These are the worst of times.
Police brutality in Minneapolis murdered a black man who allegedly used a fake $20 bill. Petty crimes are adjudicated in a court of law. Police do not have the authority or right to use lethal force when confronting an unarmed person. After a long string of similar incidents where black people were unjustly murdered, the killing of George Floyd ignited protests across the nation. Some of the protests turned violent, and fires were burning in widely scattered cities in the midst of confrontations between police and protestors.
Racism is America’s deepest, most intractable sin.
The explosion of protest is unlikely to lead to any productive change until the racists in the White House are ousted and replaced by people who are determined to fight racism. We currently have a government of old white men who have used their words and deeds to stoke the fires that are now burning. Trump has no credibility to calm the situation or to offer solace or to promise meaningful change. He has spent many years expressing the anger of racists, repeatedly claiming that President Obama was not born in the U.S., demanding the death penalty for the Central Park Five (who were ultimately found innocent), pretending never to have heard of David Duke when Duke offered his endorsement of Trump, referring to the white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville as “very fine people,” appealing again and again to the gun-toting, violent people who thronged to his rallies and praising them. No need to point out that Trump has stoked the fires that are now burning. We have all seen it with our own eyes. He is like a boy who plays with matches and eventually burns down his own house.
Last night on CNN, the Reverend William Barber referred to the protests as an expression of “national mourning.” The protestors are reacting, he said, not only to the death of George Floyd, but to poverty, joblessness, unequal treatment, hunger, injustice—to systematic racism and inequity that have been ignored for too long. For too long, our nation has been on a trajectory that creates and enriches billionaires while millions of people of all races, but especially black Americans, are expected to live a life of want and need and hopelessness without complaint.
Last night, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center released the text of a speech that Dr. King gave in 1967 in which he said that “a riot is the language of the unheard.” He said, prophetically, “And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt laid out an “economic bill of rights” in 1944, which has since been forgotten as a small number of extraordinarily wealthy people rig the system to intensify economic inequality, abetted by willing allies like Mitch McConnell. Even a huge multi-trillion dollar bill to relieve those suffering from the effects of the coronavirus turned out to be a package of goodies for big corporations.
Trump did not create racism, but he has used it and exploited it for his political benefit. He has ignored it, belittled its consequences, and courted the support of racists. He has made plain his contempt for his predecessor, our nation’s first black president. When Obama was elected president, many commentators declared that America was finally a post-racial society. With a man of African descent in the presidency, with a racially integrated Cabinet, with a black man leading the Justice Department, the stain of racism would at last be abolished.
The commentators were wrong. Racism is thriving. It will destroy our nation until we assure equal justice to every citizen, until we guarantee that everyone has the same rights and privileges, until we provide every man, woman, and child with decent health care, housing, education, and a decent standard of living.
We can’t eliminate racism entirely, but we can remove its adherents from the seats of power, we can stigmatize it. We can choose leaders who fight for freedom, justice, and a decent standard of living for all people. Unless we do so, our tattered democracy will not survive. We can’t let that happen. We must be willing and able to pursue genuine change, a social democracy in which every one of us is protected equally by the law and has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Social protest has generally been the evidence that the government of the people is ineffective. Whether it is the large march to the Czar’s palace led by Father Gapon that precipitated Bloody Sunday or the panicked mob in Paris that stormed the Bastille, these mass gatherings always are evidence in history that the government has become ineffective by any measure. Even in the Medieval period, when the people did not even think about the notion of political power and society accepted what came to be understood as the divine nature of the monarchy, riots surfaced in response to bad leadership. What do we take from these historical facts?
That is easy. Our political leaders need replacing. Let us begin at the top.
Amen to that!
We won’t stop racism as long as neoliberals in both parties remain in power. Democratic Socialism will not only save our country, but win back our more advanced allies while guaranteeing a middle class that has eroded, and securing a good living for working people. Neoliberal democrats railroaded Bernie Sanders, a lone voice in the black hole that has become America. I am ashamed of America and ashamed to be an American. My ancestors arrived in America in the 1700s as religious protestant refugees.
Do you really think ‘our leaders’ don’t have substantial support among the population.
Maybe not enough to form a majority, but enough to block change.
And they don’t want change because they don’t want to lose their white privilege.
This is not a leadership problem — not in its essence.
The problem is woven into our culture and supported by far too many of our people.
We cannot be naive about this.
Quarantine is over.
I hope this blog post is widely circulated. It is both a summary of what has been allowed to fester for too long and a call to action. Thank you.
“Race to the Top ?”
Race at the start
Race as a trend
Americans chart
A race to the end
Thanks for your articulate and thoughtful assessment. Rev. Barber, whom I admire greatly for his weekly protests against North Carolina legislators, has become a voice of moral clarity too often absent in these distressing times. Let us hope that both of your voices ring louder.
I just saw a bunch of photos of people protesting in various cities all around the US. It is SO SAD to watch people who are furious because of the lack of caring that seems to be endemic to this nation.
People are meant to care for each other. It is horrendous that people oppressed have finally come out and demanded better for themselves and for their children. Enough of the hatred and lies that fuel eternal grief and suffering.
This nation was founded on the thought that ‘all people are created equal’. That has proven to be a sham statement. Equal in our current government means ‘everything to the wealthy’ and everyone else be happy with bread crumbs from the Master’s table.
Trump has no ability to calm a nation. He is the primary fueler of hatred and fear. It doesn’t matter if those being put down are starving. In his warped, tiny, ever minuscule mind, nobody is better than him. He is an old white flea bag who lies more than anyone else. He is a detriment to any civilization.
How sad that people are SO enraged that they are going out to protest violently in the age of spreading COVID-19.
“This nation was founded on the thought that ‘all people are created equal’. That has proven to be a sham statement”
Well, to be perfectly accurate, the actual words were “all men are created equal” and based on the author’s life, we can safely infer the meaning t”This nation was founded on the thought that ‘all people are created equal’. That has proven to be a sham statement”
Well, to be fair, the actual words were “All men are created equal” and given the life of the one who wrote those words, it’s not too much of a stretch to infer the intended meaning: “All wealthy white men are created equal”
WordPress has gone crazy
Sham on US”
A sham at the start
And sham at the end
Denial is hard
Though many pretend
And Trump showed his racism early in life by identifying and excluding people of color from his apartment buildings in Brooklyn.
Bernie should un-suspend his campaign and jump back in. He’s the only candidate who has heard the language of the oppressed and comes closest to addressing the mourning and rage we see today–which have been harvested by both parties.
Fred, Biden has already won a majority of delegates to the Convention. Exactly what would Bernie gain by jumping back in? He knows he lost the nomination.
Biden is a faltering candidate propped up by the DNC, which will concede nothing to Bernie who represents the values that the moderates give only vague promises and lip service to. Virus pandemic and racial pandemic make Bernie the man of the hour and the person most feared by the 1% and the corporate media.
Why shouldn’t Bernie re-join a campaign to at least leverage some cabinet posts and progressive policy assurances out of the Dems, who are really only the softer side of the status quo? Why should his movement come up empty again–if the party continues to leave his adherents out.
Biden has the nomination sewed up. He has the delegates. He is not “propped up by the DNC.”
I love Bernie too but he is too much of a realist to restart a campaign that Biden has already won.
The fight was fixed. If the virus had broken out the week before Bernie withdrew, many of his positions on health care reform and racial injustice would have been vindicated.
But the the media (and the other so-called moderates, who cluttered the field) would have continued to spuriously attack Sanders irrelevantly for the Bernie Bros and his admiration of Cuba’s education system. And the cable TV echo chamber (MSNBC and CNN) would have run sound bites on this “news” 24/7. His opponents were hell-bent on stopping him rather than recognizing the need for social changes that would have taken wealth and profits away from their funders and sponsors.
Fred Smith,
Given the circumstances of this week, the fact that you are advocating that the candidate who was elected with the support of African American voters in southern states should be replaced – undemocratically – by the candidate who received fewer votes, but more WHITE votes, seems like a terrible idea.
You may recall that part of the problem – which was not Bernie’s fault at all – is the delegitimizing by some Bernie supporters of what they dismissed as “identity politics.” Rather than recognize that there were serious problems that did NOT affect African American and white working class Americans equally, those voters alienated many older African American voters.
You may not like it that those primary voters voted for Biden and not Bernie. But to say that meant that the primary was “fixed” goes a long way to explaining why they may view a candidate whose followers often dismiss any concern with racism as simply “identity politics” that is simply not nearly as important as the economic agenda does not help. You are correct that the economic agenda is ALSO necessary, but it is extremely important to recognize that the community is experiencing something that their white working class brethren do NOT experience.
Those people marching are not demanding Bernie come and save them. They are not demanding Bernie replace Biden on the ticket. I have certainly not heard that call. So it seems rather opportunistic to try to use their pain to achieve something that could NOT be achieved by the hard work of convincing people to vote for the candidate you preferred.
I do not pretend to know what black people want or feel. There is no singular black vote.
Clearly, views of Bernie have been distorted by media which never saw him as “electable” and whose coverage built this into an irrefutable self-fulfilling prophecy.
Where are the epistemologists when we need them?
Everything that Bernie has stood for over time points to his color blind concern for the working man. That is why the mediocrity of Biden who will be a figurehead (should he win) is problematic. Sure he’s better than Death wish Donald. Not a high standard. And certainly an uninspiring response.
This election reminds us that the American electorate is basically conservative. There is a faction of the Democratic Party that wants the US to be more like the social democratic European nations. That faction, where I place myself, is not a majority of the Democratic Party. Look at the Democratic governors. Most are centrists. Cuomo is economically conservative. So are other Democratic governors. None that I can think of is committed to a revolution or even to European-style socialism.
