If Trump and his sorry band of predators were simply inept–unable to govern (and certainly unable to govern in the public interest)–it would be bad enough, since incompetence alone is causing hundreds–perhaps thousands– of unnecessary deaths.
But Trump can’t leave bad enough alone. As crowds of seriously stupid people protested “stay at home” orders in several states, he took to Twitter to encourage them–in language that has been interpreted as advocating “overthrowing” the (Democratic) governors of three of those states.
It’s never safe to attribute intent to Donald J. Trump, since most of his attempts at communication are incoherent. Nevertheless, it has been pointed out that encouraging the violent overthrow of the government may be a federal crime. (I’m sure Trump would reiterate his position that the President cannot be investigated for criminal behavior, let alone charged–a position he’s held only since becoming President. It certainly wasn’t his position when Obama–of whom he is clearly insanely jealous–was in office.)
However, as Heather Cox Richardson has written (link unavailable), there is more to it than Trump’s usual obliviousness.
Since the 1980s, the Republican Party has retained power by insisting that its leaders were defending America from dangerous “liberals,” who wanted to redistribute wealth from hardworking, religious, usually white, taxpayers, to “special interests.” In the years since President Ronald Reagan, there has been less and less nuance in that narrative and, by the time of President Barack Obama, no room to compromise. The division of the nation into “us” versus “them” has come to override any attempt at actual problem solving; Republican lawmakers simply address national problems with what their ideological narrative requires: cuts to taxes, regulation, and social welfare programs.
The coronavirus pandemic requires us to unite for our own safety, but members of the Republican Party can only see the world in partisan terms. Boston College political scientist David Hopkins notes that “The contemporary Republican Party has been built to wage ideological and partisan conflict more than to manage the government or solve specific social problems.” Republicans remain so consumed by their war on Democrats and liberals they cannot fathom working together to fight the pandemic.
Richardson sees Trump’s tweets in the context of that GOP narrative–and notes that it is a narrative constantly and wholeheartedly advanced by Fox News. As she points out, the relatively small protest against Governor Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan was not some eruption of grass-roots sentiment; it was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the DeVos family, and the reason anyone even heard about it was because right-wing media–especially Fox– hyped it.
FNC personality Jeanine Pirro said of the Michigan protesters: “God bless them, it’s going to happen all over the country.” FNC personality Laura Ingraham tweeted a video of it, saying: “Time to get your freedom back.” FNC personality Tucker Carlson interviewed a representative of the MCC on his show; the person got another interview on “Fox & Friends” the next day. Indeed, Trump’s “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” tweet came just after a program on the Fox News Channel ran a story on protests at the Minnesota governor’s office by a group called “Liberate Minnesota.”
The goal of this enterprise is to keep Republicans in office in 2020. The latest filing for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) leadership committee shows that four of the top five donors are executives for the Fox News Channel. Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch, Viet Dinh, FNC’s Legal Adviser and Policy Director, and the president of 21st Century Fox all gave $20,600.
Richardson identifies Trump’s “central political problem” as his inability to work with Democrats to implement the measures needed in a time of crisis. I think she’s being kind. I think his “central problem” is a combination of mental illness, narcissism, abysmal ignorance and stupidity. (Ignorance and stupidity are not the same thing; ignorance is an absence of information and can be remedied–stupid can’t be fixed.)
Be that as it may, however, the “central political problem” America faces is an administration composed of people with whom our mentally-ill and entirely self-regarding President feels comfortable. Its an assemblage that is both thoroughly corrupt and totally unfamiliar with the proper purposes and operations of government– and it’s supported by a base in thrall to a “state media” that puts Pravda to shame.
We know Trump and his administration are stealing us blind; what is worse, between their daily rollbacks of environmental protections and their monumental incompetence in crisis management, they are literally killing us.
You can’t fix stupid…. but you can defeat it at the polls in November. Vote all blue.
Sheila,
“We know Trump and his administration are stealing us blind; what is worse, between their daily rollbacks of environmental protections and their monumental incompetence in crisis management, they are literally killing us.”
