COVID-19 aerosol transmission must be addressed

There are three kinds of coronavirus transmission: "The first is through “fomites,” objects that are contaminated with the virus (which could include someone else’s skin)." The second "is through droplets, small bits of saliva or respiratory fluid that infected individuals expel when they cough, sneeze, or talk." The latter is the major source according to WHO and the CDC, but in this case the droplets fall to the ground after traveling 3 to 6 feet.

The above droplets are only important when coughing and sneezing. However, more important is the third pathway which is aerosols. Here is Jimenez's assessment...

“'Aerosol' (sometimes referred to as 'airborne') transmission is similar to droplet transmission, except that the bits of fluid are so small that they can linger in the air for minutes to hours."

Both "WHO and CDC both state that aerosols could lead to transmission under highly specific situations, both organizations maintain that they are less important." Professor Jimenez disagrees...

"I believe this is a significant mistake and on July 6 I, along with 239 scientists, appealed to the WHO to reevaluate their stance. WHO updated its position in response, but the agency’s language continues to express skepticism of the importance of this pathway."

Even considering WHO's and the CDC's position on aerosols...

"just a few diseases, including measles and chickenpox, have been accepted as being transmitted through aerosols—and only because these are so transmissible that the evidence could not be ignored by the medical community."

Here is an excellent illustration...

"it is useful to use cigarette or vaping smoke (which is also an aerosol) as an analog. Imagine sharing a home with a smoker: if you stood close to the smoker while talking, you would inhale a great deal of smoke. Replace the smoke with virus-containing aerosols, which behave very similarly, and the impact is similar: the closer you are to someone releasing virus-carrying aerosols, the more likely you are to breathe in larger amounts of virus."

Jimenez describes it like "cannonballs" flying from someone's mouth that "travel through the air until they either hit something (worst case someone else’s eyes, mouth or nostrils) or fall to the ground." That is not a good scenario but is just yet another mandate for masks and social distancing that, while not guaranteed, are proven to cut back the transmission of COVID-19 significantly. This is an excellent article you can read here.

LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK OR PINTEREST

Republicans out of touch beyond reality

The GOP has always been out of touch to the point they continually risk their credibility by their actions. After almost four years of Donald Trump with his antics in the White House, laughable at times, these poor souls believe the Oval Office lunatic has performed well, even if you can accept it, on the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. OK, the economy is doing well but aside from killing 180,000 Americans, it has created unemployment in the U.S. of around 10%.


 CBS published their Poll today that makes the Grand Old Party even more comical. Here's an excerpt...

"The vast majority of Republican voters approve of the U.S. economy’s state and how the government handled the coronavirus, and more than half say the level of deaths has been “acceptable,” a new poll shows."

180,000 deaths due to COVID-19 are "acceptable?" A clear picture of just how little Republicans value your life. This is despicable, but should illustrate to voters across the U.S. how this Party has only one thing in mind, to win at any cost. Any cost! The osmosis of Moscow Mitch McConnell has instilled his sick philosophy into the ranks of the GOP; nothing matters matters more than power and the Party. Here's more from the CBS Poll...

"Heading into their party’s convention on Monday, 75% of Republicans say the U.S. is in better condition than it was four years ago, with 82% crediting President Donald Trump for that, according to the national survey from CBS News and pollster YouGov released Sunday."

Yet, when you look at all voters, only 25% say the U.S. is better off than four years ago, 65% say it’s not. There's more and you can see it on CBS here.

U.S. lags in therapeutic testing for coronavirus

Convalescent plasma

The United States ranks 18th in the testing of COVID-19, per 1,000 population, behind Russia. We are number one in total cases, number two in new cases, #1 in total deaths, #2 in new deaths and #1 in serious/critical cases. And for all of this we can thank Donald Trump for his early reaction to the crisis, telling the public it will just go away. It didn't. The complete incompetence of the oval office lunatic is unquestionable, but his continuing ineptitude is unforgivable. 

But the scientists are telling us...

