Well, something positive?  Okay, Americans have returned to the space station in a ship built and launched by – Americans!  The Russians are likely lamenting the loss of revenue so we can assume Trump will soon be swearing to leave the American space program in favor of returning the task (read: money) to Russia…

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There’s growing evidence that the riots at some of the protests over the murder of George Floyd are being started by agent provocateurs.  There’s video of a man with an umbrella who just calmly walks up to an auto parts store and starts pounding out the windows with a hammer.  He’s not furious.  He’s not rioting.  From what I can see (in other photos), he’s not black.  He’s just breaking glass.  Calmly.  Casually, even.

Then, some of the protestors focus their attention on him.  One guy intervenes and stops the guy while another films the occurrence.  Once the umbrella man realizes there’s a camera on him – he walks away.  The crowd tries to confront umbrella man but he just wends his way away from the protestors.

Every time some bad cop murders someone, certain segments of our society turn the conversation to the reaction, not the catalyst.  But…just to make sure they get the “reaction” they want, are they sending in people to start trouble?

I will not focus on the protests or riots.  For one thing, I can’t know who might be working to turn a peaceful protest into a riot and for the other, I feel certain that the protests wouldn’t happen if the murders didn’t happen (or, at least, were properly enforced…)  I’ll just leave this here…

“When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.”   ― John Lennon

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Our local sheriff, Mark Essick (emphasis on the ‘sick’, I guess) has decided he’s not interested in enforcing the law or, at least, not all of it.  The lock-down is more than he can bear and he wants out and he’s not, by god, going to stop anybody who wants to die from this illness from dying from this illness!  Bold stance, I guess.

I find it…telling…that the minute I heard he was going to use his vast medical education to over-ride stupid ole doctors and epidemiologists, I decided he’s a maga hat wearing trumpster.  Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t.  I don’t know the guy.  What I DO know is that it’s not his job to interpret the law.  It’s his job to enforce the law.  How many of us get to keep our jobs once we’ve announced our intention to do only the parts we like?

The truth is, I get it.  The horrifyingly poor response to the pandemic by the current “administration” did terrible damage to the economy.  As they dithered, that was kind of inevitable.  The demand by the Capitalists that the workers get out there and generate more revenue for the Capitalists to steal was also inevitable.  Sure, people will die who didn’t need to but it won’t be any of THEIR people so…