During this pandemic we have argued over masks, reopening businesses and schools, financial assistance for those who are unemployed and what we should in general be doing to slow the spread of Covid-19. We have shown we can't agree.
But I would hope that there is one thing we could agree on. That is the importance of our children. They are our future. There was something I read in my paper today that caused me to reflect on this. That something was the fact that the United States, under the guidance of Donald Trump, has been sending immigrant children back, alone, to countries they have fled because of the danger that exists there for them.
I know there are those out there who would argue that these children are here illegally and should be sent back to their home countries. I would argue differently, and not just because this practice actually runs counter to our laws. There is a strength in compassion that Donald Trump does not understand. Those children he is deporting are someone's loved ones. But he has exhibited this lack of understanding when it comes to the children here in the United States as well.
His push to open schools without a nuanced plan in place to try to make it as safe as possible for both students and teachers and his willful ignorance of the risk of this virus only shows his lack of empathy and compassion for all of those involved.
Someone once said that children and animals are able to sense who the good people are. I suspect that person was right.
I really do miss the way we were.
63 comments:
"His push to open schools without a nuanced plan in place…"
Trump's push to open schools without a nuanced plan in place will not be allowed to threaten Barron Trump, youngest scion of The Donald.
After some political maneuvering, trying to find whom to blame for the decision, the administration of St. Andrews Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland (Montgomery County) have finally accepted the burden and decided that their private school will open internet only, no in-person classes, until at least the first of the year.
..their private school will open internet only, no in-person classes, until at least the first of the year..
Why doesn't that surprise me?
Meanwhile, while we fumble the virus ball, climate change is still reeking havoc on unsuspecting ice shelves.
The size of Canada's last fully intact ice shelf was reduced by 43% over July 30 and 31 when the Milne Ice Shelf on Ellesmere Island in the northern territory of Nunavut collapsed into the ocean.
This large sheet of ice then drifted into the Arctic Sea, further breaking into two large chunks. This entire calving event -- the scientific term for the breaking of ice chunks off glaciers -- was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel satellite.
Biden's supposed to be unveiling his veep selection this week.
I got no prediction, but if offered proper odds (say three to one) I'd probably bet pick up a modest bet against Kamala Harris.
editing error: …"I'd probably pick up a modest bet against Kamala Harris."
Here's a thought to ponder:
Suppose Trump loses in November and is caused to vacate the White House in January 2021.
He can run for President again.
Will he give up his perch at the head of the Republican Party and his best chance to regain the Presidency in 2024?
The man wants his face on Mount Rushmore(God forbid!), he won't go quietly or permanently.
And now he's signed another executive order that means pretty much nothing because he doesn't have the authority and what he is actually talking about really isn't workable.
If America actually survives Trump and Trumpism we really will have earned the term "American exceptionalism". Because it seems that every other country that has struggled with this kind of incompetence and authoritarianism has slid into the abyss.
Meanwhile Russia is planing soybeans in the Arctic.
planing
planting
I'm almost done with Mary Trump's book. So far there really isn't much new. She goes into family history in the beginning, talking about Donald Trump's father Fred and his influence on his children. It does appear that Trump has always been a pathological liar and was encouraged by his father to inflate his own self importance.
She mentions the lawsuit early on against Trump Management for discrimination in rental policy. Basically they were refusing to rent to Black people. This was the time period that brought in Roy Cohn to the Trump camp.
Btw, I don't know who Biden likes for VP, but I kind of like Susan Rice.
"The man wants his face on Mount Rushmore…"
Real good argument for giving that land back to the Sioux.
I finished Mary Trump's book. It was okay. She basically gave an overview of a rather dysfunctional family. Dysfunctional in an emotional sense and also in their priorities, money being one of them. I think we had already heard about the massive tax fraud by Fred Trump, when he attempted to hide assets, and also the attempt by Donald Trump to cut his siblings out of the will by being declared sole executor.
She makes clear what we, or most of us anyway, know already, that Donald Trump is not really a competent business man and only managed to survive through the machinations of others.
