Profiles in White Privilege

Check out these idiots.

They are Mark and Patricia McCloskey of Central West End St. Louis and they are this week's poster children for white fragility. 

Protesters marching to the mayor's house walked through an unlocked gate to travel on the private street by the home of the McCloskey's. Mark and Patty got a little freaked out when they saw the black folk and went for the heavy armaments. Don't they look completely fucking ridiculous?

Yes. Yes, they do. 

My family is from Missouri. I was born there and my sister lives close to this neighborhood. I'm very familiar with how people view race in this state. Essentially, they think all black people are criminals and when their white privilege is threatened, look out! 

In so many ways, this is a perfect illustration of how out of step some white Americans are with the times. The world is shifting rapidly before them with statues and flags (see also: participation ribbons, prizes for second place ) of losers, racists, and traitors coming down, police departments being reimagined, and the majority of the country supporting Black Lives Matter. The McCloskeys watched the future pass by their house last week and they looked completely impotent to do anything about it. The fear and the desperation on their face is FUCKING HILARIOUS... 

They are afraid and feel insecure so they go to their blankey (ArmaLite Rifle) to make them feel all better and stuff. Sorry to disappoint you, fragiles, you aren't relevant anymore. 

Is Trump a Senile Idiot or a Liar? Yes!

Two stories in the news today highlight how senile and out of touch Donald Trump is.

First was the excuse he gave for retweeting a video of a geezer in a golf cart yelling "white power!"

The White House said Sunday that President Trump didn’t hear someone shouting “white power” in a now-deleted retweet of a pro-Trump rally in Florida. 

“He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said.

Yeah, Trump's excuse is that he can't hear.

The second was the story about how the Russians have been paying the Taliban bounties to kill Americans. The White House was briefed on this months ago in the PDB (presidential daily briefing), but Trump says nobody told him:

President Trump is denying a New York Times report that he was briefed on an alleged Russian effort to pay bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill Western forces — including U.S. troops — in Afghanistan.

Citing unnamed officials, the Times report, published Friday, details how U.S. intelligence officials reached the conclusion about the secret payments and then briefed the president in March. The White House National Security Council conferred an interagency meeting that same month to discuss the matter, according to the report. The finding was also included in the President's Daily Brief, according to the Times.

The same people Trump is negotiating a peace deal with are being paid to assassinate Americans by a Russian dictator that Trump kowtows to at every chance. A dictator that helped get Trump elected.

And Trump says he had no clue this was happening. He's blaming his staff for not telling him, when he can't pay attention to his briefings for more than a minute unless they have lots of pictures and constantly fluff his ego.

It's like this all the time with this clown: either he's a deaf, oblivious idiot who can't hear someone yelling "white power" in a video and can't remember being told the Russians were putting bounties on American soldiers, or he's lying.

It's really that simple. He's a senile idiot or a liar.

Either way, this is exactly the sort of thing that disqualifies him from the presidency.

It's been clear from the get-go that Trump's dementia and mendacity were not either-or, but a double-dose of both.

How can any self-respecting conservative still support this senile, narcissistic piece of garbage?

Shrinking

The Lincoln Project, a conservative group organized to defeat President Trump, has put together some fantastic ads that will be airing from now until election day. Here is my favorite so far. 

 

Trumpbo

If you want to get a peek into just how deep the delusions are among Trump supporters, look no further than this little diddy.

Trump as fucking Rambo? Really? He pussed out of Vietnam (a war he "wasn't a fan of") because of bone spurs. He has visited the troops how many times?

Seriously. Fucking. Insane.

Without Comment

A Perfect Summation of Trump Supporters Right Now

Some rally last night. Really packed the house, right? 

This image really shows how isolated his supporters are from the rest of the country. 

Trump is the Poster Boy for White Privilege

Last week there was a Black Lives Matter protest in southern New Jersey. This was the scene:

[A]s the diverse group marched along Monday, waving signs and chanting slogans in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, it was met by several white men who had gathered near a sign that said “All Lives Matter” and in front of a pickup truck draped with an American flag and a pro-Trump sign.

One of the men yelled at the marchers angrily while kneeling on the neck of another who was facedown on the ground — an apparent attempt to mock the killing of Mr. Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis after a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

In addition to mocking Mr. Floyd’s death, [the men] had yelled, “If George Floyd would have complied he wouldn’t be dead”; “Go cash your checks”; and “Black Lives Matter to no one.”

So this is their argument: If Floyd had complied, he wouldn't have died? He was in handcuffs, helpless on the ground. How much more compliant can you get?

Also, since when is the punishment for disobeying the police on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill the death penalty? And since when do we try cases on the street, with cops acting as judge, jury and executioner?

Not long ago Rayshard Brooks, a black man from Atlanta, was friendly and complying with the police after being found asleep and drunk in his car at Wendy's drive-through. He fled when they tried to cuff him.  Given the large number of men who have died in police custody (Floyd, Eric Garner, and hundreds of others), this is a completely reasonable response.

The cops shot him in the back. Brooks was not a danger or himself or anyone else. The cops had his car, they knew who he was, but when he disobeyed and ran they murdered him. One of the officers has been fired, and the other has been suspended. The death has been ruled a homicide.

The underlying issue with these problematic cops is that they think their authority is limitless. If you disobey them (by talking back or running away), they feel disrepected and respond with deadly force.

The counterprotesters in New Jersey seem to think that killing someone for disobeying and disrespecting authority figures is just fine.

Can we think of someone else who constantly disobeys and disrepects authority figures such as federal judges (Gonzalo Curiel), the FBI, the attorney general of the United States, the many inspectors generals who have found him and his cronies breaking the law, and flouting the Constitution itself by accepting foreign emoluments?

If Trump had been born poor and black and displayed this attitude in his interactions with the police, he would have murdered on the street long ago. But since he's white and his daddy was rich, he could get away with opening his big fat yap as much as he likes.

This is what white privilege is all about. Ignorant rich white folks can get irate when the cops stop them in their expensive cars and there are no consequences, but if a black man says the wrong thing (Philando Castile: "Officer, I've got a legal concealed firearm"), the cops shoot them or they're down on the ground, getting the life choked out of them.

The police are public servants.They work for the people that they arrest and detain. In their dealings with wealthy white citizens the cops usually (though not always) remember to be courteous and fair. But when they deal with poor black and brown citizens the pretense of civility quickly falls away.

There should be no double standard.

Every State In The Union

There is still a minority of people in this country (mostly right-wingers) that falsely believe that this movement isn't a big deal. Time to remove your head from the sand and look at this map.

