A Presidency And A Country Unmasked

As the United States commemorates 244 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there's not much to celebrate.  Cases and deaths from the coronavirus outbreak continue to spike, causing several states and cities to rethink easing restrictions, which had been originally done due to political pressure.  There is also a national conversation of sorts over the way certain members of law enforcement treat Black people.  Presiding over all this is President Donald Trump, who just told us that this is what we have to live with.

To date (7/3/20), the U.S. leads the world in the number of people getting sick and dying from COVID-19, and it is likely to spike further if people don't start wearing masks.  But Trump wishes it would all go away, because it puts a crimp in his re-election plans.  He doesn't wear a mask, claims to have been checked for the virus every day (which is easy for him to say since we don't know his medical history), and undercuts his coronavirus task force whenever possible (need a reason why Dr. Anthony Fauci isn't on TV much any more?).

Recently, the President went to Tulsa, Oklahoma to relive the good old days of his barnstorming political tour, only to go home with new cases of covid among his staff and a half-empty arena full of people with no masks and hardly any social distancing.

Elsewhere, loyalty is still a big deal to the President.  It's why Attorney General William Barr runs interference for him, sacking those who get too close to the truth about Trump's alleged misdeeds.  It's also why former aide John Bolton and niece Mary Trump were threatened with lawsuits on national security grounds over unflattering books they wrote, but are being published anyway.

Befriending dictators has always been a priority for Trump.  In spite of reports that Russian president Vladimir Putin offered bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan, Trump--who's also been roasted by critics for watching Fox News instead of reading classified briefings--brushes them off as a "hoax".  He can't afford to offend Putin if he wants to be re-elected.

Even the Supreme Court has been turning on Trump, despite its conservative majority.  They ruled against the President on LGTBQs losing their jobs because of their sexual orientation, and for eliminating protections for "Dreamers" threatened with deportation.  How the justices really feel about Trump will be determined when they eventually rule on releasing his tax returns.

Trump likes to be the star of the show, and no amount of racial insensitivity or killer virus is going to stop him from being in the limelight.  It's why the Republican party bent over backwards (as they have so many times in the past few years) to accomodate the President by moving portions of its convention from Charlotte, NC to Jacksonville, FL, so he can accept his party's nomination in a sold-out arena without bothering with masks or social distancing.

Unfortunately, the GOP convention in late August also coincides with the anniversary of a racial incident in Jacksonville 60 years ago, in which Blacks protesting segregation were attacked by whites with ax handles.  Not that Trump cares about any of that local historical stuff, mind you.

We know Trump wants to keep America safe, so he issues executive orders to protect statues and names of military bases that had something to do with the side that lost the Civil War.  Or turn a blind eye to those in law enforcement who don't believe Black lives matter, and that the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Elijah McClain in Colorado and others were a means to an end.

Much of 2020 so far has been a complete blur, from the President's failed removal from office to the millions infected with a virus that he took too long to deal with.  Donald Trump's leadership (or lack thereof) is driving this country into the ground, and most Americans can't wait until November to vote him out.  Oh, he'll eventually wear a mask.  But it will be used to commit highway robbery at the polls, ensuring himself of another four years (or so) in the White House.  Just like he did in 2016.

Happy Fourth of July.

George Floyd: The Aftermath

It's been more than a week since a Minneapolis police officer was recorded kneeing the life out of George Lloyd, an African American man who was charged with trying to pass a fake $20 bill to pay for groceries, as three of his fellow officers stood by.

What has happened since--the nationwide uprisings of peaceful demonstrations, the agitators who clashed with police and burned down neighborhoods, and the curfews that have resulted from them--have been the reaction to Lloyd's death and to police brutality in general..  Even places where you wouldn't expect this sort of thing:  Fargo, North Dakota and Salt Lake City, Utah are among those that have had disturbances of their own.

There have been two different autopsies of Floyd's death that have been made public, both of which have ruled the matter a homicide.  Hennepin County's medical examiner reported "cardiopulmonary arrest" as one account of what happened to Floyd, while his family"s independent autopsy said he was asphyxiated.

Minnesota's attorney general Keith Ellison has taken over prosecution of the case, in which he has immediately made headlines.  The arresting officer who was seen in the video, Derek Chauvin, had his charges upgraded from third to second degree murder.  The three who were with him were all charged with aiding and abetting.  The Minneapolis Police Department has fired them all. Usually, charges like these are not made so quickly.

