Puzzling Evidence. A true story?

Stuff. Zero Hedge. DWT. Hating Twitter, I find this thread necessitating linking.

Comic relief. (Back then when the film was in production Trump would not take the role.)

UPDATE: TUNE LYRICS

ACISA told German broadcaster DW last week that the company was "confident that our lithium project will be resumed after a phase of political calmness and clarification."

The headline is the closing paragraph here. Just a minor coup to grease the skids, and if only Syria/Assad had been so easy.

The story is not current, but lithium coups are rare, and when batteries using that Bolivian lithium are sold and start running, that will be a current event.

The upshot of George Floyd's murder - the Bob Kroll species of policing is past its pull date. [UPDATED]

Kroll and his ilk need to be fired. The power to fire as needed must be put into any further police union contract.

Untouchable has to not be the regular course from now, onward.

The job pays well and there will be men and women to take it, the opening, when each bad one is weeded out.

Respect should be for character and conduct and reliability; not fear as a surrogate for any respect.

But consider, how many Sackler family murdering sociopaths are in jail? Where they can reflect and repent. Right. Not one.

The society has to readjust values and rules. The boot or knee on the throat is less than fair government.

Larry Ellison, Mike Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet - each holding much and chasing more wealth and related power is wrong and needs to be fixed.

Worldwide, globalization will happen. It can happen as a fair thing, or more of the same. Neo-feudalism has no real charm, so why is it being foisted off on us?

Mitchell McConnell and Charles Schumer are proof term limits are needed and rigid control of political spending must at the same time be implemented so that turnover is refreshing and invigorated rather than more of the same.

Unrest will never end. However, its causes being done away with will make unrest less a part of every individual's life, all for the good of the planet and its people. Green New Deal and such are fine, but population control - refusing overpopulating a finite planet is needed, however it can most fairly be implemented. Nastiness toward labor is simply wrong, and needs fixing.

Law and order as a catch phrase to mean keeping underprivileged people in check, rather than spreading privilege fairly, that law and order will fail. Decent law likely would result in decent human order; if only decent law were ever put in place.

Think it all over. As one nearing life's end by aging, the burden and duty shifts from my age group in Congress to something better, if those younger can "handle the deets." Those younger, worldwide - good luck trying. Greed kills.

Right now a sensible rule for US is to distrust anyone in a business suit or a comparable uniform of oppression, the more expensive the label, the greater degree of distrust earned. With that a point some can disagree with, one truth is nature will get even. The planet will win. Species come and go.

___________UPDATE__________
The Hill - here and here.

Compare Gary Gross, recent blogging.

Gestapo tactics promoted outside of official channels by agitators on the MPD force - chickens coming home to roost.

Living in Ramsey, with little racial mixed occupancy, the exurbs turning to outer suburbs, police here are well disciplined public servants, and badges do not weigh heavy. One police encounter years ago, speeding, was handled professionally and there is gratitude in being left with a warning, not a ticket, after a driver's license and insurance check; no outstanding warrants or other cause to detain; all detail of that incident has to be representative of a force well disciplined, top down; bottom up. A force not predicated on fear and mayhem, no "warrior training" bullshit, but sound civic management in practice and in theory.

But white MPD cops terrorizing the black community has led to reaping what was sown. Mayor Frey now has the mandate he should exercise quickly to begin his upcoming cleaning of the force, and in advance we can thank him for what he will do. He will take on Bob Kroll's incitement and affection for Gestapo policing tactics, to better the city permanently after unrest lessens.

It was already past time before, but Frey lacked strong community backing.

After the spectacle of Gestapo-style murder in front of citizens with smart phones, the world saw. How much before this - 1968 in Chicago, Kent State's and Jackson State's unprosecuted Guard murders, the list goes on - how much would have led to lasting reform, were the technology to document and show misconduct available then?

LA Times published a 50 yr "retrospective op-ed in 2018. source of the above screen capture

Politico, 2017:

The violence even spilled over to the convention hall, as guards roughed up some delegates and members of the press. Writer Terry Southern described the convention hall as “exactly like approaching a military installation; barbed-wire, checkpoints, the whole bit.” CBS correspondents Mike Wallace and Dan Rather were roughed up by security guards — Wallace was punched in the face. Both incidents were broadcast live on television.

For the rest of the convention week, violence followed the pattern set at its start. An exception: protesters were joined on Aug. 28 by the Poor People's Campaign, led by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Ralph Abernathy. This group had a permit and was split off from other demonstrators before being allowed to proceed to the amphitheater.

On the convention floor, several delegates assailed Daley and the police. Sen. Abraham Ribicoff (D-Conn.) denounced the use of “Gestapo tactics on the streets of Chicago” in his speech nominating Sen. George McGovern (D-S.D.) for president. Television cameras captured Daley, who was seated up front on the convention floor with the Illinois delegation, mouthing an obscenity at Ribicoff.

When Daley subsequently sought to justify the police action at a news conference, he said: “The policeman isn’t there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder.” In 1996, when the Democrats next held their presidential convention in Chicago, some police officers still on the force wore T-shirts proclaiming, “We kicked their father’s butt in '68 and now it’s your turn.”

Subsequently, the Walker Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence assigned blame for the mayhem in the streets to the police force, calling the violence a “police riot.” Nevertheless, the so-called Chicago Eight were arrested on charges of conspiring to incite the violence. Their trial was held in Chicago in 1969, sparking waves of violent protests in the city.

Bless Abe Ribicoff. If cops don't learn, they need to be taught. The badge must be respected as an honor to hold, and not a license to intimidate. When the likes of provocateur Bob Kroll are tolerated one inch, the present chaos is the crop thus sown.

The story is really simple: Ramsey cops, good. Kroll cops, bad.

End of story.

___________________________
UPDATE: Were my encounters with police over time since childhood different, non-benign, it would traumatize - read this to understand. FURTHER. Go figure.