People are done. DONE. The system is going to change and it will do so rapidly. This is a good thing. Don't fight it. Don't cling to the lie that this is a "liberal" agenda.

It's an agenda for everyone and it's a winner.

Trump's Drinking Problem

Donald Trump has a history of using the military as a prop for his political campaigns. He insisted on bringing West Point cadets back for a graduation ceremony in the middle of a major pandemic, forcing the cadets go through airports and fly on airplanes that are proven vectors for the coronavirus. Sixteen cadets tested positive upon returning for Trump's speech.

During this dangerous, stupid and useless stunt, it became obvious (again) that Trump is not a well man. He slurred words (again) during his rant, and clearly had difficulty drinking (again), needing two hands to raise a small glass of water to his lips.

Afterwards, Trump clearly had difficulty walking down a ramp, looking like some pathetic geezer who had had too much to drink.

All this would probably have gone ignored, as it has many times before, except that Trump himself had to tweet about it, whining that the gently inclined ramp was slippery (it wasn't -- the general beside him had no problems), and claiming that he ran the last three steps. Trump is the only person I know who thinks that a shambling stumble is "running."

For years now people have debated whether it's appropriate to diagnose Trump's mental and physical well-being from symptoms exhibited at public appearances. Others, like David Graham at The Atlantic, think his physical ailments are irrelevant -- it's the lies and Trump's abysmal performance in office that matter.

The fact is, your physical health has a direct impact on your mental health. Trump's difficulty drinking and walking are probably indicative of some kind of neurological deficit. He might have trouble raising his arm because his rotator cuff is trashed from years of swinging a golf club incorrectly. He might have trouble walking because his ACL was torn, like Tiger Woods. Or maybe Cadet Bone Spurs' bone spurs were acting up.

Or his neurological symptoms may be due to Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, both of which affect mobility, or because he had a stroke. Diabetes causes nerve damage, which could also explain his difficulty walking and drinking.

Trump is famous for bragging about how little he sleeps, as if it's a badge of honor. Sleep is how the body takes out the trash in your brain. Get too little sleep and the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer's start clogging up the brain. Sleeplessness is a classic sign of dementia, according to the Mayo Clinic.

We know Trump is lying about his health, because the summaries of the physicals he provided the media are just puff pieces written by him or his campaign. His personal physician admitted this two years ago.

Trump is 74 years old and is obese. Joe Biden is 77 and is not. Six years ago Biden was able to jog around the White House with Barack Obama for a puff piece for Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign. At about the same age Trump was unable to walk up a hill in Sicily at a G7 summit.

Trump is constantly talking about strength, yet it is clear that he physically weak and clumsy, as demonstrated at West Point. More to the point, he is mentally weak and extremely erratic, as demonstrated by his constant kowtowing to dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim ("We fell in love") Jong Un, his inability to take any kind of advice or criticism from advisors who know far more than he does about subjects critical to the future of the United States, and the chaotic state of the White House, where everyone is walking around in fear that Trump will lash out and blame them for his latest gaffe.

We have had presidents in the past who suffered strokes in office (Eisenhower and Wilson), had severe physical problems (FDR and JFK), and were even suffering from Alzheimer's (Reagan). But they didn't act impulsively, tweet blathering insults at everyone, and constantly display complete ignorance about every subject important to the presidency, from the nuclear triad strategy, to how long it takes to mount a mission to Mars, to injecting bleach to stop the coronavirus.

How can anyone think this clown should be president?

There Is No Mystery...

I rode my bike over to a friend's house a couple of weeks ago. We got to talking about the coronavirus (what else?), and the people we knew who had been infected.

I told them about my sister: she had a stroke a decade ago, resulting in aphasia and paralysis on the right side of her body. She lives in a group home with four residents. The place had been in lockdown since early March, but one of the workers brought the virus in and my sister got sick. She was in the hospital for a weekend, but didn't need a ventilator, and she's recuperating now.

One of the guests was skeptical about the disaster that was unfolding in New York, especially in minority communities, certain that something else was going on there, insinuating some dark conspiracy or what, I don't know.

There's no mystery. The virus was brought into the city by business travelers coming from China, and vacationers returning from Europe. It didn't start in minority communities.

On the plane travelers infected flight crews and fellow passengers. At the airport they infected gate agents, janitors, rest room attendants, porters and other travelers. On the way home or to the hotel they infected Uber and cab drivers. At hotels these travelers infected check-in clerks, concierges, and maids. Residents of the city infected their doormen, maids, cooks, nannies. And their wives, husbands and kids.

Once in the city they went to stores, bodegas, bakeries, bars and restaurants, where they infected shopkeepers, stock clerks, bakers, bartenders, busboys, waiters and maitre d's.

Notice how most of the people travelers come into contact are working low-paying service jobs, which are very frequently staffed by minorities.

The population density in New York is the highest in the country, over 70,000 people per square mile in Manhattan. People, especially poorly-paid minorities, don't have cars, they ride the subways, crammed into standing-room-only trains.

So, if there's one place in the United States where you'd expect a disease to run rampant, it's New York.

An Ohio state senator was fired from his job as a physician this week for saying that "colored people" don't wash their hands as well as other groups:

State Senator Stephen A. Huffman, a Republican and a doctor, made his remarks on Tuesday during a hearing of the Senate Health Committee about whether to declare racism a public health crisis. They came as he speculated about reasons black people might be more “susceptible” to Covid-19.

“Could it just be that African-Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves?” he said. “Could that be the explanation of why the higher incidence?”

It's incredible that this guy would make this statement after literally months of news reports about Walmart and Amazon not giving their workers personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and disinfectant. Most of these jobs don't offer health care or sick leave. Many employers demanded that workers show up even if they were sick.

The people who work at group homes like the one where my sister lives, and the nursing homes where the coronavirus has killed tens of thousands of elderly residents, are usually women, often minorities, almost always poorly paid, and very frequently working two or three different part time jobs at different facilities.

The very nature of their jobs prevents any kind of social distancing: they have lift elderly residents out of bed and put them in wheelchairs, put "transfer belts" on them to hoist them up, sit them on the toilet, give them baths, comb their hair, and even feed them.

Another major vector for the disease in the Midwest has been meat-packing plants, where the lines have workers standing shoulder to shoulder hacking chickens, cows and pigs apart. These jobs are difficult and horrible, poorly paid, and mostly staffed by immigrants and minorities. And then Trump issued an executive order to force workers to show up at these "critical infrastructure" jobs. I guess he can't survive without his Big Macs.

