Distracting the Distractor

Spot Quiz: “We’re dealing with people who have to get their act together, for the good of the country.”
Which politician recently said this?
 Donald Trump
 “Moscow Mitch” McConnell
 Nancy Pelosi
Sounds like something Nancy Pelosi would say.
But it was Donald Trump…in response to Nancy Pelosi saying that Trump

“could be at greater risk of complications from taking an unproven coronavirus treatment because he is ‘morbidly obese.’ [She added] that she didn't anticipate he would be ‘so sensitive’ about his appearance…. [After all]‘He’s always talking about other people's ... weight, their pounds." 

The president, consummate distractor, has met his match in Pelosi.

In a recent attempt to distract the public from his dismal coronavirus response (1.258 million known Americans infections; 92,000+ dead), Trump said he was self-medicating with hydroxychloroquine. Pelosi’s statement about Trump’s weight – ‘morbidly obese’ – has thrown him off-stride.
We, the People microwave the popcorn in anticipation of the Trump Tweet Tirade (you know it’s coming). Meanwhile, enjoy a Randy Rainbow intermission: his latest parody interview and song, “Distraction!”
***
“You’re fired!”
Donald Trump has a well-documented history of not paying workers and contractors for services and stands “Accused of Routinely Stiffing his Own Employees”.
Before his presidency, Trump

…received at least 3,500 official complaints for failing to pay employees, contractors, and other business affiliates money owed…at least 60 lawsuits, 24 instances where Trump failed to pay overtime and minimum wage, and countless out-of-court settlements. Among those to whom Trump owed money, according to USA Today: dishwashers, bartenders, painters, real-estate brokers, and ironically, even his own lawyers.
In 1990, a casino commission audit of the Trump Taj Mahal, then about to open, revealed that Trump owed an astounding $69.5 million to 253 subcontractors.

Before the presidency, Donald Trump had become “a reality television sensation” on “The Apprentice.” At the end of each episode, Trump would send one contestant packing by turning his hand into a finger gun, fixing it on the contestant, and saying, “you’re fired."

As president, he continues his proclivity to fire people – often just before they’re eligible for retirement benefits.

Andrew McCabe, a 21-year veteran of the FBI, was forced out in 2018 amid an internal investigation by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) into his approval of unauthorized disclosures to the media in October 2016 related to the bureau's Hillary Clinton email probe.
McCabe’s firing would have posed a significant risk to his pension benefits and financial future. 

© AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Click to enlarge.

Now, Trump is jeopardizing the futures of more than 40,000 National Guard members currently under federal orders known as Title 32.
The troops are under local (state) command, but the order grants them federal pay and benefits for helping states test residents for the coronavirus and trace the spread of infections in 44 states, three territories and the District of Columbia. This effort is the largest domestic deployment of National Guard since Hurricane Katrina.

Trump administration’s order ends deployments on June 24, just one day … shy of many members becoming eligible for key federal benefits…. [T]housands of members who first deployed in late March will find themselves with only 89 days of duty credit, one short of the 90-day threshold for qualifying for early retirement and education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI bill.
…Governors and lawmakers in both parties have been pleading with the White House to extend the federal order for several more months or until the end of the year, warning in a letter to Trump that terminating federal deployments early in the summer just as states are reopening “could contribute to a possible second wave of infection.” 

"Nobody knows more…"
Juxtapose Donald Trump’s history with his view of his brain and of himself: “nobody knows more about anything than “Me!”

Feeling all warm and fuzzy towards this man now, aren’t you?

***

News blues…

South Africa’s numbers grow more alarming as:

… confirmed cases of Covid-19 rose to 17,200 on May 19, modellers said the number was likely to grow to 30,000 cases by the end of May at a best-case scenario and 54,000 cases in a worst-case scenario. 

Ekurhuleni metro in Gauteng, eThekwini metro and iLembe District in KwaZulu-Natal, Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay metros in the Eastern Cape as well as the Cape Town City metro and the Cape Winelands district in the Western Cape have the highest number of Covid-19 infections in the country. 

This is based on the average number of active cases between 2 and 8 May per district, which is then compared per 100 000 people of the population.

***

After causing havoc in the Philippines, the typhoon renamed Super Cyclone Amphan, approaches the Bay of Bengal. It’s just the second super cyclone to hit the Bay of Bengal since records began.

During the last super cyclone in 1999, nearly 15,000 villages were affected and almost 10,000 people were killed.
The super cyclone is due to make landfall on the India Bangladesh border on Wednesday evening, near the Indian city of Kolkata which is home to more than 14 million people

The whackjobbery* just never ends…

Poopagandist “mommy bloggers” are rebranding as coronavirus skeptics or deniers…

[Mommy bloggers] are uniquely well-positioned to open people’s minds to dubious and false information. It’s a sobering sign of far-right ideologies creeping in from the fringes of social media amid a colossal “infodemic” that’s causing real-life harm.
In recent weeks, HuffPost has reviewed the Instagram accounts of more than a dozen seemingly radicalized influencers who have been propagating COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Only a few returned requests for comment, including Cohen, who accused this reporter of being “part of the DeepState agenda.”

What to say?
Poopaganda is powerful.
Free your mind.

*Whackjob: term coined by Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project to denote virulent Trump supporters who’ve given up common sense in favor of Trumpism.
*poopaganda – a quasi-genteel term for virulent bull-s**t “truthiness” masquerading as self-empowering info.
*poopagandist – one who perpetuates poopaganda and then complains that social media and “fake news” is trying to silence contrary views and/or conservative voices.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I was supposed to depart South Africa today and return to San Francisco. I’m still here. More than a month ago, I received an email from British Air cancelling the second leg of my return flight. I’ve heard nothing at all about the first leg and none of my eight emails to the travel agent have enlightened me about how or when I’ll get back to California.
Being left hanging in this way is the most disempowering feature of lockdown I’ve experienced. (Yes, I recognize I'm living la dolce vita conronavirus .... nevertheless....)
Emails and phone calls go unanswered.
Has the travel agency packed up and decided not to mention that to customers?
Enquiring minds wanna know…

Despite my personal trials and tribulations...daylight hours growing shorter and winter approaching, 55 days of lockdown have left my anything but bored.
I’ve built into my day, Weed Walking, pond weeding, fish feeding, dog, bird, crab, monkey chatting, and the occasional foray into town for necessities. (So far, I've not built in feeling sorry for myself.)
Today I continue researching cell phones for my elderly mother.

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