Amy must have had staff rewrite over and over until they came up with something tepid and dumpling-soft enough that Amy would tweet it about George Floyd's murder by a rouge cop with three other cops letting it happen, as "bystanders" in control of other bystanders who wanted the murder in progress to stop. She has been said to have staff live up to her own standards, which some say is demanding and hard on staff, but she and staff came up this time, however long it took, with insultingly tepid output, for certain. [UPDATED: Klobuchar ticket hopes dimming; Strib even sticking a fork in it after touting in the past via local content, using AP now, as part of the sorry-Charlie message.]

click to enlarge and read - source link

Thomas Neuburger at the DWT blog wrote such an excellent analysis that readers should access the original; to read, and think:

https://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2020/05/how-long-will-real-progressives-actual.html

Neuburger's post spanned a range of thinking, with only a part of a segment excerpted:

2. From George Floyd to Derek Chauvin to Amy Klobuchar

On May 25, this happened (account courtesy of the Minneapolis Police Department):

On Monday evening, shortly after 8:00 pm, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department responded to the 3700 block of Chicago Avenue South on a report of a forgery in progress. Officers were advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence.

Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car. He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.

At no time were weapons of any type used by anyone involved in this incident.

That’s copspeak for “we murdered a guy and it’s not our fault.” Here’s what really happened (emphasis added):

The latest example of America’s racist police brutality problem was caught on camera in Minneapolis Monday, as Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on 46-year-old African-American George Floyd’s neck for over seven minutes until he passed out and died. In its headline on its website, Minneapolis police described the event as “man dies after medical incident during police interaction,” [... ]

Amy Klobuchar is directly connected to this “officer-involved death” via her history with Officer Derek Chauvin:

[A]s the state’s chief prosecutor between 1999 and 2007 … [Klobuchar] declined to bring charges against more than two dozen officers who had killed citizens while on duty – including against Chauvin himself, who shot and killed Wayne Reyes in 2006 and would later go on to shoot more civilians while in uniform.

[...] If you’ve heard stories of how brutal Klobuchar is to staff, consider this a deadly extension of that conscienceless pattern. Definitely not the “Minnesota-nice,” unobjectionable candidate her image-makers in the press would have believe she is.

[bolding and links in original] Over a year ago WaPo published about Klobuchar's record as prosecutor, Neuburger linked to it, here.

She and Minnesota's junior Senator, Tina Smith, have backed an amendment to other legislation (to a defense policy bill!) favorable to foreign owned mining interests against the will and hope of Minnesota environmentalists wanting the threat and history of sulfide mining disaster to have no place in Minnesota (while at least one Minnesota DFL politician got it right in a legislative proposal dead set against the interests the Smith Amendment served). So, bad on wilderness future risk, she and Tina are both "Schumer Democrats." "Bloomberg Democrats," being a comparable characterization viewed at Crabgrass as appropriate. (Counter-progressive - anti-environment - overwhelmed by hubris and chutzpah being the message.)

Unfit for a presidential ticket being the conclusion. Opinions can differ. One wonders if Rep. Clyburn of South Carolina would favorably view a Klobuchar VP choice by Biden. I have been told her father was a good sports writer for a statewide newspaper, giving the Senator name recognition from day one of her choosing to become a career politician. Wow! Gee! And all.

Not leaving it there. Because Neuburger's DWT post covered so much more in a thoughtful way, closing before linking there again would be remiss.

____________UPDATE____________
Try this link to get a single source/item on the story of mining threatening a Wilderness unique in our nation - aptly titled:

http://left.mn/ebooks/polymet-14-years-of-bullshit/

______STRIB RELATED UPDATE______
------------4:46 PM 5/29/2020--------------

Strib link:

Biden ally sees Klobuchar as less likely Biden running mate
By ALAN FRAM Associated Press
May 29, 2020 — 6:08pm

WASHINGTON — Sen. Amy Klobuchar seems a less likely choice to become Joe Biden's running mate on his presidential ticket following this week's death of a black man in police custody in Minneapolis, a key ally of the former vice president said Friday.

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., told reporters that while he believes Klobuchar is “absolutely” qualified to be vice president, “This is very tough timing for her.”

Klobuchar, D-Minn., was a prosecutor years ago in the county that includes Minneapolis. As she was leaving the post to join the Senate, an officer involved in this week’s death of George Floyd was involved in the death of another man. The officer ultimately was not prosecuted.

Clyburn, who said his view was his “gut feeling,” played a pivotal role in helping Biden become the party’s all-but-certain presidential nominee. Clyburn is the No. 3 House Democratic leader and Congress’ highest-ranking black lawmaker.

“So often in politics, timing really dictates things, Barack Obama I don’t think could have gotten elected four years before he got elected," Clyburn said of the former president during a conference call. “And I don’t know whether he could get elected today.”

[...] Clyburn helped revive Biden’s badly flagging presidential campaign earlier this year, lifting him to a decisive triumph in a South Carolina primary in which large numbers of voters were black. That fueled a Biden run to a string of victories in other state contests that resulted in his becoming the party’s presumptive nominee.

Before being elected to the Senate in 2006, Klobuchar, who is white, was prosecutor of Minnesota's largest county, which includes Minneapolis.

While Klobuchar was in that job, more than two dozen citizens died during encounters with police but none of the officers involved were criminally charged. Most victims were people of color, according to data compiled by Communities United Against Police Brutality and news articles reviewed by the AP.

An officer involved in one of the past fatal incidents was Derek Chauvin, who was arrested and charged Friday in this week's death of Floyd.

Even a single failure to prosecute Chauvin a few years ago was one two many. Amy, meet Derek. He's your opposite Angel to Dan White for Diane Feinstein.

Marley.

__________FURTHER UPDATE___________
Three others. At the federal level a RICO count should be filed, Bob Kroll subpoenaed to testify under oath about union-endorsed ongoing patterns of protecting and shading reports to aid miscreants, if any such pattern exists. Perhaps a force wide legacy? Every rock should be turned, any toxic critters suitably handled when found beneath any rock. Federal prosecutors have stretched RICO count usage to where such a count here and in this instance should survive a dismissal motion.

Floyd's family deserves at least as pecuniary a settlement as when the white Aussie woman was cop-gunned down - without intent to injure in that instance, and with a force newbie shooter then, not a two decade veteran with a record, as now.

