The Dangers of Trump’s Brotherhood of Dictators, and His Rallies

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

The Dangers of Trump’s Brotherhood of Dictators, and His Rallies

It’s bad enough that Trump asked Xi Jinping for soybean purchases to help him win the election.  Everybody already knows that political approach to getting the farm vote, including Xi, who cut the purchases in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on China.  The real danger, is it gave Xi something to blackmail Trump with in the present or in the future.  Very possibly it could have been audio recorded, or even video recorded, even though it was a one-on-one conversation, with interpreters of course.  Which also raises the question of why John Bolton was there, or knew what was said verbatim.  He had to extract that in the security check.  However, the revelation of what Trump said, by Bolton, will now save Trump from a possible blackmail by Xi.

Just because Bolton is getting revenge on Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo, doesn’t mean that we should respect Bolton’s lifelong super-hawk policies.  Bolton supported dropping the Nuclear nonproliferation treaty with Iran.  He also opposed the intermediate range nuclear missile treaty.

Update:  Trump clarified that Bolton’s breaches were the “highest classified”, which didn’t used to be a category of classification.  It am always amused by the hypocrisy of classifying that which Trump said to the enemy who you normally are trying to prevent from finding your secrets.  The secrets are only secret from the American public.

Following up my censorship article yesterday, I found that Trump actually said that his conversations were “highly classified”.  Does that mean “Secret”, or “Top Secret”, and why didn’t Trump specify which?  Because he just made it up?  How many years will it take before the records of the Trump Administration can be released to the public.  Probably after everyone involved is passed away.  But in Trump’s case, he will probably leave directions that only the praiseworthy records are released for posterity.  

It’s hard to know what would be in a Trump library.  Perhaps all of the security briefings that he never read.  Probably tapes of his great business history, and of the Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice shows.  And the “Obsequious Tapes” of his Obsequions’ Cabinet.   Perhaps, Trump will use his library funds to buy the enormous yacht he was going to build once.  He could then float it around the world, with exhibits of his Greatness.  Under the Presidential Records Act, Trump’s records become available for Freedom of Information Act requests 5 years after his term ends.  Watch for him to become the first president to block this.  Of course, praiseworthy documents will be available immediately.

If Trump gets a second term, I imagine he will demolish the cramped White House, or save it as a relic, and build a giant Trump Tower, which he will lease from the government, and occupy the Penthouse, as he did in New York.  Of course, the lease would be illegal, just as the lease of the Washington D.C. old Post Office hotel is to Trump, a government employee.

Back down to Earth, how can Trump possibly see that it would be to his advantage to lead the country to ignore the simplest social distancing and effective face masking in the recovery, to actually make the recovery as costly in infections and deaths, as possible.  This starts with all sorts of propaganda minimizing the dangers of virus spread, something that Trump and the country already went through at great cost.  Why hasn’t Trump learned from the history, not in books, but which he already lived at great cost to his reputation.  It must be that Trump’s compulsion for adoration in his rallies is so overwhelming, that he cannot resist his rallies, despite the cost in spreading the virus, human suffering, and a resurgence in deaths.  The rally of 20,000 could have been held in an outdoor stadium of 100,000 capacity, which would have extra room for social distancing. 

Another problem, is that Trump’s audience is composed of those who believe and follow him in ignoring the threat of the virus, and who have been circulating in society and have become the most likely to have the virus.  Then there is their behavior.  They will show their support by not wearing face masks, and by yelling their support and cheers, thus maximizing their ability to spread the virus, or exposing themselves to the superspreaders.  While their temperature will be checked, only 30% of the infected have temperatures.  As far as the time of exposure, there will probably be warm up local politicians, and then an hour or more of Trump, making a two or three hour event, including the slow screening check-in.  This is the perfect Pentafecta of Infection:  Infective Crowding, Infected crowd, Infectable crowd, Infective actions, and Infectable time duration.  The perfect five in alignment:  Bingo.  Coronavirus Trump will finally have his place in history, replacing the iconic Typhoid Mary.

The overflow crowd is like an outdoor concert, so less danger, although they are still packed together.  Update, June 20.  85 degrees outside, nobody is outside.  Plenty of room inside.  Trump is blaming the media, protestors, the usual suspects.  The campaign expected 40,000 overflow outside.

