98 Years Isn't Enough

Carl Reiner - R.I.P.  
98 years is not enough.  
You will be missed.
Thanks for all the laughs and good times.

New Covid Task Force Leader Found

Trump has already offered this woman the position as head of the Coronavirus Task Force.  Move over Pence - no one wears a mask around Trump.

US Coronavirus response https://t.co/Qxn41va7eo

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 30, 2020

Another TikTok Hero

I'm in love.

This TikTok is one of the many videos that offers a masterclass in plot and character development that I think a lot of people could use pic.twitter.com/jQ6FBay0iq

— nathan ma (@nthnashma) June 29, 2020

Listen to Tupac

Watching Fox News is indeed hazardous to your mental health.

Fox News has done to our parents what they thought gangsta rap would do to us pic.twitter.com/7tv5SRb6Xz

— Seltzer In Place (@VernorsHerzog) June 29, 2020

Tupac had a message for us that wasn't based on blind hate. 

Sarah Cooper's Greatest Hits

Pure gold.

Grotesque Failure of Leadership

My daily reminder that Trump and his Republican enablers are driving our country off the cliff.  Europe, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, etc... All  doing just a little better, but doing massively better in dealing with Covid-19 than the US.  We need a federal government that takes responsibility and has a plan.  We don't have one, because Trump won't take responsibility and wants to sweep this problem under the rug

This Is Not a Surprise, But Holy Crap!

The President of the United State "posed a danger to the national security."  That's what people who were directly involved in Trump's telephone conversations with foreign leaders are telling CNN.

In hundreds of highly classified phone calls with foreign heads of state, President Donald Trump was so consistently unprepared for discussion of serious issues, so often outplayed in his conversations with powerful leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and so abusive to leaders of America's principal allies, that the calls helped convince some senior US officials -- including his former secretaries of state and defense, two national security advisers and his longest-serving chief of staff -- that the President himself posed a danger to the national security of the United States, according to White House and intelligence officials intimately familiar with the contents of the conversations.

One person familiar with almost all the conversations with the leaders of Russia, Turkey, Canada, Australia and western Europe described the calls cumulatively as 'abominations' so grievous to US national security interests that if members of Congress heard from witnesses to the actual conversations or read the texts and contemporaneous notes, even many senior Republican members would no longer be able to retain confidence in the President.

Nick Saban's On Board With Black Lives Matter - 'Bama

Yes, it's a bit self-serving for a major college coach, but it shows how deeply the BLM movement has reached.  Freaking Alabama....

"America got a traitor..."

Trump seems to find a new low almost every day.  

Who is the enemy?

Finally - A Statement from Coach K

I get down on Coach K often for being a bit sanctimonious, but I believe he is an honorable man and a coach who cares deeply for his players as people not just athletes.  It's time he made a statement about Black Lives Mattering.

Incompetence Kills

Trump appears happy to sacrifice the remaining members of the "Greatest Generation" to his ego.  He's ready to throw the "boomers" under the bus as well.  All, so he can open up the economy - to whom?  The survivors of his incompetence?

Trump Is Killing Us

Every day the US curve on this graph moves higher.  As a nation, we have lost control of the virus.  The only mitigation we have is that younger people are getting infected at higher rates now instead of elderly Americans.  So, deaths are down, but there are still deaths and the potential for long term physical damage to everyone who contracts the virus.  Beyond that, as we yo-yo the economy (open/closed, open/closed, etc) we prolong the economic decline and increase the damage.  NO LEADERSHIP AT THE PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL IS LITERALLY KILLING AMERICANS AND DESTROYING THE ECONOMY.

Karen, You're Famous

Oh Karen, have you heard of Instacart?  The poor store employee who was just doing her job is not a "Democratic pig."  You are an embarrassment.  

Trump Won't Resign - Who Will Make Him?

Just resign you fraud.  Sadly, this would be the easy way out for Trump.  He has a history of bailing out of deals, investments, marriages, etc.  So, for him to walk away from the presidency wouldn't be out of character.  Since he has no character anyway.

...from the very first day this has been a terrible presidency. From the first moment, from the first speech, it has been terrible throughout. From his lawlessness to his incompetence, what he has done to immigrants and immigrant children, what happened with Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, which was a canary in a coal mine. For putting his personal interest ahead of the country, which was what he was impeached for. The constant attacks on the rule of law, the disgusting, despicable bigotry and on and on and on. But we have reached a new depth as coronavirus cases race back up, the president ignored warnings from his public health experts. That resulted in tens of thousands of preventable deaths. And we're looking at tens of thousands more.

The calls for Trump to step down are getting louder, but as long as Republican politicians don't join those calls, Trump is going to squat in "the people's house" watching Fox News.  He doesn't have any interest in governing.  He just likes waking up every day as president.  

