James.galbraith

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Imagine if President Trump never had to comply with a congressional subpoena.

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During a Monday afternoon briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany used fearmongering language typical of the Trump administration, including painting a picture of anarchy, chaos, and riots in Democrat-led cities, in her opening address. McEnany even brought up Donald Trump’s incessant tagline of “law and order,” which his Twitter feed has been full of lately. However, the question-and-answer portion of the briefing is what’s really going viral on social media.

First, we learned that Donald Trump somehow does not have time scheduled with Jacob Blake, the unarmed Black man shot by police, or Blake’s family, though he’s apparently finding time to meet with law enforcement in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during his visit this week. Then, McEnany had an opportunity to offer Trump’s condemnation of teen shooter Kyle Rittenhouse’s alleged actions—which, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not happen. Let’s look at the background and the exact exchange below.

As background, Rittenhouse is the 17-year-old who went to Kenosha protests armed with an AR-15 to “protect” businesses and ended up killing two protesters and injuring a third. He has been charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree homicide, as well as one count of attempted homicide, reckless endangerment, and possessing a firearm under age 18.

First, one reporter said to McEnany: “The president was asked on Friday if he thought the shooting of Jacob Blake was justified. And he said he didn’t like the sight of it but he was going to learn more about it. Now that a couple of days has passed, does he think the shooting was justified or unjustified?”

McEnany punted that question, saying she’d refer him back to the president’s earlier remarks. 

And then the question that’s going viral. A reporter asks the press secretary: “Does the president condemn the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, who is accused of shooting some of the protesters?”

McEnany replies: “Um, the president is not going to weigh in on that.“ She then suggested Trump may hold his own briefing on Monday evening, where the question could be asked directly to him.

Then, a reporter asked McEnany why Trump “liked” a tweet in a Twitter thread describing Rittenhouse as a “good example” of why someone voted for Trump. McEnany said the president wanted to highlight people’s attention to “details that aren’t as well-known” and not as “public as they should be,” including that “the individual was being attacked.”

Following that exchange, McEnany was asked whether Trump essentially wants his supporters (which Rittenhouse reportedly is) to “show up” and behave similarly. McEnany said Trump “roundly condemns” all forms of violence. Of course, Trump is also the person who has taken to Twitter to threaten that protesters may be met with “serious force” as well as “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons.” 

Luckily, Trump isn’t the only politician on Twitter. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden weighed in on McEnany’s briefing, and his call-out is quickly going viral.

You can stream the full press briefing below.

“Fires are burning and we have a president who fans the flames rather than fighting the flames,” Joe Biden said in a speech on recent violence, from the police shooting of Jacob Blake and the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, to the protests following it, to counterprotests from armed far-right groups. The speech served as a rebuttal to Republican efforts to paint Biden as a supporter of violent protest, which he firmly denounced, but also as a reframing of the idea of public safety.

Biden expanded the definition of safety beyond physical violence, saying: “The simple truth is, Donald Trump failed to protect America” in a speech touching on Trump’s failure to contain COVID-19, his efforts to strip millions of people of health coverage, his massive threat to Social Security, and his sucking up to Russian President Vladimir Putin even as Russia puts bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. “When we talk about safety and security,” Biden said, “we should talk about the basic security of being able to look your child in the eye and tell them ‘everything’s going to be okay.’”

But to those Republican efforts to use race to divide in the run-up to the elections: “I want to make it absolutely clear,” Biden said. “Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting. It's lawlessness. Plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted. Violence will not bring change.” But Biden was clear on the context, from racial injustice to the fact that “Donald Trump looks at this violence and he sees a political lifeline” while Trump refuses to “call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country.”

“Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?” Biden continued.

Biden went on to mock the picture of him Republicans are trying to paint. 

“Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really? I want a safe America. Safe from COVID. Safe from rioting. Safe from crime and looting. Safe from racially motivated violence. Safe from bad cops. Let me be crystal clear: Safe from four more years of Donald Trump.”

Trump, on the other hand, “looks at this violence and he sees a political lifeline. Having failed to protect this nation from the virus, that has killed more than 180,000 Americans so far, Trump posts an all-caps tweet screaming ‘LAW AND ORDER’ to save his campaign. One of his closest political advisers in the White House doesn’t even bother to speak in code, she just comes out and she says it, quote ‘The more chaos and violence, the better it is for Trump’s reelection.’”

Trump is “trying to scare America,” Biden said, while detailing so many of the ways Trump has made the U.S. less safe. 

Biden was pushing back hard against Republican attacks on him by presenting himself as basically a moderate white man. There was plenty in the speech to make progressives cringe, including Biden’s pledge not to ban fracking. But Biden’s broadening of the idea of safety and security to include public health and Social Security and unemployment marked a refusal to try to go harder on crime and policing than Trump in the way that a centrist Democratic nominee of years past might have done. This is a candidate who has been pushed to a better place by activists—and one who rebutted another of the key Republican attacks against him by giving a powerful, persuasive speech completely at odds with the portrayal of him as senile and incompetent.

There's a new doctor on the White House pandemic team, one who is telling Donald Trump what he wants to hear. The neuroradiologist, Scott Atlas, comes from Stanford's conservative Hoover Institution and caught Trump's eye during his appearances on Fox News, where he promoted "herd immunity" as a strategy to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Five sources close to the administration and Trump's thinking tell The Washington Post that Atlas has influenced administration policy on testing and on reopening schools.

Why is a doctor who does not have a background in infectious diseases or epidemiology on the team? He's telling Trump what he wants to hear, reportedly calling himself the "anti-Dr. Fauci," contrasting himself with the nation's leading infectious disease specialist, the one Trump doesn't want to hear from. Atlas—who, again, is not an epidemiologist or infectious disease specialist—subscribes to the theory that young, healthy people don't die from coronavirus and that it’s only people in nursing homes and other vulnerable populations who need protection from it. Everyone else needs to catch it and build resistance to it: herd immunity. Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, calculates that 65 to 70% of the population would need to be infected for herd immunity to be achieved. Reaching 65% infection in the U.S. would mean 2.13 million deaths if the virus has a 1% fatality rate, the Post calculates. So, yes, Atlas is a full-fledged member of the death cult and that is why Trump brought him on the team.

Atlas told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade back in July: “When younger, healthier people get the disease, they don’t have a problem with the disease. I’m not sure why that’s so difficult for everyone to acknowledge,” which was all Trump needed to hear. “These people getting the infection is not really a problem and in fact, as we said months ago, when you isolate everyone, including all the healthy people, you’re prolonging the problem because you’re preventing population immunity. Low-risk groups getting the infection is not a problem.” Never mind the fact that low-risk groups are not walled off from high-risk groups, including teachers, administrators, and support staff in schools. Atlas also has promoted the idea that lockdowns and social distancing are a danger to public health. He says that "personal communications with neurosurgery colleagues" informs him that half of their patients aren't being treated because of fear of the virus. Did this conservative quack position himself on Fox News and in editorials to get Trump's attention and a White House job? Quite possibly.

The problem is, he is influencing policy, against the strenuous objections of Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx. The recent push, walked back, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to suggest that only people with symptoms of COVID-19 should be tested was influenced by Atlas. According to the Post ,"two senior administration officials and one former official, as well as medical experts" see Atlas' influence behind that and the push by the administration to expedite the shipment of tests to nursing homes but not to the wider community, despite ongoing shortages.

Atlas is strongly pushing schools to reopen and sports to resume under the belief that "children do not spread the virus and do not have any real risk from covid-19, arguing that more children die of influenza—an argument he has made in television and radio interviews." That's refuted in new information from the American Academy of Pediatrics, finding that "hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus have increased at a faster rate in children and teenagers than among the general public" and that "substantial community spread in many parts of the United States corresponded with more infections among children."

According the Post's sources, Altas has more access to Trump any other health official, meeting with him "almost every day." Three senior administration officials say that he is aligned with Trump and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on policy. Even Birx, who has been alarmingly willing to appear as a full-on Trumper, has clashed with Atlas "with one disagreement growing so heated at a coronavirus meeting earlier this month that other administration officials grew uncomfortable, according to a senior administration official."

So, yeah, an inexperienced quack and Trump yes-man is potentially setting not just public health policy, but influencing economic policy—open everything up and force the public back out into the world to achieve that herd immunity he's convicted is out there. However many millions of people will die.

Donald Trump was looking for a big post-convention polling bounce. So far, it doesn’t look like he got it. A new ABC/Ipsos poll shows Trump's favorable rating ticking down one point since the Republican National Convention (RNC), from 32% to 31%. Biden’s, meanwhile, went from 45% to 46%. Obviously those numbers are well within the margin of error, but it’s for sure not the bounce Trump wanted.

Civiqs suggests the same non-bounce, with Trump’s favorable rating static at 42%. And, of course, Trump’s convention got poor television ratings, suggesting a lack of enthusiasm for or interest in what he had to say.

If history is any guide, Trump is in trouble. “Looking at elected incumbents, 6 of 8 times the incumbent lost ground when comparing polls immediately following the convention and the final result,” CNN reports. “One was Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, who was leading by double-digits and went on to win by a slightly wider double-digit margin. The other was George H.W. Bush in 1992 who trailed by single digits and went on to lose by a slightly narrower single-digit margin.”

