And yes, the irony cannot be lost even on Putin that protests are unmasking him at a time when a pandemic is masking everyone else. The following excerpt from the August 29 edition of The Economist explains his unmasking: _________ NOTHING IS AS inspiring as seeing people take to the streets to demand their freedoms… Read more.
Archives for 2020
Will Police Shooting of Blake Trigger America to Implement Reform or Impose Order?
No, I couldn’t sleep … Much is being made of NBA player LeBron James tweeting: FU*K THIS MAN!!!! WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT — LeBron James (@KingJames) August 26, 2020 More evocative, though, was NBA coach Doc Rivers weeping: All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them [at the Republican National Convention]… Read more.
White Cop Shoots Black Jacob Blake. Kenosha Erupts. NBA Strikes.
Police responded with force overnight as demonstrators torched cars and set buildings ablaze in Kenosha, Wisconsin, demanding justice in the shooting of Jacob Blake. … Police shot Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, at close range Sunday evening as he tried to enter an SUV. In the vehicle were his 3-, 5- and 8-year-old sons, family… Read more.
Groundhog Day: California’s Burning…
Surely the wonder is that California always has so much land to burn. And, is it just me, or do you also wonder why people continually tempt Mother Nature by building homes where she clearly intended only trees to grow…? Indeed, I don’t think she could have made her contempt any clearer than when she… Read more.
Trump’s Trumped-Up Covid Breakthrough: First He Bullied the Politicians. Now He’s Bullying the Scientists. Next He (May) Bully You…
On the eve of the Republican National Convention where President Trump hopes to revive his flagging political fortunes, he will announce the emergency authorization of convalescent plasma for covid-19, a treatment that already has been given to more than 70,000 patients, according to officials familiar with the decision. (The Washington Post, August 23, 2020) Alas,… Read more.
In Betraying Her Aunt Maryanne, Mary Trump Shows She’s Just Like Her Uncle Donald
In June, when Mary Trump began teasing her tell-all about President Trump, I was in the vanguard of those urging readers to gobble it up. I refer you to “Two Trump Tell-Alls: Boycott Bolton’s! But There’s Something About Mary’s…,” on June 22. Then, when it became an instant bestseller, I celebrated. I refer you to… Read more.
Yes, In-Person Learning Is Best. But How Can Kids Learn If Going to School Is Like Crossing a Mine Field?
The union representing New York City’s public-school teachers said its members would not return to classrooms next month unless the city met their health and safety demands – including testing all students and staff for that coronavirus and ensuring all schools have a nurse. The announcement from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), which represents… Read more.
The Democratic and Republican Party Conventions
I realized many party conventions ago that conventional wisdom about them never fails. That wisdom holds that they have little to no impact on which party wins the General Election. And this has been the case time and again. Which is why I find watching party conventions akin to drinking a vanilla milkshake to soothe… Read more.
Democrats’ Achilles Heel: Ostrich-like Silence on Spikes in Urban Crime
It is vexing that, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, peaceful protests have invariably descended into rampaging violence – complete with mercenary looting and police assaults that make a mockery of BLM chants for criminal justice. But the failure of Democratic leaders to decry and condemn this violence is as self-defeating as… Read more.
As with KKK Racists, Trump Hails QAnon Nutters Because He Says ‘They Like Me’
I have had President Trump pegged for years as a narcissist whose craving for flattery makes him as vulnerable as a child crying for milk. More to the point, he has demonstrated time and again that he prizes flattery above all else – decency, truth, and even the welfare of the country be damned. This… Read more.