As peaceful demonstrations under the banner of Black Lives Matter descended into clashes with police and National Guard troops and looting in major cities, people started wondering where was President Donald Trump and what kind of leadership (if any) he was going to provide.  The answer was yes and no.  On the night of June 7, as demonstrators stood at the doorstep of the White House, the President went into a secure location and the lights were turned off.  The next evening, fifteen minutes before a citywide curfew in Washington went into effect, Trump announced that as the "law and order" President he would sic the military on the protestors and other radical groups (whom he called "thugs") if the states didn't do it themselves.

Then, as demonstrators and others were being cleared by force, Trump made his way to a nearby church to pose for a photo with a Bible in his hand.  Authoritarian as his actions were, it shouldn't surprise anyone who have always believed religion equals politics.

Journalists have also become targets of those police who actually believe that they're the "enemy of the people".  Those who are trying their damndest to cover the protests at great personal risk have been arrested and/or accosted by authorities who took their cues from Tiananmen Square.  The Chinese couldn't be prouder.

How this turns out will depend on whether Chauvin and his fellow officers are convicted or not by a jury.  If past history serves, there's a good chance they might be let go on a technicality.  If that's true, then all hell will break loose.  There will also be efforts to weed out the bad cops by dismantling the system in which they now work.  While it's true not every police officer or soldier is a "bad actor", they are also not your friends.  We do not thank them for their service at this time.

Whether we are affected by the actions of authorities of authorities, we seem to be caught in the middle about how to react.  On the one hand, we are told to speak up because "silence is acceptance".  But if we do speak up, we risk being branded as anti-American traitors or worse.  So what do you want from us?  Whatever happened to just listening?  We want to understand why, after 400-odd years of American history, it's still hard out there for an African American.  And we want to know what we can do about it.

We can't assume that George Floyd, Philandro Castile, Breonna Taylor and others whose lives once and continue to matter would have wanted any of this happening in their name.  We do know that we need to change so that history doesn't keep repeating itself.

COVID-19 and George Floyd: Is This The New Normal, Or Just The Same Old One?

In only a few weeks, more than 102,000 people in the United States have died due to COVID-19, also known as coronavirus.  It is a grim milestone made worse by White House indifference, disagreement over how to handle treatment, and state-mandated stay-at-home orders being eased under political pressure to open up a locked-down economy that's thrown millions out of work.

This rush to get back to what is considered normal got sidetracked on Memorial Day in a Minneapolis neighborhood.  An African-American man named George Floyd was arrested by police for allegedly trying to pay for groceries with a counterfeit $20 bill.  He was also unarmed. Instead of simply taking Floyd into custody, arresting officer Derek Chauvin (who is white) was seen on video taking a knee to the back of Floyd's neck.  He was heard complaining that he couldn't breathe.  After nine minutes of this, Floyd died.  Chauvin and the three other officers with him were all fired.  On May 29, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third degree murder and manslaughter.

Viruses may have changed the way we live, but not how African-Americans have been treated through the centuries by those who have felt threatened by their presence.  In the past few weeks alone:

• Ahmoud Arbery was shot and killed as he was jogging through a Georgia neighborhood in February.  It took until May to charge two white men with his murder. 
• Christian Cooper, who was bird-watching in New York's Central Park, confronted a white woman named Amy Cooper about letting her dog run loose.  She responded by calling 911 on him.  She has since apologized, but not before losing her job and her dog due to the negative publicity surrounding this.

Meanwhile, back in Minneapolis, the death of Floyd sent shock waves throughout Minnesota and the world.  This isn't the first time the Twin Cities have gotten up in arms about tragic incidents between unarmed citizens and cops who should have known better.  Remember what happened to Jamar Clark, Philandro Castile and Justine Ruszczyk?  And all the others who got similar treatment, but without the benefit of cameras rolling?

This time, in addition to the peaceful protests of Black Lives Matter and others, they were joined on the streets and highways of Minneapolis and St. Paul by those who saw an opportunity to plunder and destroy all they saw.  Big box stores were looted.  Neighborhood businesses, many of them minority-owned, were in flames.  Dozens of other stores and public transportation suspended their operations. It all culminated with demonstrators setting fire to the Minneapolis police department's Third Precinct building, a symbol of cops who have gone rogue.

