Friday, June 5, 2020

Self-isolation Day 80.


Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, woke up but didn’t get up a couple times during the night, got up at 5:30 and took a Tums for a hint of heartburn, went back to bed finally getting up at 6am.

The security perimeter around the White House keeps expanding. Tall black fencing is going up seemingly by the hour. Armed guards and sharpshooters and combat troops are omnipresent.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and President Trump were engaged in an escalating contest over control of Washington streets when the email from a military planner set off new alarms in the mayor’s office.

The official was seeking guidance Wednesday afternoon for the U.S. Northern Command in determining “route restrictions” for the “movement of tactical vehicles” and “military forces” from Fort Belvoir, Va., into the city to assist in “Civil Disturbance Operations.”

To Bowser’s aides, the request smacked of an imminent escalation in the federal force Trump had marshaled to quell the large street demonstrations over police brutality near the White House — the centerpiece of his bid to project the image of a strong leader who would establish “law and order” where local leaders had failed across the nation. Days earlier, Trump had falsely accused Bowser (D) in a tweet of refusing to allow D.C. police to assist in crowd control in Lafayette Square.

“The last time they asked us about that was in preparation to move tanks to the city for the Fourth of July” celebration last summer, said one D.C. government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private request. “We don’t want it to happen.”

Bankrupted J.C. Penney announced Thursday a list of the 154 stores it plans to close this summer, with store closing sales kicking off June 12. 

US coronavirus deaths: Over 1,000 reported in the past 24 hours

President Donald Trump struggled to pivot away from an avalanche of bad news Thursday even as White House aides acknowledged feeling under siege from protesters, the coronavirus and the media.

Over the past 24 hours, the White House has confronted a public split between the president and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, a blistering denunciation by his former top Pentagon official James Mattis, a new jobs report documenting an additional 1.9 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims and lingering questions about the decision to clear a park of peaceful protesters Monday for a presidential photo op.    

Even for a president who has long courted chaos, it's been a tumultuous week. 

I left the apt at 9am and walked past Otra Parte to Avenida Poblado, walked south across the street from Smartfit (I didn’t see anyone go in or out), down to Aymara, past Consumo, turned right back to Avenida Poblado, past Ayura, through the restaurant/café area and back to the apt by 9:30.

I finished season 4 of The 100 on Netflix. What a creative and intelligent series. Unfortunately, season 5 also doesn’t have English subtitles.



In the 72 hours since the Trump administration used tear gas and other nonlethal force to violently clear Lafayette Square of peaceful protesters before President Trump's walk to St. John's Church, "the White House has been transformed into a veritable fortress," The Washington Post reports, with tall security fencing and concrete barriers erected to keep protesters from an expanded secure zone. "Armed guards and sharpshooters and combat troops are omnipresent." According to Google Maps, the new fencing stretches about 1.7 miles around the White House.



A new poll shows 66 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of this latest crisis, compared to 23-percent approval.



"An audit of thousands of old case files by Ukrainian prosecutors found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Hunter Biden, the former prosecutor general, who had launched the audit, told Reuters," said the report. "Ruslan Ryaboshapka was in the spotlight last year as the man who would decide whether to launch an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter, in what became a key issue in the impeachment of President Donald Trump."



Twitter disabled U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign tribute video to George Floyd on its platform, citing a copyright complaint.



Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Thursday said he would block two Trump administration nominations until the White House explained why it fired two federal watchdogs.



President Trump weighed in today on the controversy surrounding Drew Brees, saying the Saints’ quarterback was right to criticize kneeling during the national anthem and wrong to apologize for his statement.

Brees response: “Through my ongoing conversations with friends, teammates, and leaders in the black community, I realize this is not an issue about the American flag. It has never been,” Brees wrote. “We can no longer use the flag to turn people away or distract them from the real issues that face our black communities.

“We did this back in 2017, and regretfully I brought it back with my comments this week. We must stop talking about the flag and shift our attention to the real issues of systemic racial injustice, economic oppression, police brutality, and judicial & prison reform. 

“We are at a critical juncture in our nation’s history! If not now, then when?