“encouraging news”

At today's coronavirus briefing (the first in two months), Pence explained to journalists and the American people, that everything is going perfectly.  Nothing to worry about.  Covid-19 is in the rear view mirror.  All is well.

"Ich bin ein Berliner!"

We once were the leader of the free world.  We had many faults, but we we're moving forward to become a more perfect union.  And, the world listened when an American president spoke.  Now, the world has pity for us because of our president.

"Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!"... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin..."
John F. Kennedy, Berlin, June 26, 1963

Drunk and Stupid Is Necessary

I can't think of two states where drinking to excess is more necessary.

A pair of GOP governors on Friday moved to impose new mitigation measures in their states amid record numbers of new coronavirus infections, with both Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordering bars closed and Texas placing new restrictions on other businesses the governor said were linked to the virus's resurgence.

Monuments to the Cause of Hate

There were 1,503 public monuments to the Confederacy that sprang up in the former Confederate states around the turn of the 20th century.  They might have had the secondary purpose to honor the soldiers who fought for the South.   But, the main purpose of those monuments was to insure that the people living in those former rebel states knew their places in the social order.  Whites on top, blacks on the bottom.  There are no monuments to the slaves who died to feed the south or to pick the cotton and tobacco upon which the southern economy was built.  No, the monuments were solid, unmovable exhibits of white supremacy.  And, now after a century or more of silent intimidation, they are coming down.

For 125 years, he’d stood watch. He’d stood tall in honor of men who’d fought for the Southern cause in the Civil War and, in one way, he’d looked down upon those who opposed that cause, and the slow-moving march toward change.

On Saturday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper ordered the rest of the monument to be removed, along with others that honored the Confederacy. Carly Prentis Jones and Shana Tucker, two friends and musicians, did not want to miss the moment when the statue that stood the tallest stood no more. They arrived downtown around sunrise on Sunday morning.

“We didn’t want to miss anything,” said Jones, 34.

Tucker, a professional musician, brought her cello. Jones, a vocalist, carried a microphone. They both wore long dresses.

They sat in chairs on a sidewalk across the street from the First Baptist Church. They plugged in an amplifier and made music, off and on, for about two hours. Slowly, the sun rose higher in front of them. The shadow of the monument grew shorter, but the women, both Black, had long become familiar with how far that shadow stretched.

Trump Pushing to Eliminate Obamacare

Trump has been pushing to eliminate the Affordable Care Act from day one as have virtually all of the elected Republicans in the country.  Trump hates it because Obama's name is on it.  Republicans hate it because it is good public policy that helps a lot of people who aren't millionaires and billionaires.  

Late on Thursday, the Trump administration filed its brief with the Supreme Court to challenge the Affordable Care Act (ACA) when the court hears the case this fall. Just before the election. In a pandemic. And they took the protections provided in the law head-on, explicitly arguing that the provision that prevents insurance companies from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions must be tossed, along with the entirety of the law.

Trump and the Republicans don't have an alternative.  If the ACA gets tossed all of the positive aspects that vast majorities of Americans favor will be tossed as well.  It would be tragic if the ACA was destroyed at any time, but in the middle of a global pandemic taking away the health insurance of millions of Americans would be a criminal act.

"An army of one..."

Compassion Not Hate

Leadership is focused on service, not revenge or self-aggrandizement.  Trump wouldn't understand.

Joe Biden Is A Mensch*

1. * a person of integrity and honor

Can you imagine anyone ever saying that Donald Trump had intergrity or acted with honor?  No, you can't.

And if we need anything right now when it comes to the leadership of our country — we need a mensch.

I know this is such a simple, small story. But I tell it to as many people as will listen to me.

Because I think that, in their heart of hearts, when people are trying to think about the decision they’ll make next year — this is the kind of story that matters.

Joe Biden is a mensch. We need a mensch.

The Covid-19 Pandemic Is Over

Thanks to Donald Trump's steady hand, personal involvement and inspired leadership the Covid-19 crisis is over.  Everyone go back to work, your local bars and restaurants and get out there and spend money.

Here's A Small Bit Of Hope

Some things just make you feel like we can work all this stuff out.  

Madisen would later thank him for having the courage to ask for the duet.

Onry said that singing with Madisen was like two children playing on the playground.

“You don’t ask each other’s names, you can play together for three hours straight and you know that maybe you had the best experience of your life,” Onry said. “But, it’s not about knowing their name it’s just about learning to play together.”

Madisen, who also consistently sings with other musicians, said the duet felt pretty routine besides the fact that she hadn’t heard him sing before the cameras were rolling. She didn’t think the duet would be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. However, since the video went viral Madisen asked herself why so many people have viewed it.

