"Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are."
--Benjamin Franklin
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Why There Are Protests and Riots Just Now
It's George Floyd, sure.
But it's so much more.
So much.
We'll start just with 1999.
Police killed more than 100 unarmed black people in 2015
Also 2015:
That's why.
All of that.
Let's change this, America.
The Donald Trump Presidency
What it's like having Donald Trump "steering", leading---if you can call it that--the nation.
The good news?
We haven't crashed yet.
Well, not completely crashed, anyway.
Yet.
God help us.
Saturday, May 30, 2020
Entertainment Overnight -- Mick and the boys are back
Have you heard this yet? Mick and the boys are rocking again, some more. Surprisingly sound good. (Read: don't sound old). Enjoy.
Excellent, Timely, Probably Even Important Question of the Day
Before the quote, however, first, an article, a headline, a fact.
Now, then, the question:
"When every single country in the world is able to work with the WHO, except for one whose president advocates treating coronavirus with bleach and UV light, who do you think is at fault?"
And sadly, even tragically, we know the answer.
God help us.
God help America.
Fantastic Kansas City History
I found this over at some local blog (TOLD YOU SO! :) ) and really enjoyed the local history. Once you get past the Buffalo Bill nonsense, there is some pretty incredible local, Kansas City history here complete with, no surprise, Walt Disney.
So our local Electric Park may well have been Walt Disney's inspiration for Disneyland??
Pretty incredible.
Friday, May 29, 2020
Entertainment Overnight -- Song of the Day, Week, Month, Moment, Year
We've all come, to look for America...
On This Day, May 29, 1851
On this date, May 29, 1851, Sojourner Truth gave her fantastic, incredible, even important and sadly still relevant "Ain't I A Woman?" speech.
Links:
No Justice. No Peace
God
It's my face man
I didn't do nothing serious man
please
please
please I can't breathe
please man
please somebody
please man
I can't breathe
I can't breathe
please
(inaudible)
man can't breathe my face
just get up
I can't breathe
please (inaudible)
I can't breath sh*t
I will
I can't move
Mama
Mama
I can't
my knee
my nuts
I'm through
I'm through
I'm claustrophobic
my stomach hurt
my neck hurts
everything hurts
some water or something
please
please
I can't breath officer
don't kill me
they gonna kill me man
come on man
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
they gon kill me
they gon kill me
I can't breathe
I can't breathe
please sir
please
please
please I can't breathe
Great, Breaking Presidential Election News Today!
I just saw this news, breaking today, out on social media. Fantastic.
A new organization, Republican Voters Against Trump, is testing the premise of whether there are really any persuadable voters left.
I tell you, folks, it's enough to give a person hope. Think good thoughts.
Enjoy that sunshine out there.
Have a great day.
Quote of the Day -- Timely, Sadly Still Relevant Edition
"I contend that the cry of 'black power' is, at bottom, a reaction to the reluctance of white power to make the kind of changes necessary to make justice a reality for the Negro. I think that we've got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard."
--Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28,1963
Still sadly true--and relevant--today.
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Entertainment Overnight -- Birthday Edition
Yes sir and ma'am! It's the birthday edition of Entertainment Overnight with 3, that's right, 3 very big entertainers/singers/performers for you.
First we'll start with the one and only Gladys Knight---and her Pips--born this day, May 28, 1944. Sing it, sister!
Next up is country singer Phil Vassar, born this day 1964!
Finally, at least for today is Colbie Caillat, born this day 1985! The baby of the bunch. If you don't know the song or video, you should. Both fun. Great fun.
Have a good night, y'all.
Think happy thoughts.
What Nation With the Most Cornoavirus Deaths?
No voting adult in the nation should miss this current article.
The U.S. has surpassed the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths as a result of the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, significantly more than any other country in the world.
More coronavirus deaths here in the US than China, India or any other nation.
Let that sink in.
#somuchwinning
Thanks, Mr. President?
Thanks, Republicans?
Fantastic Presidential Election News!
Yes! Finally! Great news today! It actually broke a week ago and then again this morning! Hallelujah!