And as for masks: doesn't Huffman remember anything? At the start of the pandemic Trump told us the virus would disappear "like magic." Then the Trump administration told us all that masks wouldn't help. Then they said that masks should go to medical professionals instead. And then those same medical professionals couldn't get hold of masks! And then there was the price gouging by companies selling masks on Amazon. And the story about the faulty masks being passed off by a Trump crony to the Indian Health Service.

How can this guy possibly criticize the "colored population" for not wearing masks, when Donald Trump absolutely refuses to wear one, and many of Huffman's fellow Republicans in Congress and dozens of state legislatures categorically refuse to wear them?

Not wearing a mask, going out to bars and restaurants and ignoring social distancing rules have become a rallying cry for rabid Republicans, and yet somehow the "colored population" is at fault for getting sick because they work jobs that force them into close contact with people, their employers make them work when sick, and there were no masks to be had by anybody?

And once they get sick, American minorities are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus because they have a greater incidence of medical conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, which increase the likelihood of dying, because they're poorer, live in "food deserts" and eat poorly, and have less access to health care.

There's no underlying secret conspiracy or racial predisposition behind New York's infection rate or the deadly toll the pandemic has had on minority groups. If you just open your eyes to the realities of life for the working poor, it's obvious that these people are sicker because American society has chosen to pay people working essential jobs next to nothing under terrible conditions.

We Broke The Contract

White people need to understand exactly what the fuck is going on right now. Watch this video.

 
 

Get it now? Or are you still going to deny or blame others?

Acton. Change. Now. 

Minnesota is Being Overrun by Idiots from Florida

Minnesota has been the epicenter of a world-wide protest movement over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was callously murdered by four cops while bystanders recorded the crime and repeatedly told them they were killing Floyd. The killer, Derek Chauvin, kept his knee on Floyd's throat for more than eight minutes, slowly choking the life out of him, while three other cops just stood by and watched.

To coin a phrase, this cop is a male Chauvinist pig.

I could not figure for the life of me figure out what Chauvin was thinking while doing this cold-blooded murder, given the uproar over the killing of Eric Garner under similar circumstances in 2014. People were recording Chauvin while he calmly lynched Floyd, an act of domestic terrorism. It was even more egregious than Klan lynchings because it was committed under color of authority.

Then I read that two of the cops were trainees under Chauvin. Why was Chauvin choking the life out of a man so brazenly, in full view of the public and his trainees? He was making an example of Floyd for the public, and completing the other cops' training, showing them "how it's done."

This is the hard and fast truth about the systemic nature of police brutality against blacks in the nation's police forces.

Are all cops this bad? No. But it's not just a "few bad apples," as so many conservatives love to say. The underlying attitude is "the only thing these blacks understand is violence, so that's how we're going to treat them."

It irks me is that Chauvin is getting all Minnesotans branded as racist pricks, when the guy isn't a real Minnesotan:

On Friday, protesters gathered in front of another Chauvin home in Windermere, Fla., which he has owned since 2011 with his wife, Kellie, a Laotian refugee, realtor and former Mrs. Minnesota pageant winner.

Both Chauvin and his wife have registered to vote there, rather than in Minnesota, records show. Chauvin last cast a ballot in Florida in November 2018. His wife’s registration is listed as inactive. Both are Republicans.

Trump is constantly yapping about voter fraud. How does this racist Republican have a full-time job for 20 years as a cop in Minnesota, a part-time job busting heads outside a Minneapolis club, and still be voting in Florida? Huh? This is voter fraud and tax evasion, Derek.

Don't get me wrong, we've got plenty of racist dickheads native to Minnesota, like my dad. But it seems that police departments should require their employees to be residents of their cities (or at least their states), so they feel some sort of responsibility for their conduct on the job, instead of just hiding out in the suburbs after knocking a few heads downtown.

Shortly after Floyd's death, massive Black Lives Matter protests began, culminating one night with the burning of the Third Precinct police station, and then rioting, looting and more arson across the city and country. Everyone condemned the black community for the violence.

Well, the police have caught the guy who started the fire at the Third Precinct: a white guy named Branden Wolfe, a (former) security guard for home improvement chain Menards, who was arrested with a full set of police riot gear, including a baton and handcuffs.

And where is Wolfe from? Florida!

Another white guy, this time from Illinois, put photos of himself looting an Office Depot on Facebook and a video of himself saying, "Let's start a riot!" and the invitation: “I’m going to Minneapolis tomorrow who coming only goons I’m renting hotel rooms.”

Across the country have been widespread reports that cops have been beating peaceful protesters and reporters, shooting and blinding people with pepper balls and rubber bullets, indiscriminately using tear gas that makes people cough and gasp and wheeze during a pandemic, and knocking down old men in the street, and then lying about it.

Then a bunch of sheriff's deputies from Anoka County (a northern Twin Cities suburb) and state troopers were out slashing car tires, including those of at least two reporters! Are these cops or hoodlums?

Jesus H. Christ! How can anyone possibly defend this as good policing? "State Patrol troopers strategically deflated tires … in order to stop behaviors such as vehicles driving dangerously and at high speeds in and around protesters and law enforcement," one spokesperson offered lamely in police-speak. Oh, you mean like the cop in Brooklyn who slammed his SUV into a crowd of protesters?

If this country needs a wall it should be around Florida to keep all those goons down there.

It should be noted that the attorney general of Minnesota, who upgraded the charges against Chauvin to second-degree murder, is Keith Ellison, an African-American Muslim. Ellison won his office in 2018 with 49% of the vote (to 45% for the Republican), in a state that is 85% white. He was previously a congressman from the Fifth District, which is 63% white, and won 69% of the vote in 2016. His successor in Congress is Ilhan Omar, a woman, a Somali immigrant and a Muslim, who won with 78% of the vote.

So we Minnesotans are not all racist dicks.

C or P?

Trump Built His Wall

I can't think of a better metaphor for Trump and his followers.

They are walled off from reality. They haven't a clue what's coming this fall and they have deluded themselves into thinking there is a "secret" majority of Trump voters that will help him in 2020 as they erroneously believe they did in 2016. 

He barely won in 2016 and now he has to run on his record which is terrible. The election of 2020 is going to be a referendum on him and it will result in massive losses. What's even going to be more shocking is how he and his supporters are going to blame everyone else but themselves. 

I'm actually more worried about 2022 if the Dems get complacent again. 

A Man Living In Arizona Thinks He Knows More About My Hometown Than Me

Kevin Baker has been dishonest again on his eternally unchallenged, insecure bubble of self-referential confirmation web site. This time it's personal, though, because he's lying about Minneapolis, my town.

The police, like they have in Minneapolis, abandoned the city.

