Ray Torres is the director of the short film

Beyond Credit Unions

The film is available for groups to show. Contact Ray at 215 753 9022

Flyer

Also: Press Release

I kinda like this as an anthem for the left these days.

Brief history of PRAWN

• Network groups, organizations, and individuals to stop the repression caused by "never ending wars" at home and abroad, by the US corporate military state
• Support organizations having common ground
• Educate and activate the general public

• East Timor & Indonesia Networks (ETAN)
  
• Delco Waging Peace
  
• Granny Peace Brigade - Philadelphia
• Otherjones - A blog by Deena Stryker
  
• Media Tank  
• Philly Against War
• Northeast Philly for Peace & Justice
  
• Philadelphia Veterans For Peace
• Wounds of War
• Northwest Greens
• Progressive Democracy of South Jersey (PDSJ)
• UFPJ-Delaware Valley Network
• UPenn - FASWI
• Delaware Valley Veterans for America

National Organizations

• United For Peace & Justice (UFPJ)
• World Can't Wait
• ACLU's Blog of Rights

Upcoming Events

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Midsection archive

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Rally at African-American Museum

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BLM March 13 June

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Black Lives Matter marches - 6-8 June

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Between the marches - morning of 3 June

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Memorial Day protest

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May Day Car Caravan

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Pro-Impeach and Remove from office

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Demonstration against Iran War

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Demonstration against Iran War

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Demonstration against Iran War

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Impeachment Eve rally

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Rally to support the Kurds

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Climate Strike

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Pro-Venezuela Anti-Intervention

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Horsham Air Base protest

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Protesting giving GW Bush a medal

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Pro-Mueller Investigation protest

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Rally to abolish ICE

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Democratic Rally

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Climate March

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Anti-Drones protest

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Rally at Logan Circle for families

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Protest against the Trump family separatin policy on the Mexican border

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Anti-Drone Protest

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Palestinians and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

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Rally for Palestinians

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March For Our Lives

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Lancaster Direct Action against a fossil fuel pipeline.

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Women's March 2018

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Video - first part of Conference on US Military Bases in Foreign Countries.

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Treatment of Puerto Rico and 250th day of Trump Presidency

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Horsham Air Base Aug 2017

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Anti-Drone Protest May '17

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May Day celebration at Clark Park

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March for Science

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Rally on 41st day of Trump Presidency.

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Protest held on 15th day of Trump presidency

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Women's March in Philadelphia during first week of Trump Administration.

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March held a few days before President Trump's inauguration

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A Black Lives Matter protest.

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Anti-Drone Protest outside Horsham Air Base.

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Social Forum - Philadelphia 2015

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Anti-Drone Protest at Horsham Air Base.

Info, articles, etc.

Oh yeah. Gee. This is definitely the sign of a totally innocent group of people! No one needs to hear about foreigners assisting a presidential campaigns!

GOP senators who were at the WH this morning are defending Trump against claims that he didn’t read the PDB. “How thick is that?” Sen. Johnson quipped, referring to the PDB. “It was not to the level of verification that it was highlighted in the president’s daily briefing.”

Wow! That is just...wow! That's an amazingly weak excuse! Let's try this: If it's in the President's Daily Brief (PDB), it has been verified! The PDB is the Intelligence Community's best judgement and most conclusive, verified information they have! The blogger develops several likely scenarios going forward. We can expect AG Barr to be brought in to find the leaker.

"Sarah Sanders: More People Could Have Died from Coronavirus 'If Donald Trump Hadn't Been President'"
When we say that the President deserves a grade of "F" for his pandemic response, that doesn't mean he spent the whole time sitting around, feet up on the desk, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling. It means his actions were less than 60% correct. He largely spent February and March purging the government of anyone who might investigate his actions. He was responding to his recent impeachment by trying to make sure all of the potential whistleblowers were stomped out.

June

The Trump Administration supports taking down the ACA/Obamacre under the apparent presumption that they can easily replace it. But y'know, it would sure be nice if they understood the ACA in the first place!
Here's the Press Secretary:

Democratic leaders were briefed by members of the Trump Administration on bounties to the Taliban for dead Americans, not by any members of the Intelligence Community! All spin, no substance.