Try not blaming Trump for everything. “Something horrible has happened” and we continue to refuse facing up to it. We all need to wise-up, before it is too late.
Why can’t we say it the way it is and go on. President Death is an ascending sociopath. He ought to be locked-up for life. What else is there to say? Get real!
Sorry, I’m against the death penalty.
I think more like a progressive Catholic.
Trump’s inability to work with others includes Republicans; as evidenced by his removal of countless of his own appointees and former good buddies. His ridiculous opposing statements regarding his own opinions and decisions, sometimes during the same speech, show he cannot work with himself. An interesting journalist’s view of Trump from the UK called him the “Shakespeare of shit” and stated “even his flaws have flaws”.
His political party surfing through the years proves he has no original thoughts or loyalty to any morality or standards he supports for more than brief periods of time. Whoever or whichever party is willing to feed his ego and fill his coffers makes his decisions for him. “It’s never safe to attribute intent to Donald J. Trump, since most of his attempts at communication are incoherent.” He said to “follow social distancing” while at the same time he supports protesters, too many of them armed, demanding an immediate reopening of businesses which would end social distancing. China is our enemy/China is our friend. State governors should provide all coronavirus testing/we are providing coronavirus testing for all states.
“We know Trump and his administration are stealing us blind; what is worse, between their daily rollbacks of environmental protections and their monumental incompetence in crisis management, they are literally killing us.”
JoAnn,
Quit being so shy.
JoAnn, On target as usual. Love the “Shakespeare of shit” and “even his flaws have flaws”.
We may not have the vaccine by November, but each of us will have a vote.
Marv Kramer, It is a long way from getting into a bad situation and actively making it worse. Please don’t make excuses for profiteering, larceny, and actual harm.
Almost every industrialized country on the planet has handled this crisis better then the US, with lower rates of infections, fewer deaths and all most every one of them has recognized that testing and tracing are key to limiting the damage of this virus. That damage includes people dying as well as economic.
I am even wishing for leadership from Mike Pence at this point, over the idiot and buffoon now in charge, and I know how bad Pence can be because I live in Indiana. Most Republicans have forgotten that when you get elected to a leadership position, you are the leader for ALL of the people in that state. Pence has a tendency to forget that, and play exclusively to his base. Trump, just doesn’t seem to care and only is there for Trump and his cronies. While he might have his base believe he is doing great things, he is actively working against their interests in so many ways.
Please don’t make excuses.
Norris,
“We may not have the vaccine by November, but each of us will have a vote.”
Hopefully, the 2nd Civil War will be over by then.
Dan,
“Please don’t make excuses.”
I apologize. I’ll try not to again.
we have as citizens become united to prevent each others demise. we have banded together to say to those who have used us as their whores for profits,we are making a stand. we have in our own need of survival, decided in a practical way,to help,each other,and sans the profits. the fact,we are now respecting each others space and needs,over their needs for greed. yesterday i wrote the German Goverment,a letter,and thanked them on how to make this a people thing,leading us on how to survive when our goverment cant. the fact we have bought out the nest of snakes our own people elect,and now have more dried ink,to savage them in November. if and when? we have a election,and how we see the next installments,of dictatorship that tries to oppress our will to fight back. Mcconnell has bit his last dime,and hopefully,everyone sees hes the issue, trump is a mere asshole like the people who support his lunacy. im taking names,and have been sunce 2015, on who and what has made what we have to account for..first on the agenda, see mcconnel flounder… trump is merely a death sentance to America..i believe he will be evicted from hos,white house..
as the people we have performed admiraly, and thanks to all who keep the hospitals running, at all costs…the U.S.Post Office just took another hit, buy some stamps, help out,mcconnel made sure they are to fall next… see commondreams.org, theres a story there,on further news, badass nurses, damn near made the day seem like a new sunshine.,.thanks united nurses, bassass action,and badass reaction… hey Marv, read the story.., keep the distance,no matter how long.we are winning again…best wishes, washdapaws
The global capitalists and financiers have been stealing us blind for a very long time — long before the silver spoon was placed in Donny’s mouth.
