Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Trump’s Shadow

It follows him wherever he goes:

"With student gathering, Trump gets a more boisterous crowd" by Jonathan Lemire Associated Press, June 23, 2020

PHOENIX — President Trump drew something closer to the jam-packed audience of political supporters he’s been craving as hundreds of young conservatives filled a Phoenix megachurch Tuesday to hear his call for them to get behind his reelection effort.

Trump was looking to regain campaign momentum after the weekend rally in Tulsa, Okla., which was supposed to be a sign of the nation’s reopening and a show of political force. Instead, it generated thousands of empty seats and swirling questions about the president’s campaign leadership and his case for another four years in office.

That is after TikTok bought up all the tickets, and there is something swirling that is ready to flush.

The low turnout sharpened the focus on Trump’s visit to Arizona, which doubles as both a 2020 battleground state and a surging coronavirus hot spot.

See:

"Arizona reported a new daily record of nearly 3,600 additional coronavirus cases on Tuesday as the state continued to set records for the number of people hospitalized, in intensive care and on ventilators for COVID-19. The state Department of Health Service reported 3,591 new confirmed cases, breaking the previous record set Friday by 345 cases. A total of nearly 7,900 confirmed cases were reported Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Tuesday’s report took the state’s total caseload in the pandemic to 58,179, while 42 more deaths reported Tuesday raised the death toll to 1,384. The health department said 2,136 patients were hospitalized for the new virus as of Monday, 614 were in intensive care beds, and 386 were on ventilators. Arizona has emerged as a COVID-19 hot spot in the United States since Republican Governor Doug Ducey lifted his stay-home orders in mid-May. Last week, he allowed cities and counties to require masks in public places and many have done so."

The Globe is hyperventilating over the number$!!

It's all about the $$$! Arizona gets an extra $13,000 for a presumed diagnosis of COVID and $39,000 for putting them on a murderous ventilator.

Remember, Arizona is where the VA had a mile-long list of six-figure executives that denied care to veterans who later died from the neglect.

With the Phoenix event, which was organized by Turning Point Action, a group chaired by Trump ally Charlie Kirk, the president hoped to turn attention — at least momentarily — away from his slumping poll numbers, surging coronavirus infections in huge swaths of the South and West, and a virus-ravaged economy.

His address was chock-full of typical Trump lines — boasts about television ratings, ridicule of his likely Democratic presidential opponent Joe Biden, and sharply worded resentments over China’s handling of the virus, but unlike his return to the campaign stage before thousands of empty seats in Oklahoma, Trump seemed to revel in the energy of a packed — albeit smaller — venue. He also offered his supporters a dark warning, but throughout his daylong trip to Arizona, which included a visit to the US-Mexico border, the COVID-19 pandemic shadowed Trump.

See:

"The Trump administration can use fast-track deportation proceedings for undocumented immigrants found anywhere in the United States who have been in the country for less than two years, a federal appeals court ruled in a major setback for states that backed a lawsuit seeking to block the plan. The decision is a victory for President Trump’s immigration agenda just days after the US Supreme Court derailed his effort to lift Obama-era protections for nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants, known as Dreamers, who were brought to the United States as children. The fight may not be over though....."

It never is.

The Democratic mayor of Phoenix made clear she did not believe Trump’s speech could be safely held in her city — and urged the president to wear a face mask, but Trump has adamantly refused to wear a mask in public, instead turning it into a red-vs.-blue cultural issue. Polling suggests Republicans are far less likely to wear face coverings than Democrats despite health experts’ warnings that it dramatically reduces the risk of transmitting the virus. Few in the crowd at the Students for Trump event donned masks.

F**king stinking pre$$ has done that, and I applaud the kids!

Of course, you will not get infected if you attend the proper events, and we love our local dictator up here! He is treated like a king.

Since late May, Arizona has emerged as one of the nation’s most active hot spots for the spread of COVID-19. Photos of restaurants and bars crowded with unmasked patrons ignited controversy. Republican Governor Doug Ducey, a Trump supporter, reversed himself last week and allowed cities and counties to require people to wear masks in public places. Most have.....

That is when I put the mask up on that pos article.