And this:
Is that not fantastic? Then this report came today from the Financial Times:
It shouldn't be a complete surprise because historically, Presidents are frequently re-elected or defeated based on the economy--and heaven knows this one is in dire shape, at least. I'd seen some reports showing he was set for successful re-election. And of course this is just a projection and it is just May and we have to keep in mind how heavily and badly the Republicans have gerrymandered voting districts nationally as well as used "voter ID" laws to disenfranchise yet more Americans but hey, this is hope.
He's eroding his own support, at least some of it, as I've posted here earlier. Here's further, more recent proof.
We so sorely need, as a nation, to get back to sanity and calm and thoughtfulness and intelligence--everything this Trump administration has not been and patently is not. Esquire magazine, coincidentally, asked an excellent question regarding this very thing.
How in god’s name can anyone vote for four more years of this, four more years of a choleric fatburg of a man who calls a press conference about a global health emergency and asks a reporter for Fox...how the ratings were for his last town hall? How does that man carry a precinct, let alone a state, let alone the country?
A good to great article, too, you will likely want to read.
Meanwhile, this is how bad the economy is and how badly this sorry excuse for a President wants to get re-elected.
And then there's all this "winning" he wanted to create for us, we can't forget that.
The U.S. has surpassed the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths as a result of the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, significantly more than any other country in the world.
With all his Twitter rants and untruths (there's another, briefer word for that/those but I won't use it here) and his baseless accusations and emotional outbursts like this:So amid all the doom and gloom and pandemic and social distancing and now rain and clouds for days, be of good cheer, America.
Hopefully, hopefully we are down to less than a year more of this insanity and national degradation.
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Even Right Wing Rupert Murdoch and His Wall Street Journal Are Trashing This President
As said in the title, this is great. Even uber Right Wing, ultra conservative Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal is calling this President out for what and who he is now, thank goodness.
The article:
A bit of the article:
Donald Trump sometimes traffics in conspiracy theories—recall his innuendo in 2016 about Ted Cruz’s father and the JFK assassination—but his latest accusation against MSNBC host Joe Scarborough is ugly even for him. Mr. Trump has been tweeting the suggestion that Mr. Scarborough might have had something to do with the death in 2001 of a young woman who worked in his Florida office when Mr. Scarborough was a GOP Congressman...
...There’s no evidence of foul play, or an affair with the woman, and the local coroner ruled that the woman fainted from an undiagnosed heart condition and died of head trauma. Some on the web are positing a conspiracy because the coroner had left a previous job under a cloud, but the parents and husband of the young woman accepted the coroner’s findings and want the case to stay closed...
...Mr. Trump always hits back at critics, and Mr. Scarborough has called the President mentally ill, among other things. But suggesting that the talk-show host is implicated in the woman’s death isn’t political hardball. It’s a smear. Mr. Trump rightly denounces the lies spread about him in the Steele dossier, yet here he is trafficking in the same sort of trash.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, had it right when he tweeted on the weekend: “Completely unfounded conspiracy. Just stop. Stop spreading it, stop creating paranoia. It will destroy us.”
We don’t write this with any expectation that Mr. Trump will stop. Perhaps he even thinks this helps him politically, though we can’t imagine how. But Mr. Trump is debasing his office, and he’s hurting the country in doing so.
And afternoon. And evening.
Don't you?
Think happy thoughts. Have a great day.
And vote blue, folks.
Links:
Quotes of the Day -- Timely, Presidential Version
“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”
“He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.”
--Dashiell Hammett, born this day, May 27, 1894
Links:
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
This Trumpian Republican Party
I caught an excellent article, thanks to a friend, over the weekend on this President and what has morphed into his political party:
One of the challenges in analyzing modern American politics is accurately describing the Republican Party without seeming unserious and hyperbolic. Major publications are understandably in the habit of presenting both sides of the partisan divide as being inherently worthy of respect and equal consideration, both as a way of shielding themselves from accusations of bias and as a way of maintaining their own sense of journalistic integrity.