The governor of Oklahoma will not allow Tulsa to enforce its own social distancing rules, as is also the case in some other Republican dominated states.  One judge has already ruled against such state dominance.  The BOK Arena in Tulsa will become known as “The Room Where it Happened”.

Trump has already proved his medical negligence three times in the past week:  regrouping the White House Press Corp to closely spaced on the White House lawn; addressing a condensed Church audience without masks; and holding his speech on law and order, to a law enforcement audience where they all gathered afterwards close up, without face masks, violating the most obvious laws and order of social distancing.

Trump also has the Vice President giving out lies about how successful the national re-opening is, in the face of many of the states having sharp increases in Coronavirus cases.  There are also the increases in projection of national deaths by Oct. 1 to a total of 200,000, and sharp increases in California and Florida deaths by then, if social distancing is totally relaxed.

 

Posted in Coronavirus, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Economies, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Health Care, Politics, VP Pence, White House | Leave a comment

Trump-Barr Make Up Laws Again, Including Absolute Censorship

Posted on June 16, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

Trump-Barr Make Up Laws Again, Including Absolute Censorship

The “Law and Order” “President” and the “Attorney Obsequion” Barr spent the day making up laws, which, coincidentally, violate the Constitution, which they “Swore” to “Obey”.

Where to begin?

Republicans spent eight years under President Obama challenging all Executive Orders, which are really directives for the Executive Branch, but not Laws made by our duly constituted Legislatures, at both Federal and State levels.

Today, Trump signed another Executive Order, making Choke Holds legal, when required for the safety of the officer.  Clearly, all cases will be interpreted this way, even when the suspect is handcuffed, lying on the ground, with four officers holding him down, not resisting, and crying out “I can’t breathe”, for six minutes, before passing out or dying.  Trump has made all Choke Holds legal, thus effectively banning States, counties, and cities from exercising their own rights to pass laws banning or restricting them.  He has also signaled to the Congress that he will not support any laws that they pass to ban or restrict them.  

Trump of course also passes this off as somehow satisfying the Black vote.  The insincerity was emphasized by ignoring all peaceful demonstrators, calling them rioters and looters.  He also claimed that President Obama could have made reforms.  Remember, that Trump cancelled Obama’s Cops Program to train policemen in non-discriminatory practices.

Now we move one to the Trump-Barr Absolute Censorship Doctrine.  AG Barr not only banned John Bolton’s book from being published or distributed on the basis of it containing classified material, but for violating the NDA, non-disclosure agreement, that everybody now has to sign in the White House.  These NDAs never existed before Trump, and have been considered unenforceable for government employees.  The AG should be defending the rights of government employees, including whistleblowers who clearly violate NDAs, rather than trying to enforce them.  NDAs probably don’t appear in any law passed by Congress for federal employees.  (OK, I admit that I am not a Constitutional lawyer, or actually a lawyer, for that matter.)

But wait!  It goes far beyond that!  Trump claims that anything he says as President is Classified Material!  Barr supports that assertion.  So, I am guilty of passing on or writing about anything that I quoted from any of Trump’s Press Conferences on TV, or walks to the helicopter.  But Wait!  All of Trump’s 81 million Twitter followers are guilty of retweeting anything that Trump Tweeted!!!!  Twitter is guilty of publishing any of Trump’s tweets (quick, erase them all).  The Washington Press Corp can finally be locked up.  But Wait!!!  Every interview that Fox News had with Trump and aired can be used to send them to Guantanamo.  Barr has threatened Bolton’s arrest if any already printed copies are not confiscated.  Talk about free and great advanced advertising for the book! 

But Wait!!!  Every time Trump speaks publicly or tweets, he is revealing classified information, and should be locked up, gagged, and then impeached for it!!!!

Finally, we are getting somewhere!

Full disclosure, I bought an advanced on-line copy of Bolton’s book, and am anxiously awaiting for June 23 for it to be released.  I can’t tell you where I bought it, since I am not allowed to advertise on a University blog.  I would also be liable for accessing classified material if I read it, apparently.

Posted in Congress, Constitution, Criminal Justice System, Donald Trump, Equal Treatment Under the Law, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom to Assemble, Freedom to Petition, Freedoms, Humor, Impeachment, Secrecy, Trump Administration, Twitter, White House | Leave a comment

Current Coronavirus Deaths and IHME Projections

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

We compare present worldwide and US deaths with the center of those projected by the latest IHME (U. Washington) model of June 15, 2020.

