Waves of a Fever

"Things come and go in the news cycle like waves of fever." – Adam Curtis

....though during the last two and a half years, our fever has not broken once.


One of my missions in this blog is to simply chronicle the goings-on in our nation, and I struggle to keep up. So here is a feverish news digest of a bunch of big stuff and some little stuff that would be big stuff if there weren't so much other big stuff.


This week in America's Drumpfster fire.


Our border crisis hit us all extremely hard when we viewed a photo of the death of a 25-year-old Óscar Martínez Ramírez and his 23-month-old daughter Angie Valeria. They drowned, clinging to each other, in the Rio Grande, desperately trying to cross to seek asylum after they were turned away at a point of entry. Here is their story. My son is just a little older than Óscar, and his daughter is the same age as Angie Valeria. This image pierced my heart, as it did all of us. We all want to turn away from the image, but we mustn't.

Reports emerged of horrific conditions at the border facilities holding children. Hundreds of children are still separated from their families, held in cages in border detention facilities and are held without soap or toothbrushes, unbathed, sleeping on the concrete floor, and inadequately fed. Slightly older children as young as 7 and 8 years old are caring for the toddlers who don't have diapers. The babies are forced to soil their pants. There are not words adequate to describe the shame that Americans feel over this happening in our country. "Crisis" is inadequate to describe the situation.


The President* of the United States of America was accused of his 22nd rape. This time, it is a New Yorker writer and advice columnist who outlined her attack in an upcoming book. Her allegation is specific, credible, and corroborated, but the media yawned. SCROTUS's reaction? The repulsive "She isn't my type." Classic reptilian abuser language. One question, Mr. Baby Hands. Tell us about the type that you do rape. We must be outraged!  Don't let your outrage wane!


King Minus again called into his favorite friendly "news" outlet, FAUX News Business, to rant incoherently for 45 minutes. He ranted like a buffoon about everything and nothing. Mostly nothing, because although the host, Maria Bartiromo, pretended to understand what he was talking about, it was typical nonsense, in the true sense of the word. If you can't stomach the whole incoherent 45 minutes, there's video in this piece from Esquire.


Robert Mueller will speak to Congress in an open session on July 17. Mark your calendars and set your dial. Here is a chance to educate the 97% of Americans who have not yet read the full Mueller report, despite the report quickly reaching the top of best seller lists. People pay attention to the spoken word. I don't care if Mueller doesn't answer a single question about the report if he will just read his report out loud.


The Supreme Court has been busy with a flurry of end-of-session decisions. They handed a win to gerrymanderers. They struck down the census citizenship question that the Repugs wanted. And they also refused to hear a case that would restore an Alabama abortion ban.


TЯUMP is at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Deplorable behaviors are front and center, as usual. Particularly his and wink and nod to his Cutie Putie, joking and smiling, saying oh-by-the-way (wink, wink), "Don't meddle in the election." Watch the body language below. This is just grotesque.




I offer as contrast:

Pete Souza

We are on the brink of war with Iran. Like those arsonist firefighters who disable the smoke detectors and remove the extinguishers before throwing the match and coming back to save the day, the Demander-in-Chief has once again dug us into another crisis of his own making. In his quest to undo every action of Barack Obama, he had withdrawn from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement, leaving Iran angry and open to start aggressions, and now he wants to make a new deal. His G20 colleagues aren't having it. It's quite a pickle.


Systematic, repugnant misogynist racism reared its ugly head again in our favorite backwoods state, Alabama. A five-months-pregnant woman had an altercation with another woman. The pregnant woman, Marshae Jones, was shot. Her unborn baby was killed. Jones, the mother-to-be, was arrested and indicted on manslaughter charges in the death of her fetus, while her assaulter walked free. Tell me how this is America.


National treasure Jimmy Carter said he believes the 45th president is illegitimate. He's just saying out loud what most of us – including 45 himself – believe to be true.


The employees at Wayfair stood up for what is right and walked off the job. Our fellow sister and brother resisters protested their company's sales of furniture to the detention centers at the border. Americans on the right side of history! Let's hear it for them! Wayfair's response was tepid, sending $100,000 to the Red Cross, an organization that has nothing to do with assisting at the border. I think it's time to boycott to add pressure. (As an aside: I have had detention center profiteers as a draft post since the beginning of the year. I'll soon explore this topic further.)


We commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots yesterday. Happy Pride! We've come a long way in our civil rights fight for LGBT folks; we still have a ways to go.


And lastly, a bit of a positive:

The cavalry is coming. This week we had our first debates of the 2020 election cycle. Twenty Democrats faced off over two nights. I watched both and my first impression was "Yay!" There was a lot of progressive talk; all of the candidates had good ideas (except for that Marianne Williamson person. What is she all about?), and they all align with my thinking. We have a deep field of good people to choose from!

My winners from Night 1: Liz Warren and Julian Castro. Cory Booker looks good too. I like him.

My winners from Night 2: Kamala and Mayor Pete. What smart people! Uncle Joe looked tired, washed out, and unprepared. He sounded like just another old white male politician with nothing new to add, spouting the same old talking points. And Kamala was en fuego putting him on the defensive about his civil rights record. He was backing from the flames the whole time, and I would not be surprised if his end-of-three-minutes blank look saying, "My time is up" is turned into a meme, gif, or attack-ad soundbite. Like Rep. Swalwell (CA-15th) said, it's time to pass the torch. I am ready to put him on the back burner and throw my support to some of the others.

Liz and Kamala are by far my favorites of this talented cast!


Here is Stephen Colbert and his summaries of the debates. He does it better than I ever could.





and here is the amazing Kate McKinnon and her impression of Marianne Williamson.





Whew! That's a lot of outrage in one week! Let us channel the outrage into action. Find a candidate to support and SUPPORT her, with all you have. As the field changes, change your alliance, embrace another progressive, move this country back to its ideals. And while the campaigns roll on, contact your members of Congress TODAY. Express your outrage on these issues. Resistbot makes it easy. They'll fax a letter directly to your member of Congress, directly from your text or Messenger. Even if your representatives are progressive, write to them and express your outrage. Our leaders must hear that we will not stand for it!

Act with your dollars. Help at the border by donating to RAICES, the National Immigration Law Center, the National Bail Fund Network, or another charity working to help these unfortunate people.

Whatever you do, so SOMETHING! Get out your fire hoses.... It's up to us, Resisters!

Mike Luckovich