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Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-1: Hanging With Mr. Cooper Edition
Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-1: Hanging With Mr. Cooper Edition
Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? It’s hard to stay optimistic right now. Seriously, what the fuck happened? Remind me not to take any days off anymore. Shit, I take a vacation March 11th what happens? We get in the worst pandemic in a century. I take time off at our usual end of May break and what happens? Riots and protests! Come on 2020, what else you got? Shit, I know. We all had plans before the pandemic. Hell, I had plans to take the Top 10 international! We had shows lined up in the UK, Germany, France, Mexico, and Canada, all got squashed because of this fucking virus. And who knows what else is going to happen before the end of 2020? We also have hurricane season! We’ve had the virus, cannibal rats, blood monkeys, murder hornets, riots, floods, fires, small earthquakes… what else could possibly go wrong? I mean besides another four years of Trump? Well anyway now that I got that off my chest I am pleased to debut the new set! Unfortunately thanks to COVID we’ve had to eliminate things like sets, props, food, key grips, cameramen, bartenders, waiters and waitresses, lighting, backdrops, and our Trumper Games hosts’ humble man servant. But those things will be back! We’re slowly returning to full strength unless Trump does something stupid. Which he almost certainly will. OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver explains police brutality in one of the most hard to watch Last Week Tonights of all time:
So where do we begin this week? Well normally we would catch up on stuff we missed, but since this is a year where nothing is normal, we are going to attempt to instead have a special two part edition of our series “So That Happened”. Where in the first slot we’re going to talk about the police-sanctioned murder of George Floyd, who died at the hands of abusive police over an alleged counterfeit $20 bill. In the second slot, we’re going to talk about the protests and riots (2) that are still going on. How long is it going to go on? We don’t know. It might still be going on. In the third slot this week is the guy who we still call president and that’s Donald J. Trump (3). He plans to restart his MAGA rallies next week, and he has picked a date that is sure to rile up both his white supremacist base and his detractors! At slot #4 we're going to introduce a brand new feature to the program, and we all know that there's a 50-50 shot that this will go well. And it's "Mutual Of Top 10's Wild Kingdom" (4) and the first part of our nature documentary series is going to be on the hunt for that most elusive genus of species of privileged white female known as the Karen! How do you spot a Karen in the wild and what can be done about it? In the fifth slot this week we have our weekly investigative piece Top 10 Investigates (5), and we’re still in the middle of a pandemic in case you haven’t forgotten, and we’re going to take a look at a claim by Italian doctors that COVID is getting weaker, and is it? There might be some truth to this claim, or there might not. In the sixth slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, our resident pastor has to talk about the White House PR stunt involving St. George Church in Washington DC, and he might break his one rule to talk about that insane incident! Taking the seventh slot this week is a new “Beating A Dead Horse”, and NASCAR (7) finally banned use of the Confederate Flag at events, but that hasn’t stopped the protesting debate! Taking the 8th slot this week, is the TV show Cops (8), and after finally getting canceled after 30 seasons, we’re going to ask the question “The Show Cops: How Is This Still A Thing?”. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a new People Are Dumb, because a pandemic and riots haven’t stopped the biggest plague infecting the land – stupidity! Finally this week we’re beginning our journey on the Road To The White House (10!)! And for our first entry, could the 2020 election again be stolen? Even Joe Biden is making this claim! No, there won’t be any live music for the foreseeable future. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!
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[font size="8"]So That Happened: The Death Of George Floyd
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That is a good question sir! You know, normally when the Top 10 takes a couple of days off, we like to play catch up with things that we missed. But there was so much that happened that it was near impossible to think that we could squeeze everything into two short entries. Or would we even attempt to make fun of the situation. Yes, we have to talk about the death of George Floyd, a man who, overnight, became the face of American police brutality, and widespread systematic racism. And like I said we will not make fun of the situation as that’s beyond our usual tomfoolery. But here’s what happened.
George Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, said on "The View" Tuesday that he believes "everybody is getting closer to justice" for his brother "because everybody's feeling united" in protests.
The demonstrations demanding police reforms and in support of Black Lives Matter have drawn thousands of people around the world in the weeks following George Floyd's death while in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.
"I just would like to thank everyone for doing so much in this world today. They're just tired right now. Enough is enough," Philonise Floyd said on "The View." "It's gonna be a marathon. But right now, everybody is getting closer to justice because everybody's feeling united. We're coming together as one."
"I'm just so proud right now just to see change in this world happening," he added.
Philonise Floyd also told the co-hosts that Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer who prosecutors say held his knee on George Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, and the three other officers involved in his brother's death “deserve life” in prison.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/george-floyds-brother-offers-message-protesters-gonna-marathon/story?id=71274972
The demonstrations demanding police reforms and in support of Black Lives Matter have drawn thousands of people around the world in the weeks following George Floyd's death while in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.
"I just would like to thank everyone for doing so much in this world today. They're just tired right now. Enough is enough," Philonise Floyd said on "The View." "It's gonna be a marathon. But right now, everybody is getting closer to justice because everybody's feeling united. We're coming together as one."
"I'm just so proud right now just to see change in this world happening," he added.
Philonise Floyd also told the co-hosts that Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer who prosecutors say held his knee on George Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, and the three other officers involved in his brother's death “deserve life” in prison.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/george-floyds-brother-offers-message-protesters-gonna-marathon/story?id=71274972
That is a good point! We’ve been cooped up here at the Top 10 Home Offices for so long we’ve forgot what it would be like to be part of a functioning society again. And remember when society used to function before COVID? Yeah that was like unleashing Skynet or Thanos snapping. When things go back to “normal” we will see a lot of our favorite businesses and places go bankrupt. And we cannot sustain another round of this. Especially when this happened.
Steve Mylett, the police chief in Bellevue, Washington, couldn’t believe what he was seeing, even after intelligence officers warned of social media posts calling for an attack.
On the afternoon of Sunday, May 31, a handful of demonstrators carrying signs gathered at a major intersection in the Seattle suburb. The crowd quickly grew to 40. Then, after two men got on cellphones, 300 more showed up, then 1,000 white, Black and brown.
“It was a tsunami of people, and they just started running,” Mylett said. “I didn’t hear George Floyd’s name once. I didn’t hear, ‘Police reform!’ They just scattered throughout the city. … They used tactics we’ve never seen before.”
Mylett said faux protesters, many dressed in black with hoodies, gloves and COVID-19 masks, ransacked shops and caused millions of dollars in losses. Some ran from one business to the next, trailed by vehicles that stopped outside high-end stores, loaded up, and moved on.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/06/15/criminals-used-george-floyd-protests-cover-looting-police-say/5324881002/
On the afternoon of Sunday, May 31, a handful of demonstrators carrying signs gathered at a major intersection in the Seattle suburb. The crowd quickly grew to 40. Then, after two men got on cellphones, 300 more showed up, then 1,000 white, Black and brown.
“It was a tsunami of people, and they just started running,” Mylett said. “I didn’t hear George Floyd’s name once. I didn’t hear, ‘Police reform!’ They just scattered throughout the city. … They used tactics we’ve never seen before.”
Mylett said faux protesters, many dressed in black with hoodies, gloves and COVID-19 masks, ransacked shops and caused millions of dollars in losses. Some ran from one business to the next, trailed by vehicles that stopped outside high-end stores, loaded up, and moved on.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/06/15/criminals-used-george-floyd-protests-cover-looting-police-say/5324881002/
They came at us with pitchforks and torches. Torches!!!! And really people don’t use this time to loot and pillage. Join the peaceful protests. Maybe we can save the pillaging and looting for a later date. It’s like we’re living the end of the movie Joker – and Thomas and Martha Wayne have just been murdered and the city is rioting. But really, just don’t do shit like this. really, don’t do it.
The death of George Floyd in the hands of a Minnesota police officer while pinned down violently has certainly sparked outrage in the United States, which resulted in civil unrest as of late. However, things seemed to get out of control recently when the protests turned violent.
Criminal elements have taken advantage of the situation and photos of riots, vandalism, and looting within the US are now circulating online. One of the establishments robbed included a Louis Vitton store, and if you cringed at the sight of that, check out the photos of the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Oakland, California as hooligans laid waste on the luxury cars displayed there.
As seen in the videos and photos, numerous rioters broke into the dealership. The thugs started spray painting, wrecking and burning cars during the onslaught. Some of the premium cars seen in the images include the C-Class, CLA, and GLE. The most painful thing to watch though was the Mercedes-AMG GT Coupe getting set on fire.
While we couldn’t blame the heightened emotions of the people because of the injustices that their own law enforcement officers have committed towards them, especially to the black community over the years, and they certainly have the right to have their voices heard in the streets, there is no justification for destroying establishments and trumping others’ properties or businesses. Such acts only show that the rioters are no better than the oppressors that they are against.
We hope that everyone will arrive at a peaceful resolution with regard to the matter soon and that justice will be served to Floyd as well as the other victims of police brutality. Our hearts go with their families and the people who are sincerely sympathizing with them, but such barbaric and uncivilized actions being shown here have to stop now.
https://www.benzinsider.com/2020/06/mercedes-benz-cars-wrecked-and-torched-by-protesters-in-oakland/
Criminal elements have taken advantage of the situation and photos of riots, vandalism, and looting within the US are now circulating online. One of the establishments robbed included a Louis Vitton store, and if you cringed at the sight of that, check out the photos of the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Oakland, California as hooligans laid waste on the luxury cars displayed there.
As seen in the videos and photos, numerous rioters broke into the dealership. The thugs started spray painting, wrecking and burning cars during the onslaught. Some of the premium cars seen in the images include the C-Class, CLA, and GLE. The most painful thing to watch though was the Mercedes-AMG GT Coupe getting set on fire.
While we couldn’t blame the heightened emotions of the people because of the injustices that their own law enforcement officers have committed towards them, especially to the black community over the years, and they certainly have the right to have their voices heard in the streets, there is no justification for destroying establishments and trumping others’ properties or businesses. Such acts only show that the rioters are no better than the oppressors that they are against.
We hope that everyone will arrive at a peaceful resolution with regard to the matter soon and that justice will be served to Floyd as well as the other victims of police brutality. Our hearts go with their families and the people who are sincerely sympathizing with them, but such barbaric and uncivilized actions being shown here have to stop now.
https://www.benzinsider.com/2020/06/mercedes-benz-cars-wrecked-and-torched-by-protesters-in-oakland/
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[font size="8"]So That Happened: The Protests
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Much like Hector Salamanca from Breaking Bad, if you’re not marching in the streets protesting unprecedented police brutality and state-sanctioned murders all over the country, you’re probably sitting in front of your computer screen getting increasingly angry and clicking that bell, or your computer’s mouse. But the pandemic created a situation of some extremely bored people looking to gather to come together for a cause. And that cause was the death of George Floyd. We’re not even going to attempt to make fun of the situation here. So we won’t try. But instead we will talk about one group looking to start some shit – the Boogaloo Bois.
An Air Force sergeant who was arrested in the fatal ambush of a Santa Cruz County deputy was charged Tuesday in connection with the killing of a federal security officer during George Floyd protests in Oakland last month, authorities said.
Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo, 32, was charged with murder and attempted murder in the killing of federal officer Dave Patrick Underwood, 53.
Underwood was one of two officers who were shot May 29 while guarding the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building. The other officer was critically wounded in the drive-by attack. Both were members of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service.
Authorities said Carrillo and a second man traveled to Oakland with the intent to kill police and believed the large demonstrations spurred by the death of Floyd in Minneapolis — which they were not a part of — would help them get away it.
"They came to Oakland to kill cops," said John Bennett, special agent in charge of the San Francisco division of the FBI.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/airman-charged-killing-federal-officer-during-george-floyd-protests-california-n1231187
Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo, 32, was charged with murder and attempted murder in the killing of federal officer Dave Patrick Underwood, 53.
Underwood was one of two officers who were shot May 29 while guarding the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building. The other officer was critically wounded in the drive-by attack. Both were members of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service.