Idealism must be tempered with realism.
It is absurd to complain that Biden is the candidate. He won more delegates than Sanders. He appeals to the centrists. They are the majority of the Democratic Party.
The media was hostile to Bernie. That’s true. But the media did not shower Biden with favoritism. That’s nonsense. African American voters in South Carolina chose Biden. He owes them big-time and he knows it.
Great and sobering points, Diane.. But, Still I wonder why MSM were against Bernie. Oh yeah, “mainstream.” Now I get it.
Fred, much as we admire Bernie, much as we marvel at his movement, consider how few governors or members of Congress are part of his movement. Governors=0. Senators=0. Members of House=6 to 10 out of 535.
.
Bernie was treated shabbily by the New York Times and the Washington Post, and the news stations took their lead from the major media. That’s my guess.
I support Bernie and there were also other candidates I preferred over Biden. But Bernie was not alone in getting smeared by the media — if anything, he probably got it less than some others. Again, you seem to be saying that the mostly white Bernie supporters couldn’t be fooled by that but insinuate that the voters for Biden all did.
“Everything that Bernie has stood for over time points to his color blind concern for the working man.”
I agree that sentence is true, and it encapsulates exactly why Biden got votes that Bernie did not.
This country is NOT “color blind” and “concern for the working man” does not acknowledge what the protests this week are all about. In fact, they diminish what it is about. They are about RACISM. Not “concern for the working man”. I get that if you are white you may not understand that there is an enormous difference, but there is.
An affluent African American family and a very wealthy African American family share with working class African American families something that working class white families do not share. Biden gets that. Bernie also gets that, but too many of his supporters do not seem to, and they certainly seem to be ignoring racial justice as simply not nearly as important as economic justice.
Which is a fine thing to believe unless you happen to be victimized by racial injustice every single day of your life.
Bernie represents a largely rural state with the population of a mid-size city but without the racial diversity. The new census may indicate some change, but the vast majority of residents are white. Interestingly enough, more residents were Latino or Hispanic than black in the last census, I’m guessing because of the agriculture industry. It’s no surprise that his support in the black community was not as strong as it needed to be given that his constituency was not by and large black.
Biden already has the nomination for president and Bernie has endorsed him. We need to focus on realistic actions to be taken. Bernie needs to help more Democrats get elected to the Senate. That’s how we’ll actually see some change.
A new poll by the Wash Post and ABC news finds Biden with a 53-43 lead over a Trump, due largely to Trump’s Failure to lead in responding to the pandemic. We know that polls can change quickly in either direction. As Trump sees the possibility of losing, he becomes more desperate and more subservient to his rabid, racist base. Watch for dangerous policies in every area. Biden should stay in his basement and let Trump self-destruct. Instead of a front-porch campaign, a basement campaign.
Fred, you miss the fundamental point about presidential elections. They are about more than one person. They are about electing thousands of people who manage and direct the federal government. They are about setting a tone. When you throw up your hands and deny reality, you give up. You enable the continued destruction of institutions that make this nation run. If you are happy with Barr, DeBos, the politicization of health, science and the environment, et al, then go ahead and pout. And be prepared to take the consequences when the nation dies should the Idiot keep office and further unleash the demons he has empowered.
Thanks Greg,
Refusing to accept more of same is not pouting. It’s resistance to an electoral system that perpetuates inertial incumbency and injustice. Sure, Biden is not Trump. But tell me what you admire about his record. Where will the impetus for changes in a Biden administration come from that go beyond the rote platitudes we have grown up listening to–but never translating into action.
Fred, like Biden or not, he will be the Democratic Party nominee unless he drops dead between now and the Convention. He will appoint people to his cabinet who have experience and knowledge. He will appoint judges with a track record of supporting the Constitution and civil rights. He will have advisors who are intelligent and thoughtful. He will rebuild the agencies that Trump has tried to destroy, like the Environmental Protection Agency. He will oust the swamp creatures that Trump installed. I can’t think of one good reason not to vote for Biden when the alternative is Trump.
Diane,
I agree with and admire your post today.
Given the forced choice that has been presented, I will vote for Joe.
Hypothetically, I wonder: Were Biden to leave the field before the convention, who would be tapped to lead the ticket? Would Bernie finally get the nod? Could Biden run posthumously? (He wouldn’t have to come out of the basement or debate.)
Bernie is equally–if not more–capable of appointing competent people and judges–that will be an extension of his lifetime progressivism. He will work to undo the institutional and constitutional disasters of the last 4 years–despite the likelihood of the stagnant self-interest and opposition that are deep seated in congress.
To me, Bernie remains the far better alternative to Trump.
Could not agree more with the statement that refusing to accept the same is not pouting. You are right. And I agree with you politically, probably in lockstep. But I also try to be pragmatic. As much as I like Bernie and have supported him strongly since 2016 (I even wrote a “Bernie or bust” published letter to the editor in August 2016, but this blog showed me the error of my views) and wish we had Brandt-social democracy here, I also know what the real choices are right here, right now. I also know, from my peripatetic study of American history that the selection of vice president is important, since there is a more than reasonable chance that a potential President Biden may not live to see the end of his term. John Tyler, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Gerald Ford proved to be very different than first appearances suggested.
As for Biden the person, true, I have likely disagreed with him more than I have agreed. But he seems me to be a decent person with real empathy for people. I think the tragic deaths of his first wife and daughter, the death of his son Beau, and his own health issues have helped to shape his inner core. With respect to policies I admire: the Violence Against Women Act (the legislative history of which I know intimately) and support of the lifting of the embargo of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Balkan Wars. Those come to mind immediately, I’m sure there are more. There have been criticisms of his support of Delaware-related corporate interests, but you know what? That’s what senators do, they represent the vested interests of their states. The other thing that impresses me about him is that he has a long history of changing his mind when convinced that he is wrong. Given what we’re living through now, I’ll take it.
And I apologize for using the word pout in response to you. I have a problem with writing the first thing in my head and WordPress does not allow me to amend after I hit post. Much to my chagrin. I would have edited that out had I read my comment over again.
That’s really not the case. Do your own research, don’t let the media get you misinformed. The major news outlets are owned by Democrats, they’ll show you what they want to show you.
We see and hear Trump on TV daily, unfiltered by the media. He is a dunce and a tool of Putin. The media didn’t show that. He did.
Don’t blame him for not being a seasoned politician, he saw the issues with America and decided to take action. You can’t blame a man for trying. However, he is not a racist and you simply cannot blame all America’s issues on him when he’s only been in office for four years..
So it’s perfectly okay for Trump to try to delay an election? President for life would make him very happy. He’d be equal to his ‘love letter friend’ Kim Jong Un.
https://click.ngpvan.com/k/18470470/229553853/-883465870?refcode=em-200730-trump&firstname=Carol&lastname=Ring&email=carolmalaysia@gmail.com&addr1=&city=Schererville&state=IN&zip=46375&phone=2192278735&employer=&occupation=&nvep=ew0KICAiVGVuYW50VXJpIjogIm5ncHZhbjovL3Zhbi9OR1AvTkdQMTAvMS83ODYxNCIsDQogICJEaXN0cmlidXRpb25VbmlxdWVJZCI6ICIzNjZhNjE0NC03Y2QyLWVhMTEtOWIwNS0wMDE1NWQwM2JkYTAiLA0KICAiRW1haWxBZGRyZXNzIjogImNhcm9sbWFsYXlzaWFAZ21haWwuY29tIg0KfQ==&hmac=XK0RxlsGbYxMhnKzv2y39ggmpnNy2Ti09VtaSFQc2TU=
Oh, geez… Did COVID-19 just randomly disappear?
These mail ballots are gonna lead to cheating from all sides, it’s a good idea to delay the elections.
Trump is not a dictator. Everyone’s angry because he’s taking care of what they need and not want. Like a strict parent and a bratty child.
Try again. You need to go back to troll school.
So because I support Trump…. I must be a troll? That’s a nice mentality to have…. (;
“Everyone’s angry because he’s taking care of what they need and not want. ”
You have got to be kidding! Have you injected yourself with hydrochloroquine yet?
Your arguments for supporting Trump are not well developed.
Do your research. Mail-in voting has been used in several states for years without problems.
Alrighty well as a Trump supporter I’m not into mudslinging …
Just me: As a non-mudslinging Trump supporter, please give me IN DETAIL, exactly what Trump has accomplished. There are many on this blog who would like to know. They can explicitly list the horrors that he has perpetrated and the lies that continue to mount up. 20,000 lies and counting is not something to be proud of.
LIST HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN DETAIL!!!
Almost 4 million jobs created since election.
More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.
We have created more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since my election.
Manufacturing jobs growing at the fastest rate in more than THREE DECADES.
Economic growth last quarter hit 4.2 percent.
New unemployment claims recently hit a 49-year low.
Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.
African-American unemployment has recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
Hispanic-American unemployment is at the lowest rate ever recorded.
Asian-American unemployment recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
Women’s unemployment recently reached the lowest rate in 65 years.
Youth unemployment has recently hit the lowest rate in nearly half a century.
Lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for Americans without a high school diploma.
Under my Administration, veterans’ unemployment recently reached its lowest rate in nearly 20 years.
Almost 3.9 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps since the election.
The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans. We are committed to VOCATIONAL education.
95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future—the highest ever.
Retail sales surged last month, up another 6 percent over last year.
Signed the biggest package of tax cuts and reforms in history. After tax cuts, over $300 billion poured back in to the U.S. in the first quarter alone.
