraub’s, I ask who are the “deplorables” now?

Hopefully when Mr. Weintraub’s lease is up, he’ll move to another unsuspecting neighborhood…….in a galaxy far, far away as I’m growing weary of putting on a Kevlar vest and saying to Linda: “I’m going to get the mail….cover me.”

It also appears we’re not alone, as around the country people expressing support for Trump have become the target of unrestrained venom by dumbfounded, unhinged liberals. For example there have been calls to boycott New Balance — its sneakers have been publicly burned — because an official there said Trump would be better on trade issues.

The CEO of Grubhub, an online food-delivery service, demanded that employees who agree with Trump resign, because “you have no place here.” (He had to retreat: His lawyers read him the First Amendment and noted that political discrimination violates even California law.)

Trump voters have been caught on video being beaten by mobs and businesses have been looted and burned by alleged Clinton supporters.

Perhaps Mr. Weintraub and other like-minded liberals should study the words of President-elect Abraham Lincoln when he said in 1860: “Let us neither express, nor cherish, any harsh feeling towards any citizen who, by his vote, has differed with us. Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling.”

***

Speaking Of The Election: For Democrats the future looks bleak and their state of depression can only deepen as not only did the GOP win the White House, Senate and the House of Representatives, but it made unprecedented gains in state and local elections across the country. The Republicans now control a record 70 of 99 legislative majorities across the nation and hold the governorship and both chambers in 25 states compared to the Democrats four. The GOP also picked up three new governors to bring their total to 33, which may climb to 34 depending on the recount in North Carolina. Republicans also claim more state attorneys general that ever with 30, and 31 lieutenant governors and 31 secretaries of state. All of this is very significant as the new President and Congressional leaders Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan pass legislation that stops school funding to states and blocks Medicaid grants, among others. The Democratic Party was decimated during the election and lacks a bench of candidates for the future with the exception of far left Senator Elizabeth Warren, a shrill one-trick donkey in fake Indian war paint.

***

And Speaking Of Local Elections: I’ve heard from a number of very reliable sources that a profile piece on recently reelected City Commissioner Johnny Miller is being prepared for Folio, a Jacksonville-based weekly alternative tabloid, that doesn’t exactly specialize in puff pieces, so it will be interesting to see what — if anything — that publication prints about our former mayor and extreme environmentalist. Maybe he’s getting an award from Greenpeace! Nah, I’m betting it’s something else.

***

Keeping Campaign Promises: I have no doubt that Donald Trump will keep his campaign promises because that’s what led to his victory, and I’m hoping that others who made promises during the election campaign will keep them too. Those include Miley Cyrus, Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, Jon Stewart, Cher, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand, and Samuel L. Jackson, among others who said they’d leave the country if Trump won. But I’m not hopeful as Alec Baldwin said he’d leave if George W. Bush won in 2000 and he’s still here.

***

Illustration of a Crying Kid sitting on the Ground

Collegiate Kindergartens: Consumer Reports magazine says that 45 percent of people with student loan debt said that college was not worth the cost and 78 percent of those earn less than $50,000 annually. This remorse may be well justified as following the election it has become very apparent that colleges and universities are not preparing students for the real world and their degrees may well be worthless. Following Trump’s victory consider the absurdity taking place on the following campuses

  •  The University of Michigan offered its traumatized students coloring books and Play-Doh to calm them. (Are its students in college or kindergarten?)
  •  The University of Kansas reminded its stressed-out kids that therapy dogs, a regular campus feature, were available.
  •  Cornell University, an Ivy League school, held a campus-wide “cry-in,” with officials handing out tissues and hot chocolate.
  •  Tufts University offered its devastated students arts and crafts sessions. (Not kindergarten — more like summer camp.)
  •  At campuses from elite Yale to Connecticut to Iowa and beyond, professors canceled classes and/or exams — either because students asked or because instructors were too distraught to teach.

The election was an opportunity for educators to teach civics and history, to explain how the Electoral College works and why it exists. Instead they wasted this teachable moment and instead used it for propaganda purposes.

Collegiate sobbing, gnashing of teeth and wailing, shouldn’t be tolerated by parents who are shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to pay for this crap. It may be time to tell their delicate snowflakes to suck it up, as dad and mom are fed up, and will be yanking them out of college and pointing them in the direction of a trade school, where they can learn how to earn an honest living doing something of value.

