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Demovictory9
Demovictory9's Journal
Demovictory9's Journal
August 27, 2020
Trump's RNC naturalization ceremony at White House: Tasteless, hollow and probably illegal
Trump is the first president to cheapen this beloved ceremony as the instrument of a cult of personality. And that's my view, not the government's.
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But how sad, how wrong it was, that their first moments as citizens were spent in a White House full of people almost certainly engaged in breaking the law while their new chief executive treated them as nothing more than props in a political spectacle.
While the president and vice president are not subject to the Hatch Act (the law that prohibits government employees from using their positions for political activity), everyone else in the White House surely is, and they all worked with a political party to hold a campaign event on government property using government resources. The actual oath was administered by acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, a Trump sycophant who is illegally occupying his Cabinet office.
What the president did was tasteless and hollow; what Wolf did was probably illegal. And all of it was an offense to our traditions. As journalist Susan Glasser noted at that moment: “It’s like the lawyers told Trump all the partisan things that you are not supposed to do in the White House — and he said great, let’s do them all on TV during the Republican convention.”
Sadly, we have become numb to the president’s many offenses, large and small, against the law and the Constitution. Trump’s people have long regarded the Hatch Act in particular with open contempt: Nearly a dozen senior Trump officials have been reprimanded for violations, but that doesn’t matter to any of them.
“I honestly don’t care” about violating the Hatch Act, Lynne Patton, a Trump appointee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said just last year. When challenged on social media, she tweeted: “What part about ‘I don’t give a sh-t’ don’t you understand?”
Trump's RNC naturalization ceremony at White House: Tasteless, hollow and probably illegal
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2020/08/26/trump-rnc-naturalization-cheapened-ceremony-broke-law-column/3442965001/Trump's RNC naturalization ceremony at White House: Tasteless, hollow and probably illegal
Trump is the first president to cheapen this beloved ceremony as the instrument of a cult of personality. And that's my view, not the government's.
-----------
But how sad, how wrong it was, that their first moments as citizens were spent in a White House full of people almost certainly engaged in breaking the law while their new chief executive treated them as nothing more than props in a political spectacle.
While the president and vice president are not subject to the Hatch Act (the law that prohibits government employees from using their positions for political activity), everyone else in the White House surely is, and they all worked with a political party to hold a campaign event on government property using government resources. The actual oath was administered by acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, a Trump sycophant who is illegally occupying his Cabinet office.
What the president did was tasteless and hollow; what Wolf did was probably illegal. And all of it was an offense to our traditions. As journalist Susan Glasser noted at that moment: “It’s like the lawyers told Trump all the partisan things that you are not supposed to do in the White House — and he said great, let’s do them all on TV during the Republican convention.”
Sadly, we have become numb to the president’s many offenses, large and small, against the law and the Constitution. Trump’s people have long regarded the Hatch Act in particular with open contempt: Nearly a dozen senior Trump officials have been reprimanded for violations, but that doesn’t matter to any of them.
“I honestly don’t care” about violating the Hatch Act, Lynne Patton, a Trump appointee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said just last year. When challenged on social media, she tweeted: “What part about ‘I don’t give a sh-t’ don’t you understand?”
August 27, 2020
limiting testing to symptomatic undercounts covid19 by 12 times!
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1298893709258502144
August 27, 2020
The Epic Shamelessness of the Republican Convention
Norms are for chumps, not for Trumps.
Conventions lie. Or at least they tell extravagant fibs. That’s how they transform their nominees from mere mortals to near messiahs. That’s how they whip up the faithful and woo the agnostics.
But the Republican convention is going well beyond that. It’s less a feat of pretty storytelling than an act of pure derangement.
To turn Donald Trump into a president worthy of a second term, speakers are conjuring an entirely different person in his place. I can tell that Trump is the man they’re talking about, because he keeps popping up amid all the monumental imagery. (Did Leni Riefenstahl consult via séance?)
But I otherwise don’t recognize their version of Trump. Their Trump brims with empathy. Their Trump burns with passion to improve the lives of ordinary Americans. Their Trump heroically spared the country from the worst ravages of Covid-19, which is surely news to the relatives and friends of more than 175,000 Americans (and counting) who have died from it.