"the clinical trials necessary to provide that evidence for convalescent plasma and monoclonal antibodies have been fraught with delays and have had problems recruiting volunteers. Many trials are only beginning now, months into the pandemic, because researchers focused their early efforts on therapies, such as hydroxychloroquine, that didn't pan out."

Erica Edwards of NBC points out that we are eight months into the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, and we still don't have a prescribed direction. A direction that should come from Donald Trump, but rather than face the issue, he prefers to play golf. Nero fiddled while Rome burned; the White House maniac plays another round of golf while the U.S. dies from COVID-19. Yet over 40% of Americans still hold a favorable rating of Trump. Why?

Edwards continues...

"Randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials, considered the gold standard, evaluate whether a treatment works by comparing it to a placebo. At the outset, neither the researchers nor the participants know who is getting the real thing and who is getting the placebo."

But people who have the virus do not want to be the guinea pig, rather they want the real thing now. You can't force someone into this kind of situation, but the predicament clearly shows the lack of education for the public in trying to solve the coronavirus pandemic. People must understand the urgency to get something done before COVID-19 turns into a 1918 flu pandemic. And that's another factor with the flu season near and thousands of anti-vaxxers out there.

Edwards explains the process...

"The idea behind both convalescent plasma and monoclonal antibodies is to provide the immune system with a boost to fight off the virus. Convalescent plasma refers to the antibody-rich blood product taken from patients who've already recuperated, and monoclonal antibodies are a synthetic version of those antibodies that could be mass-produced in a lab."

This article is definitely worth a read.

LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST

Wearing a mask to prevent coronavirus

Comments from readers re. the use of face masks...

D.B. believes that a healthy lifestyle is more important than a face mask: "Masks are simply delaying when any of us will get the virus."

Meaning, let's hurry up and catch coronavirus so we can get over it and be free of problems. WRONG! It is proved that long-term lasting effects can be heart trouble, respiratory problems and neurological complications.

In another case, Ron disagrees and says that masks are useless: “Since coronavirus can pass through ANY mask including the N-95, what is the reason for making masks mandatory? They probably are 99.9 % useless.” I question his statement, and masks have been proved to stop COVID-19.

And yet another non-believer, Tom says he is not confused about face masks: “I have worn a mask in total about a half hour since this nonsense started in March. I have been among many people and even in crowds nearing 100, without masking. I have not been sick in any way." Freakin' lucky, but stupid as a rock.

There's more in this article a well-worth a read.

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST.

Explain today's pandemic deniers

Biggest denier of them all

The most devastating stand of all is their denial of COVID-19, itself, exclaiming that it is only a virus. It doesn't get more stupid than that. Here is how CNN Health describes it...

"With so much information available about the severity of the coronavirus and the need to follow guidelines, some people still refuse to accept reality."

The quick answer to the above is that these people don't believe the scientists, the experts trained to work in these fields. Rather, they look to social media for the answers, with some killing their children with radical, worthless remedies. The problem here is not only do they do harm to their own family, they also put friends and innocent bystanders in harm's way. And that is where I draw the line, most certainly with children, friends and innocent bystanders.

There is a lengthy Q & A between CNN and psychologists Eve and Mark Whitmore that basically attempts to explain denial in its relationship to the coronavirus pandemic. Science/medicine has a tendency to identify a problem like this, then quickly apply a name that is supposed to give it credibility. It may be appropriate here, but I have another name, independence, doing what I please regardless of the outcome, which is a product of the Donald Trump era.

PLEASE LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST

How to make sure your November mail-in vote is counted

The U.S. Postal Service, under the control of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, was appointed because he is a big supporter and donor to Donald Trump's campaign. He is single handedly dismantling the Post Office for the sole purpose of preventing the mail-in votes to arrive on time. As an example, DeJoy has started removing sorting machines from several locations, the lifeblood of these facilities to direct mail to the right people on time.

Remember the guy at the New York post office hand-sorting mail when he found the letter to Santa Claus. Without sorting machines all offices revert to this method which drastically slows down the process. In keeping with his changes, DeJoy has notified 46 states that their mail-in ballots may not arrive on time to be counted. Just what Trump ordered. I did a post yesterday with my solution to beating Donald Trump and Republicans on this issue...

