Saturday, June 20, 2020

The American Epidemic Continues


What month is this? Huh, June, oh yeah. Half over. And when did we shut down? Oh yeah, March, middle of March. It's been three months.

People are getting tired of it. They want to work, buy things, socialize. Hear some music. In fact, a lot of people are acting like the pandemic is over.

But it's not.


Many countries around the world are opening for business. They implemented measures when the pandemic hit, followed the playbook, and when cases were reduced to a certain number people were able to come out again.

The Washington Post talks today about the success of some countries, and notes the odd fact that many of them relied on American research that was ignored by US policy makers.

Germany, for instance, with a large older population, has had 9,000 covid deaths, compared to 120,000 in the US so far. The Post interviewed a German leader who said Germany had especially looked at American research. They were one of the first countries to require face masks on public transportation and supermarkets and to practice social distancing. They watch the data, and public policy makes adjustments as the cases decrease or increase.

Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch has recently met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and officials or advisers from Canada, New Zealand and South Korea. He said when he went to the Trump White House, early in the outbreak, "the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic did not reflect his conclusions. 'I think they have cherry-picked models that at each point looked the most rosy, and fundamentally not engaged with the magnitude of the problem, he said." In countries keeping the coronavirus at bay, experts watch U.S. case numbers with alarm
[Epidemiologist and German MP] Lauterbach said that even though most Germans disapproved of Trump before the pandemic, even his staunchest critics in Germany were surprised by how even respected U.S. institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, struggled to respond to the crisis.

The CDC, for instance, initially botched the rollout of test kits in the early stages of the outbreak.

“Like many other aspects of our country, the CDC’s ability to function well is being severely handicapped by the interference coming from the White House,” said Harvard epidemiologist Lipsitch. “All of us in public health very much hope that this is not a permanent condition of the CDC.”

The good news, I'd say, is that there was no surge in cases after the BLM protests. The experts note that most people wore masks and most continued to keep marching and moving from place to place. So maybe you don't have to be an isolated hermit, you can go out, you just have to be careful.

Japan, a country with 126 million people -- about half of the US -- has had a total of 858 covid deaths without shutting down or even social-distancing. How did they do it? The government told people to avoid the three C's: closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings. According to Business Insider, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said recently, "We need to create a new lifestyle from now on. We need to change our way of thinking."
Lockdowns in the United States have been framed as extreme, temporary procedures, while in Japan the three C's have been framed as a new, permanent lifestyle for residents. This may bode well for the sustainability of the approach.
Under flailing leadership, the US is not even thinking about permanently changing our way of life, as we continue at a plateau level of about 20,000 new cases a day.

270 Comments:

Blogger Priya Lynn said...


New poll shows steep drop in support for Trump amongst white evangelicals:

2016 exit polls

81% Trump
16% Clinton

2020 FOX News poll

66% Trump
25% Biden

June 20, 2020 12:54 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump encouraged the Chinese president to build concentration camps for members of the Uighur minority.

"At the opening dinner of the Osaka G-20 meeting in June 2019, with only interpreters present, Xi had explained to Trump why he was basically building concentration camps in Xinjiang. According to our interpreter, Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do," Bolton writes.

The book reportedly claims Trump was also willing to halt criminal investigations for dictators he liked; contradicted his own CIA and defended Saudi Arabia in the killing of a Washington Post columnist as a distraction tactic from a controversy involving his daughter; and spoke of executing journalists, whom he called scumbags.

"What the people who are [less-committed voters] will hear is Trump's former secretary of state Rex Tillerson called him a ... moron. Trump's former secretary of defence James Mattis said the only member of our military [Trump] respects is Colonel Sanders. Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton said that Trump asked the Chinese to help him win re-election....

"You put up the faces and the quotes, and you send a message to people who say, 'I took a chance on him in 2016' ... It turns out everyone close to him in a national-security position thinks he's dangerous and incompetent."

churchgoers being willing to lick the floor to prove Trump's claim the coronavirus wasn't dangerous.

History shows, however, that it takes more than deeply devoted partisans to put a presidential campaign over the top.

June 20, 2020 12:55 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

REPORT: Republican Insiders Fear “Historic Wipeout”

President Trump’s poll numbers have never been worse, and Republicans are starting to panic that he could be headed to a historic wipeout that could drag the rest of the party down with him.

And Republicans privately admit things look just as bad at the local level. More than a half-dozen GOP strategists working on Senate and House races told VICE News that they’ve seen Trump’s numbers plunge in states and districts across the country.

His standing with voters was already suffering from his botched coronavirus response — and his inflammatory reaction to national Black Lives Matter protests has pushed him even further down with key groups of voters.

June 20, 2020 12:56 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Florida shatters daily record with 3,207 new coronavirus cases

With Florida among 10 states that saw a record number of COVID-19 cases this week, a disease model by scientists at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania concludes the Sunshine State has “all the markings of the next large epicenter of coronavirus transmission.”

The spike in cases prompted Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, to send out a blistering statement this week, slamming the governor’s handling of the crisis.

“(Tuesday's) record-high new cases makes it clear: Governor DeSantis has lost control of Florida’s COVID-19 response,” Fried said after numbers were released Tuesday. “His policies are simply not working, and he’s recklessly reopening Florida despite the data screaming for caution.”

The governor said Tuesday that the median age of those infected has dropped significantly, and said identifying asymptomatic young people with the infection will help “stop the spread” because they will be isolated.

June 20, 2020 1:03 PM  
Anonymous Outlaw Woman said...

The best part of Bolton's book will be the chaos it causes within Trump's remaining cabinet (e.g. Bolton's report of Pompeo passing him a note in Pyongyang saying "Trump is nuts !").

Trump's paranoia will be raised to debilitating levels.

June 20, 2020 2:19 PM  
Anonymous Glenn E Ross said...

Joe Biden better choose the right suit colors, because the definition of presidential behavior will change dramatically next year. The pundits will all write Trump off as an aberration and expect the next president to return to traditional presidential demeanor. Same as it ever was.

June 20, 2020 2:22 PM  
Anonymous Ari Melber said...

WATCH: Throughout his presidency, President Trump has been quick to praise his most trusted aides on their way into his administration, and quick to bash them on their way out.

June 20, 2020 2:28 PM  
Anonymous homosexuality never produces life, two of 'em ain't ever a marriage said...

"In fact, a lot of people are acting like the pandemic is over."

I thought you lived in Montgomery County

No one here is acting like the pandemic is over.

People are wearing face coverings wherever they go, distancing themselves, and teleworking as much as possible

Some establishments have opened but they have drastically altered operations, and lowered their profit margin by setting up extensive safety protocols

in other words, you're out of your mind

"But it's not."

well, the chance of widespread deaths from the virus have vanished

cases are rising at certain places but new deaths continue to fall

of course, you know that

that's why you pictured a graph of cases, and not deaths

"The good news, I'd say, is that there was no surge in cases after the BLM protests. The experts note that most people wore masks and most continued to keep marching and moving from place to place."

oh, is that what the experts say now?

one thing this experience has taught us is that "experts" shouldn't be authority figures

their opinions are only valuable if they can be explained to laymen and exposed to the vicissitudes of a general public discussion

it should have been obvious to everyone that outdoor gatherings carry little risk

it should have been obvious when kids were on Florida beaches at Spring Break

it should have been obvious when protesters marched on Michigan's capitol building to protest unconstitutional lockdowns

it sure became obvious to the lunatic fringe when there was an opportunity to conflate protests against police brutality with socialist progressive causes

"So maybe you don't have to be an isolated hermit, you can go out, you just have to be careful."

anyone with any common sense knew that all along

pandemics have occurred many times in the past

it's never been considered necessary to suspend constitutional rights before and we didn't do any better than they did then

"Japan, How did they do it? The government told people to avoid the three C's: closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings."

just like we did

"Lockdowns in the United States have been framed as extreme, temporary procedures,"

and that's what they were

they were also misguided

"while in Japan the three C's have been framed as a new, permanent lifestyle for residents."

that's how it's been framed here too

if, by permanent, you mean until a vaccine is developed

"This may bode well for the sustainability of the approach."

a stupid thing to say

"Under flailing leadership, the US is not even thinking about permanently changing our way of life, as we continue at a plateau level of about 20,000 new cases a day."

in America, such things are done at the state level

in Arkansas, for example, the governor acted just like Japan

that state never closed anything and, in deaths per million, there are in the bottom ten

NY, on the other hand, suffered from the flailing leadership of Andrew Coumo and thousands died needlessly

what can we do better next time we're under biological attack by the Chinese?

1. don't lockdown the economy
2. quarantine all nursing homes
3. require face coverings in all indoor public spaces
4. require businesses to let all employees under 50 telework

it's easy

June 20, 2020 3:50 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "one thing this experience has taught us is that "experts" shouldn't be authority figures"

Instead of experts Wyatt and Regina want lying morons like Trump to be authority figures.

We don't make the best possible world by having the stupid and ignorant leading us based on fantasies.

Don't forget Wyatt and Regina and Trump promoting hydroxychloroquine as a cure for coronavirus. It was all lie, hydroxychloroquine actually increases the death rate in those that take it.

Republicans are killing people in order to deceive them into thinking there's no problem.

June 20, 2020 4:22 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "in America, such things are done at the state level".

And that's why the United States has the worst outbreak in the world - no national leadership in testing, tracking and mitigation:

Trump Death Clock

71,774

Estimated U.S. COVID-19 Deaths Due To POTUS Inaction
In January 2020, the Trump administration was advised that immediate action was required to stop the spread of COVID-19. According to NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, “there was a lot of pushback” to this advice. President Trump declined to act until March 16th. Experts estimate that, had mitigation measures been implemented one week earlier, 60% of American COVID-19 deaths would have been avoided. (For further reading, click here).

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "in Arkansas, for example, the governor acted just like Japan that state never closed anything and, in deaths per million, there are in the bottom ten"

Arkansas has a fraction of the population of New York, so of course total deaths are lower.

The total deaths reflects mostly what's happened in the past. The situation currently is entirely different with Arkansas and other red states exploding with new cases and hospitalizations and deaths.

June 20, 2020 4:26 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Perkins: Democrats Want To Use LGBTQ Rights To Turn “What’s Left Of Freedom Into A Pile Of Smoldering Ash”

June 20, 2020 Christianists, Hate Groups

Via email from hate group leader Tony Perkins:

"After Monday’s wildly off-base decision, most liberals should have been out celebrating. But despite being handed a judicial gift — an LGBT victory they’d have never managed democratically — Democrats didn’t stop to party. They were already back on the Senate floor, demanding more. Now that they’ve got the Supreme Court taking a match to religious liberty, they’re apparently hoping Congress will finish the job."

The liberty of individuals has to be balanced. Its really christians who are putting the match to the liberty of lgbt people, they demand christians be free to harm lgbt people however they want and lgbt people have no escape from the abuse. That's what Tony PerKKKIns calls "religious liberty" - I'm on top and you're on the bottom.

"They’re the Party of Never Satisfied. Democrats, who couldn’t get Congress to go where SCOTUS did, isn’t even stopping to savor the moment."

The vast majority of the public supports anti-discrmination protections for lgbt people - you and Republicans have foiled the will of the majority, you've subverted democracy in your craze to harm innocent lgbt people.

"Like Obergefell, they’re already on to phase two: turning what’s left of Americans’ freedom to a pile of smoldering ash."

Again, you accuse us of your own worst behaviour. It is you who is turning to ash the lives of lgbt people. It costs christians nothing to rent to or hire an lgbt person, it destroys the life of the lgbt person to have neither employment nor housing. You demand a horrifically unbalanced approach to individual rights.

"As far as they’re concerned, it wasn’t enough that six justices magically redefined human biology."
They didn't redefine human biology, they said that if its okay for a woman to be in a relationship with a man it is also okay for a man to be in a relationship with a man - that's the definition of not discriminating on the basis of sex.

"Or that faith-loving Americans are about to be legally tormented like never before."

Oh, spare us the pathetic whining over nothing. Its a trivial ask of christians to treat lgbt people as christians want to be treated.

" Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and James Lankford (R-Okla.) dutifully pushed on the brakes. In stirring speeches that spelled out the scope of this devastation,"

There's no 'devastation" in failing to discriminate against gays, the devastation is entirely on the people being discrminated against. You are not harmed in any way by gays having equal rights. You don't have a right to oppress the innocent.

"they looked at their colleagues across the aisle and asked what happened to civil disagreement? What happened to coexistence?"

"Coexistence"??!!! YOU M-F'er! We were coexisting with you when you attacked us for no reason and tried to destroy our lives and force us into the darkness. You broke the social contract and you have to come back into compliance before we have a moral obligation to treat you fairly.

"Civil disagreement"??!! There is nothing civil about arguing that some people shouldn't have the same rights as everyone else. There is nothing civil about demonizing and dehumanizing innocent lgbt people. It is YOU who is being uncivil, not us!

Your position isn't respectable, its deplorable.

June 20, 2020 4:43 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

For Effin Tony PerKKKins "coexistince" is "I try to destroy you and you sit back and take it. Don't fight back now, or you're not "co-exisitng'."

Talk about Orwellian speech - "coexistence"!

June 20, 2020 4:51 PM  
Anonymous IamSmartypants said...

Freedom to hate and discriminate is only freedom for you, Tony. The constitution is for everyone.

June 20, 2020 4:53 PM  
Anonymous Merrick Garland ... LOL said...

Randy, I made one post commenting on Jim's post

No one was talking to you, and you have now made 11 of 12 posts, making a bunch of inane comments not worth responding to, attempting to crowd out all other comment

maybe you should see a psych..

June 20, 2020 4:55 PM  
Anonymous Neil Gorsuch...LOL said...

Wyatt/Regina, you're the one that's all distressed by my posts, maybe you should see a psych..

Truth hurts, doesn't it?

June 20, 2020 6:20 PM  
Anonymous President Chicken Shit said...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Saturday told the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan that President Donald Trump had removed him from the job, deepening tensions between the country's chief law enforcement officer and a high-profile U.S. attorney who had been overseeing investigations of Trump's allies.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman intends to continue to fight his removal.

The whirlwind chain of events began Friday night, when Barr announced that Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, had resigned. Hours later, the prosecutor issued a statement denying that he had resigned and saying that his office's "investigations would move forward without delay or interruption."

On Saturday morning, he showed to work, telling reporters, “I’m just here to do my job."

In a letter made public by the Justice Department later Saturday, Barr said he expected to continue speaking with Berman about other possible positions within the department and was surprised by the statement he released.

“Unfortunately, with your statement of last night, you have chosen public spectacle over public service,” Barr wrote, adding that the idea that Berman had to continue on the job to safeguard investigations was “false.”

“Your statement also wrongly implies that your continued tenure in the office is necessary to ensure that cases now pending in the Southern District of New York are handled appropriately,” he wrote. “This is obviously false.”

The administration's push to cast aside Berman set up an extraordinary political and constitutional clash between the Justice Department and one of the nation’s top districts, which has tried major mob and terrorism cases over the years and is investigating Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

It also deepened tensions between the department and congressional Democrats, who have accused Barr of politicizing the agency and acting more like Trump’s personal lawyer than the country's chief law enforcement officer.

Barr offered no explanation for his action. The White House announced that Trump was nominating Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, a well-connected Wall Street lawyer with virtually no experience as a federal prosecutor, for the job.

People familiar with the matter in the Southern District could point to no clear reason for Berman's removal, though they noted his job had always seemed in jeopardy and Berman was never given the sense that it was secure.

Berman's office also took actions on some important cases without first informing Washington. But the various investigations are still ongoing and no charges seem imminent, said the people familiar with the matter, who weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

A senior department official said Clayton was planning to leave the administration, wanted to move back to New York and expressed interest in the Southern District position, and Barr thought he would be a good fit. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss internal department matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Only days ago, allegations surfaced from former Trump national security adviser John Bolton that the president sought to interfere in an investigation by Berman’s office into the state-owned Turkish bank in an effort to cut deals with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he was unlikely to proceed with Clayton’s nomination unless New York’s senators, Democrats Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, gave their consent to the pick. Schumer said the bid to oust Berman “reeks of potential corruption of the legal process" and Gillibrand said she would “not be complicit” in helping to fire a prosecutor investigating corruption. Both lawmakers called for Clayton to withdraw from consideration...

June 20, 2020 6:56 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Carlson Laments That BLM Is More Popular Than Trump

Talking Points Memo reports:

Tucker Carlson opened his program with news of the right-leaning pollster Rasmussen’s latest report that shows 62 percent of “likely” U.S. voters view BLM favorably while President Donald Trump’s approval rating trails behind at 43 percent.

“Here’s some bracing news we never expected to report: Black Lives Matter is now more popular than the President of the United States,” Carlson lamented in the opening of his program. “And not slightly more popular than the President; much more popular.”

Carlson goes on to attack Black Lives Matter as “working to remake the country and control it. He also claims politicians are “bowing before the movement.”

June 20, 2020 8:21 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Good anonymous posted "Hours later, the prosecutor issued a statement denying that he had resigned and saying that his office's "investigations would move forward without delay or interruption."

Beerman has suddenly reversed himself and resigned. Obviously he's been threatened and forced to resign.

This just shows the never ending corruption of Trump and Bill Barr.

They're putting in place yet another totally unqualified person who has never been a prosecutor. His only qualification? He'll end the investigations into Trump's co-conspirators like Guiliania and Deutsche Bank who lent Trump hundreds of millions after all other banks refused to do business with him.

Deutsche Bank has been fined big bucks for laundering Russian money. Obviously DeutscheBank lent to Trump when no one else would because Trump is beholden to Russia and is helping launder the proceeds of Russian crime.

June 20, 2020 8:40 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump has about 400 million in loans coming due starting in 2022 and no way to pay them. He owes more than he has and unless he can cash in on the presidency in a big way his whole empire is going to come crumbling down.

At every turn Trump has put his own interests ahead of the interests of the nation.

He is destroying democracy bit by bit with the help and blessing of Mitch McConnell and the Republicans.

June 20, 2020 8:56 PM  
Anonymous Aaron Rupar said...

Trump keeps firing the people investigating him because he is guilty

June 20, 2020 8:57 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

As we speak Republicans are doing everything in their power to limit the number of Americans who can vote in November.

As he did with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education and several others, Trump has appointed a Trump partisan to run the Post Office in order to hamper its business as much as possible, if not to eliminate it all together so people can't vote by mail.

Trump and Republicans are closing polling places in predominantly black population centres like from 200 normally down to 5. They're doing this to create lineups to vote several hours long to get black voters to give up in disgust and leave without voting.

If I remember correctly Republicans have passed 80 laws making it more difficult to vote.

Republicans are trying to destroy democracy in the United States.

June 20, 2020 8:58 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Top Prosecutor “Fired” By Trump To Leave Immediately

June 20, 2020 Trump Administration, Trump Corruption

The Associated Press reports:

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, confirmed Saturday he is leaving his position immediately, according to reporter Jacqui Heinrich.

Berman, the powerful U.S. attorney in Manhattan who has been overseeing investigations of Trump’s allies, showed up at his office to work Saturday, but he has decided to quit. The Department of Justice issued a statement from Berman.

Before he stepped aside, Berman was prepared to set up an extraordinary political and constitutional clash between the Justice Department and one of the nation’s top districts, which has tried major mob and terrorism cases over the years and is investigating Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Bloomberg News reports:

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham endorsed President Donald Trump’s move to replace the chief federal prosecutor in New York, saying Trump has the power to remove a political appointee and praising the chosen replacement.

Graham had previously indicated he wouldn’t move forward on the nomination of Jay Clayton, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to replace Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York.

Berman had said he wouldn’t step down after being ousted by Attorney General William Barr. Barr said Saturday Trump ordered Berman fired — although the president didn’t confirm the ouster, and told reporters it wasn’t his department.

June 20, 2020 9:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"one thing this experience has taught us is that "experts" shouldn't be authority figures"

If there is one thing this experience has taught us it's that experts have far more useful and relevant answers than Captain Clorox.

People would be far better off listening to the experts than to him.


June 21, 2020 12:09 PM  
Anonymous for millennia, society has known that two genders are necessary to make a marriage said...

"If there is one thing this experience has taught us it's that experts have far more useful and relevant answers than Captain Clorox.

People would be far better off listening to the experts than to him."

before discussing listening, you might want to learn how

I didn't say we shouldn't "listen to the experts"

I said they shouldn't be in authority

you should gain an understanding and have a rational discussion involving what risk is appropriate, informed, of course, by facts gained from listening to experts

it should be recognized, however, that the "experts" have had a very bad record during this crisis, and n0t just in the US

June 21, 2020 12:47 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "you should gain an understanding and have a rational discussion involving what risk is appropriate, informed, of course, by facts gained from listening to experts"

Those words must have burned coming out of your mouth. There can be no rational discussion when you constantly lie about reality.

By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Wyatt/Regina regularly claim we can continue to destroy nature like this and expand our population and never suffer any ill effects. That is obviously false and anyone arguing otherwise is in no position to make decisions about what risk is appropriate

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "it should be recognized, however, that the "experts" have had a very bad record during this crisis, and n0t just in the US"

That's a lie. The countries that have done the best on coronavirus relied on epidemiology research from the Unites States before Trump gutted and neutered the CDC"

New York followed the advice of experts and brought an explosion under control. The red states ignored most of the advice of the experts and went from a trickle to record numbers of cases. Many hospitals throughout the south are at or near capacity with no ICU beds available and all ventilators in use.

"before discussing listening, you might want to learn how".

That's rich coming from people who constantly argue in bad faith and lie as much as Trump does.

June 21, 2020 1:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I said they shouldn't be in authority"

You should gain an understanding of US law.

Dr. Fauci, for example only has authority to make recommendations and serve as an advisor. He doesn't have legal authority.

He's not "in authority."

Trump has authority, but no knowledge.