Contrast that to state capitals (Lansing, MI and St. Paul, MN come to mind) being overrun by flag-waving, gun-toting, overwhelmingly white (and maskless) individuals heeding President Donald Trump's call to "liberate" their states from stay-at-home restrictions.  With police presence friendly and at a minimum, they demanded the right to get haircuts and having beers with friends inside their favorite watering hole.

Health experts tell us that the number of COVID-19 patients will likely spike because of all this protesting. Despite pleas from local officials to mask up and stay six feet apart, it's unlikely anyone cares about social distancing right now.

Of course, President Trump felt the need to weigh in on Twitter like he does on just about every other issue.  Taking a break from threatening social media for checking up on him and accusing MSNBC talk show host Joe Scarborough of murder, he called the protestors "thugs" (which is now considered a racial slur) and implied that looters could be shot.

After a slow start, state and local leaders are starting to wake up to the situation and called for peace.  Before the Chauvin arrest was announced, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called out the National Guard to patrol the streets, then apologized to CNN for having arrested an African-American reporter and his crew as they were on TV covering the disturbance.

The cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and surrounding areas have imposed curfews lasting from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and possibly beyond.

This is 2020.  Everyone's lives are in danger because of a virus that has become more unpredictable and deadly as time goes along.  There is another virus that has been going around for centuries, and that's racism.  No matter how many strides African Americans and other nonwhite citizens have made, the dominant culture has continued to treat them like second-class citizens or worse.  There are no vaccines for either of them.  We have to do what we can with what we've got to survive.

"We're All In This Together". Really?

In these challenging (difficult, unprecedented, uncertain, trying, etc.) times, we decided it's time for some random thoughts on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  Remember, this can't last forever, right?

• First, the numbers as of May 1.  Around the world, there have been 3.2 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, 234 thousand are dead, and more than one million have recovered.  In the United States, there have been more than one million confirmed cases, 64 thousand have died, and 134 thousand have recovered.
• Despite predictions from people who should know these things that the virus could last for another year or two, state and federal leaders are making plans to reopen their economies in an attempt to get back to some form of "normalcy".  Millions of jobs have been lost due to the "stay at home" mandates, forcing most to work from home, and there's no guarantee of returning to their place of employment once they're allowed to. Some people are rebelling against these closures, whether or not they've been egged on by President Donald Trump as a way to gain political advantage in an election year, or jamming public places when they're not supposed to.
• Speaking of Trump, the GOP seems to be worried that the antics of the President during this crisis might cost them the Senate and the White House come November. Whether it's turning your daily press briefings into an unwatchable version of your traveling road show, not taking coronavirus seriously in the weeks leading up to the pandemic, defunding the World Health Organization because you think they're covering up for China, or suggesting that drinking bleach and disinfectants might kill the virus (which does nothing but provide employment for poison control hotlines), the Republicans have a right to be concerned.  But it's been four years, and there's not much they can do about it now.
• Now that Bernie Sanders is out of the picture, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden can bask in the warmth of belated endorsements from party heavyweights like Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, his former boss Barack Obama and Sanders himself while sitting in exile watching Trump stumble.  But there is the small problem of refuting claims from former staff assistant Tara Reade that she was sexually assaulted when Biden was a U.S. Senator back in 1993.  It won't affect his nomination, but this does leave the voters making a choice between two men who need to social distance themselves from the nearest female they don't personally know.
• Voters are growing more leery of standing in line at their polling places, waiting for their chance to pull the lever.  Especially if the person in front of or behind them shouldn't be there if they're sick.  That's why there's a move to make voting by mail more accessible to everybody in time for this fall's elections. It's a great idea for Democrats.  Not so much for Republicans, who are more interested in restricting the vote to keep their kind in.  There has to be a better way to vote, right?
• In Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz' "stay at home" mandate (which has been extended to May 18) has been mostly successful in keeping the COVID-19 spread and the death rate down compared to other states--it has been mostly confined to senior living facilities.  But cases are bound to spike once testing ramps up as the Governor is under political pressure to open the state's economy.
• The Class of 2020 is becoming a lost generation with schools closed for the duration, except for learning online at home under the watchful eye of parents.  That means no graduation, no proms, no more hanging out with friends, etc. What, pray tell, are you going to say to your future kids and grandkids (should you have any) about this time in your lives?
• As for the rest of us, we should all get used to (A) washing our hands a lot, (B) staying the hell away from each other, and (C) wearing masks in public, if you don't mind looking like a bank robber or a gang member.  Think of the doctors, nurses, so-called "first responders", grocery store attendants, delivery people, pizza drivers and others who bust their butts on the front lines while you sit at home binge-watching Netflix.  It's like the days after 9/11 when soldiers and firefighters were getting all the applause while Muslims, through no fault of their own, were being villified for the actions of a few.

