Security theater

I had written a while back saying students in Detroit sued that they have a right to a basic education and Detroit schools were in such bad shape in both buildings and instruction that they failed to provide that right. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has settled the suit. Allison Donahue of Michigan Advance reports:

As part of the settlement, Whitmer agreed to propose legislation that would give DPSCD [Detroit Schools] with at least $94.4 million for literacy programs, provide $280,000 to the seven student-plaintiffs to access “high-quality” literacy program or otherwise further their education and provide $2.7 million to DPSCD to fund literacy-related efforts.

However, that legislation has to pass the GOP-led Legislature. Complicating matters further, Michigan is preparing for an expected budget shortfall of up to $7 billion across two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the Michigan legislature firmly in GOP control I don’t think the Detroit Schools will get the money they need to improve.



Bree Newsome Bass tweeted three threads to share with you. First:

Y’all keep accusing of us of telling folks not to vote when we’re simply asking what is the plan for dealing w/ Republicans plowing over democratic norms regardless of how we vote. Y’all refuse to unpack the instances where we voted & our vote was nullified & how to address that.

Second:

It’s not an either/or choice b/w voting & other forms of political engagement. That’s a false binary. Y’all notice conservatives don’t ever tell their base not to protest b/c all they need to do is vote? Have you seen GOP telling re-open folks to stop complaining & just vote?

No, because it’s understood that white people are entitled to engage in every form of political engagement in USA including carrying guns into the statehouses. But if we make any political demands beyond voting as we’re told, it’s an immediate problem.

Third:

USA has wealth & resources to issue a national stay-at-home order & to provide for the needs of the population during that time as we conduct mass testing, tracing & isolation. *The USA chooses not to do this* & to instead focus on making another massive wealth transfer to the 1%.

Folks’ willingness to accept & normalize this is a direct reflection of the extent to which they are indoctrinated into white supremacist capitalism.

VoiceofReason replied to that last one:

After inquiring about a friend’s parents and family in her home country, where they are isolating, remarked “here, people love money more than their life and that’s sad.” What she said has been stuck in my head since.

I would phrase it slightly differently: here, people love their social position more than their life.



The Inspector General is to make sure a department of the federal government is following the law and ethical rules. Each department has one. Or had. The nasty guy is being quite thorough in firing them. The latest is Steve Linick of the Department of State. He was fired because he opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. This is a clear act of retaliation and cover up.

Leah McElrath retweeted comments about the firing from House Foreign Affairs Committee member Eliot Engel and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She also referenced the *Daily Caller*, which appears to be evidence that a smear campaign against Linick was prepared before the firing. Wrote Leah: “Makes one wonder what they have on Pompeo…” McElrath also links to a report of 500 pages of emails between the Department formerly known as Justice and the right wing rage machine, such as Fox News.

For more on the firing, see a report by Meteor Blades in Daily Kos. In a letter to Pelosi the nasty guy expressed his lack of confidence in the IG. Meaning: he lacked confidence the IG would do his bidding.



As for “Obamagate” … David Plouffe, Obama’s senior advisor, tweeted:

Our current President is calling for his predecessor and his current challenger to be jailed. In America. The story - the only story - out of his sideshow bullshit is this. The entire enterprise is on the line. It’s not clever political tactics - it’s unprecedented and sick.

Adrian Oaks tweeted a quote from Adam Schiff:

You may be asking, how much damage can he really do in the next several months until the election... A lot. A lot of damage.

McElrath also tweeted:

One of the reasons to pay attention to some Never Trumpers isn’t because we are all suddenly ideologically aligned in terms of policy, but because they often have a better understanding of the ruthlessness of the GOP mindset.

She then retweeted conservative Bill Kristol:

To the degree there's a design behind "Obamagate" it's this: To reinforce the claim that Russian interference in 2016 was a hoax. So when there are reports of Russia interfering this fall Trump can dismiss them as a hoax. So Russia can successfully interfere in the 2020 election.

One more from McElrath, responding to a report the TSA will soon start taking temperatures:

Temperature taking is security theater, right up there with taking off our shoes. This virus can spread asymptomatically, and those who are symptomatic aren’t necessarily feverish. Actions like this are designed to make people feel protected without actually protecting them.

Replies suggest other reasons why this is a bad idea. A person with COVID may not have a fever. A woman with hot flashes can show a higher temp. So can just being out in the sun.



Novelist Robyn Wyrick tweeted a thread. It is long past time to stop hoping the nasty guy’s actions come from incompetence. The chaos is intentional. The nasty guy believes in science – he and those around him are tested regularly.

He could stop this. He could still order masks, & other PPE to be produced. He could still order social distancing, contact tracing, & the 1+Million tests / day that are needed to allow Americans to get back to business without spreading the disease & killing 100,000 more.

And we know - without hesitation, we know - if he thought stopping Covid-19 would help him, he would.

Does anyone doubt that if he saw it in his personal, self-interest to prevent more dead Americans, he would do everything in his power?

But No.

#DeadAmericans is the goal.

I can't stress this enough: people bend over backwards to imagine that he could not be so evil.

He can't WANT a million dead Americans.
He can't want the federal government in disarray, the states competing against each other for supplies.
He can't want mayhem.

But he does.
...
It's hard to imagine that this is intentional, but it is.

Trump is a traitor. We have 90,000+- dead.

America is at war. And we are losing.

That's the context.

Some of us have wondered what it would look like if America fell. It would look like this.

The only question is: what are we going to do about it?

We know what Trump and Putin's side is doing: dividing us further. Arming his followers to the teeth, and on hair trigger.

We need non-violent, but even more vocal activism.

Most of the replies to this thread claim Wyrick is wrong. I agree with him and with those who study authoritarian regimes and say the nasty guy is building one.



Howard Stern, sometimes described as a radio shock jock, had a bit to say to nasty guy supporters, the ones who had flocked to his rallies:

The oddity in all of this is the people Trump despises most, love him the most. The people who are voting for Trump for the most part … he wouldn’t even let them in a f---ing hotel. He’d be disgusted by them. Go to Mar-a-Lago, see if there’s any people who look like you. I’m talking to you in the audience. … I don’t hate Donald. I hate you for voting for him, for not having intelligence.”