"How Texas Blew It"
Learned about libertarianism back in college. Thought it was a pretty stupid idea. Think even less of it now that it's resulted in a massive spike in coronavirus cases, meaning lots of needless death and suffering in Texas.

No question that Iran is right to seek justice under international law for the aerial assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. They'd of course need to hire someone like Boba Fett or Django Freeman or the lead character from La Femme Nikita in order to enforce it.

"In a surprise, Court smacks down Louisiana abortion restrictions"
Very good news on the pregnancy choice front! Chief Justice John Roberts honored the concept known as "stare decisis" whereas Justice Brett Kavanaugh made Senator Susan Collins look like a fool by sweeping stare decisis aside.

"‘He Just Floored It’: Detroit Police SUV Plows Through Protesters"
Good Lord!
No apparent deaths, but “'multiple people injured' were receiving treatment at local hospitals."
Police car rear window "busted out?" No sound of breaking glass in video, even though screams were clearly audible. Another video shows no damage to the rear window.

Now that there are big spikes in COVID cases in Red (Republican) states, all of the sudden, masks aren't seen as wimpy anymore. As Speaker Pelosi puts it, this realization is long overdue. More on mask-wearing and masculinity and "owning the libs," etc.:

So, the Trump Administration has held a briefing on Russians paying a bounty for dead American soldiers to the Taliban. Problem is, the briefing was for Republicans only. There will now be a briefing for Democrats today. This has rather obvious problems as far as presenting information that both sides deem to be credible. If you give two separate briefings, how do the Ds know they're getting the same information as the Rs?

One of the problems with living in a land with really ancient ancestors is that Poland was in the middle of building a road when they discovered a cematary from the late 1600s-early 1700s. Christianity wasn't firmly established yet, so many of their mouths contain a coin for Charon to take them across the River Styx.

Okay, so someone very clearly shouts "white power" 10 seconds into the video in question, but the President didn't hear that and feels that, gee, for some reason (can't imagine what that reason could be), the people who shout "white power" are "demonized." Hmm. Yes. Quite a mystery.

Speaker Pelosi calls for an all-House briefing on the bounty that Russia allegedly placed on American troops. The White House claims to have set up a briefing, but as Pelosi was not invited to that, that was clearly a meeting of co-conspirators rather than an attempt to inform lawmakers.

VP Pence produces a lot of nice words about respecting Civil Rights figures of the past, but if he can't even get behind taking down Civil War statues, what new Civil Rights measures can he possibly get behind? Where is he willing to push for any sort of progress if he can't even support taking down some of the statues that were erected during the later Jim Crow period (1900-1960)?

President gives an interesting talk on statues. Problem is that people like John C. Calhoun, Braxton Bragg and Robert E. Lee are the ones at issue. Trump defends George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who aren't really the issue. Other people should "learn history?!?!?" $%#@!!!

100% behind the Speaker on this!

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Sunday said that it’s “definitely long overdue” for a federal mandate on wearing masks.

A vaccine looks promising. A test with 30k people will take place. If all goes well, we might have a vaccine next year.

"Mississippi Legislature passes bill to eliminate Confederate symbol from state flag"
Good! It's a symbolic action, but gotta start somewhere!

Heh! The Fox News host asks why the President's poll numbers are so poor. The Trade Adviser won't answer the question and instead talks about all sorts of other things. The President is NOT running a winning reelection campaign!
My own answer would be that the federal government has historically been very good about getting front-line people what they need in order to get the job done. Under Trump, our medical personnel are still lacking essential supplies!

The AG puts out a policy on Antifa. Slight problem is that there's no such organized group.
As "Antifa" is short for "anti-fascist," isn't that kind of a "tell"?

Ridiculous side-by-side comparison.  Everything was fine, according to the VP on the 16th, but disastrously bad on the 27th.

"Congress stalls on police reform"
This piece was featured on page A15 of today's Philly Inquirer. A classic example of "BothSides" -ism, where it take until the 15th paragraph to begin to suggest that the problem might actually be a bit more one-sided than that, that maybe just one party is the problem and it isn't the Democrats!