Exactly which "experts" are you talking about are "in authority?" So far I've only seen politicians making the laws - not "experts."

Most of the "experts" you keep whining about have made warnings that have erred on the side of protecting people's lives. Typically it has been politicians ignoring the warnings of the experts, or hiding information, that have led to far more people getting infected than necessary.

June 21, 2020 1:42 PM  
Anonymous Keith Boykin said...

The husband of a Democrat has an impromptu meeting on a plane with an attorney general and Republicans go apoplectic.

A Republican presiddent fires the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney and five Inspectors Gneral investigating him and Republicans do nothing.

June 21, 2020 5:41 PM  
Anonymous 86 at the end of his second term, Americans aren't that stupid said...

"You should gain an understanding of US law."

oh, I'm not a lawyer, but my grasp of the law is serviceable

"Dr. Fauci, for example only has authority to make recommendations and serve as an advisor. He doesn't have legal authority."

you, again, should listen better

I never said he has legal authority

my point is that TTFers generally argue that we take everything he, or other experts, says without gaining an understanding of it or raising any questions

"Trump has authority, but no knowledge."

you really have no basis for that statement

he received advice from experts and largely followed it

"Most of the "experts" you keep whining about have made warnings that have erred on the side of protecting people's lives."

people will likely lose their lives because of the economic conditions created by a misjudged need for lockdowns

it's not hard to see a better way, and it wasn't hard back in March either

this wasn't the first pandemic in history

and Fauci doesn't have a degree in economics or sociology

"Typically it has been politicians ignoring the warnings of the experts, or hiding information, that have led to far more people getting infected than necessary."

typically, that's another lie by TTF

fewer people per million have died in the South than in blue states

and it's not even close

"The husband of a Democrat has an impromptu meeting on a plane with an attorney general and Republicans go apoplectic."

the husband was the former President, the Wife was the former Secretary of State who was under investigation for violating national security laws, the attorney general was in charge of her investigation

and every attempt was made to keep the meeting secret

"A Republican presiddent fires the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney and five Inspectors Gneral investigating him and Republicans do nothing."

all those attorneys works at the pleasure and will of the President

and there was a public announcement

if Congress thinks there is something to investigate, they can appoint a special prosecutor

problem is. Dems have cried wolf too often in the last three and a half years

June 21, 2020 6:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I never said he has legal authority"

No... you kept whining about experts "in authority." As if they actually had some actual authority. And then when it was pointed out they didn't have the kind of authority you clearly implied, you tried to weasel your way out of it by narrowing the definition, and hoping no one would notice your little game.

I bet you think you're a very stable genius for that. You should celebrate with a "hamberder."

"my point is that TTFers generally argue that we take everything he, or other experts, says without gaining an understanding of it or raising any questions"

If that was your point, why didn't you say that in the first place? That way you wouldn't be stuck making up an excuse to re-frame your obviously incorrect statement.

And your "point" such as it is, is pretty dull. While TTF folks do generally tend to agree with mainstream science, you fundamental problem is that mainstream science keeps finding things that go against your ideological beliefs - be it religious or economic.

There are plenty of scientists bought and paid for by industry. Just because they are "experts" doesn't mean someone with a basic grasp of science, history (of the extent corporations have gone to justify their actions) and economics can't figure out what they're up to.

Somehow though conservatives always seem to only accept what the industry "experts" have to say.

"Trump has authority, but no knowledge."

"you really have no basis for that statement"

I knew you couldn't be rational for very long.

"people will likely lose their lives because of the economic conditions created by a misjudged need for lockdowns"

Over 122,000 people have died from the Coronavirus so far. You keep saying that people are going die because of the lockdowns. When exactly is that going to start? People are certainly suffering, and there were reports early on the women were getting abused more often by their husbands and boyfriends. But where are all these dead people from the lockdowns you keep insisting on? Is it 1000? 2000? 10,000? 1?

Conservatives kept insisting that "men pretending to be women" would invade Montgomery County locker rooms and restrooms, invade women's privacy and rape little girls. When did that happen?

"fewer people per million have died in the South than in blue states"

The first wave isn't over yet, and the second one hasn't started yet. And despite your insistence that we didn't need to do all the lockdowns, now that they've been released for most of the country, the infections are going up to record numbers in some places - like the south - including those you touted as having low numbers. Gee... it almost looks like the lockdowns were keeping people from getting infected. What kind of wizardry is that?!?!

June 21, 2020 10:42 PM  
Anonymous I wonder if there is any part of the Constitution that TTFers feel they can live with... said...

"No... you kept whining about experts "in authority." As if they actually had some actual authority. And then when it was pointed out they didn't have the kind of authority you clearly implied, you tried to weasel your way out of it by narrowing the definition, and hoping no one would notice your little game."

Yeah, it's a little game called truth. You make assumptions and call them the same thing. Again and again, TTFers here have said we should defer to whatever "experts" say.

That's wrong. The role experts should be to inform our decisions, not to make decisions. This is actually what this blog is about: elevating scientific knowledge to moral truth.

They have done to every subject discussed here: sexuality, global warming, et al

"If that was your point, why didn't you say that in the first place? That way you wouldn't be stuck making up an excuse to re-frame your obviously incorrect statement."

I did say it. You lack comprehension.

"And your "point" such as it is, is pretty dull. While TTF folks do generally tend to agree with mainstream science, you fundamental problem is that mainstream science keeps finding things that go against your ideological beliefs - be it religious or economic."

Unfortunately, "mainstream science" has degraded to the point where scientists know what result they are looking for before they begin their studies. And a status quo that penalizes anyone who finds anything else.

"There are plenty of scientists bought and paid for by industry. Just because they are "experts" doesn't mean someone with a basic grasp of science, history (of the extent corporations have gone to justify their actions) and economics can't figure out what they're up to."

Just as many are "bought and paid for" by liberal advocacy groups.

"Somehow though conservatives always seem to only accept what the industry "experts" have to say."

Seriously? With the way lunatic fringe liberals jump at anything that supports their agenda, you have a lot of nerve saying that.

"I knew you couldn't be rational for very long."

After strenuously, and nastily, arguing with everything I said up to that point, you now concede it was all rational?

June 22, 2020 12:24 AM  
Anonymous I wonder if there is any part of the Constitution that TTFers feel they can live with... said...


"Over 122,000 people have died from the Coronavirus so far. You keep saying that people are going die because of the lockdowns. When exactly is that going to start?"

Are you telling me you don't understand the connection between poverty and death? The people who put off cancer treatment or doctor visits? You know those people who are lining up for blocks to get food? If they don't eat, they'll get sick and die.

If lockdowns have no effect, why not just make them permanent?

"Conservatives kept insisting that "men pretending to be women" would invade Montgomery County locker rooms and restrooms, invade women's privacy and rape little girls. When did that happen?"

Well, I didn't. I said we shouldn't let guys in the girls' room because having guys who think they are girls in the girls' room make girls nervous.

You kept saying we had to let these guys in because it was dangerous to make them use their own rest room, but you provided no evidence of that.

"The first wave isn't over yet, and the second one hasn't started yet. And despite your insistence that we didn't need to do all the lockdowns, now that they've been released for most of the country, the infections are going up to record numbers in some places - like the south - including those you touted as having low numbers. Gee... it almost looks like the lockdowns were keeping people from getting infected. What kind of wizardry is that?!?!"

"cases" don't matter

deaths do

even blue states recognize that locking down again won't be feasible

with all the talk about the southern states "exploding" with virus, the numbers of deaths are not great

also, it's telling that you ignore the surge in California, home to 10% of Americans

they were the first to lockdown

it hasn't helped them do better in deaths per million than Arkansas, which never shut anything down

June 22, 2020 12:25 AM  
Anonymous hi, it's Stacey Abrams. If Joe Biden doesn't pick me, he ain't a Democrat! said...


YouTube removed a Heritage Foundation video featuring testimony from a former transgender-identifying woman for violating the company’s hate speech policy. YouTube confirmed the decision on Thursday.

“I said that children suffering from gender dysphoria should not be encouraged to try experimental hormones in surgery, and I stand by that statement,” Dr Heyer emphasizes.

The panel, convened last October, was billed as a “Summit on Protecting Children from Sexualization.” Heyer lived as a transgender-identifying woman for eight years, explaining on his website, SexChangeRegret.org, “I detransitioned more than 25 years ago. I learned the truth: Hormones and surgery may alter appearances, but nothing changes the immutable fact of your sex.”

Heyer now works as an activist against the kind of medical advice that led him astray.

“I stand before you with a mutilated body, with a life that was destroyed in many ways, redeemed by Christ certainly, but destroyed because I was affirmed and told how cute I look, how wonderful it was. And went to a gender therapist who said, ‘All you need to do is have hormones and reassignment surgery,” Heyer shared in the video removed from YouTube, re-uploaded this week with an emphasis on the website’s censorship.

YouTube passed along a statement that reads, “Our hate speech policy prohibits videos which assert that someone’s sexuality or gender identity is a disease or a mental illness. We quickly remove videos violating our policies when flagged by our users.”

YouTube pointed to a clause in its updated hate speech policy, which the company claims was developed with bipartisan input. The policy prohibits videos which “Claim that individuals or groups are physically or mentally inferior, deficient, or diseased based on any of the attributes noted for the purpose of inciting hatred. This includes statements that one group is less than another, calling them less intelligent, less capable, or damaged.”

The company also pointed to Heyer’s claim in the original video that individuals are “not born transgender. This is a childhood developmental disorder, that adults are perpetrating on our young people today, and our schools are complicit in this.”

“YouTube has decided, under the guise of ‘hate speech,’ to censor the viewpoint that it doesn’t like. This won’t help children and families struggling with this disorder who want information from both sides of the debate.”

Heritage Vice President Rob Bluey called the move “another illustration of how the left will stop at nothing to silence conservative voices on sensitive topics like gender dysphoria.”

“Rather than engage in nuanced, good-faith discussions with people who have experienced gender dysphoria, YouTube wants to censor any viewpoint it doesn’t like—even if advocates of transgender ideology say the exact same banned phrase in other videos,” Bluey continued.

More than any major tech platform, YouTube sometimes allows voices shut out of the mainstream media to speak openly on controversial issues, allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions. Much of the company’s success is based on its willingness and ability to host these conversations.

Whether or not YouTube applies its policy unevenly, the language is sufficiently broad and restrictive that it hampers mainstream proponents of one side from fairly participating in the debate. That’s troubling because children’s lives are on the line, and their futures depend on our ability to allow reasonable people to share their experiences in good faith so we can navigate these difficult waters.

Heyer has a compelling story to tell. His lived experience should be available as an obviously relevant contribution to the broader discussion. It is certainly not rooted in hate. Those inside YouTube and among its potential critics do everyone a disservice by pushing for hate speech policies that categorize reasonable dissent as intolerable bigotry.

June 22, 2020 12:32 AM  
Anonymous fan of our current Supreme Court said...

yesterday, there was one new death from COVID in the entire country, in Iowa

maybe we should shut everything down again

June 22, 2020 6:22 AM  
Anonymous Pssst! Hey buddy! Want some hydroxychloroquine? said...

"The role experts should be to inform our decisions, not to make decisions. This is actually what this blog is about: elevating scientific knowledge to moral truth."

I have never seen anything here that suggested TTF folks wanted scientific knowledge "elevated" to a "moral truth."

TTF folks are typically trying to keep ambiguous and malleable religious concepts like "moral truth" out of public policy.

If you had said they want to elevate scientific knowledge so that its conclusions can best be used to improve society, then you would have been correct.

"I did say it. You lack comprehension."

You may have thought it, but that's not what you typed on the page. I can't read your mind - I can only see what you posted. If you don't provide enough context to explain what you actually meant, you can't blame other people for not guessing what you were actually thinking.

"Are you telling me you don't understand the connection between poverty and death? The people who put off cancer treatment or doctor visits? You know those people who are lining up for blocks to get food? If they don't eat, they'll get sick and die."

I do understand the connection between poverty and death. That's why I'm a big proponent of living wage laws, and raising the minimum wage to something reasonable - something conservatives are diametrically opposed to. But there is no reason the Walton family, one of the richest in America, raking in billions of profits every year, can't afford to pay their employees enough wages to keep them off the Medicaid system.

And I have also seen people standing in line getting food -- so they don't starve to death. I have also seen reports of farmers destroying crops because there aren't enough people buying them. The problem isn't a shortage of food, but of a good way to distribute it to the people that need it. But that smacks too much of "socialism," so I doubt Americans will ever think to do what's practical and compassionate to solve the problem.

"After strenuously, and nastily, arguing with everything I said up to that point, you now concede it was all rational?"

No, you tried to be rational for 1 or 2 posts. Then you went back to strenuously and nastily arguing with everything a liberal posts. Apparently, you really don't like being treated the same way you treat others. Who woullda thunk?

June 22, 2020 10:04 AM  
Anonymous Pssst! Hey buddy! Want some hydroxychloroquine? said...

"If lockdowns have no effect, why not just make them permanent?"

No one suggested that. It's obvious why no one suggested that. Why would you even ask such a stupid question?

"cases" don't matter
deaths do"

Just wait 2 to 3 weeks. That's when the deaths from those new cases start showing up. Haven't you been paying attention?

"also, it's telling that you ignore the surge in California, home to 10% of Americans

they were the first to lockdown

it hasn't helped them do better in deaths per million than Arkansas, which never shut anything down"

California's early lockdown kept it out of trouble for several months, it's now that things are starting to reopen that the numbers have started to surge.

But California has a larger fundamental problem that Arkansas doesn't - statewide it has a population density of 251 people per sq mi. Arkansas only has 57 per sq mi - or 22.7% At a very crude level, it means that someone in California has about 4.4 times the opportunity to spread a disease there than in Arkansas.

Of course, that number gets WAY worse in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, etc. Little Rock just doesn't compare. And of course, Arkansas was never the major international destination that California and New York are - they didn't get seeded with multiple infection points the way CA and NY did.

June 22, 2020 10:26 AM  
Anonymous YouTube is censoring trans people said...

YouTube is still restricting and demonetizing LGBT videos — and adding anti-LGBT ads to some

YouTube’s track record with LGBT creators isn’t great. Last year, YouTubers such as Rowan Ellis, Tyler Oakley, Stevie Boebi, and NeonFiona spoke up about their content being hidden, demonetized, or age-gated. YouTube responded with posts in April and May of 2017 that said their system sometimes makes mistakes “in understanding context and nuances,” that Restricted Mode “should not filter out content belonging to individuals or groups based on certain attributes like gender, gender identity, political viewpoints, race, religion or sexual orientation,” and promised to fix an engineering “issue” that had lead to the platform “unintentionally filtering content.”

Over a year later, however, the same problems persist. In a series of videos posted to his YouTube channel, trans creator Chase Ross says that for the past three weeks he’s been dealing with age restrictions on his videos daily; some of his older videos have been recently demonetized, or stripped of revenue-earning ads, with others being removed completely. He says YouTube has regularly demonetized his videos with the word “trans” or “transgender” in the title — and even run anti-LGBT ads on some videos geared toward the LGBT community.

Ross, a YouTuber for about 12 years, creates videos touching on his personal experiences as a trans person, and the trans community as a whole. In addition to his Trans 101 project, a 31-episode series that educates viewers about subjects like pronouns, terminology, and body dysphoria, Ross has also posted about his personal experiences transitioning. According to Ross, YouTube’s algorithm seems to be triggered by the word “trans” specifically to demonetize his videos. He suspects that some of these are the result of the platform’s algorithm for evaluating content as well as targeted flagging by anti-LGBT users. “I’ve done multiple tests in proving that the word transgender on my channels has demonetized my videos,” he says in one video. “It’s a trigger word. It triggers the algorithm.”

In October 2017, he tweeted screenshots of two videos that were originally uploaded with the word trans in the title. Both were demonetized. When Ross removed the term, however, they were monetized as usual. He ran into this problem again this May after publishing a video about his life since his surgery five years ago. He uploaded two copies — one that had the word transgender in the title, and one that didn’t. “The second I added the word transgender it was automatically demonetized,” he says. On Twitter, he posted a screenshot comparing the two posts — one with the word transgender, and one without. The video marked transgender was marked “not suitable” for most advertisers. “Every single one of my Trans 101 videos has been demonetized,” he says. “...You’re going to tell me that trans people aren’t directly attacked?

Other trans YouTubers have run into similar problems as well since YouTube’s 2017 announcement that their systems were “not working as intended.” In April, creator Ty Turner tweeted that his channel received a strike after he vlogged about picking up testosterone that was prescribed to him. Blaire White tweeted at YouTube on May 31st about a video where she reads letters from LGBT fans in the Middle East. “Why did you demonetize/restrict this video where I stand up for LGBT rights in the Middle East?” she wrote. “I attempted to boost the voices of people in need, but you’re censoring them.”

June 22, 2020 10:37 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Good anonymous said "Trump has authority, but no knowledge."

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "you really have no basis for that statement he received advice from experts and largely followed it"

There you go again. Constant lies out of these two. Trump has not even remotely followed the advice of the experts. He hasn't started a national testing and tracking program, he discourages the use of masks and doesn't wear one himself. He encouraged red states to re-open prior to meeting the requirements for re-opening that the CDC put out such as decreasing infections for two weeks and so on.

If Trump had "largely followed the advice of experts" there would be 71,900 fewer deaths:

Trump Death Clock

71,900

Estimated U.S. COVID-19 Deaths Due To POTUS Inaction

In January 2020, the Trump administration was advised that immediate action was required to stop the spread of COVID-19. According to NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, “there was a lot of pushback” to this advice. President Trump declined to act until March 16th. Experts estimate that, had mitigation measures been implemented one week earlier, 60% of American COVID-19 deaths would have been avoided.

June 22, 2020 11:11 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump Appears To Threaten To “Drop Bombs” On Bolton

June 20, 2020 Trump Corruption, Trump Lies

The Guardian reports:

Donald Trump has entered the chat to claim victory in today’s court decision, which denied his administration’s attempt to block the forthcoming publication of a tell-all book by former national security advisor John Bolton. Although it strains credulity to frame Saturday’s ruling by US district judge Royce C Lamberth as anything but a defeat for the administration, Trump’s framing of the outcome leans heavily on the opinion of Lamberth, who Bolton said had failed to complete a national security review and “likely published classified materials”.

BIG COURT WIN against Bolton. Obviously, with the book already given out and leaked to many people and the media, nothing the highly respected Judge could have done about stopping it…BUT, strong & powerful statements & rulings on MONEY & on BREAKING CLASSIFICATION were made….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2020

….Bolton broke the law and has been called out and rebuked for so doing, with a really big price to pay. He likes dropping bombs on people, and killing them. Now he will have bombs dropped on him!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2020

The president of the United States just threatened to have a bomb dropped on an individual citizen.

A death threat.

From the president.

— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) June 20, 2020

@jack how is this threat allowed on twitter? Tweet reported.

— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) June 20, 2020

Report this gaslighting dick

June 22, 2020 11:13 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...


Trump: When You Test More People You Find More Cases So I Ordered Testing To Be Slowed Down

The Independent reports:

Donald Trump has told supporters at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma that he asked for the rate of coronavirus testing to be slowed down because there were so many positive cases being found in the United States. Repeating a point he has previously made, he suggested that the reason the US is leading the world in the number of infections and deaths is because so much testing has been done.

He said: “Testing is a double-edged sword. We’ve tested now 25 million people. It’s probably 20 million people more than anybody else. Germany’s done a lot, South Korea’s done a lot – they call me and say ‘The job you’re doing.’ Here’s the bad part: 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.”

NBC News reports:

He went on to joke that public health officials are conducting so many tests “that people don’t even know what’s going on.”

The Associated Press reports:

Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement that Trump’s remarks were “outrageous” and that they would be remembered “long after tonight’s debacle of a rally.”

“Trump just admitted that he’s putting politics ahead of the safety and economic well-being of the American people — even as we just recorded the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in almost two months and 20 million workers remain out of work,” she said.

“This virus has killed nearly 120,000 Americans and cost tens of millions their jobs, in large part because this president could not and would not mobilize testing as quickly as we needed it. To hear him say tonight that he has ordered testing slowed — a transparent attempt to make the numbers look better — is appalling,” she added.

June 22, 2020 11:14 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

If trump was "largely following the advice of experts", he sure as hell wouldn't have ordered testing be slowed down.

Tens of thousands of people have died needlessly because Trump refused to follow the advice of experts.

June 22, 2020 11:16 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

As we speak Republicans are doing everything in their power to limit the number of Americans who can vote in November.

As he did with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education and several others, Trump has appointed a Trump partisan to run the Post Office in order to hamper its business as much as possible, if not to eliminate it all together so people can't vote by mail.

Trump and Republicans are closing polling places in predominantly black population centres like from 200 normally down to 5. They're doing this to create lineups to vote several hours long to get black voters to give up in disgust and leave without voting.

If I remember correctly Republicans have passed 80 laws making it more difficult to vote.

Republicans are trying to destroy democracy in the United States.

June 22, 2020 11:16 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

In the midst of this not enough attention is being paid to Trump/Barr corruption.

Attorney General Bill Barr announced the federal prosecutor of the southern district of New York was retiring.

Geoffrey S. Berman denied he was retiring and said he would remain on and see through the cases that involved several of Trump's closest associates.

A couple of days later Berman reversed himself and said he would retire - clearly threats were made against him forcing him to leave so Trump and Barr could interfere with or end the investigations into Guilianni and other Trump associates.

One by one Trump is terminating all the people investigating and reporting on his corruption. He and Bill Barr have turned the Justice Department into a tool for Trump's personal gain and to attack Trump's enemies.

Trump and Barr are destroying the rule of law to try and get Trump re-elected.

Republicans and Trump are doing everything in their power to prevent Americans from choosing someone other than him as president.

June 22, 2020 11:35 AM  
Anonymous NOGODZ20 said...