The World has passed 8.03 million cases, and the US is the leading country with 2.11 million cases, followed by Brazil with 0.89 million, Russia with 0.54 million, and India with 0.34 million.

World deaths and projections to October 1, 2020.

Country Present Deaths Projected
US 116,127 201,000
Brazil 43,959 166,000
UK 41,821 43,762
Italy 34,371 35,230
France 29,439 34,602
Spain 27,136 27,121

The US is projected to almost double the present number, but Brazil will increase fourfold.  The other leading countries listed seem to have controlled their infections.

We compare the June 15 US deaths in leading states with those projected for October 1.

State Present Deaths Projected
NY 30,856 33,685
NJ 12,708 14,231
MA 7,647 8,671
IL 6,326 8,274
PA 6,243 8,831
MI 6,018 8,381
CA 5,114 15,155
CN 4,204 4,441
LA 3,018 4,231
MD 2,947 5,219
FL 2,938 18,675
OH 2,575 3,658
GA 2,494 10,142
IN 2,433 3,407
TX 2,001 5,567
CO 1,605 5,795
VA 1,572 2,184

The projections have a number of large surprises in projected increases in deaths by October 1.  These are not indicated by the current lower deaths in these states.  Florida has the largest number of total deaths in these states, with California next, and then Georgia.  California has a population of 40 million, and Florida 21 million, but Georgia is 10 million.  Texas at 28 million is the second largest state with a large increase, and Colorado has 6 million.  Not listed above by present deaths, is Arizona, with 7,415 projected deaths, from its 7 million population.

Posted in Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health Care | Leave a comment

Rising Deaths in IHME with Relaxation and Extension to October

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

Update, this evening:  as luck would not have it, IHME updated its model this evening, and the projected US deaths as of October 1 has risen to 201,000, with a 95% probability range of 172,000 to 269,000.  The value we quoted was 170,000.  Brazil is still projected to have 166,000 deaths by August 4.  Brazil’s social mobility will drop from -60% to -30%.

The latest June 10 IHME Coronavirus projections include relaxation of business closures and are now extended until October 1.  They show a relaxation in Social Distancing, and increased Deaths projected until October 1, 2020.  We show here their results for the four largest States, and some problem states.  Among the four largest, only Florida is up for grabs in the November election.  IHME is the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the U. Washington, with funding by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

First we note that Social Distancing, which had a reduction in contacts by 65% in the most serious states, has already been greatly reduced, and is projected to be very small by October 1.  I don’t know if they could have included the effects of the mass demonstrations for Black Lives Matters, nor the compacted Republican political events about to be enacted by President Trump.  Some states are still more than 30% or 40%.  By the end of summer, many states are positive up to 10%, or no more than 10% distancing.

We start with the US projection as a whole, and include the rising Brazilian tolls, as deaths per day, and total deaths, per 100,000.  The rates in Brazil rise so fast that they aren’t included beyond early August.  Total deaths in the US are projected to be 170,000 on October 1, and Brazil will almost exceed that with 166,000 deaths on August 4, two months earlier.  Brazil’s President is Jair Bolsonaro, who, like Trump now, is running the government with business as usual.  Brazil’s population is 209 million, compared with the US at 328 million.  6% or Brazil’s population, or more than 11 million, live in Favelas, which are unregulated and crowded shanty towns,  the largest being in Rio de Janiero, and in San Pablo.  The data from Brazil may be highly understated.

The total US death rate will rise back to about 1,ooo per day on October 1.  Brazil’s total death rate is projected at 5,000 per day on August 4.

We now look at the largest state, California at 40 million, and the most affected state, New York at 19 million.

 

We now include Texas at 29 million, Florida at 21 million, and the second most affected state, New Jersey, at 9 million.

 

Posted in Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health Care | Tagged | Leave a comment

World Malnutrition in the Pandemic

Posted on June 10, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

One of Science Magazine’s Breakthroughs of 2019 was how to treat malnourished children.

Millions of Children who were malnourished remained sick, even after being well fed.  

Over a decade, researchers found that their gut microbiomes were not developing to digest food.