_______FURTHER UPDATE________
People get angry. Because Black Lives Do Matter. People loot and it's wrong, but look how billionaires and hedge fund operators take and take; there is a scale to everything. Proportionately, looting vs rigging the oil market, where is the bigger thievery, the greater public harm?

______FURTHER UPDATE_________
In a civilized way France faced the yellow-vest anniversary with little bloodshed [as a bet deathfree].Watch Twin Cities development and think. Remember Kent State and Jackson State and think.

Yet the yellow-vest demonstrations continue, those people having a cohesion that was perhaps unanticipated by the Macron folks, who in turn have a nasty tenacity which civilized people had not foreseen. A badge is not a license to kill.

_________FURTHER UPDATE__________
6:43 AM 5/30/2020 -------------
RICO count: Bob Kroll and the ultra-meanness of MPD - civilian confrontation, via the officially banned "warrior" training organized defiance of the government set rules, by the union - Kroll having at relevant times having headed that union - all that is and should be getting attention.

Training assassination methods to those trusted to carry a badge is a perversion. Starting from there, what is the pervasiveness of the Kroll attitude, how did it lead to what was done to George Floyd; and mainly, what is the liability? Can Kroll be an accessory? With criminal liability? Can a civil suit seek to gain a seven figure civil liability judgment against Kroll for that so-called "training" which seems to be creation and perpetration of barbaric "policing" practices against official civilian control of those paid well and allowed the carrying of a badge?

Websearch. First returned item, MoJo.

To the extent such Gestapo-like "training" exists among MPD factions, which it appears to, four perps were fired, but fire Kroll too. MoJo, May 28, 2020, headlining plus, following an image of the perp, the MoJo reporting:

Crime and Justice - May 28, 2020
Minneapolis Banned Warrior-Style Police Training. Its Police Union Kept Offering It Anyway.
The union’s resistance to reform is coming under renewed scrutiny after the killing of George Floyd.

George Floyd’s killing on Monday at the hands of a white police officer is sparking intense scrutiny of the Minneapolis Police Department—an institution long plagued by allegations of misconduct and racist abuse—and the controversial restraint tactic that led to Floyd being suffocated to death while pinned to the ground, as he repeatedly told officers he could no longer breathe.

While an investigation is underway over the use of the chokehold in Floyd’s death, it’s worth taking a look at the “warrior-style” police training that for years had been popular with the city’s top police union. For the unfamiliar, the training, as we reported in 2017, generally espouses a “killology” vision of law enforcement that’s frequently likened to “fear porn.” Experts say the training, which has been linked to high profile police-related killings around the country, including Philando Castille’s 2016 shooting death, also in Minnesota, often runs the risk of the use of unnecessary, and sometimes, fatal force:

This approach to policing is outdated and ineffective, says Stoughton, and, “some of it is dangerously wrong.” Samuel Walker, a criminal-justice professor and expert on police accountability, says the “Bulletproof Warrior” approach is “okay for Green Berets but unacceptable for domestic policing. The best police chiefs in the country don’t want anything to do with this.”

Citing the “killology” mentality, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey ultimately banned the training last year but the move infuriated Minneapolis Police Union President Lt. Bob Kroll. Shortly after the decision was announced, Kroll called the ban illegal and said that the union would continue to make the training available to any interested officers. “It’s not about killing, it’s about surviving,” Kroll said at the time.

[...]

[linking in original, italics added] "Fear porn?" "Killology?" Only a sicko would go there, Kroll has, and George Floyd is dead.

Connect the dots. Kroll needs to be fired, as a start to actual reform, not as a final page.

When Kroll defied orders back when told to can the crap, he should have been fired then. He's overdue to be fired. The man is a clear and present danger, where he and that ilk within the department need attention. And dismissal. Each. Every. Muck the entire stable. The question at the margin - accessorial liability for Kroll, a need to be imprisoned for George Floyd's death, or would that be overreaching? (A consideration is or would be personal safety of a "fear porn" cop incarcerated within a violent population, disproportionately black; Kroll not deserving a death sentence, at least not via that indirect way.)

MoJo reporting continued beyond the quoted beginning; and again other reporting was returned via the websearch. MoJo cites its reporting was there in 2017, met by officialdom's inattention. CBSlocal covered the question in the spring of 2019. With no reform [Kroll still on payroll]. Now?

In the vernacular, Kroll and minions of "super badge heavy" cops. Head of the snake, all that.

FINALLY: An FBI inquiry into sicko permeation within the MPD - into a pervasive culture of excessive force as a denial of citizen civil rights - might start with members of Wardlow's cadre:

The Sixties term "pig" comes to mind.

Link. A worse thing? Three other cops were fired. There was no even lukewarm attempt to intercede to prevent the clearly flagrant and entirely wilful, act of intentional criminal murder from happening. Three. Without giving a shit. Accessorial liability is the term. This level of conduct is a crime against not only one handcuffed black man, but a crime against all humanity. Brutal bastards with badges is not acceptable. Not ever.

What would Doug Wardlow say?

__________UPDATE_________
Amy Klobuchar was a "law and order" campaigner for county attorney and during her multiple sequential terms in office it appears not a single cop was reported to have gone to jail for assault or other misconduct against persons from the public. (However, reports of settled civil actions were found in web searching.) In Biden's vetting, don't just count her teeth and examine her medical records to see she'd not croak in office. Look at her record - per websearch, Politico, Roll Call, and this from Strib:

But the national media spotlight on her time as Hennepin County Attorney has not always been flattering, with civil rights activists questioning the prosecution of a black teenager in a notorious Minneapolis child slaying and a series of 30 police-involved deaths without a single prosecution.

Both issues have put her on the defensive in an age of strained police relations in minority communities, particularly as she ramps up a national campaign and seeks the support of black voters in states like South Carolina, [... where subsequent to the report being posted she and others dropped out in favor of Biden against Bernie instead of trying].

This week, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman defended Klobuchar for the conviction of Myon Burrell in the 2002 killing of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, a case that has come under new scrutiny in an Associated Press investigation. Klobuchar herself has called for the case to be reviewed for new evidence.