“We as a white community need to listen and learn from the pain and suffering of our black communities. We must acknowledge the problems, identify the solutions, and then put this into action. The black community cannot do it alone. This will require all of us.”

There was something on our afternoon news about those who don’t have to pay their rent. There were about 10 on the list that included bars, discotheques, gyms, and casinos.

One of Maine's largest newspapers welcomed President Donald Trump ahead of his first official visit to the state by calling on him to resign. "President Trump: We're sorry that you decided to come to Maine, but since you are here, could you do us a favor? Resign." the editorial board at the Portland Press Herald wrote in an op-ed published Friday morning.

The newspaper pointed to Trump's lack of leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic, record unemployment, and nationwide protests for racial justice as reasons for him to abandon his post as commander in chief.

The entire Buffalo Police Department Emergency Response Team — a total of 57 officers — has resigned from the team in support of the two officers who pushed 75-year-old Martin Gugino to the ground.

President Trump on Friday said a sudden rebound in hiring could address racial tensions in the United States, suggesting that he doesn’t believe more structural changes might be needed to deal with protests throughout the United States.

“It’s the greatest thing that can happen for race relations, for the African American community, for the Asian American, for the Hispanic American community, for women, for everything,” Trump said. “Because our country is so strong. And that’s what my plan is. We’re going to have the strongest economy in the world.”

On Friday, President Trump gestured to the sky and said that today’s positive jobs report marks a “great day” for George Floyd, who was killed by police last week.

“Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country. It’s a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day,” Trump said.

A group of former officials of the George W. Bush administration have come together to do what they once would have considered unthinkable—endorsing a Democratic candidate for president—and in a stinging rebuke to the president, are raising money for Joe Biden. The new super PAC, called 43 Alumni for Biden, submitted paperwork Monday listing Karen Kirksey, a former Treasury Department official, as treasurer. It is not yet clear whether the group has raised any funds, but its formation is the latest sign of growing trouble for Republicans and for Trump. Several members of the super PAC told Newsweek that Bush's stewardship during 9/11 illustrates his understanding that he needed to rally the country at the moment of its greatest need—a contrast, they said, with Trump's "law and order" approach during the current crisis.



President Donald Trump's former chief of staff and Homeland Security secretary John Kelly said Friday he agreed with former Defense Secretary James Mattis' criticism of Trump and said "we need to look harder at who we elect."



City workers and activists painted the words Black Lives Matter in enormous bright yellow letters on the the street leading to the White House.



The Minneapolis City Council voted for reform in its police department, including the ban on police chokeholds and requiring officers to intervene when they see unauthorized use of force.

The president held a press event Friday morning to tout the fact that unemployment is not as far over 13 percent as people thought it might be. (Hey, you take what you can get, right?) Then he said this, when asked about George Floyd, who was murdered by police in the streets of Minneapolis.

“George is looking down right now and saying ‘this is a great thing happening for our country. It’s great day for him, a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality. It’s really what our Constitution requires and what our country is about.”

Today I bested Teresa in parcheesi 3 games to 2 but we had a disagreement resulting in putting the game away for awhile.



A Trump replay from March 8^th: Trump: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine-tuned plan at the White House for our attack on coronaVirus.”

The US has 1,857,612 ð 1,880,542  ð 1,910,038 coronavirus cases with 107,045 ð 108,117 ð 109,285 deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 33,354 ð 35,120  ð 36,635 cases with 1,145 deaths.  Medellin has 594  ð 607  ð 620 cases, an increase of 13 from June 4^th to June 5^th. New cases appear to be leveling off. Hopefully they can keep it that way for awhile.

Joke of the day

A family is having dinner at the table one evening, when the son asks the father, "Dad, how many different kinds of boobs are there?" The father is a little taken aback, but he ponders for a moment before answering.

"Well, my son, a woman goes through three phases in life. In her 20s, her breasts are like melons, round, and firm. In her 30s and 40s, they become like pears, still nice, but hanging a bit. But after 50, her breasts become like onions."

The son is confused and asks, "Onions?"

The father replies, "Yes, you see them and they make you cry."