Here’s another bad sign for Trump: After consistently bragging about his popularity with the military for years, Trump narrowly trails Biden among active-duty service members in a Military Times poll taken before the conventions. While the poll isn’t a fully representative sample of the entire military, with respondents drawn from Military Times subscribers, it shows Trump’s favorability declining, from 46% favorable and 37% unfavorable early in his time in office to 38% favorable and 49.9% unfavorable now. Officers had a more negative view of Trump than did enlisted service members.

This race continues to be likely to tighten from Biden’s gaudy leads of the early summer, with signs of that already emerging. A Morning Consult survey released over the weekend showed former Vice President Joe Biden’s lead over Trump narrowing slightly but remaining at six points. But the RNC was one of Trump’s big chances for a reset, and it doesn’t appear he got one. Look for him to get uglier, more vicious, and more dishonest as he gets more desperate.

We need to turn out Democratic voters to defeat Trump in November, even during a pandemic. You can help out from home, no matter where you live, by writing personalized letters to infrequent, but Democratic-leaning, voters in swing states. Click here to set up an account with Vote Forward, the most popular get-out-the-vote activity among Daily Kos activists.

Trump is actually the candidate of lawlessness and civil breakdown.

The body count is rising as heavily armed members of far-right groups are coming out to threaten Black Lives Matter protesters—but some police show every sign of welcoming the vigilantes, while Donald Trump’s Twitter feed is basically one incitement after another. After all, Black Lives Matter protesters dare to criticize police for racism and brutality, while the far right is out there supporting things like the police shooting of Jacob Blake seven times in the back.

Last week, Kenosha, Wisconsin, police failed to arrest 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse after he shot three people at a Black Lives Matter protest, killing two of them. Even more disturbing, shortly before the shooting, police were recorded telling the group Rittenhouse was in: “We appreciate you guys. We really do” and offering them bottles of water. That’s not an isolated incident of police encouraging vigilantes.

In some places it’s been individual police expressing their support, as in Hood County, Texas, where an elected constable and member of the far-right paramilitary group Oath Keepers called on that group to “provide security” for a Dallas hair salon. In other places it’s appeared to go up the chain of command, as in Salem, Oregon, where a police officer gave armed white men the heads up that they should stay inside for a while so police wouldn’t feel obliged to arrest them for breaking curfew. “My command wanted me to come talk to you guys and request that you discreetly remain inside the buildings or in your vehicles, somewhere where it's not a violation," the officer was recorded saying. "So we don't look like we're playing favorites.”

In other places, like Snohomish, Washington, it’s been the police chief right out in public. Snohomish’s police chief welcomed far-right vigilantes to town, including one with a Confederate flag, because of fake rumors about an impending antifa invasion. That police chief is now out of a job, but as part of a pattern of so-called law enforcement welcoming lawbreakers if they’re white and far-right, it’s disturbing. 

It’s telling that police—and, in some other cases, local officials—see people who are threatening violence as allies if they’re there to oppose anti-racism protests. This once again tells us so much about who U.S. law enforcement and the criminal justice system are there to protect and who they’re there to control and keep down. And at this moment in time, the occupant of the White House is eagerly encouraging both that aspect of the official system and the armed vigilantes there to cheer it on.

Trump spent his weekend raging on Twitter, repeatedly assailing Portland, Oregon Mayor Ted Wheeler for resisting federal forces (of the kind that recently spent time pulling people off the street into unmarked vans) after a member of a far-right group was shot and killed as armed Trump supporters caravan’d through the city. Trump also liked a tweet supporting Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who killed two people in Kenosha, and he retweeted a conspiracy theory from One America News about recent protests, claiming it “appears this coup attempt is led by a well funded network of anarchists trying to take down the President.” For this and so many other reasons, Trump is responsible for the violence on his watch.

”Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence?” Wheeler said. “It’s you who have created the hate and the division. It’s you who have not found the way to say the names of Black people killed by police officers even as people in law enforcement have. And it’s you who claimed that white supremacists are good people.” Which Trump still believes, as he makes more clear every day.

Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist from Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institution who joined Donald Trump’s pandemic response team earlier this month, is pushing the president to “embrace a controversial “herd immunity” strategy to combat the pandemic, which would entail allowing the coronavirus to spread through most of the population to quickly build resistance to the virus,” according to the Washington Post.

The paper adds that Atlas wants to adopt Sweden’s reckless approach, the WaPo adds: “That this approach is even being discussed inside the White House is drawing concern from experts inside and outside the government who note that a herd immunity strategy could lead to the country suffering hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lost lives.”

Atlas has no experience in infectious diseases or epidemiology, according to the paper, though WH spokesman Judd Deere described him as a “world renowned physician and scholar of advanced medical care and health care policy.” Another White House official told the paper that Atlas has fashioned himself as “the anti-Dr. Fauci.”

Read the full article.

Reactions:

Just when you thought trumps coronavirus strategy couldn’t get any worse….. https://t.co/JrxsUR2D8F

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) August 31, 2020

The one strategy Trump never seems to have considered is that of taking the pandemic seriously and trying to save American lives https://t.co/TPgOs3wrPt

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) August 31, 2020

This story by @yabutaleb7 and @jdawsey1 should get the Pultizer Prize. It charts out a terrifying future for us with @SWAtlasHoover at the side of @realDonaldTrump ready to just let #COVID19 rush through and ravage millions of Americans' lives. 1/ https://t.co/S6Ko2lZLiy

— Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves) August 31, 2020

White House new COVID adviser urges the US follow Swedish model on the virus: let the disease rip, build herd immunity https://t.co/HXSzbP2bn3

— David Frum (@davidfrum) August 31, 2020

Trump’s new advisor, Scott Atlas, who has no infectious disease training, is pushing the herd immunity strategy which failed in Sweden.

“With a population of 328M in the US, it may require 2.13 million deaths to reach a 65% threshold of herd immunity.” https://t.co/7tF3WYUUvm

— Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) August 31, 2020

The post Top Adviser Urges Trump to Pursue ‘Herd Immunity’ and Allow COVID to Rip Through U.S. Populace, Costing ‘Hundreds of Thousands, if Not Millions’ of Lives appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

News that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence would no longer continue in-person briefings on election security issues but would provide written updates instead raised alarms that the move was just one more underhanded move by Donald Trump to win the U.S. election.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) explained why the move is troubling on CNN’s State of the Union (below): “Because you can make a written report, and you can state things in a written report that are not correct, and you can’t be subject to questioning about it. … When you can hide behind documents or withhold documents, and not have to answer questions about it, it lets you conceal the truth.”

CNN reports: “Still, the abrupt announcement is a change that runs counter to the pledge of transparency and regular briefings on election threats by the intelligence community. It also comes after the top intelligence official on election security issued a statement earlier this month saying China, Russia and Iran are seeking to interfere in the 2020 US election, a warning that prompted some backlash from Democrats on Capitol Hill who have continued to push for the public release of more information about the nature of those efforts.”

Some reactions on Twitter:

Trump and McConnell and Barr are behind this.

— Deborah votes Blue (@caspian5690) August 29, 2020

They predicted that when he was in a corner Trump would do anything. We are seeing the tip of the iceberg

— Sheila (@saenewengland) August 29, 2020

We’re just gonna let him steal the election, aren’t we?

— wear a mask (@megtasa) August 29, 2020

The manufactured mail ballot crisis was to have ppl infiltrate the polls and I believe they have a way of hacking polls now in better ways than 2016

— Chase Manhattan (@kaseynj7) August 29, 2020

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Schiff sent off a sternly worded letter.

Wrote the lawmakers: “This is shameful and – coming only weeks before the election – demonstrates that the Trump Administration is engaged in a politicized effort to withhold election-related information from Congress and the American people at the precise moment that greater transparency and accountability is required. This keeps both the American people and the Congress in the dark, when both are in need of the information. We expect the Administration and Intelligence Community to keep us fully and accurately informed, and resume the briefings. If they are unwilling to, we will consider the full range of tools available to the House to compel compliance.”

But some folks want them to take action:

This is whats wrong with @HouseDemocrats. @SpeakerPelosi @RepAdamSchiff et al face a lawless administration. Then they impotently tweet & rage on TV but REFUSE to use their powers UNDER LAW. Subpoena, followed by inherent contempt. Your weakness is why they keep pushing further. https://t.co/uRVlXs5Y5U

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) August 29, 2020

Democrats, think like a Republican. What would they do? Flex power. Use it. Stop being terrified of your own shadow. Stop being terrified period. Of course, they will attack you with bad faith arguments. Who cares? Use your subpoena power. https://t.co/hrUEMjv81I

— Wajahat "Wears a Mask Because of a Pandemic" Ali (@WajahatAli) August 29, 2020

U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Acting Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) expressed alarm at the changes but blamed them on members of Congress leaking the information and appeared to give Ratcliffe a pass.