Heh! Fox News host Lou Dobbs says poor, poor, Roger Stone (I kid, of course) is now suffering “Soviet-style justice.” Erm, Stone was tried under the standard judge and jury system and found guilty on all seven of the charges that he was tried on!
Oh,, but that's right! He's a Trump crony, so any real justice is impermissible!

Vice-President engages in idiotic-sounding happy talk: “We have made truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward”
Piece shows that US is handling the COVID-19 pandemic very poorly.

"100 degrees in Siberia? Top 5 ways burning Coal, Gasoline is causing Astonishing Transformation of Arctic"
The Laptev Sea, which is usually covered by ice and is where many polar bears live, has a lot of areas where the sea is open to the air.

"Appeals court: Trump can't raid Pentagon budget for 'wall' funds"
Good! I felt this was an open-and-shut case from the very beginning. I know schoolchildren get MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) when "Power of the Purse" is mentioned, but this is a very important issue.
And yes, back during the old days, before pockets and wallets, a "purse" was a man thing.

Aww! The President is realizing he might lose in November. Giving a rambling, focus-less answer to the question as to what he might do in a second term was certainly not a help.

This is simply not true. New York State may be "on the other side of the mountain" as Governor Cuomo put it, but the US as a whole most definitely is still climbing the mountain. No, we're not dealing with "embers," the blazing forest fire is still consuming hundreds of acres at a time!

This is pretty shocking. Several months ago (March), we discovered that Russians were paying bounties to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan to kill Americans and their allies in that country. As we know, less than a month ago, the President had a phone conversation with Vladimir Putin about Russia rejoining the G7, long after he was informed that Russia was essentially at war with the US. Our blogger details the steps that the US should have taken back in March.

Press Secretary says neither POTUS no VPOTUS were briefed on Russia offering bounty for dead American soldiers in Afghanistan. This is, of course, not the slightest bit credible and adds yet another obvious lie to the Press Secretary's list. Comment:

One of the issues Rachel Maddow brought up last night was this Republican Never-Trumper ad by the Lincoln Project that slams the President over his handling of the coronavirus. She says that if Trump loses the 2020 election over this, that's a reasonably good issue over which to decide a presidential election.
I agree and thought of the Swift Boat Veterans of 2004, who were a substantial factor in the election between Senator John Kerry and the younger George Bush. There were bigger issues, but newspaper headlines in August of that year were dominated by (completely bogus) charges from that group and those charges clearly cost Kerry a lot of veteran votes. This was detailed in the book "Lapdogs: How The Press Rolled Over For Bush"

Hmm. So the VP thinks the wearing of masks to make the coronavirus less deadly should be a call for local authorities to make. So masks are good for Maine but not Vermont? Good for Colorado but not Idaho? What a #$@&ing idiot!

Video comes with warning as last few seconds show corpses. A look at Tulsa, OK, before the 1921 massacre.

What are the President's goals for a second term? Essentially, to not do anything as stupid as hiring John Bolton. That is, to not do anything that stupid again!!! Everyone around Trump knew that hiring Bolton was a really stupid move, He basically said "[eff] y'all, I'm hiring Bolton anyway." Years later, he realized what a stupid decision that was.

A piece that explains what the case on the ACA/Obamacre is all about. The reasoning on why Republicans want to blow away the entire structure of the ACA is that it's like a Jenga tower where one of the bottom blocks has been removed. Therefore, the logic goes, the whole structure is crippled and must be demolished down to the last brick.
And please keep in mind, the pandemic is nowhere near at its peak yet, let alone getting better.

"The cupboards were bare when we entered office!" has been the cry of the Trump Administration. Not true.. Never was true. And now, they want to give ventilators to other countries! Generosity is nice, but the pandemic is reaching new heights here!

*Sigh!* So, US coronavirus cases hit a high back in late April, then went through a trough. The new peak is higher than the late April one.