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To recast Trump’s record on the coronavirus as a triumph isn’t revisionist history. It’s science fiction. It’s historical erasure: of all the times that he said or suggested that the virus was some hoax; of all the times that he or his enablers charged Democrats with hyping its threat just to hurt him; of “it is what it is”; of his ruminations about the potentially curative ingestion of bleach; of briefing after briefing in which he crowed about his ratings and bellyached about his critics, caroming from self-love to self-pity and back again.
Me, me, me, me. And the speakers at this convention dare to praise his outward focus, generosity of spirit, compassion and tenderness? They are standing — no, grandstanding — at the confluence of audacity and absurdity.
To turn Trump into a president worthy of a 2nd term, speakers are conjuring an entirely diff person
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/opinion/trump-melania-rnc.htmlThe Epic Shamelessness of the Republican Convention
Norms are for chumps, not for Trumps.
Conventions lie. Or at least they tell extravagant fibs. That’s how they transform their nominees from mere mortals to near messiahs. That’s how they whip up the faithful and woo the agnostics.
But the Republican convention is going well beyond that. It’s less a feat of pretty storytelling than an act of pure derangement.
To turn Donald Trump into a president worthy of a second term, speakers are conjuring an entirely different person in his place. I can tell that Trump is the man they’re talking about, because he keeps popping up amid all the monumental imagery. (Did Leni Riefenstahl consult via séance?)
But I otherwise don’t recognize their version of Trump. Their Trump brims with empathy. Their Trump burns with passion to improve the lives of ordinary Americans. Their Trump heroically spared the country from the worst ravages of Covid-19, which is surely news to the relatives and friends of more than 175,000 Americans (and counting) who have died from it.
----------
To recast Trump’s record on the coronavirus as a triumph isn’t revisionist history. It’s science fiction. It’s historical erasure: of all the times that he said or suggested that the virus was some hoax; of all the times that he or his enablers charged Democrats with hyping its threat just to hurt him; of “it is what it is”; of his ruminations about the potentially curative ingestion of bleach; of briefing after briefing in which he crowed about his ratings and bellyached about his critics, caroming from self-love to self-pity and back again.
Me, me, me, me. And the speakers at this convention dare to praise his outward focus, generosity of spirit, compassion and tenderness? They are standing — no, grandstanding — at the confluence of audacity and absurdity.
August 26, 2020
Millionaire COVID Skeptic Now Has the Virus , hospitalized
Millionaire COVID Skeptic Now Has the Virus
Flavio Briatore's nightclub has been tied to dozens of COVID-19 cases
A man who Reuters calls "one of Italy’s most flamboyant businessmen" and who the Times of London dubs "one of Italy's leading COVID skeptics" has been hospitalized in stable condition in Milan after testing positive for the coronavirus—this after railing against the measures his country has put in place in an attempt to impede the spread of the virus. Flavio Briatore, 70, gained notoriety as a Formula 1 team manager in the 1990s and 2000s and now owns a nightclub dubbed "The Billionaire" in Sardinia. As of 2019 he was said to be worth $400 million.
Last week, he said on Instagram that "it breaks my heart to see an economy slaughtered by people who have done sod all," in reference to the restriction that had been placed on such establishments. Some 60 cases have been tied to the club, and Reuters notes that Briatore's social dealings have been extensive lately: He played an Aug. 15 soccer game with celebs and was recently with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Per the Times, he came down with a fever and felt tired on Sunday night and went to San Raffaele hospital, where he has been since. A bit of trivia from the AP: Briatore is a friend of President Trump's and was in attendance at his inauguration.
https://www.newser.com/story/295432/millionaire-covid-critic-hospitalized-with-virus.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_world_img_b
August 26, 2020
Kyle will be given the same support given George Zimmerman
reading comments following articles. "it was self defense!"
August 26, 2020
Two New Jersey police officers have pleaded guilty to vandalizing the cars of a man who filed a complaint against them.