Said Rubio in a statement, in part: “Congressional oversight of intelligence activities now faces a historic crisis. … Divulging access to classified information in order to employ it as a political weapon is not only an abuse, it is a serious federal crime with potentially severe consequences on our national security. This situation we now face is due, in no small part, to the willingness of some to commit federal crimes for the purpose of advancing their electoral aims. Yet, this grotesque criminal misconduct does not release the intelligence community from fulfilling its legal requirements to respond to Congressional oversight committees and to keep members of Congress fully informed of relevant information on a timely basis. I have spoken to the Director Radcliffe who stated unequivocally that he will continue to fulfill these obligations. In particular, he made explicitly clear that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will continue receiving briefings on all oversight topics, including election matters.”

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe appeared on FOX News Sunday to defend the move:

Said Ratcliffe to FOX News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday: “Within minutes of one of those briefings ending, a number of members of Congress went to a number of different outlets and leaked classified information for political purposes. To create a narrative that simply isn’t true, that somehow Russia is a greater national security threat than China. I don’t mean to minimize Russia. They are a serious national security threat, but day in, day out, the threats that we face from China are significantly greater. Anyone who says otherwise is just politicizing intelligence for their own narrative.”

Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

Schiff responded on CNN’s State of the Union: “What the administration is saying makes no sense, in terms of their refusal to brief Congress on Russian interference designed to help the Trump campaign. They’re going to put it in writing now, instead of give us an oral briefing. That doesn’t make any sense, unless the goal is not to allow members of Congress, the representatives of the American people, to ask questions, to point out the false equivalence that the administration is trying to promulgate that somehow Russian interference in our election, Russian active measures to try to decide our election to help Donald Trump is no different than other countries are doing. They don’t want those questions answered. They don’t want that information going to the public. This is what the president is after. After all, Donald Trump fired Director Maguire for briefing Congress on the fact that Russia was trying to help his campaign again.”

Asked if he would subpoena intelligence officials to appear in a hearing before the election, Schiff replied: “That is certainly one of the tools that we may use.  I can’t speak for what decision ultimately we will make. That’s a decision that will have to go to the speaker. But we will compel the intelligence community to give Congress the information that we need. We will compel the intelligence community also to speak plainly to the American people, because, Dana, this information, this intelligence, paid for by taxpayers, doesn’t belong to Donald Trump. It doesn’t belong to the intelligence agencies. It belongs to the American people.”

The post DNI John Ratcliffe Defends Move to Cut Off In-Person Briefings to Congress on 2020 Election Security Issues as Dem Lawmakers Raise Alarm: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

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"They go by different names: ritual consultants, sacred designers, soul-centered advertisers," reports the New York Times, describing "a new corporate clergy" working as "divinity consultants" and "designing sacred rituals for corporations." They have degrees from divinity schools. Their business is borrowing from religious tradition to bring spiritual richness to corporate America. In simpler times, divinity schools sent their graduates out to lead congregations or conduct academic research. Now there is a more office-bound calling: the spiritual consultant. Those who have chosen this path have founded agencies — some for-profit, some not — with similar-sounding names: Sacred Design Lab, Ritual Design Lab, Ritualist. They blend the obscure language of the sacred with the also obscure language of management consulting to provide clients with a range of spiritually inflected services, from architecture to employee training to ritual design. Their larger goal is to soften cruel capitalism, making space for the soul, and to encourage employees to ask if what they are doing is good in a higher sense. Having watched social justice get readily absorbed into corporate culture, they want to see if more American businesses are ready for faith. "We've seen brands enter the political space," said Casper ter Kuile, a co-founder of Sacred Design Lab. Citing a Vice report, he added: "The next white space in advertising and brands is spirituality...." Ezra Bookman founded Ritualist, which describes itself as "a boutique consultancy transforming companies and communities through the art of ritual," last year in Brooklyn. He has come up with rituals for small firms for events like the successful completion of a project — or, if one fails, a funeral. "How do we help people process the grief when a project fails and help them to move on from it?" Mr. Bookman said. Messages on the start-up's Instagram feed read like a kind of menu for companies who want to buy operational rites a la carte: "A ritual for purchasing your domain name (aka your little plot of virtual land up in the clouds)." "A ritual for when you get the email from LegalZoom that you've been officially registered as an LLC." The articles notes there are problems when combining the corporate with the religious. For one thing, "It's hard to exhort workers to give their professional activities transcendental meaning when, at the same time, those workers can be terminated."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

President Donald Trump is to visit Kenosha, Wis., where unrest has surged over the past week in the wake of the police shooting of an unarmed African American man, Jacob Blake.

During a Saturday roundtable discussion in Orange, Texas, in which state officials assessed the storm damage from Hurricane Laura, a reporter asked the president whether he would also visit Kenosha.

"Probably so," Trump responded. Following Trump's comment, White House spokesperson Judd Deere confirmed the president will visit Kenosha on Tuesday to meet with law enforcement and survey damage from recent violence, according to a pool report.

Blake, 29, was shot in the back seven times by a white police officer Sunday as he attempted to enter his own car. Blake survived the shooting but family members have said he is now paralyzed.

More than 1,000 National Guard soldiers have been on standby at the Kenosha protests to prevent a further escalation of violence, Reuters reported. Roughly 1,000 people, including Blake's father, marched peacefully there Saturday in a rally against police brutality, the Associated Press reported.

Trump has repeatedly used protests as a campaign talking point, contrasting a "law and order message" with Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

On Thursday, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said the police officer who shot Blake should be charged with a crime.

The president also used the roundtable question to criticize officials in Portland, Ore., a city that has seen months of protests over systemic racism. He said Portland's mayor "doesn't have a clue what he's doing."

Trump's comments echoed sentiments from his recent tweets on outbreaks of unrest in cities nationwide.

"Portland, with a very ungifted mayor, should request help from the Federal Government. If lives are endangered, we’re going in!" Trump tweeted earlier Saturday.

Later Saturday, Trump in a tweet called for the arrest of protesters who confronted Sen. Rand Paul and other attendees of the final night of the Republican National Convention in the streets around the White House after the event.

"The thugs who accosted Senator @RandPaul and his wonderful wife, Kelly, together with those who made threats to many other people who had just attended the Republican National Convention at the White House, must be sought out and immediately arrested. Well documented evidence!" he wrote.

During the Saturday roundtable, Trump deferred on a question on the fatal shooting of two Kenosha protesters Tuesday, in which a 17-year-old from Illinois has been charged, saying the case is under investigation.

"They'll be reporting back to me over the next 24 hours, 48 hours maybe max, and we’ll have a comment about it," he said.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden accepting his nomination at the Democratic National Convention. | Liu Jie/Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images

The new ABC News/Ipsos poll also found Americans weren’t big fans of the RNC.

The Republican National Convention may have ended with a literal bang — fireworks spelling out “Trump 2020” — on Thursday last week, but according to a new post-convention ABC News-Ipsos poll, President Donald Trump isn’t getting much of a convention bounce — at least when it comes to his approval rating.

Historically, presidential candidates see notable, though frequently ephemeral, increases in their polling following their party’s conventions. For instance, in 2016, Gallup found Trump’s approval rating rose about 5 percentage points following the GOP convention, before falling ahead of the election.

However, this year, Ipsos pollsters found Trump’s overall approval rating to be essentially the same as it was ahead of the GOP’s convention, falling 1 percentage point from the previous week to 31 percent.

The poll, taken from August 28 to 29, also found Americans were not won over by the convention’s message, with 59 percent of Americans disapproving of the content of the RNC’s four nights of programming, versus the 37 percent who approved. Overall, 48 percent of Americans reported that they watched, slightly less than the 50 percent who said they tuned in for the Democratic National Convention the week prior.

Throughout his presidency, Trump has not enjoyed particularly high favorability ratings (although he has maintained strong Republican support). His numbers, however, have been largely durable — and these most recent numbers, while a bit lower than the average tabulated by FiveThirtyEight, reflect that stability. Setting aside Trump’s favorability rating — by no means a perfect cipher for actual support — of perhaps greater concern for the president is that his polling deficit against Democratic nominee Joe Biden has remained all but static in FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average in recent weeks.

From August 22, the Saturday after the DNC, to August 29, the Saturday after the RNC, Biden’s lead has barely changed, moving from from 8.8 percentage points to 8.6 percentage points. Pollsters are still collecting data to determine whether the convention altered any voter preferences — but that gap is a reminder how beneficial a post-convention polling bounce with respect to who voters plan to cast their ballots for would be to his campaign.

Can a virtual convention still provide a bounce?

As FiveThirtyEight’s Geoffrey Skelley pointed out as far back as early July this year, there are plenty of questions about whether the importance of the convention bounce is fading as the American electorate grows increasingly polarized. This year’s virtual conventions — absent much of the usual pageantry seen in a normal presidential year — could also have dampened some of the factors behind past bounces.

But, with respect to approval, the “no bounce” theory doesn’t necessarily square with what the ABC News-Ipsos poll shows for Biden. While Trump’s favorability is sliding, Biden’s has ticked steadily upward in August. The former vice president now stands at 46 percent according to ABC News and Ipsos, with 40 percent disapproval.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris has fared ever better, vaulting from just 35 percent favorability when she was announced as Biden’s VP pick on August 11 to 43 percent in the most recent poll.

