Say nothing and close his Twitter

“The American people demand equitable results.”

no twitterIt is my considered opinion that if the incumbent wants to be reelected to stay in the White House, it wouldn’t be that difficult. All he has to do is say nothing and close his Twitter account. OK, that’s a bit hyperbolic. Still, I do believe that, even in 2020, every time he doesn’t say or tweet something amazingly wrongheaded, he’s accused of finally becoming Presidential.

Fortunately, this appears to be utterly impossible for very long. The item that’s gotten the most play recently is his interview with Axios National Political Correspondent, Jonathan Swan. It was conducted on July 28 but aired on August 3. on HBO It is worse than I could have possibly imagined. The answers were just bizarre. And, as is usually the case any time he speaks, PolitiFact needed to fact-check 22 claims from the interview.

Twitter and Facebook removed recent false claims of his about COVID-19. not for the first time. His assessment of the Beirut explosion seemed to be based on talking through his hat.

Are his recent executive orders even legal? Or actually executive orders? Kevin Drum posits that “the stuff that’s legal is unimportant and the stuff that’s important is illegal.”

Something he has promised, since before Day One, is a better health insurance plan. There is NO plan. He hires people with great hyperbole and fires them with even more.

His record has initiated a series of The Lincoln Project advertisements, often quoting the man’s own words. Chuck Miller describes the evolution of the snake, a story djt told quite frequently. It’s odd; often, what he describes of others is what he does, who he is.

He’s the butt of some pointed satire. Here’s an Honest Government Ad, a “message from the White House.” Borowitz in the New Yorker declares Americans Support Using U.S. Postal Service to Ship Him to Different Address.

Lest We Forget

“Early in [his] term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of his cruelties, collusions, and crimes

“It felt urgent then to track them, to ensure these horrors — happening almost daily — would not be forgotten. This election year, amid a harrowing global health, civil rights, humanitarian, and economic crisis, we know it’s never been more critical to note these horrors, to remember them, and to do all in our power to reverse them. This list will be updated between now and the November 2020 Presidential election.”

Is This the Beginning of the End of American Racism?

In the September 2020 Atlantic, Ibram X. Kendi posits that IMPOTUS “has revealed the depths of the country’s prejudice—and has inadvertently forced a reckoning.” Hmm.

Back in 2019, “Trump now faced reporters and cameras. Over the drone of the helicopter rotors, one reporter asked Trump if he was bothered that ‘more and more people’ were calling him racist. ‘I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world,’ Trump replied, hands up, palms facing out for emphasis.” He says that a lot.

Kendi, the author of How To Be An Anti-Racist, suggests the current regime “has paved the way for a revolution against racism.” The “denialism has permanently changed the way Americans view themselves. The Trump effect is real and lasting. The reckoning we have witnessed this spring and summer at public demonstrations transforms into a reckoning in legislatures, C-suites, university-admissions offices.

“On this path, the American people demand equitable results, not speeches that make them feel good about themselves and their country. The American people give policymakers an ultimatum: Use your power to radically reduce inequity and injustice, or be voted out.”

My, Kendi is more optimistic than I. Has America truly embraced an anti-racist agenda for the long term? Or will they have moved on to some other concerns come November? Je ne sais pas.

“Hey, Maybe We *Should* Postpone The Election”

A crony running USPS

postpone the election.Abe LincolnJust the other day, I was kvetching to my wife. I said, “You know, I’d rather NOT write about him. But then he keeps doing worse crap.” To wit, suggesting, on Twitter, naturally, that perhaps the United States should postpone the election of November 3 until we can get everyone to the polls safely.

This was so egregiously wrong that Steven Calabresi called for a second impeachment inquiry into him. He is the co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society, This was in a New York Times opinion piece in late July, “where he falsely characterized mail-in voting and proposed the delay of the 2020 presidential election in November, which the executive branch cannot enact.”

Please understand the weight of the complainant. Calabresi has “he’s voted Republican in the presidential election since 1980.” He also “opposed the investigation into Russian election interference by Robert Mueller and was against the impeachment into Trump regarding withholding aid to Ukraine.

As for the Federalist Society, it is “a right-wing organization with 60,000 lawyers, law students and scholars.” It has been “characterized as a ‘conservative pipeline to the Supreme Court'” by the Atlantic. Recently confirmed judge Brett Kavanaugh joined the group while at Yale.

Calabresi wrote, “Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats’ assertion that President Trump is a fascist. But this latest tweet is fascistic. And it is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate.” Which won’t happen, mind you.

Preciscient?