"Amid pandemic, Trump administration asks Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare"
Very happy to see that, right in h very first sentence, this piece specifies that the Trump Administration is "without an alternative health plan of its own." It's been over a decade since the GOP said it would come up with a better alternative and they've got nothing!!!

The decision on Michael Flynn's case by Judge Neomi Rao seems really, really partisan. It's "an exercise in outcome-driven sophistry that barely pretends to be a judicial opinion."

Meet a young, upcoming star of the right-wing media noise machine who says that Aunt Jemima is a symbol of the American Dream.

Is the President ignorant or does his think his audience is? He apparently doesn't know what the "19" in COVID-19 stands for, but his question may just be a way to get the term "Kung-flu" in.

"Barcelona Opera Reopens With An Audience Of Plants"
Heh! Sure, plants can hear you and react! They my not do so in an obvious manner, but that doesn't mean they don't like it.

#$@%#@!!!! NOW Texas decides to take appropriate precautions against the coronavirus!!!

Celebration of Juneteenth with summaries of past several days of news.

After getting about a million requests for tickts, only 6,100 people showed up for the Tulsa rally. The arena holds 19k people and there was an outdoor venue reserved as well. This probably cost the Trump campaign from $550k to $600k. What happened? Hundreds of TikTok users and KPop fans flooded the Trmp campaign phone lines with requests for free tickets.

The really awesome news is that the data that the Trump campaign gained over the past 10 days is completely worthless. They might as well throw it all out,

"More Bad News For Trump: Federal Judge Rules To Bolton’s Book Can Be Released"
But as Bolton might not get any money out of the deal, it may be a win-win for America!

Saw on TV that Bolton did reveal information he shouldn't have. He reveal the decision-making process for responding to a military threat. This is information that's useful to a foreign adversary. And yes, Bolton's a mercenary who put profit ahead of patriotism. He should have volunteered his testimony. If the Senate didn't want to hear from him, the House would have been happy to have provided him with a forum.

"Eric Trump Calls Black Lives Matter Protesters ‘Animals’ at Tulsa Rally"
Yeah, let's just start in with the racism right off the bat! The heck with the whole idea of democracy, where you understand that political opponents nevertheless share a common humanity with you.

"Fox & Friends hosts defend Trump's remarks about slowing down COVID-19 testing: 'That's part of his delivery'"
A rather odd belief on the part of the President:

When you test, when you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people, you're going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down, please.

Erm, diseases came many milennia before testing did as the germ theory only goes back to about the mid-1800s.
Also, one of the Fox News people says to look past what the President says and look at what he does. Okay. What I see is a country that, many months into a crisis and several months after the Defense Production Act was activated, still doesn't have enough ICU beds or PPE to tackle the crisis with. What I see is a president who still makes wildly irresponsible statements that have to be debated days later.

Press Secretary goes into detail about what the Trump Admiistraton considers "fake news."  Her first example is one that I remember. Nathan Phillips, a Native American man, came up to a confrontation and tried to break it up by playing some of his music. One of the Covington  Roman Catholc high school students gave him a really amused, challenging look. People reached all sorts of conclusions about the students appearing to challenge Phillips, but the incident was by no means "fake" or in any way misrespresented.

Update (26 Jul): Lengthy Twitter rhread explaining how the case was settled for peanuts. The Covington students simply didn't have a case, but they "won" because it was easier to pay them off than it was to drag out the case.

"Barr announces resignation of U. S. attorney for SDNY, U. S. attorney announces Barr is a liar"

Berman hadn't actually resigned. Good! The attempt to fire the head of the SDNY has blown up in the AGs face.

The President just can't seem to explain why he keeps hiring "wackos and liars" to help run his administration.

Abraham Lincoln had a "team of rivals." Does Trump have any such team? Well, no. He's never hired anyone that's to his political left. Everyone on his team has been a hard-line political right-winger.

*Sigh!* Europe vs the US on the coronavirus. A belief in facts and science vs magical thinking.

"Tough on China' has been key to Trump's campaign, but Bolton's book has made that idea hilarious"
Gotta love the second sentence here:

Think I was around college-aged when people first started criticizing books and movies without having first read or seen them.
Thank goodness Biden has obtained a copy of the book and is releasing information on the Trump Administration's policy towards China.