And while Biden banked a 7 percentage point increase in his favorability among Democrats, according to ABC’s Kendall Karson, Trump’s favorability with Republicans fell by 4 percentage points post-convention.

Trump’s alternate-reality bounce

If a spree of Sunday-morning retweets are anything to go by, however, Trump is a believer in the bounce — and in the ABC/Ipsos results being an outlier. The president boosted tweets and analysis from right-wing Twitter account @PollWatch2020 more than twenty times, including polls from the Democracy Institute and the Trafalgar Group showing him winning nationally and in key swing states.

There’s plenty of reason to be doubtful of those numbers, though: The Trafalgar Group gets a C- in FiveThirtyEight’s pollster ratings, and the Democracy Institute isn’t even listed.

Also of concern is the fact both groups’ numbers fly in the face of just about everything else out there — in Michigan, for example, Biden’s average lead stands at 7.1 percentage points, and that includes the Trafalgar poll that shows Trump winning. In fact, Trafalgar has the only FiveThirtyEight-recognized poll this month to show Trump winning by any margin in the state.

This isn’t the first time Trump has rejected reality as presented by reputable pollsters: In June, his campaign sent a cease and desist letter to CNN after the network published a poll showing Trump losing to Biden; CNN brushed off the complaint as “factually and legally baseless” and “yet another bad faith attempt by the campaign to threaten litigation to muzzle speech it does not want voters to read or hear.”

But trying to quash polls that don’t look good for your campaign isn’t a great reelection strategy, especially when most of the polls are in consistent agreement. In the key swing states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Biden still retains a lead, one mirrored in national polls.

Polls are, as Vox’s Li Zhou has noted, a portrait of a moment in time. But with less than 70 days until the election, Trump has limited time to change public opinion if he wants to serve a second term.

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A fundraiser on the Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo has raised more than $224,000 for the defense of Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse, 17, of Antioch, Illinois, a pro-police activist, was charged with first-degree murder after two people were killed and one wounded amid protests Tuesday night in Kenosha, Wisconsin over the police shooting of unarmed black man Jacob Blake.

ICYMI: Kenosha Sheriff Lies About Watching Jacob Blake Shooting; Police Chief Defends Officers Who Allowed 17-Year-Old Shooter to Walk Right By Them: WATCH

A paragraph on the Christian fundraiser reads: “Kyle Rittenhouse just defended himself from a brutal attack by multiple members of the far-leftist group ANTIFA – the experience was undoubtedly a brutal one, as he was forced to take two lives to defend his own. Now, Kyle is being unfairly charged with murder 1, by a DA who seems determined only to capitalize on the political angle of the situation. The situation was clearly self-defense, and Kyle and his family will undoubtedly need money to pay for the legal fees. Let’s give back to someone who bravely tried to defend his community.”

The fundraiser also bears the “Blue Lives Matter” flag.

The post Christian Crowdfunding Site Raises $224,000 (and Counting) for Kenosha Killer appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Rep. Cedric Richmond, who serves as co-chairman of Joe Biden's presidential campaign, took President Donald Trump to task on Sunday over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, race relations and a faltering economy.

“This is Trump's America. He has to own this moment,” Richmond (D-La.) said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “He has to own the incompetence around coronavirus and 180,000 American deaths, almost 6 million infections, almost 38 million jobless claims. He has to own it. This is his America.”

Richmond chided Trump’s handling of the economy and called on Democrats to “hone in on that” and remind voters where the economy stood four years ago as the 2020 campaign enters its homestretch.

“The one thing Trump does very well is say the same thing over and over again. Most of the time it's a lie, but he says it over and over again and people start to believe it,” the Louisiana Democrat said. "We have to continue to say over and over again that this president has destroyed and wrecked this economy just like everything he has ever touched in his life.”

The former Congressional Black Caucus chairman was pressed on the Democratic Party’s eroding support among Black men in recent elections and the Trump campaign’s concerted effort to reach out to them. Richmond signaled that the Biden campaign would be stepping up efforts to speak directly to Black men in the closing days of the campaign.

"We will not make assumptions. We will not take them for granted. We're going to talk directly to them,” Richmond said. “So whether it's about mass incarceration, economic opportunity, homeownership, college affordability, increasing education funding, all of those things. So we're going to go where Black men are and talk to Black men about their issues.”

Trump won just over 8 percent of the Black vote in 2016. While Biden is expected to win overwhelming support among African American voters in 2020, Trump’s campaign is hoping its attempts to woo some to its camp could make a difference in swing states like North Carolina and Wisconsin. On Sunday, Trump retweeted this statement: “Trump got 8 percent of Black vote in 2016. I’ve been predicting 11-13 percent in 2020. I’m thinking he could get 14-16 percent now.“

Richmond contended that Trump's "incompetent" response to the pandemic and systemic racism isn't likely to garner support from most Black men.

"They can get killed and the president won't say a word, won't utter Jacob Blake's name, will not talk about police reform. If you look at unemployment, Black unemployment is twice that of white unemployment," Richmond said. "Donald Trump very effectively in 2016 raised the question to Black men: What do you have to lose? I think now Black men see clearly what they have to lose."

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) echoed Richmond in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," saying it's "offensive" for Trump to say he's done more for African Americans than any president since Abraham Lincoln, a remark Trump often makes when touting his support among Black voters.

"I don't believe that the African American population is going to be fooled by the last 3½ years of a president who clearly stokes racial violence, who stokes racism," Bass said. "I think that the majority of Black folks are very clear that the last three years of this presidency have been devastating."

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Sunday that he did not know a video in which he participated in a naturalization ceremony would be broadcast during the Republican National Convention.

Wolf went on defense when asked about the video’s use at the RNC, noting that the department does “hundreds, if not, thousands” of ceremonies like it every year.

“It was uploaded to a public YouTube channel,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Anyone, any individual, organization or political party can pull down that video and do with it as they wish.”

But Jonathan Karl, the program’s co-anchor and ABC’s chief Washington correspondent, doubled down on the question — asking Wolf whether he knew it would be used at the GOP convention.

“No,” Wolf replied, adding, “We had a number of USCIS employees there, as they do every naturalization ceremony, making sure that that ceremony goes off without a hitch. They were giving that oath of allegiance to those individuals there. And again, we’ll continue to do that, because that's our mission at the department.”

On Tuesday, viewers of the convention saw a ceremony filmed at the White House that featured Trump observing the swearing-in of five new U.S. citizens and congratulating the participants. Subsequent news reports indicated that the new citizens didn’t know their ceremony would be used as part of the convention.

Wolf’s comments came after DHS employees received an email Thursday reminding them not to engage in “partisan political activity.”

The email was to serve as a reminder of the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that prohibits most employees of the executive branch from participating in political activities. A department spokesperson said such reminders are sent out frequently to employees during election season.

Democrats called for an investigation into Wolf’s potential violation of the Hatch Act.

House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) wrote in a letter to the Office of Special Counsel that the broadcast was “an unprecedented politicization of the naturalization ceremony — an official function of the Department of Homeland Security.”

“Mr. Wolf's participation appears to constitute engaging in political activity while acting in an official capacity,” the letter read.

Early this morning, House Republican Whip Rep. Steve Scalise tweeted a video purportedly meant to show "mob rule" and "total chaos" was "the result of the Democrat agenda." Aside from the (ahem) rabidity of Scalise's claims, there's one big problem:

The member of House Republican leadership tweeted a clearly doctored video.

The doctored tape was first pointed out by reporter David Weigel, who showed that Scalise's video manipulated an interview with activist Ady Barkan. Barkan speaks with the assistance of a computer-generated voice; Scalise's version flagrantly adds words, using the same generated voice, to Barkan's question.

The fake audio was soon afterwards called out both by those responsible for the original video and by Barkan himself. “You owe the entire disability community an apology,” tweeted Barkan.

Despite receiving a "Manipulated media" tag from Twitter for the fraud, Scalise's team is standing by their manipulation, claiming they "condensed" Barkan's question "to the essence of what he was asking, as is common practice."

Obviously, generating fake audio to alter what a speaker factually said is not a "common practice," in this country. It may be in some others.

As of now, Scalise's video remains up; it indeed appears that the House Republican intends to promote doctored videos as campaign-trail strategy. This is unsurprising, as Rep. Steve Scalise has long been both dishonest and corrupt.

One of the many oddities of the now-terminated Robert Mueller probe into Russian election interference and its links to various members of the Trump campaign and family, and in fact of all known federal probes into Russia's Trump-related actions, has been the seeming lack of any counterintelligence probe on Donald Trump's myriad, longstanding financial connections to Russia—and what role those financial ties have played both in the Russian government's actions on behalf of Trump and their possible leverage over the now-president.

A new story from The New York Times' Michael Schmidt reports that that's because in the first months of the new Trump administration, former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein shuttered that investigation—then ordered special counsel Robert Mueller to steer clear of it himself. It's not that the counterintelligence investigation into Trump's known ties to Russian crime figures, to money laundering, and his family's stated reliance on Russian cash has been kept closely-held: It never existed. And it still doesn't.