I don't know that I buy the idea that she wrote the book out of spite. She could have done that long ago if that was the case. I think, rather like John Bolton, she was trying to make people understand what Trump is in the run up to the 2020 election.
She didn't go into any dealings Trump may have had with the Russians. She would not be in a position to know. But, she did talk about the ease with which Donald Trump can be manipulated by people such as Putin. Which is something we already knew.
I've been browsing through the reviews of Trump's new executive orders and I've come to the conclusion that Trump is now going to deny the recession, something along the lines of his denial of the continuing coronavirus pandemic. (Yep, this one's a prediction.)
There's nothing he can do about the economic climate. He's not the great deal maker. He's got no shot at putting together something that'll pass Congress. He's not gonna get his Republican Senate to conform to any sort of order he might wish to impose (they think he's toast too). And they're already in the post-Trump presidency mode where they try to strangle the economy and blame it on the Democrat in the White House. (That was pretty much their entire economic program during the Obama years.)
So, for the next three months he's gonna try to pretend the recession away. He'll be telling us that he's already handled it. (Those fabulous executive orders he signed in early August.) And the economic boom has already begun.
November can't come soon enough.
November can't come soon enough.
You can say that again. I only hope the outcome is good.
John Kasich is endorsing Joe Biden and will speak at the Democratic National Convention.
So I had heard. Kasich is scheduled to speak on the opening night.
He's not the only Republican of note who're gonna be publicly backing Biden over Trump before it's over. But, Kasich's hostility to Trump is already well known. What makes his appearance important is the "permission" it will give wavering Republicans to go openly against Trump in November. It'll only take a few of them--Trump's victory in 2016 was a fluke and just barely. It'll only take a few more of them to strip Trump of his electoral college advantage.
(And, the Republican Senate is already treating Trump as dead meat politically. Popular with the "base"; they still have to dance that dance. But he's no longer a power, just a placeholder now.)
Politico: There is a credible Democratic challenge being made to Lindsey Graham's reëlection this year. Graham's still the favorite; he's still ahead in the polling, but the Democratic challenger seems to have a real shot at overtaking him by November (according to Politico).
He's not the only Republican of note who're gonna be publicly backing Biden over Trump before it's over.
The backing of Biden is key. People like John Bolton who insist on voting for someone else other than Biden and think it will help remove Trump from office are not really accomplishing that. Their votes are wasted.
I listened to Kasich speaking on CNN last night and he managed to make it clear that he was not abandoning the Republican Party, just voting to ensure a return to some competency in government. Which is fine. I don't expect people to convert to the Democratic Party. Just to vote to ensure the continuation of our democracy.
There is a credible Democratic challenge being made to Lindsey Graham's reëlection this year. Graham's still the favorite...
Graham was a huge disappointment. If John McCain is looking down at us he must be horrified at Graham's lack of integrity.
The race to watch tonight in Minnesota is Ilhan Omar's reelection bid. She is getting strong opposition. Someone has been throwing money at her opponent.
I voted this morning in person. There was no one there when I went. I didn't expect there to be. It's never busy when I go and not everyone votes in the primary. Although this year mail in voting is up quite a bit because of Covid.
There's usually a short line for primary voting when they first open up. I'm usually one of those few waiting in the short line. This year I waited an hour for the line to clear out, and by an hour later I was the only one there when I went in--although somebody pulled in as I pulled out. Near lunch and mid-to-late afternoon (after normal working hours) they'll get a little bit of a line again (probably--moving the presidential primary up into the early season may have an effect on state primary voting).
It's Kamala Harris as Biden's running mate. I'm fine with that. She is at least an intelligent speaker. That will be so refreshing after listening to Trump for so long.
I suspect most "moderates" (whether or not they affiliate with the Democratic Party) will be "fine" with Harris as Biden's veep selection.
Biden seems to have gone with the "do no harm" school of thought here. That makes sense; he's already clearly out ahead in the race. He doesn't need to shake things up any. Being seen as moderate and steady has been good for him so far. Thus, she was a fairly safe pick. Even more "moderate and steady" from Biden. (And, she was a friend of Beau's, which probably was attractive to Biden.)