CHRISTIANS (when it's something they like): "The bible is the inerrant word of God. It must be taken literally."

CHRISTIANS (when it's something that's off-kilter): "It's just a parable; just a metaphor."

Such a convenient little religion and book. They want it both ways. Sorry, it's either all literal or it isn't. Which is and which is not? Who decides? Jumping back and forth arbitrarily simply makes the entire contents of the bible worthless.

June 22, 2020 11:40 AM  
Anonymous (((GC))) said...

A powerful, benevolent, and competent God who wanted to give us both literal histories and instructions and parables and metaphors would have known how to (and would have bothered to) clearly indicate which was which, in an utterly convincing, inarguable way.

June 22, 2020 11:40 AM  
Anonymous Hemant Mehta said...


Christian “Conversion Therapy” Group Will Shut Down After Years of Failure


Last year, 51-year-old McKrae Game made a rather shocking announcement. After spending nearly two decades running an organization that came to be known as Hope for Wholeness, a South Carolina-based Christian group that supports gay conversion torture, he was leaving the movement.

Not only that, he was gay.

Not only that, Game admitted conversion therapy was “very harmful” and “false advertising.”

He said he had left the organization in 2017, but this was a more overt breakup with the entire conversion therapy subculture.

“I was a religious zealot that hurt people,” Game said in an interview. “People said they attempted suicide over me and the things I said to them. People, I know, are in therapy because of me. Why would I want that to continue?”



“I created it all,” Game said of Hope for Wholeness. “We have harmed generations of people.”


There were plenty of conversations at the time about whether Game ought to be forgiven. (Could anyone truly repent after harming so many people?) But now there’s another update to this story: Hope for Wholeness is finally shutting down.

It seems that after Game walked away, the group had trouble finding a new leader — who could’ve guessed? — and they’ve decided it’s not worthwhile to continue.

“It has been a tumultuous several years for us. We lost the founding director, searched for two years for his replacement, hired a new director and then lost that director as well,” the memo, which was signed by the group’s board, states. “After much prayer and discussion, we have made the difficult decision to dissolve the organization. This was not an easy decision. But we do believe it is the right decision.”

No tears will be shed over this. And before you have any sympathy for them, the group announced that all of its funds (amount unknown) will be given to a different conversion torture group.

Hope for Wholeness, which was affiliated with the more well-known Exodus International (which ended for similar reasons in 2013), had branches in 15 states. We have no idea how many lives they ruined along the way, all in the name of Jesus. All we can hope for at this point is that anyone who worked with that organization will come to their senses in the near future. You can’t change your sexual orientation. Pretending otherwise is cruel. Others forcing that belief upon you is even worse.

The “ex-gay” movement is over. Gay people won.

June 22, 2020 11:51 AM  
Anonymous 78-86 said...

"CHRISTIANS (when it's something they like): "The bible is the inerrant word of God. It must be taken literally."

CHRISTIANS (when it's something that's off-kilter): "It's just a parable; just a metaphor."

Such a convenient little religion and book. They want it both ways. Sorry, it's either all literal or it isn't. Which is and which is not? Who decides? Jumping back and forth arbitrarily simply makes the entire contents of the bible worthless."

Given the non sequitur nature of this gratuitous attack on Christianity, I suspect this is a comment by Randy.

I will indulge it, however, and hope I don't cause too emotional stress on our unstable commenter.

"inerrant" and "literal" are not synonymous

also, parables can theoretically be errant or inerrant, although Christians believe the parables of Jesus are inerrant.

generally, parables in the New Testament are metaphors because Jesus says they are and even explains what each element of the parables symbolizes

the Bible also contains other types of metaphors that aren't parables

so, using the terms interchangeably is incorrect

finally, Christians don't believe the Bible should be taken literally except where that's obvious

Chrsitians interpret scripture perspicuously

June 22, 2020 12:04 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Christians don't believe the Bible should be taken literally except where that's obvious".

The problem is that it is not obvious, as is demonstrated by the 30,000 different versions of christianity who all disagree on what is obvious and what isn't.

As (((GC))) said "A powerful, benevolent, and competent God who wanted to give us both literal histories and instructions and parables and metaphors would have known how to (and would have bothered to) clearly indicate which was which, in an utterly convincing, inarguable way."


You often claim you don't discuss your religion, but here you are doing it yet again. You lie non-stop.

June 22, 2020 12:09 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

If there was one obvious way to interpret the bible, there wouldn't be an ever increasing number of different versions of christianity, they'd all be converging on the one "true" interpretation and we'd be getting fewer versions of christianity, not more.

This is proof that the bible is a mess that no one can figure out. Because it was written by ignorant goat herders, not an omniscient god.

June 22, 2020 12:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A loving and just god doesn't eternally torture people for mere thoughts. Jesus does though.

June 22, 2020 12:14 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said " hope I don't cause too emotional stress on our unstable commenter."

If you really feel that way, then why do you refer to me as "Randy" and use male pronouns?

Seems more like you're attempting to cause emotional stress rather than trying to prevent it.

And whatever happened to "I'LL NEVER RESPOND TO ANOTHER ONE OF PRIYA'S COMMENTS AGAIN!!!"?

June 22, 2020 12:20 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

COVID-19 Will Rage 'Like A Forest Fire' In Unprepared America, Top Doc Warns

COVID-19 will rage “like a forest fire” in a U.S. that has no clear plan to deal with it and has regressed to a dismissive, “pre-pandemic” attitude, a top infectious disease expert said Sunday.

America’s leadership is unfocused, Dr. Michael Osterholm told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” unlike other parts of the world that remain vigilant against the pandemic.

The spread of COVID-19 is “like a forest fire,” warned Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

“I don’t think that this is going to slow down. I think that wherever there is wood to burn, this fire is going to burn. And right now we have a lot of susceptible people,” he said.

“I don’t see this slowing down through the summer or into the fall. I don’t think we’re going to see one, two and three waves. I think we’re going to just see one very, very difficult forest fire of cases.”

Other nations have “done a much better job” of stopping the spread of COVID-19, said Osterholm.

“We haven’t done that. ... We just have not really gotten the message across to the public yet that this is a very serious issue. We can’t shut down our economy, but we just can’t suddenly say we’re done with” COVID-19, he added.

A number of states are now dealing with record daily increases of COVID-19 cases because “everybody’s back to a pre-pandemic mindset,” Osterholm pointed out.

He noted the U.S. lacks a national plan that “really puts together what we’re trying to do” — leaving states to impose a patchwork of different responses.


President Donald Trump said at his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday that he told his “people” to reduce testing in order to suppress reports of increased cases.

“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find ... more cases,” Trump explained. “So I said to my people, ’Slow the testing down, please.’”

June 22, 2020 4:03 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Podcast Ep. 327: A Pastor’s Push for the “White Blessing” of Slavery
By Hemant Mehta

In our latest podcast, Jessica and I discussed the past week in politics and atheism.

We talked about:

— A Christian conversion therapy group is shutting down. (3:50)

— Pastor Louie Giglio wants to replace the phrase “white privilege” with “white blessing.” He then apologized for suggesting it. (17:40)

— Having more kids is not the way to win the Culture Wars. (35:37)

— Does anyone know what Donald Trump‘s “Religious Freedom Task Force” did? (41:38)

— Trump’s pathetic photo op in front of a church may have cost him support in swing-state Michigan. (48:11)

— The Boy Scouts are offering a merit badge for inclusion. The one for irony can’t be far behind. (51:04)

— This is a horrible way to ask kids about Purgatory in a religious education class. (57:36)

— This lady wants everyone to burn their face masks. Because she’s not smart. (59:20)

June 22, 2020 4:04 PM  
Anonymous Nitasha Tiku said...

Washington Post

New: more than 140 scientists funded by @ChanZuckerberg sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg today calling Facebook's policies on misinformation and incitements to violence "antithetical" to CZI's mission to build a better future and urging him to do better.

Facebook has been letting Trump run ads filled with lies and advocating violence against others.

June 22, 2020 4:07 PM  
Anonymous You can only bullshyte people for so long.... said...

Major Ex-Gay Torture Group Disbands In Utter Failure

Hope for Wholeness was originally an offshoot of Exodus International. Exodus was dissolved in 2013 after the organization’s leader announced at a conference he would resign and apologized to those who spent “years working through the shame and guilt when your attractions didn’t change.”

June 22, 2020 4:09 PM  
Anonymous Hahahahahahahahaha! said...

Via email from hate group leader Mat Staver:

SCOTUS ruling that gays and transpeople are protected under the 1964 Civil Rights Act “Just Slapped God In The Face”

Get over your self mat, it is a trivial ask of christians for them not to discrminate. Selling a gay couple a wedding cake neither breaks your arm nor picks your pocket.

It is entirely too much to ask for gays to live in society's shadows without the same rights as everyone else.

June 22, 2020 4:16 PM  
Anonymous ♫And the beat goes on♪ said...

Trump Admin Sued Over LGBTQ Patient Protections


Politico reports:

A coalition of advocacy groups sued the Trump administration on Monday over its rollback of LGBTQ patient protections, arguing that last week’s Supreme Court decision extending workplace legal protections to gay and transgender employees invalidates the new rules.

Big picture: The suit marks the first challenge stemming from the 6-3 high court decision that anti-discrimination protections based on sex also apply to a person’s gender identity and sexual orientation.

The decision authored by Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch is expected to have ramifications for LGBTQ legal challenges ranging from health care to education.

See you in court, @realDonaldTrump.

June 22, 2020 4:22 PM  
Anonymous Reality TV 101 said...

President Trump’s disastrous rally in Tulsa is arguably more than a one-time embarrassment. Rather, it revealed a central problem for a campaign already taking on water: What is Trump going to do with his time for five months?

Remember, before the Tulsa debacle, he was frantic to return to rallies with his die-hard supporters. Without them, he was becoming extra grouchy, according to news reports. Tulsa was supposed to kick off a series of these showstoppers, but the show is now stopped indefinitely.

The New York Times reports, “The event does not portend additional large Trump rallies this summer, people familiar with the discussions said.” That puts it mildly. Trump is once again deprived of his followers. If he is not traveling to meet adoring crowds, just how is he going to campaign?

Sure, he can do Fox News softball interviews. But that’s still preaching to the choir, as he attempted to do in Tulsa. He would not be winning back disaffected voters. To do that, he would likely need to, among other things, sit for real interviews with mainstream outlets, something he dare not do for fear of being cornered by pesky questions about his incessant lies and inaccurate statements, the number of coronavirus deaths and historic unemployment.

Well, he can do news conferences, as he did when the coronavirus task force was nominally active. Unfortunately for him, many outlets stopped carrying them since they contained little news and conveyed potentially dangerous untruths about the novel coronavirus. Moreover, his ratings began tanking when he was still giving them, a sign that the high esteem in which he holds his communication skills is not matched with people outside the Trump cult who saw an overwhelmed, incompetent president dispense crackpot advice.

Not to worry, the Trumpers will tell you; they’ve got loads of money for paid TV ads. Umm, that’s not been working either. CBS News reported earlier this month, “The Trump campaign has spent nearly $20 million on television ads since mid-March when the pandemic began to shut down the United States, according to tracking by Kantar/Campaign Media Analysis Group. That spending includes more than $4.6 million on television in Florida, nearly $2.5 million in Pennsylvania, nearly $2 million in North Carolina, and more than $1 million apiece in both Michigan and Wisconsin.” They also ran in Arizona, Ohio and Iowa. Despite all that, his polling numbers look awful.

Trump has painted himself into a corner of the electorate, namely the true believers in red states. His access to other voters is curtailed or ineffective. When he does reach a broader audience, disasters tend to ensue (e.g., saying during his Tulsa rally that he ordered testing be slowed down, the horrific optics at his West Point speech, his attack on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square followed by a cheesy photo op with a Bible).

Someone versed in reality TV should have seen this coming. Trump has been overexposed for 3 ½ years and has nothing new to offer. His racist appeals, a mainstay of his message, are even less tolerable in the current political environment. His act has gotten old and tired. The way to solve this, Trump surely knows, is to fire the “host” and get someone new. It’s reality TV 101.

June 22, 2020 4:23 PM  
Anonymous foreign transgenders are running amok on America's blogs, spreading lies and propaganda like a virus said...

time for our periodic chuckle at how poorly TTF understands what the experts are saying

most of America is open now

look at this graph and check out the last day

deaths from COVID have all but vanished

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-deaths-united-states-each-day-2020-n1177936

guess we'll never get to that 1.6 million TTF was hoping for

ah, but they said cases in the South would explode

check this out:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/coronavirus/country/united-states/

in deaths per million, red states are the best

when will TTF apologize?

June 22, 2020 4:23 PM  
Anonymous SkokieGentleman said...

One of the things not mentioned often enough is there should be NO RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION when it comes to healthcare.

If you obtain insurance through your employer, your choices of hospitals and medical groups are limited. They are being bought up by religious entities, in many cases making it impossible to obtain healthcare without going to a religious-affiliated institution.

Christian Scientist parents are not legally able to withhold care and let their children die, regardless of what they believe - don't I also have the right to life and the ability to seek care at a facility where care will not be denied (or less than stellar care delivered) because of whom I love?

June 22, 2020 4:30 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump Admits Avoiding Sanctions On China For Human Rights Abuses In Order To Help His Reelection Chances



The New York Times reports:

President Trump said he resisted punishing China for its mass internment of ethnic Uighurs last year for fear of jeopardizing trade talks with Beijing, a blunt admission of his transactional approach to human rights and willingness to subordinate other U.S. policy priorities to a potential trade deal he considers vital to his re-election.

“Well, we were in the middle of a major trade deal,” Mr. Trump said. “And when you’re in the middle of a negotiation and then all of a sudden you start throwing additional sanctions on — we’ve done a lot,” he added. “I put tariffs on China, which are far worse than any sanction you can think of.”

Mr. Trump has taken a selective approach to human rights as president, imposing sanctions over rights abuses in countries he aims to intimidate, like Iran and Venezuela, while turning a largely blind eye when it comes to an ally like Saudi Arabia, or in the case of China, where he hopes to strike a trade deal. After he began to pursue a nuclear deal with North Korea, Mr. Trump abruptly dropped his criticisms of that country’s infamous human rights abuses.

June 22, 2020 4:35 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

And Wyatt and Regina Hardiman claim they don't see why anyone would think Trump is a fascist...

June 22, 2020 4:36 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "in deaths per million, red states are the best"

That's based on what happened early in the epidemic. The situation is entirely reversed now with infections exploding in red states.

June 22, 2020 4:38 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

When you're reading Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous's posts, keep in mind their views on telling the truth:

"most people lie all the time"

"he lied, so what?"

"there are many situations where its appropriate to lie".

Wyatt and Regina believe its appropriate to lie to help Trump win even if that means tens of thousands of Americans die needlessly.

June 22, 2020 4:43 PM  
Anonymous Robert Mueller...LOL!! said...

"One of the things not mentioned often enough is there should be NO RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION when it comes to healthcare."

actually, it isn't mentioned at all

because there isn't one

maybe you should explain what you're taking about, you delusional fool

"If you obtain insurance through your employer, your choices of hospitals and medical groups are limited. They are being bought up by religious entities, in many cases making it impossible to obtain healthcare without going to a religious-affiliated institution."

well, if you want a secular hospital, start one

it would be unconstitutional to forbid religious groups from starting hospitals

try North Korea

I'm sure they's love to have you

none of their hospitals have anything to do with religion

"Christian Scientist parents are not legally able to withhold care and let their children die, regardless of what they believe - don't I also have the right to life and the ability to seek care at a facility where care will not be denied (or less than stellar care delivered) because of whom I love?"

first of all, this analogy is so illogical, it is literally surreal

maybe you should call up your teacher for come tips on rational writing

don't worry, they'll still let you advance to eighth grade next year

further, religious hospitals don't deny care to homosexuals

who told you that?

one of your two mommies?

June 22, 2020 6:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"guess we'll never get to that 1.6 million TTF was hoping for"

I see you can't stop yourself from lying. I must cause a terrible cognitive dissonance for you to think you are so morally superior and yet you can't help but lie here on a regular basis. You will never be at peace until you come to terms with your problem. No amount of harassing liberals will ever make you feel like a better person - that would actually require behaving like a better person.

No TTF person hoped 1.6 million people would die. The regression analysis showed what could have happened if mitigation efforts (i.e. the lockdown) didn't work, and the death numbers continued to double every 3 days.

This was around the time the Rumpster said “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

Fortunately, the eventually proved effective. Since it has been lifted, coronavirus cases have gone back up. Until there is a viable vaccine, lockdowns, masks, gloves, and contact tracing are the best defense against the virus.

June 22, 2020 6:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"don't worry, they'll still let you advance to eighth grade next year"

Tell us, oh eloquent one, in what grade do they start teaching you punctuation and capitalization?

Let me know so I can buy you a graduation gift!

You'll know it's from me because it will have the following congratulatory message on it:

"I are a graduate, and I no plenty!"

June 22, 2020 6:24 PM  
Anonymous for millennia, society has known that two genders are necessary to make a marriage said...

"That's based on what happened early in the epidemic. The situation is entirely reversed now with infections exploding in red states."

"exploding" is not close to what's happening

there's been a slight rise in cases, not deaths

but there is literally no chance they'll catch up anywhere close to the blue states

red state governors take action when problems develop but they won't violate the constitutional rights of their citizens

"keep in mind their views on telling the truth"

if you ever hear anyone say they have never lied....they are lying

they probably won't even tell the truth if asked their gender

June 22, 2020 6:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"they probably won't even tell the truth if asked their gender"

Most people can tell a person's gender just by looking at them. If you're so confused about someone's gender you have to ask them about it, you should probably leave them alone.

June 22, 2020 7:12 PM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

"I see you can't stop yourself from lying. I must cause a terrible cognitive dissonance for you to think you are so morally superior and yet you can't help but lie here on a regular basis. You will never be at peace until you come to terms with your problem. No amount of harassing liberals will ever make you feel like a better person - that would actually require behaving like a better person."

lie? harass?

have you ever heard of satire and mockery?

very old forms of rhetoric

you'll probably hear about when you get to high school

you and I both know, however, that liberals were hoping the pandemic would be even more of a catastrophe than it was

anything to get rid of Trump

it's called Trump Derangement Syndrome

don't just listen to your two mommies

think for yourself

"No TTF person hoped 1.6 million people would die. The regression analysis showed what could have happened if mitigation efforts (i.e. the lockdown) didn't work, and the death numbers continued to double every 3 days."

it just showed what would happen if mitigation didn't take place AND no other factors come into play

and it didn't indicate that "lockdown" was the only way to mitigate

you just filled in that blank line

sounds like you are spending too much time doing mad-libs when you should be doing your homework

truth is, there would have been many more effective, and less costly, ways to mitigate the loss of life

hint: none off the hundreds of thousands who marched three weeks ago has developed any life-threatening conditions

"Fortunately, the eventually proved effective."

should have filled in that Mad-lib!

"Since it has been lifted, coronavirus cases have gone back up."

deaths haven't

we were discussing 1.6 million deaths not CASES

you should pay attention

just because school is out, doesn't mean you should skip your ritalin doses

"Until there is a viable vaccine, lockdowns, masks, gloves, and contact tracing are the best defense against the virus."

masks, protection of the elderly, teleworking for those over 50, encouraging outdoor activity, would be more efficacious

gloves are worthless

June 22, 2020 7:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"have you ever heard of satire and mockery?

very old forms of rhetoric"

Indeed I have. I actually enjoy them. They are quite often funny.

You're never funny. That's probably why they just come out sounding like deliberate lies.

"you and I both know, however, that liberals were hoping the pandemic would be even more of a catastrophe than it was"

"hint: none off the hundreds of thousands who marched three weeks ago has developed any life-threatening conditions"

Well, I certainly hope they don't. Many of them wore masks, which should help. But it's too early to tell if they (or people they are close to) will come out unscathed.

I know for a fact that liberals never hoped the pandemic would be worse. It's bad enough of a tragedy as it is. Rump's incompetence has made it worse.

The fact that you think liberals were actually hoping it would be worse is a measure of your own twisted caricature of liberal motivations. It is a fever dream of your own making, and not based in reality at all.

"truth is, there would have been many more effective, and less costly, ways to mitigate the loss of life"

That is an easy statement to make after (what hopefully is the worst of it) has passed, and you have the ability to examine death demographics. Those however weren't known back in March, and although some of the age susceptibility started to become apparent relatively early, so did other co-morbid factors, like obesity and diabetes - something that Americans have more than their fair share of.

"anything to get rid of Trump"

It's pretty clear that with with women's march, the 2018 midterm elections, the BLM movement, and Republicans forming PACs against him, a pandemic wasn't necessary to get rid of Captain Clorox.

"it's called Trump Derangement Syndrome"

That would better describe Republican fealty to their Orange Demigod. If Rump wins again, there will be no Republican party left. It will just be the Trump party.

Good luck with that.

"Since it has been lifted, coronavirus cases have gone back up."

deaths haven't"

Folks can stay in the hospital for weeks, even over a month with this nasty disease before they die. More deaths are coming. Be patient.

But even if one recovers, there can be organ damage, possibly permanent, and hefty medical bills afterward. So even if one survives, there is VERY good reason to try and avoid getting sick.

"masks, protection of the elderly, teleworking for those over 50, encouraging outdoor activity, would be more efficacious

gloves are worthless"

Said one of the dudes encouraging hydroxychloroquine... which the CDC has pulled due to its lack of effectivity.

Maybe try looking into some UV lamps?

June 22, 2020 7:54 PM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

"Indeed I have. I actually enjoy them. They are quite often funny.

You're never funny."

depending on your perspective, they're riotous

but, understandably, it's not funny to you because you are the target of the satire

That's probably why they just come out not sounding funny to you.

"Well, I certainly hope they don't. Many of them wore masks, which should help."