The Minneapolis police department did not abandon the city. A classic lie from a gun humper who is so insecure about his ideology that he feels the need to make shit up. 

Kevin, if you want to know what actually happened (and how those events make your arguments for AR-15s even weaker), comments here are completely open. Post whatever you want and it will not be deleted. That goes for anyone, btw. And, Kevin, I apologize to you unreservedly for deleting your comment. That will never happen again to you or anyone else (spam excluded).  

Further, I think you should invite me back to post on your site. Running back from an argument you lost on Quora to get back pats and high fives must not be very intellectually stimulating. I think you need someone to check your manufactured reality once in a while, especially with the coming election which I am certain is going to make your head explode.

I do understand, of course, if you refuse. It is hard to face reality:)

The Trump Presidency

Where is the president?

As the country falls apart due to racial tensions, Americans are wondering-where is President Trump? Why can't he make an address to at least assure the nation that we should all come together?

The last few months have made it plainly clear that he doesn't know WTF he is doing and is absolutely the worst person to be president right now. 

He's selfish, arrogant, incompetent, and completely lacking in empathy, especially when it comes to racial issues. In short, he's just like his followers, AKA the actual problem.

I've wondered for years what our country would look like if the right-wing blogger mentality ran the country. It would look like this:

1. Tens of thousands dead 

2. A crashed economy

3. Rioting in the streets.

And why? Because of their adolescent emotions about government and, in particular, accomplished leaders that are more intelligent than them. 

Given their continued whining about how it's always someone else's fault, can we eject them from the capsule for good? Democrats and other liberal groups will bury them forever if they just show up and vote. I know they will this year but they have to every single year.

Otherwise, more death, more loss of money, and more rioting in the streets. 

My City In Ruins

The systemic racism in the Minneapolis Police Department (and, indeed, the entire country) has destroyed large swaths of my city. My heart is broken but I have to admit that when I saw the 3rd police precinct burning to the ground early this morning, I felt a sense of the old order being washed away. The media is portraying them as “thugs” or “hooligans” but maybe the people who torched the police station were just ordinary people who had enough of the racism in law enforcement.

John Lennon wrote in the song "Revolution," “When you talk about destruction, don’t you know you that can count me out...in...” That’s where I’m at this morning.

We are no longer going to tolerate white officers killing African American males. Period. If it happens again in an unjustified fashion, the buildings that house institutional racism will be destroyed. We will not take it any longer.

I didn’t write this it’s copy paste but it’s powerful and you should see it.

To help understand what white privilege is...

I can do all of these things without thinking twice about it... I can relax in the comfort of my own home (#BothemSean and #AtatianaJefferson and #BreonnaTaylor). I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery). I can ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride). I can have a cellphone (#StephonClark). I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards). I can play loud music (#JordanDavis). I can sell CDs (#AltonSterling). I can sleep (#AiyanaJones) I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown). I can play cops and robbers (#TamirRice). I can go to church (#Charleston9). I can walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin). I can hold a hairbrush while leaving my own bachelor party (#SeanBell). I can party on New Years (#OscarGrant). I can get a traffic ticket (#SandraBland). I can lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile). I can break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones). I can shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) . I can have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher). I can read a book in my own car (#KeithScott). I can be a 10yr old walking with my grandfather (#CliffordGlover). I can decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese). I can ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans). I can cash a check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood). I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo). I can run (#WalterScott). I can breathe (#EricGarner). I can live (#FreddieGray). I can ask someone to put a leash on their dog when it is required in the public park we are in. #ChristianCooper) I CAN BE ARRESTED WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING MURDERED. #GeorgeFloyd) #BlackLivesMatter

Fear Is No Excuse

Amy Cooper is having the worst week of her protected, privileged life. After threatening a black man with the cops she lost her job and her dog. She's just the latest example of a privileged white person using the police to bully black Americans.

The excuse used by people like her is always, "I'm afraid." She was "afraid" of a "threatening" black man whose only threat was calling her on violating the park's leash law.

"I'm afraid" is always the excuse gun nuts use when they shoot black people. Or when dirty cops kneel on black men's neck and kill them, as they did recently in Minneapolis.

But clearly Cooper wasn't afraid of the birder in the park. She was totally in the wrong, and was belligerent, threatening and intimidating.

If she had really been afraid, she would have simply left. But instead she approached the man and was the aggressor.

It's the same with George Zimmerman, who murdered Trayvon Martin in Florida and was acquitted  because Zimmerman said he "was afraid." The guy with the gun was afraid? People who are actually afraid run away, they don't rush up the supposed subject of their fear.

Being afraid should never be an excuse for making malicious police reports or murdering black teenagers, any more than "I was drunk" is an excuse for crashing your car, or "I was horny" is for committing rape, or "I am penniless" is for robbing a bank.

But racism wasn't Cooper's only sin. She is a horrible dog owner: watch how she drags the dog around by the throat.

And more: Cooper is one of those obnoxious twits who think that parks are dog toilets. These people don't let their dogs run amok in parks because they have some romantic notion that her dog's inner wolf should be free and wild.

No, they want their pets to do their business in the bushes so they don't have to pick up after them.

People who actually care about their pets keep them leashed or indoors,  not just because Kitty or Fido will leave their shit where other people will walk in it, but because they could be attacked by bigger dog, or get rabies from a skunk, or kill or chase away the wildlife (like the birds the birder was there to see), or be killed by deer, or get hit by a car.

Cooper is one of those thoughtless, selfish people who think the rules don't apply to them, and lash out at anyone who tries to hold them to account.

Geeze. People like this shouldn't have pets if they can't take care of them properly.

Understanding White Supremacy

Most white people don't understand white supremacy. Here is a handy image that will help explain it to them.

Racist Cops Love Trump

My hometown was in the news recently with yet another white cop killing a black man.

Do you know what the worst part about this incident will be? It’s not the inhumane behavior by the cop who murdered this man. It’s not his partner standing by and doing nothing. It’s not the fact that if this man were white and carrying an AR-15, he’d have a red fucking carpet rolled out for him. It’s not even the system that created this monstrosity and continues to support it every day.

It’s the spin that’s about to come out from the fuckholes who are going to attempt to justify this. There are a lot of them, folks, and guess who they voted for?

I don’t get how a group of people (conservatives) can keep their heads from exploding with two conflicting thoughts in their heads at all times. They hate government authority but man, do they love police beating on criminals, especially black ones.

Liberals Get To Define What Being A Liberal Means

Tired of the straw man and adolescent arguments about liberals propagated by internet fuckholes? Look no further than Lori Gallagher Witt.