As a result of our tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.
Helped win U.S. bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Helped win U.S.-Mexico-Canada’s united bid for 2026 World Cup.
Opened ANWR and approved Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines.
Record number of regulations eliminated.
Enacted regulatory relief for community banks and credit unions.
Obamacare individual mandate penalty GONE.
My Administration is providing more affordable healthcare options for Americans through association health plans and short-term duration plans.
Last month, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history. And thanks to our efforts, many drug companies are freezing or reversing planned price increases.
We reformed the Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors hundreds of millions of dollars this year alone.
Signed Right-To-Try legislation.
Secured $6 billion in NEW funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
We have reduced high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16 percent during my first year in office.
Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
Increased our coal exports by 60 percent; U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high.
United States is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.
Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord.
Cancelled the illegal, anti-coal, so-called Clean Power Plan.
Secured record $700 billion in military funding; $716 billion next year.
NATO allies are spending $69 billion more on defense since 2016.
Process has begun to make the Space Force the 6th branch of the Armed Forces.
Confirmed more circuit court judges than any other new administration.
Confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
Withdrew from the horrible, one-sided Iran Deal.
Moved U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Protecting Americans from terrorists with the Travel Ban, upheld by Supreme Court.
Issued Executive Order to keep open Guantanamo Bay.
Concluded a historic U.S.-Mexico Trade Deal to replace NAFTA. And negotiations with Canada are underway as we speak.
Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.
Imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum to protect our national security.
Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices.
Net exports are on track to increase by $59 billion this year.
Improved vetting and screening for refugees, and switched focus to overseas resettlement.
We have begun BUILDING THE WALL. Republicans want STRONG BORDERS and NO CRIME. Democrats want OPEN BORDERS which equals MASSIVE CRIME.
Pre- Covid-19
The tax cuts were for big corporations and billionaires, not you.
The employment just went up in smoke due to his failure of leadership during the coronavirus.
The U.S. just suffered the biggest economic contraction since the Great Depression.
And it’s his fault.
He won’t even wear a face mask, which every doctor and scientist says is necessary.
No-one expected Covid- 19. Did he introduce Covid to the U.S? As a matter of fact he said “Get back to work, it’s just the flu.” There’s sufficient data that show’s it’s less contagious than the common cold, it has an infection fatality rate of less than .1% (common cold)
Your data are wrong. Why won’t the Idiot wear a mask? Masks protect people from getting or spreading COVID. Do you wear a mask? Did you know Herman Cain died of COVID today? Did you know 150,000 Americans have died because of COVID. Trump’s hands are covered with blood.
Nope, this flu kills people, not Trump.
I thought it was not worse than the common cold (your words). I can’t say I know of anyone who has ever died from a cold.
speduktr: It’s the GREAT Rush L. who said that COVID-19 is just like a cold. People listen to idiots like him and Trump…who still says people don’t need to wear masks.
Rush Limbaugh: Coronavirus is like the common cold, and “all of this panic is just not warranted”
So now we know one source of Just me’s “facts.”
speduktr: There are more ‘facts’ coming from Christian Breaking News. It’s in moderation.
TOP MEDICAL ORG DEMANDS FDA MAKE COVID TREATMENT HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE MORE WIDELY AVAILABLE
I said that it was less contagious than common cold. Read my replies carefully. This is what I said. “There’s sufficient data that show’s it’s less contagious than the common cold, it has an infection fatality rate of less than .1% (common cold)”
More than 150,000 people have died from COVID. No one dies from common cold. Why does it matter that common cold is “more contagious?”
You are right I should carefully reread comments I am responding to.
The “common cold” is not one virus. All we can say is that Covid-19 seems less contagious than a class of viruses that generally produce mild symptoms of short duration. I’m not sure we have enough scientific data to make that assertion, but, in any case, since the consequences can be far worse than the “common cold,” ignoring Covid-19 is the worst option. States, counties, towns, school districts that can match their viral load numbers to those of European nations that have successfully opened up and have the capacity to SAFELY open schools and successful control any outbreak in a timely fashion should open. NO ONE should be throwing open their doors and saying, “Come on in!”
Just who are your medical experts?
Judging by Sweden who didn’t enforce anything…. and it went wayyy better. I’ll be posting a blog with the stats later so you can see the research.
I do hope you are not wearing a mask and not social distancing.
Follow your Dear Leader.
I’m not and I’m doing just fine!
Good. Glad to hear you are not wearing a mask. Why don’t you have a big party and invite all your friends and family?
Herman Cain just RSVP’D
Sorry, Just Me. I’m unable to attend. Feeling very worn out since Tulsa.
Sweden has a higher infection rate and a higher death rate than any of the other countries in its region.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?#countries
Sweden has had a death rate from the virus of of 568 per 1 million, compared to 229 in Switzerland, 80 in Austria, 106 in Denmark, 47 in Norway, and 59 in Finland. What went wayyy better in Sweden?
Please make sure not to wear a mask or to keep a social distance from friends and strangers. Copy your Leader.
I stand corrected, Sweden has of course a higher death rate. Check the statistics on my latest covid-19 blog post as I cannot reply with pics.
Looks like “accomplishments” come directly from a Trump website not independent news sources. Of course, main stream media is all “fake news.”
No mudslinging involved. Trump is still singing the praises of hydroxychloroquine. Mail in voting, aka absentee voting, has a long history with less than negligible indication of fraud. You have yet to enumerate all the good you say he has done and is doing.
I have shown you the good his done, scroll up for his accomplishments. Seriously though, people took his statement seriously when he so OBVIOUSLY was joking about ingesting the dangerous substances. You’d have to be crazy to think he was serious.
Watch the video of Trump recommending the ingestion of disinfectants. He was not joking. What’s funny about a deadly disease?
Do you ever fact check what he says? There are a multitude of organizations that do so.
Sure I get that, but he’s done so much good that you dems just gotta hate on him. Why? Because the media tells you to, you listen and you keep your head in the trough.
Please read about his multiple bankruptcies. We now have the worst economy since 1875 and he refuses to take any leadership. Other countries have controlled the virus. Why haven’t we? No leadership.
I keep looking for the good. I truly would like to be able to say something good about the man, some redeeming characteristic.
*I meant Ted Turner, my apologies.
He actually truly has some great qualities, check some of my Trump posts.
Just Me, we are not interested in your views of Dear Leader.
I am praying that he is swept away by a Blue Tsunami in the coming election, unless he manages Grand Theft Vote.
Now you get it about main stream media. I’m proud.
Sorry. I forgot to put “snark alert” after main stream media comment.
Ted Warner endorsed Hillary in 2016, do your research.
Who the heck is Ted Warner?
The founder and current president of CNN
You mean Ted Turner. I would prefer him to Rupert Murdock and Roger Ailes. I am a fan of the Lincoln project. Believe it or not, there are principled conservative voices that have been drowned out in recent years. I hope they come back.
Yeah, I did correct myself my apologies for that (cuz it’s owned by the warner corporation) Me too.
But of course you are open to our large number of non-European medical professionals.
For sure, I’m just generalizing.
JM – you clearly have a lot of time to post and you are posting a lot. Can you please provide evidence that you are an American and not someone from Russia or Eastern Europe who is being paid to post?
Excuse me? So all of as sudden I must Russian to like Trump or think Covid is overhyped?
I agree with Joe Nathan. You must be working for Putin if you think that COVID is a hoax and Trump is our savior.
JM – PRT (Possibly, Russian Troll) – here’s a link to a NY Times column, posted today, noting how friendly DT is, and how much he admires Putin. the column also urges him to quit before he is fired. I doubt he’ll do that. MHO, he should
No, you are not a troll. You are a genuine supporter of the worst and stupidest president in US history.
It is a free country and you can support whoever you want. Now, if only Trump would stop encouraging people NOT to wear masks and would demonstrate some leadership; if only he would say he was wrong to tell people to ingest dangerous disinfectants; if only he would stop tweeting lies and nonsense and self-praise….
Just Me: I suggest you read Mary Trump’s book about your hero. Speaking of bratty children.
Trump is a racist, a sexist, and a xenophobe. He is also greedy and self-dealing. He tried to slip money for a new FBI building into the Senate coronavirus bill, so that no competing hotel would buy the land and even Mitch McConnell thought that was too much to stomach.
Do you belong to Mar-a-Lago? Trump likes only the people who are rich enough to pay the $250,000 membership fee. People like you are his dupes. He plans the con game with you, and he would never allow you in his presence. To him, you are riffraff.
Two of his wives were and are immigrants! How is he racist? He supported plenty of black business owners wayyy before he even thought of running.
Trump and his father refused to rent to blacks in their rental properties. Trump has only one black cabinet member. Trump is racist in his statements about Mexicans, immigrants, Muslims, and anyone who is not wearing a MAGA hat.
MAGA! Vote for Biden!
Good luck with Sleepy Joe as your president. He just says anything that’ll make him win. He pushed racist laws on people. And how is Trump a racist if he doesn’t want illegals in his country?
It’s not an issue of whether people are illegal or not. He only wants very fine people from northern European countries.
He wants people who are legal, when did he say he only fine European people? Send me the link, let me see.
Actually Trump wants to close the country to all immigrants except white ones.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01/12/577673191/trump-wishes-we-had-more-immigrants-from-norway-turns-out-we-once-did
I obviously combined a lot of Trump rhetoric in that comment. You can start with this article, but there are many more examples indicating his obvious preferences. I chose one of the milder references.
In my opinion and my opinion only, I can understand the need to have-or want more skilled people from European (for e.g) countries as they’re generally more skilled.