I was at Lafayette a couple of hours before the infamous clearing

less than half were wearing masks

"But it's too early to tell if they (or people they are close to) will come out unscathed."

no, it isn't

there would be a detectable pattern by now

"I know for a fact that liberals never hoped the pandemic would be worse."

well, no one knows that for a fact, so that statement reveals a lot about your grasp on reality

"It's bad enough of a tragedy as it is. Rump's incompetence has made it worse."

Trump did alright

"The fact that you think liberals were actually hoping it would be worse is a measure of your own twisted caricature of liberal motivations. It is a fever dream of your own making, and not based in reality at all."

actually, I read a lot of liberal crap and talk to a lot of liberals

they clearly want the lockdowns to last as long as possible so the economy will still be a complete wreck in November

they couldn't care less about the suffering caused by the economic effects of the lockdown

it's all worth it to get rid of Trump

"That is an easy statement to make after"

we had data from other countries as well as the history of other pandemics

locking everything down was a new adventure in tyranny, and had never been tried in past pandemics

"Folks can stay in the hospital for weeks, even over a month with this nasty disease before they die. More deaths are coming. Be patient."

sorry to disappoint you but the new cases are among the young

"But even if one recovers, there can be organ damage, possibly permanent, and hefty medical bills afterward. So even if one survives, there is VERY good reason to try and avoid getting sick."

sorry to disappoint you but the new cases are among the young

"Said one of the dudes encouraging hydroxychloroquine... which the CDC has pulled"

I didn't encourage hydroxychloroquine

I simply defended testing it

liberals would rather not test a certain treastment if Trump advanced testing it

Trump Derangement

"due to its lack of effectivity."

"effectiveness" would probably work better

BECAUSE ITS A WORD!

just ask your teacher

"Maybe try looking into some UV lamps?"

that would kill any virus on surfaces

June 22, 2020 9:53 PM  
Anonymous Cleanup in aisle "E" for English said...

"depending on your perspective, they're riotous
but, understandably, it's not funny to you because you are the target of the satire
That's probably why they just come out not sounding funny to you."

No, they're not funny because they sound so much like the angry ranting of right-wing conservatives like Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh. While I'm sure you all think attacking and berating your "enemies" is "funny," it's not really humor - just sadism that you enjoy.

Robin Williams was funny. You're not.

"they clearly want the lockdowns to last as long as possible so the economy will still be a complete wreck in November

they couldn't care less about the suffering caused by the economic effects of the lockdown"

Liberals have bills to pay too - they need paychecks just as much as conservatives to keep the electricity on, pay the phone bills and mortgages, and buy food.

The last thing we need is yet another Republican president ushering in another economic meltdown. We had enough of that with Bush Jr. Your assertion about liberal motives are off the rails, no matter how much you deny it. Most of the country needs precious little motivation to vote against the worst president ever. We can't wait until November.

"liberals would rather not test a certain treastment [sic] if Trump advanced testing it"

Liberals weren't against testing it. Liberals were against a huckster who claimed windmills caused cancer promoting the drug of a company he had a financial stake in, based on one un-verified test. That's not science, that's snake oil.

"effectiveness" would probably work better

BECAUSE ITS A WORD!


Welcome to the 21st century my English-challenged friend... you can look up words right on the Google, so you can try and obfuscate your stunning ignorance when you discover a new word:


https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/effectivity

Definitions of effectivity
noun: power to be effective; the quality of being able to bring about an effect
Synonyms:
effectiveness, effectuality, effectualness
Antonyms:
ineffectiveness, ineffectuality, ineffectualness
lacking the power to be effective
Types:
incisiveness, trenchancy
keenness and forcefulness of thought or expression or intellect
efficaciousness, efficacy
capacity or power to produce a desired effect
Type of:
power, powerfulness
possession of controlling influence

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/effectivity?s=t
scroll down past the main part to find derivative words:

OTHER WORDS FROM EFFECTIVE
ef·fec·tive·ly, adverb
ef·fec·tive·ness, ef·fec·tiv·i·ty, noun
pre·ef·fec·tive, adjective
pre·ef·fec·tive·ly, adverb

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effective
Other Words from effective
Adjective

effectiveness noun
effectivity \ ˌe-​ˌfek-​ˈti-​və-​tē , i-​ , ē-​ , ə-​ \ noun

Try learning some more words, maybe even some better grammar and punctuation. Who knows, it might just enhance your rhetorical effectivity. Perhaps one day you'll even figure out what a paragraph is for.

June 23, 2020 1:10 AM  
Anonymous Oh look, the deplorables are out again! said...

Confederate Flag-Waving Trump Supporter Praises KKK, Vows To Teach Hate

A woman decked out in one of President Donald Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” caps waved a Confederate flag at a Black Lives Matter protest in Branson, Missouri, on Sunday while she praised the Ku Klux Klan and vowed to teach hate to her grandchildren.

“I’m teaching them to fuckin’ hate all of you people,” the woman, identified by the Springfield News-Leader as Kathy Bennett, said Sunday evening. “I will teach my grandkids to hate you all.”

She spoke from the bed of a pickup, then climbed up into it to wave the flag, raise a fist and call out, “KKK belief!”

Branson Mayor Edd Akers said on Facebook that the city “does not condone any type of hate speech.”

The protesters were demonstrating outside a store called Dixie Outfitters that sells Confederate-themed merchandise.

The Kansas City Star said the store is owned by Anna and Nathan Robb. Nathan Robb, the newspaper said, is the son of KKK leader Thomas Robb.

Organizers said they chose to protest near the store after reading a 2015 News-Leader story about the store owners' history with the Ku Klux Klan.

June 23, 2020 1:18 AM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

"No, they're not funny because they sound so much like the angry ranting of right-wing conservatives like Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh."

the only place I've heard of Alex Jones is this blog

I have occasionally heard Limbauagh when driving around, but I can't remember the last time

I don't recall hearing anything I'd call anger

but if either mocked liberals who, at the beginning of mitigation efforts, tried to cause panic and alarm by hypothesizing a worst case scenario, that would be appropriate

"While I'm sure you all think attacking and berating your "enemies" is "funny," it's not really humor - just sadism that you enjoy."

gee, now I feel bad

y'all are so nice to me and I just attack and berate

actually, satire is a gentle way to point out the alarmism of liberals

I could describe how devastating it is and how it tries to stir up pressure for overreactions that cause suffering and death

"Liberals have bills to pay too - they need paychecks just as much as conservatives to keep the electricity on, pay the phone bills and mortgages, and buy food."

actually, liberals generally have have government and consulting jobs easily teleworked

they face little short-term suffering

"The last thing we need is yet another Republican president ushering in another economic meltdown. We had enough of that with Bush Jr."

that recession was exacerbated by Dem politicians who wanted the crisis to deepen because an election was pending

polls show Americans recognize that Trump is managing the economy better than Biden would

"Liberals weren't against testing it."

that's all Trump suggested and they opposed it

they even pushed through a study with false data that had to be retracted by the New England Journal of Medicine

more Trump Derangement Syndrome

"Definitions of effectivity"

clearly, I hit a nerve when this poor fellow had use half of his space to post defending his poor choice of words

sad....

June 23, 2020 5:30 AM  
Anonymous Pssst! Hey buddy! Want some hydroxychloroquine? said...

"y'all are so nice to me and I just attack and berate"

Indeed. I always wait until you say something stupid, ignorant, and obnoxious first, and then I point it out, often (but not always) using some of your own words - on the assumption that if you used them you might know what they mean.

I've found it best to try and keep to words with 3 syllables or less, like you do. Some have probably noticed that once I try words with 4 or more syllables, or the subjunctive mood, your understanding effectively goes down.

"actually, liberals generally have have government and consulting jobs easily teleworked
they face little short-term suffering"

I'm sure you can back that up with some numbers with data and percentages, right? That's not just another factoid you just made up on the spot, right? There's nothing like broad, simplistic generalizations with no specific or verified information to backup your point.

"that recession was exacerbated by Dem politicians who wanted the crisis to deepen because an election was pending"

Democrats helped push a major TARP package through congress before Bush even left office. Once Obama got in, Republicans did everything possible to make sure Barack was "a one term president," even if it meant using US citizens as suffering pawns in their efforts to keep him from winning again. "Sequestration" is the last thing one does in a recession, unless of course you want to make the public suffer and extend the pain.

From Fox Business news:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/us-recession-started-in-february-researchers-say

"Recession officially started in February, researchers say Record-long economic expansion ended before coronavirus pandemic was declared national emergency"

The U.S. economy may have entered a recession even before the federal government began to issue strict coronavirus-related lockdown and social distancing guidelines that forced many businesses throughout the country to close.

According to a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research, a peak in economic activity occurred during the month of February, which means that is when the 128-month, record-long expansion came to an end and a recession commenced.

In terms of the quarterly peak of economic activity, the NBER alleges that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2019. The fact that the monthly and quarterly peak did not align represents the “unusual nature” of this recession, the NBER said.

June 23, 2020 8:38 AM  
Anonymous Pssst! Hey buddy! Want some hydroxychloroquine? said...

From the Wall Street Journal:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/some-companies-began-preparing-for-a-downturn-before-the-pandemic-11588637143

"Finance chiefs were preparing for a downturn long before the coronavirus roiled the global economy; however, few expected it to be as swift or severe.

Many resorted to a tested playbook that included tapping additional liquidity, extending debt maturities and identifying areas for potential cost-cutting.

“After 11 years, we were expecting a slowdown or a recession,” said Max Brodén, chief financial officer of Aflac Inc., an insurance company.

Last fall, Columbus, Ga.-based Aflac issued new debt and retired some higher-interest bonds that were set to mature in 2022.
"Some Companies Began Preparing for a Downturn Before the Pandemic
MSCI, Aflac and others last year extended debt maturities, brought down borrowing costs in anticipation of a slowdown in 2020.

“We took a number of steps to prepare the company for weaknesses in the economy, even though we certainly did not see this [a global pandemic] coming,” Mr. Brodén said.

Around 50% of CFOs at U.S. companies last year said they expected a recession at some point in 2020, according to the Duke CFO Global Business Outlook, a quarterly survey conducted by Duke University. CFOs’ expectations were a moving target. Each quarter respondents pushed out when they thought a recession would begin, from the second quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter.

CFOs reacted to the weakening outlook by cutting costs, stockpiling cash, scaling back and delaying investments."

Companies were expecting a recession in 2020, and some analysts are saying it hit before the pandemic.

The pandemic made the underlying, already soft economy worse, not Democrats.

"they even pushed through a study with false data that had to be retracted by the New England Journal of Medicine"

The study was retracted because the researched wouldn't provide the source data. That may have been because the hospital would only release the data to the researchers and not the general public for privacy reasons. But thanks to the scientific method, that doesn't matter, there were other studies, including a large on US veterans, which replicated the results and showed that hydroxychloroquine was not helpful and may even be dangerous.

"clearly, I hit a nerve when this poor fellow had use half of his space to post defending his poor choice of words
sad...."

Clearly you had no idea "effectivity" was a even word and now you're trying to pretend that I somehow have a problem.

Distraction and misdirection won't work.

Sad.

June 23, 2020 8:47 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "truth is, there would have been many more effective, and less costly, ways to mitigate the loss of life"

If there are, why didn't you name them? Because you're lying yet again. Only lockdowns and social distancing are effective ways to mitigate the loss of life.

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "polls show Americans recognize that Trump is managing the economy better than Biden would"

Yet another lie. Trump is at a 38% approval rating.

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "I didn't encourage hydroxychloroquine I simply defended testing it"

Another lie. In this thread at April 09, 2020 5:06 AM Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "give 'em hydroxychloroquine and avoid using ventilators and things will get better".


Good anonymous said "One of the things not mentioned often enough is there should be NO RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION when it comes to healthcare."

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "actually, it isn't mentioned at all because there isn't one"

Another lie. Trump revoked transgender protections in healthcare

This allows people to refuse to help transgender people by claiming they're against their religion. You even bragged about this when it happened.

I just picked a few examples at random out of Wyatt/Regina's posts and they were lies. You can't trust anything these two said.

Remember their viewpoints on lying:

"most people lie all the time".

"he lied, so what?"

"there are many situations where its appropriate to lie".

To Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous its appropriate to lie in every situation.

June 23, 2020 12:33 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Texas Children's Hospital confirmed it is admitting adult patients to free up hospital beds across Houston as coronavirus cases surge.

June 23, 2020 1:49 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Here are 30 of the Most Absurd Things Reddit Users Have Heard From Believers

“All these fast-food places mistreat animals, but I know Chick-fil-A doesn’t, because they’re in the faith.”

“If people don’t believe in God, they deserve to die from cancer.”

"Believe and don’t do research.”

“Your son is autistic because he wasn’t baptized in time.”

“Video games are created by Satan because my kid’s console was destroyed when I poured holy water on it.”

“I’ve passed bad checks at supermarkets and gotten away with it, because angels are protecting me.”

“God took your wife to be with Him because as an atheist you don’t deserve to be happy without God in your life.”

“If you die on the street because EMTs won’t treat you because you’re transsexual and that’s against their beliefs, well, that’s what God wanted.”

“Trump was sent down from the heavens to save America.”

"I would rather leave a child in a room with a pedophile than with an atheist.”

“Masturbation and menstruation are sins because every time someone ejaculates or is on their period, they murder unborn children.”

“The female orgasm isn’t necessary for reproduction. If God doesn’t care about your satisfaction, why should I?”

“Masturbation is wrong because it makes you happy, and only God is supposed to make you happy.”

“Stealing a candy bar and rape are the same thing, because sin is sin. Both will receive the same punishment from God.”

“I don’t want to take science classes for my bachelor’s degree because God made the earth and I don’t believe in geology.”

[see the rest of these at the link]

June 23, 2020 2:41 PM  
Anonymous bkmn - RTMFA said...

Trump's legal goon Bill Barr needs to be impeached before he corrupts the election: ex-FBI agent

Attorney General William Barr appears to be obstructing justice, according to one legal expert and must be investigated and possibly impeached.

June 23, 2020 2:49 PM  
Anonymous Laurence Tribe said...

As former head of the access to justice initiative I'm proud to be among the 1,250 DOJ alumni signing this open letter to Inspector General Horowitz. AG Barr needs disbarring!

Breaking: Over 1,250 DOJ alumni release letter calling on Inspector General Horowitz to "immediately" open & conduct investigation of the full scope of AG Barr and the Justice Department role in responding to last week's #BLM protests.

As Trump insider John Bolton said "With the Trump administration obstruction of justice is a way of life"

June 23, 2020 2:51 PM  
Anonymous thatotherjean said...

120,000 dead people, mostly because of Trump's. . .not just incompetence, but the feeding of his ego by refusing to test for COVID-19. . .ought to count as something like genocide. His encouragement of police brutality, his disregard for those hurt by the unemployment caused by his mishandling of the beginning of the pandemic, his constant lying, his useless and costly trade wars, his perversion of every government department he can touch--those ought to count against Trump.

June 23, 2020 4:36 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Arizona Reports Record Cases On Day Of Trump Visit



The Hill reports:

Arizona health officials reported yet another record number of coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the same day President Trump is traveling to the state to visit the nation’s southern border and speak at a rally.

The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 3,591 new COVID-19 cases and 42 related deaths. The state previously had its highest number of cases last Thursday and added more than 1,000 cases in three of the last four days, nearly doubling its case count from last week.

Hospitalizations have exceeded 2,000 for the first time amid the pandemic, with 2,136 beds occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients on Monday, compared with 1,992 the previous day.

June 23, 2020 5:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

While Trump attributes increased virus numbers on increased testing, CDC head Robert Redfield testifies to Congress that numbers are up due to “increased testing, outbreaks, and evidence of community transmission.”

June 23, 2020 5:36 PM  
Anonymous Trump corruption is brazen and non-stop said...

Federal Prosecutor To Testify He Was Pressured To Give Stone A Break Because The US Attorney Fears Trump



“In the many cases I have been privileged to work on in my career, I have never seen political influence play any role in prosecutorial decision making. With one exception: United States v. Roger Stone.

“What I saw was the Department of Justice exerting significant pressure on the line prosecutors in the case to obscure the correct sentencing guidelines calculation to which Roger Stone was subject — and to water down and in some cases outright distort the events that transpired in his trial and the criminal conduct that gave rise to his conviction.”

“What I heard — repeatedly — was that Roger Stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the president. I was told that the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Timothy Shea, was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break, and that the U.S. Attorney’s sentencing instructions to us were based on political considerations.

“I was explicitly told that the motivation for changing the sentencing memo was political, and because the U.S. Attorney was afraid of the President.” – Federal prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, who quit the case after the DOJ tried to overrule his sentencing recommendation.

June 23, 2020 5:39 PM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

just watching in amused silence as the left, left to its own devices, destroys itself

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Eskimo Pie...it's just the beginning

if you think our civilization won't protect itself against this attack, you're crazy

as usual, the Dems are fumbling their chances in November by siding with anarchy and anti-Americanism

June 23, 2020 11:37 PM  
Anonymous Reginald Upinold said...

watch out, you're getting very close to "berating" the liberals

they might start whining again

if you're not careful, they're gonna go tell their two mommies!

June 23, 2020 11:40 PM  
Anonymous Paul Krugman said...

My best guess about the logic behind the administration’s coronavirus
strategy is that there is no logic. That is, there isn’t anyone sitting in the White House facing the realities of the situation and thinking about how to game them. Instead, they’re just running around in a panic.


The thing is, Covid-19 isn’t the kind of enemy Trump and company wanted to
fight. It’s not a politician you can demonize and give silly nicknames; it’s not an ethnic minority about whom you can fearmonger and which you can beat up (not that that strategy is going well, either). It’s a real problem that demands real solutions, which is something the man in the White House and his associates don’t know how to do.


So they’re still pretending that everything is fine. Unfortunately, the virus isn’t listening.

June 24, 2020 12:05 AM  
Anonymous Can't wait for November! said...

"as usual, the Dems are fumbling their chances in November by siding with anarchy and anti-Americanism"

Not worried.

Republicans have confused protesting against police killing citizens before even getting a trial, and anti-slavery and anti-Confederacy as being anti-American. Most of the country can see the difference.

Republicans gave up their chance of winning this election when they blithely ignored the opportunity to replace their worst president ever with someone who might be marginally competent, or at least literate.

Voting a Democrat into office is their best chance to save their party. With Rump losing, they can write off his election as a one-time, horrible mistake. Put him in twice and they have abdicated all responsibility and handed over their party to the Cult of Trump. It will take a generation for them, and the country to recover.

Some Republicans have realized this and are putting out ads against the Orange Menace in a desperate bid to save their party. It remains to be seen that if a party that has embraced ignorance as a virtue can save itself from its own stupidity.

June 24, 2020 5:16 AM  
Anonymous Another Book Trump is Trying to Block said...

What does Trump have against books???

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man
Mary L. Trump, Ph.D.

In this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald’s only niece, shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric.

Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald.

A firsthand witness to countless holiday meals and family interactions, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humor to sometimes grim, often confounding family events. She recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald’s place in the family spotlight and Ivana’s penchant for regifting to her grandmother’s frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump’s favorite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer’s.

Numerous pundits, armchair psychologists, and journalists have sought to parse Donald J. Trump’s lethal flaws. Mary L. Trump has the education, insight, and intimate familiarity needed to reveal what makes Donald, and the rest of her clan, tick. She alone can recount this fascinating, unnerving saga, not just because of her insider’s perspective but also because she is the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families.

About The Author

Mary L. Trump holds a PhD from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies and taught graduate courses in trauma, psychopathology, and developmental psychology. She lives with her daughter in New York.

June 24, 2020 5:53 AM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

"Not worried."

I know, That's why the left is doomed.

"Republicans have confused protesting against police killing citizens before even getting a trial, and anti-slavery and anti-Confederacy as being anti-American. Most of the country can see the difference."

It would be hard to find an American that wasn't horrified by the murder of George Floyd. The police involved were fired and criminally charged with amazing speed. Who are the protests aimed at?

Removing Confederate statues can be discussed. But, Washington and Jefferson are not memorialized for owning slaves. Again, there are no Americans who condone slavery. Dem politicians that condone mobs tearing down statues will be rejected by voters. Are they planning on blowing up the Washington monument and burning down Jefferson City, Missouri?

June 24, 2020 7:02 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

June 24, 2020 12:49 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...



Breaking: Court Orders Dismissal Of Flynn’s Case

Bloomberg News reports:

A federal appeals court ordered a judge to immediately dismiss the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, Bloomberg News reports. A three-judge appellate panel on Wednesday denied U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan the authority to examine whether the government’s surprise motion to dismiss the case, in which Flynn pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI, was part of a corrupt effort to aid one of Trump’s political allies.

June 24, 2020 12:50 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

This is yet another example of Trump and his attorney general Bill Barr corrupting the Justice Department to benefit Trump and his friends while attacking the non-partisans who would hold him accountable.

Multiple Justice Department employees have come forward to testify that Bill Barr is at the least breaking Justice Department policies and procedures in an unprecidented manner. Barr has fired the people in charge of the DC attorney's district office which is handling many of the cases against Trump and his associates and put his own lackeys in place. Now Barr has attacked the Southern Distrcit of New York in the same way, successfully ousting Berman against his will although Berman's normal successor has taken over his position.

The non-partisans at the Justice Department, most of them well respected long time Republicans have been alarmed by the criminality of the Trump campaign and administration and acted appropriately to investigate and where appropriate charge the perpetrators. Attorney General Bill Barr has now against all judicial procedure and policy guidelines vacated Flynn pleading guilty twice and is now working on getting Roger Stone away with his crimes.

This is fascism in action. Its straight out of the Dictator's Handbook. Trump fires everyone who threatens to hold him accountable and they put massive pressure on everyone else in the Justice Department to go along with his corruption and his attempt to prevent the American people from choosing someone other than him as president.