"States must send out the mail-in ballots earlier than normal to compensate for slow mail delivery. I would suggest you contact both your Senator and representative, using the following sites:
U.S. SenateU.S. House of Representatives
In keeping with sending ballots out early, states should extend the date for receiving them, again, to compensate for a slowed down postal system. Put this in your note to your Senator and Congress person."

CNN reports that Pennsylvania is already considering extending mail-in ballot receipt by three days. Of course, Pennsylvania's governor, Tom Wolf, is a Democrat, but states with Republican governors can be pressured, or as I said in my earlier post, shamed into doing the right thing. Also, RepresentUS has a site, "How to Vote by Mail this November," with information on each state. Give them your email and they'll keep you updated. BE SURE AND VOTE IN NOV.

LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST

How to beat Trump/Moscow Mitch at their own game

Pariah of the Senate Moscow Mitch McConnell

As I indicated, the miscreants we are up against are Donald Trump, who is double-jeopardy right now by fighting the stimulus program along with trying to gut the U.S. Postal Service for the sole purpose of preventing a mail-in vote. The other is Senate leader Moscow Mitch McConnell, who is against everything from the left, plus he has recessed the Senate until September 8. Contrary to this stupid move, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has cancelled the House recess.

The question is what do we do about it. Assuming the American public could be codified to the point of shaming the Trump administration to back off (he has done it before if he thought it would benefit him) the new Postmaster General could be forced to stop his bulldozing of the Post Office. Because Moscow Mitch is running a tight Senate race in Kentucky against Amy McGrath, McConnell could be enticed to cooperate.

In case none of this works, the next move is a huge decision. Should we just vote in person? In view of the COVID-19 situation, that is a tough decision for some, especially the older seniors, particularly the elderly. There is one more option, and it is somewhat simple. States must send out the mail-in ballots earlier than normal to compensate for slow mail delivery. I would suggest you contact both your Senator and representative, using the following sites:

U.S. Senate
U.S. House of Representatives

In keeping with sending ballots out early, states should extend the date for receiving them, again, to compensate for a slowed down postal system. Put this in your note to your Senator and Congress person. And I realize these ideas won't fly with Republican governors, so the pressure on Congress must be the max to get anything done. Donald Trump and Republicans will do anything within their power to thwart this election in their favor. Those on the left must do more.

LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST

Jonathan Karl: "Front Row at the Trump Show"

I just finished "Front Row at the Trump Show," and like a good mystery novel, you just can't put it down. Jonathan Karl has known Donald Trump for over twenty-five years beginning the book with his first trip to New Hampshire just before becoming a declared candidate. As he presses on, there is the Trump real estate con man including all the outrageous activities that went along with this and his exploiting of women.

Karl had a reasonably close relationship with Trump during the 2016 campaign, reporting on the man perhaps being the most guilty ever of unpredictability. The author is quoted re. his first contact with Donald Trump...

"I was a cub reporter for a New York tabloid. He was a flamboyant real estate developer with a scandalous personal life." (To quote Avril Lavigne, "Can I make it any more obvious?")

In one instance during the 2016 debates, Meghan Kelly of Fox News asked him about calling women he didn't like things like "pigs," "dogs," "slobs" and "disgusting animals" on his Twitter account. Trump's reply was, "Only Rosie O'Donnell," which engendered some laughter. Karl is privy to a lot of Donald Trump's relationships either directly or indirectly, so it is clear from his book who he likes or dislikes.

There are twenty-four chapters and each one is packed with a new expose of the man he claims is redefining the U.S. presidency. It's up to the reader to determine just how bad the new profile is. A MUST READ at Amazon.

LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST

Donald Trump knows he's had it

Here's the scenario from salon's Amanda Marcotte...

"The parallels between the situation of many abuse victims and the nation’s dilemma when it comes to removing Donald Trump from power have not been lost on feminists. As sex educator Twanna Hines noted on Twitter on Friday, Trump “knows his time is up.' She predicted that he will lash out the way that abusers do “when the relationship is ending.'”

