Police Union Chief's History of Flouting Authority of Mayor and Promoting Tactics That Result in Escalating Police Violence

Bob Kroll, the president of the Minneapolis police union has a history of flouting authority, promoting controversial police tactics and general bigotry.

Soon after Kroll was elected president of the policy union, observers pointed to his lengthy disciplinary record, which includes civil complaints and lawsuits for wrongful arrest and excessive force. That record, many said, embodied the brash, hard-charging mentality of a rapidly fading era of policing.

In 2015, police personnel records revealed that Kroll had 19 internal-affairs complaints during his 26 years on the force-- in addition to another reprimand, a suspension for using excessive force and involvement in several lawsuits against the city.  Mike Spangenberg, a local blogger who writes about social and racial issues, said Kroll’s hard-nosed approach to policing is a vestige of a bygone era. “He represents a really culturally incompetent and racially hostile style of policing,” Spangenberg said.

Kroll was reported to be a member of City Heat, a motorcycle club for police officers, some of whose members (according to the Anti-Defamation League) have openly displayed white supremacist symbols.  Kroll has also made public assertions about black people and black organizations that can be found on openly racist websites like Storm Front.  Kroll has also been know to call Black Lives Matter a terrorist organization

Kroll was named in a 2007 racial discrimination lawsuit against the department that was brought by five black officers — including current deputy chief Medaria Arradondo — after Kroll reportedly called U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison a terrorist and made disparaging comments about a gay aide to former Mayor R.T. Rybak in front of several other high-ranking commanders.  Kroll was alleged to have worn a 'white power' patch on his motorcycle jacket and discriminated against officers of color.  The city eventually settled the case.  In another lawsuit, Kroll was accused of using excessive force against an elderly couple during a “no knock” raid at their north Minneapolis home.  The case was thrown out by a federal judge.

Kroll recently generated a fresh wave of controversy when he spoke at a Trump rally last year.  Wearing a “Cops for Trump” shirt as he took the stage, Kroll slammed former President Obama's “handcuffing and oppression of police” while praising Donald Trump.  Retired Hennepin County District Judge Pamela Alexander called Kroll’s appearance at the Trump rally a “particularly egregious move.”  “It doesn’t help in terms of being comfortable calling upon the Minneapolis police for help if you feel they’re already hostile toward the community that you come from,” she said. Like Trump, Kroll is no stranger to inflammatory statements. 

In 2016, four Minneapolis police officers walked off the job and defaulted on their contractual obligation to provide guard services at a Minnesota Lynx game when several players wore pre-game jerseys that said "Black Lives Matter."   Kroll said in an interview that he commended the officers for leaving their post and predicted other officers would refuse to work games, adding that only four officers worked the game because the Lynx are a “pathetic draw.”  Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges characterized Kroll's words as "jackass remarks."

Several months ago, Kroll responded in an email to a random comment left on his Facebook page.  In that email, Kroll wrote:

"I'm a 21 year Army reservist that defeated socialists in the cold war. We defeated the socialism that you love so much and want to bring to the U.S. because you are too pathetic to make a good living on your own. . . .If you hate me so much, why don't you stop by and beat the shit out of me? 1811 University Ave. NE.  My bet is it won't happen, because you are a cowardly cunt."

So Kroll's reaction to criticism is to threaten violence and sling around derogatory names.  What a role model (not to mention a poor student of history)!

Kroll's record as Chief of the police union is now being more closely tied to George Floyd’s killing at the hands of a white police officer.   The controversial restraint tactic that led to Floyd suffocation was championed by Kroll in defiance with the Minnesota Mayor's direct orders.  The choking maneuver is part of the “warrior-style” police training that for years had been popular with Bob Kroll.  For the unfamiliar, the training, as reported in 2017, generally espouses a “killology” vision of law enforcement that’s frequently likened to “fear porn.” Experts say the training, which has been linked to high profile police-related killings around the country, including Philando Castille’s 2016 shooting death (also in Minnesota), often runs the risk of the use of unnecessary, and sometimes, fatal force.

Following the decision by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to ban all forms of ‘Warrior’ training for Minneapolis officers both on duty and during their personal time, Kroll flouted the Mayor's authority over rank-and-file police officers by sanctioning private funding of the newly-banned training.  The offer for free training only continues for the remainder of Mayor Frey’s term-- which calls into question whether the motivation was actually political in nature.

In eliminating the controversial training, Mayor Frey has said that Minneapolis would become the first department in the country to eliminate “fear-based” training.  Training rooted in fear, he said, “violate the values at the very heart of community policing.” His comments come as law enforcement tactics are under scrutiny following a series of high-profile deaths of civilians at the hands of police around the country.  Many policing agencies (including Minneapolis) are moving toward “guardian”-oriented tactics, which focus on de-escalating tense situations and use of deadly force as a last resort.

Frey told reporters, “I care deeply about our officer safety, and that safety can be ensured through existing training, sanctioned by our police department and approved by our chief,” Frey said in phone interview. “Everything from procedural justice to use of force, I have great faith in the training that is sanctioned by Chief Arradondo.”