--more--"

Related:

"President Trump offered a seemingly contradictory response Tuesday morning about whether he was kidding when he said during a Saturday campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., that he had directed officials in his administration to “slow the testing down.” “I don’t kid,” Trump said when asked by a reporter outside the White House if he had been kidding on Saturday night. “Let me just tell you. Let me make it clear,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to leave the White House en route to Arizona. “We have got the greatest testing program anywhere in the world. We test better than anybody in the world. Our tests are the best in the world, and we have the most of them. By having more tests, we find more cases.” Those comments came a day after he offered a more detailed explanation of his remark at the rally in which he echoed officials in his administration who have said the statement was a “tongue-in-cheek” joke. During a Monday interview with CBN News, the president called his campaign quip “semi-tongue-in-cheek.” “I know some people thought it was tongue-in-cheek,” he said. “It’s unfair. We’re doing so much testing, so much more than any other country.” The United States has conducted more than 27 million coronavirus tests, with about 10 percent coming back positive, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although that is more tests conducted than any other nation, it trails some other countries in the number of tests administered per capita."

Yeah, wherever he goes COVID-19 is stalking him..... like this guy:

John R. Bolton, then the national security adviser, listened as President Trump met with the prime minister of the Netherlands in July.
John R. Bolton, then the national security adviser, listened as President Trump met with the prime minister of the Netherlands in July (Jabin Botsford/Washington Post/File 2019).

That is what we call GRAPES!

"It may have been a mistake not to have challenged Trump, Bolton says" by John Hudson Washington Post, June 23, 2020

WASHINGTON — Former national security adviser John Bolton said Tuesday that it may have been a mistake not to challenge President Trump more aggressively during his tenure at the White House, but that he tried to focus on foreign policy rather than Trump’s actions.

‘‘I’m not an investigator,’’ Bolton said during a Washington Post Live event. ‘‘I had plenty of stuff to do . . . I told other White House advisers of my concern [and] I tried to do my job.’’

Bolton, who has come under intensifying criticism about the motivations behind his new book, ‘‘The Room Where It Happened,’’ said Americans have a misconception about the ability of White House advisers to challenge the president, suggesting that such pushback may have been futile but that he couldn’t say for certain.

‘‘Service in the White House is not like the ‘West Wing,’ ” he said, referring to the TV drama. ‘‘There aren’t dramatic confrontations with the president.’’

‘‘It’s easy from the outside to say that was wrong, and maybe it was a mistake,’’ Bolton added.

The lifelong Republican released his memoir Tuesday after a high-profile legal battle with the White House and advanced excerpts of the 592-page book ensured its place on best-seller lists.

Confirming that it is a piece of crap.

Bolton’s book has quickly achieved a rare feat in the Trump era: uniting a divided political system — against John Bolton.

The foreign-policy hawk has come under sustained attack from the president.

Republicans in Congress have also impugned Bolton’s motives.

Democrats, meanwhile, have expressed disgust at Bolton’s decision to wait until the publication of his book to reveal his allegation that the president’s wrongdoing went far beyond the scope of the House impeachment probe.

He said he was willing to testify

They NEVER CALLED HIM and said they DIDN'T NEED HIM for the CHARADE!

Bolton told The Post that he entered the Trump administration hoping the then-ubiquitous stories of Trump’s chaotic and fickle management style were exaggerated, but soon found out they were accurate.

Bolton said the ‘‘most disturbing moment in the early days’’ of his tenure was at the NATO summit in Brussels in 2018, when Trump ‘‘really was very close to withdrawing’’ from the alliance. Bolton said he, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and then-defense secretary Jim Mattis did everything they could to prevent him from doing so.

‘‘We all worked in various ways to help persuade the president not actually to withdraw,’’ he said. ‘‘That whole incident, which played out over a 48-hour period, was very unnerving to me.’’

The book itself has spawned a media bonanza with pages upon pages of palace intrigue and detailed accounts of a rock-ribbed conservative expressing amazement at the president’s lack of knowledge about the world and gleefulness in breaking the law to protect himself in a pattern of actions that amounted to ‘‘obstruction of justice as a way of life,’’ Bolton wrote.