The accusation being leveled by acting Federal Bureau of Investigation director Andrew McCabe against Rosenstein goes further, suggesting that Rosenstein intentionally misled him. Schmidt reports that McCabe launched a counterintelligence probe into Trump's Russian ties immediately after Trump's firing of former FBI director James Comey, a move that was widely publicly speculated to be a Trump move to quash investigations into Russian election actions and into numerous of Trump's top advisers and allies. The fear within the intelligence community was that Trump's behaviors could be impacted by unknown Russian pressures, representing an immediate national security threat.

Rosenstein, however, ordered the probe shut down. Rosenstein did not tell McCabe that directly, says Schmidt, but instead left McCabe "with the impression that the special counsel would take on [that] investigation" as part of Mueller's overall Russian interference inquiry.

But separately, Rosenstein told Mueller that he wasn't to pursue the counterintelligence concerns either.

That means no federal investigation into Trump's Russian cash have been undertaken during his presidency, despite numerous papers and journalists themselves identifying significant ties between Donald Trump's finances and individuals close to the Russian government. Not by intelligence officials, not by the special counsel's team, and not the Senate's own Russia probes. Through the entirety of Trump's term, all probes of financial ties to Russian interests—which he has retained, even in the presidency—have each been blocked.

Schmidt's claims here seem impossible to fully believe. It would require that federal law enforcement officials turn a blind eye to a potentially massive national security threat—the very real chance that Trump was and is being intimidated into, or merely bribed into, pursuing Putin-preferred policies damaging to the United States. Trump's moves to weaken NATO, his pressure on allies to weaken Russian sanctions and re-elevate Russia as economic leader, and his mostly-successful sabotage of the Ukrainian government's ability to push back Russian forces during a key Russian military push have each been contrary to longstanding U.S. interests. None have been competently explained, not even by Trump's own national security officials.

As expert Marcy Wheeler suggests, that both Rosenstein and Sen. Richard Burr specifically chose, in their probes, "not to look into the most obvious source of compromise suggests that someone knows what they would find." After Trump's continued pattern of gleeful lawbreaking, it's now more plausible to believe Trump is acting for personal financial gain in his dealings with Russia than it is to believe his actions rest on any supposed ideological foundation. The Senate and Justice Department both continue to make rigorously sure, however, to leave those questions intentionally unanswered.

As colleges continue to reopen for in-person classes amid the pandemic, reports of students testing positive for the coronavirus are not all too surprising. Of course, the numbers coming out of some institutions are a lot bigger than others. For example, according to the University of Alabama System dashboard, more than 1,000 students have now tested positive for COVID-19 since classes resumed. How long have classes been in session? Less than two weeks.

As Daily Kos previously covered, less than a week after classes resumed on August 19, there were over 500 cases between students, faculty, and staff. Before that, over 300 students tested positive for the virus when tested before arriving back on campus. According to CNN, no students have been hospitalized due to COVID-19. 

As The Daily Beast reported, faculty members from multiple departments reportedly received emails directing them not to talk about the virus outbreak on campus. The email also instructed against posting about the outbreak on social media, referencing HIPAA concerns. 

The university has more than one campus location—with Tuscaloosa being the largest, at close to 40,000 students—including in Birmingham and Huntsville. Its Birmingham location has reported more than 150 student cases, and Huntsville has reported 10. 

What’s potentially behind the uptick at the main campus? With so many factors at play in any analysis of the virus, it’s impossible to know for sure. But some trends are bubbling up at universities across the country. According to the Associated Press, Dr. Ricky Friend told the outlet, “We encountered many students who have been exposed since returning to campus, particularly in the Greek system.”

Off-campus Greek life houses, including for fraternities and sororities, have been linked with case clusters at colleges across the nation, including in Seattle, Washington, and Oxford, Mississippi. In Alabama’s case, they’ve now banned student gatherings, as well as visitors to sorority and fraternity houses, for two weeks. The mayor of Tuscaloosa, Walt Maddox, directed all bars, and bar services in restaurants, to shutter for 14 days as well. 

As reported by The Washington Post, a spokesperson for the university, Monica Watts, said there was no evidence the virus was spreading in classrooms. 

Outside of colleges, coronavirus clusters are, of course, still a source of real concern for children and teenagers returning to in-person classes. Positive cases among students have already been reported from around the country; some teachers are responding to being called back to work by writing their own obituaries. Others are marching with mock caskets and skeletons. 

Giancarlo Granda, the Fontainebleu Hotel pool boy who had a 7-year relationship with Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife Becki, spoke out in a new interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopolous on Saturday.

Stephanopoulos asked Granda about several of the allegations that have been made and denied by the Falwells, specifically Jerry’s denial that he had anything to do with Granda’s sexual affair with Becki.

ICYMI: Becki Falwell Blew Her Son’s Friend After Band Practice: Liberty University Student

Said Granda: “Jerry is lying. That was his game plan from the beginning, to just throw her under the bus. Which I think speaks a lot about who he is.”

“He was aware from day one of our relationship and he did, in fact, watch,” Granda added. “Jerry was laying on the bed. He was drunk, and he was giggling. He enjoyed watching.”

Granda also said Becki told him the Falwells were at Miami Velvet, a swingers club, the night before they met, but didn’t like it because there were too many people. They wanted something more intimate, and thus launched the affair with Granda.

Granda denied that he targeted them, and allegations that he has targeted other successful women. Granda said he feels he was an “ideal” target for them because he shared his weaknesses, such as his video game addiction, and dreams about real estate. He was 20-years-old at the time.

Granda said all he wants is to “cut ties” with the Falwells by selling his stake in the company they invested in together.

The post Falwell Pool Boy Speaks Out in On-Air Interview: ‘Jerry Was Laying on the Bed…Drunk and Giggling’ — WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Arkansas County Sheriff Todd Wright resigned on Friday after a five-minute recording in which he used the N-word several times went viral on social media this week.

In the recording, Wright is heard yelling at a woman about an employee she had talked to in a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Dewitt, Arkansas.

Wright tells the woman, “Shut up you f**king n***er lover! … Every motherf**ker in this store and you gotta talk to the f**king (inaudible) n***er. Right there in front of me, like y’all f**king best buddies. It is a big f**king deal. People f**king see me and see you talking to f**king n***ers.”

for anyone who doesn't know what i'm talking about- https://t.co/tbHn1rdRaL pic.twitter.com/LPhuftroHw

— 212121. (@liilabb2) August 27, 2020

The Stuttgart Daily Leader reports that Wright resigned after a special session of the Arkansas County Quorum court: “Wright offered an apology for any offense the recording caused, and said that his comments were in the heat of the moment. Wright insisted he was not racist. Following comments by the public, including the mother and aunt of the man Wright disparaged in the video, Wright initially said he did not intend to resign.”

“The court voted unanimously to approve the resolution and asked Wright to resign,” the paper added. “Following further comments from the public asking for his resignation, including family friend Destiny Brown, Wright said that if he were given a month to get his affairs in order and look for another job, he would resign. However, Dewitt business owner and friend of Wright’s, Bobby Webb pleaded with him to resign immediately, saying, ‘I’ve known you all my life. You need to take that badge and you need to lay it on that table and you need to walk out of here. You know I love you .’ Wright became emotional and gave a verbal resignation before a brief intermission, during which a formal written resignation was created.”

Wright had been with the Arkansas County police for 26 years.

The post Arkansas Sheriff Resigns After Filthy ‘N’ Word Rant Goes Viral, Ending 26-Year Career: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

(727): Look, I know why you're asking me, but just because I'm gay does not make me a wiki on butt sex. Ask a doctor or you know, the internet like everyone else.

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

(NOTE FROM HELEN – I use a lot of dirty words in this story.  A lot even for me.  And dirty even for me.  If you suffer through the nasty language, I think you might enjoy the intended message.  If not, I’m sorry.  Get over it.)

Margaret, I know you didn’t watch the shit show this week, so I did. We pride ourselves on being informed so I suffered through it for the both of us.  Here is what you missed:

• Night One: Land of Heroes – Evidently most heroes are white and scream a lot.
• Night Two: Land of Promise – The GOP promises that if you vote for Donald, you will never, ever have a black person as a next door neighbor.  Plus! Melania promises that the guy who left his first two wives and then cheated on her will never, ever lie to you.
• Night Three: Land of Opportunity – Given the opportunity, Mike and Karen Pence would probably tell me to my face that they are more Christian than I. Pence gives an amazing speech while simultaneously crawling up Trump’s ass. Also, Donald Trump really didn’t hug his kids enough… if at all.
• Night Four: Land of Great Asshats – Ben Carson put a cup of coffee to sleep.  In the land of greatness if you stay out past curfew, some white guy also out past curfew gets to shoot you.  It’s in the constitution. Oh and, Trump lied.

Basically, the theme of the week is that only Donald Trump can save us from the mess that Donald Trump made.  However, it had an interesting subplot where some bitch YELLED LIKE A MOTHER FUCKER at us right before her high-as-a-kite boyfriend and his brother begged the business man who raised them to please love them.