The Trump campaign, and the Republican National Committee who are now joined with Team Trump in the campaign to get Trump reëlected, are having a hard time settling on an angle of attack against Kamala Harris. Team Trump wants to brand her as a tool of the radical left-wing, while the RNC is of the opinion that won't work against her any better than it's been working against Biden. The RNC wants to play up her "top cop" résumé from her years as Attorney General in California and to try to create and exploit a break with the Democrats' radical left wing (and the still angry BLM protesters)
They seem to have settled on a compromise for the time being, in labeling her as "Phony Kamala". They can take that either way once they figure out which way they're gonna go with it, assuming they ever figure out which way they're gonna go with it.
On the issue of opening schools. We have closed no schools at all up until 9’th grade during this whole pandemic here in Sweden. So basically everyone up until 16-17 yo have been in school full time for all of it. Deaths? Zero. Our youngest Corona victim is so far a 22 yo with dubious health from before.
Sure you could make the argument that having kids go to school is a liability since they could get infected and then spread the virus to others who might be more at risk. But that closing down schools to keep the kids themselves safe seem overly cautious to say the least.
And you should also in that case factor in the negatives of keeping kids from going to school: their parents might have to stay home, their education might suffer, especially for kids from a not so strong social background where home/distance schooling might be more of a challenge, and their mental health suffering from a lack of socializing. And kids in worse off families with substance abuse or living in poverty are of course the ones who will suffer the most from being deprived of coming to school, where they can usually at least get a meal for the day let alone learn a thing or two.
Closing schools might well be the most damaging over reaction to this virus possible. And you still adamantly support it just because the bad orange man question it it seems to me. BC you for sure don’t seem to rely on science or even acknowledge the results from elsewhere, like Sweden in this case.
"And you still adamantly support it just because the bad
orange man question it it seems to me…"
You seem to have once again confused me with your imaginary friends, Scooter and Nils.
I don't recall Lynnette having taken a position on the closing of elementary schools either.
Not really a lot of people under 50 are at risk at all really. These are our deaths:
x-apple-ql-id://3EC7C07A-9536-4709-9F5C-D7ED03E9115A/x-apple-ql-magic/32EB8E00-C290-44CC-8A21-B138DDE6FEAE.pdf
Thus, she was a fairly safe pick.
Funny you should say that. Don Lemon made the same comment last night. He thought it rather interesting and showed that we have actually come a ways when we would consider a Black woman a safe bet for VP.
The Trump campaign, and the Republican National Committee who are now joined with Team Trump in the campaign to get Trump reëlected, are having a hard time settling on an angle of attack against Kamala Harris.
Yes, well, politicians are always working the angles.
I have heard that the GOP has been working to make sure that Kanye West is able to make it onto some of the ballots for the general election. That seems to be in an effort to siphon Black votes away from Biden/Harris.
So basically everyone up until 16-17 yo have been in school full time for all of it. Deaths? Zero. Our youngest Corona victim is so far a 22 yo with dubious health from before.
The youngest person to die in Minnesota from Covid-19 was 9 months old.
Cases in children rising in the US by 90%. As we have seen spikes in Covid-19 cases here we have also seen a rise in cases in children. According to that article there have been 90 deaths so far. We have also seen younger people develop serious after effects from Covid. Some of our states, like Sweden, have lower rates to be sure, but the US as a whole is still rather mired in a high number of cases.
And you should also in that case factor in the negatives of keeping kids from going to school: their parents might have to stay home, their education might suffer, especially for kids from a not so strong social background where home/distance schooling might be more of a challenge, and their mental health suffering from a lack of socializing. And kids in worse off families with substance abuse or living in poverty are of course the ones who will suffer the most from being deprived of coming to school, where they can usually at least get a meal for the day let alone learn a thing or two.
All of these are very valid concerns, which is why this is so difficult. If we could be sure that those students who return to school would follow proper protocol, such as wearing masks and keeping social distancing, it might make this an easier decision. But we have seen already where those who have returned to school have caused a virus outbreak, such as the school in Georgia.