***

Review Of A Review: I’ve discovered that reading book reviews by Amelia Island resident and former Newsweek, New York, Esquire and New York Daily News editor Ed Kosner, is as good a read as the book itself. In the Wall Street Journal This past weekend Mr. Kosner reviewed Alexandra Zapruder’s “Twenty-Six Seconds”, the fascinating tale of her grandfather Abraham Zapruder’s 8mm, 26-second film that recorded in 486 frames the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas in November 1963. This review is particularly exceptional because Mr. Kosner wrote about the assassination for Newsweek in 1963. There’s not one book he’s reviewed that I haven’t purchased and I have never regretted buying any of them, just the opposite.

***

Drinking, Dining & Dancing: Folks looking for a party tomorrow, Saturday, November 19, will want to head down to Locals’ Lounge, where co-owners Bill Childers and Eric Deady will be throwing their neighborhood bar’s official grand opening party from 7-11 p.m. The bar has actually been opened since August while the owners worked out any kinks and fine tuned the operation. Childers and Deady also plan on opening the 7,000 square-foot country/western saloon in the same complex early next year. The Pecan Roll Bakery on South 8th Street has apparently closed its doors and the building is up for lease or sale. A sign on the door says “Thanks for the memories” and I doubt owners Jeff and Ellie Wesifeld would post that if they were going on vacation. Che Lezan, the bakery on the western corner of Atlantic and South 11th is still going strong and makes the best bagels outside of New York City but get there early if you want some as they go fast. Pecan Roll used to make a very good muffuletta, but Jeff gave that up as he told me there just wasn’t a demand. And speaking of muffulettas, there is certainly a demand for the ones that the Surf’s Joey Ledet has created as they taste exactly like those that come from New Orleans’ Central Grocery and they should since one of Joey’s relatives owns that place. I bought another one while watching the Redskins beat Minnesota last Sunday and brought three-fourths of it home as one-quarter of this huge sandwich is a meal. A whole one costs $19.00 and a half $11.00. The North 2nd Street Dog Star Tavern closed its doors for good and I hear that it’ll become a clothing and accessory shop for Amelia Island Hospitality Group gear. The Surf has been sold and I understand that renovations to add on to it will soon be underway and more than 20 people have told me that Sandy Bottoms has also been sold with major renovations to take place there in January or February, including turning the patio bar around to face the ocean, a long overdue maneuver.

  • Comment (17)
  • DAVE,ALL I HAVE IS A CAP GUN,WITH THREE OLD ROLLS OF CAPS,BUT YOU MAY DEPEND ON ME TO HAVE YOUR BACK. THE STRESS OF HAVING A DIFFICULT NEIGHBOR IS TIRESOME. MAY YOUR WIT AND THE KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU BRING OTHERS JOY,CARRY YOU THROUGH. GREAT BLOG.

  • Dave,I was very sad to read of your experience with a hostile neighbor,having gone thru that many years ago myself.It is not worth all the teeth gnashing and hair pulling over an election.Although,to some,maybe it is.The over whelming victory of the GOP was surprising at least,never saw it coming to the extent that it did.One only has to look at the behavior of the losing side to understand how far we have fallen as a country.Their down fall began with the DNC screwing over Sanders in favor of Clinton for the nomination.She was the worst choice of the two with her baggage and poor campaigning abilities.It is very obvious the Democratic Party is shifting as far left as one can and still be in America.One can only hopeTrump can go the distance,and serve eight years.Then the young guns can step in and keep the conservative movement going for many years.

  • I have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with your neighbor on more than one occasion at my place of business and he has never been anything but nasty. Another example of a liberal bully who thinks he can mistreat people and has no tolerance for anyone different than himself. No doubt he will move and have issues in his new neighborhood as well. You know the say “if everywhere you go there’s a problem, then guess what”. I don’t normally agree with public shaming but I’ve had enough run ins with this guy that I think he deserves it. Not that it will change anything. Best regards…

  • ROUNDED OUT.
    10,000,000 LESS DEMS VOTED IN 2016 THEN IN 2012
    5,000,000 LESS GOP VOTES FROM 2012 TO 2016
    DO THE MATH. THE 5M LESS DEMS (MANY BERNIE SUPPORTERS) DEFEATED THEIR OWN PARTY AND SHOULD ONLY BLAME THEMSELVES.
    HAVE A GOOD WEEK!

