Tracker

TRUMP IS LOSING HIS GRIP: “Donald Trump has never been the picture of mental stability, but over the last few weeks, he’s appeared to crank up the crazy from about a 45 to a 337,” Levin writes. “From seemingly proposing intravenous Lysol as a coronavirus cure to claiming the United States is close to testing 5 million people a day for COVID-19 — a number so completely absurd that he might as well have said we’ll soon be running 8 billion tests a day — to reportedly threatening to sue his campaign manager over a dimming 2020 outlook, the president has well and truly lost whatever remaining shred of sanity he once had on reserve.” https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/the-more-journalists-report-that-trump-is-losing-it-the-more-he-loses-it/

Its not just the guns, as the Swiss prove. Its guns plus seething hatred and fear of each other added to a history of glorification of violence and war. In the past 150 years, the US has been involved in more foreign wars than any other nation, and all these wars were extolled as glorious victories.

About freaking time. It cannot come soon enough. EDIT: I should have exempted those who need long guns for their livelihood- framers, ranchers, trappers and so forth.

This appears to be the most credible description. It does not excuse Biden's lack of common sense but not a indictable offence by any means, and probably not even civilly culpable. Nothing will stop the GOP from trying to blow it up into a war crime, though.

I think the official probably over-estimated Trump's mental and emotional age by 300%.

As a followup to Trump's obsession with blaming China for the Coronavirus epidemic and 60,000 US deaths: even though his intelligence community has denied any culpability for China, Trump has gone all in on it. He has said that he has "proof" of China's guilt but he cannot show it to anyone. Except maybe to his invisible friends who have provided him with this damning evidence.

Choosing Hallett was a no-brainer and he and Exhume will fight for at least a backup safety role. Dheilly looks hella quick, Liegghio will be around for a while, and Kambamba might surprise a lot of people. Overall, not as productive as last year, but Walters & co know their stuff, so I will sleep well.

The exercises are...interesting.

Damn. Mason Bennett goes to the TiCats. We were a long shot to grab him, but damn.

‘America in the age of Trump’: Armed gunmen enter Michigan Capitol demanding end to lockdown The right-wing movement against public health measures designed to stave off the coronavirus pandemic escalated on Thursday as armed gunmen were among those who stormed the Michigan state house and tried to enter the legislative chamber. https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/america-in-the-age-of-trump-armed-gunmen-enter-michigan-capitol-demanding-end-to-lockdown/

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣Louisiana Lawmakers Vote by Mail to Roll Back Access to Voting by Mail Not without some irony, Republican lawmakers voted by mail on Thursday to roll back a plan that expanded the access to mail-in ballots in Louisiana. Lawmakers asserted that mail-in votes carry a higher risk of voter fraud, a claim frequently used by Trump that election officials have said is extremely rare, The Advocate reports. The altered plan, introduced by Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, who called it a “pragmatic and temporary response,” was approved by the Louisiana House on a 62-39 vote and the Senate by a 31-8 vote and only applies to elections in July and August. The revisions allow access to mail-in ballots for individuals who are 60 years or older, those at high risk of serious complications, as well as people who are under a “medically necessary quarantine or isolation order” or caring for someone in self-isolation. Some Republican lawmakers were reportedly not satisfied with the revisions, arguing that the plan should cut mail-in voting even more.

No doubt Trump will fire the authors of the report after calling it "fake news". Reality has no place in Trump's head, and he is surrounded by people willing to prostitute their honour to remain associated with power- in this case an insane would-be dictator.

Entrapment is a practice whereby a law enforcement agent or agent of the state induces a person to commit a "crime" that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit. It "is the conception and planning of an offense by an officer or agent, and the procurement of its commission by one who would not have perpetrated it except for the trickery, persuasion or fraud of the officer or state agent.

TRUMP SETTING THE STAGE TO PARDON MICHAEL FLYNN: Lawyers for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn claim they have found a smoking gun to clear their client but the newly disclosed documents they’re pointing to amount to nothing more than a stage prop. So why the outcry from Flynn’s supporters? Because the documents may provide the dummy rounds Donald Trump needs to fire to justify a pardon of his friend and former national security adviser. https://www.thedailybeast.com/no-the-fbi-didnt-frame-michael-flynn-thats-just-trumps-excuse-for-a-prospective-pardon?ref=home

Apparently rigorous honesty and the truth are negotiable for the Pences despite their claim to be living their faith.

