"Obviously, they didn’t expect such a beautiful sight to expand so fast that it could be seen now from their own window."

Wrote the Chinese Communist Party tabloid Global Times, looking at the American protests/riots and riffing on something Nancy Pelosi said last summer about the protests in Hong Kong — that they were “a beautiful sight to behold.”

I think the correct name for that literary device is "poetic justice."

Here's more from Global Times:

“The protests in the U.S. are like a mirror that reflects the shame and disgrace of U.S. politicians as well as the deep-rooted political dysfunction and chaotic values in the U.S."...

And here's a tweet from the Global Times editor:

"I highly suspect that Hong Kong rioters have infiltrated American states.... Attacking police stations, smashing shops, blocking roads, breaking public facilities, these are all routine in their protests. Vicious HK rioters obviously are mastermind of violent protests across the U.S.”

Why is the name Scott Walker trending on Twitter? Because he tweeted this:

Hard to imagine any other @POTUS having the guts to walk out of the White House like this: @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/R9Da6W7Hhb

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) June 2, 2020

I'll just gather some of the responses without troubling with links: "A five minute walk literally surrounded by armed men, going to place he ordered brutally purged of demonstrators so he could take a picture. Yeah, that's balls of steel"/"Didn't attend service. Only stayed long enough to get his picture taken with an unopened Bible, then left with his entourage"/"Scott, he had the path cleared by tear gas, pepper spray and flash bombs. I'll sit in the bleachers at a Brewers/Cubs game with that kind of support. By the way, President Richard Nixon met with protesters at the Lincoln Memorial after Kent State."

Ha ha. Yes, and remember the credit Richard Nixon got for that? As I remember it, he was regarded as out of his mind and a complete weirdo.

"Trump threatens military action to quell protests, and the law would let him do it."

Writes Matt Zapotosky (at WaPo).

In a televised speech, Trump said he had recommended Monday “to every governor to deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets.”

“Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled,” Trump said. “If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.... I am mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military, to stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson, and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans”....

A law called the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the domestic use of military for law enforcement purposes without specific congressional authorization, said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas Law School. But a different law, the Insurrection Act, provides the president authorization to do so under certain circumstances, he said....

[The Insurrection Act] was... used during the civil rights movement, including when President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the Army into Little Rock to desegregate its schools, Vladeck said. The law says the president can intervene if state authorities are unable to give their residents the protection of law.

That example immediately crystallizes the "reason why the statute allows him to act even if states don’t ask him" (Vladeck's words).

On Twitter, Joe Biden said: “He’s using the American military against the American people.” Against or for? You have to admit he'd be using the American military against some American people, but the motivation is to protect other American people.

The article also quotes Kamala Harris, saying: "He is a divider. He is clearly scared. And he cannot meet this moment that he has partly created because of his inability to understand the pain and the suffering." I'm reading this idea of "understanding pain" as meaning willingness to tolerate chaos and destruction. Shouldn't we all be scared of disorder? What are Democrats offering to do about the violence — anything other than purporting to understand it?

If what Biden and Harris and other Democrats believe is that anything government does will only make it worse, I'd love to hear them come out and say it.

The NYT and The Washington Post choose their narrative: The protests are peaceful, and Trump's reaction — threatening force and posing as religious — is irrational.

This is how the NYT front page (on line) looks right now:



And this is The Washington Post:

"I just don't understand," says the St. Louis Chief of Police, who breaks down and cries.

For the sudden descent into weeping, go to 2:50. It comes as he thanks God that the 4 police officers who were shot did not die. He recovers quickly and cries out: "Can we make sense of this? Can we make something out of something?"

At the Sunrise Café...

... you can talk 'til dawn.



And because those are 2 views of a Type #6 sunrise, you may find you'd like to use the Althouse Portal to Amazon, an incredibly easy way to show appreciation for this blog.

The photos were taken at 5:22 and 5:24, this morning — a day when the "actual" sunrise time was 5:20. The curfew was only off at 5 a.m., so the city was putting pressure on us sunrise runners.

Rush Limbaugh talks about George Floyd — and white supremacy — with Charlamagne Tha God.

It's a bit stressful! To put it very briefly: Rush wanted to express solidarity with everyone who's outraged over the killing of George Floyd but he was never ever ever going to agree that America is a system of white supremacy.

This is new, not old: Dion sings "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)."