He's hard at work trying to sabotage the stimulus programs presented by both sides, and he gave up long ago in the fight against COVID-19. Now he is doing his best to destroy the U.S. Postal Service making his crony, supporter and large donor Louis DeJoy Postmaster. According to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)...

"he's worried that 'the postmaster general is working with the president to make it a problem so he can argue he doesn't like vote by mail.'"

In a major move, DeJoy has started removing mail sorting machines out of postal facilities, for what reason no one knows, except to delay the mail-in voting in November. From my experience in the junk mail business, there is nothing more important to the USPS than mail sorting machines that speed up the process while making it more accurate. Somehow this kind of action must be halted immediately and what's been done reversed. This can't wait until November!

LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST 

Noam Chomsky: 2020 election tampering for real

Noam Chomsky

Vote for Joe Biden, Noam Chomsky is telling Progressives. We cannot afford another four years of Donald Trump, nor can we afford to let down our guard now because Trump and other Republicans cannot be trusted until the last vote is counted. They're corrupt, all of them, and will do anything to thwart the election from Joe Biden. Chomsky wants Biden to stay on track to support Progressive issues and hopefully Kamala Harris will help insure that.

Chomsky cautions...

"despite all the polls showing Biden ahead, a Biden victory is 'anything but a sure thing.'”

And...

“Election tampering is a huge industry. Massive campaign funding in the last days can have a major effect, as seems to have happened in 2016. The leading specialist on campaign funding, Tom Ferguson, found that a ‘dual wave of money’ for both president and Senate had a substantial and probably decisive impact in the final days of the ’16 campaign.”

Already Trump has been fighting the mail-in vote since it has a tendency to include more Democrats. I have heard figures that at least 75% of the country is eligible to vote by mail, which could produce 80 million ballots to count. And another example of Trump's dirty hands meddling in the 2020 vote, his new Postmaster General, Louis Dejoy, is purposely slowing down the mail. Add to that the regular GOP voter suppression of the left to round off their efforts.

Here's a shocker for me, Noam Chomsky warned that...

“'popular support for autocracy runs disturbingly high.'” in the U.S., and he made his point by citing an Ipsos poll that was released last week and addressed 'Americans’ views on the media.'”

The latter would explain at least some of those poor souls that support Donald Trump with his autocratic power hold on the U.S. government. It would seem that these misfits are just begging for a 1984 society, welcoming Big Brother into their homes. These are the same double-digits who scream about too much government control, refusing to vaccinate their children and wear face masks and socially distance in the COVID-19 pandemic. Pathetic!

Against concealed and open carry of guns

I've wondered from the beginning why these cowboys feel the need to walk around on the streets armed, finally coming to the conclusion it somehow makes them feel like a man. For some time there has been a debate over whether this action keeps the streets safe. A new study says NO! It's the "good guy with a gun" theory that says. "If more well-intentioned people carry guns, there's a higher chance of stopping a violent shooter."

I've never witnessed anything personally, but there was a report from the Gabby Giffords shooting in Tucson that says two civilian gun carriers on the scene heard gunfire and rushed in with their weapons drawn and almost shot each other. These carriers can be a menace...

"according to new research published in the journal Justice Quarterly. The study found that laws allowing more people to carry guns in public are associated with a rise in gun violence. The results also showed that the higher a state's gun-ownership rate, the more likely a mass shooting is."

Emma Fridel, an assistant professor at Florida State University authored the study and found...

"that looser concealed-carry laws had little impact on mass shootings and increased a state's gun homicide rate by 11%. Higher rates of firearm ownership overall, meanwhile, was associated with a 53.5% increase in the likelihood of a mass shooting."

But during all this, concealed carry laws proliferate throughout the country, and Congress is even considering passing federal legislation making them overlap nationwide. Hopefully, November will change all this.

NRA should be dissolved

The New York Attorney General has been investigating the National Rifle Assn. and it head, Wayne LaPierre, for some time now. Some time back the NRA was accused of an insurance scam that alleges they acted "as an unlicensed insurance producer and engaging in misleading marketing practices." That was in February with the state seeking upwards of $14 million in civil fines. In the 18-month investigation it found the NRA is "fraught with fraud and abuse."