See also current Twin Cities news, here. Current County Attorney Freeman, (above, reportedly defending Klobuchar's record), needs to be viewed in context of the mayor wondering while the prosecutor, Freeman, so far is not jailing any of the four fired police force perps.

That the Floyd murder happened has the history of a dearth of police prosecutions during Klobuchar years as a context for police attitude and conduct now, as continuity of then, i.e., accountability being lax now, as then. (Recall Bloomberg's getting heat over encouraging questionable New York police tactics while in office, that being suggested as a major black mark against his service as mayor.)

Klobuchar is not a Doug Wardlow, she has character above that low a standard, and would never use Bob Kroll as a campaigning prop. She's completely honest, not a bribe taker, but she's not appearing to have a single progressive bone in her body. And proud of it. She'd sink a Biden ticket. Politico noted:

2020 ELECTIONS - Black activists warn Biden: Don't pick Klobuchar as VP - The Minnesota senator and former prosecutor has problems with communities of colors that another top white contender, Elizabeth Warren, does not.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar performed abysmally among black voters in the Democratic primary. It’s haunting her now as Joe Biden decides on a running mate.

The Minnesota Democrat has the governing experience and ideological profile to mesh well with Biden, [...] But more than a dozen black and Latino strategists and activists warned in interviews that selecting Klobuchar would not help Biden excite black voters — and might have the opposite effect. Klobuchar would “risk losing the very base the Democrats need to win,” said Aimee Allison, founder of She the People, which promotes women of color in politics. They pointed to Klobuchar’s poor performance among nonwhite voters during the presidential primary, as well as her record as a prosecutor in Minnesota.

It’s not yet clear how much the opposition of activists matters to Biden. He's made clear that the electoral politics of his pick matter less than choosing someone who can be a governing partner and step into the top job without worry.

But the vocal contingent of African American and Latino detractors — many of whom said they would prefer that Biden select a black woman as a running mate — is unique to Klobuchar; Elizabeth Warren, another top contender for VP, doesn’t elicit similar antagonism from communities of color.

"It comes from her performance in the primary — her weakness in being able to motivate them," said Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, who supports several potential vice presidential selections. “The engagement and the enthusiasm of black voters is going to be a difference-maker in this election, and the concerns about her in this role stem from the degree to which she resonated or not with those core constituencies.”

Earlier this week, Biden confirmed that "multiple black women [are] being considered" for vice president.

George Floyd's murder as current news surely is no help to any ambition Klobuchar may have of being on a presidential ticket.

Progressives have to wonder about her being part of the dropout of Beto, her, and the South Bend mayor on the eve of the South Carolina primary at the time Clyburn endorsed Biden. Her being part of that intentional strategy of screwing Bernie was no favor to progressives.

That's a bottom line you can take to the bank. Harris as another former prosecutor reported to be in consideration with the Biden handlers checks the black woman of a generation younger than Biden box, however, in comparison Klobuchar is not a glib phony - what you see is what you get, with Amy.

Harris with that "I'm that little girl" sandbagging crap in the one debate really then told the world who she is. It was news then and is evidence against Harris now. At Crabgrass, a Biden-Klobuchar ticket is viewed as superior to a Biden-Harris ticket. But that's faint praise. As in saying she's no Doug Wardlow. True but basically unimpressive, indeed, barely complementary.

It's not what you know, it's who you know?

Daily Beast

Trump Donor Hired Trump-Tied Lobbyists, Then Raked in Coronavirus Relief Cash

[...] Bennett himself is a huge Trump donor. He’s given over $200,000 to the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, and a joint fundraising committee supporting both of them since last year, according to Federal Election Commission records. He chipped in even more in support of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Twelve days before Bennett wrote that open letter, Ashford had beefed up its political muscle even more. It hired its first-ever Washington lobbying firm, Miller Strategies. That firm is run by Jeff Miller, who was a finance vice-chair of President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee. He has raised more than $2.8 million for the RNC and a Trump joint fundraising committee so far this cycle, including $2.5 million in the first quarter of 2020 alone, according to FEC filings. Miller’s firm also employs Jonathan Hiller, the former director of legislative affairs for Vice President Mike Pence, and Ashley Gunn, Trump’s former director of cabinet affairs.

Miller’s lobbying registration form said it would be working on “issues as they relate to the hotel industry” on Ashford’s behalf. He didn’t respond to inquiries about whether he helped the company secure PPP aid.

Miller’s work on Ashford’s behalf shows how some large companies have attempted to leverage political connections into a greater share of the massive amounts of federal money being doled out to mitigate the economic damage caused by the coronavirus. It also shows how some large chains have attempted to maximize their assistance from the PPP program by treating each of their franchises as a separate business, enabling awards to multiple firms owned by the same parent company.

On the same day that Ashford hired Miller, it inked a separate lobbying deal with another Trump-connected firm. Bailey Strategic Advisors is run by Roy Bailey, a Trump fundraiser who served as finance chair of pro-Trump super PAC America First Action and on the board of an affiliated dark money group, America First Policies.

Bailey’s firm was more specific about what it would be doing on Ashford’s behalf, saying in lobbying registration forms that it would work on “issues related to COVID-19 relief for the hotel industry.”

News of the $53 million in PPP funds that Ashford eventually received—more than any other company—has fueled criticism this week of the large amounts of money from the program steered to large firms, ostensibly at the expense of smaller ones. The PPP program is set to get another $300 billion injection after its initial funds were depleted in a matter of days.

“As small businesses are struggling across the country, it’s still mega-donors first for Donald Trump and his administration,” said Jeb Fain, a spokesman for the Democratic super PAC American Bridge, in a statement on Ashford’s work in securing PPP funds. “Hardworking Americans deserve better than a president more focused on special favors than managing a major crisis.”

:

Related Beast coverage, here, with links Susan Collin might have preferred omitted.

Rhetorical question?

Link.

Trump "demanded" churches be open over the Memorial Day weekend.

image source

Also, hat tip to Daily Beast. The BI caption does indicate the photo is from Sunday, May 24.

