Ax Handles

Virus Waivers:  Trump is moving forward with his rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth. Although he continues to insist that the coronavirus is under control, he knows that’s a lie so he’s now telling all attendees that they’ll  be expected to sign liability waivers acknowledging that they know that participating in large, crowded rallies  increases their chances of coming down with COVID.  Nothing to worry about there, those waivers probably come with a reminder to leave face masks at home as they are so not fashionable in MAGA crowds.  You get sick, it's your problem, no fair suing Trump or the rally organizers.  It's fair to assume that he and the RNC will ask convention delegates to sign similar waivers, that’s the convention that has moved Trump’s acceptance speech from Charlotte, North Carolina to a huge arena in Jacksonville, Florida, another one of those states currently experiencing spiking COVID rates.  Trump’s acceptance speech is scheduled to take place on the 60^th Anniversary of Ax Handle Saturday, a dark day in Jacksonville history when a mob organized by the Ku Klux Klan attacked Black civil rights workers and other Black residents of city as the civil rights workers were staging a sit-in at a white’s only diner.  It’s almost as if  Trump and the RNC organizers are using a white supremacist date planner for guidance on how to most offensively pick locations and dates for rallies and speeches.  Along those lines, Trump went to Dallas yesterday to discuss law enforcement and race relations.  Though he brought along his few Black team members largely for optics, as expected he did not invite Dallas’ three top Black officials. During the televised portion of the meeting, Trump appeared to sitting in his own space bubble but the rest of the crowd on the dais was not, none were appropriately spaced or wearing face coverings, too bad because Texas is still another one of those states where the coronavirus is spiking.  Trump bragged about how well things had gone when the National Guard was deployed in Minneapolis, how they had cut through the demonstrators like a “knife through butter” to “dominate the streets.”  He again attacked suggestions that law enforcement should have any of their funding cut, instead saying that they should get more money so that they can be better trained on how to use force “but with compassion.” Keeping with the race relations theme, earlier in the day, when asked again about changing the names of military bases named after Confederate generals, Trump went on the attack slamming “seriously failed presidential candidate  Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren” for introducing an amendment to the annual defense authorization funding bill that will require that all US military bases named after Confederate generals be renamed in three years.  Despite Trump’s slam, Warren’s amendment passed through the Republican chaired Arms Service Committee with the support of several Republican Senators including Missouri’s Roy Blount who said that he “didn’t have any problem” with the idea while adding that “there’s been lots of great soldiers since the Civil War” whose names could go on forts.” Similarly, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy who generally doesn’t sneeze without Trump’s permission said that he had no problem renaming any of those bases either.  Trump’s press secretary said that he will veto any bill that hits his desk with that “Pocahontas” amendment, which should provide for some interesting fireworks as the defense funding bill usually gets bipartisan support especially in election years.  In other even more notable military news, General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest military official, apologized for taking part in Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square photo op moment, the one that was preceded by the pepper ball/tear gas dispersal of peaceful demonstrators. He said that he shouldn’t have been there as his “presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”  Milley has gotten a lot of criticism from current and former military officials for his participation in the Lafayette mess.  His statement, which was delivered as a message to the troops, came as a surprise to the White House, an indication that military leadership is growing increasingly concerned about Trump’s antics. A number of people, including Democratic candidate Joe Biden have gone on record expressing their concern that Trump won’t leave office if the polls are right and he loses in November.  Their concern might be justified, but if Trump’s hoping that the military will help him stay put, he ought to be paying closer attention, they are signaling otherwise.    

Tweet Delete:  The Lindsey Graham chaired Senate Judiciary Committee isn’t all that focused on any of the current issues affecting the country instead they’re all in on relitigating the past so yesterday, over the objections of committee Democrats the committee authorized Graham to subpoena a bunch of Obama era officials to further investigate the origins of the Russia affair.  By the way Graham appears to be morphing into a Trump clone, he’s now supporting a blonder poufier do and peculiarly orange skin.  Though he remains as white as can be, VP Pence also pulled a fast one yesterday.  He deleted a tweet of a picture of him hanging in close quarters with the Trump/Pence campaign staff in their Virginia office after the twitterverse noted that the crowd size exceeded Virginia’s current virus occupancy rules and that the staffers were neither socially distanced nor wearing masks.  That’s VP Pence, the head of the White House Coronavirus task force, the one that no longer holds public press conferences because the virus, which continues to spread like wild fire, is so over?       

Have a nice weekend but stay safe.  Keep on masking and handwashing.