So…as Trump degenerates, he’s escalating.  In a bit of political theater apparently intended to whip up some support from his base, unidentified possibly-cops are grabbing protestors in Portland Oregon, putting them in unmarked vehicles, and hauling them away.  These possibly-cops are said to be from the border patrol a division of the Department of Homeland Security.  The Governor of Oregon and the Mayor of Portland have asked the possibly-DHS thugs to stand down.  The DHS has responded that they’re “on a mission” and will stay whether the Governor wants them there or not.

I wonder if the Governor can call out the Oregon National Guard to protect Oregonians from the possibly-DHS thugs?  She won’t, of course.  But it causes me great concern.  Apparently, there’s no depth to which Trump won’t sink to try to protect his position – including invading states he doesn’t like.  Conservatives have long said they object to Federal overreach.  My guess is, right now, the cons are all in on Federal overreach…

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There’s a guideline I use to judge the strength of a given position: Do I have to change or pretend not to know things I already know in order to try to “win” some political position?  If so, I should probably reconsider my position.  Here’s a topical example.

Let’s say I had asked you one year ago today what you might be able to tell me about face masks.  After thinking about it for a minute, you would likely tell me that you know doctors and surgical staffs use face masks against the spread of contagions in operating rooms.  You might also mention your knowledge that Asians have been wearing face masks against spreading illness and against pollution for years, perhaps decades.  You know what you would NOT have heard?  You would NOT have heard about how masks choke you out and force you to re-breathe your own carbon dioxide.

NOBODY ever heard of such a “threat” until the useless buffoon in the Oval Office decided to fight a deadly global pandemic with wishful thinking and insults.  THEN, some deceiving conservative “think” tank (Heritage, Cato, etc) came up with a story and sold it into the conservative bubble.  Suddenly, there’s a group in this country that will tell you – for a little while, anyway –  about the dangers of mask wearing.  The position is politics, not science, and to MY mind, when there’s a political motivation behind some position, the best thing a thinking person can do is hold on to information they already have.

I know the anti-mask movement is nationwide but in the area I live, the anti-masker’s adopted position is even weaker for one reason: this is fire country.  Over the course of the last several years, we’ve suffered one major fire after another.  Pollutants in the air were visible and everywhere.  We were ALL wearing masks.  We all learned about the N-95’s.  Never once, did I hear anyone complain that the masks might choke them out.

Wear a mask.  At this point, it’s pretty much the only protection Americans are going to get against Covid-19 until decent leadership arrives…

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Here’s just one example of how dumb/evil (you choose) trump is.  When Covid-19 hit, he feared (correctly) that the fallout from the pandemic was going to hurt his re-election bid.  So, he decided (incorrectly) to ignore it and call it names.  That hasn’t worked, of course, but now that he’s chosen his wrongheaded position, he’s going to stick to it no matter HOW many Americans he kills.

Had he been smart (or even marginally competent) he would have put Fauci in charge.  Let Fauci do his job, manage and defeat the virus, then – as trump will always do – take the credit for the success.  If Fauci fails (which he wouldn’t, since he’s the expert) trump has a fall-guy to blame.  Either way, trump COULD have won this thing.  But he was SO incompetent, he couldn’t even protect himself…

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In every country that has defeated the pandemic, they’ve used pretty much the same model: testing, tracing, and isolating.  Those of us unfortunate enough to be victims of the ‘Greatest Country on Earth’™ hear only about testing, testing, testing.  The tests results are slow.  People can infect others for DAYS between taking the test and getting the results.  I’ve heard nothing about contact tracing in the US.

It looks like Covid-19 is going to keep tearing away at this once-great nation from sea to shining sea until January 21, 2021 when President Biden begins an authoritative response – fighting conservatives every step of the way – that SHOULD have started in January, 2020.

One can only guess at how many Americans trump will have allowed to die by then…

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As it happens, there is one area of agreement I have had with many trump supporters: I didn’t believe him, either.  That is, I thought his shtick during the 2016 campaign was just that, shtick.  After the Russians put him in office, I thought (hoped?) he’d change his behavior, you know?  Just…stop performing and do the job.

It has been mind-boggling to discover he wasn’t performing and it wasn’t shtick.  What we’ve seen from Donald Trump seems to be the very best he has to offer.  I think we can all be forgiven for not believing such wreckage of a human being could function on this planet for 74 years.  NO ONE will be forgiven for continuing to support him now that we know…