Closing schools might well be the most damaging over reaction to this virus possible. And you still adamantly support it just because the bad orange man question it it seems to me.
My problem with Trump stems from his strong arm tactic to try to force colleges and universities to reopen by threatening to deport any international students who were not in class. He has also threatened to cut off funding for schools if they did not reopen.
Trump has not only not followed the science he has flown in the face of it in his bid for reelection. The only thing he cares about is himself.
I would like to add that perhaps the scenarios that Sweden and the US are experiencing are different due to the actual viral load within each country. I don't know, that is something the experts will have to decide years down the road.
Ilhan Omar won the primary against her challenger by double digits.
I wonder if her constituents are really that radical, or if they maybe just resent Trump's efforts to demonize one of their own.
Lynnette:
“ All of these are very valid concerns, which is why this is so difficult. If we could be sure that those students who return to school would follow proper protocol, such as wearing masks and keeping social distancing,”
That’s not what I mean at all. The under 17 yo students in Sweden have gone to school just as they normally do. No distancing and for sure no ridiculous face masks. Every person in Sweden below the age of 17 have been going about their lives just as before Corona. BC they are not at risk from this flu. And NOT ONE SINGLE DEATH speaks otherwise.
Wearing masks? It’s just moronic posturing. There is NO evidence it even helps, at all. The one thing we need to do is to keep infected away from the elderly or the chronically ill. Every healthy person might as well get and get it over with.
I wonder if her constituents are really that radical, or if they maybe just resent Trump's efforts to demonize one of their own.
It's kind of hard to think of Minnesotans as radical, but you never know...
The under 17 yo students in Sweden have gone to school just as they normally do.
I'm happy that has worked for Sweden, Marcus. Unfortunately it hasn't here. We can't go back we can only go forward.
Every healthy person might as well get and get it over with.
We have had many supposedly healthy people contract Covid and have bad outcomes. So I can't say that I would recommend that as a strategy.
Wearing masks? It’s just moronic posturing. There is NO evidence it even helps, at all.
I disagree with this. Masks have proven effective in other countries. They are a cheap action anyone can take to help contain the spread of Covid.
"The under 17 yo students in Sweden have gone to school just as
they normally do."
Given that the rest of Swedish society is making minimal efforts, if any, to avoid contracting the virus, that would seem to be the logical thing for "under 17 yo students in Sweden" to do. No point in having only the children doing the "social distancing" protocols.
In a situation where the society is actually trying to limit the spread of the virus the Swedish approach, clustering school children during the day and then dispersing them through the society in the evening, would make considerably less sense. The kids would pass the virus among themselves and then take the virus home to their adults, which counters the efforts to otherwise limit the spread of the virus.
"I have heard that the GOP has been working to make sure that Kanye
West is able to make it onto some of the ballots for the general election."
This may backfire on them. There are preliminary polling data which indicate that West is taking his vanishingly small percentage of young black male voters mostly from the slightly larger percentage of black male voters who're otherwise inclined to vote for Trump. (Trump got like 8% of the black vote in 2016 and was on target to get maybe just a little less than that this time.)
This Corona virus is marginally worse than the yearly flu. In Sweden we currently have lower death rates than usual. This is bc Corona finished off people who were dying already a few months sooner than they would’ve died otherwise. So now that those premature deaths are done we actually have a lower mortality rate this year compared to last year.
So what your lockdown does is it keeps mortally Ill patients or the old on the verge of dying alive for a (in many cases agonizing) few more months. And you pay for that w an economic collapse that’ll affect millions and disrupting the education of a generation.
Sure you got that right?
"And you pay for that w an economic collapse that’ll affect
millions and disrupting the education of a generation."
You misunderstand our situation. We already paid with an economic collapse. The initial lock-down already broke the economic growth cycle that was begun under Obama and continued (albeit slowed slightly) under Trump. The economy shut down already. The schools already closed during the last "academic year". We already paid that price.
The problem is, we didn't get what we paid for. (This is a common situation for those who deal with Trump.) The federal government is hardly more ready to deal with the coronavirus than they were back in January. Trump's preferred approach is still to pretend it away rather than to deal with it.