That explains the day after day after day after day after day after day after day coverage.

In the book, Bolton accuses Trump of being obsequious to authoritarians and dictators.

On Tuesday, Bolton accused the Democrats of failing to build bipartisan consensus during the impeachment process, and because of that ‘‘partisan’’ quality, he didn’t think it would be worth it to jump ‘‘off the cliff’’ in service of their cause.

‘‘If the goal was removing him from office, they did it in 180 degrees the wrong way,’’ said Bolton.

Some Democrats have said that Bolton, whose conservative credentials are not in doubt, would have been the ideal witness for bringing Republicans into the fold.

In interviews given since the book came out, Bolton has called Trump unfit for office and said he should not be reelected, but ruled out voting for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden.

‘‘I’m going to figure out a conservative Republican to write in,’’ he said.....

Who gives a shit?

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Says he will write in Romney.

Related:

Trump Family to Ask Court to Stop Publication of Tell-All by President’s Niece

Then you will have to go read some other book on the Globe's best seller list.

Also see:

Final results in N.Y., Kentucky primaries could be days away

Union leader cautions against rush to judgment Minneapolis police
Police investigating 3rd shooting in Seattle zone
Twitter slaps new warning label on Trump tweet
Baptist group urges removal of Confederate emblem
Mourners in Atlanta remember Black father killed by police

Saudi Lives Matter:

"Yemeni rebels carried out drone and ballistic missile strikes on the Saudi Arabian capital, targeting the ministries of defense and intelligence as well as an air base, a rebel military spokesman claimed Tuesday. The Saudi-led military coalition fighting in neighboring Yemen said it intercepted one ballistic missile targeting Riyadh, but there was no immediate response to the claims that the ministries and air base were hit. If true, the strikes would mark one of the largest attacks by the rebels on Saudi soil in their more than five-year war. It threatens to further escalate the conflict in the Arab world’s poorest nation, where a humanitarian crisis is worsening as the country grapples with the spread of the novel coronavirus....."

Never mind the unmentioned cholera epidemic and starvation crisis that has been going on for years.

"Saudi Binladin Group failed to pay thousands of employees as the construction giant reels under the impact of coronavirus and restructures about $15 billion of debt. The conglomerate missed some salary payments in April and May, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It’s not clear yet whether the company, which employs about 100,000 staff, will be able to pay those employees in June, the people said, asking not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter."

That reminds me, CIA Lives Don't Matter:

American Paul Whelan, convicted of spying by Russia, won’t appeal decision 

They are cutting him loose, and he knew the risk.

"President Trump has told aides he is largely supportive of sending Americans another round of stimulus checks, expressing the belief that the payments will boost the economy and help his chances at reelection in November, according to three people aware of internal administration deliberations; however, leading congressional Republicans and some senior White House officials remain skeptical of sending more checks, creating a rift within conservative circles that could have significant consequences for the stimulus package set to be taken up by lawmakers in July. Other conservative White House officials and influential congressional Republicans oppose the plan, expressing concern with the impact of tremendous levels of new spending on the deficit....."

Mnuchin has advocated sending another round of checks, while Kudlow is skeptical.

President Donald Trump signed the coronavirus stimulus relief package at the White House in Washington in March as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., House Minority Kevin McCarthy of Calif., and Vice President Mike Pence looked on.
President Donald Trump signed the coronavirus stimulus relief package at the White House in Washington in March as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., House Minority Kevin McCarthy of Calif., and Vice President Mike Pence looked on (Evan Vucci/Associated Press/Associated Press)

Never mind the lack of masks and distancing, look at the expressions on their faces. McConnell is absolutely gleeful that $6 trillion was going to be shoveled to banks and corporations, while Pence looks like he realizes the whole thing was a bad idea and McCarthy has a go-along to get-along look. 

Related:

"OAC deleted this tweet which confirms Covid lockdowns are politically motivated and have nothing to do with health.....

 View image on Twitter

SIGH!

Also related:

Fauci warns next 2 weeks ‘will be critical’ to slowing surges around US

I'm so sick of that f**ing fabricator.