Unfortunately, the modern Republican Party’s abdication of seriousness, good faith and reality-based communications or policy-making has stretched even the most open-minded analyst’s capacity for forced balance. Donald Trump’s own inability to string together coherent or consistent thoughts has led to a bizarre normalization of his statements in the traditional media, as journalists unconsciously try to fit his rambling, spontaneous utterances into a conventional framework. This has come at the cost of Americans seeing the full truth of the crisis of leadership in the Oval Office for what it is. For instance, it was ironically salutary for the American public to witness Donald Trump’s bizarre pandemic press conferences where he oddly attacked reporters for asking innocuous questions and recommended researching bleach and sunlight injections, because they got to see Trump raw as he truly is, without the normalization filter. Republicans have long argued that the “mainstream media filter” gives them a bad shake, but the reality is the opposite: sure, it’s not as good as being boosted by Fox News’ overt propaganda, but it does them a greater service than letting the public see them unfiltered at all...
...Being a Republican now requires believing in a jaw-dropping series of claims that, if true, would almost necessitate anti-democratic revanchism. One has to believe that
- a cabal of evil scientists is making up climate science in exchange for grant money;
- that there is rampant, widescale voter impersonation fraud carried out by thousands of elections officials nationwide;
- that the “Deep State” concocted a scheme to frame Trump for Russian collusion but chose not to use it before the 2016 election;
- that shadowy forces are driving migrant caravans and diseases across American borders in the service of destroying white Republican America;
- that the entire news media is engaged in a conspiracy against the Republican Party;
- that grieving victims of gun violence and their families all across America want to take away guns as a pretext for stomping the boot of “liberal fascism” on conservative faces; and so on.
That and much more is just the vanilla Republican belief system at this point (not even touching less explosive academic fictions like “tax cuts pay for themselves” or “the poor will work harder to better themselves if you cut the safety net.”}
I personally can't recommend the complete above article enough.
I personally can't recommend the complete above article enough.
Meanwhile, this happened two days ago, Saturday.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump shared a series of sexist insults and personal gibes about prominent female Democrats.
Trump has a long record of aiming sexist insults at female critics.
Who does this?
What public person, let alone government representative, let alone 74 year old, let alone Congressional representative or, I don't know, what PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES talks like that? What adult calls another, a woman, a "skank"? Who does that??
This President is frightening but as that first article above shows, much of the Republican Party has gotten scary, honestly, no overstatement, scary.
Fortunately, there are a few, a very few Republicans out there warning people about him and this. People like Utah's Mitt Romeny, conservative writer George Will, uber-conservative Bill Kristol and others. It's not enough but it's something.
Then there's the fact that this President has repeatedly tried to spread an untrue and extremely irresponsible murder conspiracy theory, of all things, about Joe Scarborough.
Then there's the fact that this President has repeatedly tried to spread an untrue and extremely irresponsible murder conspiracy theory, of all things, about Joe Scarborough.
Trump uses Twitter to push
murder conspiracy theory
And this was yesterday at the Memorial Day activities. As this President and again, his political party would have it, it's "sleepy Joe" Biden we have to worry about, no one else. And yet...
President Trump’s struggles to stand still during a Memorial Day visit to Arlington National Cemetery lit up social media Monday, prompting users to recall past incidents in which the commander in chief, who turns 74 next month, battled to find a balance.
“Is the President having trouble standing up straight as the National Anthem begins at Arlington Cemetary (sic) or am I seeing things?” Joshua Potash from Queens asked on Twitter.
The Trump critic posted that video, along with another clearly showing the president swaying in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Between this President's ravings, his questionable health and his political party's going off a d eep end, it seems clear we don't lack for things we have to work on, let alone be concerned of.
Thanks, Republicans.
"Only the best people."
"So much winning."
Links:
Are White Working Class Folks Tiring of Trump's Act?
Trump Sabotaged America's Recovery Even Before COVID-19 Began
6 months on, Trump hasn't completed his physical. The White House won't say why.
Editorial: If the pandemic-preparedness cupboard was bare, it was Trump's doing
Trump Sabotaged America's Recovery Even Before COVID-19 Began
24 conspiracy theories Donald Trump has floated
6 months on, Trump hasn't completed his physical. The White House won't say why.