He Tweets and comments about “his ratings” all the time. Well, one thing I’ve noticed, as with progressive candidates and their ideals, if the Entertainment Complex doesn’t cover them, they don’t exist. It’s that simple.
#ProtestTrump
The Entertainment Complex gave Trump billions in free press when he ran for POTUS. Why haven’t they learned their lesson and ignored him?
Because it’s all about ratings for them as well, the higher the ratings, the more they can charge advertisers. Once again, profits are the priority.
This is why social media platforms like Twitter have become so valuable for real journalists and independent writers. They were tired of being edited or denied stories because they might hurt advertisers. Globalists can connect and tell the real story — not our State Dept and CIA version.
Trump and the new GOP has been excellent news for the Oligarchs/Capitalists/Wall Street. They know that come presidential election time, they own the coin and control both sides of it. They win no matter how it lands. No matter how it falls, the working class gets the shaft.
Without the dog whistles, Heather Richardson should be straightforward; the new GOP consists of the racists, while the DNC consists of our minorities. That is OUR political reality. All the wedges by the Oligarchic-controlled media are propagandized around this reality, which is nothing more than “divide and conquer” between minorities and poor whites for generations.
Meanwhile, are we making any social progress, or do we keep falling behind other countries?
According to the 2019 Social Progress Index (The report gauges social and environmental health of societies by tracking wellbeing indicators that span wellness, equality, inclusion, sustainability, and personal freedom.), “The US now ranks 26th in the world, between Estonia and Cyprus.”
Congratulations.
https://skoll.org/2019/09/18/2019-social-progress-index-measuring-real-things-that-matter/
This is for those who think both Republicans and Democrats are equally evil and who may not vote or may vote for a third party candidate for President in November. Nearly every sane political thinker of this century believes that the Republicans have been much more dangerous to the notion of the United States. When faced with multiple threats, it is wise to eliminate the most dangerous threats first. The most dangerous threat is majority leader McConnell. Unfortunately, most of us have no power to deal with this threat, but if you have a Senate seat up this year that is currently red encourage everyone in your state to vote blue for Senate. Now we must deal with number two and that is 45.
We need to recognize that most of the damage he has done is in two areas: first the courts; second the environment. If the Senate gets turned blue, the courts will move forward with fewer incompetents and less anti-people ideology. That second area of damage 45 has managed to do without the Senate or anyone else. For the sake of the future, he MUST be removed. You may believe that Biden is some sort of Democratic demon, but you have to believe that he is much less detrimental to our habitat than 45.
So now it’s time for the rest of us to beg you to think about what 4 more years of 45 mean. Are you willing to bet it all ?
This is nothing short of being a catastrophe and it’s right in front of us every day as it has been for well over three years. Now we’re right where the rubber meets the road with our lives being at stake due to the pandemic that Trump has bungled so very badly on top of every other aspect of his gross ineptitude.
Now we have fools on the far-right that are embarking on seditious actions to protect Trump and the pawns in this are Trump’s very supporters – the die-hard MAGA hat wearing, Confederate flag-flying folks that still feel that Trump is their ticket to Nirvana in this country. They will most likely be in their local EDs with a couple of weeks desperately needing medical attention. Those that strategically put them in this spot should be charged with sedition and most likely voluntary manslaughter at that point. Not being a lawyer myself I’ll leave it to Sheila to determine the appropriate legal penalties available to charge these idiots with.
Meanwhile, a great deal of Americans look on aghast but none to speak of are pressuring their local officials, and their Governors to take their the congressmen and senators to task just this side of tarring and feathering them to stop the maniac in chief from doing any more than he already is to destroy both this country and also it’s population – all of us.
Again, this is nothing short of being a catastrophe.
Peggy; McConnell IS the primary roadblock to any rational progress for this country on any issue before us now. Trump would have been slowed or stopped had the Republican Senators not ousted John Boehner and replaced him with McConnell. They have the power – and the numbers – to oust McConnell but they support his support of Trump. They have spoken against both but voted to maintain their control and both have delayed and denied life saving decisions and actions during this Pandemic.