I'm a liberal, but that doesn't mean what a lot of you apparently think it does. Let's break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: not every liberal is the same, though the majority of liberals I know think along roughly these same lines: 

1. I believe a country should take care of its weakest members. A country cannot call itself civilized when its children, disabled, sick, and elderly are neglected. PERIOD. 

2. I believe healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Somehow that's interpreted as "I believe Obamacare is the end-all, be-all." This is not the case. I'm fully aware that the ACA has problems, that a national healthcare system would require everyone to chip in, and that it's impossible to create one that is devoid of flaws, but I have yet to hear an argument against it that makes "let people die because they can't afford healthcare" a better alternative. I believe healthcare should be far cheaper than it is, and that everyone should have access to it. And no, I'm not opposed to paying higher taxes in the name of making that happen. 

3. I believe education should be affordable. It doesn't necessarily have to be free (though it works in other countries so I'm mystified as to why it can't work in the US), but at the end of the day, there is no excuse for students graduating college saddled with five- or six-figure debt. 

4. I don't believe your money should be taken from you and given to people who don't want to work. I have literally never encountered anyone who believes this. Ever. I just have a massive moral problem with a society where a handful of people can possess the majority of the wealth while there are people literally starving to death, freezing to death, or dying because they can't afford to go to the doctor. Fair wages, lower housing costs, universal healthcare, affordable education, and the wealthy actually paying their share would go a long way toward alleviating this. Somehow believing that makes me a communist. 

5. I don't throw around "I'm willing to pay higher taxes" lightly. If I'm suggesting something that involves paying more, well, it's because I'm fine with paying my share as long as it's actually going to something besides lining corporate pockets or bombing other countries while Americans die without healthcare. 

6. I believe companies should be required to pay their employees a decent, livable wage. Somehow this is always interpreted as me wanting burger flippers to be able to afford a penthouse apartment and a Mercedes. What it actually means is that no one should have to work three full-time jobs just to keep their head above water. Restaurant servers should not have to rely on tips, multibillion-dollar companies should not have employees on food stamps, workers shouldn't have to work themselves into the ground just to barely make ends meet, and minimum wage should be enough for someone to work 40 hours and live. 

7. I am not anti-Christian. I have no desire to stop Christians from being Christians, to close churches, to ban the Bible, to forbid prayer in school, etc. (BTW, prayer in school is NOT illegal; *compulsory* prayer in school is - and should be - illegal). All I ask is that Christians recognize *my* right to live according to *my* beliefs. When I get pissed off that a politician is trying to legislate Scripture into law, I'm not "offended by Christianity" -- I'm offended that you're trying to force me to live by your religion's rules. You know how you get really upset at the thought of Muslims imposing Sharia law on you? That's how I feel about Christians trying to impose biblical law on me. Be a Christian. Do your thing. Just don't force it on me or mine. 

8. I don't believe LGBT people should have more rights than you. I just believe they should have the *same* rights as you. 

9. I don't believe illegal immigrants should come to America and have the world at their feet, especially since THIS ISN'T WHAT THEY DO (spoiler: undocumented immigrants are ineligible for all those programs they're supposed to be abusing, and if they're "stealing" your job it's because your employer is hiring illegally). I believe there are far more humane ways to handle undocumented immigration than our current practices (i.e., detaining children, splitting up families, ending DACA, etc). 

10. I don't believe the government should regulate everything, but since greed is such a driving force in our country, we NEED regulations to prevent cut corners, environmental destruction, tainted food/water, unsafe materials in consumable goods, or medical equipment, etc. It's not that I want the government's hands in everything -- I just don't trust people trying to make money to ensure that their products/practices/etc. are actually SAFE. Is the government devoid of shadiness? Of course not. But with those regulations in place, consumers have recourse if they're harmed and companies are liable for medical bills, environmental cleanup, etc. Just kind of seems like common sense when the alternative to government regulation is letting companies bring their bottom line into the equation. 

11. I believe our current administration is fascist. Not because I dislike them or because I can’t get over an election, but because I've spent too many years reading and learning about the Third Reich to miss the similarities. Not because any administration I dislike must be Nazis, but because things are actually mirroring authoritarian and fascist regimes of the past. 

12. I believe the systemic racism and misogyny in our society is much worse than many people think, and desperately needs to be addressed. Which means those with privilege -- white, straight, male, economic, etc. -- need to start listening, even if you don't like what you're hearing, so we can start dismantling everything that's causing people to be marginalized. 

13. I am not interested in coming after your blessed guns, nor is anyone serving in government. What I am interested in is the enforcement of present laws and enacting new, common-sense gun regulations. Got another opinion? Put it on your page, not mine. 

14. I believe in so-called political correctness. I prefer to think it’s social politeness. If I call you Chuck and you say you prefer to be called Charles I’ll call you Charles. It’s the polite thing to do. Not because everyone is a delicate snowflake, but because as Maya Angelou put it when we know better, we do better. When someone tells you that a term or phrase is more accurate/less hurtful than the one you're using, you now know better. So why not do better? How does it hurt you to NOT hurt another person? 

15. I believe in funding sustainable energy, including offering education to people currently working in coal or oil so they can change jobs. There are too many sustainable options available for us to continue with coal and oil. Sorry, billionaires. Maybe try investing in something else. 

16. I believe that women should not be treated as a separate class of human. They should be paid the same as men who do the same work, should have the same rights as men, and should be free from abuse. Why on earth shouldn’t they be? 

I think that about covers it. The bottom line is that I'm a liberal because I think we should take care of each other. That doesn't mean you should work 80 hours a week so your lazy neighbor can get all your money. It just means I don't believe there is any scenario in which preventable suffering is an acceptable outcome as long as money is saved.

A Study in Memorial Day Contrasts

The Face of Hate

The level of anger directed at the media from these protestors was alarming. As always, I will tell a fair and unbiased story today. pic.twitter.com/5jCR0YY9VH

— Kevin Vesey (@KevinVesey) May 14, 2020

Two captions come to mind.

How Fascism Takes Root in America. 

What a Cult Looks Like.

Sacrifices must be made...

Economy Failing and Country Dying

He is now known in our house as Incompetent Fuckhole Ruined My Son's Senior Year. And he will be until his ass is booted out of office. 