Editorial: If the pandemic-preparedness cupboard was bare, it was Trump's doing
Monday, May 25, 2020
Trumpian Firsts
Herewith, just a very brief list of just a few things for which this Republican Party President Donald Trump did first, most and/or best compared to all other Presidents:
- Biggest stock market drop
- Highest national debt
- Most convicted members of his one administration
- Most turnovers in his administration, with people coming and going
- Most pandemic infections
So much winning.
Link:
Op-Ed: Let’s count the ways Donald Trump has gone where no president has gone before
Happy? Memorial Day
Click on picture for easier reading.
Try to have a happy Memorial Day out there, folks. Be well. Be safe.
Sunday, May 24, 2020
The NYT Asks a Great Question Today -- Then Also Gives Great American History Lessons
Today's Sunday New York Times does just that today. That is, they ask an excellent question and then give what I hope is lots of Americans not just a great American history lesson, but in this one column, LOTS of excellent history lessons.
Why Does the U.S. Military Celebrate White Supremacy?
The information they give on Confederate General George Pickett alone is eye-opening and important, let alone all the rest they give in this one column. Here is just a snippet of what is an extremely full and very informative article:
Black recruits (in WWII) who volunteered to die for their country were mainly shut out of combat units, commanded by white Southerners who often resented being assigned to colored units. In some contexts, black servicemen were treated worse than prisoners of war. The actress and singer Lena Horne, for example, flew into a rage during World War II when she arrived at a military camp to entertain only to find that the best seats — in the “white” section of the audience — had been reserved for German P.O.W.s.
Far too many of us, far too many Americans, don't know our national history--our true, complete national history.
Please. If you can. If you will. Do yourself, and the nation, really, a favor and read it. No exaggeration.
Black recruits (in WWII) who volunteered to die for their country were mainly shut out of combat units, commanded by white Southerners who often resented being assigned to colored units. In some contexts, black servicemen were treated worse than prisoners of war. The actress and singer Lena Horne, for example, flew into a rage during World War II when she arrived at a military camp to entertain only to find that the best seats — in the “white” section of the audience — had been reserved for German P.O.W.s.
Far too many of us, far too many Americans, don't know our national history--our true, complete national history.
Please. If you can. If you will. Do yourself, and the nation, really, a favor and read it. No exaggeration.
Please.
Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition
"Teach this triple truth to all:
A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity."
--Buddha
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Republicans In Jefferson City Try to Undo the People's Will
Do you think it’s okay for legislators to overturn legislation the people voted into law?
The people passed Clean Missouri Amendment passed in 2018 by 62% of the vote.
The Missouri Republican Party wants to overturn this amendment. The reason is power. This amendment will control the power the Republicans have.
In case you aren't completely familiar with what the Clean Missouri initiative is.
The proposed constitutional amendment would do what legislators have failed to do, imposing gift limits for legislators, lowering campaign contribution limits, changing the length of time required before becoming lobbyists, and change the model for drawing districts in order to prevent partisan gerrymandering.
The Clean Missouri Initiative proposes to clean up the Show-Me State’s ethics with the following actions:
- Require that lawmakers wait two years before they could turn around and lobby their colleagues. (Governor Eric Greitens called for a revolving door ban from the legislature, and established a lobbying ban for employees departing from the executive branch with his executive order signed on January 9, 2017.)
- Eliminate almost all lobbyist gifts worth more than $5 (As of publishing this article, Members of the General Assembly, along with their staff and families, have already accepted over $1 million in gifts from lobbyists this year. Sen. Mike Kehoe had put together a bill with similar language, calling it the “Cup of Coffee” bill, implying that lobbyists wouldn’t be able to spend more than they would on a cup of coffee. Rep. Justin Alferman had also filed a bill, the first one passed by the House in 2017, but neither bill advanced in the Senate.)
- Eliminate partisan gerrymandering when it comes to redrawing lines for legislative districts and make the races more fair and competitive. (To do this, the petition calls for an independent state demographer to lead on technical work in creating district maps, which would then be reviewed by a citizen commission.)