Racist.
Sure sounds like an Eastern European troll to me.
Democrats are supposed to be against oppression, this is political oppression. Wow, I’m done talking to you people on this blog. I make good points it upsets you. I’m trying to inform people about my research. Sure, I have a lot of time on my hands because this is one of my favourite hobbies. I’m not going to explain myself to anyone. *DT was obviously not very friendly after saying that she hopes I don’t social distance or wear a mask (and repeated herself three times as obviously she tried to fill some free space) meaning she hopes I die. Typical Dem. (By the way, I wouldn’t)
JM,
You said you and your friends/family had achieved herd immunity. So I didn’t say I hope you die. I said I hope you take the advice of Dear Leader: don’t wear a mask, don’t social distance, ingest disinfectants and hydroxychloroquine. Watch out for the Devil Sperm!
Geez you people aren’t bright. Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Don’t you know that Trump uses people like you but holds you in contempt? You are no more to him than the piece of toilet paper stuck to his sho when he boarded Air Force 1.
Read Mary Trump and get back to me.
Hey, what do think of a draft dodger who disrespects Senator McCain because his jet was shot down over Hanoi? You love draft dodgers? Tough guy hiding in the bunker when people protested outside White House.
Trumps America, from Washington Post today:
The U.S. economy suffered its worst quarter since at least 1875 as the pandemic took hold in the spring. A new government report shows that economic activity declined nearly 10 percent from April through June, eclipsing even the worst periods of the Great Depression. While economists expect those three months to be the worst in the coronavirus recession, they’ve been disturbed by signs that the summer’s nascent recovery is already stalling as the virus gains strength.
When you’re the most hated man in America, don’t you think it’s okay to fear for your life? What you’re forgetting is that he is just a person. And it seems to me you’re making assumptions bout him whereas I’m pointing out facts.
You are right. Donald Trump is “the most hated man in America” and for good reason. He has wrecked our country, our ideals, our values, our foreign relations, our environment, and everything he touches dies.
That’s a bit over the top. He’s only been in office for four years, you can’t blame all your problems on him.
The number of this guy’s posts bear an inverse relationship to the amount of light they shed.
Eastern Europeans are being paid big bucks to do JM PRT has been doing here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_web_brigades
I commented on his trollish characteristics when he first appeared. Pasting things off of a website without documentation didn’t impress me either. It’s a shame to think that he might genuinely believe the stuff he posts.
Agreed. He might believe what he posts. Or he might be a Eastern European troll, paid to post.
Yup.
Um, I’m actually a lady. Why would you assume I’m a man?
Both ladies and gents can follow Trump off a cliff
On Not Being Heard When It Is a Matter of Life and Death
The rich and powerful in the United States will keep pushing their toy until it breaks. They clearly know as little history as does the utter moron in the now oh-so-much-Whiter House. They have ignored systemic violence and racism against people of color and dramatically growing economic inequality and growing childhood poverty and food insecurity and lack of healthcare for millions until we’re at a breaking point. How many people in this country won’t be able to pay their rent or their mortgages this month? How many more nonresisting black men are we going to see on the asphalt saying, “I can’t breathe,” over and over? How many more shot while jogging or simply walking back home from a store in a white neighborhood? How many more Breonna Taylors? How many diabetics will choose this month between food and insulin? How many parents will debate whether they can afford to take their kid to the doctor? How long until Jeff Bezos becomes the first man with a personal fortune of a trillion dollars? How many more golden boy investment bankers and hedge fund managers will make policy going forward? How many more “CARES” acts will we have dispensing welfare to rich people? George Floyd’s death is both a horrendous personal obscenity against his family, something that can never be made right, and a symbol of the larger crisis of PEOPLE WHO ARE HURTING NOT BEING HEARD. We’re seeing that in the protests around the country right now, which are, I suspect, just the beginning. And, we have a racist-in-chief as president and armed fascist brownshirts in the streets.
Back atcha, Bob. Interesting how we both frame our responses in the form of questions. Anyone not asking fundamental questions now never will. And they are the ones to fear the most.
How many and How long. It might be important to recall that it was disaffected people of many stripes who voted for a person they thought would cure their aggrieved feelings. Many if not most were disaffected working class whites. Many if not most were not so much trump lovers as those who feared what he said he feared. Have we reached a point where only someone who fears the things you outline above can challenge trump?
Fear in a population motivates the unrest you see today. Until we elect people all across the different layers of political responsibility who have vision, the answers to your questions above are pretty simple and very bleak. For many years there will be these problems.
“Franklin Delano Roosevelt laid out an “economic bill of rights” in 1944, which has since been forgotten as a small number of extraordinarily wealthy people rig the system to intensify economic inequality, abetted by willing allies like Mitch McConnell.”
The current system was aided and abetted by the Democratic Party as well. You can’t put this all on the current regime or McConnell. Deregulation in the service of neoliberalism began under Reagan and has been intensified under both Bushes, Clinton, and Obama. Biden isn’t going to do anything different unless and until WE force the issue.
It was Clinton who adopted “third way” policies that moved the Democratic Party closer to Republicans, a trend followed by Obama.
But give Republicans credit (or blame) for responding to the Democrat’s’ rightward shift by moving to the far reaches of the extreme right. There used to be moderate Republicans like Nelson Rockefeller and Dwight D. Eisenhower. They have died or been expelled from the party. The Republican Party is dead. It is now the Trump Party.
Cult, not party, there are no competing or diverse voices to call it a party anymore. Veneration and unquestioning devotion do not a party make.
Bob, I think you are far too generous in describing the rich in that way. I disagree that the ultra wealthy know little of history. I think they know a lot, having learned how to infiltrate and usurp governance while manipulating the masses from it, and having also learned that their wealth and illegitimate control can insulate them from any significant accountability of any kind for anything in almost any case. They have also learned of the need to be able to flee at a moments notice, which is why so many of them have luxurious “bolt holes” in places like New Zealand and the private jets to take them there. They know exactly what they are doing.
Greg,
Thanks for your always enlightening postings. I appreciate your views and the facts you provide. You got my sense of frustration. No need to apologize.
You are too generous. I have a feeling Santa will be nice to you this Christmas.
Bob,
I apologize for posting my comment under yours. I meant it to be a stand alone comment.
☮️ Sally
Sally, your comments are welcome anywhere, any time.
Magnificent post, Diane!!!! So perfectly said. Sharing this!!!!
The first three words of our national governing document are “We the People…” It does not start with “In the beginning God created…” That’s a distinction too many Americans do not understand. “We the people…” takes many forms, sometimes in the ugly actions of mobs, something the framers feared most. But sometimes mobs define the path forward. This was something the framers chose to ignore. Could it not be argued, for example, that the Boston Tea Party was a mob? Was it not the spark that conceived this nation? Can it not be so now?
A classic of French literature, Emile Zola’s Germinal is a perfect metaphor for our times. When coal miners who have been abused for generations are sparked to act by an incident that is frightening analogous to our times, “It was as though an ulcer of resentment had been growing within them, a poisonous abscess, which had finally burst. Year after year of hunger had made them ravenous for a fest of massacre and destruction.” Yet when all was said and done, “they…lapsed back into their habitual state of inbred acquiescence, fearful of the morrow and still preferring to toe the line.” Is that going to be our fate as well? Will a leaderless regime with a sinister agenda condemn us to a similar outcome?
As Diane so eloquently stated above, this is a time for “We the People…” to take the lead, learn the lessons this episode in history is trying to teach us, internalize them, and act in a constructive, collective way of moving forward. There will be no God to create a rational order. No sentient person would think this. The unprecedented convergence of the stark exposition of racism combined with the worldwide crisis of the pandemic calls on grassroots engagement to find a path forward. Forces that want to exterminate “We the People…” including Putinistas and neo-Nazis in the U.S. are gleeful; this is everything for which they hoped. Are “We the People…” up to the challenge? Twenty years from now, one of three scenarios will exist. We will have addressed some of the injustice that has been historically ingrained in our nation? Will we retreat to the comfort of inbred acquiescence? Or will the nation be driven to become a repeat of the Second Empire of France, with an unelected dictatorship borne of dominance of the financial and political elite to create even more inequalities and a permanent underclass to serve them?
The answer is not in the stars. For better or worse, it is in “We the People…”
Well said, Greg!
The foundation of “We the people” is “Me the individual.” Until each individual starts to turn inwards and look within and deal with his/her issues, we’re not going to change “We the people.”
Mamie,
I don’t agree.
“We the people” is the polar opposite of “Me the individual.”
We as a nation are currently locked in an epic struggle between the collective “We” and the selfish “Me.”
Trump, DeVos, the Koch brother, ALEC, Mitch McConnell and a long list of tax-avoiding libertarians are the champions of Me.
Beat me to it! And said it better than what I had in mind.
Hello Diane,
I don’t mean “Me” in a selfish sense. Although I understand why you think this is what I meant. Our culture equates the importance of “me” with selfishness and the pursuit of one’s own interests in some cases to the detriment of society. I meant “me” in terms of the maturation of the individual in terms of mind, body and spirit. Most people are turned outwards, looking for answers out there somewhere while failing to realize that their own individuality is where it begins. It’s a basic Buddhist precept that you must BE the peace before you can make peace. I think of St. Francis, “Lord , make me an instrument of your peace.” If the individual has not does this work hime or herself to understand his//her own thoughts, emotions, fears, etc, there is no way he/she can make an enduring and positive contribution to society. All great thinkers, mystics, philosophers have tried to teach us this.
Excellent point, Mamie
There is no I in team
But there is a me.