Trump Regularly Shits Himself

"[Trump's] incontinence stems from his decades of stimulant abuse and fast food diet. His bodily functions are being dictated by his drug addiction—and he tries to cover it up. The crew nicknamed Celebrity Apprentice “The Shitshow,” because he would soil himself during tapings, often after flying into a rage and cursing out the Script Dept. Because he couldn’t read a three-syllable word." 😳

---Noel Caster, 

"Celebrity Apprentice" talent handler

A Pack of Idiots

A couple of days ago the White House announced that Donald Trump's valet was infected with the coronavirus. Then they announced that Mike Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller, was infected with the coronavirus. Then it was announced that one of Ivanka Trump's aides was infected with the coronavirus, and the FDA commissioner was in quarantine. Then it was announced that 11 Secret Service personnel are infected with the coronavirus, and 60 more are in quarantine.

After all those infections, Trump -- showing how ultimately selfish and stupid he is -- had a photo op with several 95- to 100-year-old WWII vets, vainly and cowardly hoping to steal some of their glory for himself. No one at the ceremony was wearing the masks that could save those men's lives.

Of course, no one in the White House is paying any attention to the guidelines from the CDC, which is why they're all infected. Yes, most of them will be just fine. But that's not the point.

When you get infected you become a vector for the disease, and you infect other people. Like your mom, or the grandma that your mom takes care of. Or 100-year-old WWII vets.

These "pro-life" Republicans don't care how many people die of COVID-19. They just want to keep Trump in office. For what? So Trump can continue to run this country into the ground with more idiotic trade wars? So Trump can talk more people into injecting bleach or killing themselves with hydroxychloroquine? So Trump can fawn over Kim Jong Un like some awestruck middle school girl?

Jesus Christ, these people are so embarrassing.

Katie Miller is the wife of Steven Miller, the architect of Trump's racist anti-immigration strategy. Recently the administration announced more limits on immigration "due to the pandemic." You can't let a good disaster go to waste!

It's incredibly ironic that Miller's own wife and Pence's press secretary is infected, because Trump and his lackeys ignore the best advice of the task force that Pence himself is running!

At this point it seems that Trump's White House is infecting more people than the immigrants Trump wants to keep out.

These people are such arrogant nitwits. Didn't they hear that Boris Johnson, the prime minister of Britain, almost died from COVID-19? (Johnson even named his newborn child after the doctors he credited with saving his life)

What a pack of idiots and clowns, led by an total idiot and clown. Or as numerous former Trump cabinet officers so succinctly put it: What a fucking moron.

Joe Biden and Tara Reade

Joe Biden should have a town hall on women's issues. The panel should be all women. He should invite Donald Trump. Attendees should be women who have issues with his past behavior and he should just listen to what they have to say and talk about how he will change.

Here is an update (as of this AM) about everything we know about the allegations.

If one photo could sum up the right...

I'm not sure who this fuckhole is but he is a perfect representation of what I think about when I imagine right-wing bloggers and commenters.

Angry, white, fat, bearded, armed, racist.

Rachel Bitecofer Spoils the 2020 Election

How do things look for the Dems this fall? Quite good.

Obey (or not)

Sean Hannity's Death Toll

When the coronavirus pandemic started Donald Trump and most of his lackeys at Fox News lied about its severity and said it would go away "like magic." The worst offender at Fox was Sean Hannity. However, Tucker Carlson, another Fox host, realized the serious nature of the coronavirus and warned viewers.

This provided researchers an opportunity to study how news coverage affects transmission of diseases:

The results are stark: greater exposure to Sean Hannity versus Tucker Carlson shows a measurable increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths throughout March and early April. . . .

Carlson began regularly covering the virus in January. During February, he did so with a growing sense of alarm that the United States could experience a heavy death toll—the same month that saw much inaction on the part of the federal government.

By contrast, Hannity gave the virus almost no attention in February. And when he began to discuss the virus at the same frequency as Carlson during the first two weeks of March, it was to minimize the threat compared to the number of annual deaths attributable to car crashes, shootings, or seasonal influenza. Additionally, Hannity also accused the Democratic Party of exaggerating the threat as a way of attacking the president. However, by mid-March, Hannity changed his tune once President Trump declared COVID-19 a national emergency.

The result?

[C]ontrolling for a rich set of county-level demographics (including the local market share of Fox News), greater local viewership of Hannity relative to Tucker Carlson Tonight is associated with a greater number of COVID-19 cases starting in early March and a greater number of deaths resulting from COVID-19 starting in mid-March. In a set of permutation tests across socio-economic, demographic, political, and health-related covariates, as well as across geographical fixed effects to account for unobservable factors, we show that the established relationship is highly robust. Indeed, the estimated effects of exposure become stronger as we control for more factors.

Watching Sean Hannity got people killed. And it's not just abstract statistics. There are actual people we can put names to who died from Covid-19 because Hannity lied about the severity of the disease, like Joe Joyce, a bar owner in Brooklyn.

On March 1, Joe Joyce and his wife, Jane, set sail for Spain on a cruise, flying first to Florida. His adult children — Kevin, Eddie and Kristen Mider — suggested that the impending doom of the coronavirus made this a bad idea. Joe Joyce was 74, a nonsmoker, healthy; four years after he opened his bar he stopped drinking completely. He didn’t see the problem.

“He watched Fox, and believed it was under control,’’ Kristen told me.

Early in March Sean Hannity went on air proclaiming that he didn’t like the way that the American people were getting scared “unnecessarily.’’ He saw it all, he said, “as like, let’s bludgeon Trump with this new hoax.”

Joe Joyce listened to Hannity and then he died:

[His] children were checking in from New York and New Jersey, and on March 27, when Kristen got off the phone with her father, she called an ambulance. He was wheezing. His oxygen level turned out to be a dangerously low 70 percent. On April 9, he died of Covid-19.

It's like Trump and the hydroxychloroquine debacle: he started hawking it like a snake-oil salesman at his briefings before there was any real data about its efficacy. He pushed it hard, stupidly, constantly, and some poor fool and his wife took some and he died. When Anthony Fauci was asked a question about the drug at Trump's daily campaign rally/clown show coronavirus briefing Trump wouldn't let Fauci answer because Trump doesn't want the truth or facts to get in the way of his preening, lies and bluster.

Trump even fired Rick Bright, the guy running the coronavirus vaccine program, because Bright wanted to actually do controlled tests of hydroxychloroquine before handing it out like candy.

Now it turns out that Trump was totally, utterly wrong about hydroxychloroquine according to a study of Veterans Administration data:

In the study of 368 patients, 97 patients who took hydroxychloroquine had a 27.8% death rate. The 158 patients who did not take the drug had an 11.4% death rate. 

"An association of increased overall mortality was identified in patients treated with hydroxychloroquine alone. These findings highlight the importance of awaiting the results of ongoing prospective, randomized, controlled studies before widespread adoption of these drugs," wrote the authors, who work at the Columbia VA Health Care System in South Carolina, the University of South Carolina and the University of Virginia.