June 24, 2020 12:50 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

"Biden is how old?"

That tiny difference in age is irrelevant, what matters is that Biden is obviously in much better mental and physical shape than Trump. No objective and honest observer will deny that.

June 24, 2020 12:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Even if Biden were in worse mental and physical shape than Trump the moral person would still be obligated to vote for Biden because Biden isn't corrupt like Trump.

June 24, 2020 1:04 PM  
Anonymous Matthew Miller said...

As two whistleblowers testify to Congress today that regular order has broken down inside DOJ and Barr is making decisions for political reasons, judges in the DC Circuit are essentially saying that's ok, nothing they can do. Hope folks relize the system we've known is gone.

June 24, 2020 2:07 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump Campaign Desperate To “Smoke Out” Biden

June 24, 2020 2020 Elections, Donald Trump

Axios reports:

President Trump’s campaign, recognizing that he’ll lose to himself if November’s election is a referendum on him, is trying to flush Joe Biden into open combat by challenging him to more debates, taunting him as “Hidin’ Biden,” and posing a “Question of the day for Joe Biden.”

Expect more of this. The Trump campaign is getting very frustrated that Biden is keeping a low profile and letting Trump give himself uppercuts every day.

June 24, 2020 2:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Joe Biden +14 Over Trump In New NYT National Poll


Joseph R. Biden Jr. has taken a commanding lead over President Trump in the 2020 race, building a wide advantage among women and nonwhite voters and making deep inroads with some traditionally Republican-leaning groups that have shifted away from Mr. Trump following his ineffective response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new national poll of registered voters by The New York Times and Siena College.

Mr. Biden is currently ahead of Mr. Trump by 14 percentage points, garnering 50 percent of the vote compared with 36 percent for Mr. Trump. That is among the most dismal showings of Mr. Trump’s presidency, and a sign that he is the clear underdog right now in his fight for a second term. Mr. Biden leads Mr. Trump by enormous margins with black and Hispanic voters, and women and young people appear on track to choose Mr. Biden by an even wider margin than they favored Hillary Clinton over Mr. Trump in 2016.

June 24, 2020 2:16 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

An openly gay Democrat is poised to beat Republican homophobe Ruben Diaz in House Race

Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr., a conservative firebrand and minister best known for making homophobic statements, trailed in third place with just 15 percent of the vote.

Ruben Diaz Sr. is a disgrace and tonight, South Bronx voters sent a powerful message by rejecting his unethical, Trump-loving, anti-woman, anti LGBTQ, pro-Republican agenda. Ruben Diaz Sr.'s loss is a victory for decency.

June 24, 2020 2:26 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Arizona Hospitals Near Crisis, 88% Of ICU Beds Filled


Arizona Central reports:

The state reached a new high for hospitalizations Tuesday, according to the update provided by the Arizona Department of Health Services Wednesday morning. Inpatient beds and ventilators in use for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients both hit their highest-ever numbers Tuesday, according to the report. Emergency department visits and ICU beds in use hovered around their highest levels as well.

The biggest jump came in inpatient beds, with 2,270 beds occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients Tuesday, compared with 2,136 Monday. As of Tuesday, 86% of current inpatient beds and 88% of ICU beds were in use for COVID-19 and other patients. During the past three weeks, cases increased by 170% and tests increased by just 84%. Last week, 19 percent of tests were positive.

MORE: 86% of Arizona's inpatient hospital beds and 88% of the state's ICU beds are full, both pandemic high marks, according to @AZDHS.

June 24, 2020 2:28 PM  
Anonymous Rebekah Jones aka #insubordinate #scientist said...

BREAKING: Flordia announced yesterday they're not counting their ICU bed availability anymore, a key elelment in keeping things open, so the state can proceed to the next phase by July 4.

June 24, 2020 2:35 PM  
Anonymous HE'LL BE 86 IF HE SERVES TWO TERMS said...

"This comment has been removed by the author."

keep in mind he has a history of mental illness

his extreme narcissism leads to him repeatedly deleting posts because he worries so about what everyone thinks

sad...

June 24, 2020 2:50 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Texas Gov Gives Mixed Messages Amid COVID Spike


The Dallas News reports:

Gov. Greg Abbott sternly warned Texans of “rampant” spread of coronavirus that took the state to a new high Tuesday of more than 5,000 new cases in a single day. Saying Texans should stay home unless they have a good reason to venture out, Abbott late Tuesday afternoon gave local officials more powers to limit public gatherings during the upcoming Fourth of July weekend.

He expanded the ability of mayors and county judges to restrict outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people — down from the previous limit of more than 500 people in outdoor gatherings. “I urge all Texans to do everything in their power to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus by wearing a face mask, washing their hands often and staying six feet apart from others,” Abbott said in a written statement.

June 24, 2020 4:10 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...


He'll be 86 if he serves two terms"

And unlike Trump, he still won't have dementia and be a threat to American national security.

June 24, 2020 4:12 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Dozens Of GOP Former Security Officials To Back Biden


Reuters reports:

Dozens of Republican former U.S. national security officials are forming a group that will back Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, people familiar with the effort said, in a further sign that President Donald Trump has alienated some members of his own party.

The group will publicly endorse Biden in the coming weeks and its members plan to campaign for the former vice president. It includes at least two dozen officials who served under Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, with dozens more in talks to join, the sources added.

They will argue that another four years of a Trump presidency would endanger U.S. national security and that Republican voters should view Biden as the better choice despite policy differences, the sources said.

June 24, 2020 4:14 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "keep in mind he has a history of mental illness"

And you said you weren't arguing with me because you didn't want to upset me. So, why are you referring to me with male pronouns and my old name? Seems like you're trying to upset me.

June 24, 2020 4:16 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "keep in mind she has a history of mental illness"

Folks, that's the "ad hominem" logical fallacy, attacking the person instead of their arguments. My arguments stand independently from who I am.


Wyatt and Regina Hardiman can't refute my arguments so they allege my brain is broke instead of trying to take me on.

I may have a history of mental illness, but I'm still more rational, intelligent and able to debate than those two.

June 24, 2020 4:23 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

The Trump admin is ending funding and support for local COVID-19 testing sites around the U.S. this month.

Republicans try to hide behind the claim that more testing means more cases, but the percentage of those tested coming up positive has increased sharply as well.

Republican failure to follow the advice of medical experts has failed to bring the first wave of COVIC-19 under control and their continued failure to do so will mean this is going to get worse.

There will be no respite from COVID-19 all the way through November.

June 24, 2020 4:34 PM  
Anonymous It's not about George said...

"It would be hard to find an American that wasn't horrified by the murder of George Floyd. The police involved were fired and criminally charged with amazing speed. Who are the protests aimed at?"

You have utterly failed to grasp even the scope of the issue. George Floyd is just the tip of the iceberg - the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Here are a few more names the protests are in memory of... you may want to look them up.

Breonna Taylor
Atatiana Jefferson
Stephon Clark
Botham Jean
Philando Castille
Alton Sterling
Michelle Cusseaux
Freddie Gray
Janisha Fonville
Eric Garner
Akai Gurley
Tamir Rice (age 12)
Tanisha Anderson

A football player by the name of Colin Kaepernick tried to bring up the issues of concern several years ago by kneeling during the National Anthem. You may remember it because IQ45 completely dismissed his concerns with statements like "wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag to say, 'get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's fired."

This isn't about the flag. This is about a minority group of American citizens in our country living in constant fear that officials of their government may execute them with little or no provocation.

June 24, 2020 5:06 PM  
Anonymous Cuberly Trois said...

Republican Matt Gaetz "some might call that "male privilege: or "white privilege." You know what? Those tersm are just racist terms to try to tell people to shut up, and we're done being quiet."

This guy has literally never been quiet about anything ever - Molly Jong-Fast

Silver Spooned from a redder than red district, multiple DUIs which (cough, never seemed to stick) riding his daddy's coat tails into politics.

Yes, Matt is such a hard worker, everything he has he's worked his ass off to get.

June 24, 2020 5:15 PM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

"You have utterly failed to grasp even the scope of the issue. George Floyd is just the tip of the iceberg - the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back."

the failure to grasp is all yours

I never dismissed or shrugged off any of these horror stories we've heard the last couple of months

I was particularly aghast at the rednecks who shot a black guy in the back as he was jogging because they thought he was probably running from a crime

I spoke with a black lady not long afterward whose son is on the track team at school but she's afraid to let him practice running in the neighborhood

still, the point I made remains

this situation doesn't exist because Columbus discovered America or Washington had slaves or Teddy Roosevelt was a colonialist or Grant was once gifted a slave whom he freed at the first opportunity

and ripping down their statues solves nothing and risks alienating the 90% of Americans who agreed with the protesters instinctively

reports of America's systemic racism are greatly exaggerated

still, there is that persistent element, way over-represented in law enforcement, that continues to consider minorities as impediments to their vision of America

these guys need an attitude adjustment and, for that reason, I'm starting to come around to agreeing with taking down the Confederate memorials I used to consider harmless

"A football player by the name of Colin Kaepernick tried to bring up the issues of concern several years ago by kneeling during the National Anthem."

he was misguided, and he didn't convince anyone

professional sports is one place where fans of every race and color come together as equals and share the camaraderie of a common passion

"You may remember it because IQ45"

I wouldn't talk about anyone's low IQ if I were you

"completely dismissed his concerns with statements like "wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag to say, 'get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's fired."

This isn't about the flag."

so, why did he make it about the flag?

"This is about a minority group of American citizens in our country living in constant fear that officials of their government may execute them with little or no provocation."

I sympathize and something needs to be done

lawless mobs throwing rocks at cops and destroying statues doesn't help

btw, the problem of police brutality doesn't just affect minorities

it also affects anyone, such as poor and working class whites, that cops perceive may not have the resources to defend themselves when their rights are violated

and cops always perceive minorities to be in that category

the solution lies in how cops are trained and, as many have pointed out, reducing, or changing, the scope of police involvement in communities

vandalizing public property and assaulting police officers accomplishes nothing and Dems who become associated with such tactics will lose in November

June 24, 2020 9:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

well, gang, there have been 113 comments on this post

who wants to guess how many were made by Randy?

June 24, 2020 9:49 PM  
Anonymous Flynn is freed, now we need to prosecute those who falsely accused him said...

It is not appropriate for an outgoing President to surveil the incoming President's team to sabotage its preparation. There is now evidence directed such an abomination.

Newly released notes confirm President Barack Obama’s key role in surveillance and leak operation against Michael Flynn, the incoming Trump administration national security adviser. The handwritten notes, which were first disclosed in a federal court filing made by the Department of Justice on Tuesday, show President Obama himself personally directed former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to investigate Flynn for having routine phone calls with a Russian counterpart. He also suggests they withhold information from President Trump and his key national security figures.

The handwritten notes from fired former FBI agent Peter Strzok appear to describe a Jan. 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting between Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Comey, Yates, and then-national security adviser Susan Rice. The meeting and its substance were confirmed in a bizarre Inauguration Day email Rice wrote to herself.

It was at this meeting, which was confirmed by testimony from Comey and Yates, that Obama gave guidance to key officials who would be tasked with protecting his administration’s utilization of secretly funded Clinton campaign research, which alleged Trump was involved in a treasonous plot to collude with Russia, from being discovered or stopped by the incoming administration.

Yates told the special counsel that Obama broke the news of Flynn’s phone calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to her during the Jan. 5 meeting. Yates detailed further involvement from Obama. “President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia,” she wrote in her email.

The new notes, which record Comey’s accounting to Strzok of the meeting’s substance, constitute definitive evidence that Obama himself was personally directing significant aspects of a criminal investigation into his political enemy’s top foreign policy adviser.

June 24, 2020 10:00 PM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

If Obama is prosecuted, Biden is an accessory to the crime.

Former Vice President Joe Biden mentioned the "Logan Act" during an early January 2017 Oval Office discussion about the investigation into retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, newly released notes suggest.

Flynn's legal team said "it appears" he "personally raised the idea" during a meeting between former President Barack Obama, then-FBI Director James Comey, national security adviser Susan Rice, and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the days leading up to President Trump's inauguration. Biden is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and leading in national polling.

New insight into the conversation is given by chicken-scratch notes taken by former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, who later oversaw the bureau's interviews with Flynn, then Trump's incoming national security adviser, as part of the counterintelligence investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The notes were disclosed in a court filing Wednesday to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia around the same time a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that the judge presiding over the case against Flynn grant the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the criminal charges against him. U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen of Missouri, who was picked by Attorney General William Barr to review the government's case against Flynn, "obtained and analyzed" the document. Biden's comment about the Logan Act are the only words that appear in quotation marks.

The officials were discussing phone calls Flynn had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about a United Nations resolution on Israel and sanctions during the presidential transition period. At one point, Strzok wrote that Comey said the calls "appear legit." Obama emphasized that “the right people” should look into Flynn.

June 24, 2020 10:07 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

97% of ICU beds in Houston Texas are full. Two days ago it was at 90% usage.

Hospital staff are having huge burdens on them and are in crisis.

Meanwhile Trump does nothing, there is no national testing and tracking program, the personal protective equipment situation is still dire with inadequate items in use. Trump still hasn't initiated the Defence Production Act to provide a consistent supply of personal protective equipment.

The United States broke a record today for the greatest number of new infections. This is going the wrong way and it is due to the failure of the Trump administration to do anything about it.

June 24, 2020 10:15 PM  
Anonymous senbonzakura said...

The reason why America isn't recovering from COVID-19 as quickly as other countries is because we are a country that values individualism over collectivism. Nobody here wants to do anything that is a minor inconvenience to them to protect their neighbors.

June 25, 2020 12:35 AM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

"The reason why America isn't recovering from COVID-19 as quickly as other countries is because we are a country that values individualism over collectivism."

this is partly true, although it is not all that dire

here's a graph of the daily death rate from COVID in the US

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-deaths-united-states-each-day-2020-n1177936

there is a small spike in the last couple of days, led by Pennsylvania, Illinois, and California but the overall trend is down

here's our death rate per million compared to other countries

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/coronavirus/

several countries did worse

but, obviously, if your society is OK welding the apartment doors shut when anyone in a family gets sick or building "hospitals" where the sick are not treated but left to die, as in China, you'll find the virus can be contained more quickly

that individualism has led to strides in reducing humanity's burdens and the collectivist states simply ride the coattails of places where innovation is possible

need proof: compare North and South Korea, East and West Germany before reunification. Venezuela before and after Chavez

"Nobody here wants to do anything that is a minor inconvenience to them to protect their neighbors."

only the elite and paper pushers who can telework had minor inconvenience

working class people had to wait in lines at food banks just to feed their families

sure, fat blobs like Marc Elrich were inconvenienced because they couldn't go get an ice cream cone and watch a movie about trolls

13% of Americans are unemployed

that's more than an inconvenience

and it was completely unnecessary as we have seen as America has begun to reopen and hundred s of thousands forsook social distancing to attend protests

a new dangerous way of thinking has emerged that it is your duty to stay healthy so you don't infect others and the government is justified in suspending constitutional rights

once that threshold is crossed, the next time the excuse will be more nebulous

and right now, you see a reluctance on these governments to give this power up

remember, liberty benefits your neighbor too





June 25, 2020 7:03 AM  
Anonymous remember when Obama nominated Merrick Garland? LOL !!!!!!!!!! .... said...

OK, I've seen enough

Trump wins re-election with 280 electoral votes

the biggest question mark is Florida

but I think Trump will triumph eventually

Biden has gone places that the elderly population in that state will reject

June 25, 2020 10:50 AM  
Anonymous I remember said...

your insistence that we'd have President Huckabee!

Prophesy is not your forte.

Delusions on the other hand.....

June 25, 2020 11:44 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "here's our death rate per million compared to other countries... several countries did worse"

Six countries did worse and 24 did better. Just another typical attempt of yours to distort reality, create the impression things are not so bad when in reality the U.S. is amongst the worst in deaths per million.


Good anonymous said "Nobody here wants to do anything that is a minor inconvenience to them to protect their neighbors."

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "only the elite and paper pushers who can telework had minor inconvenience working class people had to wait in lines at food banks just to feed their families 13% of Americans are unemployed that's more than an inconvenience"

That's not what good anonymous was refering to. What he/she meant by inconvenience was wearing face masks, not attending parties and church, or going to the bar. Republicans have been angrily opposed to any of these minor inconveniences and are causing an explosion in coronavirus cases because of it.

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "and it was completely unnecessary as we have seen as America has begun to reopen and hundred s of thousands forsook social distancing to attend protests".

You couldn't be more wrong about that. Calculations show that if zero precautions were taken millions would have died. Instead because there were some precautions 122,000 are dead. Still too many, still way more than there would be if Trump had acted months earlier.

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "13% of Americans are unemployed."

Actually it's 15.3% and that is Trump's fault for not acting for three months after he was warned repeatedly about coronavirus.

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "a new dangerous way of thinking has emerged that it is your duty to stay healthy so you don't infect others and the government is justified in suspending constitutional rights once that threshold is crossed, the next time the excuse will be more nebulous"

How appallingly hypocritical of you! Trump and his attorney general Bill Barr take the position that the president can do anything he pleases, even shoot someone on 5th avenue and the Justice Department wouldn't have the power to investigate him, arrest him, or even stop him from shooting more people.

Trump has "crossed the threshold" many many times and continues to do so as in the Southern District of New York where Barr tried to fire the person in charge and replace him with authoritarian puppets so he could end the investigations and prosecutions into Trump and his helpers and open sham investigations into people they don't like.

How dare you invoke the threat of loss of rights over being asked to wear a goddamn mask when Trump has attacked and threatened democracy like no prsesident before? He's destroying the rule of law, stacking the courts and the upper levels of government with his authoritarian puppets. He's ignored several dozens legal subpoenas and won't release any of the information the Constitution mandates he give Congress.

That you won't condemn Trump shows you couldn't care less about the loss of constitutional rights, in fact you welcome it.

June 25, 2020 1:17 PM  
Anonymous remember when Trump's judge Corsuch voted to protect lgbts? LOL !!!!!!!!!! said...

Twitter Hides Yet Another “Abusive” Trump Threat

Politico reports:

President Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to stamp out any protesters seeking to establish a so-called “autonomous zone” in the nation’s capital, echoing conservative outrage over the prospect of police-free enclaves cropping up in major American cities.

The president’s social media post comes after U.S. Park Police officers on Monday thwarted efforts by protesters to tear down the statue of President Andrew Jackson located at the center of Lafayette Square, just across Pennsylvania Avenue on the north side of the White House.

There will never be an “Autonomous Zone” in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020

Twitter hides another Trump tweet, this time for making a threat “against an identifiable group” — Karissa Bell (@karissabe)

Twitter Safety @TwitterSafety
We've placed a public notice on this Tweet for violating our policy against abusive behavior, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group.twitter.com/realDonaldTrum...

June 25, 2020 1:21 PM  
Anonymous Neil Gorsuch...LOL!!!!! said...

Rich people are four times more likely to lie, cheat, or steal than poor people.

And when it comes to charity, households earning over $100,000 donate only 2.7% of their income, whereas those making under $25,000 give away 4.2%.

30 different studies conducted at the University of California at Berkeley have demonstrated that rich people exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies, ranging from being more likely to run you down with your car while driving to lying during negotiations, even cheating in a simple game of chance, just to win a $50 prize.

Upper income participants were more likely to break laws while driving, take valued goods from others, endorse unethical behavior, such as cheating at work and they were four times more likely to cheat in order to win a prize. The studies were conducted using thousands of participants from across the United States. They also demonstrated less empathy, ruder behavior and became more demanding as simulated wealth and power increased.

The results indicate what many people have sensed all along, that the rich feel more “entitled” than others, believing that they’ve earned success, even when it’s been given to them on a silver platter.

The cream of society may rise to the top, but so might the scum.

June 25, 2020 2:13 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

That really sums up Wyatt and Regina Hardiman

June 25, 2020 2:15 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Biden Blasts Trump For Attempting To End Obamacare During Pandemic: “I Cannot Comprehend The Cruelty”



NBC News reports:

Joe Biden on Thursday warned that President Donald Trump’s attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act will have disastrous consequences on Americans who become infected with the coronavirus and demanded the president end a lawsuit that is seeking to terminate the landmark health care law.

“Mr. President, drop the lawsuit. Stop trying to take away people’s health care and their peace of mind,” Biden said during a speech Thursday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “I cannot comprehend the cruelty he is inflicting on the very people he is supposed to serve.”

Earlier in the speech, the presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee said that “most cruelly of all, if Donald Trump has his way, complications from COVID-19 could become a new pre-existing condition,” which insurance plans could decide not to cover.

June 25, 2020 4:54 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Texas Gov Halts Elective Surgeries As Hospitals Fill Up

Statewide, the number of hospitalizations has reached record highs for a full two weeks, soaring to 4,739 on Thursday morning and tripling since Memorial Day. Texas @GovAbbot is putting any further reopening of the state's economy on hold. If they would have followed the medical advice initially they wouldn't be being forced to close back down now.

June 25, 2020 5:06 PM  
Anonymous Mia Farrow said...


Replying to @realDonaldTrump and 2 others

3 months ago you declared that covid-19 had made you a ‘wartime president’. Since then, you fled the battlefield, abandoned fighters and decided no enemy exists. But the disease rages on, and Americans are left to fight without presidential leadership

June 25, 2020 5:07 PM  
Anonymous Rachel Maddow said...

When the state stay-at-home order expired in mid-May, Maricopa County (Arizona) had fewer than 7,000 known cases.

As of Wednesday, the county has 34,992.

"We've seen about 36% of all our cases in just the last week."

June 25, 2020 11:12 PM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

"your insistence that we'd have President Huckabee!

Prophesy is not your forte.

Delusions on the other hand."