  • Dave I’m sure your public posting of the grievance with Mr. Weintraub. will have a lasting effect and should cement your Relationship , from this time forward. You seem to enjoy poking people in the Eye with your poison pen. It really resolves nothing, only deepens the wounds on both sides. I’ve found Bob Weintraub to be a Serious, Intelligent and Passionate individual, who is issue driven. If you’ve interacted with him in the Past, I would suggest, you know what would “trip his trigger” You knew exactly what you were doing , and what his responce would be. There’s no Naivety here.

    • Steven, if you are implying that I displayed the American flags and sign to “trigger” a response from my neighbor you are very mistaken. Until November 11 we always had a very cordial relationship and there would be no reason for me to disrupt that. His reaction surprised, shocked and frightened both my wife and me and continues to be very unsettling.

  • Dave, you mentioned something that was very true with respect to Trump. Your words ” I have no doubt Mr Trump will keep his campaign promises because that is what led to his victory ” are some very true words. Some of his campaign promises was to prosecute Clinton, to repeal the ACA, to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it, to deport all illegals, to ban Muslims from entering the country, to make American Muslims register with the Government, to De-fund planned parenthood, and importantly to rid the world of ISIS. These I think most would agree were some of his most consistent promises he made to help himself get elected. I agree with many of his promises such as a strong economy, better trade deals, rebuilding our inter structure and creating more jobs. Many such as some of the ones I have listed I don’t agree with.

    Actually it really doesn’t matter on what I agree with. What matters is Trump a man of his word? We will all have to wait and see if the building blocks of his victory will come to pass as he promised. Will he actually keep these promise or will it become apparent to all that they were just made to get him into the office. I don’t know the answer, none of us do. Time and only time will tell if he is Honest Abe or PT Barnum. Either way it is going to be interesting for all of us to watch.

  • Dave, as I have said before, you are a gifted writer. Whether readers agree or disagree with your viewpoints, your writing is eloquently expressed and your humor has me laughing out loud. It lightens the load. Thank you for your weekly blog. You all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m heading out to buy some New Balance sneakers…

  • Dropped from your list of emails, please put the Flynn’s back on your list. Enjoy your wit and humor. God Bless.

  • That is the very reason that HOAs do not allow political signs. This was a verycontentiouselection. And, Hillary did win the popular vote. I know BobWeintraub and his wife Marianne and find them to be delightful. I’m sure Bob was reacting to all the campaign promises and racist comments that Trump made during the campaign. Whether Republican or Democrat, it was not easy choosing to vote for a reality show con man.

  • Dave:
    I wouldn’t worry too much about Bob. There must be an old saying that “nothing is more indignant than a liberal spurned”. The suggestion that Donald is racist or antisimetic is ludicrous. Think what Thanksgiving dinner must be like at Trump Tower with the antisimetic Donald presiding. First, the family has turkey dinner and then after his Jewish daughter Ivanka and his Jewish son in law with his Jewish grand children leave the rest of the family bashes Jews. Bob, you need to get in a group therapy session and focus on your breathing exercises. But if Donald is that way about Jews then someone needs to tell Bibi because he seems to like the guy. Any question about how Bibi feels about Obama and his third term wannabe clone Hillary? Breath deep, Bob.

  • Weintraub? Hummm? After Obama, think he would be delighted with a pro-Israel president. But, great article. Keep ’em comin’, ya’ll!

  • I would point out the fact that the Dem’s lost the Electoral vote by a large margin,This is how our fore father’s wrote the constitution.My thoughts to those that cannot get past that fact.YOU LOST,GET OVER IT!The popular vote is not how we elect a president,every one knows that,even you Liberals,but since you lost,we must re-write the Constitution to make you feel better.No effing way.You people are really something,lose and who is rioting and burning now,not the deplorables.Maybe you all should take a few months off and decide how to deal with the future.It is a conservative landslide,GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!

  • It is axiomatic that the left is guilty of everything they accuse the right of being. It’s a clear example of projection.

•••

Recent Posts

•••

Recent Comments

Hi Dave, haven’t seen you in a few weeks. I’m so disappointed in the local…
We'll miss you, Dave! Also, re: “If this is the first you have heard of…
Prince Borghese - if you would agree to have your enclave annexed into the city…
Robert M. Weintraub (Bob) what a silly post. It was fun to read though!!!!...especially since…
It is not just a newspaper that is sinking into the depths of hell. Fernandina…
Dave - we’ll miss your witty observations and opinions in your blog over the next…
•••

subscribe to my blog