"If Black Lives Matter, must ‘Gone with the Wind’ be gone?"
I agree with the author that we shouldn't take a "1984" approach of simply erasing everything that's no longer politically correct. In the same way that I present pieces I don't completely agree with or want to clarify, GWTW can be preceded with discussions as to what it all means.

The President keeps trying to compare the government responses to H1N1 to that of COVID-19. No. There's absolutely no comparison whatsoever.

"Conservatives Slam Roberts After Ruling To Uphold DACA Protections"
Chief Justice John Roberts may not be a constant friend to liberals, but he's not a rubber stamp for conservatives, either.

President has a pretty wacky theory as to why people wear masks.

...some Americans wore facial coverings not as a preventative measure but as a way to signal disapproval of him.

DOJ is trying to argue that for the court to contest its decision to drop charges against Mike Flynn is an “unreviewable exercise of prosecutorial discretion” and that the appointment of former US District Judge John Gleeson to review the Flynn case was unconstitutional. Problem is that Flynn is very closely tied to the President and AG Barr has shown himself to be the Presidents loyal servant, so there's a real conflict of interest there.

Blog post repirints an Onion piece from 1999. Horrifyingly relevant in light of Alabama's refusal to require masks.

GOOD!!! The President's Bible photo-op in Lafayette Square was disastrous for him politically!

"Asked If He'd Attend Trump Campaign Rally, Fauci Says "Of Course Not," Citing COVID Risks"
This is why people trust Dr. Fauci! He puts common sense above being slavishly devoted to the President.

"How ‘Karen’ Went From Popular Baby Name To Stand-In For White Entitlement"
Very interesting. The woman in Central Park who was encouraged to leash her dog has been referred to as a "Karen." This explains where the term came from.

Our latest BLM march in Philadelphia.

Good news on the protests. As I've mentioned on my own attendance, I've noticed that just about all of the protesters are wearing masks (and doing so properly, with the nose covered). The result is that only around 1% of protesters are getting the coronavirus. The three critical factors are: 1. Mask-wearing is universal, 2. Protests are held outdoors and 3. People move around a lot. 

Seattle suffers imaginary invasion.

"What Corporations Fear: Best Recovery from Covid-19 Depression is Universal Income and Federal School Funding"
There are ways to handle and minimize the economic problems and dislocation caused by the pandemic, but those ways would distress the people in the 1%.  

This is concerning.

"Bolton Accuses House Dems of 'Impeachment Malpractice' In Forthcoming Book"
It wasn't necessary for Bolton to have testified in the Senate during the Senate trial of the President. Once Republicans in the Senate made it clear that they didn't want to hear his testimony, he could have given a deposition to the House, after which he could have testified there or he could simply have gotten booked on a talk show or could have simply done a podcast. He could very easily have made sure the truth got out.

"Attorney For Elderly Buffalo Man Pushed By Police Says His ‘Brain Is Injured’"
Very sad and absolutely disgusted to hear this.

"Trump reschedules Tulsa rally 'out of respect' for Juneteenth"
Mildly pleased and surprised that someone finally briefed the President on the date that he had settled on for his first big MAGA rally, allegedly "after" the coronavirus (it's by no means over yet). Was the President aware of the significance of his coosing Junteenth as the date for his rally? Ehh, hard to say. No doubt that Stephen Miller knew, of course. And that he fully intended the choice of date to be a big middle finger to African-Americans. .

"Melania Trump used newfound leverage to redo prenup after election win, new book says"
This is cool. Melania knows full well that her hubby will dump her for a younger model as soon as she starts developing wrinkles, sags or other imperfections. She's being smart and protecting herself.

"Two words Trump needs to stop using: 'easily' and 'quickly'"    
Actually, there are "quick" and "easy" ways to begin to address African-American dissatisfaction, such as re-naming military bases and moving statues of Confederates out of public squares, but the President hasn't shown any appetite for even doing that much. So yeah, he really should eliminate those descriptions from his vocabulary.