Authorities said Carrillo and a second man traveled to Oakland with the intent to kill police and believed the large demonstrations spurred by the death of Floyd in Minneapolis — which they were not a part of — would help them get away it.
"They came to Oakland to kill cops," said John Bennett, special agent in charge of the San Francisco division of the FBI.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/airman-charged-killing-federal-officer-during-george-floyd-protests-california-n1231187
Yeah so like I said last week, if you see these guys at your neighborhood protest, they’re not here to join hands and sing Kumbaya. And just like people with COVID, they’re very easy to spot. But this is really going to screw some shit up. We’re still in the middle of the pandemic. One that has killed over 100,000 people, and sent millions of people into bankruptcy. Think we haven’t seen some serious shit yet? think again! It is about to hit the fan!
Minneapolis city leaders outlined the actions they are taking in terms of recovery efforts related to civil unrest, systematic racism and COVID-19.Director of Economic Policy and Development Erik Hansen said that unemployment is currently having a larger impact on people who are young, black and without a high school degree.
"The outcomes of our structural racism system is evident in every aspect of the economy in Minneapolis," Hansen said.
Hansen said there are resources available for those who are impacted by the loss of employment due to the pandemic or civil unrest. Minnesota Works is available for career help. Another resource is the city's Technical Assistance Program, with community-based organizations that are ready for businesses to call them for advice.
Director of Economic Policy and Development Erik Hansen said at a Tuesday press conference that he was tasked with evaluating the damage of structures in the city. Poor advised owners of structures that were damaged to contact their insurance for help with coverage. He also reminded owners to check on their electricity and gas services since they may have been cut to prevent any accidents There will be a line for the zoning office that will be dedicated to answering people's questions on rebuilding damaged property. The phone number will be available on the city's website starting Wednesday.
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/george-floyd/mpls-leaders-address-recovery-related-to-covid-19-unrest-over-george-floyds-death/89-767634f1-37f2-4765-9ae2-5e8414736117
"The outcomes of our structural racism system is evident in every aspect of the economy in Minneapolis," Hansen said.
Hansen said there are resources available for those who are impacted by the loss of employment due to the pandemic or civil unrest. Minnesota Works is available for career help. Another resource is the city's Technical Assistance Program, with community-based organizations that are ready for businesses to call them for advice.
Director of Economic Policy and Development Erik Hansen said at a Tuesday press conference that he was tasked with evaluating the damage of structures in the city. Poor advised owners of structures that were damaged to contact their insurance for help with coverage. He also reminded owners to check on their electricity and gas services since they may have been cut to prevent any accidents There will be a line for the zoning office that will be dedicated to answering people's questions on rebuilding damaged property. The phone number will be available on the city's website starting Wednesday.
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/george-floyd/mpls-leaders-address-recovery-related-to-covid-19-unrest-over-george-floyds-death/89-767634f1-37f2-4765-9ae2-5e8414736117
Clean that up!! But there is good news. With all the bad shit that’s happening in the world, and we are in for a lot of suffering down the road after a major pandemic, there is a silver lining in all of this. It’s awakened some long sleeping beasts! People are hopping mad, we’re fighting back, and even small towns are awakening to how badly they’re getting fucked! It’s about damn time we rise up!
Two hours east of the unrest in Denver following the death of George Floyd, a newspaper editor and police chief heard rumors of buses, full of protesters from as far as Chicago, heading toward their farming community of Yuma after the town's pastor planned a road-side vigil in early June. Local businesses, and even the hospital, closed their doors in response. Some residents threatened to arm themselves with shotguns to protect the town from potential rioters. The town of about 3,500 people is less than 1% black.
"You know public displays like this are going to bring the rioters here," Stephanie Generoux wrote on a Facebook post from the Yuma Pioneer.
"Just so you’re all aware a hitchhiker earlier today in the southern part of the County trying to get to Yuma. Hope you are all ready for what you’re bringing" commented Rich Schafer.
In reality, about sixty locals arrived and stood silently, spaced apart, holding signs. No buses. No violence. Tony Rayl, editor of the Yuma Pioneer, said he knew almost everyone there and called it the most bizarre day of his life. The pastor of a local church said just the existence of the event polarized her congregation.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/george-floyds-death-awakens-activism-rural-white-america/story?id=71262386
"You know public displays like this are going to bring the rioters here," Stephanie Generoux wrote on a Facebook post from the Yuma Pioneer.
"Just so you’re all aware a hitchhiker earlier today in the southern part of the County trying to get to Yuma. Hope you are all ready for what you’re bringing" commented Rich Schafer.
In reality, about sixty locals arrived and stood silently, spaced apart, holding signs. No buses. No violence. Tony Rayl, editor of the Yuma Pioneer, said he knew almost everyone there and called it the most bizarre day of his life. The pastor of a local church said just the existence of the event polarized her congregation.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/george-floyds-death-awakens-activism-rural-white-america/story?id=71262386
That said though in this weird new world that we’ve been navigating because of COVID and because of the social unrest going on, should we really call the protestors “rioters”? Well there’s a fine line between the two. Remember that if they’re there wearing Hawaiian shirts and looking to throw rocks at cops or fire their machine guns, they’re not there to join in arms against the oppressed.
As unrest has continued day after day and in town after town in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, a secondary skirmish has emerged: deciding how to describe what’s happening.
In speeches and newsrooms and social media posts, people have had to make choices about how to characterize widespread, evolving unrest. Are cities in the midst of uprisings? Rebellions? Riots?
“There’s kind of a war of words as to how we should understand what they’re doing,” says Heather Ann Thompson, a professor of history and Afro-American studies at the University of Michigan. Each term sends a vastly different message about precisely what is going on in America’s streets and why.
During his short speech in the Rose Garden on June 1, President Trump used some form of the word riot five times. And he’s not alone. At TIME’s request, the Oxford English Dictionary analyzed its corpus – including roughly 2,800 articles published between May 26 and June 2 – related to events that were spurred by the killing of George Floyd, to see how those events were being described in the media.
https://time.com/5849163/why-describing-george-floyd-protests-as-riots-is-loaded/
In speeches and newsrooms and social media posts, people have had to make choices about how to characterize widespread, evolving unrest. Are cities in the midst of uprisings? Rebellions? Riots?
“There’s kind of a war of words as to how we should understand what they’re doing,” says Heather Ann Thompson, a professor of history and Afro-American studies at the University of Michigan. Each term sends a vastly different message about precisely what is going on in America’s streets and why.
During his short speech in the Rose Garden on June 1, President Trump used some form of the word riot five times. And he’s not alone. At TIME’s request, the Oxford English Dictionary analyzed its corpus – including roughly 2,800 articles published between May 26 and June 2 – related to events that were spurred by the killing of George Floyd, to see how those events were being described in the media.
https://time.com/5849163/why-describing-george-floyd-protests-as-riots-is-loaded/
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[font size="8"]Trump Goes To Tulsa
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Pop quiz hot shot!! Say for a minute that you’re Donald Trump. There’s a killer virus that is invading and desecrating states that voted for you. Health advisory boards have shut down literally every large gathering in the country, and you want to hold a large gathering indoors! What do you do? And wrong answers only. Really? He picked the wrong answers? Of course he did, this is Donald J. Trump we are talking about here. He never errs on the right side of everything. Literally everything he does is the wrong answer to everything. And why not? What’s another 50,000 COVID cases and no hospital beds in case you do need them? Well, let’s take a look at what he wants to do. Hold your boos.
President Donald Trump this week pushed ahead with his plans to hold an indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, even as public health officials there warned novel coronavirus cases in the area were on the rise.
As the president's reelection campaign came under fire for potentially putting thousands of people in danger during the Saturday event, Vice President Mike Pence attempted to paint a rosy picture of the pandemic in Oklahoma that contradicted data released by state and local public health departments there.
"Oklahoma has really been in the forefront of our efforts to slow the spread, and in a very real sense, they've flattened the curve," Pence told reporters at the White House Monday.
"Oklahoma is at a very low number," Trump said.
In fact, Tulsa had yet to shake the coronavirus pandemic, and the top public health official called an event like the rally "a huge risk factor."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-pushes-ahead-tulsa-rally-pence-misleads-coronavirus/story?id=71275621
As the president's reelection campaign came under fire for potentially putting thousands of people in danger during the Saturday event, Vice President Mike Pence attempted to paint a rosy picture of the pandemic in Oklahoma that contradicted data released by state and local public health departments there.
"Oklahoma has really been in the forefront of our efforts to slow the spread, and in a very real sense, they've flattened the curve," Pence told reporters at the White House Monday.
"Oklahoma is at a very low number," Trump said.
In fact, Tulsa had yet to shake the coronavirus pandemic, and the top public health official called an event like the rally "a huge risk factor."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-pushes-ahead-tulsa-rally-pence-misleads-coronavirus/story?id=71275621
Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Really, Mike Pence is that guy. But my favorite part of this whole thing is that Trump’s campaign manager Brad Pascale, is making some absolutely batshit crazy claims about attendance numbers. You know, because Trump wants his audience and attendance numbers to be up.
Link to tweet
So let me get this straight - 800,000 tickets for a 20,000 seat arena in a town with a population of 390,000? Is this some kind of new math that I'm not aware of? Is this Trump's idea of math? Or is this COVID's idea of math? Either way, Coronavirus likes this. But not everyone is on board with this idea, even the mayor of Tulsa.
For most mayors in deep-red states like Oklahoma, the prospect of hosting the first rally for President Donald Trump in months would be a delight. It would showcase the city on an international stage and draw revenue for local businesses that have been shuttered for months amid the coronavirus outbreak.
But G.T. Bynum, the first-term mayor of Tulsa, isn’t celebrating Trump’s planned rally Saturday at the city’s 19,000-seat downtown BOK Center arena. While other Oklahoma GOP officials are hailing the event, Bynum finds himself in a precarious position, balancing partisan politics, the city’s deep racial wounds and a COVID-19 infection rate that is suddenly spiking.
Trump announced the rally in Tulsa as the kick-off of a tour to rev up his political base and show the nation’s economy reopening after the long quarantine. Trump said in a tweet that almost 1 million people have requested tickets, although party officials haven’t announced the total. Oklahoma has followed a Trump-friendly aggressive schedule for its economic reopening, ticking through a series of phases that now have almost all businesses free to resume operations.
https://apnews.com/beb9cbc21a482721b62630577b475e34
But G.T. Bynum, the first-term mayor of Tulsa, isn’t celebrating Trump’s planned rally Saturday at the city’s 19,000-seat downtown BOK Center arena. While other Oklahoma GOP officials are hailing the event, Bynum finds himself in a precarious position, balancing partisan politics, the city’s deep racial wounds and a COVID-19 infection rate that is suddenly spiking.
Trump announced the rally in Tulsa as the kick-off of a tour to rev up his political base and show the nation’s economy reopening after the long quarantine. Trump said in a tweet that almost 1 million people have requested tickets, although party officials haven’t announced the total. Oklahoma has followed a Trump-friendly aggressive schedule for its economic reopening, ticking through a series of phases that now have almost all businesses free to resume operations.
https://apnews.com/beb9cbc21a482721b62630577b475e34
Yeah so this is what one might call a “really bad idea”. And I don’t even have time to cover the Juneteenth debacle – yeah in Tulsa on the Juneteenth anniversary. That is batshit fucking insane. Oh and in case you didn’t know it’s on the anniversary of the worst race riot in United States history. In the middle of the current worst race riot in modern history. Yeah do the math!
Before George Floyd, and before there were nationwide protests across the country against police brutality and racism, there was Terence Crutcher.
In 2016, 40-year old Crutcher was killed by a Tulsa, Oklahoma, police officer on a roadway. Like many of those left behind by police killings, his twin sister Tiffany Crutcher's life changed forever.
"We're twins, yes, three minutes apart. He came out first and he calls me his little big sister," Crutcher said in an interview with CNN. "I never thought that I would be on the other side of this issue.
"I never thought that we would be in the middle of a fight for justice, a fight for equality, fight for police accountability," she said.