They found that supplements containing chickpeas, bananas, soy and peanut flour helped the microbes mature.

This would allow them to digest milk powder and rice, the standard forms of aid.

They recovered at home, not needing hospitalization.

Worldwide Hunger 

Previously, 135 million were suffering acute hunger.

This was due to conflicts, climate change, and economic crises.

New numbers are now 265 million.

The UN World Food Program is trying to raise $6.7 billion in aid.

Remember, worldwide plagues can arise from the poor and malnourished.

President Trump singly withdrew the US from the World Health Organization, depriving it of $550 million a year, as the principal contributor.  It directed vaccination for children worldwide, for diseases which we have eliminated.

In America, 17% of young children are not getting enough to eat.

734 million people worldwide were already in extreme poverty, meaning that they earn less than $2 per day.

Now, 420 million have been added to that.

That is 13% of the world’s people.

Since 1990, one billion people had risen out of poverty.

Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia is where it is most crucial. 

UN Report on World Hunger in the Pandemic, released June 9, 2020.

One fifth of children worldwide have stunted growth by age 5.

The food system is under extra threats by the pandemic, the lockdown interfering with harvesting, buying and selling food, and the economic recession.

Unemployment and loss of income is causing malnourishment, while food prices increase.

368 million students are missing out on school meals, while we are working to make them up for US students.

East Africa is under attack by swarms of locusts.

1.3 billion people are in food system industries.

The livelihoods of 3.2 billion people depend on the food industries.

With the Pandemic, 35% of both sectors are at risk.

That is 450 million with jobs, and 1.1 billion with livelihoods dependent on the food system.

Vulnerable Areas in the World

 

In Latin America and the Caribbean, one third are in precarious positions. 

Dark red dots are greater than 10 million people

Dark blue are countries with Very High vulnerability.

Latin America has gangs in Central America, and there are migrants from Venezuela. 

 

Posted in Affairs of State, Children, Donald Trump, Health Care, Poverty, Syria, United Nations | Leave a comment

Cost Effective Rules for Police Deployment

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

Cost Effective Rules for Police Deployment

The Coronavirus costs of care, and loss of State and Local taxes from the shutdown and slow restart, means that such budgets will be lowered, by force.  Hence, we need better policies to save money in these State and Local governments, including policing.

We wrote before that the costs of housing a homeless or mentally challenged person is about $40,000 a year, as opposed to the present $100,000 a year to treat them though policing, jails, and hospital admissions.  It is also a lot more humane and caring.  This also frees up police time.

There used to be scandals on how much policing costs resulted because they were padding their salaries with a lot of overtime work.  Since we have to reduce budgets, this should stop.

The main point of this article though, is that we should evaluate the costs to society before we call the police, using a cost effectiveness analysis.  This should occur with cost effective rules for the public at large, from the 911 dispensing facilities, and the police action rules.

I hate to take the tragic George Floyd case as an example, but this is an incredibly extreme case of wastage.  For passing a $20 dollar fake bill, the police were called.  There are a lot of wattages in running any businesses, like buying stock that doesn’t sell, or which expires in shelf life, or in staying open times with slow hours or days.  Losing $20 from a fake bill, or from minor thefts, should just be written off as the cost of doing business.  

The fact that the store staff should have gone out and risked any kind of physical response to ask for the product back or for another $20 bill is absolutely ridiculous.  Any business insurance company should have dropped any business with such rules.  Presumably most passage of counterfeit bills is done by innocent people who were given the bills in some other transaction.  I remember as a kid, they used to pass bills below an ultraviolet light to check them, when $20 actually meant something.

The police should not even be sent out for any petty thefts below a certain amount that were cost effective, probably needing even a grand theft amount.  Since the police time, risk, cost of booking, cost of jail time, cost of charging, cost of sentencing, and cost of confinement undoubtedly exceed the loss at the minimum grand theft amount by many times over, it is a great loss to society to pursue.  The cost of confining a prisoner for a year is much greater than awarding a full college scholarship for a year.  Grand theft in California requires a minimum theft of $950.

What about the $20 loss required the dispatching of four policemen?  Not cost effective. Why was an arrest considered necessary, rather than just taking a license number or a driver’s license number, and issuing a ticket.  The defendant could have challenged it in court, or just paid it, as with any traffic violation, which could have been more serious.  With ubiquitous cameras and face recognition software use by police, people can be identified and billed, without police even having to put themselves or suspects at risk.