“I think it’s just something that’s really positive for people to find hope in,” she said.

Madisen also said she was grateful for the opportunity to show what happens when people work together.

Soon Covid-19 Will Be Gone

Is this a surprise? Trump has been remarkably consistent in his belief that testing is the cause of all of the US's Covid-19 problems. Stop testing and the crisis is over. Yes, lots of people will be dying, but that's an easier problem for his loyal Republican followers, including state governors, to ignore.

The White House confirmed on Wednesday it will no longer fund 13 testing sites, including seven in Texas, despite that state reporting record highs in the number of coronavirus cases.

Funding and support for the sites will end this month, even as Covid-19 cases surge across the US. The sites are in Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Colorado.

“No pasaran”

Thanks to Trump and his MAGA red hats, the concept of "antifa" has become a right wing boogie man.  It's the word Trump uses to scare his minions, but, in reality, antifa has a long history.  A history of people in totalitarian countries forming resistance groups to challenge the fascists. 

The leftists of Germany’s Roter Frontkämpferbund (RFB) first used the famous clenched-fist salute as the symbol of their fight against intolerance; when, in 1932, they became Antifaschistische Aktion, or “antifa” for short, they fought Nazi anti-Semitism and homophobia under the flags with the red-and-black logo that antifa groups wave today. That fist was first raised by German workers, but would go on to be raised by the Black Panthers, Black American sprinters Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics and Nelson Mandela, among many others.

That We're the World's Richest, Most Powerful Country Doesn't Matter

It doesn't matter because we a led by an idiot who is empowered by the Republican Party at the national, state and local levels. Here is the daily Trump (and Republican Party) failure graphic.

This graph might be the most damning data ever concerning Trump's leadership. We are a superpower, one of the richest countries in the world, with some of the best scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs, universities, army, government officials in the world. And yet ... this: pic.twitter.com/4eo80nJYBR

— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) June 24, 2020

He Makes Everything Worse

Members of a high profile woman's softball team quit in mass after the team's general manager used them to kiss up to Trump. When will people learn that everything Trump touches turns to shit?

Members of the Scrap Yard Dawgs professional softball team have said they will never play for the team again after general manager Connie May's insensitive tweet Monday night.

The Houston-based independent softball team started a seven-game series against the USSSA Pride on Monday at Space Coast Stadium in Florida. During the game, a tweet was sent out from the team's official account with a photo of Scrap Yard players standing during the national anthem. The now-deleted tweet included the message "Everyone respecting the FLAG!" and tagged President Donald Trump's twitter handle.

We might be standing in this photo but we SURE AS HELL AREN’T STANDING FOR THIS. I’m embarrassed. I’m heartbroken. I’m DISGUSTED. @ScrapYardFP I will never be associated with your organization again. BLACK LIVES MATTER. The tone deafness on this is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/5jSNipTFLd

— Haylie McCleney (@hayliemac8) June 23, 2020

Monkeys Take Over Thai City

Lopburi's human residents have always had a complex relationship with the troops of macaques that also call the Thai city home.  The simians attracted tourists and that was good for the economy.  But, when Covid-19 put a stop to the tourist trade, thousands of macaques lost their primary source of free food.  The monkeys did not respond well.

Residents barricaded indoors, rival gang fights and no-go zones for humans. Welcome to Lopburi, an ancient Thai city overrun by monkeys super-charged on junk food, whose population is growing out of control.

Pointing to the overhead netting covering her terrace, Kuljira Taechawattanawanna bemoans the monkey menace across the heart of the 13th-century city in the central province of the same name.

"We live in a cage but the monkeys live outside," she tells AFP.

MAGAs Can Be Reprogrammed

Former Trump voter says he will vote for a "tomato can" before he will vote for Trump again.

This @RVAT2020 video answers the oft-asked question, “Can I do my video shirtless while smoking.” https://t.co/GnfD1ShN0W

— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) June 23, 2020

Failure, Failure, Failure - Thank Trump

Our Covid-19 failure is getting harder for Trump to hide even if his MAGA followers won't except the reality.  Daily positive rate through the roof.

"Slow the testing down, please!"

Testing saves lives, but Trump thinks it makes him look bad.  So, his solution is to do less testing and let more Americans die.  

Just this morning he again admitted that he directed that testing be "slowed down."  In the process exposing the members of his staff that said he was just kidding to be liars.

Just now I asked the President if he was kidding when he said he told his people to slow down testing, which is how White House officials explained the comment.

He said, “I don’t kid.”

He also said again testing is a double-edged sword, and praised the job the U.S. has done.

— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) June 23, 2020

Trump Remembers the Battle of West Point

Down in Tulsa on Saturday, Trump spent 1,798 words (14 minutes, 15 seconds) of his rambling, nearly incoherent spew discussing his halting walk down a ramp when he was at West Point, New York the week before.   Trump address memorializing the Battle of West Point is actually 1,526 words longer than Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  

It doesn't take a professional psychologist -- or a mind-reader -- to understand what's going on here: The President, ever concerned with looking weak or not entirely in control, is fixated on the ramp incident and doing absolutely everything he can to reshape the narrative to making himself look better in the eyes of the public.

There is a 0% chance that ANY speechwriter put this riff into Trump's prepared remarks for the Tulsa address. Or that anyone in Trump's orbit thought to themselves: You know what would be a good idea? Dedicate a massive chunk of this speech to re-litigating an episode that raised questions about the President's health and capacity!

But because Trump does whatever he wants -- and because so many of his actions are dictated by his own ego rather than any sort of consistent political strategy or message -- you get things like what happened on Saturday night: A man so desperate to avoid being cast as weak or frail that he spends an inordinate amount of time re-telling a story that makes him look bad to a crowd that is, at best, marginally interested.

Maybe it's stuff like this video that result in Trump having to massage his own ego for over 14 minutes at a campaign rally.  That and the fact that he has nothing else to say to the American  people.

Small Hands, Small Crowds

A small handed dud.

Trump Comes Up 993,800 Short

Trump's whinging about his crowd size at the BOK arena in Tulsa last night forced the city's fire department to release the official crowd estimate.  Just short of 6,200 lost souls wandered into the arena to listen to Trump's rambling, shambling, bumbling wankfest.  Crowd shots during his speech showed an often stony faced, bored looking collection of MAGA clothed white people.  The BOK center SOLD more tickets (remember Trump's rally was free) to many events last year.

6,200 people at Trump rally in Tulsa. Acts that had bigger crowds at the same venue in 2019:

- Sha Na Na
- The Pips (w/o Gladys Knight)
- Loverboy
- John Tesh
- The West Virginia Touring Company of La Traviata

— Al Franken (@alfranken) June 21, 2020

Loser Staggers Home After Late Night Binge

This photo makes me happy.  Can't wait for the photos from his "perp walk" in Janaury.

70% to 99% of US Covid-19 Deaths Could Have Been Avoided

Today's "epic failure" graphic.


And here's an analysis of how many lives could have been saved if Trump had acted earlier.  

...the answer that emerges from a direct comparison of the fatalities in and policies of the U.S. and other countries — South Korea, Australia, Germany, and Singapore — indicates that between 70% and 99% of the Americans who died from this pandemic might have been saved by measures demonstrated by others to have been feasible.

At least three factors enable meaningful comparisons of these nations with the United States. First, we scaled up their population sizes and Covid-19 deaths to match those of the U.S. Second, in each of these countries, roughly 80% or more of the population lives in urbanized, transmission-prone areas, similar to the U.S. Third, the pandemic took root earlier in these other countries than here, as measured by the date of the 15th confirmed case in each, meaning that foreign leaders had to act with less information to guide their decisions than did U.S. leaders.

TikTok Terrors Tumble Trump

Here's a video prepared by the antifa loving, leftist thugs that took down Trump fascists fest last night in Tulsa.  Dangerous looking crowd.  Apparently, these Macarena dancing Zoomers and K-pop fans are more technologically savvy than the vaunted Trump social media operation.  No wonder Trump needed all that Russian help four years ago.  His media guru, Brad Parscale, might have trouble setting up a Facebook account on his own.  Oh, and the uprising appears to have been inspired by a 51 year old grandmother from Iowa.

The Trump campaign had called for supporters to sign up for a free ticket to the rally using their mobile phone in a June 11 tweet, and K-pop fan accounts urged people to do so to prank the campaign.

But it wasn't a teenager who played the key role in rallying support for the prank — but Mary Jo Laupp, a 51-year-old grandmother, living in Fort Dodge, Iowa. In a TikTok video that went viral, she urged people to take part, racking up hundreds of thousands of likes.

Laup told CNN last week she had worked on Democrat Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign. It was Trump's initial decision to stage the rally on Juneteenth (a decision that he later reversed), the date marking the end of slavery, that inspired her to act.

Largest Crowd In Oklahoma History

Trump adding attendees to the rally crowd.

Trump's Support Disappearing in Tulsa

40,000 invisible people waiting for Trump and Pence to speak in the "overflow" area.  Much like his massive invisible inaugural crowd.  In this case, neither Trump nor Pence will speak to the non-existent crowd.   Supposedly,1,000,000 people signed up to attend, but apparently almost all of them stayed home.

Just A Simple Fact

Thin The Herd - Trump's Rally Theme

"THIN THE HERD!"  That's the theme of Trump's Tulsa rally.

