Historical Perspective

Saturday marked the 76th anniversary of the WWII D-Day landing on 5 beaches in Normandy, France. To commemorate the occasion, the Lincoln Project released a video contrasting the leadership of Eisenhower to Trump. Republican Voters Against Trump also released a video critical of the president, as did the Biden campaign. All 3 videos are short, around 1 minute each. If you’re looking for some popcorn worthy binge viewing options, queue up all the recent videos produced by the Lincoln Project, Meidas Touch, Republican Voters Against Trump, and Republicans for the Rule of Law. If you thought YouTube was lacking in quality content, think again.

  

General Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was anti-fascist during WWII.
He was later elected President of the United States, as a republican.

Trump rages against Antifa as if the movement is an existential threat to his regime, which it is. The word Antifa is actually an abbreviated form of anti-fascist. Hitler and Mussolini were fascists, far-right authoritarian ultra nationalists. During WWII Eisenhower and Churchill were the ultimate anti-fascists of their time. Every soldier in the allied forces was anti-fascist, as were most US citizens. The modern Antifa movement is extreme: predominantly far-left anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-government anarchists. The roots can be traced back to WWII though, specifically to radicals in Germany and Italy. 

Trump was educated at a military academy and later graduated from the prestigious University of Pennsylvania yet he has little understanding of history or his place in it as commander in chief.
Also lost on Trump is Eisenhower’s warning about the military industrial complex.

Eisenhower warned America about the threat of the Military Industrial Complex.

Trump reportedly demanded 10,000 troops be deployed in Washington DC to quell protests there. Advisors and military officials scaled down their response though people following Trump’s orders still managed to escalate tensions. 

Police in the US are heavily armed in part due to the federal 1033 program which shares surplus military equipment with local law enforcement agencies. A version of the program began after WWII and grew over time. Obama scaled it back in 2015 though Trump fully restored it in 2017. Compared to other countries, US police forces are outliers in the global policing world; American police killed 1,042 people in the past year, in Japan no one was killed by a cop, and in the UK only 3 people died during police encounters. Police brutality insurance premiums and settlements bleed millions of dollars from cities in direct and indirect costs. In some cities, municipal bonds taken out to cover police related settlements create a transfer of wealth from communities to Wall Street. Public support is growing for policing reforms and funding changes, though most Americans, and the mayor of Minneapolis, do not support completely defunding the police as the Minneapolis city council is considering.

As I think about past, present and future generations I ponder the differences and similarities between the Lost Generation, the Greatest Generation, the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, etc. My grandparents lived through the Great Depression; they were hard working, practical and stoic. My boomer parents and friends differ from me and my Gen-X peers in a variety of ways. All things considered, I’m truly optimist about the younger generations, people in their teens and twenties and thirties. Young people like the protestors in Greensboro NC and around the world, Greta Thunberg, Billie Eilish, Reid, Lauren, Austin, Alex and others give me hope for a future different from the past, a future worth staying alive to see and experience.

In the spirit of sharing softer news and/or silly vibes:

• Graham Norton explained Brexit to Stephen Colbert.
• Historian Ron Chernow spoke at 2019 White House Correspondents Dinner.
• Trevor Noah visited his grandmother in South Africa.

Daily pandemic update:  

Global death toll from the coronavirus surged past 400,000. About 30 percent of those cases, around two million infections, are in the US. Aljazeera.com timeline

7 June 2020	Cases		Deaths		Recovered
13:42 GMT*	Yesterday	Today	Yesterday	Today	Yesterday	Today
World	6,874,796	7,013,947	398,682	402,756	3,368,987	3,431,527
US	1,966,266	1,990,046	111,398	112,113	738,729	752,049
NY	396,699	397,810	30,372	30,401	84,139	84,408
CT	43,460	43,818	4,038	4,055	7,689	7,689
NC	33,294	34,717	1,015	1,028	18,860	18,860

A moment of silence for those we’ve lost to coronavirus, including the first 100 and the first 100,000 in the US.

As of today 13% of closed cases in the US resulted in death; 87% recovered.

Globally 11% of closed cases resulted in death worldwide; 89% recovered.

Currently 2% of all active cases are considered serious or critical.