Sorry for the bad words.  It’s just that I am overly anxious after a week of speakers screaming at me about HOW HORRIBLE AMERICA IS. It was almost as if they forgot that Donald Trump was President.

Years ago, I got caught calling Sarah Palin a bitch and suddenly a whole lot of people started paying attention to our little blog. In retrospect, I should not have called her a bitch. That word is derogatory towards women. It’s also a female dog and honestly dogs are just the best which would mean a female dog is perfection and I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that Sarah Palin is perfect. I meant to suggest that she is a stupid twat.   No wait.

Twat is another one of those words that offends me because it is another derogatory word that is almost exclusively used to denigrate women. I say “almost” exclusively because I have watched a few English comedy shows during quarantine and it appears that they apply that word to pretty much everybody. But still, it’s not a word I like. My apologies to all of you for having to read it. I know I could go back and just delete it, but then I would also have to delete all the words I have written afterwards and that is really just too much time and energy wasted on Sarah Palin. And honestly, who cares about that b… that t…. that… let’s just go with asshat. Who cares about that asshat anymore?

Asshat is genderless, right?  I mean everyone has an ass and a head and pretty much every Republican I have met – male, female, intersex, Lindsey Graham – has been able to easily and successfully stick their head up their own ass or, in the case of Lindsey Graham, up Trump’s ass. There doesn’t seem to be male/female preference for being an asshat. I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU KIMBERLY GUFFEROLLAFUL.. GUFF.. GUER….  never mind her last name. You know who I am talking about. That bitch who is dating Don Jr.   Oh crap. I said bitch. I meant asshat. KIMBERLY GOOGLELY IS AN ASSHAT.  KEEP READING BECAUSE THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

I really am sorry. It’s one of those old dogs, new tricks situations. I need to stop using the term bitch to describe Republican women who always seem to have their head up their asses.

Maybe if I try to apply that term to a man…

Mike Pence, however, is the real bitch. Well shit. That doesn’t work either. Using bitch to belittle a man doesn’t really solve my problem. Mike Pence is actually a homophobic, boot licking, mother fucker…

Now wait. Just hold on right there. Hard stop.

Mother fucker is a horrible expression and I have now used it twice.  It is just horrible and not a term I tolerate. Except… Mike literally sleeps with a woman he calls Mother. So, there is that. But between you and me, I’m not real sure about the fucker part. He seems more like the Jerry Falwell Jr. in the corner while mother has sex with the pool boy type. My goodness but I sound like a dime store novel.

Unrelated but related, I need to remind you that Evangelicals got behind Trump in large numbers when Jerry Falwell Jr. told them that Trump was their guy. Is anyone now asking Evangelicals why Jerry Falwell Jr. was the guy they were listening to in the first place?

But I digress…

I need to stop here and explain something. I have always had a “sailor’s mouth” as my mother used to say. I haven’t shied away from words like shit, damn and asshole. I rarely used the term bitch until I met Sarah Palin, but the term just seemed to fit her so well. The problem is, once you let that cat out of the bag, a whole lot of other cats start hanging around. Cats like twat, mother fucker and even (dare I say it) the c-word. Cocaine.

How in the world did I get this low? How in the world did Jr. get that high?

I’m supposed to go high when they go low. And speaking of high, did anyone else catch Don Jr.’s speech? I mean this isn’t my world. I am really out of my lane here, but was that cocaine? It was cocaine, right? Or did that Kimberly girl just bitch slap the hell out of him? Oh shit, I used the word bitch again. Damn it. I blame the Trumps. They did this to me. They ruin everything. Of course, that doesn’t explain why I called Sarah Palin a bitch so many years ago. That was long before Trump. It must be the GOP then. The GOP ruins everything.

In truth, I might be on to something here. The GOP gave us Sarah and Donald. Son of a bitch! That’s it!

No wait. That’s an even worse expression. I’m just arbitrarily calling some mother a bitch. Unless of course that mother is Karen Pence! Oh, dear Lord. I’m really digging myself into a hole. I really don’t enjoy becoming this person. I’m normally a very happy, go lucky, you-be-you kind of gal. But in the last four years…

The last four years.

Isn’t that how it usually works, though? It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s usually a slow slide. You use bitch once and then you use it again and eventually it slides off the tongue like melted butter.

Take Trump for example. He lies. He lies a lot actually. And in the beginning, we were all taken aback by it. It was almost comical until it wasn’t. I’ll release my taxes but then I won’t. I admitted to sexually assaulting women and then I was really just joking. I told my wife I do until I didn’t. He lies. And then he lies about his lies. And then he lies so much we begin to normalize it because… That is just Trump being Trump. At least you always know what is on his mind. He’s not afraid to say what he is thinking. And before you know it, you’re drinking bleach, sticking a lightbulb up your ass, eating aquarium cleaners, not wearing a mask and just like that – 180,000 Americans are dead.

Or here is another one. You start by preventing people of color from living in buildings you own. You falsely accuse five young black boys of murder and call for their execution. You suggest that America’s first black President isn’t a legal citizen. You accuse Mexicans of being rapists and drug dealers. You call black neighborhoods hell on earth. You suggest Nazis are very fine people even when they drive a car over someone. You give a national platform to two accused felons who pointed guns at peaceful protestors and let them tell white people to arm themselves because the blacks are coming for them.  And just like that you have a white kid shooting people in the face because they are protesting police who are shooting black people in the back. Hate slips off Donald’s tongue like so much… so much melted butter.

In Trump’s America, a black man who might have a knife gets shot in the back seven times by police officers while a white teenager shooting people with a gun gets water and a thank you from police officers. So much butter in Trump’s big, fat America.

Trump, my friends, is a bitch of a twat mother fucker.  And I have no intentions of apologizing for using those words to describe him. It was a slippery slope to get there, but no other words fit quite so well. I thought about calling him the c-word. The c – word is a word that once referred to something beautiful. The Hindu Goddess Kunti, or great “Yoni of the Universe,” represented the beauty and power of the female body. It then was wrongfully changed to suggest something ugly because celebrating female sexuality was considered evil. It was beautiful and then someone decided to make it ugly. Trump takes everything that is beautiful and makes it ugly. He also seems to hate females. So, to me that word fits him. But as I type all these nasty words, I wonder if maybe I am digging myself into a hole. And is it a hole I  want to dig for myself because in Trump’s America, I feel like I reached bottom a long time ago.

I like words.  And I like a President who knows more than four or five words. I don’t like Trump.

But speaking of digging a hole. Did you catch Nikki Haley’s speech? Now there is a woman who needs to stop digging. Nikki Haley has officially reached bottom too. Did she really go on national TV to make the case that America isn’t racist and then go on to make her case by describing how when she was Governor of South Carolina she had to remove a certain divisive symbol from the state’s Capitol after a white supremacist murdered several black people while they were praying in their church? I mean did I really hear her right? Damn it. This not calling people a bitch thing is really, really getting hard.

Ok. Let me start over here. Kimberly Gerfoul.. Gerulfile… Kimberly Goofball… you know.. that bitch dating Don Jr…

Well shit.

At this time, I would like to apologize to Margaret’s and my readers for my inability to discuss the Republican Party without using the terms bitch, fuckers, asshat, and the c-word. You all deserve better. And as a woman I should strive to be better. And I will try to be better. In fact, I will try to be best. And speaking of Melania. That bitch ruined Jackie’s rose garden. She took away all the color and most of the trees so she could get some better camera angles for her speech… oh shit. See what I did there? I got going on a rant and almost didn’t catch myself calling yet another female member of the GOP a bitch.

Ok deep breath. 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1

Now exhale.

Ok. I can do this. I can. I will. From this point forward, I commit to treating all women with more respect. Throwing out the term bitch every time I get mad at someone is lazy.  It’s ignorant. It’s anti-woman.  And I need to stop it because it is also misleading.

They aren’t bitches. They aren’t assholes or asshats. They aren’t mother fuckers. They aren’t even the c-word.

The are liars. Plain and simple.  And you don’t respond to liars by calling them names. You respond to liars by telling the truth.

I respect just how artfully Melania planned that rose garden massacre. About the same time that Trump realized his convention would have to be virtual, Melanie (oops – Melania) decided that the Rose Garden needed a remodel. In the middle of a pandemic and an economic disaster, the rose garden just had to have a makeover. Afterall, to get enough cameras and lighting for her Rose Garden Convention Speech, she would need to remove some trees and add some cement. She is clever that one. I’ll give her that. She might be the most clever of all the Trumps. I bet for awhile there, she was taking butter to bed with her almost every night. I also bet that of all the words that begin with C, you didn’t think I would use clever to describe Melania.

Kimberly Gerfo… Guhig… Guffoffly isn’t as clever.  And she is not a bitch. I mean she is, but you won’t hear that from me… anymore.  She is loud. I will give her that. VERY LOUD. And she dates a man who seems to snort lots of cocaine and quite literally lures endangered animals out of hiding so he can murder them. She left Fox News due to accusations of sexual misconduct and abusive behavior. Granted she denies that, but anyone who saw her screaming at America the other night probably would concur that she’s not an ideal co-worker.