Stephen Martinsen and Thomas Dowling -- both of whom were officers with Asbury Park police at the time -- admitted to slashing tires of two cars and breaking the windows in one, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
The incident happened in September 2019. The men confessed their act of vandalism was retaliation for the cars' owner filing an internal affairs complaint against them with Asbury Park, the statement said.
The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office didn't say what the complaint was about. CNN has reached out to the Asbury Park Police Department for comment and is waiting to hear back.
The officers caused more than $500 in damage, the statement said
As part of the plea agreement, the men are required to reimburse the damage costs and are permanently barred from any public service employment in New Jersey.
police officers plead guilty to vandalizing cars belonging to a man who filed a complaint against th
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/us/nj-police-officers-vandalize-cars-trnd/index.htmlTwo New Jersey police officers have pleaded guilty to vandalizing the cars of a man who filed a complaint against them.
Stephen Martinsen and Thomas Dowling -- both of whom were officers with Asbury Park police at the time -- admitted to slashing tires of two cars and breaking the windows in one, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
The incident happened in September 2019. The men confessed their act of vandalism was retaliation for the cars' owner filing an internal affairs complaint against them with Asbury Park, the statement said.
The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office didn't say what the complaint was about. CNN has reached out to the Asbury Park Police Department for comment and is waiting to hear back.
The officers caused more than $500 in damage, the statement said
As part of the plea agreement, the men are required to reimburse the damage costs and are permanently barred from any public service employment in New Jersey.
August 26, 2020
tweet of the hour - Melania related
https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1298455653233696769
August 25, 2020
https://www.newser.com/story/295364/in-these-times-a-few-cornhole-tosses-will-get-you.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_world_img_b
It's all about the optics: As Central Michigan University on Monday reported that 54 new coronavirus cases were recorded over the week of Aug. 17, the school's president apologized for briefly getting social with students. President Bob Davies caught flak for tossing a few cornhole bags, something he did over welcome weekend and video of which was posted to social media. The Lexington Herald-Leader surfaces one critical tweet: "Instead of taking measures to figure out how to fix our COVID response, @cmichprez decides to go out and hang around the parties when anyone walking by can see most of these parties aren't following distancing or mask wearing."
The cornhole tossing came as Davies visited off-campus housing and parties to urge students to wear masks and engage in social distancing. He said in a statement, "I was invited to throw a few bags of cornhole, and I spent a few minutes engaging with those students and reminding them to be safe. In retrospect, I see that my participation in the game—regardless of my intent—sent mixed messages about the importance of avoiding large gatherings, and I apologize for the confusion and concerns my actions caused." He added, per MLive, "As a leader and lifelong learner, I will occasionally make mistakes; when I do, I endeavor to learn from them. As our students have asked of me, I will 'do better.'"
University President Sorry He Joined Students for Cornhole
https://twitter.com/aelisemoon/status/1294698523531915266https://www.newser.com/story/295364/in-these-times-a-few-cornhole-tosses-will-get-you.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_world_img_b
It's all about the optics: As Central Michigan University on Monday reported that 54 new coronavirus cases were recorded over the week of Aug. 17, the school's president apologized for briefly getting social with students. President Bob Davies caught flak for tossing a few cornhole bags, something he did over welcome weekend and video of which was posted to social media. The Lexington Herald-Leader surfaces one critical tweet: "Instead of taking measures to figure out how to fix our COVID response, @cmichprez decides to go out and hang around the parties when anyone walking by can see most of these parties aren't following distancing or mask wearing."
The cornhole tossing came as Davies visited off-campus housing and parties to urge students to wear masks and engage in social distancing. He said in a statement, "I was invited to throw a few bags of cornhole, and I spent a few minutes engaging with those students and reminding them to be safe. In retrospect, I see that my participation in the game—regardless of my intent—sent mixed messages about the importance of avoiding large gatherings, and I apologize for the confusion and concerns my actions caused." He added, per MLive, "As a leader and lifelong learner, I will occasionally make mistakes; when I do, I endeavor to learn from them. As our students have asked of me, I will 'do better.'"
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