Because we're all in this together.  Right?

In Sickness and In Politics, Part 2

This is how the 2020s begin.  A rampant worldwide plague called coronavirus aka COVID-19, begun in China, has been taking a deadly tool for the past few weeks.  The approximate numbers as of March 26:

Worldwide (from worldmeters.info)                         U.S. (from worldmeters.info)

530,000 cases                                                                83,000 cases
23,000 deaths                                                               1209 deaths
123,000 recoveries                                                       1800 recoveries

Life as we used to know it has shut down in many places.  Businesses, except for the most essential ones, are closed.  Sports, entertainment and other events have either been postponed or canceled.  "Social distancing" and "community spread" have become part of the language.  The economy has cratered, leaving thousands out of work and many others working from home.

Some city and state officials have adopted "stay at home" mandates as a way of maybe keeping the spread of the virus at bay.  They have become far more trustworthy so far than the federal government, who seemed to have been asleep at the switch in the weeks since the crisis began.  There has been little to no planning when it came to getting tests ready, providing enough masks and ventilators to hospitals, quarantining already sick patients, etc.  Reportedly, some U.S. Senators have been taking advantage of the situation by dumping their stocks in certain firms.

Much of the blame has fallen on President Donald Trump.  He's cut the budget and the research of federal health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control.  He's blamed the virus as a hoax perpetrated by China and the Democratic Party, refers to himself as the "wartime president", and claims he can get America back to work by Easter.

Trump has also pretty much muzzled his staff when it comes to the seriousness of the pandemic, with the notable exception of Dr. Anthony Faudi.  As director of the National Institute of Allergy and as a member of the President's coronavirus task force, he is one of the few officials willing to give people  credible, straightforward information that lacks it.

Unfortunately, Trump is having a star turn right now with his daily news briefings.  Bereft of his bloviating political rallies, the President has been using valuable network air time to (A) misinform and downplay the nature of the situation, (B) making snide comments about his opponents, and (C) ripping into an NBC reporter who dared to ask if had any encouraging words for the American people.  This is what he's been doing for years, so why stop now?  Faced with the dilemma of having to cover a president with an attitude at the worst possible time in history, the networks now just cover Trump's opening remarks before returning us to regular programming.

While America and most of the world stays at home for however long it takes for COVID-19 to pass, we know this:  the number of cases and the death toll WILL rise.  Hospitals WILL be overwhelmed.  Governments, in spite of themselves, WILL come up with some kind of solution.  For now, we can all hope for the best and expect the worst.

In Sickness and In Politics

There's a health crisis going on that's been killing more than three thousand people worldwide (11 in the United States) as of March 4, and changing the way we live.  It's called coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.  Every day brings another death, another crackdown, and another run on hand sanitizer and face masks.  The times demand someone who will lead us through this emergency that experts believe will get worse before it gets better.  Someone who will handle this crisis in a calm and reassuring manner, and not turn this into a power play.

Enter President Donald Trump, a man who disdains science and much of reality.  His approach to crisis management is to downplay the situation, then blame it on Democrats and the "fake news media", which is what he does with most everything else.  Instead of having experts front and center on his task force, he names Vice President Mike Pence to micromanage what information on the virus needs to be released.

Trump has already gutted the resources of federal health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control during his administration, thereby weakening their effectiveness in getting a handle on coronavirus and other diseases.  The result is confusion about what to do other than washing your hands like a surgeon and not touching you face.

Meanwhile, the race to see which Democrat gets the honor of trying to compete against the fire-breathing dragon named Trump continues.  Through the first couple of primaries and caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont led a gaggle of candidates in the polls with his fiery brand of socialism that appealed to mostly younger voters who weren't much interested in the moderate influences of the others.  But there was a problem.  The Democratic party seemed uncomfortable with the idea of an aging socialist at the top of their ticket, one who thought Fidel Castro wasn't such a bad leader because he introduced a reading program shortly after taking control of Cuba.  To most Americans, three decades after the Cold War ended, socialism still equaled communism.

