@deetoo Yes I watched a good bit of the Yabba Dabba Dolt with his "serene poker face" mask in place...with only occasional slips showing the fury behind his eyes. Jim Jordan Drama Queen played his role so well he should be awarded a Tony. I especially applauded Rep. Pramila Jayapal with her on point questions and her refusal to be deterred.
In spite of prevarications there were moments that pointedly illustrated Barr is Trump's man and not the American peoples. Heather Cox Richardson sums it up nicely in her daily commentary. How many actually got that basically Barr confirmed his commitment to doing what ever "Trump wants" (and I say that in quotation marks because we know the Orange Puppet is their figurehead).
I don't know if it was wishful dreaming or precognitive dreaming ..but last night.... Barr was in my dream and I saw him fill with air and begin to float and explode...similar to the blueberry kid in the Willy Wonka movie...against a background of dark horizon filled with flames. His greed will be his downfall. What ramifications that has on the rest of us and our country I do not know. I have the feeling that the next 97 days are going to quite tumultuous. Schools are starting back also..and...sadly.. the Covid-19 is going to get even worse from that .
Maybe the upcoming election could be a primary focus in our future Wednesday meditations? We can still meditate on other things, but as you stated, we should "send positive energy, and do all we can" to unseat GOP control and the orange one.
@journeywithme2, Yabba Dabba Dolt? ? Thank you for my morning laugh! That's going to stay with me.
The little bit I heard of the hearing was appalling. Did I really hear Yabba Dabba blame Obama and his administration for some of this country's current challenges, including this virus? He pulled so much out of his tuckus that my head was spinning ... no wait ... he actually pulled that out of T's tuckus.
Besides witnessing Yabba's obvious arrogance and contempt for the questions and the process, I saw deep fear in those eyes. Did you see that as well?
I loved your dream. It feels right to me, especially the greed. Back in June I predicted that Yabba was nervous and was thinking "if I can just hold on a little longer." I still feel that way, but can also see that floating balloon you saw in your dream.
Why is he so confident? Â What does he know, and what is he planning? As far as distractions, there's more to come.Â
For months now, I can feel them doing "war games" planning, i.e., contingency plans on how to win the election. It is unclear in my mind what they are actually planning, but some aspects of the plan that come to mind:
(1) Using Covid to shut down polls and then issue confusing directions to prevent mail-in ballots which will disqualify many ballots. Calling the election the way they did in Florida in 2000. Â Some precincts lost the majority of polling places just because the poll workers, half of whom are elderly, may decline to participate. Local election commissions need young people get in there to keep the polls open.Â
(2) Using foreign interference from dark money oligarchs. Â Pardoning Roger Stone sent a message to all who might help Trump that he will get them out of jail should there be a later conviction. Â
(3) Use Trump's private mercenary army controlled by Erik Prince to protect him from being removed from office. Dispatch that same army to liberal cities to quell the massive protests that will ensue if Trump declares himself the winner of the election. With Barr in office, he will allow it.
The press has been brain storming the possible plans they are making. This June Atlantic story exposes some of their thinking when a Freedom of Information request unveiled the redacted portions of the Mueller Report.
One area they will be hard-pressed to control is what they would do if there were a land-slide against him. A landslide  would be difficult for them to circumvent using some of his tactics.  Perhaps Trump will float a conspiracy theory that all votes against him are corrupted and so can't be counted.Â
They also have to continue their domination of the Senate or else he will be impeached and removed from office within the first months of 2021.
I don't feel their plans are solid or will be successful. Â But I do feel that November through February of 2020-2021 will be the most momentous in U.S. history.Â
We need all hands on deck to hold on to our democracy. Â Everyone needs to help get out the vote. We need a landslide. Â The democratic candidates in Republican senate races also need money.We need a blue sweep in Congress.
I also don't feel their plans will be successful either. What they want to achieve would be close to impossible even with a first-rate operation and team, and we know they don't have either. That said, they can sow a lot of distrust and cause a lot of harm, which will carry over into Biden's administration.Â
They're escalating, but they're also almost out of runway, and time. At least I hope so.
And he begins again--another distraction we saw coming along with those of Homeland Security and BORTAC troops and escalating the fervor and who knows what else his Twitter fingers were doing.
But now of course thec 2020 election.
"Donald Trump suggests delay to 2020 US presidential election - BBC News
Donald Trump has suggested November's presidential election be postponed, saying increased postal voting could lead to fraud and inaccurate results. He floated a delay until people could "properly, securely and safely" vote.