The officer who killed her brother, Betty Shelby, was charged with manslaughter, but she was later acquitted.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/politics/tulsa-oklahoma-history-race/index.html
In 2016, 40-year old Crutcher was killed by a Tulsa, Oklahoma, police officer on a roadway. Like many of those left behind by police killings, his twin sister Tiffany Crutcher's life changed forever.
"We're twins, yes, three minutes apart. He came out first and he calls me his little big sister," Crutcher said in an interview with CNN. "I never thought that I would be on the other side of this issue.
"I never thought that we would be in the middle of a fight for justice, a fight for equality, fight for police accountability," she said.
The officer who killed her brother, Betty Shelby, was charged with manslaughter, but she was later acquitted.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/politics/tulsa-oklahoma-history-race/index.html
Actually yeah that was pretty damn racist! So that was a good call on that one! So the question remains why not move Trump’s rally to an outdoor venue? Well that possibility is being talked about. The fact that Trump wants to hold these rallies in an indoor venue during a pandemic is alarming enough. But getting Trump to budge and move it outside? Well that’s something else entirely. Trump doesn’t budge for anything.
So many people have expressed an interest in attending President Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that the governor said he’s asked the campaign to consider a larger, outdoor venue to accommodate them.
Gov. Kevin Stitt said Monday after talking with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that nearly one million people have requested tickets to the event. Some Trump supporters have already started waiting in line outside the 19,000-seat BOK Center in downtown Tulsa.
“We’re excited we’re being recognized as one of the first states to safely and measurably reopen,” Stitt told reporters Monday. “I’m looking for a potential other venue that maybe we could move it outside. It’s still kind of in the works.”
Stitt, who plans to introduce Trump at Saturday’s rally, said he also asked Trump and Pence to join him on a tour of the city’s Greenwood District, once home to a prosperous African American community dubbed Black Wall Street that was burned to the ground during a racially motivated massacre in 1921 that left as many as 300 people dead.
The Trump campaign initially planned to hold the rally on Friday, which is Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States, but agreed to move the date to Saturday at the request of Stitt and others.
https://lancasteronline.com/news/politics/oklahoma-governor-seeks-larger-event-for-trumps-tulsa-rally/article_1e8964af-43e4-5758-8212-791e4f1341e5.html
Gov. Kevin Stitt said Monday after talking with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that nearly one million people have requested tickets to the event. Some Trump supporters have already started waiting in line outside the 19,000-seat BOK Center in downtown Tulsa.
“We’re excited we’re being recognized as one of the first states to safely and measurably reopen,” Stitt told reporters Monday. “I’m looking for a potential other venue that maybe we could move it outside. It’s still kind of in the works.”
Stitt, who plans to introduce Trump at Saturday’s rally, said he also asked Trump and Pence to join him on a tour of the city’s Greenwood District, once home to a prosperous African American community dubbed Black Wall Street that was burned to the ground during a racially motivated massacre in 1921 that left as many as 300 people dead.
The Trump campaign initially planned to hold the rally on Friday, which is Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States, but agreed to move the date to Saturday at the request of Stitt and others.
https://lancasteronline.com/news/politics/oklahoma-governor-seeks-larger-event-for-trumps-tulsa-rally/article_1e8964af-43e4-5758-8212-791e4f1341e5.html
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[font size="8"]Wild Kingdom: Spotting The Karen
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Welcome to the Mutual Top 10’s Wild Kingdom! This week we are attempting to spot a rather elusive creature – the Karen! Yes, the Karen is that most elusive of creatures to spot. And you won’t recognize a Karen until after you have encountered one in the wild! If you don’t know what a Karen is, she is the most elusive species of a middle aged, privileged white female, which goes by the Latin name of Libidinem Dominandi, and you can spot them but not until after they spot you! And where was the most recent sighting of a Karen you might ask? Well why in that most urban of jungles, the concrete oasis known as New York City, New York. And this Karen was probably the most Karen of them all!
Before the general public learned the name of a white woman who called the police on a black man in Central Park on May 25, she could easily be identified by a moniker. The internet agreed with certainty that Amy Cooper was a Karen.
Just days later, another Karen went viral for leaning on a car in a parking lot to prevent the driver from getting their desired parking spot.
The "Karen meme," which has become so ubiquitous it's been used as a Halloween costume, burst onto the scene in the last couple of years to depict white women — who stereotypically had "speak to the manager" haircuts — acting entitled in public. Now, it's used as an identifier for any white woman who acts inappropriately, rudely, or in an entitled fashion.
"It's usually used as a pejorative for middle-aged white women," said Matt Schimkowitz, a senior editor at Know Your Meme, the online meme encyclopedia. "It's almost like they have an entitlement, where they're kind of lording their privilege over another."
Before the Karen meme, there was the "speak to the manager haircut."
https://www.insider.com/karen-meme-origin-the-history-of-calling-women-karen-white-2020-5
Just days later, another Karen went viral for leaning on a car in a parking lot to prevent the driver from getting their desired parking spot.
The "Karen meme," which has become so ubiquitous it's been used as a Halloween costume, burst onto the scene in the last couple of years to depict white women — who stereotypically had "speak to the manager" haircuts — acting entitled in public. Now, it's used as an identifier for any white woman who acts inappropriately, rudely, or in an entitled fashion.
"It's usually used as a pejorative for middle-aged white women," said Matt Schimkowitz, a senior editor at Know Your Meme, the online meme encyclopedia. "It's almost like they have an entitlement, where they're kind of lording their privilege over another."
Before the Karen meme, there was the "speak to the manager haircut."
https://www.insider.com/karen-meme-origin-the-history-of-calling-women-karen-white-2020-5
No, that is not a Tiger, that is most definitely a Karen! And this is not so much Hanging With Mr. Cooper as it is hanging with privileged scumbags, and they are everywhere! But is the Karen meme sexist and why is the Karen so elusive to spot in the wild? In fact, the only way you can accurately spot a Karen is through the comfort of your iPhone. And you should try to catch the Karen before it is too late!
Lisa Alexander is “truly” and “deeply sorry.” Alexander, the CEO of a San Francisco skincare company, has become the latest white woman to be labeled a “Karen” and nationally vilified for engaging in behavior that’s widely viewed as entitled, racist and harmful.
But Alexander’s public apology Sunday might not stop the vilification. She issued her mea culpa after a video went viral showing her accusing a Pacific Heights neighbor, James Juanillo, of defacing his property because he used chalk to stencil a Black Lives Matters sign onto the property’s retaining wall.
As Juanillo’s video shows, Alexander and her husband, identified on Twitter as Robert Larkins, questioned whether he actually lived in Pacific Heights, one of San Francisco’s more exclusive neighborhoods. Juanillo, who is Filipino-American, said Alexander called police after he told her she should if she felt “unsafe.”
Over the weekend, Alexander went from enjoying a high-society life as an entrepreneur and celebrity style influencer to the latest example of a Karen. Like other recent Karens, Alexander has been extensively dragged on Twitter. After users quickly identified her and her company, the former model is dealing with serious, life-changing consequences in terms of her work and reputation.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/15/calling-out-karens-from-pacific-heights-to-amy-cooper-to-meghan-markles-best-friend/
But Alexander’s public apology Sunday might not stop the vilification. She issued her mea culpa after a video went viral showing her accusing a Pacific Heights neighbor, James Juanillo, of defacing his property because he used chalk to stencil a Black Lives Matters sign onto the property’s retaining wall.
As Juanillo’s video shows, Alexander and her husband, identified on Twitter as Robert Larkins, questioned whether he actually lived in Pacific Heights, one of San Francisco’s more exclusive neighborhoods. Juanillo, who is Filipino-American, said Alexander called police after he told her she should if she felt “unsafe.”
Over the weekend, Alexander went from enjoying a high-society life as an entrepreneur and celebrity style influencer to the latest example of a Karen. Like other recent Karens, Alexander has been extensively dragged on Twitter. After users quickly identified her and her company, the former model is dealing with serious, life-changing consequences in terms of her work and reputation.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/15/calling-out-karens-from-pacific-heights-to-amy-cooper-to-meghan-markles-best-friend/
First off, I would question why you have a live tiger in your life raft sir. But that said, when confronting a Karen in the wild, you must first take a step back and assess the situation, then make sure people around you are recording the incident with their cell phone device of choice. And then… when confronting the Karen, proceed with caution! Because it could lead to some untold nightmares that will last long after the incident is over!
A white woman was slapped in the face during a racist rant at a Phoenix gas station which included telling a Native American woman to “go back to Mexico.”
The woman was quickly dubbed “Arizona Karen,” a reference to a viral meme about racist white women.
According to the man who originally shot the video, the white woman stormed into the Shell station on Saturday to complain about her gas pump not working and almost immediately got into a shouting match with another woman, telling her "to go back to her country.”
“Native Americans are from this country,” the woman replies. “Don’t serve her racist a--,” she tells the cashier.
“Karen” then tells the man filming to stay out of the situation before turning back on the other woman.
“Where are you from? Where were you born?” she asks.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-arizona-karen-slapped-face-racist-rant-gas-station-20200608-6lptnmu2a5h7vogx64paawez7a-story.html
The woman was quickly dubbed “Arizona Karen,” a reference to a viral meme about racist white women.
According to the man who originally shot the video, the white woman stormed into the Shell station on Saturday to complain about her gas pump not working and almost immediately got into a shouting match with another woman, telling her "to go back to her country.”
“Native Americans are from this country,” the woman replies. “Don’t serve her racist a--,” she tells the cashier.
“Karen” then tells the man filming to stay out of the situation before turning back on the other woman.
“Where are you from? Where were you born?” she asks.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-arizona-karen-slapped-face-racist-rant-gas-station-20200608-6lptnmu2a5h7vogx64paawez7a-story.html
Again that’s a Tiger, not a Karen! So how do you spot a Karen in the wild? And do you know any Karens in your life that would make you afraid to leave the house? Make no mistake that as things are getting uglier in society, the Karen will attack and confront you before you can attack and confront her! But that being said let’s ask some real researchers to get their take on the Karen. The Karen is elusive and swift and won’t think twice before double crossing you!
We all know Karen. She is the minority of 30 to 40-year-old white women whose voice is loud despite how misguided and misinformed she is. She exudes entitlement and a superior “Can I speak to the manager?” attitude. She is unafraid to use her privilege as a weapon. In today’s context, she is audibly doubtful of any new COVID-19 research and public-health protocols, especially when her long-overdue salon appointment is at stake. And according to Heather Suzanne Woods, a meme researcher and professor at Kansas State University, Karen “demands the world exist according to her standards with little regard for others, and she is willing to risk or demean others to achieve her ends.” This definition continues to evolve.
The controversial stereotype of a woman named Karen has roots in African American Vernacular English as well as a tirading subreddit, and it has taken over internet culture in the form of a meme. Karen's notorious behavior is best depicted in viral TikTok videos, acting as a social commentary towards absurd and indecent behavior rooted in white supremacy. However, the use of this meme was quick to receive criticism on accounts of sexism, racism, ageism and classism. While writer Julie Blindel went so far as to call the meme a “slur” that is “woman hating” in a tweet, others even likened it to “the n-word for white women.” In the name of reverse racism and other baseless accusations, the meme continues to be attacked. And once again, the perfectly legitimate message this politicized joke was meant to express was underwhelmed by another fruitless debate.
The meme is simple: Karen-like behavior is problematic. It is problematic because it is a direct result of white supremacist sentiments that have long been deeply embedded within the current system. It is problematic because when authority gets involved, Karen is initially never at fault and is never doubted. And it is problematic because Karen knows this when she picks up the phone to dial 911 at the slightest inconvenience. In fact, just this past Memorial day, a Twitter video went viral revealing a similar incident in Central Park regarding a white woman calling the police on an African-American man who simply asked her to put a leash on her dog, telling them he was threatening her life. These kinds of false accusations to the police against Black people are extremely dangerous and have dire consequences as history has revealed time and time again, like in the case of Emmett Till. But Karen won’t think twice before racial profiling.