Trump announces theme of Tulsa Rally: Thin The Herd! pic.twitter.com/NszpIDoQdY

— John Di Domenico (@Johnnyd23) June 20, 2020

Trump Is Killing Hundreds Every Day

Yeah, Trump's leadership has resulted in a disaster that he is doing nothing to help resolve.  He is killing Americans every day.

You know, I had figured that normal life could resume sometime this fall. But the magnitude of the US failure — and the retreat into denial, which will just extend the crisis — just boggles the mind pic.twitter.com/Q9le7H0uia

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 19, 2020

Lion Just Wants to See "The City"

From The Guardian:

A young mountain lion that had been spotted sleeping in a planter box along a normally busy street and looking at his reflection in the glass of an office tower in downtown San Francisco was safely captured Thursday and released into the wild, officials said.

The disoriented cougar roamed the streets for two days until he was spotted by a police officer near Oracle park, home of the San Francisco Giants, said Officer Adam Lobsinger, a police spokesman.

Trump's Tulsa Zombie Apocalypse

Earlier today the Oklahoma Supreme Court determined that it could not order the Trump campaign to require adequate healthcare provisions for the Trump Glorification Rally that will be held in Tulsa tomorrow.  Attorney Paul Demuro's lawsuit was rejected because the state of Oklahoma has no "mandated" Covid-19 precautions.  Oklahoma's Republican leadership has generated "suggested guidelines" only.  

[Demuro] went on to say that he has “zero confidence” that Trump supporters will follow CDC guidelines and the science at the event. He noted that the greatest evidence of the “strange world we live in” comes from the Tulsa County Courthouse, which is two blocks from the BOK Center where Trump is holding his rally.

“In the Tulsa County Courthouse, we have suspended all jury trials for criminal cases and civil cases, that’s the constitutional right to a jury trial for a civil case and a criminal case, a very important right — we have suspended that two blocks away from the BOK Center because we’ve decided that that 12 people are not safe to sit shoulder-to-shoulder in a jury box. And yet, on Saturday we’re going to have 19,000 people sitting in a box chanting and screaming without any social distancing measures. How do you square those two realities? I feel like I’m living in a zombie apocalypse movie just before society crashes. And again this is not about politics. The only winner here is the virus. Period,” Demuro closed.

In Tulsa you can't expect a Constitutionally mandated jury trail because the court system feels that Covid-19 makes it unsafe to hold jury trials. However, in the same city, the chief Constitutional office of the United States is free to expose thousands of people to a deadly virus and there is nothing the city or state will do about it.  

Let's Keep Opening Up Florida

The Trump gang has moved on from the whole coronavirus thing.  Despite the mounting evidence that the haphazard reopening of many Republican states is leading to a surge in new Covid-19 cases, Team Trump has a simple message:

Now if you live in Florida or are planning a trip there this summer, you might want to look at the graph below.   It shows that despite a consistent number of daily Covid-19 tests, the number of daily positive test results has gone from one thousand to nearly four thousand per day in less than two weeks.   The percentage of positive tests per day has increase by nearly 400% in less than two weeks.   Maybe someone should panic.


Per TPM:

If you have a stable epidemic and you increase testing, you should find additional cases. But the percentage of positive tests should either stay stable or possibly go down. If the case numbers are going up and the percentage of positive tests are going up that looks more like you’re chasing a growing epidemic and it’s growing faster than your testing capacity.

Disaster Overload

If we save the world economy without changing our energy consumption, we could lose the opportunity to save the planet from a runaway climate disaster.  Does the human race have the bandwidth to deal with a pandemic, major social upheaval and still address climate change?  

The world has only six months in which to change the course of the climate crisis and prevent a post-lockdown rebound in greenhouse gas emissions that would overwhelm efforts to stave off climate catastrophe, one of the world’s foremost energy experts has warned.

“This year is the last time we have, if we are not to see a carbon rebound,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.

“The next three years will determine the course of the next 30 years and beyond,” Birol told the Guardian. “If we do not [take action] we will surely see a rebound in emissions. If emissions rebound, it is very difficult to see how they will be brought down in future. This is why we are urging governments to have sustainable recovery packages.”

Trump Doesn't Care Who Dies

Different look, same data....  European countries in the European Union have done a much better job dealing with Covid-19 than the US.  Their infection and death rates have fallen because of effective actions taken by their governments and because the people in those countries aren't a bunch of mask avoiding, let's get drunk together right now yahoos.  

Sometimes You Need A Dog To Save The Day

Dogs should run the world.  

Hold my beer while I get in this pond. 😂
(🎥 via @DickKingSmith) pic.twitter.com/glzu89UCgt

— Hold My Beer (@holdmyale) June 17, 2020

Ventura County California - Talent Competition

Will this talented lady be in Tulsa on Saturday?  She won't be wearing a mask for sure.