There is little evidence to support Mr Trump's claims but he has long railed against mail-in voting which he has said would be susceptible to fraud.
US states want to make postal voting easier due to public health concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the US constitution, Mr Trump does not have the authority to postpone the election himself. Any delay would have to be approved by Congress. The president does not have direct power over the two houses of Congress."
So, after this, what next?
@michele-b Turns out the US GDP retracted by 1/3.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/30/us-gdp-q2-2020-first-reading.html
Not an economist, but I believe it means that we are headed into a Depression more severe than we have seen since the 1930s.
It means that we are not producing nor trading at the levels we were last year this time, it means loss of jobs, money is circulating less.
Hopefully this is the last of these we have to endure because hopefully this will be the last nail in the coffin of exploitative capitalism.
Thank you for your contribution and link @enkasongwriter to those asking here.
One writer stated:
"Our economy is in the COVID valley of death. What will be on the other side, and when?
America's second quarter GDP takes a record plunge, here are clues to the economy that awaits us on the other side of this COVID-19 nightmare."
But there's always a flip side as @laura-f called it "the end of capitalism."
And here is our big distraction as we will have many now serving many purposes:
"This will be the worst of times because we're in a recession, but also potentially the best of times because change and disruption often equal opportunity."
Burns, bloody wounds, broken bones: Injuries mount at Portland protests -
Bloody wounds. Seared skin. Broken bones.
Weeks of restive demonstrations in Portland are leaving an indelible mark on protesters as the nightly cries against police violence and racism have often ended with an aggressive show of force by local and federal officers.
Police have fired chemical agents and less-lethal rounds into crowds, at times indiscriminately, to scatter or subdue them after some protesters have lobbed fireworks or bottles at officers, flashed lasers in their eyes or tried to dismantle protective barriers.
Note: Article is dated today but photos are compiled of some worst ones past and present news footage. Warning graphic photos of wounds.
oregonlive.com
(Part 2 of above. Glitch/booted off with no editing in available.)
But now things are calming down.
In a press release sent out at 2:15 a.m. Thursday, Portland police said the protests remained peaceful throughout the night and into the early morning hours, with a large group of protesters gathering outside the Justice Center and federal courthouse to listen to speeches.
Police said even when some demonstrators tried to do things like set fires or climb the fence at the federal courthouse, other protesters stopped them.
"At times people lit small fires along sidewalks on surrounding blocks and attempted to light fires inside the fence at the federal courthouse," Portland police said. "Others in the crowd put the fires out. Some people climbed on or near the fence at the federal courthouse, but others admonished them and they got down. People could be heard in the crowd repeating that the protest was to remain peaceful."
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell thanked demonstrators for keeping the peace in a tweet Friday morning.Â
I always had a feeling that T would get so desperate either one of two things would happen either Nancy or Cuomo would make him a deal and he would resign peaceably and leave. Without it, he would become so desperate he would start a war, not with any country but with Russia. A fake war, an extreme fake war, Russia would nuke the west coast, and T would surrender without a shot. The terms of the surrender would have the idea that T would be president for life and would pass it to his progeny. This would start the second civil war, that would last for years. Years later we would long for Obama, and see it as the last great time of the United States. The rest of the world would move on without us, like the rest of the world moves on while bad things happen in places like Syria, Yemen and Somalia.Â
@unk-pThe Pentagon is releasing some of their UFO materials. It's apparently heavy on military pilot sightings and what they are doing to identify off-world aerial vehicles. They don't go into detail in it, but they do refer to the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, which supposedly ended, but as it turns out is still in existence. There's some videos at the end of the article, and they are on YouTube as well.
If you go into incognito mode or clear all your cookies, you can usually visit the NYT or any publication site that allows a seI number of visits from a particular browser before hitting a paywall. Also, your local library may have subscriptions to many newspapers and periodicals that you can access online by just entering your library card number.Â
@michele-b Don't you love how the violence in Portland stopped when the government's stormtroopers walked away? And the Umbrella Man in Minneapolis turned out to be a White Supremacist trying to start a race war. The "violent Antifa" are turning out to be agent provocateurs.Â
The mayor said it best. "I think we've had enough political grandstanding from DC," Brown, a Democrat, tweeted Thursday morning. "The President's plan to 'dominate' the streets of American cities has failed. And today, federal troops are preparing to leave downtown Portland. We will protect free speech and the right to protest peacefully."