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/opinion/easheta-shah-recognize-your-karen
The controversial stereotype of a woman named Karen has roots in African American Vernacular English as well as a tirading subreddit, and it has taken over internet culture in the form of a meme. Karen's notorious behavior is best depicted in viral TikTok videos, acting as a social commentary towards absurd and indecent behavior rooted in white supremacy. However, the use of this meme was quick to receive criticism on accounts of sexism, racism, ageism and classism. While writer Julie Blindel went so far as to call the meme a “slur” that is “woman hating” in a tweet, others even likened it to “the n-word for white women.” In the name of reverse racism and other baseless accusations, the meme continues to be attacked. And once again, the perfectly legitimate message this politicized joke was meant to express was underwhelmed by another fruitless debate.
The meme is simple: Karen-like behavior is problematic. It is problematic because it is a direct result of white supremacist sentiments that have long been deeply embedded within the current system. It is problematic because when authority gets involved, Karen is initially never at fault and is never doubted. And it is problematic because Karen knows this when she picks up the phone to dial 911 at the slightest inconvenience. In fact, just this past Memorial day, a Twitter video went viral revealing a similar incident in Central Park regarding a white woman calling the police on an African-American man who simply asked her to put a leash on her dog, telling them he was threatening her life. These kinds of false accusations to the police against Black people are extremely dangerous and have dire consequences as history has revealed time and time again, like in the case of Emmett Till. But Karen won’t think twice before racial profiling.
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/opinion/easheta-shah-recognize-your-karen
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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Is COVID Getting Weaker?
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began this March, everyone is now asking the question – when will it end and when will life get back to some sort of normalcy that we have come to expect? Well the answer to the first question is that nobody knows. The answer to the second question is also: nobody knows. So there are two ways that this could pan out. The first is that we aggressively find a cure for this virus, and the second is that the virus could simply weaken over time. In fact there’s claims being made now that COVID could simply burn itself out and mutate into a much weaker form of the virus that has been infecting the landscape over the last six months. We go to Italy for this story.
In the past few weeks, several top doctors across the globe have come out to say that new data that indicates COVID-19 is becoming less potent, more diffused and less deadly.
"The Coronavirus currently infecting patients appears to have a gene sequence deleted that reduced the strength of the disease. That may sound crazy, but the SARS Coronavirus that caused a pandemic back in 2003 had a similar gene sequence deleted as it became weaker towards the end of it's outbreak," said Dr. David Geier. The health and wellness expert says if that's true, you may see an increase in cases as states reopen, but less hospitalizations and deaths. He also said there's still more research that needs to be done to really prove that this virus has actually weakened.
At least one infectious-disease expert at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said the new virus does mutate slowly compared to flu, but when it comes to it's genetic changes, it appears to be mostly inconsequential.
Michael Ryan, a top official with the World Health organization stated, "We need to be exceptionally careful not to create a sense that all of a sudden the virus by its own volition has now decided to be less pathogenic. That is not the case at all."
Here's what I learned: The pandemic is evolving rapidly. Science shows some strains of the virus have become more dominant, but despite several experts who believe the virus has weakened, most say there's no solid evidence yet to prove it significantly changed since it was first reported in China.
https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/coronavirus-weakening-sars-covid19-less-hospitlizations/521-a4151470-bc01-40a5-9fd9-2aabb5ec0f20
"The Coronavirus currently infecting patients appears to have a gene sequence deleted that reduced the strength of the disease. That may sound crazy, but the SARS Coronavirus that caused a pandemic back in 2003 had a similar gene sequence deleted as it became weaker towards the end of it's outbreak," said Dr. David Geier. The health and wellness expert says if that's true, you may see an increase in cases as states reopen, but less hospitalizations and deaths. He also said there's still more research that needs to be done to really prove that this virus has actually weakened.
At least one infectious-disease expert at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said the new virus does mutate slowly compared to flu, but when it comes to it's genetic changes, it appears to be mostly inconsequential.
Michael Ryan, a top official with the World Health organization stated, "We need to be exceptionally careful not to create a sense that all of a sudden the virus by its own volition has now decided to be less pathogenic. That is not the case at all."
Here's what I learned: The pandemic is evolving rapidly. Science shows some strains of the virus have become more dominant, but despite several experts who believe the virus has weakened, most say there's no solid evidence yet to prove it significantly changed since it was first reported in China.
https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/coronavirus-weakening-sars-covid19-less-hospitlizations/521-a4151470-bc01-40a5-9fd9-2aabb5ec0f20
That is not how you defeat coronavirus. Repeat, that is not how you defeat coronavirus. So there’s many claims to this theory. Two things that a pandemic needs to end are time and potency. And both of these things could determine how the latest pandemic plays out. How will the coronavirus pandemic play out as time goes on? That’s debatable, because, as has been stated, nobody knows because this is a new virus that nobody has seen before.
On May 31, the news agency Reuters published an article with an optimistic but incendiary headline: “New coronavirus losing potency, top Italian doctor says.”
The story included comments from hospital leaders in Milan and Genoa, cities in two regions of northern Italy that have been hit hard by Covid-19. The doctors’ comments were pulled from published news reports in the Italian media, and both suggested that the virus is growing weaker. Matteo Bassetti, MD, PhD, is head of the Infectious Diseases Clinic at the San Martino-IST University Hospital and a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Genoa. He is quoted in the Reuters piece as saying that, “The strength the virus had two months ago is not the same strength it has today.”
Reached for comment on Tuesday, Bassetti elaborated on his prior statement for Elemental. “What is happening in our hospitals — at least in the northern part of Italy — the clinical impression is that the disease is now different compared to the disease of three months ago,” he says. “The majority of patients who presented in our emergency rooms or wards during March and April were very sick with acute respiratory distress syndrome, shock, multiple organ failure, and the majority died in the first days after admission. Now in May, we no longer see these types of patients.”
Bassetti completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University. He’s quick to say that he is not basing his views on lab-confirmed findings; his statements are based on his own interactions with patients and his conversations with other doctors. “The clinical impression here is that the virus is different,” he says. “Is this because the virus lost some viral potency? Or because the viral load or total count of the virus is lower? I don’t know.”
https://elemental.medium.com/could-the-coronavirus-be-weakening-as-it-spreads-928f2ad33f89
The story included comments from hospital leaders in Milan and Genoa, cities in two regions of northern Italy that have been hit hard by Covid-19. The doctors’ comments were pulled from published news reports in the Italian media, and both suggested that the virus is growing weaker. Matteo Bassetti, MD, PhD, is head of the Infectious Diseases Clinic at the San Martino-IST University Hospital and a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Genoa. He is quoted in the Reuters piece as saying that, “The strength the virus had two months ago is not the same strength it has today.”
Reached for comment on Tuesday, Bassetti elaborated on his prior statement for Elemental. “What is happening in our hospitals — at least in the northern part of Italy — the clinical impression is that the disease is now different compared to the disease of three months ago,” he says. “The majority of patients who presented in our emergency rooms or wards during March and April were very sick with acute respiratory distress syndrome, shock, multiple organ failure, and the majority died in the first days after admission. Now in May, we no longer see these types of patients.”
Bassetti completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University. He’s quick to say that he is not basing his views on lab-confirmed findings; his statements are based on his own interactions with patients and his conversations with other doctors. “The clinical impression here is that the virus is different,” he says. “Is this because the virus lost some viral potency? Or because the viral load or total count of the virus is lower? I don’t know.”
https://elemental.medium.com/could-the-coronavirus-be-weakening-as-it-spreads-928f2ad33f89
But the good news is that this claim is not just being made in Italy. Even countries like Egypt are reporting that the virus is getting weaker. Until that time happens, we will have to deal with the consequences of living with it. There is a theory that virus weaken as they spread far and wide because of their genetic makeup. But the thing is until next year we just won’t know how this pans out.
12 June 2020: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) started to become weaker worldwide, the Egyptian Cabinet’s spokesman said, adding that around 85 percent of the cases recover normally.
In an interview with dmc, spokesman Nader Saad said tourism is the sector affected the most with the coronavirus crisis in Egypt, noting that domestic tourism will be back starting July 1.
Restoring tourism worldwide will be a gradual and slow step, Saad said, adding that many people now fear traveling due to the novel virus. He said tourism companies aim at organizing trips to Egypt and Greece, in case flights are back.
The Egyptian state’s high commission to manage the coronavirus crisis said on Thursday the country will resume international flights to the coastal governorates impacted the least with the novel virus, starting July.
The decision includes the governorates of South Sinai, the Red Sea and Matrouh. South Sinai includes cities of Sharm El-Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba' and Taba, known to be among the most popular tourist attractions in the northeastern African country. Red Sea includes Hurghada.
https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/88525/Coronavirus-becoming-weaker-worldwide-Egyptian-Cabinet
In an interview with dmc, spokesman Nader Saad said tourism is the sector affected the most with the coronavirus crisis in Egypt, noting that domestic tourism will be back starting July 1.
Restoring tourism worldwide will be a gradual and slow step, Saad said, adding that many people now fear traveling due to the novel virus. He said tourism companies aim at organizing trips to Egypt and Greece, in case flights are back.
The Egyptian state’s high commission to manage the coronavirus crisis said on Thursday the country will resume international flights to the coastal governorates impacted the least with the novel virus, starting July.
The decision includes the governorates of South Sinai, the Red Sea and Matrouh. South Sinai includes cities of Sharm El-Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba' and Taba, known to be among the most popular tourist attractions in the northeastern African country. Red Sea includes Hurghada.
https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/88525/Coronavirus-becoming-weaker-worldwide-Egyptian-Cabinet
That said though, we don’t want to read too much into things and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves in fighting a virus that we’ve never seen before. The thing is this thing came in and wrecked our whole society and it is going to take a global effort to pick up the pieces and return to a functioning society again. But this is a good reason why it’s a good idea to read beyond the headlines. Wait a minute, that’s our job!
It's natural to want some good news in troubling times. There are potential dangers in reading too much into things. In Italy, there's an ongoing public debate about a possible encouraging shift toward a weaker version of Covid-19. A leading virologist and doctor have endorsed this idea as the number of deaths, cases, severely ill patients and viral load they’ve seen on swabs are declining or
In Italy, there's an ongoing public debate about a possible encouraging shift toward a weaker version of Covid-19. A leading virologist and doctor have endorsed this idea as the number of deaths, cases, severely ill patients and viral load they’ve seen on swabs are declining or holding steady even as the country reopens. The virologist, Arnaldo Caruso, suggested that the virus could vanish even wi
Caruso did acknowledge the possibility of other explanations and a future resurgence in an interview; even so, the notion of a weakening virus is understandably popular and may well emerge in the variety of other nations that are past the worst of their outbreaks. There's a high burden of proof for making such a claim, though, let alone using it as a basis for public health decisions. It most defi
Viruses change over time, sometimes in significant ways. These mutation-driven shifts are why we need new flu vaccines every year, and why seasonal outbreaks vary. There's also an evolutionary trade-off between deadliness and transmission — a virus that kills too many hosts can't spread — so some become milder.
Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/gadfly/coronavirus-post-peak-lull-in-cases-doesn-t-mean-weaker-virus
In Italy, there's an ongoing public debate about a possible encouraging shift toward a weaker version of Covid-19. A leading virologist and doctor have endorsed this idea as the number of deaths, cases, severely ill patients and viral load they’ve seen on swabs are declining or holding steady even as the country reopens. The virologist, Arnaldo Caruso, suggested that the virus could vanish even wi
Caruso did acknowledge the possibility of other explanations and a future resurgence in an interview; even so, the notion of a weakening virus is understandably popular and may well emerge in the variety of other nations that are past the worst of their outbreaks. There's a high burden of proof for making such a claim, though, let alone using it as a basis for public health decisions. It most defi
Viruses change over time, sometimes in significant ways. These mutation-driven shifts are why we need new flu vaccines every year, and why seasonal outbreaks vary. There's also an evolutionary trade-off between deadliness and transmission — a virus that kills too many hosts can't spread — so some become milder.
Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/gadfly/coronavirus-post-peak-lull-in-cases-doesn-t-mean-weaker-virus
That’s it for Top 10 Investigates. Good day!