I remember when I had a heart attack, there was a whole mob of police, fire department, and ambulance in my tiny living room.  They only took my blood pressure, but made me extremely nervous.  Just the ambulance would have sufficed.  They took me to the nearest hospital, which could not take care of me.  I had to wait six hours for yet another ambulance to take me to a full care hospital.  We need more ambulances, less use of fire and police, and better rules for distribution to hospitals. 

The over-incarceration policy of the US was a result of politicians running on no-tolerance policies.  It was then promulgated by lobbying by prison building industries, prison guard unions, and private prison lobbying.  Whereas Trump released a few, much more could be done.  Now that we have more tolerant drug policies in some states, more can be done to release prisoners, especially if we can get tolerant federal policies.  The Coronavirus showed us how costs could be lowered by releasing non-essential prisoners, rather than spending tens of thousands of dollars in treating a single very sick one.  

The fact that blacks have been over-charged, over-sentenced and over-confined has to be corrected on a federal level, to get rid of problems with states that have a legacy of prejudice.  We also have to restore the Voting Rights Act to stop prison-record voting disenfranchisement, which by itself can be inciting certain states to give minorities criminal records.

Again, I am not an expert in this subject, as I am not in most subjects which I opine about.  I know the police are necessary and have tough jobs.  I myself will limit my calls to them for really essential matters.

These incidents remind me of Victor Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables” , where the “criminal” Jean Valjean only stole a loaf of bread, and spent 19 years at hard labor.  He was pursued all of his life, and he had to register as a past criminal everywhere that he went.  The novel included the incident which Hugo saw in 1846, a hundred and seventy four years ago.  Blacks in the South would still be slaves in the United States for another twenty years.  The novel was published in 1862.

Posted in Congress, Constitution, Criminal Justice System, Donald Trump, Equal Treatment Under the Law | Leave a comment

University Aid to High School Teaching and Educational Equality

Posted on June 5, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

University Departments’ Aid to High School Teaching and Educational Equality in the Time of the Pandemic.

We are immediately concerned about the behavior of Police Departments to Black Americans, but this is just the tip of the iceberg of racial inequality in America.  As a State and University System, California has established fair and exemplary programs of recruiting and funding minority and poor students.  But before the University, students from poor school districts have to contend with a lack of educational facilities and advanced placement courses.  The University can help high school students and teachers with a release of its relevant intellectual property, which can be used over the web to bring relief and equality to these schools.

In the realm of Physics and Astronomy, as well other sciences, we have tapes of classroom demonstrations.  Since we may still be shut out of our own teaching labs, we can record how lab experiments and courses are run, and make relevant ones available to high school students.

University departments teach breadth courses for the general University student population.  In Physics and Astronomy, we have the 20 series, including a course on energy as well.  Many of these are recorded, and others could be recorded.  These could be used for high school and advanced placement courses.  Clearly, we have to meet and coordinate with high school teachers and students to find appropriate subjects and criteria.

This time when high school is being taught over the web can be used to advantage to allow poor high schools to access advanced placement classes elsewhere, which they don’t have on their own campuses.  Is this already being done, and can we aid such classes, or provide aid to start them?  Can our students, who are inclined to become teachers, aid in this expansion of high school classes?

As we gain experience with the Coronavirus, we may triumph over it and return to a normal with modified in-person classes.  If we don’t, the University can contribute to the online educational universe, in ways to aid in bringing about educational equality of opportunity.

Posted in Coronavirus, COVID-19, Education, Physics Departments, UC Admissions, UC Irvine, Upward Mobility | Leave a comment

The Trump and Barr Lafayette Square Coverup

Posted on June 5, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

The Trump-Barr Lafayette Square Coverup

The Lafayette Square Suppression is Trump’s Tien-An-Minh Square suppression of the Constitutional First Amendment right to peaceably assemble.  But as the Press probes deeper, there are massive abuses of powers by Trump and Barr that underly that historical stain on the already deeply dictatorially dyed Trump-Barr regime.