I would also add that this used to be the whole point of a Liberal Arts education. A Liberal Arts education was to help the individual live a SELF-REFLECTIVE life as an INDIVIDUAL who must then relate (hopefully in a positive way) to his or her culture and society. We have moved so far away from this idea that I imagine to most people it sounds absurd.
And in Mamie too!
In light of the rejection of the importance of the individual by the Fascists of the early 20th Century, Mamie has a point. Fascism rejected the worth of the individual in favor of the idea that man is worth very little unless he attaches himself to one individual who is truly great. “We the People” as a phrase was carefully chosen by Madison and other enlightenment thinkers to suggest that a great nation could be created by a collection of individuals, freed from the repression of thought they saw in monarchy, could guide themselves well enough to harness the energy of a multitude.
This was an anathema to monarchists, of course, who set about to create a philosophy that pushed back against the rise of the belief that all people are of worth. As the notion of human rights arose, so did the notion of genetic superiority. Fascist seized this idea to produce that widespread movement after the Great War and the Flu epidemic. Fascist movements rose all across the globe. Many of us see this happening now.
I take the point Mamie has made that individuals must accept a great deal of personal responsibility. I would add, however, that the powerful people in society have a much greater burden of responsibility owing to their position of power. While the locus of control seems to be in the individual, we must admit the effect of a society that helps or hurts individual development. It is a matter of balance.
Roy,
I have been meaning to tell you how impressed I am by your erudition and wisdom. I’m so glad you are a participant in our discussions.
We and me”
The self reflective “we”
Is really just a “me”
An effort just to see
How selfless “we” can be
Got it, Mamie! Thanks for explaining. I just read a wonderful essay in today’s NYT Week in Review section by Roxanne Gay about how no one is coming to save us. Fits well with Diane’s post, the comments, and especially yours.
Diane: I appreciate your compliment, however, the credit goes to you and to the thoughtful people here who create a safe place for discussion that can be both measured and passionate, stripped away of false equivalency and labeling.
As usual, you make great points, Greg. I’ll add my two cents about political strategies.
In November, the electoral college will again act as, “We the people”, for an American population comprised of mostly white voters. Two articles, one from the Northeast and the other from Charlottesville reflect the white divide. The contrasting views within one demographic segment (23% of the 2016 presidential election votes), are spelled out in American Jesuit Review’s, “It’s Time to Rethink the Electoral College”, posted 5-8-2020 and in, “The Catholic Position on the Electoral College”, ( 3-27-2019, Crisis Magazine, a Voice for Faithful Catholic Laity) which states, “There’s an overarching Catholic reason to preserve the electoral college”.
The recent position of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops reflected in Bishop Dolan’s praise for Trump is concerning. The reason it’s important is that organized labor has lost its strength to elect a Democratic president. The most sizable church denominations lean heavily Republican and they have become politically organized and highly active. Democrats clinging to weak strategies like winning over soccer Moms (a hard-to-reach group for political messaging) makes it an iffy proposition. On the other hand, it may be feasible
to sway older, religious voters who are used to authoritarian leadership, if only the hierarchy would support Biden.
We are in lockstep agreement here. Single issue voting, especially with those who purport to be “pro-life” absolves them from any responsibility to address other issues they profess to care about. It is maddening that devoutly religiosity or ignorance of history, science, government, or whatever intersect at their certainties. And don’t get me started on Dolan! Intolerance with a smiling face in a velvet glove.
Recent media articles like the one in The Nation that link the anti-abortion movement to white supremacists have provoked the ire of religious operatives.
I listen to Bill Barr and I hear a racist.
“Could it not be argued, for example, that the Boston Tea Party was a mob? ”
Of course they were a mob! As many people opposed their movement as supported it and an equal number were indifferent. They represented a minority opinion of mostly entrepreneurial class people who didn”t want their livelihoods taxed to pay for the French and Indian War. Great Britain figured that the people who benefited the most should shoulder some of the cost. Granted, the British were arrogantly heavy handed and tone deaf in their approach. They probably did as much if not more to help the colonists win independence as the colonists themselves.
That tone deafness of those who consider themselves the “ruling class” is evident today.
I’ve been thinking a lot this morning about what those in power call “mobs;” how “mobs” often lead from below or at least plant markers for the future to judge progress. The history of labor movement is the history of powerful interests called mobs: the Great Strike of 1877, Haymarket, Homestead, the 1912 Bread and Roses strike, Ludlow, and so many more, like the recent teachers’ strikes. Civil rights: sit-ins, Freedom Riders, Selma, Birmingham. Christopher Street and the AIDS protests. Watts, Detroit, Rodney King. The list goes on.
Yeah. When’s the last time you heard about a mob of bankers? Mobs are a lower class thing. (snark alert). The colonists were definitely lower class to the British.
“…history of what powerful interests called mobs…” Proofreading was never my thing.
Jesus Christ and his apostles would undoubtedly today be considered a mob (of 13) and a threat to the state — just as they were back in Roman times.
The government would send them to Guantanamo for sure.
Thank you for your thoughtful, eloquent essay. You are one of the great thinkers of our time, a dying breed, sadly. You captured the collective frustration of so many people in our country today as well as the frustration that is magnified by systemic racism, poverty violence and bad public policy.
One of the reasons I care so deeply about public education is that it is an agency of hope. It brings diverse young people together to work and play together. It is a valuable common good that promotes understanding, fellowship and above all, hope. When it works, it is an incredible thing to see. I am grateful that I had a front row seat in an integrated school district in which the grand experiment worked wonders for young people of all colors and backgrounds.
Although privatization of education hides behind a banner of opportunity, it as a tool of separatism. Poor, black and brown children are targeted for a separate and unequal educational experience. Separate is never equal, Dr. King taught us that.
Likewise, privatization is a tool that selects and denies allowing operators to decide how different types of students are treated. Some charter schools are overwhelming white while others are overwhelmingly black, and it is all by design. Public schools have similar demographic issues based on socioeconomic issues and real estate, but there is generally no deliberate policy designed to exclude some students. Public schools always aspire to bring students together in meaningful, purposeful ways.
Covid-19 is magnifying our inequities creating new depths of anxiety and despair. Racism is also like a virus that weakens and attacks, and Putin is patting himself on the back as the seeds of hate and mistrust flourish in our burning cities.
One of the great thinkers of our time. Agreed. And even more importantly, someone with compassion.
As I have written often in other places and said often to anyone who will listen, all Americans should read and listen to Diane Ravitch. When one understands education policy and its implications to the nation, one can understand all public policy. There are no other public figures in our times who can do this.
Compassion is in short supply with Darth Vader leading the country, and most of our values coming from Wall St. BTW, everyone should try to watch Seat at the Table with Anand Giraharadas. He tackles hypocrisy in a fresh, witty way. It is on Vice TV on Wednesday evening. Here is his ‘graduation speech’ to business school graduates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w14Ynp4XgM
Giridharadas mentions Cuomo and his ‘education commission’ in this clip.
Well said.
Anti-racist work calls us white people to daily explicit, concrete action – both within ourselves and around us.
YES!
What about psychological screening of people who apply to become police officers? Is it unreasonable to assume that some join the ranks because they like the authority and look for an excuse to use it to dominate, humiliate, etc?
Yes. And a clear path to weed out bad actors. Those with 18 complaints against them should not be active duty. We also need to change the culture where the ‘lessers’ stand by and watch a murder.
Billionaires think it’s acceptable to say people need devices and WiFi hotspots instead of decent and reliable wages. They’re still defending rule of free market everything. People chanted, “Eat the rich” while taking over Beverly Hills, California last night. This is social unrest due to forty years of childish elitism and greed by a relatively small group of people. Let it burn.
Let them eat software!”
Let them eat soft-
Let them eat hard-
Ware that is bought
From billyanerr yard
“Nobody gives a sh^t what you think.” David Coleman
Billionaires Do Not Give a Sh^t
Bezos and Gates think you are not their concern,
Rights and wages and justice they always will spurn,
And even when given a chance to Feel the Bern,
They won’t pay taxes. So now, they can Feel the Burn.
“Dump deVices”
Dump devices
And the vices
Hatred, greed and lust for power
Cherish faces
And the graces
Love and sharing every hour
DeVice: perfect description on multiple levels.
“Some of the protests turned violent,”
Nearly all the violence has been started by either the police directly ( https://twitter.com/GravelInstitute/status/1266929927116468225 ) or by agent provocateurs who are likely off-duty/undercover police or police sympathizers. Google “umbrella man”.
Why are you nitpicking? I did not place blame for the violence on protestors. There are important issues that confront us today, now, this minute.
I’m not nitpicking. I’m stating facts. Saying that the “protests turned violent” implies that blame lies with the protesters. A correct phrasing would be more like “protests were escalated by police response and agent provocateurs”.
No, you are misreading plain words.
The protests turned violent.
Do you have inside information not available to me and to others who watched the events on national television?
Don’t twist my words.
I didn’t think that dienne77 intended to say that your post blamed the violence on the protesters (since you clearly did not!), but that it was possible for people on the right to scapegoat the protesters for the violence when it does appear that there were some people who were intentionally causing destruction and mayhem who were very likely not there because of any real concern for racism. dienne77 mentioned that video with the umbrella man and I agree that white guy was clearly causing destruction and when an African American woman with a megaphone who was clearly someone there organizing the protest politely tried to ask him what he was doing, he treated her with disdain and left.
There was also the Catskills sisters, two white sisters, one who has been arrested before who threw a molotov cocktail at police.