“Unfortunately, most of us have no power to deal with this threat, but if you have a Senate seat up this year that is currently red encourage everyone in your state to vote blue for Senate.”
Your words should be shouted from the rooftops because they hold the only solution we have in these vital remaining Primary elections this year. I don’t know how to get voters to understand that the Presidential election is a followup; the final step in preliminary actions which at this time are more important than the November elections everyone is concentrating on as the solution to all problems. The Covid-29 Pandemic has weakened possible changes in Primary elections as Republicans fight vote-by-mail while telling people to stay home in lockdown. At this time; the Presidential election is based on a very shaky foundation of weak local and state leadership which has total control over the Electoral College members who appointed Trump in 2016. This fact seems to have gotten lost since the early morning hours the day after the 2016 election when they announced their fatal decision.
2 Thessalonians 2:3
“Let no one lead you astray in any way, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction.”
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
“But the lawless one’s presence is by the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and wonders 10 and every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth in order that they might be saved. 11 That is why God lets a deluding influence mislead them so that they may come to believe the lie, 12 in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.”
I found it fascinating and still find it fascinating, that the POTUS can manipulate the press like a puppet master! He can pull the strings and steer the narrative in an area where he wants to go. When he knows that his previous edicts are going the way of the dodo bird, literally, he throws something else out there! When the hydroxychloroquine issue showed that it doubled the death rate at the VA In an ad hoc test, and was completely useless, he comes up with the immigration ban. So, at the press briefing, if you want to call it that, everyone starts ranting about the immigration ban and leaves the VA study in the lurch. An excellent opportunity to hold his feet to the fire with observable information, observable fact, and they let it slide! They have fallen flat on their face, and it really is disgraceful, not a muckraker in the bunch.
This POTUS is definitely, as described in the 2nd letter to the Thessalonians, “a man of lawlessness” and, is he fiddling like Nero? Absolutely!
These bills that they are passing in the law, spending trillions upon trillions of dollars, where is the money coming from? They were claiming that the United States Federal Reserve, was going to infuse money into the central banks, but that the money was not so fluid so they would guarantee bonds and such to let these central banks continue to infuse cash into their economies. Now, all of a sudden, there is unlimited money floating around! The printing presses are running 24 hours a day 7 days a week, so to speak. We are going to see inflation like has been witnessed in South America, or better yet, reflect back to Germany when wheel barrels full of money couldn’t even buy a loaf of bread!
The damage has been done, and a microscopic interloper has done something that any other power could not do, with a conscienceless and narcissistically sociopathic POTUS, those that wished to burn the whole thing down anyway, have the Imperial adjudicator, or, as a previous Republican president called himself, “The Decider” and this Imperial adjudicator is being played like a puppet himself. Appeal to his vanity, and he will bark like a dog and “Enable” those with a nefarious agenda to enrich themselves and cement people into a social RUNG on the societal ladder. It’s a symbiotic relationship, the chief enabler, enables the sycophantic enablers, who then enable the chief enabler, LOL!
I don’t know how they are going to be able to dig out of this HOLE, they are not done spending money, and I would imagine, the damage is going to be revealed slowly at 1st, and then in a great collapse eventually. Whatever anyone does, either in the voting booth, or in civil disobedience and using the power of your purse, might just be trying to patch the gash in the Titanic with cotton balls! With enough cotton balls you might slow it for a while, but it won’t last very long!
What I mentioned a previous thread, all debt world wide no matter how small or how large, be forgiven! Everyone’s assets would be frozen in place, so business could still be conducted, just there would be no debt. Then the cycle could start over, a reboot. But that won’t happen, because there is no unity on this planet anymore, It would take every single government to act in unison! Kind of like a hegemonic entity that would be formed just for this purpose. But, as Sheila would say, they would cast a jaundiced eye upon it and blow that up immediately. I do think something like complete worldwide elimination of debt as a reboot, would save a lot of pain, a lot of death, although others would say it’s just culling the herd!
Tom,
“Again, this is nothing short of being a catastrophe.”