HOW IS ANYONE KEEPING A STRAIGHT FACE!? Ventura County Board of Supervisors meeting. #shesings pic.twitter.com/Bkw3xcPxVA

— Katie (@Katiehugscats) June 16, 2020

Racists Gota Be Racists

Trump is holding his white power rally in Tulsa as giant middle finger to Black Lives Matter and a massive "go for it" to his racist followers.

A Profound Failure

I think I'm going to show this graph everyday.  It is unquestionably the single most clear graphic representation of the abject failure of political leadership in our country.  It is a leadership failure that obviously could have been avoided.  But, Trump refused to lead and the Republican Party is a group of toadies, who have given up any pretense of supporting the public good.  So, we have the world's highest level of Covid-19 infections and deaths and things are getting worse by the day.  



This should be shouted from every media outlet until every Republican is tossed out of our national government.

This represents a profound failure. The clearest explanation is the lack of any clear national mitigation strategy and a failure to follow even the limited strategy the federal government outlined for ending the lockdown. Since early May the federal government’s clearest strategy has been to turn the page and move on, both in messaging and action. Most of the country felt the epidemic only in a very limited way in March, April and May. It is simply human nature that people in those states would assume some level of invulnerability and be less mitigation-compliant. The federal government has encouraged and enabled this tendency. Indeed the President has single-handedly made resistance to masking – which a growing body of evidence suggests are quite effective at scale – a badge of right-wing political identity.

Leaderless in Washington

Republican members of the House of Representatives are refusing to wear protective face masks in the House.  The group includes many of the biggest Trump toadies in Congress.   But, beyond Trump shouldn't the men who represent political leadership in this country act like leaders?  Don't leaders have a responsibility to model appropriate behavior or are they only responsible to model the selfish, ignorant behavior of Trump.

The Washington Post reports that Pelosi decided to tighten restrictions on mask wearing after a group of rebellious GOP lawmakers steadfastly refused to wear them, even as one of their colleagues got infected with COVID-19.

“One GOP congressman who declined to wear a mask at the Capitol has contracted the disease,” the Post reports. “On Monday, Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, after appearing with an uncovered face on the House floor two weeks earlier.”

Included among the group of rebel Republicans are Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ).

The Post notes that one GOP lawmaker has even framed his opposition to masks in biblical terms.

“It’s part of the dehumanization of the children of God,” Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) told CNN last month. “You’re participating in it by wearing a mask.”

Speaking of Republican Cowards

Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has denied local authorities the ability to create and enforce rules regarding wearing masks to reduce the spread of Covid-19.  Several Texas' mayors asked the governor to reconsider his position and allow cities to implement and enforce requirements for public mask wearing.  With Texas facing nearly daily records in infection and warnings of from public health experts - Abbott has again refused to allow local leaders the ability to contain the spread of Covid-19 in their communities.  It's criminal and cowardly.

Texas Mayors—both Republican and Democratic, urban and suburban—are asking @GovAbbott for help enforcing face mask requirements. The leaders of the hardest hit areas are fighting COVID-19 where the rubber hits the road, and they need help protecting their residents. #txlege pic.twitter.com/V6qv0Elcac

— TMF (@TMFtx) June 17, 2020

Cowards For Trump

Republicans in Congress know how much damage Trump is doing to our country and they still support him.  Are they just cowards or are they something worse?  Have they decided to abandon the oath they took to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..."  I guess they can actually be cowardly oath breakers.

Trump's Criminal Incompetence

A leaderless "shitshow" is what the United States got from Trump and his Republican enablers.  120,000 dead, economy in the toilet and no end in sight - that's the "leadership" we voted into office in November 2016.  An "acting" president who only cares about himself and has no capacity or desire to actually lead.  

On 16 April, the White House issued guidelines to states on how to safely restart normal life again. Many epidemiologists saw them as flawed – too broad, still not backed with a robust system of testing and tracking infected people to prevent a resurgence of the virus – but it was at least something consistent to work to at a delicate stage of the pandemic.

Instead, Trump announced “we’re in the process of winning now” and the next day responded to protests demanding an immediate reopening by tweeting “LIBERATE MICHIGAN”, “LIBERATE MINNESOTA” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA”.

From calling himself a wartime president fighting an invisible enemy, Trump, having seen some initial progress and a modest rebound in the stock market, vacated the battlefield, observers say.

An official close to the pandemic effort, who did not want to be named, said the federal response has been a “shitshow” with a leadership vacuum that Dr Deborah Birx, coordinator of the coronavirus taskforce; Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law; and Mike Pence have all tried to fill.

To Trump leadership is pandering to his base, not doing what is right for the country.  He doesn't give a damn what's good for the country. 

