Storm Clouds Everywhere

Alternative Realities:  The Republicans went on with their convention last night. They continued to assert that Trump has brilliantly wrestled the coronavirus into submission, driving that point home by failing to adhere to social distancing and face masking precautions while talking about the pandemic in the past tense.  In an effort to lure white suburban women back into the fold, Trump rolled out some more of his women, including such Hatch Act violators as the soon to leave the White House Kellyanne Conway and Press Secretary Kayleigh “I’ll never lie to you” McEnany. He also gave a time slot to Kristi Noem, the South Dakota Governor/virus truther whose state’s Sturgis motorcycle rally is now seeding cases of COVID around the country as well as a few more people of color, including Jack Brewer, the former Eagles Football player recently charged with insider trading, because what’s another thief among friends. To be clear Trump’s Black “friends” wasn’t there to convince other Blacks that Trump is worthy of their votes, rather they were there to convince those key, on the fence white women that Trump isn’t quite the bigot that most know he is. VP Pence, who was later joined by Trump and Melania, delivered his nomination acceptance speech in front of an un-distanced, unmasked and largely untested audience at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry.  Of course Pence went all in on Trump’s LAW & ORDER message, attacking Joe Biden as a radical, police hater, that’s the same Joe Biden that the Republican party is also blaming for his earlier support for a “too harsh” crime bill.  While the Republican crowd was busy filling the air with lies and virus infused aerosol droplets, Hurricane Laura was slamming the gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas and outrage over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin that was followed by the subsequent killing of two others by Kyle Rittenhouse, an assault rifle toting white 17 year old, was raining down on the rest of us.  As to Rittenhouse the demented Trump fanboy who had a front row seat at Trump’s January rally Des Moines Iowa, last night Fox pundit Tucker Carlson, defended his murderous actions saying “Kenosha has devolved into anarchy because the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it….so are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder? How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?”  For the record authorities didn’t abandon Kenosha, they were out in force, although they didn’t appear to view Rittenhouse as a threat even after he mowed down his victims.  Moreover saying Rittenhouse “had to” defend the city is a call out to white supremacists everywhere to grab your guns, the race war is on.  Compare Carlson’s call to arms to the emotional words delivered by LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers who said “All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear. We're the ones getting killed. We're the ones getting shot. We're the ones that we're denied to live in certain communities. We've been hung. We've been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear….. It's amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back. It's really so sad. Like, I should just be a coach. I'm so often reminded of my color. It's just really sad. We got to do better. But we got to demand better. It's funny. We protest. They send riot guards. They send people in riot outfits. They go up to Michigan with guns. They're spitting on cops. Nothing happens." In protest of the Kenosha shootings, a number of sports teams and leagues cancelled games yesterday in response to their players “had enough” message.  At least for now there will be no NBA basketball playoffs, no WNBA games and a few less baseball games. Beyond tweeting that he was sending the National Guard to maintain LAW & ORDER in Wisconsin, Trump and his acolytes had little to say about the shooting of Jacob Blake or the murders by Rittenhouse although local police appear to want us to be outraged over the fact that Blake admitted to having a knife in his car, as if that justified shooting him in the back seven times.  In contrast, both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did speak to the Blake family and Biden released a video calling for the end of the needless violence but their statements were mostly drowned out by the RNC and the hurricane and given the tense climate and the message from the White house, the one amplified on Fox and abetted by Facebook where calls for white militias to come to Kenosha were posted, their statement probably isn’t going to accomplish much. Getting back to the RNC White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says concerns about the Hatch Act violations are overblown because nobody outside of the Beltway cares if everyone in the White House is breaking the law and former DNI/Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who in addition to insisting that his presence on team Trump is proof that Trump is a gay rights advocate, says that he watched Trump charm German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that’s the Merkel who barely hides her disdain for Trump. Maybe it’s fair to assume that Grenell’s not the best judge of character?    

Et Cetera:  Another former Homeland Security Official, lifelong Republican Elizabeth Neumann, who served as  Assistant Secretary for Threat Prevention and Security Policy,  has come out against Trump.  Saying that “We will continue to be less safe as long as Trump is in control,” she said she’ll be voting for the Biden ticket. In her statement she detailed how Trump ignored all warnings that the coronavirus pandemic was on its way, putting “his” precious economy and election prospects ahead of the nation’s health. That message is consistent with the additional details coming out about the CDC decision discouraging asymptomatic people from getting COVID tests even if they fear they’ve been exposed.  As suspected that decision was foisted upon spineless CDC leadership by the White House.  Governors Cuomo and Newsome are outraged by it, saying that it makes no sense, with Cuomo adding that its more of Trump’s policy of “ignoring the problem.  Virus guru Fauci also distanced himself from the decision, saying it was signed off on while he was under anesthesia having his vocal cord surgery. Trump’s newest doctor, radiologist Scott Atlas however is all in on it, because you know, that virus isn’t really a problem anyway, not when thousands of students are returning to schools, frat parties and team sports.  What you don’t know can’t kill you, Right?