Notice the "quoting" of "Chain Gang" and the harmony sung by Paul Simon. Dion — who is 80 years old — says it's "an old song," but it's a new recording, part of a new album, "Blues with Friends" — which has also features Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Gibbons and Jeff Beck. And the liner notes were written by the Nobel laureate, Bob Dylan.

About "Song for Sam Cooke":

“At first, I just had the melody and the refrain ‘Here in America.’ A friend suggested I use an episode from my memoir about walking southern streets with Sam Cooke in 1962. It’s a good story, a true story. We were in the South together. And he stood up for me. He was a good guy. I miss him.”

He finished the song, he said, but put it aside, thinking it was too personal for other people to get. He put it in his drawer, where it remained, unsung and unrecorded, for years.

“Then in 2019,’ Dion said, “I saw the movie Green Book and after that, I couldn’t shake the song. I thought, 'Hey, they almost wrote a movie about my song.’ I loved the movie so much that I thought I’d better take that song out to see it if works. And it did. It actually did.”

I've loved Dion since 1961, when "Runaround Sue" was a hit. And — as I told you back in 2006 — "I saw him in a small club here in Madison in 1990, and I can honestly say it was the most enjoyable concert I've seen in my whole life."

"The Times has reconstructed the death of George Floyd on May 25. Security footage, witness videos and official documents show how a series of actions by officers turned fatal."

Also: "Asphyxia Caused Floyd’s Death, Private Autopsy Finds" (NYT): "George Floyd died not just because of the knee lodged at his neck by a Minneapolis Police officer, but also because of the other officers who helped hold him down, a private autopsy found. Dr. Allecia M. Wilson of the University of Michigan and Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, were hired by Mr. Floyd’s family to help determine his cause of death."

"His mask keeps him on the job."

Just by chance, I ran across these cool propaganda posters from 1942 from the U.S. Public Health Service. The artist is H. Price. They just show idealized health habits (of interest to the government in WWII).

So... rest easy!



I copied part of another in my post about Trump's exhorting the state governors to dominate so they don't look like a "bunch of jerks." The one I put there showed the big man bowling. Trump had said that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz knocked the protesters down "like bowling pins" so it fit nicely (once I removed the text — "Fun, off the job keeps him on the job").

The NYT gives itself kudos for a menstrual milestone.

From the column about the today's crossword (spoiler alert):

66A. This is the first time in the history of the New York Times Crossword that the entry MAXI has been clued to a ubiquitous feminine hygiene product. Kudos to the editors for that one."

The clue is "_________ pads (hygiene product)." In my long NYT crossword experience, "MAXI" has always been the ubiquitous long skirt. What else is there? Father Maxi from "South Park"?

"A thread about how protesting during a pandemic was described when conservatives were doing it."

At Twitter — scroll down to see the collection of articles shaming anti-lockdown protesters for failing at social distancing.

Trump to the governors: "Most of you are weak. You have to arrest people. You have to dominate, if you don't dominate you're wasting your time."

"They're going to run over you, you're going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate.... You’ve got to arrest people, you have to track people, you have to put them in jail for 10 years and you’ll never see this stuff again. We’re doing it in Washington, D.C. We’re going to do something that people haven’t seen before."

Fox News reports on a phone call.

What's the "something that people haven’t seen before"?

I tried some other news sources but I couldn't get an answer. I did find this response from Gretchen Whitmer, one of the governors on the phone call:

"The president’s dangerous comments should be gravely concerning to all Americans, because they send a clear signal that this administration is determined to sow the seeds of hatred and division, which I fear will only lead to more violence and destruction. We must reject this way of thinking. This is a moment that calls for empathy, humanity, and unity. This is one of the most challenging periods in our nation’s history, but as Americans, we must remember our enemy is racial injustice, not one another. Let us heed the powerful words of President Obama today to ‘channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained, and effective action.’ It’s time for all of us to pull together and do the hard work of building a nation that works for everyone."

And The Guardian has this additional material:

“New York is going to have to toughen up,” Trump said. “And we’ll send you national guard if you want. What’s going on in New York is terrible, it’s terrible. Philadelphia, you gotta toughen up … You’ve got a big national guard out there that’s ready to come out and fight like hell.”

But Trump also repeatedly praised Minnesota governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, who he said “knocked [protesters] out so fast it was like bowling pins.” The president described Minnesota as a sort of “experiment” for how to handle the protests, saying the first part of its response was “weak and pathetic” but the second “was domination.”