I remember when you were insisting that Donald Trump couldn't possibly win

well, let's discuss delusions:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/create_your_own_president_map.html

take this map and give Trump Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio

and he's re-elected

tell us which states you think Biden the Senile and Sleepy will win

go ahead,

make

my

day!!

June 25, 2020 11:31 PM  
Anonymous The Lincoln Project said...

If the current polls were election night.

Electoral College:

Democrat 443

Republican 94

June 26, 2020 12:29 AM  
Anonymous coronavirus deaths aren't rising, mail-in voting is fraudulent said...

"If the current polls were election night.

Electoral College:

Democrat 443

Republican 94"

there are too many toss-up states to make such a statement and, historically, the COP wins most toss-ups

further, if you look back, Dems are always ahead at this point, prior to the conventions

indeed, they are often ahead until about a week before the election

to generalize, Americans choose liberty and prosperity over egalitarianism and defeatism

Even though new coronavirus infections are rising in America and around the world, new coronavirus deaths are largely flat, a trend largely missing from most mainstream media coverage.

Experts say the fact that new coronavirus deaths appear to remain flat is driven by more younger patients getting infected and recovering amid reopenings as the worst of the pandemic passes.

On Wednesday evening, the Washington Post issued a breaking news email alert headlined "New coronavirus cases in the U.S. soar to highest single-day total."

"Across the United States," reported the Post, "more than 36,000 new infections were reported by state health departments on Wednesday — surpassing the previous single-day record of 34,203 set on April 25."

Yet the article failed to mention that even while new infections are on the rise, new COVID-19 deaths are not.

This vital information gap in the media is causing some health policy experts to worry that fear about the coronavirus — evidenced, for example, by Wednesday's sharp stock market drop — is not founded in facts, particularly about how the virus disparately impacts different age groups. The spreading of unfounded alarm, the experts fear, could risk deep harm to Americans' livelihoods and mental health due to a prolonged, widespread shutdown.

The coronavirus has ravaged elderly populations in nursing homes and those with underlying comorbidities, but now the virus appears to be striking those who are younger and healthier and more able to withstand the disease and return to life normally.

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine professor Dr. William Schaffner, who specializes in preventive medicine and infectious diseases, noted in an interview that, for example, in Florida, reports indicate that it is middle-aged and younger adults now being hit with COVID-19.

Data from Oxford University show that even though the confirmed daily reported COVID-19 cases have been ticking up in the United States in recent days, daily confirmed deaths have not risen.

Similar trends are seen worldwide, according to Oxford: Daily confirmed cases have been rising, but daily confirmed deaths have not

Following accusations of widespread fraud, voter intimidation, and ballot theft in the May 12 municipal elections in Paterson, N.J., state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced Thursday he is charging four men with voter fraud – including the vice president of the City Council and a candidate for that body.

Mail-in ballots have long been acknowledged by voting experts to be more susceptible to fraud and irregularities than in-person voting. This has rightly raised concerns from President Trump about the integrity of national elections in November, which are expected to include a dramatic increase in mail-in ballots. If Paterson is any guide, it ought to concern Democrats as well.

June 26, 2020 7:22 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Good anonymous said "If the current polls were election night.

Electoral College:

Democrat 443

Republican 94"

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "there are too many toss-up states to make such a statement and, historically, the COP wins most toss-ups".

Biden is leading handily in most of the "toss-up" states. The calculation is accurate, if the election were held today, Democrats 443, Republican 94. It is utter nonsense that "historically the COP[sic] wins most toss-ups".

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "further, if you look back, Dems are always ahead at this point, prior to the conventions indeed, they are often ahead until about a week before the election"

More fantasies, there is nothing in historical elections that supports such statements.

Face it, Trump's prospects are very, very dim.

June 26, 2020 12:52 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

122,000 Americans dead and several hundred more every day and Wyatt/Regina are trying to tell us things are wonderful, nothing to worry about.

And they call themselves "pro life". Give me a break!

June 26, 2020 12:54 PM  
Anonymous Hemant Mehta said...

People Who Are Less Religious Are More Accepting of Gayness, Report Finds

There’s been a remarkable shift, globally, over the past two decades when it comes to acceptance of gayness. Even in countries like Kenya, where being gay was once so taboo that support for gay people was virtually non-existent, support is now in the double digits.

That’s according to a new report from the Pew Research Center, based on the Spring 2019 Global Attitudes Survey.

In the United States, 72% of people now say being gay should be accepted, compared to 49% in 2007, which is a huge improvement (though we still lag behind other wealthier countries).

But let’s just look at how religion plays into this.

It’s no surprise that the more religious people are, the more bigoted they are. This survey didn’t break down the results by denomination, though it did ask people if religion was “important” to them. Among those in the U.S. who said religion was “very important” to them, only 57% said gayness should be accepted by society. Among those who don’t care much about religion? The number jumps to 86%.

That difference ranks among the highest in the world. (In Israel, the numbers are 22% and 62%, respectively.)

While we don’t get the denomination breakdown, the analysis does include this passage pointing out that non-religious Americans are far more accepting of gay people than Christians.

… those who are religiously unaffiliated, sometimes called religious “nones,” (that is, those who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”) tend to be more accepting of gayness. Though the opinions of religiously unaffiliated people can vary widely, in virtually every country surveyed with a sufficient number of unaffiliated respondents, “nones” are more accepting of gayness than the affiliated.

The more our nation moves away from organized religion — thanks, Donald Trump! — the more welcoming we will be to LGBTQ people. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when faith-based hatred isn’t standing in the way.

June 26, 2020 12:55 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

TEXAS: GOP Gov Orders All Bars To Close Immediately

Houston’s ABC News affiliate reports:

Just one day after temporarily pausing the state’s reopening plans, Texas is now increasing restrictions on some businesses in an effort to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Friday’s new order from Texas Governor Greg Abbott includes closing bars effective at noon today (except for to-go service) and reducing capacity at restaurants starting on Monday. Also, outdoor gatherings of 100 or more people must be approved by local governments, with certain exceptions.

BREAKING: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott orders all bars to shutdown today and restaurants must reduce capacity to 50% starting Monday as the state has seen spike in COVID-19. Since June 1, cases in Texas have doubled and hospitalizations have nearly tripled.

— Jeremy Wallace

June 26, 2020 12:59 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Fox's Tucker Carlson says Trump is losing because he's "exhausted".


Carlson told Trump the one thing that could turn his sagging poll numbers around was to charge protesters as domestic terrorists and frog-march them out in front of cameras.

Tucker Carlson, like Wyatt/Regina, wants a Trump dictatorship.

June 26, 2020 1:04 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Alabama Hospitals Near Crisis, 82% Of ICU Beds Filled


Montgomery’s ABC News affiliate reports:

Over the last 24 hours, the state of Alabama’s seen a record increase in COVID-19 cases with more than 1,100 cases added in a single day. UAB’s Dr. Jeanne Marazzo attributes the surge to the relaxation in people’s efforts to social distance and wear masks.

“We are giving the virus more of an opportunity to jump from one person to another,” she said. 82 percent of Alabama’s ICU beds are now full, according to Dr. Don Williamson with Alabama’s Hospital Association. He says there are only 289 beds available.

“We are approaching a critical threshold for our capacity to care for patients with COVID and everything else we need to provide care for over the next several weeks,” said Marazzo.

Alabama Hospitals had the highest number of COVID-19 patients to date today, with 693 people in the hospital.

June 26, 2020 1:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

GOP Governors Backpedal As COVID Crisis Worsens

June 26, 2020 Coronavirus, Republicans

The Associated Press reports:

When Texas began lifting coronavirus restrictions, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t wear a mask. He wouldn’t let mayors enact extra precautions during one of America’s swiftest efforts to reopen. He pointed out that the White House backed his plan and gave assurances there were safe ways to go out again. Two months later, a sharp reversal is unfolding as infections surge.

The backpedaling is not just in Texas, where Abbott abruptly halted the push to loosen more restrictions and is now urgently telling people to stay home. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, also a Republican, did the same, declaring the state “on pause” as hospitals accelerate toward capacity.

The escalating crisis is testing governors — many of them Republicans who aggressively reopened before most of the U.S. — as pressure mounts from their biggest cities, health experts and even friendly business groups. Any move backward could land them at odds with President Donald Trump, who has sought to move on from the virus and return to the campaign stage, all while refusing to wear a mask in public.

Read the full article.

June 26, 2020 1:54 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump Unable To Cite “Top Priorities” For Second Term

Asked what his top priorities for a second term are, Trump can’t name a single thing.

Politico reports:

Sean Hannity traveled with President Donald Trump to Green Bay, Wis., for a Fox News town hall, and asked him this good question: “What’s at stake in this election as you compare and contrast, and what are your top priority items for a second term?” This is as standard a question as a sitting president can get — why should we give you another four years, and compare yourself to your opponent.

Here is Trump’s word salad response.

I guarantee you if/when Biden is asked that he'll discuss several priorities.

June 26, 2020 2:00 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump Petitions Supreme Court To Destroy Obamacare

At a time when its needed more than ever, Trump is trying to take away people's right to health insurance even if they have a pre-existing condition.

With so many people's health insurance tied to their employment and 40 million Americans being out of work it is critical to maintain the health insurance people have gotten through Obamacare.

Trump is trying to take away health care from tens of millions of Americans and to take away the protections for preexisting conditions that 100 million Americans have.

Trump is literally trying to kill people.

June 26, 2020 2:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

2016 Republican Presidential Candidate Carly Fiorina: I’m Voting For Joe Biden, Elections Are Binary Choices

June 25, 2020 Donald Trump, Republicans

The Atlantic reports:

Carly Fiorina was a Republican candidate for president just four years ago, and was briefly Ted Cruz’s prospective running mate. Trump needs to go, she says—and that means she’s voting for Biden.

Fiorina is not going to keep quiet, write in another candidate, or vote third-party. “I’ve been very clear that I can’t support Donald Trump,” she told me, in an interview that can be heard in full on the latest episode of The Ticket. “And elections are binary choices.”

June 26, 2020 2:09 PM  
Anonymous Trump sure sounds resigned to losing to Joe Biden said...

Trump: Joe Biden “Can’t Speak And He Is Going To Be President Because Some People Don’t Love Me, Maybe”


Mediaite reports:

In a rambling answer, President Donald Trump said that former Vice President Joe Biden “is going to be president because some people don’t love me maybe because all I’m doing is my job,” right after mocking the Democratic presidential nominee as gaffe-prone, saying: “The man can’t speak.”

During a Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity on Thursday, Trump began to attack Biden but then seemed to predict that the former vice president would still win the election. “It’s so crazy what’s happening. It’s a guy who doesn’t talk, nobody hears him,” Trump said about Biden.

“Whenever he does talk, he can’t put two sentences together. I don’t want to be nice or un-nice. The man can’t speak. And he is going to be president because some people don’t love me maybe because all I’m doing is doing my job.”

“He’s gonna be your president because some people don’t love me, maybe” — Trump sure sounds resigned to losing to Joe Biden -Aaron Rupar

June 26, 2020 2:17 PM  
Anonymous lymis said...

Whatever else is or isn't true about Biden, he's going to surround himself with competent people and let them actually do their jobs. If that's ALL he did, and then went golfing, we'd be so far ahead of where we are now that the difference would be incalculable.

June 26, 2020 2:32 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

In North Carolina Republican leaders have made it illegal to wear a face mask starting Aug. 1.

Republicans are making this outbreak much worse than it need be by foolishly acting as though they can con the virus into not being a problem.

They're so used to telling the public up is down they think they can pretend this away to.

June 26, 2020 3:24 PM  
Anonymous foreign transgenders are running amok on America's blogs, spreading lies and propaganda like a virus said...

Early in the epidemic, public-health experts feared the virus might kill up to 2 percent of those infected, potentially causing millions of deaths in the United States and tens of millions worldwide. Those terrifying estimates prompted the lockdowns that have done incalculable harm to the economy, shattered small businesses and left children traumatized and untold numbers suffering from brutal isolation.

But we now know much more about the virus. And we know its lethality is lower than we originally feared — and highly concentrated in the very elderly and people with serious health problems.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ­esti­mated in May that the coronavirus kills about 0.26 percent of the people it infects, about 1 in 400 people. New estimates from Sweden suggest that only 1 in 10,000 people under 50 will die from the virus, compared to 1 in 14 of people over 80 and 1 in 6 of those over 90.

Estimates for the coronavirus’ lethality have fallen so sharply because calculating the ­so-called infection fatality rate requires scientists and physicians to know both the total number of deaths and the total number of people infected.

Tracking deaths is relatively easy. But tracking infections can be tough. Many people who are infected with respiratory ­viruses like influenza or the novel coronavirus have only mild symptoms or none. They may never be tested or even know they are infected.

Thus, in the early stages of an epidemic, scientists must guess at the number of mild and hidden infections.

Probably the best way to discover the real number is through antibody tests, which measure how many people have already been infected and recovered — even if they never had symptoms.

Unlike some other countries, the United States still hasn’t completed a national random antibody study — yet another way in which our public-health establishment has failed to get the data we need to make good decisions about lockdowns. But some counties, states and countries have.

Those studies consistently show that far more people have been infected with and recovered from the coronavirus than suggested by data from tests that only measure current infections. Tests of municipal sewage systems — measuring the virus’ genetic signature in wastewater — have had similar findings.

Nearly all the studies find between 10 and 100 times the number of total infections as reported infections, with the average somewhere around 20 to 25 times.

In other words, while the CDC reports 2.34 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus, the actual number of infected and recovered people may be closer to 50 million. (CDC Director Robert Redfield told journalists Thursday that the number of cases may be 10 times higher than the earlier 2.34 million.)

Thus, the death rate, which would be 5.2 percent based on that 2.34 million figure, is actually more like one-20th as high — or 0.26 percent.

To be sure, these estimates still have some uncertainty. The ­actual figure could be as low as 0.1 percent or as high as 0.4 to 0.5 percent, though treatment advances should mean it will trend lower over time. Even at 0.26 percent, the rate is still significantly higher than influenza most years, more comparable to a bad flu strain like the 1968 Hong Kong flu.

But it is far lower than we initially thought — a fact that should be cause for celebration.

Instead, some media outlets insist on using the out-of-date estimates that are much higher. For example, an ESPN article this week said public discussions about reopening the National Football League were “ignoring a mortality rate that has been estimated at 1.4 percent.” That figure is more than five times the CDC’s best estimate. Even more jarring, it is more than 100 times the actual risk to people in their 20s and 30s — the age range for nearly all NFL players.

Using those overstated estimates is a recipe for panic, bad public policy — and continued lockdowns that may delay to ­return to normality.

Let’s hope that isn’t the reason people in the media are using them

June 26, 2020 4:05 PM  
Anonymous HOW OLD IS HUNTER"S CORRUPT FATHER? said...

Just a few months after Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas company landed a deal with an Obama administration renewable energy program that had been championed by one of his father's key vice presidential advisers, newly released State Department memos show.

The Memorandum of Understanding between Burisma and USAID's Municipal Energy Reform Project in Ukraine (MERP) was signed in October 2014, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by Just the News under the Freedom of Information Act.

At that time, Burisma was under very public investigations by both the British government and the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office and considered by the State Department to suffer from corruption issues.

And the Burisma official who signed the MOU, Andrii Kicha, was publicly identified in British court documents in 2014 as someone whose conduct was questioned during the probe. More recently, Kicha was detained in Ukraine in what law enforcement authorities there said was a failed attempt to deliver a $6 million bribe to prosecutors designed to end continuing investigations of the controversial gas company.

Kicha has long denied wrongdoing, and Burisma has said it did not have any involvement in the bribery plot. The company has fought allegations of corruption for years and settled some of the Ukrainian cases against it at the end of the Obama administration by paying a fine.

Burisma officials did not respond to a request for comment about the 2014 MERP deal. State Department and USAID press officials also declined comment.

A senior State Department official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said officials do not have much current documentation to show how Burisma landed the 2014 deal with USAID, the department's foreign aid arm, but they believe it wasn't fully vetted by the department. Instead, the official said, it appeared the MOU was approved by USAID's contractor managing the program.

The official added that State recently received inquiries from U.S. Senate investigators examining the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine.

"This is clearly a matter of interest in their investigation, but right now it looks like Burisma signed the deal with our contractor, and our embassy didn't even know much about it until 2016," the official said, declining to provide more information.

Remarkably, the multimillion dollar MERP program's involvement with Burisma escaped notice during last year's impeachment proceedings, which focused heavily on the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine and efforts by Rudy Giuliani, one of President Trump's lawyers, to get the issues surrounding Burisma investigated by Ukrainian authorities. Specifically, Giuliani wanted Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate Joe Biden's successful effort to get the Ukrainian prosecutor leading the Burisma investigation fired in 2016.

During those impeachment proceedings, Obama-era State Department officials testified they held strong corruption concerns about the Ukrainian gas company that had hired Hunter Biden in May 2014 and paid his firm more than $3 million in consulting fees. They added they believed Burisma's arrangement with the vice president's son created the "appearance of a conflict of interest" for Joe Biden as he oversaw U.S.-Ukraine policy for the Obama administration.

June 26, 2020 4:44 PM  
Anonymous HOW OLD IS HUNTER"S CORRUPT FATHER? said...


The British probe was ordered shut in early 2015, but the reasons are in dispute. British officials claim Ukrainian authorities failed to get them essential evidence they were seeking; Burisma and Ukrainian authorities dispute that.

Multiple criminal cases were opened between 2014 and 2016 in Ukraine against Burisma and Zlochevsky, some of which were settled and closed in 2016 with a fine, and some which persist today.

Kicha was freshly implicated in controversy connected to Burisma this month, when Ukrainian authorities detained him and several others in connection with a $6 million bribe meant for a prosecutor investigating Burisma.

The Ukrainian government is currently pursuing an embezzlement case against the company and Zlochevsky. A Kyiv court last Sunday revealed the seizure of the bribery funds.

Controversy has swirled around Burisma for several years since then-Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter took a seat on the gas company's board of directors in May 2014. Joe Biden at the time played a significant role in foreign policy decisions regarding Ukraine, raising the specter of impropriety as his son joined a scandal-ridden firm at the same time the vice president had official dealings with the country.

Notably, Burisma would secure the USAID agreement just five months later.

June 26, 2020 4:45 PM  
Anonymous LGBT Bar of NY said...

Today is June 26th. For LGBT people, the day has very speci8al significance. Three major Supreme Court cases were decided this day in history:

It's been 5 years since Obergefell v Hodges

It's been 7 years since U.S. v Windsor

It's been 17 years since Lawrence v TX.

June 26, 2020 8:25 PM  
Anonymous BeccaM said...

I'm glad everybody's realizing (and the news media reporting on) the fact Trump was briefed on Russia offering murder-bounties on US soldiers IN MARCH and offered a variety of responses, but he took none of them. Instead, he rewarded Putin with an offer of a summit meeting with him, an invitation to rejoin the G7, and the unilateral withdrawal of US troops from Germany.

Donald really is a puppet.

June 26, 2020 11:16 PM  
Anonymous HOW OLD IS SLEEPY, CREEEEEPY, JOE? said...

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/create_your_own_president_map.html

take this interactive map

give trump the states where he's clearly ahead

of the toss-ups, give trump AZ, TX, FL, GA, NC, PA, OH

and we have a re-elected President

right now, Biden is OK because he's in hiding

coming up: the inane choice for VP, his role in the Obama-led Russian hoax, his age, the accumulating evidence about Hunter's influence-peddling, his history of plagiarism, his tendency to put his hands on various women in public,and, worst of all, when people actually see him, they customarily dislike him

he's run, and lost badly, several times

I have a feeling he will win other toss-ups, as well: NV, MI, WI, IA

June 26, 2020 11:32 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...


Ukraine: No Evidence Of Wrongdoing By Hunter Biden

The Guardian reports:

An audit of thousands of old case files by Ukrainian prosecutors found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Hunter Biden, the former prosecutor general, who had launched the audit, told Reuters.

June 27, 2020 12:22 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

FLORIDA: State Orders All Bars To Close Again As Gov Faces Accusations He’s Cooking The Books On Deaths
The Guardian reports:

Rebekah Jones, who says she was fired from her job in charge of the state’s official Covid-19 database in May for refusing to manipulate its figures, claimed on social media to have evidence that employees at Florida’s department of health “have been instructed this week to change the numbers and begin slowly deleting deaths and cases so it looks like Florida is improving next week in the lead-up to July 4, like they’ve ‘made it over the hump’.”

“They’re only reporting all these cases now so they can restrict reporting next week to make everyone think it’s over,” she said.

June 27, 2020 12:24 AM  
Anonymous how did we ever get such a great Supreme Court? said...

Just a few months after Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas company landed a deal with an Obama administration renewable energy program that had been championed by one of his father's key vice presidential advisers, newly released State Department memos show.

The Memorandum of Understanding between Burisma and USAID's Municipal Energy Reform Project in Ukraine (MERP) was signed in October 2014, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by Just the News under the Freedom of Information Act.

At that time, Burisma was under very public investigations by both the British government and the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office and considered by the State Department to suffer from corruption issues.

And the Burisma official who signed the MOU, Andrii Kicha, was publicly identified in British court documents in 2014 as someone whose conduct was questioned during the probe. More recently, Kicha was detained in Ukraine in what law enforcement authorities there said was a failed attempt to deliver a $6 million bribe to prosecutors designed to end continuing investigations of the controversial gas company.

Kicha has long denied wrongdoing, and Burisma has said it did not have any involvement in the bribery plot. The company has fought allegations of corruption for years and settled some of the Ukrainian cases against it at the end of the Obama administration by paying a fine.

Burisma officials did not respond to a request for comment about the 2014 MERP deal. State Department and USAID press officials also declined comment.

A senior State Department official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said officials do not have much current documentation to show how Burisma landed the 2014 deal with USAID, the department's foreign aid arm, but they believe it wasn't fully vetted by the department. Instead, the official said, it appeared the MOU was approved by USAID's contractor managing the program.