Now Trump and his people aren't saying anything about hydroxychloroquine. They're banking on his voters being too stupid to notice how consistently wrong he is about almost everything.

"What have you got to lose?" Trump famously asked.

If you listen to Trump, your life.

Making Scapegoats

Why Is One OK But Not The Other?

Joe Biden Saw It All

Joe Biden has been taking a lot of shit lately about his stutter during his interviews. If that's all his critics have, he's not going to have many problems in the election. Remember what happened in 2016 when people made fun of Trump? People still voted for him.

The recent revelation that Biden posted an Op-Ed in USA Today on January 27 of this year, in which he detailed the mistakes Trump made prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, will add to his margin of victory in the fall election. Here are some choice cuts.

The outbreak of a new coronavirus, which has already infected more than 2,700 people and killed over 80 in China, will get worse before it gets better. Cases have been confirmed in a dozen countries, with at least five in the United States. There will likely be more.

Well, he was certainly right about that, wasn't he?

Trump has blithely tweeted that “it will all work out well.” Yet the steps he has taken as president have only weakened our capacity to respond.

Trump has rolled back much of the progress President Obama and I made to strengthen global health security. He proposed draconian cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for International Development — the very agencies we need to fight this outbreak and prevent future ones. He dismissed the top White House official in charge of global health security and dismantled the entire team. And he has treated with utmost contempt institutions that facilitate international cooperation, thus undermining the global efforts that keep us safe from pandemics and biological attacks.

To be blunt, I am concerned that the Trump administration’s shortsighted policies have left us unprepared for a dangerous epidemic that will come sooner or later.

It's almost as if he knew what was going to happen...like maybe his experience and competence would have saved American lives as opposed to what Trump has done which has cost thousands of American lives.

As president, I will reassert U.S. leadership in global health security. My policies will always uphold science, not fiction or fearmongering. I will ask Congress to beef up the Public Health Emergency Fund and give me the power to use the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to declare a disaster if an infectious disease threat merits it.

I will also renew funding — set to expire in May — for the nationwide network of hospitals that can isolate and treat people with infectious diseases, and fully fund the Global Health Security Agenda so the world is ready for the next outbreak. And I will rebuild public trust, make sure we have dedicated resources to help us respond to crises quickly, and better harness the capabilities of the private sector to protect the American people. Our national security requires nothing less.

So, it's clear that Biden (or really anyone, Democratic or Republican), would have done a better job. Heck, even W knew how important this was.

When you allow ideological buffoons to run a nation, people die.

Why People Are Dead, Why Our Economy Sucks

My favorite part is the rally where he mentions the coronavirus and his cult followers boo. These assholes should never be in charge of anything again. Ever. All they do is kill people and destroy our economy.

He is exactly what we said he was going to be and you assholes made fun of us (orange man bad, Trump Derangement Syndrome). Well, got anything to say now, fuckholes?

What Wisconsin Tells Us About the Election in the Fall

The recent primary in Wisconsin tell us that the Trump Party should be shitting themselves and I'm talking explosive diarrhea. The ploy by the GOP to have the election anyway in the middle of a pandemic completely backfired as democratic turnout was massive. Even with only 5 of 108 polling places open in Milwaukee, Jill Karofsky still managed to defeat conservative Justice Daniel Kelly.  So, what does this tell us?

Democrats are fired up, want Trump gone, and won't even let potential death from Covid1-19 stop them. This is exactly what Rachel Bitecofer has been saying. Trump is toast and will get his ass kicked in November...assuming he doesn't quit before then. He's looking awfully shaky these days and really out of it.

Trumpy Orwell

I was reminded of George Orwell's 1984 recently when President Trump yelled, "Check the tape" in a response to a reporter at a recent press briefing. The reporter asked the president what he had done to prevent the outbreak of Covid-19. He claimed that he shut down travel with China.

In reality, he half shut it down and allowed around 40,000 people to still come in. He also allowed travelers from Europe to come in as well which is what likely accelerated the spread of the virus.

Of course, this doesn't even address the fact that he is on tape making fun of the virus and also saying it would magically go away. He further went on to say that we had it under control. All of these statements can be seen in this video.

Right-wing bloggers and commenters are quite fond of accusing the left of the very thing they are doing...who are you going to believe--me or your lying eyes and ears? Call them on it.

Every. Single. Time.

Own It, Assholes

From conservative David Frum

"That the pandemic occurred is not Trump’s fault. The utter unpreparedness of the United States for a pandemic is Trump’s fault. The loss of stockpiled respirators to breakage because the federal government let maintenance contracts lapse in 2018 is Trump’s fault. The failure to store sufficient protective medical gear in the national arsenal is Trump’s fault. That states are bidding against other states for equipment, paying many multiples of the precrisis price for ventilators, is Trump’s fault. Air travelers summoned home and forced to stand for hours in dense airport crowds alongside infected people? That was Trump’s fault too. Ten weeks of insisting that the coronavirus is a harmless flu that would miraculously go away on its own? Trump’s fault again. The refusal of red-state governors to act promptly, the failure to close Florida and Gulf Coast beaches until late March? That fault is more widely shared, but again, responsibility rests with Trump: He could have stopped it, and he did not."


And thus we have the end of "Orange Man Bad" and whining about Trump Derangement Syndrome. We warned you, Trump supporters and apologists. You acted like adolescent assholes and didn't listen. How many people have died from this because Trump didn't take it seriously? How much money has been lost? Whose lives have been destroyed? That's on YOU, assholes!

I've repeatedly explained to the right-wing bloggers and commenters who read this site daily that this would happen. They laughed and pretended like Trump was actually competent. Now, they've gone silent. You fucking assholes aren't anywhere close to comprehending how to run a country. All you have is digital bile that results in American deaths.

I don't know how you can get up in the morning and look at yourselves in the mirror.

Good Riddance, Old Moldy

Between the time I set out to write about the firing of Captain Crozier and the time I was done, this had happened:

Thomas B. Modly, the acting Navy secretary, resigned Tuesday after his bungled response to an outbreak of the novel coronavirus aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt engulfed the Navy in a public relations disaster, Defense Department officials said.

Mr. Modly’s departure is the latest in a string of events that began last week, after The San Francisco Chronicle published a letter in which the Roosevelt’s commander, Capt. Brett E. Crozier, pleaded with the Navy to help contain the virus that had spread rapidly through his ship.

The Navy has announced more than 170 coronavirus cases aboard the Roosevelt since the outbreak started in late March, after the ship had docked in Da Nang, Vietnam.