Meanwhile, Redfield, the director of the CDC, called the pandemic “the greatest public health crisis our nation and world have confronted in a century,” and warned that the outbreak would coincide with flu season later this year, and that getting a flu shot, he said, would be even more important this year. because it would  “save lives.”

"Republican Governor Greg Abbott said Tuesday that Texas has surpassed 5,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time, another troubling milestone as the largest pediatric hospital in the United States begins taking adult patients to free up bed space in Houston. The announcement comes days after Texas eclipsed 4,000 new cases for the first time just last weekend. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that “the next couple weeks are going to be critical” in Texas and other states that are trying to curtail an alarming spike in new cases. Abbott is now emphasizing face covering more strenuously than at any point during the pandemic. Abbott has stressed that Texas still has plenty of hospital beds, but some of the state’s largest medical centers are starting to carve out new spaces to manage rising caseloads....."

First they gave it to our beloved elderly, and now they want to make your sick kids sicker so they will die!

HOW F**ING EVIL can you get!

Makes me want to sanitize after handling the paper:

"The US Food and Drug Administration is warning people not to use any hand sanitizer from a Mexican manufacturer after finding a potentially fatal toxic substance in some of its products. The agency said that the substance, methanol, is “not an acceptable ingredient for hand sanitizers,” the use of which has risen dramatically curing the coronavirus pandemic. Substantial exposure can lead to problems including nausea, vomiting, headaches, blurred vision, permanent blindness, damage to the nervous system, seizures, and coma. People exposed to hand sanitizer containing methanol “should seek immediate treatment,” the FDA wrote in a statement, which lists nine known sanitizer products made by the company, Eskbiochem. Worldwide, there are more than 9 million confirmed cases of the virus, with nearly 2.3 million cases reported in the United States alone."

The good thing is the symptoms lead to a presumed diagnosis of COVID.

"Months have passed since the pandemic struck Latin America, but unlike in parts of Asia, Europe, and the hardest-hit cities in the United States, the virus is only gaining steam across the region. Deaths have more than doubled across Latin America in a month, according to the Pan American Health Organization, and the region now accounts for several of the world’s worst outbreaks. In recent weeks, Brazil has often recorded the world’s highest number of new infections and daily deaths — and shows no signs of slowing down. Peru and Chile now have more cases per capita than the United States. Cases continue to climb in Mexico, which recently became one of the few countries anywhere to hit 1,000 deaths or more in a single day. Economies already stretched thin before the virus lie on the precipice of ruin. Millions are out of work, with millions more at risk. The United Nations has said the pandemic could result in a drop of 5.3 percent in the regional economy — the worst in a century — forcing some 16 million people into extreme poverty. In Brazil, where President Jair Bolsonaro spent months downplaying the threat of the virus, epidemiologists say the death toll could surpass the United States’ to become the world’s highest by late July. In Mexico, where President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has suggested that a clean conscience helps ward off infection, the country has suffered three times as many deaths as officials first predicted. Nations like Uruguay and Costa Rica seem to have avoided the worst so far, while an almost military-style health care intervention in Cuba has left the island nation in better standing than most, but in much of Latin America, the worst may still be on its way. In some nations, such as Chile and Colombia, the cases are just beginning to surge."

They are really beating down Bolsonaro, who is without a doubt the greatest leader in the world today!

"A Brazilian federal judge on Tuesday ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to comply with local rules to wear a face mask whenever he is outdoors in the capital of Brasilia. On recent weekends, a sometimes unmasked Bolsonaro has joined throngs of people protesting against Brazil’s Congress and Supreme Court, and he has visited bakeries and outdoor food stalls, drawing crowds around him. Since the end of April, Brazil’s federal district requires people to wear face masks in public to help control the spread of the coronavirus. Failure to comply carries a possible daily fine of $390. Judge Renato Coelho Borelli said in his ruling that Bolsonaro “has exposed other people to the contagion of a disease that has caused national commotion.” The president did not immediately comment."

He knew the comment would be muffled.

Now it is off to Europe:

"European Union countries rushing to revive their economies and reopen their borders after months of coronavirus restrictions are prepared to block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the scourge, according to draft lists of acceptable travelers seen by The New York Times. That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States. The draft lists were shared with the Times by an official involved in the talks and confirmed by another official involved in the talks. Two additional EU officials confirmed the content of the lists as well the details of the negotiations to shape and finalize them. All of the officials gave the information on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically delicate....."