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[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Tallahassee! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:
My fair virtual congregation! You know church is closed even though in this time of pandemic that we are considered an essential business. Well in some states anyway. But that said, we’ve finally moved out of the church basement and into our temporary new studio. Don’t worry, we will be back in our brand new church relatively soon (we hope). But this week I have to talk about the events of the last two weeks. I only have one rule in my church and that is that we should never mention the unholy, ungodly Dark One by his name! But since he committed the most ultimate of party fouls, we must. Yes, he went to St. John’s Church and held up the Holy Book in a badly timed and poorly planned PR stunt!
In extreme circumstances like the present, people go back to their deep beliefs and look into their souls. The Democratic Party, by way of the Joe Biden campaign, has announced that the upcoming Presidential election will be “a battle for the soul of America.” But, in religious terms, what kind of a soul will that be? America remains a Christian-majority nation, and evangelicals are an important and dependable part of President Trump’s base; part of his “Make America Great Again” theme has been his in-your-face cheerleading for Christianity. Although Trump has lived more or less the opposite of a Christian life, many evangelicals see him as their heaven-sent ally, an instance of God’s well-known habit of working in mysterious ways.
A faithful churchgoer he’s not. After he held up a Bible for his violence-enabled photo op in Lafayette Square, a reporter asked him, “Is that your Bible?” He replied, “It’s a Bible.” If, as he seemed to be saying (unsurprisingly), this particular Bible did not belong to him, its actual owner remained unknown. Ivanka Trump had carried it in a designer handbag during the walk from the White House to St. John’s Church and had given it to her father so that he could pose with it, but apparently it wasn’t hers, either. After the photo op, nobody stepped forward to claim this Bible as his or her own and take pride in its having participated in an important moment in history.
Of course, there are millions of Bibles out there that don’t technically belong to anyone. Maybe this was just a copy that the White House had on hand. In courtrooms, for the swearing-in of witnesses, there are Bibles that are the general property of the court. At a witness’s request, a court might provide a copy of the Torah instead; in places with more diversity, courts might also offer Qurans and Bhagavad Gitas. The option of not swearing on any text at all exists, too. Atheists, for example, don’t have to raise their right hands and swear on a hardback of Richard Dawkins’s “The God Delusion” but may simply affirm that what they say will be the truth. Some judges make a point of telling jurors to remember that a witness who chooses to affirm rather than swear is no less likely to be truthful.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/donald-trump-and-uses-and-misuses-of-the-bible
A faithful churchgoer he’s not. After he held up a Bible for his violence-enabled photo op in Lafayette Square, a reporter asked him, “Is that your Bible?” He replied, “It’s a Bible.” If, as he seemed to be saying (unsurprisingly), this particular Bible did not belong to him, its actual owner remained unknown. Ivanka Trump had carried it in a designer handbag during the walk from the White House to St. John’s Church and had given it to her father so that he could pose with it, but apparently it wasn’t hers, either. After the photo op, nobody stepped forward to claim this Bible as his or her own and take pride in its having participated in an important moment in history.
Of course, there are millions of Bibles out there that don’t technically belong to anyone. Maybe this was just a copy that the White House had on hand. In courtrooms, for the swearing-in of witnesses, there are Bibles that are the general property of the court. At a witness’s request, a court might provide a copy of the Torah instead; in places with more diversity, courts might also offer Qurans and Bhagavad Gitas. The option of not swearing on any text at all exists, too. Atheists, for example, don’t have to raise their right hands and swear on a hardback of Richard Dawkins’s “The God Delusion” but may simply affirm that what they say will be the truth. Some judges make a point of telling jurors to remember that a witness who chooses to affirm rather than swear is no less likely to be truthful.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/donald-trump-and-uses-and-misuses-of-the-bible
Yes, yes he does! And really can we say that the guy who spends the least amount of time in church is claiming to be the godliest among us? Well have you seen who he surrounds himself with? And this is not a well or sane man. This is a very evil, wicked man who has evil intentions and is consumed by his ego, and that is a recipe for SIN!!! He is a wicked SINNER!!!! He is currently ruling this country with the darkest of hearts!
Joe Biden on Tuesday blistered President Donald Trump a day after police drove back peaceful protesters near the White House so President Trump could pose with a Bible before a damaged church. Biden said President Trump’s “narcissism has become more important than the nation that he leads.”
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee delivered a speech at Philadelphia’s City Hall, addressing the civil unrest across America following the death of George Floyd. Biden said “the moment has come” to deal with systemic racism and deeply ingrained economic inequality — and insisted that the nation can’t wait until November’s election and its outcome.
“I call on the Congress to act this month,” Biden said, urging lawmakers to start “with real police reform” and citing proposed legislation outlawing choke holds.
But Biden stepped up his criticism of President Trump as he works to elevate his voice in the national debate — after more than two months of the campaign for the White House being frozen amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.
https://fox6now.com/2020/06/02/biden-president-trump-consumed-by-ego-not-leading-during-crisis/
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee delivered a speech at Philadelphia’s City Hall, addressing the civil unrest across America following the death of George Floyd. Biden said “the moment has come” to deal with systemic racism and deeply ingrained economic inequality — and insisted that the nation can’t wait until November’s election and its outcome.
“I call on the Congress to act this month,” Biden said, urging lawmakers to start “with real police reform” and citing proposed legislation outlawing choke holds.
But Biden stepped up his criticism of President Trump as he works to elevate his voice in the national debate — after more than two months of the campaign for the White House being frozen amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.
https://fox6now.com/2020/06/02/biden-president-trump-consumed-by-ego-not-leading-during-crisis/
Except that there is judgement here! Because we are in an election year and it’s turned into what might possibly be one of the biggest nightmares of all time. We have the darkest and most wickedly EVIL ruler of them all in the White House and it does look like it will take a miracle for him to stay in power. It is time to cast aside this wicked evil!
As America implodes, the president would like to have all Americans know of his two rules.
Rule one: Donald Trump is always a winner. Rule two: when Donald Trump is losing, refer back to rule one.
So as an increasing number of Republicans and conservatives abandon him; as former generals and government officials denounce a president who is losing the public trust, refer back to rule one.
As the economy dips and unemployment rises to an historic high, and Americans die in record numbers from the coronavirus, all under his watch: Ditto.
As an historic protest against racism and police brutality spreads nationwide and shakes the presidency. Ditto.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/trump-almighty-miracle-200609140352324.html
Rule one: Donald Trump is always a winner. Rule two: when Donald Trump is losing, refer back to rule one.
So as an increasing number of Republicans and conservatives abandon him; as former generals and government officials denounce a president who is losing the public trust, refer back to rule one.
As the economy dips and unemployment rises to an historic high, and Americans die in record numbers from the coronavirus, all under his watch: Ditto.
As an historic protest against racism and police brutality spreads nationwide and shakes the presidency. Ditto.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/trump-almighty-miracle-200609140352324.html
But back to what I am saying, and for our church to take a hit discussing politics, and you know what? At this point who cares? Seriously talk to me again this time next year when we have a competent administration in charge and we can start nipping COVID in the bud. But until then we have an absolute clown who cares about his ratings, and his standing with the Christian right.
Donald Trump’s reelection chances are quite dim without the robust support of his white evangelical base. His electoral college win in 2016 was fueled by white evangelical turnout and the overwhelming number of white evangelicals — 81% — who pulled the lever for him. He cannot afford for the religious right, made up of white evangelicals along with conservative white mainline Protestants and Catholics, to let up on the rapt support they have shown throughout his presidency.
That helps explain why, in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic and a historic uprising against racism, the president and his allied power brokers on the religious right are focused not on addressing either crisis, but rather on stagecraft that will reinforce the base’s belief that Trump is a divinely anointed president who is saving white Christian America from ruin.
Trump’s photo op last week in front of the historic St. John’s Church, which looked farcical, sacrilegious and even fascistic to many Americans, was spun — and received — as tough and heroic to his defenders. In the pro-Trump media bubble, America is under siege by leftist terrorists, and Trump is the valorous protector of a “Christian nation.” That the president and his attorney general, William Barr, had protesters tear gassed so Trump could walk to the church was a vibrant symbol of his willingness to fight for the soul of the nation.
“It was strong and powerful for the president to go there and say, we will not be cowed,” Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, told Fox News. And Robert Jeffress, a mega-church pastor who is one of Trump’s closest evangelical advisors, told the network the purpose of the president’s visit was “demonstrating his intent to protect churches from those who would try to destroy them.”
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-06-14/donald-trump-st-johns-church-white-evangelicals-campaign-2020-pandemic-protest
That helps explain why, in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic and a historic uprising against racism, the president and his allied power brokers on the religious right are focused not on addressing either crisis, but rather on stagecraft that will reinforce the base’s belief that Trump is a divinely anointed president who is saving white Christian America from ruin.
Trump’s photo op last week in front of the historic St. John’s Church, which looked farcical, sacrilegious and even fascistic to many Americans, was spun — and received — as tough and heroic to his defenders. In the pro-Trump media bubble, America is under siege by leftist terrorists, and Trump is the valorous protector of a “Christian nation.” That the president and his attorney general, William Barr, had protesters tear gassed so Trump could walk to the church was a vibrant symbol of his willingness to fight for the soul of the nation.
“It was strong and powerful for the president to go there and say, we will not be cowed,” Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, told Fox News. And Robert Jeffress, a mega-church pastor who is one of Trump’s closest evangelical advisors, told the network the purpose of the president’s visit was “demonstrating his intent to protect churches from those who would try to destroy them.”
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-06-14/donald-trump-st-johns-church-white-evangelicals-campaign-2020-pandemic-protest
OK I needed to get that off my chest. And hey I didn’t break my one rule everybody! Virtual mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:
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[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Kneeling Protesters
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We’re officially in the “beating a dead horse” phase of Beating A Dead Horse. That is right, we have officially gone meta! How do I know that? Well conservatives everywhere just will not let this kneeling thing go. We first covered conservatives railing against kneeling protestors in the first “Beating A Dead Horse” segment in Idiots #3-16. We then covered this again in Idiots #7-5. Now we’re covering this topic yet again. We might have officially beaten our own dead horse. Because, the favorite punching bag of the right, the former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, is back in the news and this time it’s guaranteed to make conservative heads explode!
With widespread protests and countless athletes getting involved across the country in recent weeks, it’s all but certain that players will start kneeling during the national anthem in protest this fall.
Houston Texans star J.J. Watt and Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield ensured that they’ll be supporting those protests on social media on Saturday, too.
J.J. Watt quickly corrects fan
Watt slammed a fan on Twitter on Saturday afternoon who, in a since-deleted tweet, said they were “pretty sure you won’t see J.J. Watt taking a knee” during the national anthem this season.
The defensive end didn’t specify whether he’d be taking a knee during the anthem himself, but he’s clearly in support of the protests.
He isn’t alone in Houston, either.
https://sports.yahoo.com/houston-texans-jj-watt-baker-mayfield-support-protesting-kneeling-national-anthem-social-media-223300524.html
Houston Texans star J.J. Watt and Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield ensured that they’ll be supporting those protests on social media on Saturday, too.
J.J. Watt quickly corrects fan
Watt slammed a fan on Twitter on Saturday afternoon who, in a since-deleted tweet, said they were “pretty sure you won’t see J.J. Watt taking a knee” during the national anthem this season.
The defensive end didn’t specify whether he’d be taking a knee during the anthem himself, but he’s clearly in support of the protests.
He isn’t alone in Houston, either.
https://sports.yahoo.com/houston-texans-jj-watt-baker-mayfield-support-protesting-kneeling-national-anthem-social-media-223300524.html
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! My ears!!! My ears!!! OK so kneeling during the National Anthem is a disgrace, but that hideous butchering isn’t? Come on! Well here’s the thing folks in case you haven’t forgotten we’re still in a pandemic, so there may or may not be football this year depending on what is happening with the virus. But it will be an interesting season if it actually goes through!
In the midst of violent protests across the country, something simple and symbolic is slowing people down: protesters and police are kneeling, together.