But enough about Kimberly.  She is so not interested in the truth that she doesn’t even realize her mother isn’t an immigrant. Kimberly, they had an acutal immigrant on later in the show.  You didn’t have to lie. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LEADERS AND FIGHTERS FOR FREEDOM AND LIBERTY, KIM’S PUERTO RICAN MOTHER IS ACTUALLY A US CITIZEN!  It was inevitable that Kim would find the Trumps – another family that seems to get confused about Puerto Ricans. I’m just shocked she had a brief layover with Gavin Newsome on her way to hell. But I guess that might say more about Gavin than it does about Kimberly.

Nikki Haley really isn’t a bitch either.  She is a liar, sure. And a hypocrite, absolutely.  She admitted that Donald Trump was “everything we hear and teach our children not to do in Kindergarten” . She then went to work for him and now supports his reelection.  The woman who couldn’t even last two full years working for Trump wants us to sign up for eight years. What exactly is she teaching her children now? By the way, Nikki, the word you forgot to use in your speech was Confederate. It was a Confederate flag you were talking about.  And all those black lives that you said mattered?  You forgot a few.  You forgot Emmett, Eric, Dante, Treyvon, Breonna, George… You forgot to mention those black lives and so many others. Did they matter, Nikki?  Did they?  Because they were all somebody’s baby.

Racism in America is real Nikki. They’ll be asking for your birth certificate in four years. Mark my words.

And speaking of birth certificates…

In retrospect, Melania Trump is not a bitch either. She really doesn’t care anyway. She does not care about a lot of things. She says she does, but she doesn’t.  She told us she was taking on internet bullies and well that didn’t go very well. She is still married to the king of internet trash. She went to visit children in cages quite literally wearing a jacket that said, “I really don’t care. Do you?”. She says it had nothing to do with the visit, but that really isn’t the point. The point is that the First Lady doesn’t care. The woman has never apologized for suggesting that Obama’s birth certificate wasn’t real. Mr. and Mrs. Birther. God, they are awful.

And now at the convention Melania claimed that Donald Trump is honest. Seriously? The man is on record lying to the American people thousands of times. He cheated on all three of his wives including Melania, whom he cheated on with a porn star shortly after Melania gave birth to Barron. Bless her heart, but the third wife (third!) actually told Americans that Donald would never give up on you. I mean if irony was going to die, how better fitting than to die in a rose garden that Melania renovated to look like a cemetery?

(Side note: I don’t have an issue with porn stars. I hear Stormy is a pretty good one. In truth, Melania got her start as one – sort of. I really don’t know the difference between a soft porn star and a hard porn star. Well, unless they are male. But I am getting off track. I just thought I should point out that in the Trump family you can go from porn to the White House in less than one lifetime… that’s impressive regardless of your political affiliation. OK. This was really just an opportunity for me to point out that Tim Scott’s family going from Cotton to Congress in one lifetime is indeed remarkable. But it’s even more remarkable that he doesn’t see the irony in that statement. The irony that he isn’t just the first, but he is THE ONLY African American to be elected to both the United States House and Senate. Tim, why aren’t there more?)

If Donald Trump had been President in 1996, Melania would not even be an American citizen. And neither would her parents. Barron would probably be called a dreamer or an anchor baby. And while I appreciate that Melania’s heart [sic] goes out to the families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19, just what exactly has she done about it? What empathy has she or her husband ever shown to anyone? Let me remind you AGAIN that the woman wore an I DON’T CARE jacket to visit kids in cages and her husband said he had no responsibility when it came to the pandemic. I honestly must question the existence of a heart in either one of them.

And speaking of heartless…

Mike Pence is not a bitch either. He is a mother fucker by definition. Hey, come on now.  I’m not willing to budge on that. I don’t call Karen, Mother. He does.

You don’t like the expression Mother Fucker? Ok. Fair enough. Let me just go back to calling him a homophobic, hypocritical, liar. That’s not name calling. That is just fact. If you are reading this and you are voting for Trump, then I am not going to waste my time explaining why each of those words is accurate.  You have access to the internet. Use your head for something other than a hat rack and Google it.

Mike is asking us to make America great again… again. His words. Not mine. He wants us to make America great again, again. I am wondering if the second time around we can do it without praising Nazis, without botching the response to a pandemic, and with Biden as President rather than Trump. I would watch that sequel.

All week long we have been hearing that the only one who can save us from this mess is the guy who made the mess. I am actually writing this on Thursday afternoon, before Donald gives his speech. I don’t intend to watch. I don’t need to watch. He will lie a few times, call it the China virus, suggest that Biden wants to defund police, tell us that suburbs are about to become shithole countries, and then finish it off with a few more lies all while tightly squeezing his butt cheeks so Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Susan Collins, Martha McSally and Mitch McConnell don’t fall out.

If you really believe that the protesting and the resulting violence in the streets right now can be blamed on Biden, then nothing anyone says or writes is going to save you from yourself. Trump is the President. He has been the President since 2017. He is the one dividing us. He is the one who called Mexicans rapists and drug dealers. He is the one who said Nazis were fine people. He is the one speaking ill of our allies while professing his love for Kim Jong-un. He is the one who ignored Russian bounties on American soldiers. He is the one suggesting that suburbs will be overrun by people of color if we don’t vote for him. He created this entire mess. He has been the President for four years. The buck stops with him.  He wants us to believe that he created the greatest economy in history.  Funny.  Two weeks into quarantine tens of thousands of families were lining up at food banks.  How come so many people were one paycheck away from poverty?

This election is a choice between decency and debauchery. It started five years ago when the GOP candidates debated the size of each other’s penis and then ultimately nominated the man who mocked a disabled person and bragged about sexually assaulting women. They melted the butter.

I don’t claim to be decent. I have a mouth like a sailor. But I am not running for President. I don’t represent the American people. I have not taken an oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The world doesn’t turn to me for guidance and doesn’t hold me up as an example.

When it comes to telling stories, I choose naughty words because they make me laugh.  But when it comes to choosing a President, I choose honesty. I choose decency. I choose Biden.

To quote Kimberly Guilfoyle, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!  They are coming in January and their names are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I mean it. Really.

NOTE FROM MARGARET: Helen, did you know they went and remade One Day at a Time? Not sure it was necessary but that Rita Moreno sure is a hoot. 

Text VOTE to 30330 and then make your plan to vote.

Donald Trump’s health care agenda for a second term will turn on the Supreme Court’s decision in a new lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. | Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Everything from a huge fight on health care reform to modest bipartisan bills is on the table.

Donald Trump’s second-term health care agenda would hinge on the Supreme Court.

If the Court sides with a group of conservative states that claim the entirety of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, millions of Americans could lose their health insurance in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. The White House and Congress would have to try to do something to stop such a calamity.

“If the court knocks down all or part of the law, I think that’s a game changer in terms of what the priorities are,” Kim Monk, a founding partner of Capital Alpha Partners, an investment research firm based out of Washington, DC, told me. “That forces some sort of action or a fight.”

If the Supreme Court upholds the ACA, however, Trump’s health care agenda could become modest — and possibly even bipartisan. The administration has come close to striking deals on bipartisan health care bills with the current Congress, and Trump may be tempted to try to get those across the finish line to secure a more lasting legacy in this policy area.

“I would hope one of the things they’ve learned is [that] what they did in the first term is very much at risk. It’s all executive action,” Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the right-leaning American Action Forum, told me. “Getting things done in legislation will be a bigger priority. Drug-price bills and surprise-billing bills could get over the finish line with real White House effort.”

Although that sounds potentially optimistic, that would require Trump to succeed where he has already failed. Trump’s White House has proven itself ill-equipped to work well with either congressional Democrats or Republicans. Obamacare repeal was a disaster; deals on prescription drug prices and surprise medical bills fizzled.

As Holtz-Eakin summarized it: “They have failed to pass any significant legislation on things they care about.”

I spoke with a half-dozen Republican lobbyists and conservative wonks for this story. One thing became clear to me: Any optimism about what a second Trump term would mean for US health care hinges on the president mustering a dealmaking savvy with Congress he has yet to display during his first three and a half years in office.

How Trump could respond if the Supreme Court overturns Obamacare

Trump’s second term would start at the Supreme Court, which has scheduled oral arguments in Texas v. Azar for November 10, 2020. Republican-led states and the Justice Department have urged the Court to invalidate the ACA in its entirety, arguing that because the individual requirement has since been repealed, the rationale used to save the mandate and uphold the law in 2012’s National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (for which Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion) no longer applies — and as a result, Obamacare must fall.

That means all of it: Medicaid expansion, which has covered more than 12 million people; the insurance marketplaces, where 11.4 million people have purchased coverage, most of them with the help of federal subsidies that would also be nixed; protections for preexisting conditions; and free preventive care. The US would be starting over, as if the last 10 years of health policy and coverage expansion never happened.

In that scenario, Trump and Congress (having either flipped back to full Republican control or with a Democratic House) would have to figure out what to do next — and there is no single consensus on the right about the best way to reform health care.

