49 thoughts on “Which Side Are You On?”

  1. wapo:

     “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis wrote in a statement published by the Atlantic.
    “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership,” he continued. “We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”

  2. abcnews:

    3:49 a.m.: Autopsy shows George Floyd tested positive for COVID-19
    George Floyd, whose death in Minnesota police custody has stirred widespread anger across the United States and abroad, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to a full-length autopsy report released by Wednesday night.
    A postmortem nasal swab collected on May 26 was found to be “positive for 2019-nCoV RNA,” the report said, using another term for the type of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and is responsible for the global pandemic.
    Floyd was known to be positive for the virus on April 3, and the type of viral testing performed for the autopsy, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), can show a positive result “for weeks after the onset and resolution of clinical disease,” according to Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker, who conducted the autopsy.
    “The autopsy result most likely reflects asymptomatic but persistent PCR positivity from previous infection,” Baker said in the 20-page report. In other words, Floyd was unlikely to have been contagious at the time of his death, in which the virus had no known role.

  3. the hill:

    A top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempted to “bully” former State Department Inspector General Steve Linick into halting an investigation into a multi-billion dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia, according to a summary provided Wednesday by House Democrats investigating the watchdogs ousting.
    Linick said that Under Secretary for Management Brian Bulatao, a long-time friend of Pompeo and a senior official in the agency, tried to pressure the IG into scrapping an investigation into the State Department’s green lighting of weapons sales to the Middle East under a presidential executive order. 
    President Trump fired Linick last month on the recommendation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, providing Congress with a letter of intent and 30 days notice, as required by law, late on a Friday evening.

  4. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/politics/john-allen-trump-protests-george-floyd/index.html
    “…the end of the American experiment.”
    Everything that Donald J. Trump touches dies, including freedom and democracy.
    This is the dirtiest administration that has ever existed on these shores.  I hope we can oust the orange and all of his bad apples.  

    *You know they will claim Covid contributed to the death of George Floyd to get a lighter sentence which is, of course, BS.
     

  6. One of my grandmothers was born and raised in Wales. I can’t see miners from your neck of the the woods, Craig, without thinking of those from hers–they’re brothers and cousins united through their labor.
    Here’s another “Which Side…”:

  7. PatD,
    Ever since I migrated to this magnificent neck of the woods, I’ve marveled at your unmatched talent at researching topics then acquiring topically relevant editorial thought in the form of brilliant cartoons that spark conversation to the height and depths and breadth of your targeted topic.
    We need for you to reinvigorate this hallowed space.
     
    Flatus

  9. Renee to the rescue! Anybody have a match or lighter? And, with that, I’m off to the pharmacy.

  14. flatus, thanks 

    and BTW, what are your thoughts on mattis article in atlantic. also, do you think colin powell et al will take up his call for unity?

  15. I am and always have been (thanks to my parents and their moral stamina).
    the right side of history.   I have spent many years working on the problems of unaccountable policing.   I think this could be the tipping point.   

  16. lasvegas reviewjournal:

    Three men with ties to the U.S. military and the anti-government “boogaloo” movement began organizing in Las Vegas during protests against COVID-19 shutdown orders, and they turned to recent police brutality protests as an excuse to incite violence, according to a criminal complaint.
    The Justice Department announced Wednesday that three Las Vegas men were arrested Saturday and charged in federal court with “conspiracy to cause destruction” during protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. The men were arrested after they planned to attend Saturday night’s protest on the Strip armed with Molotov cocktails to target police, according to a federal criminal complaint.
    A confidential informant told officials the men “wanted to use the momentum of the George Floyd death in policy custody in the City of Minneapolis to hopefully stir enough confusion and excitement” to cause riots, the complaint said.
    […]
    The men have ties to the military and were part of the “Nevada Boogaloo Facebook group,” the complaint said. Lynam is currently an Army reservist, while Parshall and Loomis were formerly enlisted in the Navy and Air Force, respectively.
    The “boogaloo movement” is linked to loosely organized private Facebook groups, and its name comes from the 1984 movie “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” which has become slang for any bad sequel, according to The Associated Press. The movement uses the term to mean an upcoming civil war. Some white supremacists have been tied to the Boogaloo movement, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
    Another derivation of “boogaloo” is “big luau,” and members are often seen at protests carrying firearms and wearing Hawaiian shirts.
    The Washington Post on Wednesday reported that the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights has tracked the presence of far-right militias and boogaloo-related groups at 40 protests across the U.S. related to Floyd’s death.
    “Violent instigators have hijacked peaceful protests and demonstrations across the country, including Nevada, exploiting the real and legitimate outrage over Mr. Floyd’s death for their own radical agendas,” Nicholas Trutanich, U.S. attorney for Nevada, said in the release.

    [continues]

  17. Pat, I’ve not read his article. I’m lucky if I make it through the important pages of my local and the Journal. I’ve not read one of my many in-the-flesh paper subscriptions in months. That said, Powell is of immigrant stock; He is “Proud to be American…” and he carries that pride with him, quietly, every day of his life. Larry Wilkerson, Powell’s chief-of-staff, was on MSNBC a few days ago. He was livid in his condemnation of military people getting involved in carrying partisan swords. Powell, while not quite so strident, would be just as furious. Even meek me has acquired a considerable arsenal in the last ten years. I will do my part in keeping the American Dream inviolate.
     
    I still haven’t made it to the pharmacy as a kind neighbor brought me lunch. I must get moving before nap time.