- Set campaign donation limits at $2,500 for the state Senate and $2,000 for the House. (The current state law, as set forth by Constitutional Amendment 2, which passed in the Nov. 2016 election, sets the mark at $2,600.)
- Limiting the ability of individuals and organizations to circumvent the contribution cap limits by counting the money from single-source committees toward the totals for the actual original donors.
- Put an end to legislative fundraising on state property
- Require legislative records and proceedings to be open to the public
How or why should any legislator or political party in our state be against any of the above?
With that, we ask that you please call or write Governor Mike Parson and tell him you want and we all need, deserve, a veto on this obvious power grab. His number is number (573) 751-3222.
Links:
Friday, May 22, 2020
Entertainment Overnight -- Local Edition
And they have their politics right, too.
Sleep well, campers.
This Should Be a--Huge?--Boon and Boom for Starlight Theater
Someone asked out on Facebonkers today what people would like to see from local dance companies what with this pandemic.
It got me thinking.
First, I thought, open air performances of all kinds should be done, weather-permitting, of course And these should take place here from Spring through Summer and into Fall. They become all the more important and helpful. Anywhere and everywhere with a stage outdoors, of whatever size. Perfect. With social distancing, of course.
And where, in Kansas City, is the biggest outdoor stage?
Why, Starlight Theater, of course!
Unfortunately, when I went to their web page today, there was this message:
Ensuring the health and safety of our patrons and staff is our number one priority. While we are still able to serve you via phone and website, we have suspended walk-up ticket sales until further notice in support of the guidance from Mayor Quinton Lucas and the City of Kansas City. Patrons will be notified if any Starlight events are postponed or cancelled and we will update our website and ticketholders as information becomes available. Thank you for your understanding, patience and continued support as we learn and adjust to the ever-changing circumstances regarding COVID-19.
And sure, it's understandable and it's one more business and they have to react to the pandemic and the Mayor's stay at home order but now that it's being relaxed, it seems that, again, with social distancing, this could and would be a fantastic place for us to all--carefully--congregate and enjoy ourselves this year, in spite of COVID-19.
I'd like to take it one step further, too.
I'd hope they'd actually have literally one performance a night out there.
In the best case, with all the different arts organizations and performances there are in the area, the different ones could rotate in their performances. Dance, music, theater--think Unicorn and the other live theater there is in town.
Sure, it would take a great deal of planning and organization and the logistics could/would be tough, very tough, to pull off, I recognize that. But if they could, can and do??
And if not one performance a night, then as many performances per week as they could pull off.
And if they could pull it off?
Man, would we all enjoy ourselves and make the most of a very difficult, even tough time and situation.
Another upside?
Quite possibly a ton of profit for Starlight while also hopefully saving some other organizations and artists and performers, too.
I know, I know, this is hoping for a lot. I mean A LOT. I recognize that.
And maybe it's dreaming an impossible dream.
But tough times make for tough people. And solutions. And great answers.
It could, really, pull us all together, too. All across the city, area and even region.
Here's hoping.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Where We're Headed With This Pandemic?
Some very sobering to the point of possibly frightening information, data and predictions on this COVID-19 and the coming Fall, Winter and flu season. From The Hill today:
A new study indicates that even if Americans adhere to current social distancing guidelines for months, the U.S. death toll, which is now near 92,000 with 1.5 cases of infection reported, will likely triple by the end of the year due to the coronavirus.
The study, conducted by the Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy and Economics Institute at the University of Washington's School of Pharmacy, found that 1.3 percent of those who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms die. As Reid Wilson writes, the infection fatality rate of the coronavirus is 13 times higher than a bad influenza season.
“COVID-19 infection is deadlier than flu — we can put that debate to rest,” said Anirban Basu, a health economist at the University of Washington who authored the study.
If the infection fatality rate stands, with the virus spreading even before most states open their economies and relax social distancing restrictions, COVID-19 could claim between 350,000 and 1.2 million American lives by the end of this year, the study found.
Potentially very sobering indeed, I thought.
When Even Fox Thinks You Go Too Far
First this.