"A Long-Lost Manuscript Contains a Searing Eyewitness Account of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921"

The President wants to kick off his "post-pandemic" campaign (the pandemic is far from even halfway over) in Tulsa, OK. The jury's still out on whether the President fully realizes that Tulsa was the site of a major massacre or what June 19th means to African-Americans (We all know that Stephen Miller know), but it's still a major "eff y'all" to our black brothers and sisters.

"Womp Womp! Tucker Carlson Lost Five Advertisers In A Day"
Capitalism occasionally kicks back in a liberal direction.

Tucker Carlson has been stoking a race war since the death of George Floyd prompted major Black Lives Matters protests in all fifty states.

I've seen a few random right-wing posts that say keeping everyone at home somehow weakens us. Nonsense. Michigan is doing well with the coronavirus precisely because everyone is staying isolated and at home.

"BREAKING: Chairman Of Joint Chiefs Apologizes For Being Part Of 'Biblegate'"
Absolutely correct! The military needs to be apolitical. Officers and Enlisted people cannot be seen as Ds or Rs, Blue or Red.

Huh! The RNC has decided that, as nothing meaningful has changed since 2016, they won't bother to produce an updated 2020 platform. They'll just keep using the 2016 one.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims he didn't know there was an active, ongoing investigation into his conduct when he recommended that an Inspector General be fired. Kind of a problem with that is that all of his close associates had already been interviewed.

"NASCAR Bans Confederate Flags At Its Races"
Good! The very least that white people can do for their black brothers and sisters is to dismantle and take out the symbols of white supremacy. Not a solution, but a good start.

The recommendation on Flynn's trial is that the judge overseeing the trial should render a judgment anyway, despite the DOJ changing its mind.

It's an absolute disgrace that such a system would be needed, but Lord bless Chef José Andrés for what he plans to do for America!

I’m announcing that On election date I will set up a water, food and restrooms support system to help people standing long hours on a line, on the different States that may have a problem handling voters!

"The Georgia voting debacle is on John Roberts' and Mitch McConnell's heads"
Back in 2013, the Supreme Court said that racism was a thing of the past that no one needed to worry about it any more and so a majority of them kicked out a major strut that was holding up the Voting Rights Act. What happened in Georgia very clearly demonstrates that the Supreme Court was wrong and that the need for the VRA never went away. Only way the VRA is going to be restored is to Turn The Senate Blue by voting for Democrats!

Numerous pro-Black Lives Matter protests in Philadelphia and in the suburbs.

Bishop Peggy A. Johnson of the United Methodist Church (She's in charge of Eastern PA, my section):

I don’t often take to the streets and participate in peaceful protest marches. However, recently I joined with faithful people in a number of communities to physically show support for the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

Wildly uneven voting experiences in Georgia. For white people, voting was a breeze. For black people? Ehh, not so much.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo proves that he's simply not up to the job as American diplomats worldwide wonder what the US policy as to George Floyd's murder and the aftermath is or should be.

Woo hoo! The President does not appear to have played any role in this, but the military has proposed taking the names of Confederate leaders off of US military bases. Congress passed a bill with that prosal in it.

Update (19 July): The President is not on board with the idea!

"Stephen Miller is preparing Trump’s speech on race relations in America: report"
Bwah-hah-hah! Oh yeah! The racist Nazi to put together a speech that'll bring Americans together over race issues.Yeah, that'll definitely be a classic!

It's good to hear the AG admit that the President went to an underground bunker because yes, #BunkerBoy feared for his safety. But the AG's repetition of the word "perimeter" really bothered me because this is a term used in guerrilla warfare. There is no such warfare taking place. Nobody was planning an assault on the White House. Everybody knows that getting over the White House fence and to the actual building would cost many, many lives!

"Trump accuses 75-year-old peace advocate assaulted by Buffalo police of being 'antifa provocateur'"
Leaving aside the fact that the President's claims are absolutely ridiculous, the real problem here is that the Buffalo police acted as though they were at war with a well-armed and determined enemy. They weren't. They were advancing upon angry, but unarmed American citizens.