The official added that State recently received inquiries from U.S. Senate investigators examining the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine.

"This is clearly a matter of interest in their investigation, but right now it looks like Burisma signed the deal with our contractor, and our embassy didn't even know much about it until 2016," the official said, declining to provide more information.

Remarkably, the multimillion dollar MERP program's involvement with Burisma escaped notice during last year's impeachment proceedings, which focused heavily on the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine and efforts by Rudy Giuliani, one of President Trump's lawyers, to get the issues surrounding Burisma investigated by Ukrainian authorities. Specifically, Giuliani wanted Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate Joe Biden's successful effort to get the Ukrainian prosecutor leading the Burisma investigation fired in 2016.

During those impeachment proceedings, Obama-era State Department officials testified they held strong corruption concerns about the Ukrainian gas company that had hired Hunter Biden in May 2014 and paid his firm more than $3 million in consulting fees. They added they believed Burisma's arrangement with the vice president's son created the "appearance of a conflict of interest" for Joe Biden as he oversaw U.S.-Ukraine policy for the Obama administration.

June 27, 2020 8:22 AM  
Anonymous TTFers should not even think about attacking statues said...

Any TTFers who vandalize or destroy statues and monuments will go directly to jail without collecting $200 and begin a ten year feast of baloney sandwiches!

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to protect federal monuments after a rash of recent incidents involving the vandalism of statues memorializing the nation's Founding Fathers.

"I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues - and combatting recent Criminal Violence. Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country!" Trump said in a tweet.

Details of the executive order were not immediately released, but Trump said earlier this week that the order would "reinforce" existing federal law, which criminalizes the destruction of federal monuments. For instance, the Veterans’ Memorials Preservation and Recognition Act of 2003 imposes a fine and up to 10 years in prison on anyone who vandalizes a monument.

The violent protests has reignited the debate around statues and other monuments honoring slave-holding presidents, such as George Washington, Thomas Jeffeson, and Andrew Jackson.

Earlier this week, protesters defaced a statue of President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square outside the White House and tried to topple it, but police pepper-sprayed demonstrators to protect the monument. The National Park Service has since placed a barrier around the statue.

Washington, America's first president, also became a target in which protests tore down his statue in Portland, Oregon, and defaced a different statue in Baltimore. A World War II monument was also vandalized in Charlotte, N.C.

Trump told reporters Tuesday that he is looking to have stiff penalties for acts of vandalism against federal monuments.

"We are looking at long-term jail sentences for these vandals and these hoodlums and these anarchists and agitators and call them whatever you want. Some people don’t like that language, but that’s what they are. They’re bad people, they don’t love our country, and they’re not taking down our monuments," he said.

June 27, 2020 8:31 AM  
Anonymous and now for the rest of the story... said...

Florida does better than any other state in transparency of reporting data. Below is a link showing how they have been so successful:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1276490546471677952.html

note that 85% of deaths are in those over 85 and the current surge is among twenty-somethings, few of whom are hospitalized

June 27, 2020 9:25 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Florida does better than any other state in transparency of reporting data."

That's a lie. The Florida governor fired the woman in charge of the coronavirus data because she wouldn't fake the data to make the situation look better than it is.

FLORIDA: State Orders All Bars To Close Again As Gov Faces Accusations He’s Cooking The Books On Deaths

The Guardian reports:

Rebekah Jones, who says she was fired from her job in charge of the state’s official Covid-19 database in May for refusing to manipulate its figures, claimed on social media to have evidence that employees at Florida’s department of health “have been instructed this week to change the numbers and begin slowly deleting deaths and cases so it looks like Florida is improving next week in the lead-up to July 4, like they’ve ‘made it over the hump’.”

“They’re only reporting all these cases now so they can restrict reporting next week to make everyone think it’s over,” she said.

June 27, 2020 12:20 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Delusional Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "give trump the states where he's clearly ahead of the toss-ups, give trump AZ, TX, FL, GA, NC, PA, OH"

More lies. Biden is handily leading in AZ, Fl, NC, PA, OH, and GA. No honest statistician would say "give Trump these states".

June 27, 2020 12:26 PM  
Anonymous Mrs. Krassenstein said...

I’d like to hear Trump's thoughts on why he invited Putin to the G7 after he was told he paid bounties on US Soldiers’ heads.

June 27, 2020 12:29 PM  
Anonymous President Barrack Obama said...

We’re almost 51 years since the night when the patrons at the Stonewall Inn stood up for their rights and set one of America’s defining victories for civil rights.

Because of the movement they sparked and the decades of work that followed, marriage equality became the law of the land five years ago, and just this month the Supreme Court ruled that employers can no longer discriminate against LGBTQ workers.

All that progress is worth celebrating and reflecting on. The struggle and triumph for LGBTQ rights shows how protests and politics go hand in hand, how we’ve got to both shine a light on injustice and translate those aspirations into specific laws and institutional practices.

So whether we’re fighting to protect a patient from discrimination in the health-care system, or to combat violence against the LGBTQ community, particularly trans women of color, or to link arms with the causes of racial and social justice that have swept the country, I hope you know that your voice can make an enormous difference.

I hope you all understand what Edie Windsor and Harvey Milk and Bayard Rustin all knew: that progress doesn’t happen on its own. It happens because we stand up, speak out, and demand change.

June 27, 2020 2:03 PM  
Anonymous BeccaM said...

Meanwhile, President Swamp, who kept cooing over and over he was the most pro-L...g...b...t...q (he could barely remember the letters in 2016) candidate there ever was or will be has said nothing.

Except of course to take the side of every single court attempt to curtail, abridge, or outright eliminate LGBTQ civil rights.

June 27, 2020 2:04 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

COURT: Trump Illegally Used Pentagon Funds For Wall

The Hill reports:

A federal appeals court in California on Friday ruled that the Trump administration’s use of Pentagon funding to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was illegal.

In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that Trump’s diversion of defense, military and other funding — billions of dollars that were not originally earmarked for border wall construction — violated the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution, which gives Congress the exclusive power of the purse.

“These funds were appropriated for other purposes, and the transfer amounted to ‘drawing funds from the Treasury without authorization by statute and thus violating the Appropriations Clause,’ ” the majority wrote. “Therefore, the transfer of funds here was unlawful.”

June 27, 2020 2:06 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump was informed in March that Putin had offered rewards to the Taliban for killing American soldiers. Some rewards have been paid out.

Trump was offered a menu of options for retaliation and he decided he wanted none of that, there'd be no response to Russia paying for the murder of American soldiers.

Trump is obviously a Putin Puppet. Trump is financially indebted to Russia and Putin has all kinds of compromising material on Trump he uses to keep him in line with Russia's goal of boosting itself at the expense of the USA and other democracies.

Trump is following Putin's playbook page by page and is slowly turning the United States into another Russia where a few elites become absurdly wealthy while the lives of everyone else are impoverished.

If you want the USA to be Russia, Trump's your man. If you want a thriving democracy you need to vote for Biden.

June 27, 2020 2:11 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Voting by mail has been going on in several states for many years without a hitch. Now during the epidemic its the only ethical choice.

Trump had a voter fraud commission that was going to allegedly find 3 million people voted illegally in 2016. Instead they found NOTHING and disbanded in disgrace.

Voter fraud is virtually non-existent but Republicans have used this boogey man to justifice a vicious attack on voting rights and democracy.

Now with Covid-19 disproportionately affecting the black community Republicans want to force the black community to gather in large groups for hours upon hours knowing some of them will be injured and killed by COVID-19 in order to exercise their right to vote and possibly their last chance to vote if Trump succeeds in corrupting the election.

Trump offered favours such as dropping court cases against chinese firms while telling the Chinese president "Make sure I get reelected.". That's what he got impeached over Ukraine for and he's doing it at every opportunity now.

Moscow Mitch McConnell, pass those bills to protect the election and allow Americans the right to vote by mail.

June 27, 2020 2:12 PM  
Anonymous JackFknTwist said...

Trump wants new laws to punish those who damage public statues "with long prison sentences'.
Oh yeah, hurting statues deserves years in jail.

But Trump does nothing about dead American soldiers killed to order in Afghanistan, where Putin has put a bounty on Americans and has already paid out that bounty on several dead Americans successfully killed to order. The Taliban has collected on many dead Americans . ( info per Rachel.)

Trump knows about the Putin Scheme, he was told about it and given a list of possible responses in March. Trump has done nothing.
Instead trump has talked to Putin and then demanded that Russia be allowed back into the G7.
Trump obviously cares more about public statues than he does about those serving their country in mortal danger.
That is how low this f'er can go.

June 27, 2020 2:15 PM  
Anonymous billbear1961 said...

NAACP calls out Facebook. More companies join the July Facebook ad ban. Good!!

"They have allowed a foreign nation to interfere with our elections," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson told MSNBC on Thursday. "They have fanned the flames of racial hatred, and altered the course of our democracy, and they refuse to do anything about it. ... They are probably one of the biggest threats to democracy that we see."

NAACP president calls Facebook 'one of the biggest threats to democracy' as companies join ad boycott.

https://disq.us/url?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fspeedreads%2F922027%2Fnaacp-president-calls-facebook-biggest-threats-democracy-companies-join-ad-boycott%3AyAuwzBCBSxlEBGSe7usYTz_DvDE&cuid=1478235

June 27, 2020 2:25 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Barr Tried To Undermine Conviction Of Michael Cohen

June 27, 2020 Trump Administration, Trump Corruption

The New York Times reports:

Shortly after he became attorney general last year, William P. Barr set out to challenge a signature criminal case that touched President Trump’s inner circle directly, and even the president’s own actions: the prosecution of Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s longtime fixer.

Mr. Barr spent weeks in the spring of 2019 questioning the prosecutors over their decision to charge Mr. Cohen with violating campaign finance laws, according to people briefed on the matter.

At one point during the discussions, Mr. Barr instructed Justice Department officials in Washington to draft a memo outlining legal arguments that could have raised questions about Mr. Cohen’s conviction and undercut similar prosecutions in the future.

June 27, 2020 4:27 PM  
Anonymous Vice said...

“People in the Iran-Contra affair have been treated very unfairly,” Barr told USA Today in December 1992, blasting the charges as illegitimate. “People in this Iran-Contra matter have been prosecuted for the kind of conduct that would not have been considered criminal or prosecutable by the Justice Department.”
Barr’s broadside alarmed the lead prosecutor handling the case against Weinberger, James J. Brosnahan, who warned the judge that Barr may have just unduly biased his jury pool. Later that month, when the White House pardoned six top Iran-Contra defendants on Christmas Eve 1992 at Barr’s urging, Brosnahan believed he’d just witnessed the completion of a successful cover-up.
Three decades on, Brosnahan fears Barr has returned to his old job to run the same scheme again. “If you want a presidential cover-up, Barr is your guy,” Brosnahan, now 85, told VICE News. “And I think we’ve already seen that.”

June 27, 2020 4:32 PM  
Anonymous Elagabalus said...

When history is written (if we're the victors who get to write history) Bill Barr, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump will go down in that history as the three main villains of our time who broke the rule of law - and that is how they will be remembered in perpetuity.

June 27, 2020 4:34 PM  
Anonymous Glenn E Ross said...

Ford pardoning Nixon was the start of the decline in the modern era. Add the crimes of the Reagan administration, and of Bush the Lesser that were never prosecuted, and Barr and his cohorts know there will never be a real price to pay. It’s time for change. I know the Biden administration will have a thousand things to undo and fix, but we cannot let the Trump administration escape without paying for their crimes. If we continue forgiving the recent past and just moving forward, we only encourage the next set of sociopaths that win office.

June 27, 2020 5:42 PM  
Anonymous BIDEN IS HOW OLD? said...

"Voting by mail has been going on in several states for many years without a hitch."

Another falsehood from the prince of lies. Studies have shown that 5% of all mail-in ballots are filled out by someone other the voter.

"Now with Covid-19 disproportionately affecting the black community Republicans want to force the black community to gather in large groups for hours upon hours"

give me a break

at that point, such a thing would be a nostalgic reminder of the BLM protests

"Trump wants new laws to punish those who damage public statues "with long prison sentences'.
Oh yeah, hurting statues deserves years in jail."

since Dem mayors are refusing to protect public property, the Feds need

just like when the Dems stood in the doorway to deny blacks the right to go to school

""They have allowed a foreign nation to interfere with our elections," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson told MSNBC on Thursday. "They have fanned the flames of racial hatred, and altered the course of our democracy, and they refuse to do anything about it. ... They are probably one of the biggest threats to democracy that we see.""

yes, Derrick the first amendment is the whole problem with the country

you can't just let everyone say what they want!

or, alternatively, you could simply counter with other speech

Martin would have wanted it that way

NAACP president calls Facebook 'one of the biggest threats to democracy' as companies join ad boycott.

"When history is written (if we're the victors who get to write history) Bill Barr, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump will go down in that history as the three main villains of our time who broke the rule of law - and that is how they will be remembered in perpetuity."

nice fantasy you're having

problem is, none of them broke the law

Trump was impeached and acquitted

no prosecutor has filed a case against the other two

"Ford pardoning Nixon was the start of the decline in the modern era."

Ford did the right thing. Nixon's crimes weren't all that serious and he suffered enough. Why put the country through more?

"I know the Biden administration will have a thousand things to undo and fix, but we cannot let the Trump administration escape without paying for their crimes."

Sleepy Joe will have enough to do defending himself from the corruption of Hunter

"If we continue forgiving the recent past and just moving forward, we only encourage the next set of sociopaths that win office."

Obama and Biden would both be subject to prosecution under that theory.

June 27, 2020 9:27 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I said "Voting by mail has been going on in several states for many years without a hitch. Now during the epidemic its the only ethical choice."

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous who said "I'LL NEVER RESPOND TO ANOTHER ONE OF PRIYA'S COMMENTS EVER AGAIN!!!" said "Another falsehood. Studies have shown that 5% of all mail-in ballots are filled out by someone other the voter."

And studies have shown none of those ballots were fraudulent - mail in voting has been going on in several states for many years without a hitch. Now during the epidemic it is the only ethical choice.

Good anonymous said "When history is written (if we're the victors who get to write history) Bill Barr, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump will go down in that history as the three main villains of our time who broke the rule of law - and that is how they will be remembered in perpetuity."

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "nice fantasy you're having problem is, none of them broke the law Trump was impeached and acquitted".

They all broke the law. Robert Mueller laid out a 12 count criminal indictment of Trump for obstruction of Justice. Republicans refused to hold him accountable despite admitting his guilt. McConnell said he wouldn't be unbiased and would side with Trump in the trial and then took an oath to do fair and impartial justice - McConnell enabled Trump's destroying of the rule of law, as has Barr by running the Justice Deparment to punish Trump's enemies and let his friends evade justice.

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "no prosecutor has filed a case against the other two".

LOL, yeah, right, like Bill Barr is going to allow anyone in the justice Department to hold him or McConnell accountable! This is a man who argues Trump can do anything he wants as president, even shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and The Justice Department can't investigate the crime, arrest him, or stop him from continuing to shoot people. Good anonymous was absolutely right, these men broke the rule of law and that is how they will be remembered in perpetuity.

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Joe will have enough to do defending himself from the corruption of Hunter".

Ukraine: No Evidence Of Wrongdoing By Hunter Biden

The Guardian reports:

An audit of thousands of old case files by Ukrainian prosecutors found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Hunter Biden, the former prosecutor general, who had launched the audit, told Reuters.

June 28, 2020 12:02 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Good anonymous said "If we continue forgiving the recent past and just moving forward, we only encourage the next set of sociopaths that win office."

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Obama and Biden would both be subject to prosecution under that theory.".

Obama and Biden never argued in court they had the right to end any investigation into wrongdoings alleged against them.

Obama and Biden never argued in court they could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and the Justice Department couldn't investigate the crime, arrest them, or stop them from continuing to shoot people.

Obama and Biden never argued in court the they have the right to do absolutely anything they want.

Obama and Biden never claimed "I have total authority" like a king.

June 28, 2020 12:07 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt and Regina like to falsely accuse me of lying. That's straight out of the Nazi propaganda playbook - accuse others of what you are guilty of.

Keep in mind Wyatt and Regina Hardiman's viewpoint on lying:

"most people lie all the time"

"he lied, so what?"

"there are many situations where its appropriate to lie".

You're not fooling TTF readers Wyatt/Regina, they know which one of us is honest and it isn't you two.

June 28, 2020 12:10 AM  
Anonymous Americans United said...

Five Years Later, Christian Nationalist Predictions About Marriage Equality Look Pretty Silly
Jun 25, 2020 by Rob Boston

Tomorrow marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, a ruling that had the effect of extending marriage equality nationwide.

Prior to the decision and after it came down, Religious Right groups made a number of claims about marriage equality, predicting dire consequences from the ruling.

Five years have passed. How many of these predictions have come true? Let’s take a look:

Western civilization will collapse: In October 2014, Christian nationalist attorney Mat Staver told a right-wing radio show that if the Supreme Court were to uphold marriage equality, the consequences would be devastating.

“This is something that I believe is the beginning of the end of Western Civilization,” Staver said. “You can’t simply redefine and pretend that ontological differences between men and women do not exist. This will have consequences.”

Admittedly, Western Civilization has taken a bit of a hit lately – all civilization has. But that’s due to the coronavirus pandemic and a reckoning over systemic racism, not marriage equality. In the main, Western Civilization is still plugging along.

The American people will rebel: As states began legalizing same-sex marriage and courts started striking down bans on it in 2013, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, was certain the American people were going to rise up.

“If you get government out of whack with where the people are and it goes too far, you create revolution,” Perkins said while appearing on a right-wing radio show. “I think you could see a social and cultural revolution if the court goes too far on this. [It] could literally split this nation in two and create such political and cultural turmoil that I’m not sure we could ever recover. …”

Didn’t happen. Instead, the country underwent a fairly rapid shift in public opinion on the question of marriage equality. A number of polls now show support for it hitting the low to mid-60s. Among millennials, support for marriage equality is even higher at 70 percent. Stick a fork in this one; it’s done.

June 28, 2020 12:41 AM  
Anonymous Americans United said...



Houses of worship will be forced to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples: When it became obvious that marriage equality was coming to Alabama, Eric Johnston, president of the right-wing Southeast Law Institute, hit the panic button.

“There will be a lot of lawsuits over whether ministers have to do it,” Johnston blathered. “It will be a clash between fundamental rights under the Constitution.”

What nonsense. The flood of lawsuits never materialized, in part because it’s obvious that houses of worship have an ironclad right to decide to whom they will extend their sacraments and religious services. Nothing about that has changed since June 26, 2015. The number of houses of worship that have been compelled to allow same-sex couples to marry stands at zero.

Religious conservatives will be imprisoned: James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, seriously argued that people would be sent to prison for refusing to accept marriage equality.

“Many of us will be dragged into court to be prosecuted or subjected to civil judgments,” Dobson groused in a column. “… Some may go to prison as the years unfold.”

Wrong again. No one is sitting behind bars for refusing to accept marriage equality. (Anti-LGBTQ Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis was briefly in jail, but that’s because she was found guilty of contempt of court. Davis, a government official, defied court orders and refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples even after Obergefell had come down.)

Religious freedom will be obliterated: After Obergefell was handed down, Bryan Fischer, a radio talk show host affiliated with the American Family Association, tweeted: “Every advance of the gay agenda comes at the expense of religious liberty. As of today, free exercise is toast.”

But the free exercise of religion is not toast – it’s not even scorched. In the post-Obergefell world, people remained free to meet in houses of worship for prayer and fellowship. Pastors who disliked the ruling had the ability to criticize it from the pulpit. No church had to admit LGBTQ members. Nothing changed. It’s true that secular, for-profit businesses were expected to follow state and local anti-discrimination laws and serve everyone equally – but that doesn’t stop anyone from worshipping as they please. It’s a strange definition of “religious freedom” that allows one person to treat another like a second-class citizen.

People will start marrying animals, microwave ovens, lakes, etc.: U.S. Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) were big fans of this insipid talking point. Some assertions are simply too stupid to merit a reply. This is one of them.

Even as these claims were being made, we at Americans United were debunking them. They just aren’t true. Will the Christian nationalist groups that spread them take an honest look back five years later and admit they were wrong?

Don’t hold your breath.

June 28, 2020 12:41 AM  
Anonymous trangenderism is sexist and anti-woman: a gangrene on society said...

"And studies have shown none of those ballots were fraudulent"

when someone votes other than the person who was entitled to that vote, that is, be definition, fraud

studies have shown this happens with 5% of mail-in ballots

Randy was lying, and is now doubling down

"They all broke the law. Robert Mueller laid out a 12 count criminal indictment of Trump for obstruction of Justice. Republicans refused to hold him accountable despite admitting his guilt."

Democrats hold the House. They haven't impeached him based on anything Mueller said. It's because Trump didn't break the law.

When they did impeach him, they couldn't figure out a charge.

Randy is lying...again!

"LOL, yeah, right, like Bill Barr is going to allow anyone in the justice Department to hold him or McConnell accountable!"

That's why they need to be impeached by the House, which hasn't done so

Because they committed no crime

"An audit of thousands of old case files by Ukrainian prosecutors found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Hunter Biden, the former prosecutor general, who had launched the audit, told Reuters."

Ukrainian prosecutors are still investigating the company.

There are, honestly, too many coincidences for Hunter and Sleepy to be innocent!

"Obama and Biden never argued in court they had the right to end any investigation into wrongdoings alleged against them."

they actually lied to the FISA court so they could surveil his opponent.

that's historic and will be remembered

June 28, 2020 12:50 AM  
Anonymous The total and complete incompetence of Rump is killing us said...

Hospitals in Texas and Arizona are admitting coronavirus patients in record numbers as new infections continue to climb across southern and western states.