Even Neil Cavuto, over at Fox, sees this man for what and who he is and what he'll do.
So naturally, the Orange One must go on a Twitter spree.
And that line--"Looking for a new outlet..."
Where does he think he is? Some Fascist, banana Republic where the media is supposed to parrot every utterance he makes?
News flash, Mr. President. This isn't a company or business you own and no, we're not some Fascist banana republic so no, we are, let us remind you, the United States of America. We have a national Constitution and always have. Going a step further, that Constitution has a First Amendment in it guaranteeing Freedom of Speech and---wait for it--a FREE PRESS.
Buck up, buttercup.
You are in WAY over your head.
This President Is An Actual Assault on the Nation, Democracy and Our Democracy
"Trump is weaponizing the American government to distract from his catastrophically incompetent pandemic response and the crushing economic fallout."
It is Mr. Trump's eating away at our Democracy, at Democracy itself, at our Constitution, at our laws and our nation that is most frightening. Check this next one out.
Even Fox's Neil Cavuto has called him out now.
Everyone is either 100% with and for this President or he sees them as against him. It's an insane way to go through life but it's a dangerous way for a nation's leader to view the world.
Vote this Fall, folks. Be sure to vote. And vote blue, naturally.
Monday, May 18, 2020
Possibly the Best, Most Important Article You Could Read Just Now
A friend posted a link to this on FB:
Western capitals aren’t just worried about the risk of a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
A bit:
With most European countries confident that they are past the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, their attention is turning to the chance of its resurgence once society returns to some semblance of normal. But beyond the epidemiological challenges lies a slowly amassing threat that is not pathological in nature, but economic, political, and military. This is the geopolitical second wave, and its power is already starting to concern Western leaders.
Imagine a scenario: Just as Europe and the United States begin to feel as if they have the coronavirus under control, it takes hold in the developing world. Exhausted, indebted, and desperate for their own economies to get back up to speed, richer countries are too slow to help. Panic ensues. Migrants mass in southern Europe, which is still struggling to pull itself out of a coronavirus-induced depression. Somewhere, a state defaults on debt held largely by Western financial institutions. In the chaos, an autocrat eyes an opportunity for a land grab. A United States already unwilling to take the lead leaves China to step into the void.
This is just one (invented) scenario of a number that are raising concerns in Western capitals and that were laid out to me in conversations with more than half a dozen leading security experts, academics, and government advisers in recent weeks. Of those I spoke with, few doubted that a second wave was coming. The real concern was where it would land.
Be well out there. Be safe.
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Quote of the Day -- Desperate, Scary Edition
“If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases.”
--Donald J. Trump
I knew a woman once who wouldn't go to the doctor because, she said, she knew if she didn't go, he wouldn't find anything wrong with her.
Honestly.
God help us, folks. This is supposed to be the leader of the nation.
Added to this, check this out.
God help us, folks. This is supposed to be the leader of the nation.
Added to this, check this out.
Honest to goodness, I don't know how Donald Trump, President, doesn't scare Hell out of people.
Try to have a nice day.
Try to have a nice day.
Saturday, May 16, 2020
I Know I'm Not the Only One Who Misses Intelligent Presidents
I know I'm not.
I can't be.
Teddy Roosevelt. A Republican, for God's sake.
FDR.
JFK.
Intelligent, eloquent Presidents.
How I miss them.
Quote of the Day -- Unconstitutional President Edition
Laurence Tribe @tribelaw
Sen. Chris Murphy tweeted: “Using foreign aid to destroy rivals. Weaponizing the judiciary. Firing all the inspectors general. Democracies begin to die when a leader starts to destroy the limits on his power and his faction [assists in that project]. Welcome to that moment.”
Sen. Chris Murphy tweeted: “Using foreign aid to destroy rivals. Weaponizing the judiciary. Firing all the inspectors general. Democracies begin to die when a leader starts to destroy the limits on his power and his faction [assists in that project]. Welcome to that moment.”
Link:
'Obvious Our President Is Beyond Incompetent': Chorus of Ridicule After Trump Brags of New 'Super-Duper Missile'
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