The last minute plan to march to the historic St. John’s Church through Lafayette Square was to be done at 6:30 pm, less than an hour before sunset.  Since it was a photo-op, the Square had to be rapidly cleared, so the “acting police” brutally cleared out the peaceful demonstrators with their full arsenal of horses, rubber bullets, tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and brutal shoving and knocking down innocent demonstrators and the press.

Their are now numerous potential violation of laws by the Trump-Barr Gestapo like forces involved, which will be probed by the Congress and Department Inspector Generals.  So Trump and Barr are creating back stories to try to make the actions appear legal, and to shield Trump from any blame.  There is also the cover up of Trump and family being safeguarded in the bunker.

While I am not a legal expert, I can cite the headlines, attaching “alleged” to all such reports, to safeguard my own blog.  Starting with the latest ones, the “National Guard” troops were not lent by neighboring states, but are actual 82nd Airborne active military, and their deployment to the civil sphere may be unconstitutional.  This angered the Secretary of Defense, and past military leaders.  The 82nd Airborne was probably chosen because they could be flown in at a moment’s notice.

Update June 6:  We now have details on the troup deployment.  There are 1,600 active duty troops held in reserve, which beside the 82nd Airborne are an infantry battalion in the Army’s Immediate Response Force, the 16th Military Police Brigade from Fort Bragg, N.C., and the 91st Military Police Battalion from Fort Drum, N.Y.  They require invocation of the Insurrection Act to be deployed domestically.  There are 1,200 D.C. National Guardsmen actives, and 3,300 from 10 states.

The first cover up was Attorney General Barr revealing that he ordered the clearing of the park, now claiming also that he had no idea that it would be followed by a walk by the President to the Church, and the Bible waving photo shoot.  Although not of legal relevance, we ask why the First Daughter had to carry the Bible in her purse, and the President could not carry it himself.  I of course speculate that Trump is afraid of being struck by lightening every time he holds a bible or enters a church.  Trump just called it “a Bible”, not whose.  If it was Ivanka’s, was it only the Old Testament, which might not fully satisfy his Evangelical political supporters.

Another cover-up is by Trump, who is trying to dispel the appearance that he was hiding in the basement bunker of the White House.  It may not just be a basement, but a deeply buried nuclear bunker.  I don’t know.  You don’t get to “inspect” it on the normal White House tour.  Oh yes, Trump only “inspected” it for a second, and did not finally “shelter-in-place” somewhere.

Today, the coverup continued as Trump had a possibly pre-dated letter from one of his lawyers claiming that the peaceful American protesters were “terrorists”.  If they actually were terrorists, why wouldn’t all of the “police” forces be instructed to arrest all of these terrorists who were finally fooled into revealing themselves in a police enclosed square, totally unarmed and without any terrorist devices?  Has Trump-Barr suddenly gotten soft on terrorists?  

Trump’s fear of being labeled in the bunker-basement comes from the Congress’s multiple investigations of Clinton’s server, supposedly “hidden” in her basement, and Trump’s calling out Joe Biden for “hiding” in his basement.  I guess Biden should have gone golfing like Trump did, and flying around the country spreading germs without a face mask, as Trump also did.  Trump and Republicans also put down the pre-impeachment House hearings as falsely taking place “secretly” in the House “basement” or bunker.

Perhaps the worst violation is the formation of the Barr “Gestapo” made up of sections of government agencies with policing operatives, like Homeland Security and the FBI. I forget the other ones, but not the Prison Police.  These “police” are not trained in gently moving around peaceful and legal demonstrators.  That is why the emptying of the Lafayette Square was so swift and brutal.  Why wouldn’t the Washington Police have sufficed?  

The Barr Gestapo deserves its own investigation, which is hard to do for a House still trying to bring about Blue state equity needed from the costs of fighting the more severe pandemic outbreaks.  But does this group only report directly to Barr, and not to their statutory administrative departments?  Who oversees them in terms of Inspector Generals, departments, and Congressional Committees?  Why are they allowed out in public without identifying name plates, badge numbers, or unit designations, like the FBI shirts and jackets with FBI fully printed on them?  Was the unit formed at the order of Trump, and is Trump its real commander?

