Back in October, New York public health officials were concerned about rising COVID rates in Brooklyn, particular emanating from houses of worship, which had been holding mass gatherings with few pandemic precautions and lax mask wearing. Governor Cuomo responded by adopting tiered restrictions based on the infection rate in said communities. Specifically,

…the executive order and an initiative that it implements identify clusters of COVID-19 cases and then take action to prevent the virus from spreading. An area immediately around a cluster is known as a “red” zone, where attendance at worship services is limited to 10 people. The area around a “red” zone is known as an “orange” zone; attendance at worship services there is limited to 25 people. …

Since the pandemic hit, Donald Trump’s callousness and ineptitude has brought about a man-made disaster. The United States has over 170,000 dead, the economy is failing, and every other problem we face seems to have gotten worse. The president’s popularity has sunk to levels enjoyed by “Sitting next to a guy on the bus, who just shit his pants” and “Getting hit just below the knees with a thick stick.” If the polls are predictors (they aren’t but…), Trump will lose the November election by a landslide. Trump knows this.

Trump also thinks that the popularity hit is unfair and untrue. Watch Trump’s Axios interview and it is painfully clear that the man is delusional. He sincerely believes that he makes sound decisions and that he’s put in the maximum hard work necessary to make the country better. He believes that he is the smartest, funniest, sexiest, most skillful, most charming, and most handsome person in the room. He has been told this all his life by hirelings and sycophants. Anyone who says different, is a jealous liar who wants his stuff and will ruin everything in order to destroy him. If this sounds like a Trump projection, it is. And, while it is untrue in general, it is not false to Trump. …

The United States has a long history of political repression. That does not minimize what is going down right now, especially what is happening in Portland. No, what I want to convey is that what we are seeing is not out of the historic norm. In fact, this is what happens when we rise up, assert our rights, and demand more. The violent authoritarian response is in reaction to what the powers-that-be (or at least some of them) see as a threat. If we were not a threat, they would not react.

Know that the reaction is not limited to violence and repression. It also takes the form of propaganda. Right now we are being told that protesters are “violent anarchists.” Spray painting and property destruction are being inflated by the authorities, their examples cherry-picked or even invented. Accusations are stated without context, explanation or reference. And, as usual, the press, even when it does good reporting, focuses on smoke and fire. It is only on “fringe” left wing websites that we see things from the protester’s perspective. It is only through research do we find that much of the mainstream news, intentional or not, is propaganda recycled from Homeland Security and the Trump administration. …

The past two months have seen a rise in doomsday what if’s regarding the 2020 general election. The scenarios each present, in an authoritative voice, a possibility that introduces a special thing and then dwells on that thing in length and detail, but without introducing probability or any suggestion that if the scenario happens, we can stop it. Thus, a could happen is sold to us as a will happen that we are helpless to prevent. All we can do is wait and see, and then live with the consequences.

Here are some common what if’s:

· What if Trump loses the election and refuses to leave? …

On July 3, 2020, President Donald Trump went to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota and gave a speech. The event was billed as a national celebration of the country’s birthday; however, the speech Trump gave exposed the spectacle as a white supremacist-themed Trump re-election rally. After a series of Thank You’s and a run-through of 4th of July mythology, Trump got to the meat of the speech:

1776 represented the culmination of thousands of years of Western civilization and the triumph of not only spirit, but of wisdom, philosophy, and reason.

There is a lot packed into that (likely) Stephen Miller-penned sentence. We have “Western Civilization,” which was once an innocuous historical reference, but is now a far-right codeword for “the world that white people built.” …

This is a cautionary tale on “police reform.” Since 2015, police have shot and killed over 5,400 people, more than half of the dead are people of color. Most of these killings are reported only in local media, if at all. The high-profile cases — Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Oscar Grant, and others — ride the national media for a time. The press results in promises of police reform. Police unions and cop-friendly politicians decry even the mildest of reforms as an attack on the police and an invitation to lawlessness. Brave cities require implicit bias training and call for use of force policy reviews. …

Because the White House is handling this pandemic chaotically or not at all, because Trump’s primary method of communication is the lie, because the administration has a segment of the media eager to promote its propaganda, because there is another segment of the media which engages in false equivalency, because we get over-reporting on “protests” organized by right-wing operatives and attended mostly by conspiracy nuts and cosplay militia, because social media amplifies everything, because all of this and more leads to a hell of a lot of confusion and dread, it is vital to check into reality every once in a while. This from today’s Washington Post,

A new Washington Post-Ipsos survey of 8,000 adults has big enough sample sizes to break out state-level results for a dozen medium-to-large states. In these places, pluralities say their governor is handling the outbreak “about right.”

The exceptions are Florida, Texas and Georgia, where 48 percent of Floridians say restrictions are being lifted too quickly, along with 59 percent in Texas and 65 percent in Georgia.

Of the governors, Georgia’s Brian Kemp (R) is the only who has a lower approval rating than President Trump in his or her state for handling the outbreak. Kemp was one of the last leaders to issue a stay-at-home order and one of the first to roll it back. He drew opposition from Democrats — and a swath of Republicans — for overriding local restrictions that cities like Atlanta had put in place so that tattoo parlors, among other seemingly nonessential establishments, could reopen. While 39 percent approve of Kemp’s handling of the contagion, 44 percent of Georgians approve of Trump’s. …

“Blow up the bags of sham” — Jean Arp

Protest organizers and right-wing media portray this week’s anti-shelter-in-place protests as organic dissent led by ordinary people with no other agenda than pursuit of liberty, want of work, and blah blah blah. Yeah, right.

By now, mobs of people waving Trump/Pence signs, clad in MAGA gear, and using the same messaging (on “homemade” signs) should be a clue that there is nothing in these protests that is spontaneous or apolitical. They are well organized, coordinated, and originate from state Republican parties and affiliates.

Here’s a fun lockdown project to do with the kids: Find a news article on the protests. Zero in on the name of an organizer or spokesperson. Search the person’s name with keywords “Trump,” “conservative,” “Republican” or “Tea Party.” Good chance that you will find that the person sits on a local or state Republican Party committee. You will also find names like “Idaho Freedom Foundation” and “Michigan Freedom Fund.” Dig deeper and you will find that the Idaho group is funded by the Koch’s and the Michigan gang has ties to Betsy DeVos. …