There are preliminary polling data which indicate that West is taking his vanishingly small percentage of young black male voters mostly from the slightly larger percentage of black male voters who're otherwise inclined to vote for Trump.
That does make more sense when you think about it. Kanye West was a Trump supporter so those who supported Trump would gravitate towards him rather than those who don't care for Trump.
Trump's preferred approach is still to pretend it away rather than to deal with it.
Living in a fantasy world has always been his approach, aided by his Father. As president he has been aided by the Republicans. And those who aren't paying much attention.
MotherJones has an article on the power, and the abuse of power, wielded for decades by the Police Officers’ Federation of Minneapolis.
I don't find any of it particularly shocking; way too much of this stuff goes on around the country. But, I'm not gonna vouch for its accuracy in the specific case of Minneapolis.
Moderately long, but you'll probably find it interesting reading.
I checked the TV schedules for next week. The Democratic National Convention gets one hour a night for four nights--Monday through Thursday--nine to ten Central Daylight Time. I think that'll be quite sufficient, plenty 'nuff for me anyway. #NeverTrump
Lee:
“ MotherJones has an article on the power, and the abuse of power, wielded for decades by the Police Officers’ Federation of Minneapolis.”
I’m not gonna side on any side w regards to that. Yes I abhor brutal policing but then again it cant be easy being a cop in America. Kind of like a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.
Myself I know I could nor should ever work in law enforcement. I don’t have the right mindset for it.
If I was a cop on the beat and I arrested some delingquit for a random crime and they, say, spat in my face, then I would probably go overboard with retaliation.
If I was a homocide detective and had to be first on the scene to withness the dead body of a young girl who was raped and murdered, well I wouldn’t be able to tune that out when I was off duty. Self medication with pills and alcohol would likely follow.
Being a cop is a tough job, I could never do it and do it well.
NBCNews: Rather than ask the Trump administration or Congress for the resources necessary to do the job, the U.S. Postal Service has quietly "warned" various states (states where Trump is not expected to preform well in November) that the Postal Service will likely not be able to deal with the expected volume of mail-in ballots for the November Presidential election, at least not in those states where Trump can be expected to lose to Biden.
This was probably not supposed to become public knowledge until after the election.
Gonna correct the above ↑↑. I see that the USPS has sent similar "warnings" to Utah and North Carolina, where Trump could be expected to preform quit well, and to Ohio, where Trump can be expected to preform well enough.
Severe weather moving through.
Moderately long, but you'll probably find it interesting reading.
I did. I had read other articles about the same thing so am not surprised.
Unions have proven in the past that they can help workers who have little recourse on their own to fight unfair labor practices. However, unions, like other groups, can become corrupted by those who seek power. The police union seems to be a perfect example of the latter.
The Democratic National Convention gets one hour a night for four nights--Monday through Thursday--nine to ten Central Daylight Time. I think that'll be quite sufficient, plenty 'nuff for me anyway. #NeverTrump
Unlike other years I will also probably be tuning in. There are a number of speakers on the schedule that I would like to hear. I rather like that they are limiting it to one hour each night. Rather than a long marathon in one night.
#NeverTrump
Being a cop is a tough job, I could never do it and do it well.
It is indeed. While I know there are good cops out there who are dedicated to doing a good job for the people, there are also those who fall under that statement. They just can't see it. Sometimes, like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder.
I later noticed that PBS was running the Democratic convention three hours a night, seven to ten CDT. But the major networks are going with the short version. I may watch the three hour version on the last night, Thursday, on the assumption that Biden and Harris will both give their acceptance speeches that night.
Rather than ask the Trump administration or Congress for the resources necessary to do the job, the U.S. Postal Service has quietly "warned" various states (states where Trump is not expected to preform well in November) that the Postal Service will likely not be able to deal with the expected volume of mail-in ballots...
They had actually removed some of the mail boxes in some areas. They said it was routine, moving boxes from less frequented areas to higher traffic areas. After the press got wind of it they stopped.
For those who are concerned about voting in person, they should be given the option of curbside voting, which is an option in some places. It should be an option at all polling places.