Ed Morrissey in Red State: “Good grief. For months, Donald Trump’s allies and even a few of his critics have blasted Democrats and a handful of media figures for their baseless theories that the president would cancel or delay the national election. [Presumptive Democratic candidate Joe] Biden got ridiculed for saying that in April. ‘Mark my words: I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,’ even though the law and the constitution are clear that presidents can’t do that.

“And then…

“The best that could be said for this tweet is that Trump’s just spitballing, but even that’s an indictment of its own. No president should just be spitballing a suggestion like this, not in public and not even in private, where it would leak to the press quickly enough anyway. The US held an election in the middle of its Civil War in 1864. We can hold an election in the middle of a pandemic, especially when the president himself keeps insisting we can and should reopen for business.

“Rather than recognize those [Constitutional] impossibilities and leave it as a paranoid-conspiracy theory for the Left, he has essentially vindicated Biden and the paranoids. And for what purpose? Trump can’t do what he’s suggesting, Congress wouldn’t entertain the thought for one hot second… and it won’t work anyway. What could possibly be gained from tweeting out this absurd idea, other than perhaps distracting from the bad GDP report everyone was more or less expecting anyway?”

Of course, the tweet was sent the same day it was announced that the U.S. gross domestic product dropped at an annual rate of 32.9%. Reports of polling putting Biden far ahead of him in the November election.

Properly, securely and safely vote

The argument for delaying has to do with people being able to get to the polls without risking their lives. During this primary season, we’ve seen people standing in long lines during a pandemic. Of course, those were almost always DEMOCRATIC primaries, so it didn’t seem to matter to IMPOTUS.

A real problem, even prior to COVID-19, but certainly exacerbated by it, is a dearth of poll workers. There is a national effort to recruit more poll workers. These are healthy people “to ensure that those workers most susceptible to the coronavirus are given the space to take care of their health, while still keeping polling sites open and available for efficient in-person voting.”

“We can also demand change from our local officials, who in most cases can take needed steps without waiting for the federal government to help. New voting technologies, training standards, polling place opening and closing hours, and poll worker recruitment practices are all decided at the state or local levels.

“State legislatures and state secretaries can expand, rather than shrink, the number of polling places, reversing the harmful trend of polling-place closures in recent years. They can also invest in more early voting sites, and keep them open for longer, reducing the number of voters who cast ballots on Election Day itself.”

Undermining the Postal Service

Meanwhile, the US Postal Service is experiencing days-long backlogs of mail across the country. It is after a top djt donor running the agency put in place new procedures “described as cost-cutting efforts, alarming postal workers who warn that the policies could undermine their ability to deliver ballots on time for the November election…

“Postal employees and union officials say the changes implemented by the Trump fund-raiser-turned-postmaster general Louis DeJoy are contributing to a growing perception that mail delays are the result of a political effort to undermine absentee voting.”

One recent study found mail-in voting doesn’t benefit one party over another.

Still, since every state has its own deadline for when you need to request an absentee or mail-in ballot, start looking into the options now. Verify that you’re registered to vote and if you’re not, do so right away.

With more voting options this year, the US Postal Service is encouraging voters to plan ahead. If you wait until the last minute to decide how to vote, you could be cutting it close, or even become disenfranchised. We’re now less than 90 days away from the election – time to make a game plan.

Finally, since IMPOTUS’ bogus call for postponing the election took place on the same day as John Lewis’ funeral, tell your members of Congress to support The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. For it is voter suppression that is the real threat to democracy in the United States.

July rambling: Phonus-Balonus!

VeggieTales’ creator Phil Vischer’s viral video on race in America

Trevor Noah: Maybe not a great idea to take a victory lap in the middle of a pandemic.

60 Minutes Australia: Inside the wicked saga of Jeffrey Epstein: the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Defund the Poice: What’s in a slogan?

Why a Struggling Rust Belt City Pinned Its Revival on a Self-Chilling Beverage Can.

ADD has updated the Comic Book Galaxy blog for the first time in five years.

Stop microwaving books: Michigan library frustrated by damaged books.

Appreciating Letty Owings; the Reason I’m Here, By Greg Hatcher.

Meet 8-time JEOPARDY champion, Jennifer Quail Part 1 and Part 2.

Local galleries are reopening! Part 1 and Part 2.

Phonus-Balonus: 1920s Slang We Need to Bring Back.

A Brief History of the Lawn Chair”.

Riddle of the Week: The Gold Chain Math Problem and The Hen and the Egg.

Stop Doomscrolling. Ah, too late.

Now I Know

The Job That’s a Riot and The One Thing You Can’t Do in IKEA and When It’s OK to Lose Your Head and The Sweet Mistake and The Robutts That Protect Your Phone.

Race in America

VeggieTales’ creator Phil Vischer releases viral video on race in America (17 minutes, and very good).