Some conservatives still support a framework similar to that of 2017’s Graham-Cassidy bill, which would effectively take the money appropriated by Obamacare and turn it into block grants for states to spend as they see fit (and which would lead to millions of people losing coverage, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office). Others prefer to rebuild something closer to the ACA — as GOP Rep. Bruce Westerman’s bill would do — but with important tweaks, such as allowing insurers to charge older people higher premiums (to make insurance more affordable for younger people). There would be big changes to the Medicaid program under Westerman’s plan, though, with states having the option to adopt spending caps and move the Medicaid expansion population onto the private insurance markets.

“It’s an alternative form of the individual market, with important technical differences,” Avik Roy, president of the right-leaning Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity and an adviser on the Westerman bill, told me. “We’d end up in a pretty similar place, but with a reformed individual market.”

However, most people — including Roy and most of other conservatives I spoke with — don’t expect the Supreme Court to nullify Obamacare entirely. At most, they anticipate a narrow decision that strikes down core protections for preexisting conditions along with the mandate, but leaves much of the law (including premium subsidies and Medicaid expansion) in place.

That’s still a significant political event. Those protections are very popular, in no small part because an estimated 54 million Americans have a preexisting condition, and many of them would struggle to buy insurance on their own without those rules. Under that scenario, Republicans could opt for a narrower fix. During the current Congress, when Democrats tried to force the GOP to take tough votes on health care, some GOP lawmakers introduced a resolution that said if the Supreme Court overturned the rules on preexisting conditions, they would vote to restore them sans mandate.

Roy thinks that’s a likely starting point for Republicans should the Court issue a narrow ruling. Although some people more committed to conservative health care ideology might want to push farther, he said, he also believes most elected Republicans “are totally fine with guaranteed issue and would vote to reinstate it.”

The political incentives to maintain health care for 25 million Americans would be overwhelming, and would surely motivate Trump and Congress to make a deal. But the president is playing with fire: He came into office with health care as the top item on the GOP agenda and full Republican control of Congress, yet he still failed to reach a consensus. The stakes would be much higher the second time around.

Even if the Supreme Court spares Trump a manufactured health care crisis, his second-term agenda likely depends on a congressional panache he hasn’t shown thus far.

What a bipartisan health care agenda could actually look like in a second Trump term

There’s actually quite a long list of areas in which both Democrats and Republicans want to act on health care, based on my conversations.

Everybody wants to reduce prescription drug prices, and Trump has often sounded more like a Democrat than a Republican on that issue, favoring aggressive intervention by the federal government. Surprise medical bills remain the source of cross-party outrage, and there was movement late last year toward a bipartisan fix, which came up short but could be revived.

“I think if Trump is reelected on drug pricing, there will be another push for legislative reform,” Monk said. “There actually is a lot of common ground. ... I don’t see Trump totally cruising on that issue.”

There are also new issues that have cropped up during the coronavirus pandemic and require longer-term solutions — and likely congressional action. The Trump administration has made regulatory changes to better compensate telehealth visits for doctors, but those would lapse unless they are written into federal statute. The supply chain issues that have contributed to shortages of personal protective equipment and testing supplies could also be addressed through Congress, and there could be bipartisan interest in preventing the problems of the last few months from repeating themselves in a similar crisis.

“The places they might want to go and that would represent significant steps forward really are legislative,” Holtz-Eakin said. “All those things would strike me as sensible things to try to get done, even if they don’t sound as grand as repeal and replace.”

Of course, any of those items would require a deal between the White House and congressional Republicans — and likely Democrats, too, either because they control the House or because their votes are needed to get the 60 required to advance bills in the Senate. And Trump, despite his dealmaker reputation, has not had a landmark health care agreement in his first term.

Obamacare repeal fell through. As Politico chronicled in December 2019, Trump initially greeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s drug-pricing plan with warmth. It shared many features of his own proposal, such as pegging US drug prices to those paid in other countries and establishing an out-of-pocket cap in Medicare for prescription drugs. But as Democrats pressed forward with their impeachment inquiry, Trump pulled back. He lended his support to a competing bill in the Senate, which did make its way out of committee over drug companies’ objections — “a remarkable piece of progress,” as Roy put it, given that pharma usually gets its way on Capitol Hill.

But that legislation still hasn’t been brought up on the Senate floor — likely the result of reticence on the part of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — and Trump has not shown a sustained interest in pressuring the upper chamber to act.

“What’s held up in the Senate Finance bill, it hasn’t been Dems per se,” Roy said. “It’s believed that McConnell has not wanted to bring it to the floor, but it likely would pass on a straight majority vote. It probably could get 60 votes.”

So the opportunities would be there. But Trump would have to close a deal. The same principle applies to surprise billing. The White House threw support behind an emerging bipartisan consensus on how to prevent patients from being hit with thousands of dollars in bills for out-of-network care, but a bill never passed. Congress bears much of the blame for that failure, with Democrats divided against themselves and McConnell again playing his cards close to his chest, but more aggressive lobbying from the White House could conceivably help in getting such an agreement done.

But factoring in the political landscape likely to result from Trump winning a second term, the lobbyists I spoke to are skeptical there would be any appetite among Democrats to work with the White House, since the president is already considered toxic when it comes to congressional negotiations.

“They don’t let him get anywhere close to House or Senate Democrats because that relationship is so incredibly radioactive,” one lobbyist, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, said. “It kills all that comes near it.”

Absent congressional action, Trump’s health care agenda in a potential second term will likely focus on following through on the executive actions from his first term, many of which are still subject to litigation.

“I struggle to find a world where the drug pricing regulations don’t spend the vast majority of the administration’s final four years in court,” the lobbyist said. “That’s how long it would take to drag through.”

And as the Trump administration has worked overtime to roll back many of Obama’s executive initiatives or using their administrative authority on the ACA, they should be more familiar than most about how fleeting executive actions can be.

The Trump presidency has been nothing if not unpredictable. The Supreme Court could ensure that applies to the next four years of health care policy as well.

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CodeInspired shares a report from The Verge, adding: "This is pretty incredible. We're seeing the beginning of next-gen gaming come to life!" From the report: Microsoft Flight Simulator players have turned into virtual stormchasers this week, hunting down Hurricane Laura as it approached the US Gulf Coast. While Texas and Louisiana brace for what is being described as an "unsurvivable storm surge," the real-time weather inside Microsoft Flight Simulator is providing a surreal spectacle for players. Virtual strormchasers have gathered in the skies above the Gulf of Mexico to fly directly into Hurricane Laura. The results demonstrate the incredible realism in Microsoft Flight Simulator, just as Hurricane Laura threatens catastrophic damage in the real world. Players have been flying directly through the eye of the storm, around the outer edges, and even so far up that planes have frozen over and needed to be de-iced. The virtual views have allowed players to track Hurricane Laura during the moments before it made landfall as a category 4 hurricane with 150mph winds. A YouTube user also captured the virtual experience of flying through Hurricane Laura, showing just how well the storm cloud formations are depicted in the game.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis gave a press conference on Wednesday in the wake of demonstrations and a fatal shooting in the Wisconsin city. As Daily Kos has covered, two people—whose names have not been released—were shot and killed while people demonstrated in response to Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, being shot by police. The officer who shot Blake has since been identified as white Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey, and Wisconsin officials have released their version of the events that led an officer to shoot and paralyze Blake.

During his Wednesday press conference, Chief Daniel Miskinis used his privilege and authority to essentially blame the protesters for being shot. Why? Because if they hadn't have been out past curfew on Tuesday—which the city set from 7 PM to 7 AM—this might not have happened. Mind you, the shooter was also out after curfew. But in short, yes: The police chief really did appear to blame the victims. Let’s break down what he said, as well as the clip, below.

Here is what Miskinis said, as featured in the clip below: “Persons who were out after the curfew became engaged in some type of disturbance, and persons were shot. Everybody involved was out after the curfew. I’m not going to make a great deal of that, but the point is the curfew is in place to protect. Had persons not been out involved in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened.” That victim-blaming is clearly disturbing in itself, but that’s not all going on in the language here.

First, here is that clip.

What else? Miskinis described the shooter as being “involved in the use of firearms to resolve whatever conflict was in place.” He also described the incident as a “disturbance that led to the use of deadly force.” This sounds an awful lot like the coded language used when law enforcement officers shoot and kill people—phrases like ‘officer-involved shooting,’ for example, which obscure the actions and accountability of the police. 

The suspected shooter, Kyle Rittenhouse, a white 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, has been arrested and faces first-degree intentional homicide charges, as reported by Rolling Stone. According to social media accounts believed to belong to Rittenhouse, he supports Donald Trump and Blue Lives Matter. Relatedly, BuzzFeed News identified Rittenhouse as being right in the front of a Trump rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 30. According to CNN, he was also once a member of a youth police cadet program in Illinois.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, as well as the National ACLU, are now calling for Miskinis’ resignation.

The clip of Miskinis' address has also been copied onto YouTube, which you can view below.

Update: As reported by The Chicago Sun Times, Blake’s father, also named Jacob Blake, says his son has been handcuffed to his hospital bed. According to the Sun Times, the Kenosha Police Department, as well as the county’s District Attorney’s Office did not yet respond to information requests on the arrest or charges at the time of writing.