 

One Chart Is All That's Necessary To Illustrate Trump's Failure

US population is 330 million.   European Union population is 446 million.  This chart is all you need to know about Trump's failure to protect the American people.

South Africa Calling US Out For "systemic racism"

In South Africa people know racism when they see it.  South Africa has been pushing the United Nations Human Rights Council to open an investigation into "systematic racism" in the United States.  

The State Department official said that South Africa, which is not currently on the council, played a leading role in pushing the racism debate.

“We try to maintain very good relationships with the South Africans, and I have to say we’re a little disappointed in what they’re doing here,” the official said.

Trump pulled to US out of the UN Human Rights Council two years ago.  What a surprise. 

Trump's Not A Drinker

Leaders in other nations can drink with one hand.  Not Trump.

All Birthdays Matter

I miss this guy.  Don't you?

All birthdays matter! #ObamaDayJune14th #obamaday pic.twitter.com/D43wRqhgAn

— BallerAlert (@balleralert) June 14, 2020

Fit or Just Fat?

Trump is the most fit president in US history.  Do you believe that?  Is there tinfoil inside your MAGA hat?  This 300 pound bag of flab isn't fit for anything.

How about Sleepy Joe Biden?

"Go straight to hell with your Rebel yell!"

Last week, the governor of Maine signed a law making “The Ballad of the 20th Maine” the states official ballad.  The 20th Maine regiment has an honored place in the military history of the United States.

Late in the afternoon of July 2, 1863, on a boulder-strewn hillside in southern Pennsylvania, Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain dashed headlong into history, leading his 20th Maine Regiment in perhaps the most famous counterattack of the Civil War. The regiment’s sudden, desperate bayonet charge blunted the Confederate assault on Little Round Top and has been credited with saving Major General George Gordon Meade’s Army of the Potomac, winning the Battle of Gettysburg and setting the South on a long, irreversible path to defeat.

On such seemingly small things great historical events turn.  The three day battle was the largest military engagement in the Civil War, with upwards of 150,000 soldiers involved, yet the battle may have hinged on the actions of 386 Maine men on the extreme flank of the Union army.  It's hard to imagine that anyone in Maine would be unhappy with officially honoring their devotion to duty and their country.  Yet, Republicans in Maine felt that such an honor would give some people a sad.

“I find it a little bit, we are united states, we are not Union, we are united states. And I find it just a little bit – I won’t say offensive but that’s what I mean – to say that we’re any better than the South was,” said Rep. Frances Head (R-Bethel) during a May 1st public hearing on the bill.

“I am a lover of history and especially a lover of the Civil War period and regardless of what side people fought on, they were fighting for something they truly believed in,” said Rep. Roger Reed (R-Carmel), who specifically praised Confederate General Robert E. Lee. “Many of them were great Christian men on both sides. They fought hard and they were fighting for states’ rights as they saw them.”

Yes, there are always "fine people on both sides."  The rot of racism runs deep and demands that Republicans honor those God fearing Christian slave owners and  proudly display their flag.  Even in Maine. 

Obama Asks Questions?

Trump Raging Into the Phone - "Brennt Seattle?"

What Fox News Wants People to Believe

Images of Seattle in flames only appear in the right wing media, because Seattle is not in flames.  Trump apparently needs Seattle to be burning, so the right wing crew at Fox News shows him the carnage - except it isn't real.  Seattle appears to be thriving.

To support that position, Fox News hasn’t just been making up stories—it’s been manufacturing images and video. As the Seattle Times reports, Fox has “digitally altered” images to make the situation in the area seem dire. That includes putting together elements from multiple images to create a misleading collage, lifting signs and symbols from one area to impose them on another, and it means that many of the images Fox is using to present the image of chaos in Seattle … aren’t even from Seattle.

Images that appear to show masked and armed men inside the zone are in fact composites taken on different dates and in different places. Burning buildings are actually from shots taken in St. Paul during the first days of the protests there. Some of the pictures Fox has merged together in their “coverage” of the current Seattle are actually two weeks old—or elements from two-week old pictures have been inserted into current scenes to make the situation appear worse than it is.

What's Really Going On In A Small Part Seattle

Trump Proposes Camp Bin Laden

Oh my God... This is freaking epic!

Bunker Boy - Scared

Too weak to lead....

Monuments to Treason and Incompetence

President Trump has refused to even consider renaming 10 U.S. military facilities whose names memorialize military leaders of the traitors who  violated their Constitutional oaths and made war on their own country. 

It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020

The  "Great American Heritage" Trump proclaims is actually called treason and the men whose names are attached to these military facilities committed that treason with their insurrection and many continued after their military defeats to deny freed black Americans their Constitutional rights.  Ironically, most of the officers whose names adorn these sites were at best mediocre military leaders.  Even, Robert E. Lee, whose reputation as a general has been fluffed up by revisionist in the South, was demonstrably weak as a strategist and failed to recognize the the Civil War represented a new form of warfare that made much of Lee's concept of tactical leadership obsolete.

