How did we get here?

“Here” is a country where millions believe in loony conspiracy theories and vote for a fascist like Trump, and yet they close their eyes to black clad militarized police whisk citizens off the street into unmarked cars. We’ve become simultaneously hyperconscious of outrageous nonsense promoted on the internet, and desensitized to it. Well, most of us are desensitized — about 30% seem to have become the base of the Republican party.

There’s a lot of blame to go around. This documentary pins it on a couple of sources: Alex Jones and Roger Stone, and the conscienceless, manipulatory algorithms of YouTube and Facebook that enabled these terrible people, culminating in the election of Donald Trump. I think there are even more people responsible, but this is a good start.

Almost an hour of concentrated Jones and Stone is agonizing, but sit through it and bear the suffering. There’s a deep injustice here, that Noah Pozner’s parents get to suffer while Alex Jones got rich, and Trump got the presidency. Fox News is the mainstream version of Alex Jones.

Where da boaters at?

When Donald Trump beckons, the media fall all over themselves to answer. For instance, lately Trump has been obsessing over “boat parades” and how much boaters love him, so the Washington Post indulges in overwrought analysis and puts together some fancy data visualization to show that yes, people who can afford boats tend to be Republican. Whether the boater population is a significant slice of the demographic pie, and whether they will be a significant factor in the election, and whether it is at all appropriate or useful for a newspaper to focus a microscope on such a trivial question is an exercise left for the reader.

“A state where the dark-red slice of Republican boaters is larger than the light-red slice of Republicans overall is a state where the boating community is more densely Republican.”

I can’t afford a boat, and I have no interest in owning a boat, so I guess I won’t be cruising around Lake Minnewaska waving a big blue “Trump Sucks!” flag. Is this a meaningful datum? All it tells me is that wealth has a positive correlation with supporting an establishment party that panders to money. (Well, actually, both parties pander to money, but one is more overt than the other.)

By the way, the WaPo is at least willing to point out what a narcissistic flibbertigibbet Trump is. He had earlier announced that he was “too busy” to throw out the first pitch at a major league baseball game, then abruptly, to the surprise of his staff, announced at a press conference that he was going to throw out the first pitch for the New York Yankees…which was also a surprise to the Yankees. What prompted the about face?

He learned that Anthony Fauci was throwing out the first pitch for the Washington Nationals.

Trump was irritated that Fauci was given the honor, the Times reported, citing an official familiar with his reaction. Not to be outdone, he reportedly told his staff to get in touch with the Yankees and take Levine up on his offer, but then the president went ahead and threw a curveball at the coronavirus briefing with his claim that he would take the mound on Aug. 15.

Jesus. The country is run by petty high-schooler.

Only we call them “contract security personnel” rather than “mercs”

Marcus Ranum asks a really good question: who are all these mysterious masked strangers dressed in black armor who show up at the best of the federal government to crush protests? It’s not the lone ranger. They seem to appear out of an undocumented pool of semi-professional thugs. That suggests an answer.

I’ve been puzzled by the fact that nobody seems to be talking about where these “federal troops” have come from.

They’re not well-trained and they’re not particularly brave, but they have spiffy gear that someone bought them from an online Tactical(tm) store. They’re fond of hitting people, especially people who can’t defend themselves. They act like they’re an occupying force; Amerikkka come to the inner city to bust some heads. Sound familiar?

Where has Trump friend Erik Prince been, lately? Because the smell of Blackwater is wafting all around; it’s unmistakable.

Could our government be hiring mercenaries to put down citizens who don’t like injustice? As Marcus suggests, there is a good opportunity for journalistic investigation here.

Here’s how they operate: four thugs abruptly attack a 14 year old girl in Eugene, Oregon.

I guess she was a dangerous threat.

Minnesota has mandated face masks in public

Meanwhile, down at the Wal-Mart…

Stupid people will find a way to obey the letter of the law, while still parading their ignorance and hatefulness.

You know, I hate to tell you this, but if you merely want to be offensive you can buy “Make America Great Again” facemasks on the internet. I’ll still despise you, but I won’t think of you as an ahistorical idiot promoting genocide, mostly.

The feds are trying to saturate Portland with tear gas

It doesn’t seem to be particularly effective.

According to CripDyke, it isn’t, and neither are the leafblowers, which I can believe. Keep on fighting back, Portland!

That Yoho yahoo got his butt kicked

Man, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an effective speaker, and Yoho is lower than slime. Fortunately, Yoho is not running for re-election and will not have to show his shameful face around congress much longer.

You watched it all, I hope. That was strong stuff from AOC.

Bonus! Alexandra Petri stuffs Yoho’s not-pology back up the bunghole it came out of!

The way he’s talking about it, I suspect this is the first time Trump has passed any test

He took a trivial cognitive ability test, and passed it. Now he won’t shut up about it. I guess he’s really impressed by the fact that he can remember six words, but the rest of us should be unimpressed by his obsession with it.

Oh well, at least we can agree: this was the high water mark of his presidency. Take that test and stick it to the refrigerator with a magnet!

About time, Minnesota

We’re finally going to be required to wear masks around here.

Gov. Tim Walz announced a statewide mandate Wednesday requiring Minnesotans to wear face masks in stores, public buildings and other places where people gather indoors, a dramatic extension of his emergency powers in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic that still appears on the upswing in many states.

I’ll be curious to see if we get the kind of reaction in opposition we’ve seen in other states.

Doomsday arrives in November

Expect chaos and revolution after the election, because this president is not going to make a peaceful, lawful transition.

Got your pantry stocked up? Bottled water? Plywood for boarding up your windows? Prepared to hunker down for a good long while? You might want to start getting ready now.

This is part of his re-election campaign, I suspect. “Vote for me, or I will fuck you up!”