Here's what NPR reported...

"Attorney General Letitia James claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday that she found financial misconduct in the millions of dollars and that it contributed to a loss of more than $64 million over a three-year period.

The suit alleges that top NRA executives misused charitable funds for personal gain, awarded contracts to friends and family members, and provided contracts to former employees to ensure loyalty."

There's more...

"The NRA's influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets," James said in a statement. "The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law."

 And back in September of 2019, it was also revealed by NPR that the NRA had...

"acted as a "foreign asset" for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election, according to a new investigation unveiled Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore."

A colossal example of how the NRA will accept support, including funding from anyone to further its goals. It seems that...

"the Senate Finance Committee's Democratic staff found that the NRA underwrote political access for Russian nationals Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin more than previously known — even though the two had declared their ties to the Kremlin."

Butina spent 15 months in prison and was then deported to Russia. The NRA has also spent time in Russia on a visit hosted by Maria including the gun group's board members and supporters. There was also concern over how the trip was financed. It is just another example of an organization gone bad, after having been created for hunters. The change from a peaceful body to one that promotes violence to attain its goals was orchestrated by NRA head, Wayne LaPierre.

LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST 

Donald Trump supporters thinking twice?

Salon points out that Donald Trump followers have never really cared that he is "a liar and a cheat." That, in itself, identifies the profile of these minions. And they would follow him right off the end of a cliff. The piece by Amanda Marcotte says, "The evidence of Trump's sociopathic disregard for business ethics, or any ethics at all, is overwhelming."

Trump cheated people who worked for him, finding ways to refuse to pay them. He spent decades engaged in tax fraud, reaping hundreds of millions through the process. Trump's claims to be a billionaire appear the inverse of reality, where he was a billion dollars in the red, making him the photonegative of a billionaire. Trump University was a scam, described in court as preying "upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money." Trump's supposed charitable foundation was also a scam that faked giving to worthy causes but operated largely as a way for Trump to pay bribes and pay down his personal debts with other people's money. Trump's real estate business was drowning in fraud, with the entire family engaging in practices that should have resulted in criminal charges, such as lying to potential buyers about how well their condos were selling.

The above is an aggregate of some of the most egregious acts of a card-carrying con artist. It is, however, the regular behavior of the one who sits in the Oval Office of the White House. And, after almost four years, I am proud to say that I have never called this buffoon "President." Marcotte adds...

"There are easily a dozen more examples of the various ways that Trump has shamelessly lied, distorted numbers, cheated other people and generally committed fraud with the ease most of us would pour a cup of coffee. It was inevitable that he would do the same thing as president — but with the coronavirus statistics, that has turned deadly."

Donald Trump will go down in history as the worst, certainly, most corrupt and incompetent president the United States has ever had. I just hope Joe Biden is up to the job ahead of him to pick up the shambles of the Trump administration and cure the U.S. of the Trump stigma.

LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST.

Republicans/White House cause Americans to suffer financially

“House Democrats passed a bill specifically designed to deal with this mess two and a half months ago,” Krugman notes. “The Trump Administration and Senate Republicans had plenty of time to propose an alternative. Instead, they didn’t even focus on the issue until days before the benefits ended. And even now, they’re refusing to offer anything that might significantly alleviate workers’ plight. This is an astonishing failure of governance — right up there with the mishandling of the pandemic itself.”  READ MORE...

Coronavirus positivity rate              

In comparison, the top U.S. state is Arizona, with a positivity rate of 25.3%, followed by Florida 18.7%, then Texas 13.8%. On the other end of the scale is New York at only 0 to 1%. The District of Columbia is 2%. Now keep in mind this is based on August 2, 2020 data and could change tomorrow. To check your state and keep up with updated daily changing rates, go here. Florida has been hardest hit...

Miami-Dade County in Florida, where the number of cases is skyrocketing, on Sunday reported a staggering 26% positivity rate.

There's more...

Los Angeles County, another Covid-19 hotspot, on Tuesday reported its positivity rate had jumped more than 2 percentage points to 11.6%, from the 9.5% reported Monday.