Mike Pence’s Wife Claims He Didn’t Know About Hospital Mask Policy, Contradicting Mayo Clinic Second lady Karen Pence asserted on Thursday morning that her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, was unaware of the Mayo Clinic’s face mask policy until after his visit with staff and a patient. Earlier this week, the veep drew outrage for flouting the clinic’s rule about the masking policy prior to his arrival. Asked on Fox & Friends why the vice president didn’t wear a mask, Mrs. Pence replied: “It was actually after he left Mayo Clinic that he found out that they had a policy of asking everyone to wear a mask.” Outside of the facility’s tweet contradicting this claim, CNN reported that the VP’s office was briefed days in advance of the clinic’s requirement on masks to guard against coronavirus transmission. https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-pences-wife-claims-he-didnt-know-about-hospital-mask-policy-contradicting-mayo-clinic?ref=home

A Silicon Valley engineer with no medical background got $69 million for ventilators after tweeting Trump. They were never delivered. https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/a-silicon-valley-engineer-with-no-medical-background-got-69-million-for-ventilators-after-tweeting-trump-they-were-never-delivered/

There is no good reason for the public to own firearms whose only design purpose is to kill people. Yes, anyone could use a hunting rifle to go on a killing spree, but sociologically, getting rid of people-killing guns causes a shift in public consciousness for the better, as the Australian example shows.

What sank Hillary was that the majority of Democrats really wanted Bernie, but the party bosses moved heaven and earth in order to stack the deck against him, as they thought he was too left-wing, even though he was polling well. The Democrats who supported Bernie were bitterly disappointed and went silent, ensuring Trump's win. Even so, it took an intervention by their electoral college to overrule the popular vote, which was bizarre to say the least.

Trump is a living claymore, and when he detonates (and he is already escalating), the shrapnel is going to harm a lot of people. Canada will be affected, too.

TRUMP FINDS YET ANOTHER SCAPEGOAT: Everyone’s out to get him. President Donald Trump has claimed that China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic is proof that Beijing “will do anything they can” to make him lose his re-election bid in November. “They’re constantly using public relations to try to make it like they’re innocent parties,” he said of Chinese officials, who this week accused the U.S. of “barefaced lies” over White House attempts to lay blame for the pandemic onto China. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-says-china-is-using-coronavirus-to-stop-him-winning-re-election?ref=home

President Donald Trump reportedly berated and then threatened to sue his own 2020 presidential campaign manager, Brad Parscale, during a conference call with political advisers last Friday. According to a new report from CNN that cites three people who were in the room at the time, the president was “fuming” over the continued criticism he was receiving for suggesting that injecting disinfectant could be an effective treatment for the coronavirus and shouted at Parscale over the significant decline in his poll numbers. “It’s not clear how serious the president’s threat of a lawsuit was,” the CNN report added. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-reportedly-threatened-to-sue-his-own-campaign-manager-brad-parscale

A phantom plague’: Evangelical fundamentalists who openly defied social distancing guidelines are dying of coronavirus in frightening numbers2K Countless non-fundamentalist churches in the United States, from Catholic to Lutheran and Episcopalian, have embraced social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic and temporarily moved their activities online. But many Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals have been irresponsibly downplaying the dangers of COVID-19 and doing so with deadly results: journalist Alex Woodward, in the U.K.-based Independent, reports that the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 30 pastors in the Bible Belt

White House Asks Intel Agencies to Find Evidence That China Covered Up the Coronavirus Outbreak, Says Report Jamie Ross The White House has ordered intelligence agencies to look for evidence to support the allegation that China and the World Health Organization orchestrated a coverup at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, NBC News reports. The National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the CIA have all reportedly received instructions to look for incriminating information about the early days of the outbreak. NBC News reports that the agencies have been instructed to go through communications intercepts, human source reporting, and satellite imagery to find out whether China and the WHO hid what they knew about the virus. The agencies have also reportedly been asked to determine exactly what the WHO knew about two labs researching coronaviruses in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first noted.