When the bough (or dam) breaks...

In deference to a sitting president, some heretofore silent generals and admirals are beginning to speak out, regarding the latest militaristic actions directed by President Trump against the protesters.

Questions:

-Do you think that, with the military brass beginning to speak out, we have reached some kind of new "inflection point" in the Trump presidency?

-What do you foresee as happening "next?"

Thanks for posting and recommending.

Thoughtful Analysis on the Current Unrest: The Social Contract is Broken

In the 18 minute video shown below, Trevor Noah explains how the racial situation between the police and blacks in America can be seen. In essence, Noah argues that the contract that black Americans live by is being violated each time the police abuse their power. His arguments may or may not be persuasive to everyone, but at least the facts and logic he relies on is clear. And, it helps personal understanding to see complicated issues from multiple points of view. This is an interesting point of view.

TrevNo starts his comments by raising the encounter between Amy Cooper, a white woman, in a city park with her unleashed dog. Christian Cooper, a black man, asked her to leash her dog. That was the rule in the park. Amy called the cops and falsely told them there was a black man threatening her and her dog. Later, she apologized. She lost both her dog and her job over the incident. The incident is shown on this 1 minute 40 second cell phone video. Noah discusses the relevance of this incident at the beginning of his video segment.

White Privilege / Race Baiting

HOW IRONIC

There are those who believe that White Privilege is not a "thing", a phony term that means nothing, but to injure white people.

Often though the same people who argue thus will themselves use the term Race Baiting, which they consider a real term, as opposed to a phony term. 

YET - who uses the term Race Baiting?

A couple of perspectives:

If you're confused about what race-baiting is, here's a bit of context

https://splinternews.com/if-youre-confused-about-what-race-baiting-is-heres-a-b-1793848630

NOTE:

Right-wing outlets like the Drudge Report, Fox News and the National Review use the term “race-baiting” frequently and liberally. Drudge conveniently catalogs its use of the term for its readers.

WHERE DOES RACE-BAITING COME FROM?

In the 2010s, conservative politicians and political commentators began appropriating the term race-baiting to refer to minority activists who they believed were provoking racial hatred against white people

https://www.dictionary.com/e/politics/race-baiting/

SO, THIS PICTURE BELOW - is it an example of White Privilege or an example of Race Baiting?

An Opinion from a Black Person

The info sources I sometimes rely on include content from comedians. Just because they are comedians does not mean they are wrong. This 5 minute video is one of the very best pleas I have ever heard from a black person, Amber Ruffin, to try to explain the black experience with police in America.

If she is a liar, she has me completely fooled. Completely. If she doesn't have me fooled, then WTF?




So, the question here is simple: Is Amber a liar?

Channel Note: Germaine II Rises from the Grimpen Mire

 

I set up a 2nd Disqus account to see if I can transition from Germaine to Germaine II. My first account was hacked and I lost all of my upvotes, about 22,000 at the time. On the Disqus platform, loss of upvotes means loss of reputation. In turn, that means loss of ability to comment on other sites unless a moderator adds the damaged user as a trusted user. Since most Mods on most sites won't whitelist me, that makes the entire Disqus platform basically useless outside of my own blog.

From what I can tell, this problem is at least 5 years old and apparently caused by hackers who don't like whoever they attack. I think I was attacked and lost my upvotes about 6 months ago. People including me have complained repeatedly to Disqus, asking for this problem to be fixed, e.g., here and here. Disqus refuses to say when the problem will be fixed, so this crippling defect is probably permanent.

What If Trump Wins?

The Washington Monthly explores the policy consequences of a second Trump term.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/april-may-june-2020/what-if-trump-wins/

For many people, the prospect of what might happen if Donald Trump wins a second term is too awful to contemplate. But, as we are witnessing with the coronavirus, not contemplating scenarios that have at least some chance of happening is a grave mistake. Indeed, it’s a mistake that helped elect Trump in the first place.

Ideally, the press corps would be hard at work exploring this question. Alas, it is not. In the thousands of presidential campaign stories that have been published this year, you will be hard pressed to find much reporting or informed speculation about what policies Trump might pursue if he’s reelected, or what the consequences might be if he were successful in enacting them. That’s not because such things aren’t knowable in advance. If that were the problem, political reporters wouldn’t have spent the last six months gaming out which candidates were, say, likely to win which primaries. The real reason campaign journalists don’t do this kind of work is that it’s not what they’re trained to do—and, perhaps, it’s not what most people want to read. 

We think our readers are different. So we gathered a distinguished group of area experts and beat reporters. We told them to imagine that, come November of 2020, Trump wins the Electoral College and the balance of power in Congress remains unchanged; Republicans hold the Senate and Democrats hold the House. Then, we asked them to think through the hitherto unthinkable: What will Trump aim to do, and what could he realistically get away with, if given another four years in power? —The Editors

Can The Liberal World Order Survive Another Four Years of Trump?

by Wesley K. Clark

Probably not. Here’s why.

What Would a Second Trump Term Do to the Federal Bureaucracy?

by Francis Fukuyama

An EPA stocked with climate change deniers. A Surgeon general sympathetic to anti-vaxxers. It could get grim.

How Trump Could Take Away Obamacare With a Second Term

by Julie Rovner

After packing the courts, the president’s use of executive authority will be more effective.

How Trump Would Gut the Social Safety Net With a Second Term

by Ryan LaRochelle and Luisa S. Deprez

There’s a backdoor tactic the administration would use to weaken programs that help the poor.

How Trump Could Dismantle Workers’ Rights with Another Four Years

by Rachel Cohen

In just his first term, he’s been a fairly effective union buster.

Trump’s Second Term Immigration Agenda

by Gaby Del Valle

Will anyone be allowed into America?

Can Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Survive a Second Trump Term?

by David Cole

It’s a proposition better left untested.

Why a Second Trump Term Will Not Be a Horror Movie

by Paul Glastris

Let’s hope it doesn’t happen. But if it does, we won’t be helpless.