See my comment on the home page of http://www.NassimTaleb.org:
“REMINDER: On January 14 I advised that you needed to turn your expertise to the political. I was aware, at that time, the Coronavirus would, eventually, merge with the long-standing “Black Swan” virus of the mind that had been circulating sub-surface in the U.S. for at least 40 years. Very little will be gained if both viruses are not contained. I’m sure no one has more “skin in the
game” on this issue than I do. Let’s talk, before nothing can be done to change the course of this impending disaster.”
We’ve both have been seeing this coming for a long time,
Mea culpa; “Covid-19 Pandemic”, my apologies
My apology also: It’s http://www.NassimTaleb.org
Today’s blog from Shiela prompted me to research this morning previous major attempts to modernize public health infrastructure. I was treated to read major initiatives dating back to 2000. The hottest initiative was Robert Wood Johnson’s Turning Point Initiative that concludes with model state legislation given that states have the primary role to legislate and govern public health with certain roles critical from federal support including resources. Check this out updated 2017: https://www.google.com/amp/s/psmag.com/.amp/news/a-pox-on-outdated-public-health-laws-3847
Let’s don’t worry just about a Civil War. Trump could have us in a foreign war with Iran before November. He definitely needs to find something.
Folks – there is a terrific woman vet running against Mitch in KY, Amy McGrath We at CGG know her well as we worked with her on her 2018 congressional campaign which she narrowly lost in a heavily GOP district. Read about her at https://amymcgrath.com/.
If you have any friends or relatives in KY – reach out to them about Amy. If not, go to her website and punch in $10 or more. She is already substantially outraising Mitch in “light” money, but we know where most of this will come from…
Action, not talk, folks….
Why, with the “stupidity” – does Trump have 49% support – Now – with senior citizens such as myself? Why after 3 years or lies, deception, nastiness – etc. – do so many people – appreciate the “truthfulness” or “realness” (sic) – or whatever of Trump?
Clearly – we are dealing with emotions – particularly fears! I hope that Democrats – will address emotions – fears. Anger at Trump – being totally let down – deceived – hurt – etc. – are important – images now. Come July-August – there will be “war” – an “emergency” or other similar things – to try to prop him (sic) up!
Lester,
Thanks! She looks real good. I think she can win in an all-out campaign.
I “punched.”
For anyone who is interested, Heather Cox Richardson (quoted in the blog) is a History professor at Boston College. She posts a daily news summary on Facebook, and also makes it available through heathercoxrichardson@substack.com. Very detailed and insightful.
Thank you, Lester. MaLes and I have sent funds to support Amy McGrath in Kentucky to defeat Mitch. We believe she has the margin of chance to win.
Marv and Norris…..ONWARD!
All debt world wide no matter how small or how large, (would) be forgiven! That’s an idea worth examination.
Okay, my cousin Francesca would sacrifice to make that work. Her only income is $690 Social Security and $1800 mortgage payment each month from selling the little family apple orchard on contract. It sure would be a beautiful thing for the farmer who bought it, though; he only owns 26,000 acres of Indiana/Illinois farmland, 21 cell towers, three radio stations, and half of a 140-unit wind farm, and he just gifted his three children $10 million each.
Then there’s Mike, another cuz, who is struggling to save his Buy Here Pay Here car lot. His only income is the weekly payments on extended credit that he extends to car buyers. So far, he’s done alright, primarily because he borrowed no money for his startup, rents the lot instead of owning it and buys only the advertisements he can pay for with cash. All he would have to do in giving up the income from those weekly car payments is sacrifice food and other essentials for his family.
Dan owns 36 fixer-upper homes, more or less, depending on how sales go. He sold the family shoe store some 16 years ago, and, to assure income for his family, he reinvested the money in the home flipping business, 90% of the home sales being on contract.
I guess I don’t feel too sorry for Jon Shell, either, who owns five or six Toyota dealerships and does business on some sort of “floor plan”, essentially borrowing millions of dollars every month in the form of hundreds of advance new car placements in his dealerships. For him, forgiving those debts would be a gift from Toyota manufacturing putting tens of millions of dollars in Jon’s pocket.