Then something incredible happened.  Joe Biden, Barack Obama's former vice president and front-runner who had been lost in the shuffle of Ukraine-gate accusations and so-so debate performances, won the South Carolina primary through the support of African-American voters and others who didn't care much for Sanders.  The waters parted.  Fellow moderates Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg had exited the race and threw their support toward Biden.  Super Tuesday was just that for him, taking more states who had primaries that day than Sanders did.  A day later, Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who spent millions of his own money on TV ads and had only American Samoa to show for it, gave up and endorsed Biden.  Elizabeth Warren is still in the race as we speak.

The delegate count as of March 4 (according to CNN) reads like this:  Biden with 509, Sanders with 449, and Warren with 37.  1,991 delegates are needed before the Democratic presidential nomination can be claimed at their convention in Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, Trump is preening toward a second term, crisis or not.  And possibly a third, if he and Senator Mitch McConnell can find a loophole to a law that's been in place since Republicans passed it to prevent another Franklin Roosevelt wannabe from making the White House his permanent home.

The race for president goes on. The race to survive a possible killer virus goes on too.  President Trump has a chance to show what kind of leader he can be in a crisis situation, just in time for him to make his case to the voters in November, or else he will be replaced.  That is, those voters who survive the virus by then.

UPDATE (3/6/2020):  It is now a race between three old men in their 70s.  Elizabeth Warren, the last remaining Democratic candidate who is a woman (unless you count Tulsi Gabbard, a congresswoman from Hawaii), has dropped out.  Which means that either America still isn't ready for a female president, or the presence of That Man In The White House required Democrats to get someone who's at least as well known and can be counted on to garner more male support than Hillary Clinton ever did.  Stupid reasons, yes, but understandable given the circumstances.

"Parasite" Makes Oscar History, And Other Weirdness

In a year when people complained about the lack of women directors and actors of color nominated for the Academy Awards, the 92nd edition Sunday bestowed four of its Oscars to a South Korean film called "Parasite".

"Parasite", a dramatic study of class discrimination between a rich and poor family that critics went nuts over, won Oscars for Best International film, original screenplay, and a directing nod for Bong Joon Ho.  Most importantly, it was the first non-English speaking film to win for Best Picture.

Of the other major categories, Joaquin Phoenix took home the Best Actor Oscar for "Joker".  He was much more interested in talking about animal rights, his late brother River, and other things than his role in yet another R-rated comic book movie in his acceptance speech.

Renee Zellweger won her Best Actress Oscar for channeling Judy Garland in a film depicting the last year of her life, then told the audience that maybe Garland deserved more from the Academy than an honorary statue as a teenager for playing Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz"?

Brad Pitt won a Supporting Actor Oscar for "Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood", remarked that the Academy gave him 45 seconds to say his thank-yous, which is more than John Bolton got during the Senate impeachment trial.  Then Pitt used more than his 45 seconds because he's Brad Pitt.

Like Zellweger, Laura Dern waited a long time to earn an Oscar after years in the business.  She won a Supporting Actress honor for her role in the Netflix movie "Marriage Story".

The second consecutive hostless Oscarcast ran three and a half hours on ABC, which drew 23.6 million viewers, the lowest total ever.  They should have known that following the Golden Globes, Grammys and the Super Bowl on consecutive Sunday nights must have contributed to all that viewer fatigue.  Other insights:

• There must have been a good reason why Eminem was brought out to perform "Lose Yourself", a 2003 song that was included in the film "8 Mile".  ABC bleeped out half the lyrics.  Some audience members were confused, but got into it.  Maybe it's because the nominees for Best Original Song weren't exactly memorable?  Bernie Taupin, Elton John's longtime lyricist, won for "I'm Gonna Love Me Again".  It came from "Rocketman", John's biopic, which he performed on the show.
• The Oscars and other awards shows seem to have contracted the disease of presenters presenting other presenters, which is another outgrowth of not having a host.
• Former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle are also Oscar winners.  Their production company was responsible for "American Factory", which won for best feature-length documentary.