*Documenting time of day because real time data updates continuously.
Tracking specific states:  NY is US epicenter. Son Reid lives in CT. I live in NC. 
Worldometers     Coronainusa     Starsexpress2020     https://ncov2019.live/

In the news: 

• 450,000+ people signed petition requesting NYC Fifth Ave Trump Tower address be changed to Barack H. Obama Ave.  
• Biden is now officially the presidential nominee of the democratic party. Also, video emerged of him vehemently challenging apartheid during Reagan administration.
• Black Lives Matter Plaza in DC was lit up at night, and confirmed by Google maps. DC mayor chided Trump: “We pushed the army away from our city.”
• Facebook announced it will label Russian, Chinese and other state-media groups, and will block any ads from such outlets that target US users. 
• FL set new record with 4,000+ cases in three days after reopening economy.
• #FoxNewsIsRacist trended after the deaths of black men were framed within the context of the stock market. Fox also reported on the 75 year old white “agitator” pushed to the ground by Buffalo police; 2 officers were charged with assault though colleagues continue to publicly support them.  
• HR 1684 Journalist Protection Act would make assault on journalists a federal crime.
• Huge crowds gathered Saturday in DC, Philadelphia and a variety of cities in the US and around the world including Australia, Canada, Lebanon, South Africa, South Korea, Europe and the UK.
• Indianapolis is investigating a video showing police officers beating a woman during a protest.
• Irony alert: After Wichita State University cancelled Ivanka Trump’s planned virtual graduation speech, Ivanka posted video online. She name dropped Joseph Campbell for influencing George Lucas to create Star Wars. She also said, "I've found that my greatest personal growth has arisen from times of discomfort and uncertainty." Perhaps she is unaware some people associate President Trump with villain Darth Vader, and his DC law and order campaign with Imperial Storm Troopers.
• Kettling protestors was an aggressive maneuver by NYPD.  
• Kimberly Jones explained how to win the real life game of monopoly. She also said white people are lucky that black people want equality, not revenge.
• Lowe’s donated $25 million to help minority owned businesses reopen and the CEO pledged to provide additional anti-racism resources to employees. Home Depot founder gave millions to Trump.
• Maine factory reportedly tossed coronavirus testing swabs after Trump visited without wearing a mask. While in Bangor Trump announced rolled back protections at a marine conservation area off the New England coast, signing an order to allow commercial fishing in a stretch of water environmentalists say is critical for endangered right whales and other fragile marine life.
• Marine Corp announced ban on confederate flags including bumper stickers and t-shirts.
• Sesame Street and CNN partnered to broadcast a conversation between Elmo and his dad explaining the protests and racism to children of all ages.
• Trump interview transcript was read aloud to demonstrate he makes no sense. Also, he had trouble pronouncing Minnesota at 3:42 in video. Soon after praising George Floyd, Trump re-tweeted a video of Candace Owens attacking character of Mr. Floyd.
• Unemployment rates were corrected Saturday: adjusted May unemployment rate was 16.4% while adjusted April unemployment rate was actually 19.2%. 
• Washington Post filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against Dept of Homeland Security and Dept of State seeking Secret Service spending records at Trump properties.

Following Kenny Beck’s lead to share a few signs of hope:

Atlanta police danced in the street with protestors during countdown to curfew Friday. The mood in DC Saturday also was festive and optimistic.

In my personal life…

I’m excited because my blog post comparing coronavirus to Schrodinger’s Cat has been read by 100 people and the Cinco de Mayo post was read by 84. Most of my posts have double digit views though none have gone viral (yet). Reaching 100 unique readers is a milestone for me. 

Our garden is another joy in my life. Bees are buzzing and plants are blooming in the summer sun. Birds were beginning to pick off ripe blueberries so Greg and I placed netting around 5 of 6 bushes, leaving 1 for the birds.
I don’t mind sharing with wildlife but I’d prefer to harvest most of the bounty myself.

 a bee enjoying a lavender plant in the garden

  blueberry bushes covered in netting to deter birds 

 Greg found a spot where bunnies have been hiding between bushes 

 gardenia blossoms 

 squash blossoms

Greg and I went to sleep angry with each other last night. The day started out fine but we had a stupid argument yesterday afternoon. As I was making dinner Greg was watching a live stream beach video from Ocean Isle while talking out loud about it. I asked him a question for clarification and he snapped at me, which unleashed a boat load of pent up frustration from me toward him. He went to the bedroom to sulk while I ate dinner alone. We should have apologized to each other last night but we didn’t. This morning we both woke up in better moods and made amends. 

For brunch yesterday Greg and I split an everything bagel topped with cream cheese and smoked salmon. We shared shrimp cocktail and fresh fruit as an afternoon snack. The fruit was pre-cut and packaged at the grocery store; watermelon was delicious though cantaloupe and honey dew were bland. For dinner I ate salami and havarti on crackers with a side of potato salad. Greg ate Fritos.  

My daily action for racial justice Sunday is to continue listening to How to be an Antiracist audio book by Ibram X Kendi. I’m also going to read about protests around the world that happened yesterday.