6.02.2020

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio."
  • In what has to be one of the most surreal events in my lifetime, Trump proclaimed from the Rose Garden yesterday evening that he was “an ally of all peaceful protesters” while at the same time, just across the street, the National Guard -- wielding shields that said “Military Police” --  attacked peaceful, law-abiding protesters who were not in violation of any curfew or any law, with flash bombs, rubber bullets and tear gas. It was an amazing and disturbing moment in our history. 


  • The American citizens were rounded up so Trump could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church -- a walk which was captured in a picture for the ages.
  • And then once at the church, he held up a borrowed Bible, upside down no less, in one of the most awkward, yet disturbing, thinly veiled coded messages of our time. 
    "Turn with me now in your Bible to Two Corinthians."
  • Just watch it. He didn’t go to the church to meet with church leaders to calm violence and fears.  He didn’t go to the church to worship and pray for the country. He didn't even go inside the church. He didn't even go to say a few words to the nation. He went for a photo-op.
  • The Episcopal Bishop of the Washington D.C. diocese was not pleased as she immediately took to the airwaves: "The President just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese — without permission — as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus."
  • Preach on. 
  • I don't know who this guy is, but he may be 100% correct. This stunt has Steve Bannon and White Christian Nationalist written all over it. It's not a call for peace. It's a call to arms. "They've been waiting for this moment their entire lives." (And don't overlook that Trump shoehorned in a Second Amendment reference in the Rose Garden before he trampled all of the First Amendment and the Establishment Clause of the Second Amendment.)
  • There's a past tweet for everything.
  • Speaking of a shining city. Video.
  • Remember the case in Houston where cops lied to get a search warrant and then went in and murdered a couple and their dog? Well, the lead cop, who has since been indicted, was involved in the arrest of George Floyd in Houston over a decade ago.
  • The protester from Bridgeport who was arrested in Dallas on Sunday has been identified as Katherine Marek, 20.  Note that she wasn't arrested for rioting but for the penny-ante charge of "Obstructing a Highway or Passageway". Hey, Katherine, you are our Liberally Lean Protester of the Week. 
  • Last night, there was a fantastically large peaceful protest in Frisco (Frisco!), cops and protesters hugged it out in Fort Worth (video), and cops jacked with protesters in Dallas. Two out of three ain't bad. 
  • And as the Pandemic has been benched, we have Wise County news: We now have one active case.  But Texas would like a word with us: 
  • I just gave all the bullet points a last quick review. Back when I was a teenager we used to refer to someone who has been angered as being "torqued up." Safe to say I'm a little torqued up this morning. 


at 8:34 AM