What is downright amazing - that the man can golf at all, with disabling bone spurs. (Apart from any "morbid obesity" commentary from Speaker of the House, he likely uses a cart and does not walk eighteen holes carrying his bag of clubs; thereby minimizing bone spur pain. Still, in the rough a lot can be demanding.)

What if Biden had told a progressive radio host, “You’ve got more questions? Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t progressive.”

Politico.

It seems likely that black voters have been treated by the Democratic donor class the same way as progressives; if you don't like our cramdown, where you gonna go, Jack? That being what progressives have had to swallow for years. Now blacks are feeling the same we got you cornered brand. Biden merely articulated a pervasive mood among inner party Democrats and their handling donors.

Progressives should bristle as much over the insult sting that comment carried for black people as if it were with one word substitution a dismissal of their dismay.

Last, usage: black vs. African American. I vividly recall days of "Black is Beautiful," and the current movement is not calling itself, "African American lives matter." Black lives do matter. Either categorical usage works.

What galls is the presumtiveness of what Biden said. Progressives are unsure of how much lesser evil time and again being the mindset they bump against. A big question is how much of that can they can put up with, time and again, and the Biden camp needs to address the feeling or be the Hillary clone suffering the Hillary fate.

Ditto for black voters who do not rotely take marching orders from Rep. Clyburn, but want to be shown more actual love and regard. Medicare for All has as part of its beauty and simplicity its universality; favoring blacks, progressives, indeed, all others who've not enjoyed their due respect - Their slice of the pie - Their part of any "American Dream" not a lying nightmare.

UPDATE: And don't bother to think substituting that corporatist nightmare Cuomo. Foisting that load might seem a glib option. However, it will not work. You genius inner party Tom Perez types gotta do better or watch Trump's four more years. You've torpedoed a better man in favor of Biden, made your bed, so lie in it.

Aside from gender, is there one actual difference between Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton?

It is a question every person intending to vote in November needs to answer.

Each, even, has/will pick a VP candidate of the other gender.

BFD.

Is Trump really so bad that a mind cannot see Joe Biden as no different?

UPDATE: Found one difference. Ukraine Joe, relatively speaking, is a lightweight.

But each got the endorsement. Presumably this cycle a prime-time convention speech time bloc has been committed to already, as last cycle. The difference?

Were you to test positive for Covid-19, who'd know and how long would that knowledge stay held?

AP reports something to obviously be expected, but had you thought "Who'd know"?

As a hypothetical: If a swab is taken for testing, would one expect it is only for Covid-19 testing, with no DNA profile of you also taken for entry into a forensic data base for later testing against DNA from a crime scene or in some criminal investigation? If one swab fits all, and say you left a leaflet at some protest but personally got away, would there be a search for a DNA match against leaflet fingering residue? Part of the hypothetical, would they be telling us if they were using swabs for dual duty? For context, recall that Clapper lied under oath about phone sweep activity, to Congress, and got away scot-free. Does that latter fact make you comfortable?

Days ago the Patriot Act ultra-surveillance secret bullshit got renewed. Whether that gives you comfort or not, you decide. Is it worth the time for you to research how your Senators voted? Or can you simply guess? Amy and Tina? No need to look up Minnesota's two.

The other day Blogger stats showed a flurry of hits had come from Turkmenistan.

That caused a wonder, WHY?

Briefly, while only in the most oblique way suggesting cause and effect at play for Turkmen having a care over any posting here at Crabgrass, there is a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China, you can research it, with fossil fuel and gas in particular being a major export and segment of the economy. I had posted about Pottinger and Trump's keeping him after the Flynn exit, and the term "Wuhan virus."

With national wealth at stake, good vibes out of China must be a major Turkmen policy aim since a major economic trade they enjoy is focused on pumping gas to China. Goods and services in return.

Pipeline routing? Through Afghanistan.

It seems if the Taliban have waited us out in that Afghan adventure, as seems the case, China can protect its own interests, including pipeline routing - when you've a New Silk Road initiative going, (a part at a time), that paralleling the pipeline might happen. In routing road or pipeline, level terrain - as level as you can get - is best. And a transit fee tax can always be negotiated with whoever is in control along the length of the road/pipeline in question.

As to "Wuhan virus," that is fair usage, e.g., Marlburg virus - naming convention being to look where the first case was uncovered by a definitive diagnosis within a human population.

As to "Whuan virus," global pandemic and such, there is this. Even a direct Wikipedia page.

The closing caveat, parallelism of phenomena does not prove cause and effect. It shades expectation probabilities. An old saying about not biting the hand that feeds you got to be cliche because of general aptness.

The Economist.

CBS. NPR. Compare, here. English language Trukmen reporting.

Tourism.

Two videos saying things that should be said; and given attention by the people - about circling the wagons in ways AGAINST the people. Cohesiveness vs. evolution to a better way. About wrong way drivers jumping in line to bless lesser evils because it's their party's evils - the same old destrutive we-they two party posture against US.

Rather than caring much about whether Biden can "defeat" Trump, how about thinking, "Say Biden wins, what would be different?" When Obama/Biden had eight years, what - if much at all - was fundamentally different? China and Iran had things easier, but aside from that, there was continuity, Bubba > Bush > Obama > Trump.

What is the lesson?

Same commentator who, whether you like his style or not, says things we need to hear and will not hear from Comcast's servant outlets; CNN; etc. Not to expect to see it to read in the newspaper Bezos owns; a paper which coincidentally will not delve into Amazon faults and its workforce's suffering.

With that lead-in; videos here and here.

Pramila Jayapal is the most presidential person within either party in terms of decency and having her head right.

Unfortunately, she was born outside of the country and without the escape clause McCain had when running while having been born in canal-zone Panama.

If we do not face the questions raised by that commentator, where is our hope? It is sad that only a handful of people - under twenty thousand in each case - are identified as having so far viewed those two YouTube items.

