Nepotism is based on favoritism granted to relatives in various fields, including business, politics, entertainment, sports, religion and other activities. The term originated with the assignment of nephews to important positions by Catholic popes and bishops.
Our first video on Ivanka Drumpf broke the internet. We now proudly present #ByeIvanka the sequel!
It’s not only the Drumpf’s spawn … it’s the spawn of the swamp creatures running lose in the White House and the various agencies of American governance.
Our video #ByeIvanka takes the commencement address given by Ivanka Trump today that no one asked her or invited her to give (which she gave in front of an empty room using White House resources after Wichita State canceled her speech because her and her family are hate mongers) and places her scripted, sterile, and disingenuous words against the backdrop of what is actually going on in the country.
The ‘Corona Virus Task Force’ headed by Pence held a press conference today. It’d been notably absent for about 2 months, if I’m correct. In any way, it was useless as it was used as a ‘virtual rally’ by the FIDIOT in the Oval since real rallies couldn’t be held.
Now that’s over and done. Hence the Tulsa fiasco, the Phoenix mega-church gathering and something in Wisconsin yesterday.
Pence, Fauci and Birx spoke today.
Waste of time!
Bottom line: social distance, wear a mask, personal and environmental hygiene, blah, blah, blah … all that we have been doing in our household!
The Coronavirus Task Force Reemerges After 2 Months, with Bad News and no president in sight (thank gawd)!
The task force held its first televised press conference in two months, Trump was notably absent. The briefing, previously held at the White House, was delivered instead at the headquarters for Health and Human Services, during the worst week on record for COVID-19 cases in the country, with daily cases well surpassing the previous peak in April and erasing all intermittent progress in flattening the curve.
America now has at least 2,446,706 cases on record, and at least 124,891 people have died.
You have to be blind not to realize that black lives have been in danger for 401 years since they were forcibly brought to what became the United States of America.
This nation was built on their backs, their sweat, their subjugation, their physical and emotional effort, their curtailed freedom, their mass incarceration and their, to this day, continued oppression.
I’m from Puerto Rico, a tiny island in the Caribbean. My skin is light … my heritage a combination of the Taíno indian, the European colonizers and the black slaves who meshed as my nation developed into what it is today.
There’s black blood in my heritage/genetic make up. They call me ‘brown-skinned’. They call me Latina.
“Most recently Donald the Orange has issued some of his most dire warnings … here you have just a few of the more recent warning coming from the mind of a Trump … I am sure there are many more to come before November.” … and he’s not alone!!
Since the start of his fake presidency in 2017 Trump has issued warning on just about everything he touches…..remember the rain fire down on North Korea or maybe you will recall nothing at all…..
Most recently Donald the Orange has issued some of his most dire warnings……
First, his rally in Tulsa….and the consequences of protesting him……
“Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis,” he wrote. “It will be a much different scene!” The rally is being held despite an uptick in COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma, but that is just one element of controversy, per the Guardian.
He then warns his fellow GOPers to support him or else……
President Donald Trump is warning moderate Republicans not to cross him.
They keep saying it’s only a ‘few bad apples’. I had a hard time buying that ‘theory’ … now I don’t buy it at all.
In spite of the global pandemic and the worldwide civil unrest because of police brutality, numerous videos have come out. Some of them in the midst of viewing George Floyd’s murder by cops everywhere.
I’m so sickened and tired of the ‘bad apples’ cops being just a few. There are plenty more than a few.
Can you even begin to image what happened before cell phone recording? Can you imagine what we haven’t see?
This is inhumane!!
This is another ‘HIStory’ that breaks your heart!!
I can’t breathe. I have my ID right here. My name is Elijah McClain. That’s my house. I was just going home. I’m an introvert. I’m just different. That’s all. I’m so sorry. I have no gun. I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do any fighting. Why are you attacking me? I don’t even kill flies! I don’t eat meat! But I don’t judge people who do eat meat. Forgive me. All I was trying to do was become better. I will do it. I will do anything. Sacrifice my identity. I’ll do it. You all are phenomenal. You are beautiful. And I love you. Try to forgive me. I am a mood Gemini. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Ow, that really hurt. You are all very strong. Team work makes the dream work …(crying) … oh I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to do that. I just can’t breathe correctly (proceeds to vomit from the pressure to his chest and neck)”.
“Elijah McClain was a kind and gentle 23 year old who worked as a massage therapist in Aurora, CO. On his lunch breaks from work, Elijah would go to the animal shelters and play violin for the animals because he thought that they were lonely in their cages and thought that the music would calm them. He was quirky, a pacifist, a vegetarian, enjoyed running, and known to put a smile on everyone’s face.
On August 2019, Elijah went to the gas station to buy some iced tea for himself and his cousins. Because he suffered from anemia, a condition in which you lack enough healthy red blood cells to carry enough oxygen to your body’s tissues, he would often wear a ski/ runner mask over his face to stay warm. On his way home, the Aurora Police department were called to reports of a “suspicious man”, likely due to Elijah wearing his mask for warmth and dancing to the music in his headphones.
All Elijah was doing was WALKING HOME.