  18. The idea was that civilian control would keep the military in check. Begins to look a bit in the other direction.  

  19. Not sure about the alchemy behind RCP’s betting odds although it looks like an average of 6 betting exchanges, but they have now swung in Biden’s favor.  SFB has dropped from 52 to 46 % since mid April and Biden has gone from 42.6 to 49.8 over  the same period.  Their lines crossed 3 days ago.  It would seem that SFB’s feckless response to George Floyd’s killing and the resulting riots has done to him what his feckless management of the CV-19 problem could not.

  20. There is other evidence the violence has been instigated by  if not Trumpers. Trump like people.

  23. his folks out to do nasty mischief are easy to spot if they’re wearing magaT hats, *Hawaiian shirts, AKs and/or no covid masks. 

    *see above story on the boogooloos in vegas

  24. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/us/george-floyd-thursday/index.html
    Someone I know has a relative who worked security with George Floyd.  They said he was a really nice man.  They also knew someone who was there and said what you don’t see is the other two officers taking turns beating the crap out of him.  That would explain the cuts and bruises on him.   Where are ALL of the body cams?  And if the bastards turned them off, there is now evidence as to why, thanks to the independent autopsy. Is anyone investigating the coroner’s office who tried to cover up as much as possible and make it look like a big, black guy (it was in their report), possibly on something (it was in the report, though they had no toxicology info), had to be restrained? Restrained to death.

  26. couldn’t pass that ‘toon up.  mighty courageous to be run in the deep red-neck RW region of northwest florida. 

  31. Patd

    Thank you for posting Let America Be America Again

    Langston Hughes has been one of my favorite poets for years.  Tired of being Tired, hear he is reciting his own poem:  The Weary Blues

     

  32. What bill barr’s  hiding : identity evropa & boogalooters backed by kremlin and iran !
    [w]illiam [b]arr said on Thursday that foreign interests and “extremist agitators” affiliated with groups like [a]ntifa have sought to widen divisions in U.S. society following the death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer.
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/attorney-general-barr-says-foreign-groups-extremists-stoking-divisions-in-us-protests/ar-BB152GxM?ocid=spartan-ntp-feeds
     

  34. Jamie…   Langston Hughes is mentioned in that article about Martha’s Vineyard I posted.

  37. Flatus – many years ago I had the pleasure of watching and listening to Rev. Sharpton in person.  He gave us a wonderful sermon and oratory deluxe.  I cannot hope for ever having that experience again.  I know so many try to tear him down, and I agree he sometimes does things that are more television than church, but when he does church, he does it well.

  39. A Modest Proposal
    The robotlikkklans could hold their presidential convention at Brest-Litovsk  (Brest on the Bug, Belarus).  A tour of the area will give the returdlikkklans an idea of where trump is going to take us, if given the opportunity. The town has great historical significance for the alt right, old right, and stalinists.

  41. Wow. Protesters demanding Ft. Worth PD be dismantled because it was built on the old slave patrolling system and is un-fixable.   They want to start from scratch and build a new system.   Always ask for the most you can think of, because the other side will try to low-ball ya. 

  42. i don’t think it’s unreasonable to dissolve and reconstitute entire police departments when they have demonstrated over a period of decades a toxic and oppressive culture.

  43. When I was a youngster not long after WW-2, Civil War (Union) vets marched in formation in the town of Peninsula that wasn’t too far from our NE Ohio farm. They did it on several Armistice Days perhaps finishing in 1950. I was stationed in Korea when the last vet passed

  44. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/04/heres-most-important-thing-lisa-murkowski-said-endorsing-mattiss-trump-criticism/
    Murkowski “struggling”  with it.   Way to keep riding that fence, Lisa.  If only she had been brave enough to join Mitt Romney during the impeachment trial. 
    Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham is doubling  down and sounding like more of a lying jerk by the day.   Methinks he still has presidential ambitions and his plan is to just mimic tTrump.   John McCain must be rolling over in his grave.  

  45. Tempus doesn’t Fugit. On the 1st of July I will be starting my 60th year as a member of our military. Mattis says he’s at the 51-year point. He needs a good NCO (not me) to keep him in line.

  46. ok bob- you make a post of text (one character works), post that comment, edit it, then add the code from youtube you copied from the “share” function, there.  Then your video will be embedded on this page.

  47. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6pL8fE4Tm8
    This episode of The Dick Cavett Show is on Decades right now; here’s the YouTube link.   They are discussing the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and race relations in the US.   A very good point is made about the US not having class or traditions, we just have money.   

  48. *sigh* I’m worn out over the convergence of all the events. 
     
    I’m glad she wrote this in The New Yorker since I’ve been howling at the moon for 3 years about it.
     
    Donald Trump’s Fascist Performance
     

    June 3, 2020

    He is my primary source of fatigue. And I’ve been howling about the feckless, repube senate for nearly as long.  And I’ve been howling about black people being shot randomly & for no reason for years.  And I’m dismayed by how many books and articles have been written over the years predicting THIS pandemic and how, apparently, no one listened.
     
    Now we have the convergence of a dictator, a pandemic, and more black folks being murdered and thousands of protesters some without masks and all in close quarters.  Where I live, people are scared of protesters although we’re 20 miles from downtown.  I’m not scared of protesters. But they don’t seem to be very afraid of a viralent, deadly  virus. I fear the virus.  I’m tarred and very out of step with the folks around here.  It all seems to schizophrenic because while all this turmoil is swirling around the country & the world, my life hasn’t changed much and it seems the world continues on  even if it’s currently limping.  I’m still self quarantined and that’s limiting but doable. I still like this image. It seems to sum him up and what’s he’s trying to do.  Yet, I don’t have despair.  I’m holding out hope for November.

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