"It's extraordinarily powerful,” said Case Western Law Professor Bryan Adamson. "One of the ultimate forms of humility."
But kneeling wasn't always seen that way to everyone. Most notably, the uproar over Colin Kaepernick’s protest on the NFL sidelines in 2016.
Adamson says people lost sight of the original message.
"The kneeling did not mean, ‘I hate America’ or ‘I am anti-American’ or ‘I don't believe in the Pledge of Allegiance,” he said.
At the time, Kaepernick said he was kneeling in protest to “how we treat people and the oppression and the injustices that go on."
Now, four years later, police and protesters are kneeling together.
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/america-in-crisis/kneeling-now-the-symbol-of-protest-for-this-generation-and-an-act-of-unity-between-protesters-police
"It's extraordinarily powerful,” said Case Western Law Professor Bryan Adamson. "One of the ultimate forms of humility."
But kneeling wasn't always seen that way to everyone. Most notably, the uproar over Colin Kaepernick’s protest on the NFL sidelines in 2016.
Adamson says people lost sight of the original message.
"The kneeling did not mean, ‘I hate America’ or ‘I am anti-American’ or ‘I don't believe in the Pledge of Allegiance,” he said.
At the time, Kaepernick said he was kneeling in protest to “how we treat people and the oppression and the injustices that go on."
Now, four years later, police and protesters are kneeling together.
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/america-in-crisis/kneeling-now-the-symbol-of-protest-for-this-generation-and-an-act-of-unity-between-protesters-police
Man remember the good old days when getting down on one knee meant that you were going to propose marriage to someone? Well the good news though is that this is backfiring big time on Trump and his goons. Yes, the more he speaks out on this issue, the fewer fans he has. It’s his version of kryptonite. And those two institutions? NASCAR and the NFL. Yes, those are two good ol’ American institutions that are havens for 90% of his fan base.
President Donald Trump has long had two cherished American institutions standing beside him as he railed against athletes taking a knee during the national anthem: NASCAR and the NFL.
This week, they both started to walk away.
Bending to the cultural moment, NASCAR and the NFL in recent days reversed course on their approach to athletes protesting racial injustice. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he had been wrong for not listening to protesting players earlier and encouraged “all to speak out and peacefully protest.” Meanwhile, NASCAR relaxed rules barring kneeling during the national anthem and banned Confederate flags from its events. Within days, a NASCAR driver was circling a track in a race car emblazoned with #BlackLivesMatter and a NASCAR official was taking a knee during prerace ceremonies.
The moves came in response to the protests that have erupted across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died at the hands of the Minneapolis police. And they reflected shifting cultural attitudes — polls show an increasing percentage of the population view racism as a big problem in the country and the protests as a justified response.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/14/trump-nfl-nascar-kneeling-crusade-316528
This week, they both started to walk away.
Bending to the cultural moment, NASCAR and the NFL in recent days reversed course on their approach to athletes protesting racial injustice. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he had been wrong for not listening to protesting players earlier and encouraged “all to speak out and peacefully protest.” Meanwhile, NASCAR relaxed rules barring kneeling during the national anthem and banned Confederate flags from its events. Within days, a NASCAR driver was circling a track in a race car emblazoned with #BlackLivesMatter and a NASCAR official was taking a knee during prerace ceremonies.
The moves came in response to the protests that have erupted across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died at the hands of the Minneapolis police. And they reflected shifting cultural attitudes — polls show an increasing percentage of the population view racism as a big problem in the country and the protests as a justified response.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/14/trump-nfl-nascar-kneeling-crusade-316528
Yup, Trump got owned by two of the right wing’s favorite institutions – NASCAR and the NFL. Yes, the tides are turning and they’re definitely turning in favor of us! Does that mean that with Tom Brady finally leaving Boston for greener pastures in Florida mean that the NFL has a new superstar on their hands with Kaepernick? Well I wouldn’t bet on that just yet.
Dressed in a blue long-sleeve shirt and seated in the basement of his suburban home outside New York City, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke in a subdued voice on camera and admitted that the league had poorly mishandled player activism.
"We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest," Goodell said in the video, which was posted June 5.
Goodell's video statements came on the heels of another viral video, posted the day before, which featured prominent Black NFL players, including Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, condemning racism and advocating for the Black Lives Matter movement.
And while both videos referred to George Floyd, the Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 — a disturbing incident caught on video in which an officer held his knee on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes, prompting protests around the world — neither Goodell nor the NFL players made any mention of Colin Kaepernick.
It was Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who starred in the 2013 Super Bowl, who in 2016 began kneeling during the national anthem. Kaepernick said numerous times then that he was protesting "systematic oppression" and police brutality. His activism sparked other NFL players to follow his lead that season, while President Donald Trump lambasted NFL players who knelt, calling them "sons of bitches" and joking that owners should fire players who take a knee.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/after-nfl-admission-protests-does-colin-kaepernick-have-shot-playing-n1229121
"We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest," Goodell said in the video, which was posted June 5.
Goodell's video statements came on the heels of another viral video, posted the day before, which featured prominent Black NFL players, including Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, condemning racism and advocating for the Black Lives Matter movement.
And while both videos referred to George Floyd, the Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 — a disturbing incident caught on video in which an officer held his knee on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes, prompting protests around the world — neither Goodell nor the NFL players made any mention of Colin Kaepernick.
It was Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who starred in the 2013 Super Bowl, who in 2016 began kneeling during the national anthem. Kaepernick said numerous times then that he was protesting "systematic oppression" and police brutality. His activism sparked other NFL players to follow his lead that season, while President Donald Trump lambasted NFL players who knelt, calling them "sons of bitches" and joking that owners should fire players who take a knee.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/after-nfl-admission-protests-does-colin-kaepernick-have-shot-playing-n1229121
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[font size="8"]COPS: How Is This Still A Thing?
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It’s time once again to ask:
This week: The long-running reality show COPS. How is this still a thing? The show COPS was created in response to a writer’s strike that crippled the television industry in the late 1980s. The idea was an unscripted TV show following the men and women of law enforcement around in their day to day life in the hopes that something exciting would come along. But lately with all the animosity toward police that started in 2015 and has recently escalated with the murder of George Floyd, we wonder how this show has survived as long as it has. And how did it command the audience that it did for nearly 32 years before it finally got the axe? Also, what took them so long?
Of all the charges you could level at Cops, it’s hard to accuse it of stinting on action. Until its cancellation this week, the 31-year-old reality series endured for so long because, despite the unvarnished nature of its presentation and concept (just regular cops filmed doing real police work!), it stuck rigidly to a fast-paced format. Each episode runs about 22 minutes long and has three acts, within which a suspect is located, investigated, and—mostly—arrested. The arrestees are often referred to as “bad guys,” and they get no backstory, no biography beyond what they volunteer to the officers in front of them. They’re human beings reduced to the sum of their rap sheets, or to their mental and emotional state on the particular day that the cameras are rolling.
The cops don’t get much more by way of characterization, although they occasionally throw out one-liners to the accompanying cameramen to acknowledge the viewers at home. I was reminded of this detail when Officer Tou Thao of the Minneapolis Police Department cracked, “This is why you don’t do drugs, kids,” to the assembled crowd watching the killing of George Floyd in real time. The line struck me as something someone might say if they had grown up watching Cops, and had absorbed the show’s motifs as emblems of police work. In Cops’ world, the police are by default the good guys, because theirs is the only point of view the camera follows. Fleeing suspects must be captured because—on Cops—they’re always guilty of something. And the structure of the show’s acts, punctuated by ad breaks, means that the good guys unfailingly capture and overpower the bad guys in a matter of minutes.
More Stories
Never have these qualities felt so out of touch. That Cops was still in production shocked some people this week, given how much it seemed like a relic of the late ’80s and ’90s, something unearthed from a time capsule alongside The Tracey Ullman Show and the “Just Say No” antidrug campaign. But that the series was finally canceled by the Paramount Network, where it had moved after 25 seasons on Fox, was less surprising. Cops has been drawing critiques for years, most recently in a 2018 Marshall Project feature and a 2019 podcast that both probe its simplistic, heavily one-sided portrayal of police work. In a moment that’s considerably less inclined to blindly accept valorizing shows about law enforcement, Cops isn’t the only casualty: A&E’s wildly successful weekend series Live PD was also canceled this week, with the network stating that it was rethinking storytelling about police at “a critical time in our nation’s history.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/06/cops-was-reality-show-cherry-picked-reality/613012/
The cops don’t get much more by way of characterization, although they occasionally throw out one-liners to the accompanying cameramen to acknowledge the viewers at home. I was reminded of this detail when Officer Tou Thao of the Minneapolis Police Department cracked, “This is why you don’t do drugs, kids,” to the assembled crowd watching the killing of George Floyd in real time. The line struck me as something someone might say if they had grown up watching Cops, and had absorbed the show’s motifs as emblems of police work. In Cops’ world, the police are by default the good guys, because theirs is the only point of view the camera follows. Fleeing suspects must be captured because—on Cops—they’re always guilty of something. And the structure of the show’s acts, punctuated by ad breaks, means that the good guys unfailingly capture and overpower the bad guys in a matter of minutes.
More Stories
Never have these qualities felt so out of touch. That Cops was still in production shocked some people this week, given how much it seemed like a relic of the late ’80s and ’90s, something unearthed from a time capsule alongside The Tracey Ullman Show and the “Just Say No” antidrug campaign. But that the series was finally canceled by the Paramount Network, where it had moved after 25 seasons on Fox, was less surprising. Cops has been drawing critiques for years, most recently in a 2018 Marshall Project feature and a 2019 podcast that both probe its simplistic, heavily one-sided portrayal of police work. In a moment that’s considerably less inclined to blindly accept valorizing shows about law enforcement, Cops isn’t the only casualty: A&E’s wildly successful weekend series Live PD was also canceled this week, with the network stating that it was rethinking storytelling about police at “a critical time in our nation’s history.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/06/cops-was-reality-show-cherry-picked-reality/613012/
Yup, shit just got real all right! So with all the attention on the police, for mostly negative and well deserved reasons why, why did the show Cops become as iconic as it was, and how did this play a role in how public opinions shaped views of how the police really operates? Also of course, leave it to the Fox Network to put such a polarizing and divisive show on the air. Really, we’re shocked that they would do such a thing!
When a writers’ strike paralyzed the television industry in the late 1980s, networks were forced to find new, alternative programs to fill its air.
That’s how “Cops” found a home on Fox Television. The low budget program, which had no union writers, was a welcome solution — and it ran for 32 seasons. That is until earlier this week.
Now owned by ViacomCBS, “Cops” was canceled in the wake of of protests against police brutality and the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer.
The show has long been criticized for its depiction of police interactions with criminal suspects, but high ratings kept the show running and even inspired other networks to create reality TV shows featuring cops. A&E’s “Live P.D.,” one of the highest-rated shows on cable, has also been canceled.
“As an early reality program, it came across to people as raw documentary,” said Jack Bratich, associate professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University. “Nowadays audiences are more savvy about how reality programming is produced, edited and staged. Viewers are aware of how programs present perspectives and invite audiences to identify with those perspectives.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/13/how-cops-shaped-public-opinion-about-police-and-people-of-color.html
That’s how “Cops” found a home on Fox Television. The low budget program, which had no union writers, was a welcome solution — and it ran for 32 seasons. That is until earlier this week.
Now owned by ViacomCBS, “Cops” was canceled in the wake of of protests against police brutality and the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer.
The show has long been criticized for its depiction of police interactions with criminal suspects, but high ratings kept the show running and even inspired other networks to create reality TV shows featuring cops. A&E’s “Live P.D.,” one of the highest-rated shows on cable, has also been canceled.
“As an early reality program, it came across to people as raw documentary,” said Jack Bratich, associate professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University. “Nowadays audiences are more savvy about how reality programming is produced, edited and staged. Viewers are aware of how programs present perspectives and invite audiences to identify with those perspectives.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/13/how-cops-shaped-public-opinion-about-police-and-people-of-color.html
OK so we’ve seen the protests for the bad cops, which are portrayed on TV shows such as COPS. But what about kids shows like Paw Patrol? Or even goofy comedies like Reno 911, Brooklyn 99 and Super Troopers? Or the Simpson’s loveable doofus character Chief Wiggum? Are those still cannon fodder for protestors? Or will this change the landscape of television and police characters for good?