(Warning for violent description)
Elijah was apprehended by a group of three cops, despite committing NO crime and being unarmed. A struggle occurred, and he was held in a very dangerous carotid hold around his neck while he cried for help, cried out that he couldn’t breathe, cried out that he was nonviolent and couldn’t even kill a fly, and was repeatedly throwing up. Elijah weighed a mere 140 pounds.
You can hear on the audio footage, an officer instructing another the move their body camera out of view. Another threatened to “call in a dog to bite him, if he (Elijah) moved again”. While 3 Aurora Police Dept officers violently restrained him they called Aurora Fire Dept, who injected him with ketamine even though he was already cuffed, a drug used to tranquilize horses or in surgeries while properly supervised by anesthesiologist. He went into cardiac arrest , slipped into a coma, and his family was advised to take him off life support 6 days later.
DO NOT LOOK AWAY!!
Elijah McClain in the hospital after his encounter with the Aurora Police Department Photo courtesy of Sheneen McClain.
As a result of this encounter, Elijah passed away at the age of 23. The ‘killer cops‘ and medics have STILL NOT been charged in taking Elijah’s life. Elijah’s voice has been taken from him, so it’s up to US to be his voice.
A mural of Elijah McClain was painted by Thomas “Detour” Evans, in memory, June 8, 2020, in the RiNo neighborhood of Denver. Evans tweeted that he hopes to paint one in Aurora soon. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
~~Published June 23, 2020~~
Body cam video shows the night Elijah McClain was confronted by Aurora Police.
The year 2020 hasn’t been kind to many people. One of the nations that has really felt the ire of this year is Puerto Rico, my home.
From the persistent earthquakes that began un January, to the COVID-19 pandemic, to the resulting strictly enforced social distancing and mask wearing to the Saharan Dust Plume.
I’m not sure that this is a picture from Puerto Rico but reports from friends and families, accompanied by pictures, it could very well be. The good thing, it’s passing through an headed to the mainland. Beware!
“The main impacts of the Saharan dust will be hazy skies during the day, locally reduced visibility and degraded air quality,” the Weather Prediction Center said. “However, this will also make for some very colorful sunrises and sunsets with deeper oranges and reds compared to normal.”
Through the weekend, a thinner amount of dust will advance across much of the eastern US. At the same time, a denser concentration will hang around the Southeast, mainly Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.
This Saharan dust plume is historic “The ongoing Saharan dust outbreak across the tropical Atlantic is by far the most extreme of the MODIS satellite record – our most detailed, continuous record of global dust back to 2002,” tweeted Atmospheric Scientist Michael Lowry.
“It is definitely historic,” Olga Mayol-Bracero, a researcher at the University of Puerto Rico, told CNN Weather. “We knew we were going to be in an extraordinary situation.”
In fact, social distancing hasn’t been at all taxing for me. I’ve been at home since early March. My outings have been limited to occasional grocery shopping, a trip to the drive through at Walgreens and a short visit to a local hospital for a minor procedure.
What has been quite difficult to see is the cavalier, idiotic attitude of some ‘fellow country-people‘.
One book that I really need to read!! … “The style of “The Taste of Sugar” is heavily inflected with Spanish words and phrases, conveying the rich linguistic culture of this place. And sometimes, without warning, Vera drops her own narrative voice and shifts into the higher register of a character’s excited monologue. It’s a tremendously enlivening dramatic effect.”
The full title of this review is “‘The Taste of Sugar’ offers a thrilling look at Puerto Rico’s history through the tale of one couple’s struggle to survive.” Book critic Ron Charles (Washington Post) reviews Marisel Vera’s The Taste of Sugar (Liveright, 2020). [See previous post New Book: “A Taste of Sugar”.]
More recent outrages have obscured the special punishment that Donald Trump meted out to Puerto Rico early in his presidency. You may remember that he’d been in office less than a year when Hurricane Maria laid waste to the island. As local officials pleaded for help, the White House concentrated on defending its slow, chaotic relief efforts. Then Trump stopped by for a photo op and tossed paper towel rolls to desperate survivors. Finding San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz insufficiently sycophantic, he began whining about the cost of saving the island. Puerto Ricans “want…
Best time of day: peaceful, inspiring!! … “And gentle breeze there was!” … William Wordsworth, from “The Prelude: A Parallel Text” (Penguin Classics; Revised edition, May 1, 1996, First published in 1850).
Oh there is blessing in this gentle breeze
That blows from the green fields and from the clouds
And from the sky: it beats against my cheek,
And seems half-conscious of the joy it gives.
Oh welcome messenger! Oh welcome friend!…
The earth is all before me: with a heart
Joyous, nor scared at its own liberty,
I look about, and should the guide I choose
Be nothing better than a wandering cloud,
I cannot miss my way.
— William Wordsworth, from “The Prelude: A Parallel Text” (Penguin Classics; Revised edition, May 1, 1996, First published in 1850)
Photo: And gentle breeze there was. Daybreak. 5:11 am. June 26, 2020. 67° F. Humidity 88%. Wind: 4 mph. Gusts: 6 mph. Cloud Cover: 5%. Weed Avenue, Stamford, CT
The full title of this review is “‘The Taste of Sugar’ offers a thrilling look at Puerto Rico’s history through the tale of one couple’s struggle to survive.” Book critic 
It Is What It Is 