How paranoid is the White House?  The White House is now surrounded by an expanded dead-man’s zone with an eight foot wire fence, and traffic barriers, presumably for protection from a vehicle attack.  It is all a bunker now.  How soon will Trump build his signature Beautiful Forty Foot Wall around it?  Will the wire fence be electrified?  A scenic moat would be nice, with a drawbridge and towers, to make a grand entrance to the castle of our new King.  With of course the Gold Sign “House of Trump” now placed on the roof.

The Trump administration has also been walking back Trump’s hawkish tweets and Governor’s talk of military dominance, and “when there is looting, it is followed by shooting” mischoice of words.   

We presume that as the probes of Press and House committees continue, that more back stories and distribution of blame will be carried out.  China never got over its Tien-An-Minh Square suppression operation, and the dictatorial impressions from it.   Then again, with this Crises-a-Week Presidency, we might just move on next week to the next crises.  Like the second wave of the Coronavirus.

Posted in AG William Barr, Congressional Investigation, Constitution, Donald Trump, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom to Assemble, Freedom to Petition, Freedoms, Lafayette Park, Trump Administration, Trump Truthiness, White House | Leave a comment

Trump and Barr Destroy Law and Order

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

Update, June 4.  I am really impressed by the peacefulness and sincerity of the demonstrations in every community.  While I was skeptical that there would be positive action by our federal administration, I see that many local and state governments are making positive reform plans for police and in social reforms.  It is sad that the pandemic has lowered state funding for schools, and making efforts at equal education even more difficult, especially as schools stay in a necessary remote form.  Los Angeles had an enormous demonstration, and Gov. Newsom made serious pledges of review and action.

Update:  Good to hear from a sensible and experienced President Obama, again.  He stressed that local mayors should follow the recommendations to reform their police departments, and report on them to their communities.

Update:  June 3.  George Floyd’s murderer had his charges increased to murder in the second degree.  The other three officers were finally charged with aiding and abetting a second degree murder, and are being taken into custody.

Update:  Trump doubled down despite criticism about his St. John’s Episcopal Church photo-op yesterday, and today appeared at the St. John Paul II National Shrine for another photo-op.  He was criticized by Washington’s Roman Catholic Archbishop.

The first Amendment to the Constitution:  Congress shall make no law … abridging the … right of the people peaceably to assemble ..

The Presidential Oath of Office:  “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.  Trump swore to this on the Lincoln Bible and his own bible.  The Lincoln bible, of President Lincoln, who freed the slaves.

Trump tear gassed, flash bombed, rubber bulleted, and violently pushed around the thousand peaceful demonstrators in Lafayette Square, across from the back of the White House, in order to walk to St. John’s Church for a photo-op.

(Personal connection:  the last time I toured Washington, DC, I sat on a bench in Lafayette Square, alone in the park, and played the old protest songs on my Ocarina.  Pretty sure I was being listened to by the secret service.)  Overnight, they have put up an 8 foot fence around the park.

While Trump chases blame for the Coronavirus back to day one in China, Trump forgets that he and AG Jeff Sessions in 2017 cut out the Obama Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS program, which investigates and publicizes the shortcomings of police departments.  This could have uncovered the string of bad behaviors by the policeman who choked George Floyd.  Of course, Attorney General Barr could resolve the demonstrations by simply filing federal charges against the three unindited police officers in the murder of Mr. Floyd.

Trump capitalizes on fear.

Trump’s runs again on Law and Order.  But his actions today were not lawful or a normal order.

Trump reacted when the news pointed out that he went down to the cellar bunker.  (What is it with Republicans decrying basements?)

Trump thoughts:  this isn’t yet about me.  How can I make this about me?

Trump thinks:  How can I best stir up the demonstrators to drive my people against them?

Trump:  the nation insurrected.  The Nation:  no, you insurrected.

Coincidentally, I had just renewed my membership in the ACLU.

Do tanks and national guard troops really help defuse the situation?

Trump stood in from of the closed church, and the bishop decried him.  

Why did Trump do this?  CNN points out that from March to April, Trump’s favorability among religious groups have dropped:  11% in White Evangelicals, 12% in White Catholics, and 18% in White Mainline Protestants.

Of course, in the “Donald Trump Rules the World” Daily TV Soap and HCQN Opera, Trump has to make the sympathetic George Floyd murder protests by tens of thousands about himself.

Trump said he was defending the second Amendment, but what right wing militias really fear is a federal government takeover, as Trump is threatening.  