I think I like better the idea of POSTPONING debt payments for however number of months is required to bypass the Covid-19 shutdown, those payments to be tacked on to the end of the loan. Stimulus money could be directed to those who can document missing income from postponed loan payments.
And it would be so, so rational to undertake either policy with a very sensitive, very fast-acting contingency plan charged with fixing problems the policy inadvertently causes or misses. The last thing a sane fixer wants to do is gloat at the “losers” when his plans cause problems for people, which is the type of gloating genius fixer we have now.
Trump is doing all that he ever did and that is managing the family brand to maintain a kind of hollow celebrity. He used to have to do it by flaunting inherited wealth, now he can by flaunting the power of the Presidency that he “inherited” from Vlad the bad. I’m sure that the family fortune is fully funded now with our money and he’s discovered he likes this gig more than the “entertainment” business. Of course the way he does it it’s largely the same as reality TV. It’s sort of “Tiger King” down to the mullet but with teeth.
Trumpublicans are happy to feed at the same trough.
Let’s end this tragic show as soon as possible. Vote blue no matter who.
Yes Marv, you’re absolutely right. I guess doing undergrad and some grad work in political science and international relations helped me to see this along with my life long interest in this stuff but it almost seems like the kiss of death right now. I blame my Mom, who was a print journalist before I was born, since she imparted the concept of critical think into me at a very early age. She thought I was smart – little did she know. This is indeed a catastrophe for all things American both here at home, especially right now, but also all over the world since our friends overseas think we’ve lost our minds and clearly some have.
Those that see all these political and extra-political moves for what they are have to be more than being mere spectators to all this self-inflicted carnage and time is growing far shorter each and every day in regard to stopping this abomination. This country can crash and burn with all the worldwide and civilizational implications that could entail if we just sit and watch this latter day Nero fiddle as he induces everything to burn down right in the middle of this pandemic he has allowed to grow.
I spent a lot of time studying 3rd and 4th world governments and their respective failings 30 plus years ago never thinking we’d end up with our own version of Idi Amin Dada or Robert Mugabe right here in the good old USA.
I have voted in every election since Truman and have yet to vote for a Republican nominee for president, and this during an era when Republicans were relatively sane in their choices for president and some were even latter day New Dealers. Thus I, too, “liked Ike,” but I voted for his opponent on both electoral occasions. My votes back then were cast from my pro-labor views, and I think one of the reasons we have had so many Republican presidents since WW II is that we did not come out more strongly against such anti-labor travesties as right to work laws and other Koch and ALEC-inspired efforts to keep a damper on wages following Powell’s infamous 1971 memo to his friend, a vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, outlining how business interests could capture the politics of Washington.
It worked, they did, but now I think the political atmosphere has undergone a radical change. We have (to our detriment) largely ignored the interests of labor while cultists have taken over a Republican Party which has given us wage inequality and stratospheric Dows – a suspicious diversion from New Deal days when wages moved in tandem with the Dow. We are now living with the result – a majority of labor votes went to Trump last time based on his phony campaign promises to raise the minimum wage, bring jobs back from China etc., and more specifically, we narrowly lost the labor vote in three northern tier states that Trump won and whose electoral votes put him in the Oval Office. We need to recapture the labor vote in those three states and elsewhere, remembering that each such vote recaptured is a vote we get and one Trump doesn’t, a two-for-one outcome.
If my analysis is accurate or mostly accurate, then what? FDR captured 46 of the then 48 states with a strong labor platform in 1936, and aside from planks in our platform relating to dementia, lying, corruption etc., I think we need strong labor planks in order to win (and win big) this fall, starting with pledges to substantially raise the minimum wage (which hasn’t been raised in over ten years), social security improvements, repeal of right to work statutes at state level, reduction of tax loopholes for the rich and corporate class with the savings earmarked for reduction of our national debt (the next time bomb after the virus and Trump are in our wake), along with other labor-friendly efforts under the FLSA, Wagner etc. Can’t be done? Let’s try it and see.
Tom,
It’s criminal, so were the Nuremberg Trials. You can understand this mess, where others can’t, as I best remember, your father was a highly decorated police officer.