Some people are calling online for Nickelodeon to cancel Paw Patrol, and take the show off the airwaves. Or if not that, they want the show’s main police dog character Chase to be removed.
This comes after Paramount’s Cops and A&E’s Live PD were canceled on Monday.
The call came as the animated show tweeted, “In solidarity of #amplifymelanatedvoices we will be muting our content until June 7th to give access for Black voices to be heard so we can continue to listen and further our learning. #amplifyblackvoices”
The animated children’s show features a squad of 6 dogs with a set of skills related to emergency services, and a boy named Ryder who all work to protect their city of Adventure Bay.
Shortly after the show’s tweet, commenters started to weigh in asking for Paw Patrol to be canceled.
In one tweet, a user posted a photoshopped picture that read, “All Dogs go to Heaven, except for those class traitors in the Paw Patrol.”
https://kslnewsradio.com/1927142/cancel-paw-patrol/
This comes after Paramount’s Cops and A&E’s Live PD were canceled on Monday.
The call came as the animated show tweeted, “In solidarity of #amplifymelanatedvoices we will be muting our content until June 7th to give access for Black voices to be heard so we can continue to listen and further our learning. #amplifyblackvoices”
The animated children’s show features a squad of 6 dogs with a set of skills related to emergency services, and a boy named Ryder who all work to protect their city of Adventure Bay.
Shortly after the show’s tweet, commenters started to weigh in asking for Paw Patrol to be canceled.
In one tweet, a user posted a photoshopped picture that read, “All Dogs go to Heaven, except for those class traitors in the Paw Patrol.”
https://kslnewsradio.com/1927142/cancel-paw-patrol/
Yes, that escalated very quickly. Leave it to social media to turn an innocent children’s show very dark very quickly. But COPS isn’t just the epitome of police propaganda, and there’s lots of TV shows, movies, and TV and movie characters out there who portray good cops and bad cops. But will this change the way America views its’ police force forever? Well, after a series of horrifying murders, this might just be the icing on the cake.
In the aftermath of yet another viral video showing a Black man’s murder at the hands of a systemically racist, broken police force, America’s longest-running source of pro-police propaganda was unceremoniously yanked from scheduling. After 32 seasons — over a thousand syndicated episodes adding up to over three decades’ worth of nearly uninterrupted availability — Spike TV, current home of the landmark “reality” show “Cops,” announced the show’s hiatus would become permanent.
For decades, showrunners for "Cops" maintained that their goal was depicting the “real men and women of law enforcement,” while in actuality offering a carefully crafted, heavily edited dramatization of a mythic struggle against the urban anarchy threatening to storm suburbia’s gates. It will not be missed.
I came of age as part of the “Cops” generation. Fox’s revolutionary docu-drama debuted in 1989, one year before I was born, when America was dealing with a crack epidemic and widespread concern over rising crime rates and police corruption. The show’s pilot, very much a product of that time, has not aged well. It’s depiction of American policing is both tone-deaf and gaudy, while reveling in racial insensitivity.
One extended uncomfortable segment depicts police officers literally stopping cars with white drivers at the edge of a predominantly black neighborhood and telling them to turn around. Another follows a patrolman to his house to showcase his home life: a stereotypical portrait of a brusque, dismissive husband haunted by his day’s work sitting next to his long-suffering wife in front of the TV. It didn’t take long for “Cops” to refine its format, shifting the focus away from the police officers themselves and onto their suspects.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/cops-tv-show-canceled-amid-george-floyd-defund-police-about-ncna1229316
For decades, showrunners for "Cops" maintained that their goal was depicting the “real men and women of law enforcement,” while in actuality offering a carefully crafted, heavily edited dramatization of a mythic struggle against the urban anarchy threatening to storm suburbia’s gates. It will not be missed.
I came of age as part of the “Cops” generation. Fox’s revolutionary docu-drama debuted in 1989, one year before I was born, when America was dealing with a crack epidemic and widespread concern over rising crime rates and police corruption. The show’s pilot, very much a product of that time, has not aged well. It’s depiction of American policing is both tone-deaf and gaudy, while reveling in racial insensitivity.
One extended uncomfortable segment depicts police officers literally stopping cars with white drivers at the edge of a predominantly black neighborhood and telling them to turn around. Another follows a patrolman to his house to showcase his home life: a stereotypical portrait of a brusque, dismissive husband haunted by his day’s work sitting next to his long-suffering wife in front of the TV. It didn’t take long for “Cops” to refine its format, shifting the focus away from the police officers themselves and onto their suspects.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/cops-tv-show-canceled-amid-george-floyd-defund-police-about-ncna1229316
So too much of the bad cops being shown on TV, and not enough of the good ones, so that’s enough to cancel all cop shows for the rest of eternity. That’s enough to make you ask: The show COPS:
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[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Hit it!
Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb. Who is dumb this week? Do I need to remind you that we’re still in a pandemic and that this thing isn’t going away any time soon. And there have been some dumb motherfuckers in this thing. Starting with sex. First off, if you are to engage in what one would call a “menage a tois”, it *NEVER* goes the way you think it’s going to go. We go to Myrtle Beach – god damn motherfucking Myrtle Beach – for this insane story. And if you are celebrating a birthday this is one of those things that you shouldn’t do under any circumstances.
A birthday weekend threesome came to an abrupt end Friday when the 19-year-old celebrant pulled a male acquaintance “off the other woman by his genitals and threw him to the floor” of a La Quinta Inn room, according to South Carolina police.
The woman, named Mary Jane, told police that her friend Jahiem had arrived in Myrtle Beach before her and “had been spending time with another woman before she got there.” And, a police incident report notes, “that’s what started the whole argument.”
Jahiem told Myrtle Beach Police Department officers that he and Mary Jane “agreed to have sexual relations with that other woman,” whose age is not revealed in the report. Mary Jane, however, did tell cops that the second woman had a pistol in her handbag.
“During the course of the relations,” Jahiem said, Mary Jane pulled him “off the other woman by his genitals and threw him to the floor.” During a physical confrontation that followed, Jahiem said he kicked Mary Jane, “causing her to fall.”
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/stupid/myrtle-beach-threesome-826014
The woman, named Mary Jane, told police that her friend Jahiem had arrived in Myrtle Beach before her and “had been spending time with another woman before she got there.” And, a police incident report notes, “that’s what started the whole argument.”
Jahiem told Myrtle Beach Police Department officers that he and Mary Jane “agreed to have sexual relations with that other woman,” whose age is not revealed in the report. Mary Jane, however, did tell cops that the second woman had a pistol in her handbag.
“During the course of the relations,” Jahiem said, Mary Jane pulled him “off the other woman by his genitals and threw him to the floor.” During a physical confrontation that followed, Jahiem said he kicked Mary Jane, “causing her to fall.”
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/stupid/myrtle-beach-threesome-826014
Oh George, don’t you know going in that this is a bad idea? Next up – stupid has no boundaries, it has no race, no culture, nothing. And this was a sentence that was written. It was said. Someone had to write this article, and well, we feel bad for them. Let’s go to Spain for this one. And I really think this guy should be nominated for the new Most Interesting Man In The World. Stay thirsty my friends!
A Spanish porn star was arrested and charged with manslaughter late last week in connection with a mysterious death following a drug ritual involving toad venom.
Nacho Vidal, 46, was one of three people arrested in connection with the July 2019 death of Jose Luis Abad, a Spanish fashion photographer. Abad died after smoking dehydrated venom from an endangered toad, reportedly as part of a ritual over which Vidal was presiding as shaman.
The venom belonged to the Colorado River toad, which is found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. The toad secretes a toxin to ward off predators that, when dehydrated, contains the compound 5-MeO-DMT, a derivative DMT, which has powerful psychedelic properties.
5-MeO-DMT has been referred to as a “god molecule” due to reports of people feeling like they’d met a higher power while under the effects of the drug. Very limited research suggests it may have therapeutic uses, but it also has potentially dangerous side effects, including extreme nausea and confusion.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/nacho-vidal-toad-venom-dmt-death-1010196/
Nacho Vidal, 46, was one of three people arrested in connection with the July 2019 death of Jose Luis Abad, a Spanish fashion photographer. Abad died after smoking dehydrated venom from an endangered toad, reportedly as part of a ritual over which Vidal was presiding as shaman.
The venom belonged to the Colorado River toad, which is found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. The toad secretes a toxin to ward off predators that, when dehydrated, contains the compound 5-MeO-DMT, a derivative DMT, which has powerful psychedelic properties.
5-MeO-DMT has been referred to as a “god molecule” due to reports of people feeling like they’d met a higher power while under the effects of the drug. Very limited research suggests it may have therapeutic uses, but it also has potentially dangerous side effects, including extreme nausea and confusion.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/nacho-vidal-toad-venom-dmt-death-1010196/
There’s really a Simpsons GIF for everything! And speaking of the Simpsons, remember that episode where Homer and his drunken posse vandalized and destroyed Springfield Elementary and the kids of Springfield were subjected to an extremely harsh curfew? Well, this story is pretty similar to that episode, where this guy was channeling his inner Bart Simpson:
Security cameras caught Matthew Crandall on video trashing Miramar High School. He wore only a hat and headphones while smashing computers and televisions, Miramar police said in a tweet.
The video showed Crandall broke into the school around 7 a.m. Monday. He caused flooding in hallways and vandalized classrooms, walls and hallways throughout the school in Broward County, police said.
A school custodian discovered the damage, which was estimated at about $100,000, police said.
Crandall is from North Fort Myers. It was not known whether he had any ties to the school, police said.
Police said Crandall is charged with burglary and criminal mischief. A lawyer is not listed on jail records.
https://weartv.com/news/local/police-naked-florida-man-spent-24-hours-vandalizing-school
The video showed Crandall broke into the school around 7 a.m. Monday. He caused flooding in hallways and vandalized classrooms, walls and hallways throughout the school in Broward County, police said.
A school custodian discovered the damage, which was estimated at about $100,000, police said.
Crandall is from North Fort Myers. It was not known whether he had any ties to the school, police said.
Police said Crandall is charged with burglary and criminal mischief. A lawyer is not listed on jail records.
https://weartv.com/news/local/police-naked-florida-man-spent-24-hours-vandalizing-school
God I miss live music! Next up, speaking of idiocy not respecting boundaries – it’s a lot like coronavirus – it’s spreadable, highly communicable, very contagious, and it doesn’t care about your race, creed, social, or economic status. Let’s take a look at this story out of Sydney, and that’s all the way in Australia, don’t you know? Well, once again this involves a naked guy doing something shady. Because when you add naked to the equation well…
Man acquitted of entering a home with a weapon after successful sex fantasy defence
Two men hired to carry out a stranger’s sexual fantasy of being tied up while clad in his underpants went to the wrong rural NSW address with machetes, but politely left after realising their mistake.
One of the Sydney men, Terrence Leroy, has now been found not guilty in the NSW district court of entering the home in July 2019 intending to intimidate while armed with an offensive weapon.
...
They started to leave after he told them his name – which was not that of the intended client.
One man apologised, saying “Sorry mate”, and shook the resident’s hand, while the other said “Bye” before they drove off. The resident then contacted the police.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/28/man-acquitted-of-entering-a-home-with-a-weapon-after-successful-sex-fantasy-defence
Two men hired to carry out a stranger’s sexual fantasy of being tied up while clad in his underpants went to the wrong rural NSW address with machetes, but politely left after realising their mistake.
One of the Sydney men, Terrence Leroy, has now been found not guilty in the NSW district court of entering the home in July 2019 intending to intimidate while armed with an offensive weapon.
...
They started to leave after he told them his name – which was not that of the intended client.