Mr. Modly fired Captain Crozier on April 2 after accusing him of circumventing the Navy’s traditional chain of command by copying more than 20 people on the emailed letter.

The firing sent shock waves through the crew, which was only exacerbated Monday when Mr. Modly flew to Guam, where the Roosevelt is now docked, and said Captain Crozier was “too naïve or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this.”

"Too naive or too stupid?" Old Moldy is the naive and stupid one. He claimed Captain Crozier had endangered the operational security of the aircraft carrier by copying so many people on his letter. Crozier was far from naive: he knew his concerns would be completely ignored by Old Moldy if he followed the chain of command, resulting in the needless deaths of sailors aboard his ship.


And endangering OPSEC? What a joke. Numerous reports had already appeared in the news about the outbreak on the TR. Everyone knew about it. What's more, the TR is an aircraft carrier. It is 1,092 feet long and displaces 177,000 tons. This huge ship can visit only a limited number of ports, where there are quite certainly numerous Russian and Chinese spies. And you can see it from orbit.


And it's not like someone can take advantage of this: Russia and China are fighting COVID-19, just like we are, and Iran, the country most likely to cause trouble for us, has half a million cases of the infection.

The thing is, Old Moldy was just doing what Trump wants: fire anyone who expresses the slightest bit of independent thought, courage, honesty, moral fortitude or a desire to do the right thing. Crozier had embarrassed Trump, and he had to go.

But this time Trumpian revenge backfired, exposing Old Moldy and Trump for the vengeful weasels they truly are.

The other thing this incident points out is the sorry shape the Trump administration is in. Old Moldy was the acting secretary of the Navy. This chaotic dumpster fire of a presidency is in a shambles in large part because of a shockingly high turnover rate and Trump's complete failure to take his responsibilities seriously: no one stays around around long enough to know what the hell they're doing. Trump has had literally hundreds of vacancies and "acting" secretaries and deputies. These people haven't been fully vetted by the FBI and approved by the Senate. Trump likes acting positions because they're easier to threaten and get rid of. And he's just too god-damned lazy and stupid to give a crap about anything other than his ratings among "his voters."

The people in the Trump administration aren't there because they're competent or have any experience in the job they're doing. They're almost to a man clueless idiots whose only qualification is their servile ability to fawn over Trump and tell him what a big boy he is.

These acts of horrendous stupidity, heartless quests for vengeance and gross incompetence will just keep happening until the "only one that matters" is gone: Donald Trump.

More Blood on Trump's Hands

In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic the Trump administration has taken the opportunity to gut air pollution regulations put in place by the Obama administration. Most car companies didn't ask for this, and when four auto manufacturers sided with California Trump retaliated against them.

Now we learn that Trump's changes will mean even more people will die from coronavirus in the future:

Coronavirus patients in areas that had high levels of air pollution before the pandemic are more likely to die from the infection than patients in cleaner parts of the country, according to a new nationwide study that offers the first clear link between long-term exposure to pollution and Covid-19 death rates. 

This makes sense, and explains in part why New York City has been hit so hard: it has some of the highest pollution rates in the country.

Fine particulate pollution -- the kind Trump wants more of -- lodges in the alveoli, the tiny air sacks in the lungs. When you get sick with coronavirus the alveoli get clogged with mucus and blood, and you suffocate. If your alveoli are already filled with pollution particles, your chance of dying increases significantly. (It also emphasizes that everyone should immediately stop smoking and vaping.)

Why does Trump want to do this?

The Trump administration asserts that the new rule will save lives because Americans will buy newer, safer vehicles. But Carper and other critics point out that the agencies' own analysis finds there would be even more premature deaths from increased air pollution.

Trump knows his regulations will kill more people. But he doesn't care, because he thinks that propping up the oil business by gutting pollution regulations will get makers of big, heavy high-profit cars and the oil giants to spend more on his reelection. Though they all may go bust if the price war between the Russians and the Saudis doesn't abate soon.

This is just another example of how Trump is either a complete idiot or a soulless monster completely devoid of empathy or concern for American lives.

Where Is The Middle Ground?

Folks, I have to add to my rant from the other day and it’s something that has built up a seething rage in me. Hopefully, me getting it out will dispel it.

I’ve absolutely fucking had it with the “whoever cancels/shuts down things and does it the farthest out” wins the Most Responsible Government Award. The vilification that is going on with states that haven’t issued stay at home orders needs to be qualified by studying each state’s demographics, how they live their lives, and the rules they already have in place. I have zero problem ripping the leadership in Florida or Georgia, for example, because it’s warranted. They were morons who have literally killed people. But Iowa and Wyoming are different states and their policies won’t have any effect on you unless you live near them. And just because they haven’t officially issued stay at home orders doesn’t mean they are out dancing naked in groups in the street. Different parts of the country are going to be affected differently

The simple fact is that we are just buying time so health systems won’t get overrun. The people who are getting their rocks off in breathlessly relating that we need to be shut down for months aren’t being realistic. Their energy would be better spent demanding a national policy for testing. Because we do have to consider the economic impact of this on people’s lives. No doubt, we have a leader (Trump) who is really doing a poor job in acting on this. Staying at home is a band-aid and short term solution.

And the amount that we don’t know about this virus is enormous. It’s likely that large swaths of our population are immune already to this. Some may have had it, never had symptoms, and are no longer contagious. This is why the only thing people should be screaming about is testing. Screaming about how we all have to hide in our homes until 2021 and if this line of thought isn’t accepted than you are “naive” is fucking nuts.

I get that people are scared but being fatalistic and demanding the same for everyone isn’t helping. Being overly hopeful is just as bad. We must all strive to find a happy medium that at its core relies on action items based on data. If our leaders are doling out big asks, they need to provide us with the big data that led them to that conclusion. That data is going to be different for each area of the country and people need to live with that.

Trump's Body Count

I used to say that President Trump wasn't as bad of a president as our worst presidents because he didn't have a body count. Well, now he does. As I write this, we are nearing 7,000 dead Americans. Consider those families of lost loved ones when you watch this video.




So, how can he fix it? Mandatory testing of every American by May 31. Otherwise, our economy is truly fucked and his presidency is effectively over. Of course, the stalling on testing has another explanation.

He wants the corner market on it.

The blame doesn't just go to Trump, though. I blame all those assholes out there who fetishize small government and blow loads over how neutered it could be. How do you fuckos feel now that our citizens are dying?

The shit response to this back in January by the Trump administration led us to this point. There is zero doubt that Hillary would have done a far better job and fewer people would be dead. But we allowed our irrational feelings about her and liberals to get in the way, didn’t we?