I do think that there are people who are trying to turn those protests violent in an attempt to delegitimize them. There are plenty of angry authentic protesters who are blocking traffic and gathering in the streets. But a few who I doubt care about the issue are throwing things and intentionally trying to hurt people and sow violence and destruction and I do not trust their motives.
By the way, this post, America is Burning, is so important and I thank you for it.
Yep, that’s definitely hard evidence that the police have started all the violence. Are you kidding me!? Just because gossip is now done by social media doesn’t make it anymore reliable than when we leaned over the back fence. It will be awhile before we have any reliable information, and it will take agreement from a ton of reliable sources to build an even halfway accurate understanding.
Hear, Hear. Let’s get it done.
Thank you
Everyone’s favorite mayor: https://theintercept.com/2020/05/31/nyc-mayor-bill-de-blasio-should-resign/
In a time of vital need, We the People have no substantive government leadership. These are the days People should remember, NO to Idiocracy! We the People will help each other, and We will let out voices be heard LOUD AND CLEAR when we vote. Reject the Kakistocracy we have, throw out Republicans that refuse to do their constitutional duty, and reject their hate, bigotry, and self-serving!
yes!
Trump lies, People die.
A government for the People, by the People does not make Treasonous Trump a leader!
Who Exactly Is Doing the Looting, and Who’s Being Looted?
BY
DAVID SIROTA
We live in an Orwellian era, in which working-class people pilfering convenience store goods is called “looting.” Rich people stealing hundreds of billions of dollars, on the other hand, is just well-functioning “public policy.
Headlines this morning are all about looting — specifically, looting in Minneapolis, after the police killing of an unarmed African-American man was caught on video. In the modern vernacular, that word “looting” is loaded — it comes with all sorts of race and class connotations. And we have to understand that terms like “looting” are an example of the way our media often imperceptibly trains us to think about economics, crime, and punishment in specific and skewed ways.
Working-class people pilfering convenience-store goods is deemed “looting.” By contrast, rich folk and corporations stealing billions of dollars during their class war is considered good and necessary “public policy” — aided and abetted by arsonist politicians in Washington lighting the crime scene on fire to try to cover everything up.
To really understand the deep programming at work here, consider how the word “looting” is almost never used to describe the plundering that has become the routine policy of our government at a grand scale that is far larger than a vandalized Target store.
Indeed, if looting is defined in the dictionary as “to rob especially on a large scale” using corruption, then these are ten examples of looting that we rarely ever call “looting”:
“The Fed Bailed Out the Investor Class“: “Thanks to this massive government subsidy, large companies like Boeing and Carnival Cruises were able to avoid taking money directly — and sidestep requirements to keep employees on.”…
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/05/looting-minneapolis-police-george-floyd
Sadly, the young generation doesn’t seem to read the news or acting hopefully for change. We older people are fully saddened and remain frustrated about why America is accepting Racism as the status quo.
No concern at all here about virus transmission in the most dangerous pandemic of our lifetime?
We’ll have to wait a few weeks to see. At least they were outside and there were a lot of people in masks. Sometimes emotion overwhelms caution. Sometimes it’s not easy to judge other people’s actions.
actually, that was my first thought last night when the Nashville news saw two women standing facing the police wearing masks.
I guess we will know in a couple of weeks, but no one will ever know without good tracing and testing.
I do not have a link to this story. Horrible things are happening in this country to protestors and media personnel.
……………………….
A Journalist Blinded, a Child Maced, and a Congresswoman Pepper-Sprayed: Police Violence Explodes Across the Country
By Paul Gottinger, Reader Supported News
31 May 20
Authorities in ten states have activated the National Guard and adopted curfews in an effort to crack down on nationwide demonstrations, which have spread to at least 75 cities following the police killing of George Floyd on May 25.
Despite authorities’ efforts, the unrest has only grown. Tens of thousands of Americans are in the streets to protest what many Americans see as a violent and racist justice system.
In response, police have resorted to increasingly brutal methods. Social media has been flooded with videos of police across the country firing projectiles at protesters’ heads and even driving vehicles into protesters. In Minneapolis, where the protests against the police killing of George Floyd started, law enforcement has repeatedly targeted journalists with arrests, projectiles, and tear gas.
These acts are clearly being carried out by law enforcement in response to the protests in Minneapolis; however, it’s not always clear which specific agencies are involved. In addition to the Minneapolis police, the state’s National Guard, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, and other local police agencies are on the scene.
On May 29, Minnesota’s governor Tim Walz apologized after a CNN news crew was arrested, but the arrests and targeting of reporters have continued.
On May 30, a reporter, this one wearing a vest labeled PRESS, was hit by a police projectile in Minneapolis.
Last night, a Star Tribune reporter had his car window shot out by police in Minneapolis while he was trying to get out of the way of a police line, and an award-winning photographer with a local Minneapolis news station was hit by a police projectile and arrested.
Also last night, police in Minneapolis tear-gased an entire group of media who were identifying themselves when hit. A Los Angeles Times reporter with the group described how she was hit with a barrage of tear gas at “point blank range” outside the Minneapolis 5th precinct after they had identified themselves as press.
Police in Minneapolis threw a Vice News reporter to the ground while he was holding up his press badge, then held him down and pepper-sprayed him in the face, and MSNBC television host Ali Velshi was hit in the leg by a police rubber bullet in Minneapolis.
Tragically, a photojournalist covering the protests in Minneapolis was blinded when a police projectile hit her in the left eye. She was rushed to surgery but ended up losing vision in the eye.
But the police targeting of journalists hasn’t only happened in Minneapolis. A journalist at the NPR affiliate KCRW in Los Angeles was hit by a police projectile while holding her press pass, and also in LA, police punched a reporter in the stomach while he was identifying himself as a member of the press.
Beyond the targeting of journalists, police have also adopted the tactic of firing projectiles at the heads of protesters and even passersby. In Dallas, a young woman was walking home with groceries when she was hit in the head by a police projectile. An image of her after being hit shows blood pouring down her face.
A video shared on social media from a protest in Sacramento shows an African American boy being carried away from a protest bleeding from his eye after being hit by a police projectile. A similar video in San Diego shows an African American Woman bleeding from her face after being shot by the police with something, and a photo of a protester in Indiana shows a young man bleeding from his face after an impact from a projectile.
In Seattle, a video captured a young girl screaming in pain after being maced by police while attending a protest, and in New York City an officer pulled down the mask of a young African American protester with his hands up to spray him in the face with mace.
In Columbus, Ohio, Democratic congresswoman Joyce Beatty was pepper-sprayed by police at a protest. Rep. Beatty said she was sprayed when she rushed to try to de-escalate a situation with police.
“I just felt like maybe I could protect her,” Beatty said in a telephone interview, referring to the female protester. “I’m trying to push the bike away and get her into a safe space, and the next thing I know pepper spray is everywhere.”
If the protests continue, we’re likely to see increasingly brutal police response across the country as authorities attempt to reassert control over the country, which has witnessed one horrific police killing after another.
Paul Gottinger is a staff reporter at RSN whose work focuses on the Middle East and the arms industry. He can be reached on Twitter @paulgottinger or via email.
I fear if this continues, it could bode the end of the nation after the November elections. First, there is a legitimate fear that the election will be postponed or cancelled under the guise of a “national emergency.” Does anyone doubt William Barr is working on that scenario now? What if the election occurs, Biden wins, and the Idiot refuses to concede, citing Barr’s “legalistic” rationale? What if the police and military support him? Recent actions are demonstrating that many in police forces around the country are using their positions to act lawlessly. The groundwork is now being laid with the coordinated right-wing response blaming this on “left-wing extremists” while ignoring growing evidence that neo-Nazi extremists are fomenting some of the violence. Will these extremists become the SA?
Note these two stories:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/protests-ramped-up-police-attacks_n_5ed316e9c5b640cb8341c6bb
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/05/light-em-minneapolis-cops-now-shooting
Or this commentary published today by the NY Review of Books:
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/05/29/after-george-floyd-a-nation-in-search-of-justice/
Henrik Ibsen understood this in The Enemy of the People: “The right? Ah, what does it help to be right if you don’t have any power?”
Here’s Barr’s response; he’s far more dangerous than Trump. As an article in the NYT has it, Trump gives Barr a canvas on which to paint.
Our Great Leader says, ““The violence and vandalism is being led by antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses and burning down buildings.” Let us all celebrate “MAGA NIGHT AT THE WH”!!
His complete lack of leadership is sickening.
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“Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis will never be mistaken for the late, great General Douglas McArthur [sic] or great fighter General George Patton,” Trump tweeted Saturday of the Democrat whose city was in flames. “How come all of these places that defend so poorly are run by Liberal Democrats? Get tough and fight (and arrest the bad ones). STRENGTH!”
Trump blasted demonstrators who had confronted Secret Service agents outside the White House as “professionally managed so-called ‘protesters’ ” who “were just there to cause trouble.” And he seemed to savor a confrontation, tweeting that “Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???”
There was no talk of uniting the country and, hours later, only brief mention of those protesting racial injustice, police brutality and the killing by a white police officer of a black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis. Even then, Trump maintained the strategy he has used throughout his tenure, emphasizing the nation’s divisions and seeking to capitalize on them.
“We support the right of peaceful protests and we hear their pleas, but what we are now seeing on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with the memory of George Floyd,” Trump said after watching the SpaceX launch in Florida. “The violence and vandalism is being led by antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses and burning down buildings.”
