Thursday, June 4, 2020

And another day of out of control monsters comes to a close:

“Wake me up, when September ends.” -- Green Day

Deaths

US: 110,173 (+1031)

World: 393,142 (+5185)

Countdown: 152 days.

Why a vaccine may not be enough to end the pandemic. We need to plan for many different Covid-19 vaccine scenarios. These four factors will influence the outcome.

Democrats prepare sweeping police reform bills after George Floyd's death. — Republicans want this whole thing to go away.

Trump Is Sending Military Weapons to the Police. Lawmakers Are Trying to Stop Him.

Trump is no 'ally of peaceful protesters,' whether it's NFL players or citizens.

Republican senators shrug off Mattis' criticism of Trump: 'It's his opinion'. -- Vote out all Republican senators. Things will not change, they will only continue to get worse, until Republicans are out of power.

Here's graphic video of Buffalo cops shoving a protester they say "tripped and fell". -- Holy shit. He did not trip and fall. And the way all the cops casually walked by the motionless elderly man lying on the concrete bleeding. Fuckers.

A video posted on social media shows a cyclist on a Maryland trail assaulting a group of teens who were putting up flyers calling for justice for George Floyd. -- Look, another fucker.

LAPD striking protesters with batons. -- Uniformed fuckers.

At fortified White House, Trump under verbal assault from military's top ranks. Trump's handling of protests draws ire of his predecessors and military leaders.

‘Dangerous’: Around world, police chokeholds scrutinized.

Coronavirus will haunt US economy for a decade and wipe out $8tn, says CBO.

Retired Marine Gen. John Allen: Trump's threats of military force may be 'the beginning of the end of the American experiment'.

Trump denies tear gas use despite evidence. Law enforcement officials shy away from describing crowd-dispersing chemical tools as tear gas; it evokes police gassing citizens or the horrors of war. But giving those tools a more antiseptic name does not change the reality on the ground.

Trump tweeted a letter that referred to the peaceful protesters who were forcibly dispersed from a park near the White House on Monday evening as "terrorists".

Drew Brees Isn’t A Racist. That’s Why His Racism Is A Problem. Drew Brees is a good reminder that perpetuating racism isn’t just about bad people saying and doing openly racist things. It isn’t just about egregious acts of violence or vile words spewed at strangers by openly ignorant bigots with Confederate flags hanging off their front porches. It’s about the buffers and barriers to suffering afforded by our privilege as white people, that allow us (as good and compassionate and open as we might try to be) to live with blindspots that show up when inequity is revealed and when our assumptions are challenged. 

Colin Kaeperneck asked his country to think about its own symbols, rather than blindly worship them. Brees, and white Americans in general, have not risen to this challenge. Symbols are powerful because they remind us of particular ideals and values. But a symbol is not itself an ideal or a value. And when symbols become more important to you than the values they symbolize, then you’ve betrayed yourself. You've given your heart, and your soul, to a dead thing.

Man who shot Ahmaud Arbery was heard saying racial slur over his body, investigator testifies.

Racism is a health problem "that takes a toll on people of color and contributes to the development of other chronic diseases," according to doctors studying health inequities.

Trump vows to campaign for anyone with a "pulse" against Lisa Murkowski.

Hong Kong defies ban to honor Tiananmen Square massacre victims. Thousands of people in Hong Kong defiantly commemorated the Tiananmen Square massacre on Thursday, holding a vigil despite a police ban as the territory witnesses Beijing stamp out its freedoms in real time.

At least 37 students and two teachers were injured in a knife attack at an elementary school in southern China on Thursday, local officials said.

Social distancing not required at Trump's July 3 Mount Rushmore event.

Drive-through Botox injections in Florida. — There is no downtime for vanity.

Asteroid that may be the size of Empire State Building to zoom past Earth

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.