There is reason to question whether some of these stay-at-home orders go too far. The Michigan one, for example, bars a person from traveling from one residence to another. If Michigan residents residents have a vacation home in the upper peninsula, they can’t travel to it under the order. Some jurisdictions have even tried to stop drive-in churches, where people remain in their cars during the ceremony.
The problem for those of who want to insist that these limitations on liberty be narrowly focused on controlling the spread of the virus is that instead of reasonable opposition, the opposition gets taken over by nutjobs waving Trump flags while brandishing semi-automatic weapons. That becomes the face of the opposition. Thus any reasonable debate over the how far the limits should go gets sidetracked by extremism.
Paul, the choice between enforced and voluntary contact restrictions is a function of how self disciplined the population is in protecting others and how reliable employers are in protecting their employees.
Neither of those seems to be strengths in the now neoliberal US.
Hi Marv,
Yes he was and thanks for mentioning him even if it’s off topic. He was with IPD Homicide for 33 years and was the Department’s first forensic artist on top of his investigative skills. He was a combat engineer in WW2 in Europe and participated in 5 amphibious invasions including D-Day, saw service in the Battle of the Bulge and also, with his unit, helped liberate Dachau. He saw a lot over his life – he was also a Democrat with my Mom being a Republican blueblood of sorts. That where I got my fascination with politics. Hava great day, Marv – it’s always a pleasure!
Thanks Holly,
I’m also a subscriber of Dr. Richardson’s columns. Great stuff. Her academic focus was mid-to-late 19th century American politics. Man, how I would love to shoot the breeze with her for about a week or two!!
We all have a right to “peaceful assembly”. This means that even the far right have that right. I don’t see some of their protests as peaceful since some of them were carrying guns and many of them blocked traffic. By blocking traffic they stopped nurses and other health care workers from getting to work and in doing so, they put patients’ lives at risk.That is morally egregious behavior.
Here’s the question. Why didn’t the police arrest those obstructing traffic? And if they had attempted to do so, would they have been assaulted?
I am glad they are in the minority. Even so, like Christian fundamentalists they are awfully loud and by being loud, they continue to try and control the political ops and narrative.
How dare the government deprive Mary Mallon of her right to make a living. She is a cook and cooks have to cook. How else is she to survive?
Stupid can’t be fixed. Beautiful, I love that line.
George – people don’t view the “truthfulness” of Trump because his supporters believe in “truthiness”. It feels good, so it must be true.
Oh, sorry, Mary Mallon is dead. To save those of you who haven’t recognized her name a trip to Google, Mary Mallon is the name of “Typhoid Mary”.
Paul – I will pull out my “I’m from Detroit” card and my “I’m a PhD biologist” card. Michigan has huge numbers of people with second homes or cottages for August get-aways, and people like my brother who bought a home in South Haven which now forbids him from renting it out, as he always has done to meet expenses.
At the moment, if everyone stays at home, local hot spots may die out, slowly ending the spread of the virus. If you have people traveling from Warren to Hubbard Lake and Holland to Petoskey, you will be spreading the infection around a second time. You should know that those travelers will have to buy groceries at their second home, will probably stop at a convenience store on the way, and I would bet that the number of people without masks is high. It is a recipe to increase the spread of the virus and prolong the problem. We know what happens when you ease up to soon. Smart people learn from the mistakes of others. I want to be one of those, thank you. We all should.
Beyond that, the protesters have not been asking for a few small changes. They want all restrictions ended NOW.
I still want to know how I will get a massage and a haircut staying six feet from the massage therapist and the barber.
FYI – Just an update – talked to my brother. They received a letter from the city of South Haven, Michigan informing them that they could not travel to their summer home and that the police were patrolling and stopping people.
My sister-in-law called the city to say “Right On”, even though they have a house there. When she asked the person she was talking to if the city had received much blow back, she was told that it was much less than they had expected. People in Michigan aren’t thrilled with the situation, but the are rational and understand why these measures are in place. The number of protesters is small by comparison and the governor is popular.