Somebody I know posted this on Facebook: “Are you people listening to Trump’s press conference?! People wake up! Vote for Trump or this country is going to be a disaster! N Pray for our Country.”
So I answered with “Trump is the disaster.” That set off a maelstrom of unhappiness and discord. One person who obviously doesn’t know me asked me to explain, in my own words. People who know me know I tend to drop a lot of fucking F-bombs … so I replied to their query:
YouTube screenshot
“ ‘In your own words” That’s pretty fucking funny! My own words include a lot of fucking F-Bombs. Get used to it.
“Okay, because he’s the fucking guy who sold out this nation to Vladimir Putin, read the Mueller report or more recently, he has done nothing to stop the Russians from putting bounties on the heads of our soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan. He hasn’t even said anything nice to the families of those who might have been killed as a result of the Russian bounty program.
“Trump is the fucking moron who is telling hospitals not to follow CDC guidelines concerning COVID-19. How stupid or selfish or both does someone have to be to tell hospitals the preeminent agency in fighting diseases is to be ignored when it comes to this pandemic?
“This guy is trying to kill Americans with his fucking stupidity. He thinks nearly 140k dead people (and rising) is okay because what the hell, it could have been a higher death toll! We have 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the COVID-19 deaths.
“I could go on. Do you need any more of my own fucking words, or will this do for now?”
Shortly thereafter I was unfriended and blocked.
Everything that we have learned about this moron Donald Effin’ Trump, in the past 42 months he’s been in office, the past 61 months if we include the months since he rode down that escalator — with the paid actors at the bottom to cheer him on — there are still people that want to vote for this fucking disaster of a president? I have no tolerance for Trump supporters anymore.
Okay, maybe I’m being a little harsh … no, I’m not.
I go through this mental and emotional battle every time I write something about how horrible Trump is for America and the world and how … frustrated I am that people I know, support that piece of shit. Why? What the fuck has Trump done for this nation? Nothing! Okay, he has divided us and exposed the racist underbelly that has been a part of the U.S. since the very beginning. He did bring the racists and xenophobes out of the shadows when they saw Trump as a man that represented them and actually shared their views.
A testing site in Los Angeles County (Claudia Gestro)
Here we are at the end of the week, with more than 3.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and about 140,000 COVID-19 deaths and we’re still having debates about the efficacy of wearing face masks, about social distancing; about the foolishness of opening up economies in states like Florida and Texas where the pandemic is exploding.
Then there is the president’s insistence schools be open with teachers and support staff forced to show up — teachers are filling out their wills — and children strongly encouraged to attend these super spreader locations across the nation. As the coronavirus continues to spread faster and deadlier than in the spring.
Vice president Mike Pence actually said this: “To be very clear, we don’t want CDC guidance to be a reason why people don’t reopen their schools.”
The White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany followed with, “The president has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open. And when he says open, he means open in full, kids been able to attend each and every day at their school. The science should not stand in the way of this.”
She then said — in the same statement — “We encourage localities and states to just simply follow the science, open our schools.”
Seriously? We don’t want school administrators to take the advice of scientists when deciding when and how to reopen the schools? The scientists, the people that know best about the novel coronavirus, should be disregarded and decisions about the schools, the children and everyone involved should follow the direction of a president who knows nothing about diseases.
Okay, she did say follow the science … but wait, the science shouldn’t get in the way … Dr. Fauci said the U.S. is being hit “very severely” and we need to “… get better control of things …”
According to McEnany by starting the school year online instead of in person will make the U.S. an “outlier” among western countries. That argument fails to acknowledge the fact that the U.S. is already an outlier because we are still setting records in new infections and deaths. On Thursday we had over 77,000 new cases and over 1,000 deaths.
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Secret police in Portland, OR (YouTube)
Breaking news from Portland, Oregon: unidentifiable federal officers are driving around Portland in unmarked vehicles and arresting protestors. One man told Oregon Public Broadcasting he was walking to his car at 2:30 a.m. after participating in a peaceful protest when an unmarked van pulled up, threw him inside and took him to the local federal building.
After a few questions, he was Mirandized (They read him his rights, a required arrest procedure) and then asked if he would waive his rights and answer more questions. When he declined the unidentifiable feds let him go.
The new federal, i.e. Donald Trump secret police, led by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who was in Portland on Thursday. He issued a statement, saying, “The city of Portland has been under siege for 47 straight days by a violent mob while local political leaders refuse to restore order to protect their city. Each night, lawless anarchists destroy and desecrate property, including the federal courthouse, and attack the brave law enforcement officers protecting it.”
Wolf added, a shot across the bow of local officials, “This siege can end if state and local officials decide to take appropriate action instead of refusing to enforce the law.”
He actually calls it a siege. So, the President of the United States is ordering federal agents to lay siege to American cities? Here’s the definition of the word “siege.” The first two apply.
Officials from the Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) said their agents made an arrest in Portland.
Governor Kate Brown tweeted this in response to the illegal occupation by Trump’s secret police.
I told Acting Secretary Wolf that the federal government should remove all federal officers from our streets. His response showed me he is on a mission to provoke confrontation for political purposes. He is putting both Oregonians and local law enforcement officers in harm’s way.
— Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) July 16, 2020
Brown called it political theater and is demanding Trump remove the federal officers from her state.
The Sparrow Project tweeted this:
Militarized Federal Agents from a patchwork of outside agencies have begun policing Portland (in rented minivans vans) without the explicit approval of the mayor, the state, or local municipalities. This is what that looks like in practice: pic.twitter.com/losap4SsgI
Could this be Trump’s response to the governor’s call to for all Oregonians to wear masks? Or maybe it’s just a diversion from the facts that A) Trump has lost the battle against the coronavirus and needs a way to change the topic and B)because of his mishandling and avoidance of the pandemic around 50 million people will be out of work from now until the election and many will not only lose that extra money given to unemployment payments, they will run out of unemployment altogether, will face evictions if renting or lose their homes due to mortgage issues.
There is a C) Trump is gearing up and testing out his secret police force in the increasingly likely event he loses the election and believes he can use his secret police to somehow take control of the government and declare himself the leader, no matter the outcome.
One thing seems quite apparent: Trump is hoping the American people will follow his lead and bury their heads in the sand and pretend there is no pandemic. Judging from the polling numbers that ain’t happening. At least 62% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, over 50% strongly disapprove of him.
Clearly he sees the creation of his own secret police force that appears to be unaccountable to anyone (at this time) a win for his ever-shrinking base. Some commentators have suggested Trump is hoping the more militant pro-Trumpers that like to dress up in the same camo gear as the Trump secret police — like those fat fucks that stormed the Michigan statehouse to intimidate lawmakers — will join in and start kidnapping protestors and doing what federal officers dare not do.
Donald J. Trump is just that fucked up in the head.
So are the governors of Florida and Georgia. Both refuse to issue mask requirements, but in Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued an executive order that forbids local governments from issuing mask mandates. Now he’s suing the mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, for issuing a mandate to wear masks.
The idea that ordering people to wear masks, like we are ordered to wear seatbelts when in cars or wear clothes in public, is an affront to personal freedom is just old. And no, wearing masks doesn’t hinder business, but people who don’t feel safe leaving their homes hinders business.
For the second day in a row, the U.S. has broken the record for new confirmed coronavirus infections: over 72,000 for Friday, July 17, and 926 deaths.
We can predict by the end of July there will be over four million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States and well over 150,000 COVID-19 deaths.
Somewhat off-topic, but is too weird to ignore: Have you heard of this dipshit Republican running for Congress in Florida’s 18th district? He actually tweeted … well, here it is for yourself to see, via a tweet by Rick Wilson.
Seriously? How does one even respond to something so ridiculous? The very weird part: Miller seems extremely focused on pedophilia.
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On a lighter note:
One thing I saw on Facebook that was very cool: someone I know, a drummer, got the music for Frank Zappa’s drum solo, “The Black Page,” learned it and then played it in a video he posted on YouTube. I tip my hat to any percussionist who can play “The Black Page” accurately. His name is John Cee and his rendition of “The Black Page” is below.
After watching John play it on his electronic kit I had to compare it to the original, played by Terry Bozzio who was in Zappa’s band back in the mid-1970s. John did a great job. I had a few questions for him, which he graciously answered and for a few hours I had some peace and pleasure away from the political turmoil of our time.
Which is the point, apparently. One I relearned by accident. I often spend hours listening to music on YouTube or my iPod. Yeah, I still have a 2006 iPod Classic.
Unfortunately, I tend to forget that up time and just focus on the political turmoil. I think it’s time for more up time.
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On a sad note: Civil Rights icon and 17-term Georgia Congressman John Lewis has passed away at the age of 80.
Lewis was a Freedom Rider and once said that when he first met the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. he was so scared, “… I didn’t know what to say or what to do.”
He also shed blood on “Bloody Sunday” when he and hundreds of other civil rights marchers tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, a site that is as iconic as the young man had become.
On August 28, 1963, Lewis as the National Chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington, when Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
John Lewis has been an inspiration to millions of Americans for most of the last six decades. He has written a number of books that can be found anywhere and his speeches and television appearances are all on YouTube. I encourage everyone to watch them. Here are two.
Top photo of Congressman John Lewis courtesy of his congressional office
Tim Forkes started as a writer on a small alternative college newspaper in Milwaukee called the Crazy Shepherd. Writing about entertainment issues, he had the opportunity to speak with many people in show business, from the very famous to the people struggling to find an audience. In 1992 Tim moved to San Diego, CA and pursued other interests, but remained a freelance writer. Upon arrival in Southern California he was struck by how the business of government and business was so intertwined, far more so than he had witnessed in Wisconsin. His interest in entertainment began to wane and the business of politics took its place. He had always been interested in politics, his mother had been a Democratic Party official in Milwaukee, WI, so he sat down to dinner with many of Wisconsin’s greatest political names of the 20th Century: William Proxmire and Clem Zablocki chief among them. As a Marine Corps veteran, Tim has a great interest in veteran affairs, primarily as they relate to the men and women serving and their families. As far as Tim is concerned, the military-industrial complex has enough support. How the men and women who serve are treated is reprehensible, while in the military and especially once they become veterans. Tim would like to help change that reality.