UPDATE: The one about Bernie skipping a chance to vote against the Deep State troubles me more than Warren, given lemons, trying to make lemonade. Neither is a profile in courage. Still, each is only a disappointment and not a devastation. More outright saddening, than surprising. AND - Make that Bernie skipping out of voting for or against the Deep State. For or against the surveillance state. Chomsky if in that position would have shown up.

FURTHER: Ro Khanna was born in Philadelphia. He would make a hell of a fine President. His mind's right. Would he want it? That is a separate question, would he vs. could he.

A Trump four-more would ensue from a Biden-Harris or a Biden-Klobuchar ticket. Biden-Warren would have a chance; whereas a Warren-Biden ticket likely would win.

Biden's gender restriction blocks Khanna as VP, where, otherwise, he'd be the best choice the party has.

Last, Biden doesn't have the balls to select Tulsi for VP. Because her presidential campaign never moved from low single digit poll numbers, he need not explain any passing over her. Just not Harris, please. Phony on the second spot would just reflect phony atop the ticket. Klobuchar? Nothing phony nor corrupt in the closet; just mediocre centrist policy would reflect mediocre centrist policy atop the ticket. Stacey Abrams - a good possibility, fitting Clyburn's preference on race diversity for the ticket. She'd be a winning choice too. With winning being the objective, despite appearances from the Clinton to Biden party BS decision making two election cycles in a row suggesting wanting winners was subordinate to other obscure considerations we can only guess at and distrust.

Steve Timmer is a patient man, taking far more time and effort than I would to say Doug Seaton is a slimeball. [UPDATED, REVISED and much less JUDGMENTAL]

Steve says it with evidence. I say it as simple fact. Steve deserves being read.

My only question to Steve: Is Doug Seaton worth the time?

Anyway, Steve took the time. So read his latest post.

___________UPDATE___________
Upon reflection and seeking reasonableness: I do not know Seaton or much about him. "Slimeball" might be inappropriate, and if you've read Timmer's post, he does not say that. He says the man's perspective is warped.

Which I think is the right message, and I back away to that.

When seeing another having a flock that is a life's fiscal support, one can always make circumstantial inferences which may be incorrect.

That said, it shows faint trust in a flock to not fully trust each in it to hew a path in quarantine no different than one fraught with regular Sunday gathering. If there are flock members suspect of need for that weekly regularity, ZOOM them, and there will be less virus risk. If too many for that, has the flock to this point been well tended, or too many being too frail to not need regularity?

In any event, in a pandemic it is less than sensible to be wanting to flock together.

Were the notion that some in the flock might wander and never come back without a regular weekly infusion of rhetoric, that would, if true, present a long term likelihood of diminished cashflow, but not knowing Seaton I really cannot attribute that to him as a motive, in whole or in part, for his wanting to subject others to enhanced virus risk because he believes it's the thing to do.

Straying into and out of a flock is to be expected, and if those doing such straying offset, there remains an equilibrium. Pat Roberts uses media, Seaton seems to discount it as a vehicle for his usage. So be it. Sunday to me is a day of rest. Not of travel to hear some dude preach. Different strokes for different folks has a basis for being cliche.

I do suggest Seaton is being unwise about the health of others. And it does not make him a slimeball, just a person with judgment I believe to be faulty.

And, in closing, I believe reading the Timmer post again will show that to be closer to what Timmer was saying than the headline which I now disclaim as an overreach of circumstantial inference.

The circumstances are there, readers can judge, and opinions can differ.

BOTTOM LINE: I need not criticize or judge Seaton's motives; but instead, his judgment. That shall suffice me.

Progressive reality is to know MAGA and the new Trump-cap KAG slogans are BS, and to focus on PTO. For progress we must PTO. [UPDATED]

Primary Them OUT 

_____________UPDATE____________
Minds in parallel; see: DWT, posting a day after this.

_______FURTHER UPDATE_________
While looking other than at lost "Dem side of the force" leadership integrity and ideals DWT also scrutinizes Trump "branding."

As to that DWT speculation, there will be “ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED IN FULL.” Cardboard is a precedent. Indeed, the market offers company for you while you quarenrtine, but is the price right?

You can look it up. Whether or not there is an actual, recognized word, "eptitude," we all know there exists a term for the opposite. [UPDATED]

Link.

Despite Carnahan's quoted speculation, paranoia is not the opposite of eptitude. It is a more direct opposite thing.

And the sad thing. Those poor GOP hopeful conveners losing the chance to experience a Senate nomination acceptance speech by a Doug Wardlow clone.

Missing an online virtual speech by a virtual human.

Oh, my.

Should we say Carnahan and her tech minions were not "ept?" That their "eptness" level set the bar too low? That there was no pep to their ept?

Let's say, "inept."

And move on.

UPDATE: Let's not move on to quickly. Worth noting: With a bit more eptness that crowd could have ended their thing with a communal sing-along.

And there is a side thought worth speculation; where is Doug Wardlow these days? Did he die or move to Ohio? Or would he have been a convention mainstay, in a way equivalent to the tech people?

That eptness thought is apt.

FURTHER: While not entirely sure of the sound of "a bean-pot's fart," I believe it is something like this.

FURTHER: I found the sound - on YouTube.

FURTHER:  Jason Lewis has no real chance in his suggesting he is U.S. Senate material, when not. So, he shows desperation.

Jason Lewis is a savage. CD2 voters realized their mistake giving such a piece of work a term in the House. Voted out after his single sorry term, in favor of a lesbian corporatist and generally unimpressive "Schumer Democrat," because he stunk.

So desperate now that he hitches his chances to another more savage Savage. To a bloviating savage. Both are bloviating savages, and Jason has the gall to publicly dump on better men than him. Anybody who would vote for Jason Lewis over Tina Smith, (an admittedly unimpressive corporatist Democrat like Angie Craig), is a savage. End of story.

Worth reading for the detail: Sirota writes consistent with the old adage, "Stealing from Peter to pay Paul will always work as long as Paul is in the driver's seat."

Link.

Readers are urged to subscribe, per the opening screen at:

https://sirota.substack.com/

They say Trump is tweeting "OBAMAGATE." Just that. No swing to the "gate."