The positivity rate does not preclude watching the total number, ie., total cases, new cases, total deaths, new deaths you can find here, also updated daily. The figures are frightening, just depends on how much of this disaster created by Donald Trump you can take. READ MORE...

 

Mandatory masks driving some people crazy...

Continued...Dr. Richard Stutt, a postdoctoral research associate at Cambridge University. says, "essentially every country that has used masks has done better than every country that hasn’t." As an example, until recently, seven months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump has refused to wear or recommend face masks, and the United States ranks number one in the world for coronavirus cases. Trump's recent impotent support is an insult to Americans.

It was just recently that...

"Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the country’s outbreak could be controlled within four to eight weeks if everyone wore masks."

Believe what you will, but doesn't it make sense to at least give this a try? READ MORE... 

LOOK FOR ME ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST

Birmingham, Ala. clinic doctor marvels over those who disrespect COVID-19

Dr. Michael Saag is risking his life to save people's lives who have coronavirus, but is daily confronted with those on the outside who discard the whole thing as a frivolous hoax. He speaks of...

"the intense struggle being waged against a virus that has cost about 140,000 lives nationwide and made so many — including the doctor — seriously ill."

There's more...

"It’s not just an Alabama problem. About 250 miles (400 kilometers) from Birmingham, Dr. Chad Dowell warns that his hospital in tiny Indianola, Mississippi, is filling up and so are others, making it difficult to locate beds for the sickest patients even as people debate on social media whether the pandemic is real."

As this is being posted, the worldwide figures are 14,802,464, 611.786 deaths. In the United States, 3,947,382 cases, 143,636 deaths, MAKING THE U.S. 23.5% OF WORLD DEATHS.

Thank you, Donald Trump! 

Joe Biden's plan to quell the COVID-19 pandemic and reopen U.S. economy

"Biden highlighted a new proposal that builds upon the recommendations he issued in March. The plan emphasizes increased federal support for testing and virus tracing, personal protective equipment supplies, vaccine development and national standards for reopening the economy.  READ MORE,,,
 

Donald Trump brings U.S. to the level of idiocracy

Continued..."Mike Judge’s movie “Idiocracy” came out in 2006: Luke Wilson plays an average Joe who is put into suspended animation and reawakens 500 years later to find himself the smartest person in America because everyone else has gotten so dumb. The No. 1 TV show features contestants being hit in their private parts; crops are watered with a sports energy drink, causing a famine; and the president is a former wrestler and porn star who curses freely and fires automatic weapons on TV.

Donald Trump is not a wrestler and he hasn't fired an automatic weapon on TV...yet. Read more here.

Noam Chomsky on Donald Trump

Continued..."There has never been a figure in political history who was so passionately dedicated to destroying the projects for organized human life on Earth in the near future. That is not an exaggeration.”

Is racism still a dirty word, or...just accepted today?

Racism is worse than that old weather saying. People have been talking about it for years, but no one has seriously done anything about it...

My take is that it is definitely a dirty word, even many racists would agree with that, but it is like one of those rogue genes that are the basis for a particular kind of behavior which allows those who have it to justify what they do. I grew up in the South, fighting with racists all my life, even within my own family, and when I finally left in the 1960s, there were still lynchings of black people, their houses being burned to the ground, all orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan.

Like the Mafia, the Klan slowly faded away, but as is the case for both, there is still evidence of their activity around. Here's a scenario from NPR...

"For the fourth year in a row, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups, reports that hate and domestic extremism are rising in an unabated trend. The center found a 30 percent increase in U.S. hate groups over the past four years and a 7 percent increase in hate groups in 2018 alone."

NPR adds, "The watchdog group blames President Trump, his administration, right-wing media outlets and the ease of spreading hate on social media platforms for the alarming increase." Trump has promoted and encouraged white nationalism since being inaugurated, hiring people like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, of which the latter is still on his staff. Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project said...

"The numbers tell a striking story — that this president is not simply a polarizing figure but a radicalizing one."

Excellent video on the Trump-Miller relationship...

This added...

"Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said in a statement. "Rather than trying to tamp down hate, as presidents of both parties have done, President Trump elevates it — with both his rhetoric and his policies. In doing so, he's given people across America the go-ahead to act on their worst instincts."

"Worst instincts," resulting from that rogue gene that wallows in racism. And here's more on Stephen Miller from the Daily Beast...

"Stephen Miller, the highly influential advisor to President Donald Trump, is the end result of a shadowy network made up of racist organizations and PAC’s designed to push a white nationalist worldview from the fringes into deep inside the White House."

The Confederate battle flag

Now there are even rumbles that Steve Bannon is attempting to work his way back into the White House. The combination of Miller and Bannon, especially should there be a Trump second term, God forbid, and with the White House maniac at his highest level of mental instability since entering office, could turn this country into a national Confederate States of America. What would a new flag look like? Would future elections even be allowed?

Miller was a close ally of John Tanton, an Ophthalmologist from Michigan, founder of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and considered by SPLC the "puppeteer" of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots. Stephen Miller, practicing Tanton's ideology, is considered the architect of Donald Trump's immigration policies. The Beast's Mark Potok reports...

"Miller is both a promoter and, to some extent, a product of a much wider racist network aimed at preventing non-white immigration into the United States.”

He also thinks there is little chance of Miller leaving the administration, able to now influence, as I stated earlier, a much more mentally unstable Donald Trump, who is already making the worst of bad decisions. I would surmise when the black community sees this rampant racism originate from the highest office in the land, they feel there is just no hope. And they may very well be right as long as Trump occupies the White House and Mitch McConnell controls the Senate.

Minneapolis police officer mercilessly suffocates black man

Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, says ‘George Floyd’s life mattered.’

George Floyd

Tomorrow you will see the post, "Is racism still a dirty word, or...just accepted today?," and since the killing of George Floyd, the 46-year-old black man who died in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department earlier this week has raised condemnation around the country, I decided to do this piece now due to the urgency. Joe Biden's statement that it was a “horrific killing” is perhaps the most important. Biden looks like Trump's contender in November.

Aside from the fact that this could help Biden's support of the black community, it is in keeping with a Democratic platform that has for years backed people of color. And that's the way it should be since the left must maintain its position as the party of the people. We've lost our way recently, but Bernie Sanders gave us a wake-up call and it continues to reverberate within the Democratic candidates, even Joe Biden.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on George Floyd killing...

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, "four Minneapolis police officers involved in the death of George Floyd have been terminated." I just watched the video in this article, above, (scroll down below Floyd's picture) and it is beyond a doubt the worst case of police brutality I have ever seen. Frey describes it "Blatantly wrong and malicious." It is terrifying to watch this cop hold Floyd down with a knee on his neck, preventing him from breathing for five minutes, until he was no longer responsive.

We know this is not typical of the average cop, and brings up the continuing question of how do you deal with this kind of situation without castigating all police officers. But equally disturbing, I thought, was the cop just standing, facing the crowd, looking like a complete idiot, yet not doing a thing to stop the other cop while obviously hearing Floyd's desperate pleas for help. Frey calls for the prosecution of killing cop; watch this video!

Here's the scenario from a local Minneapolis television station...

"Multiple sources confirm for KARE 11 that the officer with his knee on Floyd is Derek Chauvin. Early Wednesday afternoon the City of Minneapolis released the names of all four officers fired in the wake of Floyd's death."

 They are: 

• Officer Derek Chauvin
• Officer J Alexander Kueng
• Officer Thomas Lane
• Officer Tou Thao

Protesting turns volatile over Geo. Floyd killing...

The Floyd. family from Houston "is calling for action after viewing a video that appears to show George Floyd begging for help." And the video I watched proves that he was begging for help until he could no longer breathe and was unresponsive. It seemed obvious to me that Officer Chauvin repeatedly pressed down on Floyd's neck in the five minutes he was on top of him. All of this while the black man was handcuffed and not resisting.

More from Channel 11...

In the video of the fatal encounter, bystanders can be heard asking the officer to remove his knee and telling him that Floyd can't breathe. One person says that Floyd's nose is bleeding.

