Based on his rhetoric during the briefing - “Is now the time to savage essential services?” and “There is no nation without the states” - the meeting did not go well. No melding of the minds.
Get ready, folks, we’re in for a rough ride!
Cuomo, not Biden, for president!
We, the People of the United States needs someone with real management, “control freak” skills at this precarious time. Cuomo has those skills.
Alas, the Biden octogenarian presidency currently in the works will provide the same old, same old maintenance of the status quo…with old-style “malarkey” rhetoric.
Who needs that?
***
Twitter tweets. Expect more whackjobbery from the White House as, for the first time ever, Twitter editorializes.Twitter recently tagged two of Trump's tweets, calling them “potentially misleading.”
One evidence-free Trump tweet falsely claimed mail-in ballots would lead to widespread voter fraud.
The other evidence trampling Trump tweet accused TV host Joe Scarborough of murder.
Twitter added a linked message beneath Trump’s mail-in ballot Trump tweet: "Get the facts about mail-in ballots,” that it’s not “rigged” as Trump suggests. Twitter aims to provide context around Trump’s remarks and “combat information and disputed or unverified claims.”
Trump responses?
Tweet 1: “Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election. They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post.
Tweet 2: “…Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH and I, as President, will not allow it to happen.”
Gird yourself for a barrage of Trump tweets…
Moreover, looks like the “Trump administration will target a 1996 statute that protects the companies from lawsuits — an avenue that a growing number of Republican lawmakers are advocating as they press their bias accusations about Silicon Valley.”
CNN’s Chris Cillizza believes Twitter’s pushback will not work because:
- Twitter isn't going to remove Trump's account. Which means Trump can use Twitter’s platform to savage Twitter – as he’s already doing.
- The Twitter link isn’t bold enough. The small link urging people to "get the facts" is ineffective. Twitter could suspend Trump’s account, but under the aegis of protecting 1st Amendment rights, they have no plans to do that.
- Twitter is damaged goods. Trump and Trumpies have insisted for years that Twitter, Facebook et al are biased against conservatives. “That conservative accounts are taken down, muted or disappeared. That the Silicon Valley founders of these social media giants are all liberals and are finding ways small and large to promote views they agree with and to silence those they don't…. Twitter’s attempt to point people to facts when the President has made a false claim isn't a good faith effort [but another] example of how conservatives are being unfairly treated, and how liberals get away with things they never could.”
That might mean We, the People, begin to see a turning of the tide away from the Trumpster.
One can only hope!
News blues…
The US has more than 1.7 million cases of infection and beyond 100,000 known Covid-19-related deaths (despite the real numbers being wrong – “and everyone knows it” )My home state, California, joins Illinois, New Jersey, and New York as states with 100,000 known infections.
It’s bad out there.
***
Another Daily Maverick webinar, “Junked: Consequences of the Downgrade.” Hosted by Tim Cohen with Nazmeera Moola and Peter Worthington (currently locked out of South Africa and locked down in Canada). Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
 |
| Frost, Thursday morning. Click to enlarge |
Yesterday afternoon, I walked the garden and inventoried the frost-damage.
The plants shown mid-right background in this photo are invasive cannas, aka Indian Shot, introduced as an ornamental, not from Indian as the name suggests, but from the Caribbean and tropical America.
Tenacious and prolific, these plants fall into Category 1b of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, meaning it must be removed from gardens as it forms dense spreading clumps which when left unattended eliminates indigenous species.
I’ve had them in my sights for eradication for years. Today is the day to begin that process. Alas, frost may have softened up the plant for easier eradication, but the tubers and seeds promise another bumper crop come spring.
***
They're baaaack!Repatriation flights confuse! Announced, cancelled, announced again - with a short window of opportunity.
That cancelled SAA flight of a couple of weeks ago?
It’s back on schedule!
Health Alert: Announcing May 29 South African Airways Flight – U.S. Embassy Pretoria, South Africa (May 27, 2020)I detect an assumption underlying these emails: that while in South Africa caring for aging family, Americans longing to return to the US, must live out of packed suitcases, ready to depart with less than one day’s notice.
Location: South Africa
Event: The South African Department of Health has confirmed 24,264 cases of COVID-19 within its borders.
South African Airways Flight – May 29, 2020
South African Airways (SAA) has notified the U.S. Mission of a special repatriation flight on May 29, 2020, from Cape Town to Washington, D.C. (Washington-Dulles International Airport.) For further information or to book a seat, please see SAA’s repatriation portal here. If you were previously booked on the canceled May 19 SAA flight, you have been automatically re-booked on the May 29 flight but must contact SAA to confirm. This is not a U.S. government-coordinated flight; you must contact SAA directly to book tickets or for further information.
Please note:
- The airline will submit a final list of passengers to the U.S. Mission and we will confirm with the airline that passengers have appropriate travel documents. We will work directly with the relevant authorities for clearing passenger lists and are not providing documentation such as a permission letter to individual passengers. You do not need to contact the U.S. Embassy or take further action for this approval.
- For non-U.S. citizens (excluding U.S. legal permanent residents), you need to contact DIRCO directly for permission to depart South Africa.
- For information regarding price details, payment methods, baggage allowances, and other specific questions, please contact SAA directly.
- Please do not contact the U.S. Mission to South Africa regarding assembly point logistics and travel permission letters for confirmed passengers. SAA is coordinating assembly point logistics and will distribute that information to you separately.
- You will need to contact the airline directly for questions about availability.
I’d love to return to warm, sunny, northern California. But living under lockdown amid a pandemic with an aging parent, seven dogs, two domestic workers, and a large garden hosting invasive species, provides enough stress without the added stress of living out of a suitcase.
Digging through packed belongings for toothpaste and warm socks while checking one’s email inbox for emails that announce flights, cancel flights, announce flights again?
All for the privilege of landing in Washington D.C., home of the whoppers?
Who needs it?
On March 23, 1775 at the Second Virginia Convention in Richmond, VA: Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty, or give me death!"
I paraphrase Patrick Henry: “Give me SFO, or keep me KZN’ing….”
No comments:
Post a Comment