Elijah McClain played violin for lonely kittens. His last words to police are devastating.

Facial recognition: “Wrongfully Accused by an Algorithm”.

Racism, Disparities, and the Health of the Nation.

My denomination: PC(USA) General Assembly affirms that Black lives matter; pledges to work against systemic racism.

I thought I understood white privilege, then I married a Black man.

Man shares two lessons he learned from disrupting a racist joke in a group of white people.

Dr. Robin DiAngelo Wants White People to Stop Saying They’re Not Racist; she’s the author of White Fragility.

slave castles — and the weight of history.

Reparations.

Free online comic book – Henry Johnson: A Tale of Courage.

When The Klan Ruled In Freeport, Long Island.

This ‘Equity’ picture is actually White Supremacy at work.

Blackface: The Birth of An American Stereotype and Celebrities now apologizing for using the racist trope for laughs have no idea just how sorry they really are.

Frederick Douglass’ admonition on the moral rightness of liberty for all.

The rage and love of James Baldwin.

Diversity in business is about expanding networks

This Rocket Scientist Is Tracing Black Ingenuity Through Barbecue.

Blacklexa (at 1:28).

anti-racism

Full bibliography here.

IMPOTUS

In the Land of “No We Can’t”.

His ‘Roger Mudd’ moment augurs ill for his reelection. If he can’t explain why he wants another term, he shouldn’t expect voters to give him one.

Reverend reveals what evangelicals say privately about Trump.

Mary Trump: he is the product of a deeply dysfunctional family that makes him a uniquely destructive and unstable leader for the country; inside his psychopathology.

Family, Cronies Cleared For Millions In Bailout Funds, such as Elaine Chao’s family business.

A Shameful Moment: Formal Withdrawal From WHO as Covid-19 Cases Climb.

Lincoln Project: Benedict Donald and Comrade Trump and Whispers. More.

Randy Rainbow Devastates A “Poor Deplorable Troll”

Music

America by Rebecca Jade, Erik Canzona, and Alfred Howard. Rebecca Jade is the Artist of the Year at 2020 San Diego Music Awards.

Ennio Morricone, Prolific Italian Composer for the Movies, Dies at 91.

Coverville: 1314: Cover Stories for KT Tunstall and Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies and 1315: The Blondie Cover Story II and 1316: Ennio Morricone Tribute and Ringo Starr Cover Story.

Perdido, by trombonist Juan Tizol, performed by Wynton Marsalis.

Be Still – Beach Boys.

Ballade in A minor for orchestra by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Adagio For Strings – Samuel Barber – conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Fantasy on Themes from the Masque of the Red Death – David Baker.

Suzanne – Leonard Cohen.

Dancing in the Canebrakes by Florence Price.

K-Chuck Radio: Our Robot Overlords.

Music For The Movies: Bernard Herrmann (Documentary).

Your COVID expert: Fauci or Woolery?

host of The Love Connection, among other shows

Chuck WooleryUnsurprisingly, IMPOTUS has been trying to undermine Dr. Anthony Fauci. The doctor has been the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984.

Fortunately, the regime has now secured the expertise of a much more reliable expert. “Chuck Woolery, the world-renowned epidemiologist, noted virologist and esteemed man of science… wait, no, you mean it was that Chuck Woolery? The game show host…?”

Yup. “Claiming he is ‘sick of it,’ the 79-year old Woolery tweeted that the ‘most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election.'”

Three guesses who then retweeted the message? You folks are SO smart. Thankfully, the medical experts pushed back. “We’re Not Lying.”

Only 1%?

This rift between the regime and Dr. Fauci goes back to April. These days, IMPOTUS says the COVID outbreak, which has killed over 140,000 Americans, is “under control.” The doctor “also disputed the president’s claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are ‘harmless,’ saying it is ‘obviously not’ true.”

Where DOES this “ 99%” number, or usually presented as “only 1% are harmed,” come from? Of the 12.9 million cases as of this past weekend, 571,000 died worldwide. That 4.4% mortality. But of those who didn’t die but recovered, they experienced harm. Their percentage is about twice the death rate. Plus there are those who got sick but did not die and haven’t been cured. So well above 12% of people experienced “harm” from the coronavirus.

Discussing reasons for the recent surge in cases, Dr. Fauci agreed that it has been a mixture of politicians not following guidelines and citizens not following health advice.

Of course, the guy at 1600 Black Lives Matter Blvd. is a man who does not understand science or a lot of other things. Meanwhile, well into the pandemic, IMPOTUS didn’t wear a mask until very recently, says it’s a hoax, that’ll go away when it’s warmer and suggests it’ll be cured by ingesting Lysol. He says the U.S. is in a “good place” with the pandemic.