One man apologised, saying “Sorry mate”, and shook the resident’s hand, while the other said “Bye” before they drove off. The resident then contacted the police.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/28/man-acquitted-of-entering-a-home-with-a-weapon-after-successful-sex-fantasy-defence
Next up – young boys are dumb, and when in groups they tend to do some really dumb things. I know, I was one at one point. And young boys today should realize that comic books aren’t exactly what one would call real life. But even I, at a young age, was at least smart enough to know that the Black Widow spider was the deadliest. And it’s not going to turn you into Spiderman. And you’re definitely not Peter Parker.
Encountering a black widow spider would cause most of us to run in the opposite direction - but not three young Bolivian brothers who had high hopes of becoming a super-hero.
According to the New York Post, a Telemundo report said the incident was announced by a Ministry of Health official at a coronavirus briefing on Saturday.
The report said the boys - ages 12, 10 and 8 - found the spider while herding goats in Chayanta.
“Thinking it would give them superhero powers, they prodded it with a stick until it bit each of them in turn,” the official, Virgilio Pietro, said.
Read more: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/05/three-young-brothers-let-black-widow-bite-them-in-hopes-of-turning-into-spider-man.html
According to the New York Post, a Telemundo report said the incident was announced by a Ministry of Health official at a coronavirus briefing on Saturday.
The report said the boys - ages 12, 10 and 8 - found the spider while herding goats in Chayanta.
“Thinking it would give them superhero powers, they prodded it with a stick until it bit each of them in turn,” the official, Virgilio Pietro, said.
Read more: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/05/three-young-brothers-let-black-widow-bite-them-in-hopes-of-turning-into-spider-man.html
Finally this week our old pal Florida Man just can’t help himself to doing something stupid. Yes, Florida, the Sunshine State, America’s most penis-shaped state, and the winner of our 2020 Stupidest State Contest, always brings out the big guns. But he’s just as dumb as ever. Once again, I say that young boys do stupid things, it’s a fact of nature. But made even worse when paired with your dad and a 4,000 pound SUV. File this one under “things that do not end well”.
A Florida man is facing felony charges after police said he let a 12-year-old girl drive his SUV and told her to speed because he wanted to be a “cool father” — even though he is not her dad.
Shaun Michaelsen, 41, told the arresting officer Monday he is friends with the girl's mother and that the girl and her friend were staying with him for a few days, according to court records.
He said the girl had asked earlier in the day if she could drive his Jeep, so he thought “it would be cool" and that he was trying to be a “cool father,” the police report said. Michaelsen also told officers he had been drinking.
Jupiter Officer Craig Yochum said in his arrest report that he spotted the Jeep make an illegal U-turn and then speed away at about 12:10 a.m. Monday. He followed and the Jeep reached speeds of 85 mph in a 45 mph zone before he was able to pull it over. He said that when he asked the 12-year-https://www.kwqc.com/content/news/Police-Florida-man-lets-12-year-old-drive-Jeep-85-mph-571135401.html
Shaun Michaelsen, 41, told the arresting officer Monday he is friends with the girl's mother and that the girl and her friend were staying with him for a few days, according to court records.
He said the girl had asked earlier in the day if she could drive his Jeep, so he thought “it would be cool" and that he was trying to be a “cool father,” the police report said. Michaelsen also told officers he had been drinking.
Jupiter Officer Craig Yochum said in his arrest report that he spotted the Jeep make an illegal U-turn and then speed away at about 12:10 a.m. Monday. He followed and the Jeep reached speeds of 85 mph in a 45 mph zone before he was able to pull it over. He said that when he asked the 12-year-https://www.kwqc.com/content/news/Police-Florida-man-lets-12-year-old-drive-Jeep-85-mph-571135401.html
That’s it this week for:
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[font size="8"]Road To The White House Episode 1
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Yes it’s time for our new segment – cue the reverb – THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE! Oh that was some good reverb there. 2020 has been an absolutely batshit crazy year, we’ve had the impeachment, the virus, the lockdowns, riots, protests, mass unemployment, murder hornets, blood monkeys, and we’re only halfway done. But lost in all the headlines is that we’re in an election year! And the Democratic Party finally has a candidate! So in this segment we’re going to chronicle Joe Biden’s road ot the White House, and since this is a free-form segment then anything goes! Well to start with this week, Biden’s got a long road ahead of him. This week – is the election being stolen? Well let’s take a look at what’s going on.
Imagine that it’s November 3, 2020, and Joe Biden has just been declared the winner of the presidential election by all the major networks except for Fox News. It was a close, bitter race, but Biden appears to have won with just over 280 electoral votes.
Because Election Day took place in the middle of a second wave of coronavirus infections, turnout was historically low and a huge number of votes were cast via absentee ballot. While Biden is the presumptive winner, the electoral process was bumpy, with thousands of mail-in votes in closely fought states still waiting to be counted. Trump, naturally, refuses to concede and spends election night tweeting about how “fraudulent” the vote was.
We knew this would be coming; he’s been previewing this kind of response for a while now.
One day goes by, then a few more, and a month later Trump is still contesting the outcome, calling it “rigged” or a “Deep State plot” or whatever. Republicans, for the most part, are falling in line behind Trump. From that point forward, we’re officially in a constitutional crisis.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/6/3/21257133/trump-2020-election-meltdown-lawrence-douglas
Because Election Day took place in the middle of a second wave of coronavirus infections, turnout was historically low and a huge number of votes were cast via absentee ballot. While Biden is the presumptive winner, the electoral process was bumpy, with thousands of mail-in votes in closely fought states still waiting to be counted. Trump, naturally, refuses to concede and spends election night tweeting about how “fraudulent” the vote was.
We knew this would be coming; he’s been previewing this kind of response for a while now.
One day goes by, then a few more, and a month later Trump is still contesting the outcome, calling it “rigged” or a “Deep State plot” or whatever. Republicans, for the most part, are falling in line behind Trump. From that point forward, we’re officially in a constitutional crisis.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/6/3/21257133/trump-2020-election-meltdown-lawrence-douglas
Trump is the grandmaster! He is going to tell his followers to take to the streets and celebrate your president! And in what may be the ultimate circular firing squad argument, Trump and Biden both warn that the other will steal the other’s election victory. If you think that makes any sense whatsoever, well, just wait until you see the actual argument!
Five months before the election in November, the incumbent president and his Democratic challenger each tell Americans his opponent could "steal" the election, perhaps setting the stage for a contentious fight even after the voting is over.
The warnings from President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden are growing louder and earlier than in 2016, when Trump decried a "rigged" political system in the final weeks before his victory over Hillary Clinton.
The claims are more direct, reflecting the deeply divided nation that has defined the Trump era.
Both men's rhetoric is largely aimed at the same issue – vote-by-mail, which Biden and Democrats support to allow citizens to vote safely amid the coronavirus pandemic and which Trump strongly opposes. Trump has long stoked fears of election-stealing.Wednesday, Biden ramped up his attacks on the president over voter access.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/06/12/election-2020-biden-says-his-concern-trump-steal-election/5341340002/
The warnings from President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden are growing louder and earlier than in 2016, when Trump decried a "rigged" political system in the final weeks before his victory over Hillary Clinton.
The claims are more direct, reflecting the deeply divided nation that has defined the Trump era.
Both men's rhetoric is largely aimed at the same issue – vote-by-mail, which Biden and Democrats support to allow citizens to vote safely amid the coronavirus pandemic and which Trump strongly opposes. Trump has long stoked fears of election-stealing.Wednesday, Biden ramped up his attacks on the president over voter access.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/06/12/election-2020-biden-says-his-concern-trump-steal-election/5341340002/
That is a good question! Why do things have to be so hard? Well it’s safe to say that the fate of the country is at stake here. And in more ways than one. But this election could mark a turning point toward a much darker future or a much brighter one. Me personally? I’m choosing the brighter one. I do not want Trump and his goons in charge another 4 years. Think it’s bad now? You ain’t seen nothing yet!
As Election Day 2020 approaches, it would appear that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his party have much to celebrate.
Biden leads Donald Trump by an average of eight percentage points in national polling, with some surveys showing Biden ahead of Trump by as many as 14 percentage points.
Biden also enjoys huge leads among the Democratic Party's key constituents, including black voters, Latinos and other nonwhites, college-educated white women and younger voters. Polls also show Joe Biden making gains among older white voters, a group that consistently supports Republicans and has been especially loyal to Trump. Biden also leads Trump in key battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin.
On closer inspection, however, matters are more complicated.
Election Day is still more than four months away, almost an eternity in electoral politics. Previous Democratic nominees such as Hillary Clinton and Michael Dukakis are object lessons in the cruel and mercurial ways of the political fates: Both appeared to hold big leads over their Republican opponents at this approximate point in the cycle, only to lose on Election Day.
https://www.salon.com/2020/06/15/investigative-journalist-greg-palast-heres-how-trump-will-steal-the-2020-election/
Biden leads Donald Trump by an average of eight percentage points in national polling, with some surveys showing Biden ahead of Trump by as many as 14 percentage points.
Biden also enjoys huge leads among the Democratic Party's key constituents, including black voters, Latinos and other nonwhites, college-educated white women and younger voters. Polls also show Joe Biden making gains among older white voters, a group that consistently supports Republicans and has been especially loyal to Trump. Biden also leads Trump in key battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin.
On closer inspection, however, matters are more complicated.
Election Day is still more than four months away, almost an eternity in electoral politics. Previous Democratic nominees such as Hillary Clinton and Michael Dukakis are object lessons in the cruel and mercurial ways of the political fates: Both appeared to hold big leads over their Republican opponents at this approximate point in the cycle, only to lose on Election Day.
https://www.salon.com/2020/06/15/investigative-journalist-greg-palast-heres-how-trump-will-steal-the-2020-election/
Yeah I can imagine the debates are going like that. And that’s if Trump decides to debate Biden, which we all know he won’t. In fact he’s trying to fan the flames for a possible Civil War. Oh yes my friends, don’t think for a minute that he won’t go there. But if Atlanta is any indication, there’s going to be a long, very long uphill fight ahead of us before we decide the 46th president of the United States. But at least Trump will go quietly… or won’t he?
First he lit into Michigan and Nevada, threatening to withhold federal funding because of his assertion that both states were preparing to commit voter fraud through mail-in ballot applications. Then President Donald Trump followed up Sunday with two more broadly worded warnings that November would be “the greatest Rigged Election in history.”
“The Democrats are trying to Rig the 2020 Election, plain and simple!” the president claimed.
Trump’s increasingly amped-up rhetoric surrounding the integrity of the November election is beginning to bring to center stage a previously muted conversation. With the president lagging behind Joe Biden in public opinion polls six months before the general election, his opponents are becoming increasingly anxious that Trump may attempt to undermine the results of the election if he loses — or worse, might attempt to cling to power regardless of the outcome.
"He is planting the seeds for delegitimizing the election if he loses," Vanita Gupta, a former head of the Department of Justice’s civil rights division under President Barack Obama and now president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said on Twitter on Sunday in reaction to Trump's "rigged election" claim. "It’s from the playbook. It’ll get more intense as he gets more freaked out."
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/25/donald-trump-rigged-election-talk-fears-274477
“The Democrats are trying to Rig the 2020 Election, plain and simple!” the president claimed.
Trump’s increasingly amped-up rhetoric surrounding the integrity of the November election is beginning to bring to center stage a previously muted conversation. With the president lagging behind Joe Biden in public opinion polls six months before the general election, his opponents are becoming increasingly anxious that Trump may attempt to undermine the results of the election if he loses — or worse, might attempt to cling to power regardless of the outcome.
"He is planting the seeds for delegitimizing the election if he loses," Vanita Gupta, a former head of the Department of Justice’s civil rights division under President Barack Obama and now president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said on Twitter on Sunday in reaction to Trump's "rigged election" claim. "It’s from the playbook. It’ll get more intense as he gets more freaked out."
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/25/donald-trump-rigged-election-talk-fears-274477
[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]
Is there a possibility that Biden could win Texas for the first time in 40 years? It's entirely possible along with a lot of other 2020 probabbles!
See you next week!
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