So many times Trump has gone bonkers, but his time, he has gone overboard (as we have said each time he has done so).  In a talk to all governors, he proposed a 10 year sentence to the demonstrators.  He also said they should punish burning the flag, although the Supreme Court has determined that that is a valid form of protest.

On CNN:  Catholic Father Edward Beck:  Jesus was a non-violent protester. 

It is sad to see gangs of organized arsonists and looters in several cities.  I think the police tactics of concentrating on the peaceful demonstrations and neglecting break-in alarms is costly.  However, a few policemen challenging a large number of looters is very risky, and they are not allowed to shoot.

The looting in many cities comes at a crucial time for the businesses to reopen and reestablish their business.  It also means that people can go back to work.  This is being stopped by the looting or the threat of looting.  This disadvantages brick and mortar stores over web stores.  If the demonstrators just used parks, or controlled and planned marches, the police would be free to concentrate on looters.  This would help the demonstrators getting across their message.  It would also help if the demonstrators obeyed the curfews.

In order to challenge the looters, the police need fast and flexible anti-looting tactics, as well as distribution in force, to protect each other.  Practically, I think they need nets that they can fire from air guns that fire T-shirts or tennis balls.

A lot of the looters smash and grab is going to give them apparel which won’t fit them.  They will have to risk going trough a fence to even get some small value from their looting.  In the end, they will realize that it is not worth the risk.  They are taking advantage that they can go about with masks, and wear their hoods.  But their duffel bags are a dead giveaway.

The deployment of the National Guard also takes young people away from their jobs or restarting their jobs, and slows the economic recovery.

A lot of the demonstrators are wearing masks, and they are outside, which diverts transmission.  However, masks are not perfect, especially when people are yelling or chanting.  So there could be some spreading.

At the formation of our nation, the President was forbidden from sending troops into the states without their permission.  Is this a rehearsal for correcting an “illegal” election in November, perhaps by seizing mail-in ballots?  Trump has told governors that if they do not end mail-ins, that he would take charge!

  

Posted in AG William Barr, Donald Trump | Leave a comment

Twitter: To Be, or Not To Be, a Corporation-Person

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Dennis SILVERMAN

What Happened to Citizen’s United, Donald?

Liberals have bemoaned the Jan. 21, 2010, Citizens United ruling claiming that Companies are like people, and can contribute arbitrarily large and hidden funds to PACS to exercise their free speech in influencing elections.  Today, Donald “The Retaliator” Trump executively ordered Twitter and other social media to be subject to liability because they dared to point out articles that refute his lie of significant mail-in voter fraud.  So Trump is now claiming that social media companies do not have the right to free speech, at least in Trump’s Land, during Trump’s Reign.  Trump accused Twitter of interfering in the 2020 election.

Of course, just the opposite would happen if Social Media companies believed that they now had liability.  They would have to counter all lies.  (Trump was up to 18,000, just by mid April, since he had been in office.). Even though Trump only made a fraction of his lies on Twitter, people who quoted them from elsewhere would have to be countered, or ejected.  Trump himself, with his 80 million followers, would be the first to be ejected as too great a liability.  Oh well, anything to distract us from the 100,000 Coronavirus deaths.

While it appears that Trump is just extra sensitive, it is really probably the case that Trump and his subservient Attorney General Barr plan to appeal a possible election defeat to Trump’s Subservient Supreme Court on the basis that mail-in ballots were provided.  UC Irvine election expert Richard Hasen pointed this out in an editorial.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was overly anxious to “lick the boot” (Shakespeare, The Tempest) that had not even been raised in his direction, announcing that he would never interfere with political statements.  I’m guessing, it’s to get entrance to China, a dictatorship with no freedom of speech.  (Hmm.)

Since I stole the title from Shakespeare, I looked into Shakespeare’s censorship during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I, where all plays had to be approved by the Master of the Revels.  This is why Shakespeare wrote his plays in historical England or in Italy.  The Queen blamed a revolt on the play Richard II.  His plays were also “Bowdlerized” of off-color comments in 1807.

Of course, I am not a lawyer, so I have not clarified this argument of hypocrisy in the necessary 80 page “brief”.  So be it.

Posted in Coronavirus, COVID-19, Donald Trump, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Freedoms | Leave a comment