Yep, it's all a plot! All those demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd are simply designed to deny the President his re-election this November. Yup. That's the reason!

Examining the complete and utter failure of the US-Iran policy.

This conversation is why I think the idea behind "Defund the Police" is a great one while the rhetoric of it is open to being misunderstood/misinterpreted. Senator Kamala Harris does a very good job of explaining it, but it takes a while to get her points across.  

I completely agree with AG Barr's statement, that the President should be able to walk a block to go to a church. Problem is, it was not necessary for the clearing of his path to be as violent as it was.

"Judge dismisses lawsuit against Michigan governor over coronavirus orders"
Good! What an incredibly obvious no-brainer of a decision!

The picture on re-opening remains very uneven. Some states are ready for limited re-opening, some states really aren't for any sort of it.

"GOP Sen. Jim Risch gives a master class on how Republicans built Trump into a monster"
The President's obviously a wannabe fascist dictator. Problem is, the Republican Party seems all too willing to enable Trump's dictatorial pretensions.

At first, there was no one reporting that any warnings were given when troops started invading Lafayette Square from the White House. AG Barr started claiming a few days ago that three warnings were given. Press Secretary McEnany has now repeated that assertion. No one who was on the other side from the troops has agreed that any warnings were given. Hagerstown Airport (Reprinted from WaPo piece):

None of the witnesses heard verbal warnings issued, they testified.

"Trump Admin Officials Continue Denying Systemic Racism In Law Enforcement"
A large part of the reason that protests contniue is that Trump Administration officials contniue to deny that Black citizens are protesting for a reason!

And yeah, that was a pretty partisan problem:
"Democrats take a knee in US Congress in George Floyd tribute"

So many people are dying from the pandemic in India that crematorium furnaces in New Delhi are running 24 hours a day and still, they have to bring in funeral pyres to keep up with the demand.

White House economic adviser Peter Navarro claimed that China was responsible for the deaths of over 100k Americans. First, this fails my WWDDD theory (if Doctor Doom had created the coronavirus, he would have released it in Chicago and not Wuhan, etc.), but second, note the very different experiences that different countries have had with the same problem. You simply can't explain them by saying it's all the fault of a bad actor. The death rates are different because of deliberate decisions taken in each country.

"New York Times editorial page head resigns after publishing fascist Tom Cotton op-ed"
Sounds like we have an example of the Peter Principle in action, the idea that employees get promoted up until they're no longer competent to do the job. It;s difficult to send them back down to a level they can handle, unless they really screw up, which was the case here.

Senator Cotton goes "Nyah, nyah" at the NY Times because, as I said, the Times accepted and printed his op-ed, the newsroom quite properly objected, the top editors attempted unsuccessfully to defend it (it was indefensible) and they then agreed that it never should have been published. A classic lose-lose situation.

"Protesters tear down statue amid anti-racism demos"
For those who say the current President isn't racist, here's a challenge. Why doesn't he order a few Confederate statues taken down? The statues were largely put up during the later Jim Crow era from the 1910s to the 1960s. Their whole purpose was to remind black people, in an oppressive, daily sense, that white people were in control. The statues wouldn't even have to be destroyed. They could be moved to graveyards and museums.
To me, the answer's pretty obvious. Removing Confederate statues from high-visibility public places would anger Trump's most fervent and dedicated constituents. Is the President personally racist? What difference does that make?

Update (15 July): "Edward Colston statue replaced with sculpture of Black Lives Matter protester" Mayor of Bristol has called for a vote on the new statue, which was put up secretly, at night.

The Punisher is a Marvel Comics character who is an ultra-violent vigilante. His symbol has been showing up on police during the George Floyd demonstrations. Marvel is not pleased to be associated with police violence.

Mercedes Schlapp, who works in the White House, retweeted a viral video of a man chasing away anti-racism protesters while screaming obscenities and swinging a chain saw. Apparently, this guy is a hero to people on the right.

"Joint Chiefs Of Staff Chairman Privately Reached Out To Dem Leadership This Week"
Very sensible as the miitary does not want to be seen as partisan!