"I can’t thank them enough," [Shareeduh] Tate (a cousin) said. "We always see these kinds of things that take place and we wonder what would we do if we were placed in that position, and I can only be grateful that there were people there who were advocating for him, even more so grateful for the person who was there with the camera to capture it."

There's more...

The Floyd family's attorney, Ben Crump, told TMX.news he believes the officer shown in the video with his knee on Floyd's neck should be charged with murder, and that the other officers should be charged as accomplices to a murder.

"They were supposed to protect and serve citizens like George," Crump said. "We in black America, we are done dying at the hands of the people who are supposed to protect and serve us."

Termination of the officers isn't enough, the general consensus is for criminal prosecution. Amen!

WORLDOMETER LATEST COVID-19 results

Coronavirus cases 1,745,371

Coronavirus deaths 102,091

Coronavirus recoveries 487,838

More info, states, etc.

Why is Donald Trump afraid to finish his physical exam?

Donald Trump started a physical exam six months ago but has chosen not to complete it. His aides have no answer why.

Were there questions Trump' partial medical exam didn't answer?

This moron who resides in the White House persists in his refusal to follow the guidelines established over the years that will guarantee the American public that they have a president competent and capable of carrying out his or her duties. The Oval Office lunatic is neither competent nor capable of achieving either of these, but no matter how blindingly, stupidly stubborn Trump is, Americans have the right to know if he is in good enough shape to lead this country.

In spite of not knowing his physical condition, assuming he doesn't, the idiot is taking hydroxychloroquene, a drug that has been deemed dangerous, and of no use in treating COVID-19 from several reputable studies. Hydroxychloroquene is known to be fatal in some cases. T-rump also has stock in the company that makes the drug, as do several of his cronies, and he has regularly been promoting it from the White House. The corruption is endless.

Here's the scenario...

"A president’s annual physical typically occurs at the beginning of a new year. Trump’s 2019 exam was conducted in February, and his 2018 physical was conducted in January. It is uncommon for a president to complete a routine physical exam months apart and in multiple stages."

Chris Cillizza's commentary on Trump's abbreviated Nov. 2019 medical exam...

As I indicated earlier in this article, the American public has the right to know the condition of the leader of their country, especially with an election coming up in less than six months where he is running for office. Agreement and confirmation with this...

“As a part of granting a president as much power as we do, he has the obligation to demonstrate that he is well or, if he is not, to let us know exactly what is amiss,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss.

With Donald dufus usurping the power of more people and government agencies on a daily basis, it makes the need to know even more critical. The timeline from NBC...

'In November 2019 — six months ago this week — Trump began what the White House described as 'portions' of his third physical during a two-hour examination at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

"That visit to Walter Reed was unannounced and remained shrouded in secrecy for two days as the president remained out of public view and as the White House declined to answer questions about it.

"The president’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, later wrote in a memo released by the White House that Trump’s 'interim checkup' had been “routine.” Conley at the time said a 'more comprehensive' examination would occur this year and that the president’s labs and exam results would be released in a corresponding report."

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Dick Cheney's cardiologist questions quick physical...

Based on experience with Donald Trump's physicians, do we even believe Dr. Conley? Back in November of 2019, Stephie Grisham, Trump's former press secretary, was interviewed by Fox News bonehead host, Jeanine Pirro, as follows...

Speaking with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro on her Saturday program, Grisham said Trump is as "healthy as can be" and that he's "got more energy than anybody in the White House."

"You know, Stephanie, he's almost superhuman," Pirro responded. "I don't know how anyone can deal with what he's dealing with. I get frustrated with what's going on in Washington. I want to throw things at the television. But I don't."

Don't that just wanna make you vomit? Grisham did tell NBC that Trump "is fine — perfectly healthy." Well, that may very well be true, but then why hasn't he completed his exam so we can hear it from a medical professional, not some White House airhead. 

LATEST COVID-19 results WORLDOMETER

IT'S OFFICIAL: U.S. passes 100,000 coronavirus deaths mark

Coronavirus cases 1,714,371

Coronavirus deaths 100,103

Coronavirus recoveries 469,049

More info, states, etc.