Because the Watergate building had the name, every fleshed out complaint of corrupt practice has to be a "...gate." Leading to the notion here:

Hotelgate
If the story does not ring the "complaint of corrupt practice" bell in your mind, think it over, and it will well before Trump's OBAMAGATE invention becomes a tedious chant that Trump can teach to Flynn, to replace Flynn chanting, "Lock her up."

Picture in your mind, at the next GOP convention, Flynn leading a chorus of "OBAMAGATE" crowd rowdiness with Bob Barr there, proudly thinking, "That's my man. Removed the hook; threw him back in the pond."

correction: Bill Barr, not Bob.

Retreading General Flynn goes beyond Trump thinking he's a good guy, to he's integral to the run against Biden by being a surrogacy run against Obama.

Larouche sometimes publishes online items, which if factually correct and subject to fact checking, explain much.

This particular post from August 21, 2015, paints a picture which can easily be inferred to be fodder for, and an outline of at least a part of Trump's surrogacy attacks on Biden (complicity being the suggestion, where Biden cannot disclaim a key administration role while having campaigned on a claim of having a key Obama administration role. Biden cannot keep a foot in each camp).

Matthew Pottinger is a quintessential out-of-the-Ivy-League spook, first the press, then enlisting at age 32 in the Marines, and co-authoring Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan.

Pottinger has a Wikipedia page, showing a military kinship with Flynn, who was the senior officer signing the "blueprint." Flynn's brief tenure as NSC head included bring Pottinger with him; Pottinger still serving as an East Asia specialist influential on Trump's China policy and conduct. Pottinger was alleged to be a spin doctor, (by globaltimes.cn, but reporting in every nation rests on often unstated "given premises").

CFR ticket punched. Time with a hedge fund. Likely gaining affluence that way, (not as a marine).

It truly looks as if Flynn is being retreaded for the campaign against Obama/Biden, Pottinger being in the Trump administration with no clarity of whether he has a campaign persona. If he stays in shadows, Flynn is a verbose front man, but in need first of the rehab. Starting with Barr's recent action which had career prosecutors on the Flynn criminal case refusing to sign paperwork re dismissal, one resigning. (No link, readers have to research something on their own or they get complacent.)

Closing, WaPo:

April 29, 2020 at 4:18 PM EDT

In February, as President Trump was projecting confidence that China’s Xi Jinping had the coronavirus under control, his deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger received some alarming information. The virus was spreading beyond China’s borders, and so, U.S. officials warned, was a disinformation campaign from the Communist Party in Beijing.

Chinese leaders, Pottinger believed, were engaging in a massive coverup and a “psychological warfare” operation to obscure the origins of the virus and deflect blame, according to people with knowledge of his thinking. U.S. intelligence officials were picking up signs that Chinese operatives were deliberately sowing disinformation, including state media manipulating stories to change key facts, the people said.

Pottinger urged Trump and other senior officials to brand the virus with a label so that there would be no mistaking its origins: the Wuhan virus.

See, Reuters.

Bet you didn't know that. Trump liked it and used it, but WaPo says the usage was derivative.

One last thing about Pottinger, Bannon likes him. The beat goes on.

Jesse Ventura endorses and joins Minnesota's Green Party. [edited since first posted].

Link.

Were he to run a Presidential campaign, as he alludes to, might he gain enough dissatisfied Trump voters to qualify the Green Party as a national party for the next ballot cycle?

Ventura could be a swing candidate stowing Schumer's middle of the road solicitation of those same former Trump voters, with Schumer's choice to chase that bloc while casting disdain toward progressives possibly backfiring. "Safe" Joe and all that; flushed. Where Bernie would have won.

Nothing is cast yet into an irrevocable posture, for Ventura, but his positioning now lessens the unyielding boredom of Trump-Biden mediocrity. Venal is a word coming to mind.

I believe Ventura is more a progressive than Biden, but that is such a low bar it's a joke.

AND - Better Jesse than Bloomberg. More energy. More personality. Less wealth. Equal chutzpah. Taller. A touch less aloof.

Mothers' Day.

Link. Even Bloomberg had a mom. Jeffrey Epstein too.

MN Progressive Project Annex - shout-out time.

Link.

https://mnppannex.blogspot.com/

Lots of new fresh posting, brevity being wit. No excerpting. Go there.

Is the TSA - Homeland whistleblower only telling part of a bigger story?

Whistleblower reportedly informs on hoarding of masks.

What about toilet paper, kleenex, rubbing alcohol, gloves and hand wipes? Tell the entire story. Government agency hoarding at least is not having to blame the neighbors. Impersonal that way. Artificial shortages engineered to keep folk roiled seems a touch evil. Yes/no? And then alleging the Chinese cornered the market before letting the cat out of the bag? Where next? Winston Smith meeting O'Brien? The next follow-up step? Tracked down by his cellphone GPS?

Add in Chris Dodd.

online image; this link; per this opinion item

This Chris Dodd.


Slate.

Washington Examiner, an admittedly right-leaning outlet.

Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Probably with an eye to a possible career advancement, this. Today, Strib.

Compare.

Add on that her policy view differs little from Biden's, although she has no Hunter in her closet.

She's not presidential, and if she's Biden's VP choice it would be a deal killer. Progressives should be expected to have a tepid to negative enthusiasm toward a Biden-Klobuchar ticket. Amy is honest and not a bribe taker. However, more is needed. That is merely a floor for a candidate, (where Hunter Biden circumstances can be viewed one way or the other, but the distinct smell cannot be denied).

Unlike Klobuchar, who says she believes Biden's story and not Reade's, I say I believe Reade.

Why not believe Reade?

BOTTOM LINE: Klobuchar surely left her Minnesota colleague in the Senate, Franken, hanging, twisting slowly in the wind. NOT a profile in courage. NOT by any measure.

Topping that off is the clear fact that Franken has a better mind than either Biden or Klobuchar, is better on policy though not a strong progressive, and is more presidential than either Joe or Amy. And when Al's career was threatened with Klobuchar having nothing to gain really by supporting Al, she took a hike.

That is not presidential. Comparing her "Al reaction" to her "Joe reaction," the juxtaposition carries an undeniable "What's in it for me" tainted dimension. A deal killer dimension.