Texas set a record for coronavirus-related hospitalizations for the 16th day in a row on Saturday, with 5,523 patients being treated. The state’s largest medical complex was hovering near capacity. In Arizona, health officials also reported a record, with 2,577 current hospitalizations. About 87 percent of the state’s intensive care unit beds were in use.

States around the country continued to report new daily highs in confirmed cases with 44,782 announced Saturday, as the total number of infections in the United States approached 2.5 million. Worldwide, coronavirus infections were nearing 10 million.

US Population. 329 million
World Population. 7,658,million

Rump's way:

FEEL FREE TO GO OUT AND CONGREGATE WITH YOUR FRIENDS

FOLLOW MY EXAMPLE AND DO NOT BOTHER TO WEAR A MASK

June 28, 2020 7:13 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina couldn't hold to their promise that "I'LL NEVER RESPOND TO ANOTHER ONE OF PRIYA'S COMMENTS AGAIN!!!!".

They've done this several times, claimed they were never going to respond to me again and then later they give up because they can't stand the truth I'm telling.

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous calls me a "gangrene on society". They are doing to transwomen what the Nazis did to the Jews, dehumanizing and demonizing us to encourage people to attack and kill us.

I ask you, if I live as a woman and society treats me as a woman, who does that hurt? What possible excuse is there for harming me taking away my freedom to live as I choose while I hurt no one?

June 28, 2020 12:37 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...


I said "And studies have shown none of those [allegedly filled out by others] ballots were fraudulent"

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "when someone votes other than the person who was entitled to that vote, that is, be definition, fraud studies have shown this happens with 5% of mail-in ballots".

Nonsense. You've referred to this alleged 5% several times but presented no proof that its true. Given your history of lying and cavalier attitude towards it no one should believe you. In any event, many people ask for help filling out their ballots, there is nothing fradulent about it, if there was there'd be tens of thousands of people charged with voter fraud but there are only 4 or 5 cases of actual voter fraud out of millions upon millions of votes over the last ten years . The false voter fraud allegation is just an excuse for Republicans to deny miillions of Americans the right to vote.

I said "They all broke the law. Robert Mueller laid out a 12 count criminal indictment of Trump for obstruction of Justice. Republicans refused to hold him accountable despite admitting his guilt."

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Democrats hold the House. They haven't impeached him based on anything Mueller said. It's because Trump didn't break the law."

Nonsense. They didn't impeach him on that because Republicans refused to hold him accountable for his crimes.

I said "LOL, yeah, right, like Bill Barr is going to allow anyone in the justice Department to hold him or McConnell accountable!"

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said " That's why they need to be impeached by the House, which hasn't done so Because they committed no crime".

Nonsense. They haven't impeached them because Republicans have announced they won't hold any Republicans accountable for their crimes.

I posted"An audit of thousands of old case files by Ukrainian prosecutors found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Hunter Biden, the former prosecutor general, who had launched the audit, told Reuters."

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Ukrainian prosecutors are still investigating the company."

So what? They aren't investigating Hunter Biden as they already have and have found nothing wrong.

I posted "Obama and Biden never argued in court they had the right to end any investigation into wrongdoings alleged against them.

Obama and Biden never argued in court they could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and the Justice Department couldn't investigate the crime, arrest them, or stop them from continuing to shoot people.

Obama and Biden never argued in court the they have the right to do absolutely anything they want.

Obama and Biden never claimed "I have total authority" like a king."

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous aid "they actually lied to the FISA court so they could surveil his opponent.".

That's a lie. The Inspector General and Barr's hand picked investigator reviewed the entire Russia investigation and found it was all properly predicated and executed. And even if that were true, it is trivial compared to Trump's attacks on the rule of law such as claiming he he has the right to kill anyone he wants.

June 28, 2020 12:40 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...





Trump encouraged the Chinese president to build concentration camps for members of the Uighur minority.

"At the opening dinner of the Osaka G-20 meeting in June 2019, with only interpreters present, Xi had explained to Trump why he was basically building concentration camps in Xinjiang. According to our interpreter, Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do," Bolton writes.

The book reportedly claims Trump was also willing to halt criminal investigations for dictators he liked; contradicted his own CIA and defended Saudi Arabia in the killing of a Washington Post columnist as a distraction tactic from a controversy involving his daughter; and spoke of executing journalists, whom he called scumbags.

"What the people who are [less-committed voters] will hear is Trump's former secretary of state Rex Tillerson called him a ... moron. Trump's former secretary of defence James Mattis said the only member of our military [Trump] respects is Colonel Sanders. Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton said that Trump asked the Chinese to help him win re-election....

June 28, 2020 12:41 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Increasing number of Republican states projected to see a spike in coronavirus deaths

According to a Yahoo Finance analysis of the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s (IHME) coronavirus death toll model, there is an increasing number of Republican states that are projected to have the highest increases in COVID-19-related deaths.

A previous analysis of the death toll projections for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. found that eight of the top 10 states with the greatest estimated death increases had Republican governors. That figure has now been increased to nine.

What’s more, the analysis found that Republicans govern roughly 70% of the states in the country with the highest increases in death projections.

June 28, 2020 12:42 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Dems Blast Trump’s “Bigotry” In Stonewall Recognition

June 28, 2020 Donald Trump, LGBT News

Just in from the Democratic National Committee:

“51 years ago today, the LGBTQ+ community in New York City, led by transgender and lesbian women of color, fought back against harassment, persecution, and police brutality. Their activism at Stonewall and in the years to come rippled across America and the world — changing hearts, minds, culture, and law.

“One year later, at the first Pride parades, LGBTQ+ Americans and allies raised their voices and marched against hate, violence, and discrimination. They marched then for many of the same rights that Americans march for today: the right to safety at home, at work, and in society; an end to discriminatory policing; and a reckoning with systemic injustice, be it racism, sexism, transphobia, or homophobia.

“Today, we recognize that despite hard-won achievements, the LGBTQ+ community continues to face unacceptable levels of discrimination, bigotry, and violence, particularly against transgender and gender non-conforming people of color. That bigotry has been exacerbated by Trump, who has moved to legalize discrimination in education, housing, work, military service, and health care.

“Our country faces a reckoning today, just as it did in 1969. Black lives matter. Trans lives matter. Black trans lives matter. The road to full equality is long and winding, but we are committed to moving forward and realizing the more perfect union every American deserves.

June 28, 2020 12:50 PM  
Anonymous Joe Schmo said...

Trump being an asshole was part of his charm to most of his base (though a detriment to some Republicans). I think what people are waking up to is they are going to be dead and maybe him being an asshole isn't quite worth it to own the libs.

June 28, 2020 12:53 PM  
Anonymous Dayglo said...

Joe, I think you’re absolutely right. I’ve been guilty of this. I’ve been pondering “Why don’t people see in him what we see?” They do. Their brand is chaos and hate. Republicans’ weakness is that they lack self-awareness (in addition to empathy). They don’t understand (or care) how they appear to others. They’re their own worst enemy.

June 28, 2020 12:54 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Voting by mail has been going on in several states for many years without a hitch. Now during the epidemic its the only ethical choice.


Moscow Mitch McConnell, pass those bills to protect the election and allow Americans the right to vote by mail!

June 28, 2020 12:56 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Religion is inherently intolerant.

June 28, 2020 1:30 PM  
Anonymous Robert Mueller...LOL!! said...

The coronavirus doomsayers could not even wait until the fall for the apocalyptic announcements of the dreaded second wave.

Because the red states recklessly loosened their lockdowns, we are now told, the US is seeing a dangerous spike in coronavirus cases.

‘EXPERTS SKETCH GLOOMY PICTURE OF VIRUS SPREAD: FAUCI TELLS OF “DISTURBING” WAVE, WITH A VACCINE MONTHS AWAY,’ read the front-page lead headline in the New York Times on Wednesday. ‘VIRUS SPREAD AKIN TO “FOREST FIRE”’ read another front page headline in the Los Angeles Times on Monday, quoting Michael Osterholm, one of the media’s favorite public health experts. Osterholm had told NBC’s Meet the Press: ‘I’m actually of the mind right now — I think this is more like a forest fire. I don’t think that this is going to slow down.’

The ‘this’ is an uptick in daily new cases from 19,002 on June 9 to 38,386 on June 24. The high to date in new daily cases was on April 24 — 39,072. Since April 24, the daily case count started declining, then began rising again after around June 9. What virtually every fear-mongering story on America’s allegedly precarious situation leaves out, however, is the steadily dropping daily death numbers — from a high of 2,693 on April 21 to 808 on June 24. That April high was driven by New York City and its environs; those New York death numbers have declined, but they have not been replaced by deaths in the rest of the country. This should be good news. Instead, it is no news.

The New York Times put three reporters on a full-page article on Texas, published June 25 under the headline ‘AS NEW CASES SOAR, THE GOVERNOR FACES FALLOUT FROM A RUSH TO REOPEN.’ The story never mentioned coronavirus deaths. Texas’s daily death count has bounced around since early May without a sharp rise — a high of 63 new deaths on May 21, 42 on June 24. Arizona, another state facing media contempt, finally beat its earlier high of 67 deaths on May 8 with 79 deaths on June 24. Between those two dates, however, the curve was steady. The Arizona mortalities are concentrated on Indian reservations and to a lesser extent around the Mexican border.

In May, Georgia was the main target of expert contempt for its allegedly premature reopening. Since then, the media have gone silent, due to the state’s truly discouraging downward daily death toll from a high of 119 on April 7, long before the reopenings, to 10 on June 24.

There are no crises in hospital capacity anywhere in the country. Nursing homes, meat-packing plants, and prisons remain the main sources of new infections. Half the states are seeing cases decline or hold steady. Case counts are affected by more testing; the positive infection rate captured by testing is declining. The current caseload is younger, which is a good thing. The more people who have been infected and who recover, the more herd immunity is created. Meanwhile, daily deaths from heart disease and cancer — about 3,400 a day combined — go ignored in the press.

But the drum beat to halt the still far too tentative reopenings gets louder by the day. It should be resisted. The lockdowns were a mistake the first time around; to reimpose them would be disastrous for any remaining hope of restoring our economy. The damage that has been done to people’s livelihoods and future prosperity will continue to outweigh the damage done by the coronavirus. The only vaccine against poverty and resulting despair is a robust economy

June 28, 2020 4:16 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump Deletes “White Power” Video, Spox Claims He Didn’t Hear Words, Only Saw “Tremendous Enthusiasm”

June 28, 2020 Trump Corruption, Trump Lies

The Wrap reports:

President Donald Trump on Sunday retweeted — and then deleted — a two-minute video that featured a Florida Trump supporter yelling, “White power!” while driving a golf cart by anti-Trump protesters.

“Thank you to the great people of The Villages,” Trump wrote in his tweet, referring to a popular retirement community outside of Orlando, Florida. “The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!”

In the first seconds of the video, anti-Trump protesters can be heard yelling “racist” as a caravan of Trump protesters drive past in golf carts. In response, one man driving a golf cart that has signs reading “Trump 2020” and “America First” shouts back, “White power!” several times while pumping his fist in the air.

And a cleanup statement from White House spokesman Judd Deere:

“President Trump is a big fan of The Villages. He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.” https://t.co/M3TkCI7Nme

— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) June 28, 2020

Trump deletes ‘white power’ tweet after surrogates get crushed in Sunday interviews

June 28, 2020 4:56 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Loony Republican Louie Gohmert Tries To Drown Out Testimony On Corrupt AG Bill Barr By Banging On The Table

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday held an oversight hearing focusing on Attorney General William Barr’s decisions as head of the Justice Department. As part of the proceedings, the committee heard testimony from two DOJ officials: Aaron Zelinsky, a federal prosecutor at the US attorney’s office in Baltimore, and John Elias, a senior official in the department’s antitrust division.

The committee also heard testimony from two former DOJ officials: former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer. Rep. Louie Gohmert began tapping on his desk to disrupt Ayer’s opening remarks because he had gone over his time limit. When Democratic lawmakers asked Gohmert to stop, he responded, “There’s no rules about when you can make noise.” The hearing briefly devolved into chaos as Gohmert continued interrupting Ayer’s testimony.


"There's no rules about when you can make noise: - Louie Gohmert tried to cut of Ayer's opening statment, but Ayer was undeterred.

"As Louie Gohmret does his usual clown show tactics, your periodic reminder that he campaigned for Roy Moore the day before the special election,weeks after Moore was credibly accused of child molestation." - Erick Fernandez

Wyatt and Regina Hardiman also furiously defended Roy Moore after his pedophilic crimes had come out.

June 28, 2020 4:58 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

GOP Senator Appeals To Trump’s Vanity On Masks


The Daily Beast reports:

Retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) implored President Donald Trump to publicly wear a mask on Sunday in order to cool the politicization of mask-wearing, appealing to the president’s vanity in the process.

The conservative senator ended his plea to Trump by playing to the president’s well-known obsession with appearing strong and tough.

“People admire him and will follow his lead,” Alexander concluded. “So I think it would be a sign of strength if he would from time to time wear a mask and remind everyone that it is a good way to help with this disease.”

GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander urges Trump to wear mask bc it’d “help us get rid of this political debate that says if you’re for Trump, you don’t wear a mask, if you’re against Trump, you do” and him wearing mask would help ‘contain’ spread given how many supporters listen to him

June 28, 2020 5:01 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Day after day record numbers of new Coronavirus infections. Republicans could have avoided this if they would have listened to the experts from the start and sheltered in place, socially distanced, and worn masks.

Destructive Republicans decided refusing to take measures to mitigate the death shows their love of Trump so they are killing needlessly.

Its like I said about our evolutionary psychology - our psychology evolved on a group level to help our individual tribes compete and war with other tribes.

Right Wing Authoritarians, Trump's hardcore supporters like Wyatt/Regina, have a natural psychological tendency to want to go to war and kill and die.

That worked well in cave man days but is destructive for everyone in our modern society.

Read about right wing authoritarians like Wyatt/Regina in this short and readable online book - it changed my life.

June 28, 2020 5:11 PM  
Anonymous homosexuality never produces life, two of 'em ain't ever a marriage said...

"anonymous calls me a "gangrene on society""

no one said you personally were a gangrene on society

an individual here used a name that said the myth of transgenderism was a gangrene

and they said why:

it is sexist and anti-woman

so, it's not some kind of bias but a reasoned opinion shared by many thoughtful people

"Nonsense. You've referred to this alleged 5% several times but presented no proof that its true"

actually, I have posted the study, not long ago, as you know, since you carefully scrutinize every post made here

you're a liar

"In any event, many people ask for help filling out their ballots, there is nothing fradulent about it,"

there is

it is fraud

if someone doesn't have the competence to complete a mail-in ballot, they have no business voting

we don't allow anyone to come into the voting booth with someone else

"if there was there'd be tens of thousands of people charged with voter fraud but there are only 4 or 5 cases of actual voter fraud out of millions upon millions of votes over the last ten years"

it's not something that can be easily proven

which is why it is a bad idea

"Nonsense. They didn't impeach him on that because Republicans refused to hold him accountable for his crimes."

Talk about nonsense. The Dems did impeach him, without a concern about whether the Republicans would "hold him accountable for his crimes." But they used some far-fetched charges that didn't convince the public. If Mueller had come up with something better, they'd have used it. But as we all know, Mueller testified in Congress and turned out to be a slobbering imbecile, puncturing the mythology the Dems had conjured up about him!

"They aren't investigating Hunter Biden as they already have and have found nothing wrong.'

they are investigating the entire company and Hunter is a key player in the areas they are looking

I recently posted here some examples of accommodations the company got from the US shortly after they brought him in

"The Inspector General and Barr's hand picked investigator reviewed the entire Russia investigation and found it was all properly predicated and executed."

it has been found the FBI purposely deceived the FISA court and, just this week, found that Obama and Biden told them to

"And even if that were true, it is trivial compared to Trump's attacks on the rule of law such as claiming he he has the right to kill anyone he wants."

Trump was using a rhetorical device. His actions since show that he realizes that he isn't above the law, such as when he obeys every court order.

Trump theorizing he could get away with crime is nowhere near as serious as the FISA violations actually committed by Sir Barry and Sleepy Creepy Joe. Civil libertarians were concerned when the FISA court was created that it would be abused. Obama and gang proved they were right to be concerned. The world is full of shifty characters like Barry and Joe! If it weren't for their type, we could be safer.

"Increasing number of Republican states projected to see a spike in coronavirus deaths"

projections aren't news

they said the same about Georgia about a month ago

their death rate has plummeted

it's like the old adage says: it's the facts aren't on your side, find a crackpot projection

"Religion is inherently intolerant."

the guy who made this comment has repeatedly derided Christians because there are so many views on issues among Christians

which is, of course, because Christians are so tolerant and open-minded

June 28, 2020 5:15 PM  
Anonymous GOP Healthcare plan: Don't get sick, but if you do, die quickly said...

We are all facing this COVID19 pandemic together and instead of helping his citizens survive this deadly disease, our idiot president decides we need to eliminate Obamacare, which has covered tens of thousands of Americans, some for the first time ever in their lives.

June 28, 2020 6:58 PM  
Anonymous Rumps wins with the biggest number!!! said...

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpass 2.5 million. 06/2820

“It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear”
-- President Trump, 02/28/10

Also on 02/28/20:

"US confirms 64th coronavirus case. The person was a passenger on the Diamond Cruise ship

The US has confirmed its 64th coronavirus case.

The new case was reported Friday in Solano County, California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed with Solano County Public Health.

The individual was a Travis Air Force Base evacuee and passenger of the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, the county confirmed in a press release.

Another Solano County resident and Travis Air Force Base evacuee also tested positive by Japanese testing. This case -- which would be the 65th in the US -- is pending confirmation from the CDC."





In four month the US, under the leadership of Rump and the Repugnicans, has gone from 64 cases of coronavirus to 2.5 million.





The miracle will be when Rump and his Repugnican brown nosers disappear from public office.

June 28, 2020 7:12 PM  
Anonymous Merrick Garland ... LOL said...

"We are all facing this COVID19 pandemic together and instead of helping his citizens survive this deadly disease, our idiot president decides we need to eliminate Obamacare, which has covered tens of thousands of Americans, some for the first time ever in their lives."

Obamacare helps no one

the people who were previously without health insurance cannot afford the deductibles and co-pays

to add insult to injury, for a few years such people were actually charged a penalty when they couldn't afford to pay for the insurance

fortunately, the GOP took over and eliminated that egregious penalty

and because of Obamacare, such astronomical deductibles and co-pays are now standard for all

thanks, Obama

you're the worst President, ever

"Coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpass 2.5 million."

combine that information with the sinking death rate, and you have very good news

we are spreading the virus among population that are strong enough to barely notice it

eventually, our society gains immunity

I know you're upset

you were hoping for millions of deaths and indefinite lockdowns to defeat Trump

but think about what's best for your fellow citizens

June 28, 2020 7:51 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

A Brief History of Anti-Fascism

As long as the ideology has threatened marginalized communities, groups on the left have pushed back with force...

Smithsonianmag.com

June 28, 2020 9:06 PM  
Anonymous Jesse Adams said...

If you've built a personality around gleefully "offending liberals," here's what you need to know: we aren't offended. You haven't hurt our feelings or made us cry. You sound like children to us, and we're sick of responding over and over to your infuriatingly stupid talking points, but we keep doing it because people's lives might literally be at stake if the wrong kind of idiocy is allowed to spread too far. You're not erudite debaters "owning the libs." You're the rotten annoying little kids kicking the backs of our seats while we're trying to keep the car on the road.

June 28, 2020 11:44 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous, if you posted your proof that 5% of mail in ballots are filled out by someone else, why didn't you just post it again?

Because you're a liar, you're someone who believes "there are many situations where it's appropriate to lie"

I certainly am under no obligation to accept anything as truth from you without proof and based on your past behaviour even if you do post something, it won't support the claim you've made.

If 5% of mail in ballots were fraudulent then something would have been done about it, there would have been thousands upon thousands of people charged but none were because it is a lie that there is any real voter fraud.

You two know that and the only reason you falsely claim voter fraud is a concern is because you know that Trump can't win unless he prevents as many people as he can from voting. That's why you lie constantly about voter fraud that does not exist.

Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Trump was using a rhetorical device." It most certainly was not a "rhetorical device", Trump's defenders argued during his impeachment trial that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, the Justice Department couldn't investigate it, couldn't arrest him, and couldn't stop him from continuing to shoot people. That's Trump's lawyers and Republicans arguing that he's above the law. That one statement alone makes him unfit to be president.


Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "His actions since show that he realizes that he isn't above the law, such as when he obeys every court order.".

He hasn't obeyed any court orders. He's ignored some 70 lawful subpoenas and asserted everything he says is confidential. He's refused to provide Congress with any of the information the constitution mandates he supply. He's blocked every government branch employee from testifying in official proceedings, he's even illegally threatened former employees to prevent them from testifying.

Everything Trump does shows he considers himself above the law and Republicans are assisting him in being above the law.

You never heard Obama or any Democratic president say "I have total authority".

Republicans would have exploded (and rightfully so) if Obama had ever made such a statement.

Trump is corrupt and his supporters like you are corrupt.

June 29, 2020 12:03 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

There's no difference between saying "transgenderism is a gangrene on sociey" and saying transwomen like me are "a gangrene on society". Wyatt and Regina HAVE referred to me as "a virus" and "a gangrene on society", something you are justified in killing and destroying.

They are treating transwomen like the Nazis treated the Jews, dehumanizing and demonizing us to encourage people to hate, assault, and kill us. They have in the past advocated imprisoning, assaulting, and executing lgbt people. This is what their religion has made them.

June 29, 2020 12:07 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Voting by mail has been going on in several states for many years without a hitch. Now during the epidemic its the only ethical choice.

Moscow Mitch McConnell, pass those bills to protect the election and allow Americans the right to vote by mail!

June 29, 2020 12:08 AM  

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