Looks like they are PLAYING POLITICS with it!

Can still go to England after the Brexit:

"Three months after reluctantly and belatedly imposing a lockdown on Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Tuesday that he would lift many of the restrictions — most significantly, cutting the required social distance between people in half, to 1 meter, or about 3 feet. Johnson cleared the way for the reopening of pubs, restaurants, hotels, and museums in England on July 4, which will bring the country closer in line with other European countries, but scientists, including some who advise the government, warned that reducing the required social distance would substantially raise the risk of spreading the coronavirus in a country that is still reporting more than 1,000 new infections a day. In a study released this month, the government’s scientific advisory group estimated that reducing the 2-meter rule to 1 meter could increase the rate of transmission anywhere from two to 10 times. Johnson said the rate of transmission had fallen far enough that the National Health Service was no longer at risk of being overwhelmed. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are making their own decisions on when to ease the lockdown."

That should bring us closer together.

Unlike in Asia:

"Asian markets overcame some early turbulence caused by reported comments by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro that appeared to suggest the US trade deal with China was in trouble. President Trump later said the agreement was still on."

Once again confirming that Trump is not in charge of his government.

"Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore announced Tuesday that the city-state would hold the first elections in Southeast Asia since the coronavirus pandemic began. The elections are scheduled for July 10, and Parliament was dissolved Tuesday. Lee acknowledged the pandemic’s devastating effect on a country that is, more than most, dependent on a globalized world for its economy. In the early months of the pandemic, Singapore successfully stifled most transmission through a meticulous contact-tracing program, but the coronavirus made its way into dormitories where hundreds of thousands of foreign workers live in communal quarters. As of Tuesday, the country had recorded more than 42,400 cases of the coronavirus."

Serbia did it, so can they.

Better call out the police though:

Democrats to block Senate Republican bill on police practices

It's Booker and Harris (with a look), and it's the Globe's top story:

Mass. residents view racism as systemic and support sweeping police reforms

The new poll shows uniformity on the issue(?!!) of.... Ending White Silence? 

So if I defend myself or abstain from comment I am a racist?

I have to prove my innocence in AmeriKa because I'm white?

Never mind that the agenda-pushing Globe has stabbed police in the back while trying to take their shield away -- as does the City Council:

"The Boston Police Department spent more than $200,000 to arm officers with military-style equipment, including sniper rifles and tasers, during the first five months of 2020, and finalized some purchases as demonstrators took to the streets of Boston to protest the killing of a Black man by a white police officer in Minneapolis, according to internal records released Tuesday. The department provided the records to comply with a City Council order. Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu made the trove of documents public a day before the council is to debate the police department’s $414 million budget, which critics say should be cut in favor of more generous spending for social programs....."

Are you with heryes or no?

Man fatally shot in Dorchester

That brief was buried for the obvious reasons, and the 5-alarm fire that hit the old mill building in Clinton was caused by an industrial oven, officials say, not antifa arson.

Black and white Americans are embracing the Second Amendment

We DO HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON AFTER ALL!

Harley, Polaris dealer ousted over disparaging remarks

Sorry, couldn't hear them over the revving of the motor, and speak of the devils:

FBI says noose in Bubba Wallace’s stall was garage door-pull rope

It's another in an endless string of noose hoaxes. The Confederate flags were still prominent at the race over the weekend, that's the why of this farcical hoax! There is no actual racism, so $elf-$erving, $elf-intere$ted parties have to manufacture it. 

That is where we are today in this lunatic matrix the genocidal globalists have constructed, and it has left Globe columnists with egg on their face -- so when the kid asks, ‘Daddy, what’s a noose,’ make sure you lie to him about it as he learns a tough lesson about racism — and Black resilience.

The story will now die a quick death, and it will be November noose for the President, if you know what I mean.

Then he can watch the World Series in peace:

MLB, players agree to resume season

That was the Globe's lead feature today, and my immediate reaction was BOOOOOOOOOO!