The buck stops there

But he DOES understand how to blame others. A document was being circulated by unnamed White House officials that included a list of Dr. Fauci’s past comments about the novel coronavirus that turned out to be wrong. The strategy of diminishing the doctor is based on Fauci citing the scientific evidence that was available at the time. As my friend likes to write, “Science knows it doesn’t know everything. Otherwise, it’d stop.”

A recommendation not to wear masks in January was, in part, based on a desire to keep people from hoarding the medical-grade PPE. By April, the doctor favored masks because the DATA drove the information he disseminated. Jaquandor weighs in regarding face coverings.

The ongoing campaign is having the desired effect. I read recently, “If almost everyone is wearing masks, and the infection rate is going up, that proves that masks don’t work!” SMH. As Dr. Fauci noted, “You could see from just looking, documented on TV and in the papers of still photos of people at bars and congregations, which are a perfect setup, particularly if you don’t have a mask. Some states skipped over those and just opened up too quickly.”

Meanwhile, the regime is attempting to bury a 69-page packet of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention materials about reopening schools. It “cautions that the ‘more people a student or staff member interacts with, and the longer that interaction, the higher the risk of Covid-19 spread.'”

So, Dr. Fauci or Dr. Woolery – who do you believe?

IMPOTUS and the 10 Commandments

He lies at least 23 times a day

ten commandments
From HERE 
It is an article of faith that no one knows what is truly in another person’s heart. Still, one can certainly infer certain things.

At a rally in Michigan in 2015, a Republican candidate for President “asked a crowd how many had read his own book The Art of the Deal. ‘It’s my second favorite book of all time,’ he said. ‘Do you know what my first is? The Bible!’ Nothing beats the Bible!”

“Not long after, the then-candidate was asked during an interview with Bloomberg to expound on one of his favorite chapters from his favorite book and he demurred. ‘I wouldn’t want to get into it. Because to me, that’s very personal,’ he said. “The Bible means a lot to me, but I don’t want to get into specifics.’

“Asked if he could at least choose between the New and Old Testaments, he again passed. ‘Probably equal. I think it’s just incredible.'”

So it is interesting that Robert Hendrickson, Rector, Saint Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church, recently noted this. “This is an awful man, waving a book he hasn’t read, in front of a church he doesn’t attend, invoking laws he doesn’t understand, against fellow Americans he sees as enemies, wielding a military he dodged serving, to protect power he gained via accepting foreign interference, exploiting fear and anger he loves to stoke, after failing to address a pandemic he was warned about, and building it all on a bed of constant lies and childish insanity.”

“A book he hasn’t read”? As someone who has read the Bible regularly, including all the way through at least thrice, I do find it odd that there isn’t something that stands out for him. The stories, such as Joseph in Egypt, or Noah and the flood, or Danel in the lion’s den. Some Jesus story or maybe the Beatitudes. How about a Psalm or two?

A few of his favorite commandments?

Did he read it, but not understand? I’m thinking about for example the 10 Commandments. “You shall have no other gods before me.” What does that mean today? “An idol is anything or anyone other than God that we allow to drive our lives.” I nominate Twitter as his god.

“You shall not make for yourself a graven image.” He has always erecting altars to himself. “His name, emblazoned on every building he builds, reminds all who see it what Donald Trump thinks of himself.”

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” My wife’s favorite scripture is Micah 6:8. “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” He does none of those things. And he’s a vulgarian to boot.

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” He demands houses of worship be opened, then goes golfing.

“Honor your father and your mother.” He reveres his father, but his mother, not so much. His “immigration ban and border security measures fly in the face of the freedom that his own mother celebrated by immigrating to the United States. He dishonors her memory when he attempts to shut down immigration, belittle and bully those who clean and cook for his hotels and withhold wages from those who perform vital work for his projects.”

And a few more…

“You shall not kill.” He famously said he could stand in the middle Of Fifth Avenue, shoot somebody, and not lose any voters. Moreover, his lawyer claimed he would not be prosecuted. Worse, though, has been his response to the environment, COVID-19, racism, plus his general corruption is killing people.

“You shall not commit adultery.” He seems pleased of his marital infidelity and blatantly sexist tendencies.

“You shall not steal.” From his phony charities to his violation of the emoluments clause, he’s always ripping off others. This goes back to when he would burn subcontractors on building contracts.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” He lies at least 23 times a day. And ” he seems impervious to the threat of detection or harsh public opinion.”

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor his wife, his man-servant, his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” He seems to crave the power that dictators have. But he also preoccupied with Barack Obama. He wants his inaugural crowd size, his popular vote victory, and so much more.

I recommend that he actual DO the reading he claims.

Ramblin' with Roger
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