The corner where Mr. Floyd was murdered in a couple of miles from our home in St. Paul. Having participated in a variety of marches, cleanups and sharing food and household supplies over the last 5 days, I thought people from around the country might find the column below useful. It’s posted today in the Star Tribune, Minnesota’s largest daily:
Though I’m tempted to comment on earlier posts, I think it probably more useful to post the following. Copyright Star Tribune:
https://www.startribune.com/in-midst-of-chaos-minneapolis-residents-turn-out-in-force-to-mop-up-put-out-fires/570896962/?fbclid=IwAR1pUlqAUBoj5KqbFRc-_O_J0bn1qQ5RS28_1v1wajEQ3fjV70d3_S2Dp88
In midst of chaos, Minneapolis residents turn out in force to mop up, put out fires
Who the rioters are is less important than who we are.
MAY 31, 2020 — 6:47AM
By Jennifer Brooks:
Minneapolis was burning, and Georgette Norwood was out of diapers and milk.
“I need baby milk especially,” she said, standing just up the block from the boarded-up Cub Foods, the boarded-up Walmart, the boarded-up dollar store, the boarded-up pharmacy and the boarded-up gas station in her north Minneapolis neighborhood.
Neighbors and volunteers swirled around her, piling diapers, peanut butter, bottled water and other donations in the parking lot of a boarded-up U.S. Bank building off Broadway. Free for the taking, for anyone who needed the help.
“We’ll be doing this every day until we can get our stores up and running again,” said Shay Webbie, a St. Paul comedian and one of the organizers of donation drop-off sites meant to restore some of what the neighborhood lost to the looters and arsonists.
“We just want to make sure our community has what they need, since they destroyed it,” Webbie said. They — the people who smash and grab and burn and run and leave mothers like Georgette Norwood with nowhere to buy baby milk for miles in any direction.
Maybe they were locals lashing out or outside agitators or cartels or white supremacists looking to start a race war. We’ll figure who they are later.
Who they are is less important than who we are.
Minneapolis is an army of volunteers with brooms and shovels who show up after each night’s chaos to clear the sidewalks of broken glass and rubble.
Minneapolis is neighbors fighting fires with garden hoses.
The governor called in the National Guard. Military and police helicopters circle us ceaselessly.
But no one really expects them to save us. They had four nights and they didn’t save our grocery stores, our shops, our restaurants, libraries, post offices, community centers or our art galleries.
If anyone’s going to save us, it’s going to have to be us.
Saturday morning in Powderhorn, neighbors met in the park to swap survival tips: Wet down your lawns with hoses tonight, keep all the lights on and all the pets inside, pack a go-bag in case you have to evacuate in a hurry.
Minneapolis City Councilman Jeremiah Ellison spent Friday night circling the North Side, putting out fires.
Neighbors protected Midtown Global Market from successive waves of looters. Volunteers mobilized by the American Indian Movement report they caught a group of white teens trying to break into a neighborhood liquor store and called their mothers back in Wisconsin to come and pick them up.
Through another long and terrible night, we saved us from them.
Jennifer Brooks is a local columnist for the Star Tribune. She travels across Minnesota, writing thoughtful and surprising stories about residents and issues.
A very nice story, Joe, about Minnesota Nice.
Thanks, Diane. For those interested in following events in Minnesota from the view of an African American attorney who has been involved for years in efforts to challenge police brutality, racism and systemic inequity, I recommend Nekima Levy Armstrong. She’s active on both Twitter @nvlevy and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nekima.levypounds
We need more of these stories, Joe.
As on 7:00 PM Central time tonight (Sunday), Mn Governor Walz announced that he is putting Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison (former Congressman from Mpls) in charge of investigating the murder of Mr. Floyd. The Governor made it clear he has heard over and over that people do not trust “the system” (which in this case, in part is the current prosector for Hennepin County, which includes Mpls and some of its suburbs.
The Commissioner of Public Safety in Mn has announced that they have discovered incendiary devices hidden all over the metropolitan (Minneapolis/St Paul & suburbs).
Also just thought people might be interested in what Carol Becker wrote, below. Carol & I worked together at the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. She was in charge of Humphrey Institute’s budget. Later she was elected to Mpls Board of Estimate & Taxation. Imho she is extremely reliable. Posted with her permission
Joe
From: BeckerMpls beckermpls@gmail.com
Date: Fri, May 29, 2020 at 12:25 AM
I spent all last night defending my father’s condo from vandals, looters and arsonists. So I speak as someone literally who has been standing on the street. There are absolutely peaceful protesters. And people protesting what happened reasonably and legitimately.
There is also a small core of anarchists who are here to just destroy things. Last night, there were two (white) guys going around with an open flame and tinder. How do I know? I talked to them and I watched them going from building to building trying to light them on fire. And painting the anarchist A. They were not here to protest – they were here to destroy things. Same as the guys in the black pickup making Molitov cocktails. A tiny number here to do massive destruction for the sake of destruction.
Then there were the organized looters. Hitting the jewelry stores, the auto parts stores, the pharmacies were not protesters. That was organized crime. I watched these folks bring in trucks. Two guys in, two in the truck, two out. Pull the stuff to the curb where the two truck guys would load it, zoom off, and then come back. That wasn’t protest either.
Then there are the looters of opportunity. They get the case of vodka or the four bottles of gin. A stack of twenty hair weaves from the mom and pop beauty store. I stood with the owner at 6 am as she cried about her business, her only business, that supports her family, being trashed and looted. The looters came back tonight and are there as I write this. They are not here to protest – they are here to get whatever they can get for themselves, with no thought for a protest.
There are also a core of non-peaceful protesters. I watched them throwing rocks, making shields to ram the cops, using sign pickets to attack. Not peaceful.
Then there is the obvious. You can’t drive down Lake without seeing Hispanic business after Hispanic business being vandalized. Why pick on the Hispanic businesses? I don’t think that was about this protest but something different.
So yes, there are peaceful protesters but don’t pretend the rest of this isn’t true too. No rose colored glasses.
Carol Becker
The corner of 22nd and Lake (Minneapolis, Mn)
12:19 am
Joe Nathan,
Isn’t Keith Ellison the State Attorney General in Minnesota? May I make that correction?
Diane, you are correct. My apologies for providing inaccurate information. Yes, please change my statement to say that Gov Walz has appointed Mn Attorney General Keith Ellison to be in charge of the investigation.
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-attorney-general-to-assist-in-george-floyd-case/570910352/
2 quick things. First, my apologies for posting incorrect information. Yes, Diane, please change what I wrote. Keith Ellison is the Minnesota Attorney General. He was appointed by Mn Gov Walz to take charge of the case. This happened apparently at least in part because Jay Z called Gov Walz and made this request.
Second part of the problem in Mpls is that the Police Union, headed by a very public supporter of Trump, has vigorously resisted many reforms. Here’s a link article from Mother Jones, discussing the Mpls Police Union. The article quotes things that have been reported in local Mn newspapers and adds additional info.
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/05/minneapolis-police-union-president-kroll-george-floyd-racism/?fbclid=IwAR1WnSitEi5ukDmFw9jkGdH8ZZ6i8KFBJNzQBNvXcqgvTrkhNYGaGBbeTVE
I don’t know if this puts me at odds with most commenters here (I haven’t read all the comments), but I’ll just say I did not find this weekend’s protests inspiring or in any way a good thing to witness. I saw a country becoming unwound. I saw a lot of what’s the usual stuff at rallies—college-age kids, good vibes, speeches. I also saw some of the hallmarks of “riots”—pointless destruction of property (including my own front door, which was smashed in for the second time in the last month or so), a real sense of glee among many present about the destruction and chaos (which frankly reminded me of some reactions in NYC on 9/11), and a lot of people straight out of “Antifa” central casting, whose main interest seemed to be mixing it up with cops and breaking shit. The police sometimes de-escalates and sometimes escalated. But in all instances the police seemed to be put in a terrible position. One thing I didn’t see, and nobody saw, was NYC’s mayor, who appears to have been bunkered down in Gracie Mansion for the entire weekend, making only a couple brief appearances at press conferences. It reminded me of what I’d read about John Lindsay, the much-maligned mayor of NYC, who, whatever his faults, as tensions were brewing after MLK was killer, made the decision to head uptown and address the people in person, and defuse the situation as best he could.
Anyway, in my view, this was a terrible weekend for America. But I do find some comfort in images and footage of people coming together to clean up the damage, some of which is collected in this thread:
I wrote this quote (looked it up when a commentator on The Last Word or Bill Maher’s show said this)–from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech, “The Other America,” in my pocket copy (which I always carry w/me) of the U.S. Constitution:
“A riot is the language of the unheard.”
Completely agree
Reblogged this on Lloyd Lofthouse.
Diane – Thanks for a Beautiful post.
Until we eliminate the obscene influence of money on our political elections the Oligarchs will rule.
We must overturn SCOTUS decisions-
1976 Buckley v Valeo (limits on election spending unconstitutional)
1978 1st Nat Bank of Boston v Bellotti (corporations are people)
2010 Citizens United v Fed Election Comm (unlimited amounts of money can be spent on elections).
This can be accomplished by everyone registering to vote, become an informed voter in Every election, and don’t vote for any candidate with a R after their name.
Thanks…
Excelent! Thank you Diane
Just to be clear, Trump called for the execution of the Central Park 5 even after they were found to be innocent.
Just to be clear, Trump called for the execution of the Central Park 5 even after they were found to be innocent.
The so called “Hard Hat Riots” of 1971 demonstated the willingness of then President Nixon to co-opt unrest and discord among peaceful protests. Conspiring with the mayor of NYC and NYPD to send known instigators as a pretext for confrontation. In our interconnected society, mass mobilization is a broader context for once localized response. Safeguards should be part of a much larger context. Carte blanc is a dangerous concept in any civil society.