What is important to understand is that Grant’s dimmed reputation was driven in large part by the need to discredit Reconstruction and valorize the Confederacy. Particularly its generals like Robert E. Lee. In many ways the South lost the war but won the peace. Winning the peace meant discrediting the victors. 

Here's a contemporary general's evaluation of the traitors' military skills.  A couple of examples:

Braxton Bragg, of Ft Bragg NC fame, is “considered among the worst Southern generals. Most of his battles ended in defeats.Extremely unpopular w/ his men, he was criticized for many faults, including poor battlefield strategy, quick temper & overzealous discipline.” 

“George Pickett (Ft Pickett, Va)is best remembered for graduating last of 59 cadets in the West Point class of 1846 & for commanding the futile & bloody charge on the 3d day of the Battle of Gettysburg bearing his name.” 

“Having few victories & many defeats post Gettysburg, He fell out of favor. Following the war, Pickett feared prosecution for his execution of deserters & fled to Canada” 

Not only failures as citizens and oath breakers - most of these examples of "Great American Heritage" were mediocre military leaders with a history of failures that left battlefield strewn with the dead bodies of their own troops. 

NASCAR Say "NO" To Confederate Flag - Fans Go Nuts

NASCAR fans are pissed.  They want to keep the flag of the traitors at their events.  What a shock.

On Wednesday, NASCAR announced the Confederate battle banner would be prohibited at all of its events and properties.

But this decision did not go over well with fans, 80 percent of whom are white and 37 percent of whom are Southerners. In no time, NASCAR’s Facebook page was flooded with enraged reactions to the ban.

Trump is planning to get back in the racist rally business in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 19.  What are the the chances that that event will be filled with the traitor banners? 


What do you think will happen to NASCAR teams when their major sponsors decide to walk away from this band of racists? 

Remember Covid-19 - It's Still Killing People

In the U.K. a study is underway to determine the capabilities of dogs to screen for Covid-19 in humans.  The first group of dogs is in training now and, if successful, replication of the training could unleash packs of virus detection dogs into public places and large group functions.  Dogs making the world safe.

Using dogs to smell disease is not a new idea, and trials have shown that dogs can sniff out several diseases, including malaria, diabetes, and several types of cancer.

Now, a new British study will assess whether dogs can also detect COVID-19. Medical Detection Dogs, an organization known for research into canine olfactory diagnostics, will train dogs to detect the odor of disease with the aim of developing faster, more efficient and less invasive diagnostics.

Rest In Peace

Did Trump Say, "I Miss Hitler?"

So, imagine my surprise when I saw that "Miss Hitler" was the top trending Twitter hash tag in the UK. 

Clueless....

Denied the opportunity to spout platitudes to Wichita State University Tech college graduates, Ivanka decided to make her commencement address public anyway. Big mistake.

Much Can Be Accomplished Outside of the Bunker

Competent leadership matters.  Decisive swift action, extensive testing, contact tracing and consistency made the difference in New Zealand.  Of course, being an island in the South Pacific didn't hurt.  Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stepped up, took responsibility and didn't shrink from making tough, science based decision unlike the current occupant of the White House bunker.

New Zealand appears to have completely eradicated the coronavirus — at least for now — after health officials said Monday the last known infected person had recovered.

The announcement was greeted with joy around the country and means the nation of 5 million people will be among the first to welcome throngs of fans back into sports stadiums, embrace crowded concerts and remove seating restrictions from flights.

It has been 17 days since the last new case was reported, during which time an additional 40,000 people have been tested, bringing the total number tested to about 300,000. Monday marked the first time since late February there have been no active cases.

Systemic Racism Needs People Who Are In The System

If racism in the US isn't widespread and systematic, why are so many closet racists showing up?  And, why are so many of them in positions of power and authority?  Considering his positions of authority and influence, Capt. Scott Bethmann's racism must have been accepted by lots of allies in his hatred.  His wife certainly found them acceptable.  In the future, Bethmann needs to stop butt dialing chat groups with his bigotry.

In response to his wife's warning that he "better watch" himself on the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association board, Bethmann can also be heard telling her: "I don't say anything, that's my point. The white m-----f-----s can't say anything, that's the point we're making here, Nancy."

His wife also reportedly broadcasted her ignorance when the couple started talking about admissions to the U.S. Naval Academy. "You can bend over and kiss the U.S. Naval Academy goodbye," she said. "They're gonna get the blacks, and the females, and the f-----g Asians from China, and let them steal all of our intellectual properties."

A truly enlightened couple.