Strib's headline today, "Sen. Amy Klobuchar backs Joe Biden in face of woman's allegations," subhead, "The Minnesota senator, a key backer of Biden's presidential bid, says she's 'proud to be supporting him.'" [italics added]

Pride being strange, she had no pride toward Franken, who had no career advancement chops to offer, either.

Written online, "I have every intention of writing in Bernie's name in November. Why? He's the best man to be president. I don't vote against people; I vote for people. Bernie and his platform were right for 2016 and he and his platform are right for 2020. Watch the video above and maybe you will decide to write him in too."

The headline quote is from Down With Tyranny! at this link; (the headline's quoted paragraph being the first text below the embedded video at that link, (the video that the headline quote here references)). View the video. Read the screed. Reading is a part of learning. Note the item itself is headlined, "... Part 1," so we all await following parts. Opinions will differ, but clearing the air might be a step toward making America great, again.

And to whatever extent it matters, I believe the woman. Franken got skullduggery against him based on a comedic photo the comedian in Franken could not resist; and his Senate colleagues piled on because of Kavanaugh. An allegation of rape is a more serious thing, and yet less undid the Senate career of a better man.

Last, that linked DWT item is source of the new sidebar top image. You can click that item to see it enlarged, but even as a tiny sidebar thing, it says volumes.

Sidebar sequencing has been altered since this post; so this caveat is needed to avoid confusion.

If sincerity mattered, who'd get your prize?

Bokbluster.com

Here.

Here.

Just so people can perceive what's being shoveled onto them these days, this online item was posted as "NEWS" and not an opinion piece.

Link. This is not even laying it on with a trowel. This is burying you in it with a backhoe.

There is no excuse for a biased screed like that to be posted as "news." Trump being Trump is no excuse for such a shunning of decent journalism practice.

Fifty years ago to the date, the Kent State murders.

And the bastards still rule. Today: Staged "protest" by idiots holding assault weapons go on unchecked, replete with photo op shit.

Then: Innocent students were slaughtered by their government at Kent State.

And then, Jackson State. But the murder of white Ohio students did draw more press.

Not one single murderer, nor the officer giving the command to shoot and kill faced justice. It was as sad a day as Biden gave to Anita Hill.

Lest we forget the past . . .

Bastards still rule. Two-party bastards. Run Jesse, run.

Wouldn't it be a better world if Bezos and Bloomberg were both put into Thunderdome? Two men enter, one man leaves. It would be worth the price of admission.

Just saying. We all know how Bloomberg spent to fuck Bernie and progress, and now wants to have a data stranglehold of the Democratic Party because the other party does not want him having a data stranglehold on it.

Bezos, latest, this link.

In the ideal world, the one leaving would be put back in, this time with Zuckerberg.

Just saying. The mark of the beast is easy to distinguish. It only requires open eyes.

These days, people are craoking in nursing homes in Minnesota and while it is making room for aging Boomers, it suggests elder care norms and acceptable practices need deep and wide-reaching review. What are Minnesota politicians doing about it? [UPDATED]

Background on the nursing home situation, Strib, May 1, 2020 — 12:03am . Earlier, CBS MN, April 2, 2020 at 10:05 pm.

Housely and Benson did right by pressing against the inertia of business as usual among those entrusted with care for those unable to fully care for themselves.

With the Reaper reaping, who has proposed anything resembling decent reforms for this growing industry segment? What's the fix? Hand wringing and keening does little. Action - reform - is what's needed.

Figure that out, folks. Warehousing the old folks might not be all that hot an idea. Concentrating the susceptible into situations where infectious disease spread can hit concentrated populations who collectively are highly at risk individuals is proving questionabe. What's the answer? Something aside from housing elderly all together where "efficiency" favors big populous facilities just might be dumb despite the profit-making lure of such an answer. Politicians should posture less and work harder.

Boomers should be most concerned. They're next.

___________UPDATE___________
Strib, Sunday, May 3, carries an AP feed headlined, "Faced with 20,000 dead, care homes seek shield from lawsuits." As a child playing the Monopoly game I soon learned the value of the get out of jail free card.

Strib, mid-item, in paragraphs touching a Cuomo New York liability-lifting legal setup posts:

While the law covering both hospital and nursing care workers doesn’t cover intentional misconduct, gross negligence and other such acts, it makes clear those exceptions don’t include “decisions resulting from a resource or staffing shortage.”

Cuomo’s administration said the measure was a necessary part of getting the state's entire health care apparatus to work together to respond to the crisis.

“It was a decision made on the merits to help ensure we had every available resource to save lives,” said Rich Azzopardi, a senior advisor to Cuomo. “Suggesting any other motivation is simply grotesque.”

Nationally, the lobbying effort is being led by the American Health Care Association, which represents nearly all of the nation’s nursing homes and has spent $23 million on lobbying efforts in the past six years.

Grab onto that very first paragraph. These are often multi-state for-profit business ventures, bottom-line oriented, where any fool of a bean counter can tell you, underspending on supplies and staffing - goods and services, if you think that way - is a way to boost the bottom line, profit being what is left after expenses are subtracted from income, and lessening expenses in commerce with a set income means bigger profits.

So, gross abuse, make them insure against that - it is so politically sensible the lobbyists recognize that line. However, letting the industry off the hook if compromising upon the industry's sole raison d'etre, provision of reasonably expected credible levels of care - what's expected within the public's mind, is mind-boggling. Yet profiteering as much as feasible no matter what is NOT a good thing to lobby for or grant. Corner cutting simply is too attractive a business venturing incentive to be tolerated, much less made a liability-free option; a go for the gold incentive even toward shoddy and inadequate practices. Faulty goods and services below the reasonable public's expectation must not be hidden or tolerated in allowing escape from liability for "decisions resulting from a resource or staffing shortage," where "SHORTAGE" can be as now resulting from inadequate pandemic planning and funding by government, or in other settings from a decision to compromise in search of greater profit.

The pandemic is a problem, but let's not make it an excuse, one reaching even to normal operating times.