George Floyd’s brother speaks at the site in Minneapolis where his brother, George Floyd, was murdered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSemr4te4fw
— Physicians’ demand to police: Stop gassing protesters. Tear gas could lead to further Covid-19 spread as protesters cough, touch their mouths or suffer other respiratory injuries that leave them vulnerable.
“This wanton and indiscriminate use of tear gas is a serious threat to health — this needs to stop now,” tweeted Adam Gaffney of Physicians for a National Health Program.
There are always two sides to a coin, and often three sides to the truth. I’m grateful, that at least for today, I live in an America where I still have the freedom to think on my own. While I believe equality is essential for everyone, we will never erase judgment. And for that my basis is discernment of character not color. Totalitarian demands, shouting down, destruction of personal and public property, erasing history, humiliation, pandering, and undeserved guilt do absolutely nothing to unite and heal America. However, listening to workable solutions offered by calm, rational blacks who courageously speak the truth of what it is like to live and be black in America can foster the understanding and desperately needed changes America needs. But, is everyone willing to listen to each other and work together?
How many people can get sick and die before people are FED UP with Trump and his never ending ignorance?
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Herman Cain dies from coronavirus
Former Republican presidential candidate and ex-CEO of Godfather’s Pizza Herman Cain, 74, has died almost a month after being hospitalized for coronavirus.
The big picture: Cain, the co-chair of Black Voices for Trump, was in a high-risk group due to his history with cancer. Cain’s positive coronavirus test came less than two weeks after he attended President Trump’s controversial June 20 campaign rally in Tulsa, where he tweeteda picture of himself without a mask.
Public health officials had warned that the large-scale rally could infect many and put lives at risk.
It’s unclear whether Cain contracted the virus at the Trump rally.
While in the hospital, Cain commented on a July 4 celebration at Mt. Rushmore, tweeting: “Masks will not be mandatory for the event, which will be attended by President Trump. PEOPLE ARE FED UP!”…
https://www.axios.com/herman-dies-coronavirus-5af21554-24dc-48a9-ab21-b750465aff4e.html?utm_campaign=organic&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=email
Un-Just Me.
Get a life. Read Wayne Barrett’s 1992 book on Trump and his miserable attitudes toward minorities. It tells you what his niece is revealing about this wretched excuse of a human being and total failure as a business man.
I suppose Trump’s association with Roy Cohn is evidence of his fondness for Jews. And his ability to find goodness in the bigots of Charlottesville shows his compassion for all people. Grabbing pussy is just a further example of this guy’s gift for touching people.
Quit spinning everyone’s wheels— mostly your own.
House Dems Challenge GOP Lawmakers on Trump’s Election Tweet
Sam Brodey
Congressional Reporter
Updated Jul. 30, 2020 4:01PM ET /
Published Jul. 30, 2020 3:49PM ET
A group of House Democrats is trying to force Republicans to go on the record about Trump’s comments.
A group of House Democrats is responding to President Donald Trump’s suggestion to delay the 2020 elections by trying to force their Republican counterparts to go on the record about Trump’s comments. On Thursday afternoon, Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Jim Cooper (D-TN), and Alcee Hastings (D-FL) introduced a bill that affirms that Election Day should not be moved from November 3, 2020. A copy of the resolution obtained by The Daily Beast “strongly condemns any and all efforts by individuals in positions of power, including public officials and the media, to intentionally weaken American democratic institutions.”
Since only the legislative branch has the power to move the election, the Democrats’ resolution is symbolic. But it represents a challenge to Republican lawmakers, who have largely panned the idea that Trump can move the election, to push back more forcefully. The lawmakers are in talks with Democratic leadership about putting the legislation to a vote soon.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/house-dems-challenge-gop-lawmakers-on-trumps-election-tweet?source=email&via=desktop
The Chosen One is back promoting hycroxychloroquine and now BCN is once again telling us how great it is. Whoopee! How is this country ever going to progress when nonsense like this proliferates?
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I thought you would like this story from breakingchristiannews.com
TOP MEDICAL ORG DEMANDS FDA MAKE COVID TREATMENT HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE MORE WIDELY AVAILABLE
Calvin Freiburger : Jul 31, 2020 LifeSiteNews.com
“The mortality rate from COVID-19 in countries that allow access to HCQ is only one-tenth the mortality rate in countries where there is interference with this medication, such as the United States.” -AAPS general counsel Andrew Schlafly
[LifeSiteNews.com] The Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS) has submitted additional evidence to the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in hopes of compelling the agency to relax its restrictions on the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to treat COVID-19 among the general public. (Image: via News Channel 6 Now)…
https://?ID=30856
I liked the video he retweeted about the quack doctor who has a theory about copulating with demons in ones dreams. Does that cause COVID or does it cure COVID?
I think I heard that cause cysts.
That video was a 3 for 3 for the Orange One.
!. It allowed his white supremacist supporters to snigger at the spectacle of an African woman acting out the stereotype of Black people they already believe in.
It appealed to his Christian evangelical supporters who pray to be deliver from demons.
It provided the day’s distraction from his further attacks on democracy, the rising numbers of dead and the bottoming out of the economy.
The camera backs out at 16:32 and very FEW people showed up. How much taxpayer money was wasted for this debacle? How many people in the U.S. would want to spend $5,600 to hear Trump rattle his unending prattle?
Or should I say, “Dang, I miss it. I could be given access to a roundtable discussion for ONLY $100,000. WHAT A DEAL!!! Retired teachers, we missed it!!!
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Pres. Trump Holds Fundraiser with Florida Sheriffs | LIVE | NowThis
Streamed live 19 hours ago
TRUMP HOLDS FUNDRAISER WITH FLORIDA POLICE: Pres. Trump participates in a campaign fundraising event with Florida Sheriffs. According to the Miami Herald, a single ticket to today’s event costs $5,600, and those who contribute $100,000 will be given access to the roundtable discussions.
Right Richter: Why Trump Allies Are Obsessed With Hydroxychloroquine
The political point of hydroxychloroquine
The Trump administration’s quest for the supposed hydroxychloroquine miracle cure hit another speed bump last week.
Initially, a group of doctors organized by the Tea Party Patriots scored a viral hit Monday with a press conference outside the Supreme Court lambasting conventional wisdom on the coronavirus and praising the unproven drug. Video of Texas Dr. Stella Immanuel praising hydroxychloroquine and bashing mask-wearing earned presidential retweets and more than 13 million views on Facebook before it was taken off the platform.
But Immanuel’s usefulness as the face of hydroxychloroquine faded after Right Richter pointed out that she also believes, among other things, that real-life medical problems are caused by sex with demons and that alien DNA can be used in medical treatments.
Other doctors at the press conference had plenty of issues themselves. One, for example, produced a comically flawed study on the coronavirus’ prevalence in California. Nevertheless, Trump wouldn’t back down in his crusade to give them a platform, calling Immanuel an “important voice” on the virus response.
Why the fixation on hydroxychloroquine at all costs?
For the vast majority of Trump supporters, of course, the drug represents the possibility that COVID-19 can be successfully treated and the deaths stopped. But there’s also a political benefit: portraying hydroxychloroquine as a forbidden cure allows pro-Trump media to blame anyone but Trump for the coronavirus disaster. In this telling, COVID-19 could have been cured months ago with hydroxychloroquine, if only the Democrats, the media, and Dr. Anthony Fauci would have listened to Trump!
Mega-popular right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, for example, has portrayed the opposition to hydroxychloroquine as an anti-Trump plot.
“We’ve got people in this country doing their level best to destroy it, to scare people into not using it,” Limbaugh said on Monday.
This angle became a little clearer Thursday, when Herman Cain died of COVID-19 a month after he attended Trump’s maskless Tulsa rally. Cain’s death, in theory, should have brought home the coronavirus’ seriousness to the hardcore Trump faithful who have refused to wear masks.
Instead, The Gateway Pundit knew who was to blame: Anthony Fauci, for opposing hydroxychloroquine!
“Is Dr. Fauci to Blame for Herman Cain’s Death?” the far-right website asked.
Gateway Pundit
“Herman Cain’s death is tragic,” Gateway Pundit boss Jim Hoft wrote. “It is too early to know what happened with his treatment. But it is clear that Dr. Fauci, the tech giants, and the liberal media are to blame for THOUSANDS of coronavirus deaths.”
As the death toll continues to mount, hydroxychloroquine’s value as a distraction from the administration’s own failures will likely only increase.
Is trump a racist for saying anchor babies when the facts are they’re a part of a 200 year old 200 year carholic invasion plan? Or is he just being sensible and telling it like it fking is.
Its interesting in this vid
The guy fails to explain what he explained here
Which basically amounts to the fact that you can literally hold your breath until you’re dead when you’re on dope like fentanyl. You also would never need to announce you couldnt breath let alone in a suspicious emotionless monotone. This floyd thing looks scripted and rehearsed.
And lets not forget what happened next, the death was used by racists to launch a race riot.
There’s two ways for the queen’s honor guard to get paid. One of them is to do stupid sht for the camera for a kickback from newspapers.
Heres what happened. A black guy commits suicide by cop with his buddy he works and shares lines with so his family can get a lawsuit and the cop can get a kickback. The death was used by enemy subversives to incite race riots and radicalise leftist sympathizers who deal them both the cheap drugs they both use.
https://deplorablefeed.com/u-s-soldiers-punished-under-obama-admin-for-blowing-whistle-on-afghan-muslim-pedophiles/
Btw, i tracked this deplorablefeed group to bulgaria. But pretty sure it’s all legit.