Also: Trump talked about getting a new law banning flag burning. Yes, the Supreme Court said there's a First Amendment right to protest by burning the American flag, but it was only 5-4, back in the 80s, so who knows, maybe take another shot... even though Scalia was one of the 5.

But seriously, there isn't going to be a statute, so it's not going not going to court anyway. It's just a rhetorical bowling ball.

(Just accidentally ran into that image — from a WWII propaganda poster, here, at HistoryNet.)

But I was progressive!

Flashback to Moscow, 1937: “Dear Comrade Stalin: Please tell me what I've done wrong and how I can atone. Here in the Lubyanka, I await your wise judgment.” 2/2 https://t.co/IJk39KGpwY

— James P. Pinkerton (@JamesPPinkerton) June 1, 2020

A quick review of what Trump is tweeting this morning.

I'll just link to the feed. These are all Trump's tweets this morning, going from oldest to newest.

He seems to have begun the day watching "Fox and Friends" and catching up on the riot stories. He tweeted 1h ago:

“I don’t see any indication that there were any white supremest [sic] groups mixing in. This is an ANTIFA Organization. It seems that the first time we saw it in a major way was Occupy Wall Street. It’s the same mindset.” @kilmeade @foxandfriends TRUE!

Continuing with the riots and segueing to the election, 1h ago:

“These were the people that trashed Seattle years ago. Who’s paying for these people. I was appalled that 13 of Joe Biden’s staff were donating money to bail people out in Minneapolis. They should have stayed in jail until this is over (and beyond).”

Making it clear that the topic is the election, 1h ago:

NOVEMBER 3RD. 

But he doesn't want to let go of the riots. He wants the riots spun to hurt Joe Biden. 58m ago:

Sleepy Joe Biden’s people are so Radical Left that they are working to get the Anarchists out of jail, and probably more. Joe doesn’t know anything about it, he is clueless, but they will be the real power, not Joe. They will be calling the shots! Big tax increases for all, Plus!

The scary thing isn't Joe Biden. Biden is "sleepy" and "clueless." The scary thing is these people who will actually be running things — calling the shots! — if Biden is elected. They're "so Radical Left." Be very afraid: Anarchy!

And it's on to the polls — responding to a Byron York tweet that asks if Biden support is "soft" after a new WP poll shows Biden with 10 points lead over Trump nationally, 50m ago:

“Trump” is leading in all swing states. Heavily biased Democrat Poll, just like 2016. Biggest “enthusiasm” lead ever! 

"Fox shifted over the weekend into round-the-clock protest coverage.... MSNBC has been scrambling in a different way."

"The channel thrived from 2017 until earlier this year, lifted by its nonstop coverage of the Trump-Russia story and the story’s denouement in impeachment. It signed up former spies and prosecutors as contributors, and dangled the hope that Robert Mueller would end Mr. Trump’s presidency. But the Russia show came to a disappointing conclusion for its audience with Mr. Trump’s acquittal on Feb. 5, and ratings plummeted.... MSNBC’s audience numbers did rebound with the coronavirus story, but the network’s DNA is politics, and Covid-19 is not at its heart a political story.... CNN once positioned itself between MSNBC and Fox on the political spectrum. But during Mr. Trump’s tenure, the network concluded that there was no profitable middle ground with a president who seeks confrontation with the media. The channel adopted an increasingly political focus.... And as much as MSNBC seemed thrown off by the coronavirus, CNN was ready, flexing its still-supple muscles for covering all-consuming news stories. Now it focuses primarily on the coronavirus, interlaced with impassioned and often viral monologues denouncing President Trump...."

From "Record Ratings and Record Chaos on Cable News/Cable networks are facing threats, and opportunities, in a national crisis. Now, Fox is fighting back and CNBC is looking to the right. CNN is defined by Jeff Zucker, and he may run for mayor" (NYT).

I don't like watching the news on television, but I do glance at it a bit to get a sense of the tone and the emotional dynamic, and, when I'm in the car, I'll listen to a few minutes of the satellite radio version of Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN.

It was easy to see how incredibly relieved these people were to have something to talk about other than coronavirus and the lockdown. My God, they were salivating over this murder. How many times have they shown the snuff film of George Floyd? The excitement is quite disgusting. And now there are fires and glass breaking and giant trucks driving through crowds. It's pornography for news freaks. Does anything hold them back from making the most of it for themselves?