Dang it, I see one of the videos disappeared. I wish they would just make them unavailable to blogs right away. *sigh*
Part of our police problem is the way we train the police. I've noticed that in a lot of the cases where charges are brought against individual cops (not that a lot of cases are actually brought against cops, not enough anyway) their defense often is that their excessive response conforms to their training, and their lawyers can too often cite chapter and verse in the training manuals to support that defense.
Now, defense lawyers, all lawyers for that matter, are infamous for taking things out of context. But, even so, there's too much truth to those defenses. We seriously need to quit arming and training our civilian police as if they were soldiers whose job it was to overwhelm and suppress a restive, defeated enemy force.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Further investigation reveals that the USPS, in apparent anticipation of their "warnings" being made public, has sent out a secondary batch of warnings to pick up on just about every American jurisdiction, now including 46 out of the 50 states (so far).
"They had actually removed some of the mail boxes in some areas."
They have also selectively and very quietly removed, entirely decommissioned and removed, automatic mail handling production lines--taking the automatic sorting machinery away to wherever it was they were "storing" it. Thus making sure they could not be fired back up in time to help handle the expected influx of pre-addressed, machine-friendly election return envelopes.
Lynnette:
“ While I know there are good cops out there who are dedicated to doing a good job for the people, there are also those who fall under that statement.”
For sure. But we need police so we need people who are stable enough to go into policing. And I have already admitted I would not be a stable and good police officer myself, as I acknowledge they run up on situations I myself would maybe handle poorly.
So what do you do? Well in Sweden the police academy runs for at least 3 years. That might be a starting point. Educate police more and then of course you would have to compensate for that with higher wages. Just a thought.
Lee C might actually be good cop material. A droll guy who goes by the book and treats everyone the same. Probably slow on the trigger too, since he’d only shoot if the shooting was necessary.
Yeah, Lee might make an excellent cop.
(And I really do say that as a compliment)
... their defense often is that their excessive response conforms to their training...
Educate police more and then of course you would have to compensate for that with higher wages.
Yes, I have read other opinions which center around police training being the problem, or at least part of it. Obviously, if the person has racist viewpoints then he/she will always have issues. But for your average cop good training will help to prevent some of the excessive force that seems to be so prevalent. Training police officers in the "warrior" culture of the military isn't going to make them more effective police officers.
Word's going around Washington that Nancy Pelosi is contemplating bringing the House back into session early to deal specifically with legislation to provide emergency cash infusions into the U.S. Postal Service (and some anti-meddling measures as well).
Currently the House isn't set to return until 14 September 2020, but Pelosi may bring them back to vote on emergency legislation before the first of the month.
This will piss off Trump, and probably McConnell as well, and they'll try hard to not coöperate. But, if she can get something drawn up that she thinks she can get to pass in the House, I don't think she'll let the Republicans' lack of enthusiasm for democracy prevent her from bringing her troops back to pass it. (It'd probably make the Republicans look bad if they resisted it too diligently in the run-up to the election--another reason for Pelosi to want to pass it.)
We need more people like Pelosi who are willing to stand up for democracy.
Lee: “ Part of our police problem is the way we train the police. I've noticed that in a lot of the cases where charges are brought against individual cops (not that a lot of cases are actually brought against cops, not enough anyway) their defense often is that their excessive response conforms to their training, and their lawyers can too often cite chapter and verse in the training manuals to support that defense.”
Probably you should stop sending cop instructors over to Israel to learn from the IDF then. BC that’s where that knee on the neck tactics stem from. Your cops are taught it. And I guess it’s perfectly OK for you when the IDF does that to Palestinians but not when cops do it to civilians in the USA. So maybe stop using occupying military tactics in your civil policing?
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/minnesota-cops-trained-israeli-forces-restraint-techniques
"Probably you should stop sending cop instructors over to
Israel to learn from the IDF…."
Doesn't really matter where they learned it.
"We seriously need to quit arming and training our civilian
police as if they were soldiers…"
Lee C. @ Fri Aug 14, 10:54 pm ↑↑
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