Exercising While Black

An entitled white venture capitalist has now had his company's lease cancelled after viral video shows him practically accusing a group of African-American entrepreneurs of trespassing in an office building's gym. Tom Austin owns the company F2 Group, which was renting office space in the Mozaic East building-- the same building that house WeWork, which the young black men were leasing space from.  So Tom Austin was no more entitled to the building’s shared gym space than the black men who came to work out at about the same time.  But something about the men appeared to be wrong-- at least to Tom Austin-- wonder what that was?

Tom Austin felt the need to approach a group of black men who are part of the marketing company Top Figure, which also leased space at Mozaic East.  This is how it started:  "I'm Tom Austin. I'm a tenant in the building. Are you?" he can be seen on video asking the men. “We're all tenants of this building," one of the men answered. 

But that apparently didn’t satisfy Austin’s urge to play building security-- so he asked the men: “What office?”  At that point, one of the renters told Austin they didn’t have to answer his questions. A person narrating the recording described the situation as “racism.” Austin, who had earlier taken photos of the men using his cell phone, started calling a woman he referred to as Nicole (presumably Nicole Lavere, assistant property manager with the Ackerberg Group).

 “I don't know what you can do here, but there’s a whole bunch of people who don’t appear to be part of the [building],” Austin told her.   He insisted Wednesday in an interview with the Star Tribune that he is not racist.   Austin later claimed that by the end of the night, the group of them were on talking terms, and that he told them, "I’m sorry you thought I was being racist, but I was not. If you were a bunch of women, I would have done the same thing."  Not that sexism has anything to do with racism, but that was definitely not an apology.

One of the black men later posted to social media:

We’ve been in this office space and have rented and grown our business for the past 1 year and half here. As we were working out this man approached and immediately asked us who we were and if “WE BELONG” in this building. Granted in order to enter the building you NEED a key card to enter EVERY part of the building which EACH of our team members individually have. We all pay rent here and this man demanded that we show him our key cards or he will call the cops on us. We are sick and tired of tolerating this type of behavior on a day to day basis and we feel that we had to bring light onto this situation.

As it turns out, this Tom Austin guy has a little baggage that may help shed some light on the situation.  Austin was the guy who led a failed effort to prevent the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources from reverting Lake Calhoun to its original name of Bde Maka Ska. 

Lake Calhoun was named after slaveowner and pro-slavery politician John C. Calhoun, who was the architect of forced Native American relocation.   Minnesota residents felt it inappropriate that the lake should be named after someone whose views were derogatory toward African-Americans and who was known to flog his own slaves.

Austin funded a lawsuit to prevent the name change, and in 2019, succeed in the Minnesota Court of Appeals in having the name change reversed.  Austin, who had never been a civic activist or previously had expressed interest in the workings of local government, tried to claim that he was motivated to fight the "unfairness of the renaming process."  He also claimed to be fighting for the rights of "thousands" of everyday Minnesotans who were being bullied into changing the name.   His website "Save Lake Calhoun" never listed any members and local news sources reported that the organization and newspaper ads were primarily funded by Austin himself.  In addition, several of the other neighborhoods surrounding the lake not only supported the name change, but also began pursuing the removal of the name "Calhoun" from their neighborhood names.

But nooooo-- Tom's not a racist.   He only wanted to make sure that all of the guys were tenants, since he didn't see each of them use a separate fob to get into the gym. Did the fact that Austin's lawsuit was finally defeated in the Minnesota Supreme Court just two weeks prior to the gym incident have anything to do with it?   I wonder what it was about the men that made Tom Austin doubt that they weren't tenants of the building?  He was heard telling the assistant property manager that they "don't appear to be part of the building."  Hmm-- what was it about their appearance they made him think they didn't belong?  I'll let you all decide for yourself.

Lady Gage and Ariana Grande - Rain On Me

A Tale of Two Senators

In the middle of March, when the coronavirus situation was still developing, news broke about the questionable stock trades of a few senators. First, came the story of North Carolina GOP Senator Richard Burr, who sold up to $1.7 million of stock at the time he was receiving private briefings on the growing health threat.  His biggest sale included companies that are among the most vulnerable to an economic slowdown. The trades looked suspicious.

The next day, came news that Georgia GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler sold $1.3 millions in stock after a coronavirus briefing.   She purchased stock in Citrix and Oracle, two companies that specialize in digital workplaces-- businesses that would be expected to do well in an extended economic shutdown.   Also pretty sketchy.

There were also reports about stock trades by Senators Diane Feinstein (CA) and Oklahoma's Jim  Inhofe, but they didn't look as serious or questionable. 

Loeffler and Burr seemed in a category of their own- and they quickly become the subjects of criminal investigations by the Justice Department.   The one big difference is that Loeffler has been doing everything she can to ingratiate herself with Trump, praising him at every turn.  On the other hand, Burr oversaw the senate intelligence committee investigation of Russian interference in the election, called Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushner to testify, supported the findings of the Mueller report and was about to release the final report from his committee.

So is there a difference in the way these two GOP senators were being treated by the DOJ?  Wait-- there's more.  After these stories broke, Kelly Loeffler's husband (who is the CEO of the corporation that owns the New York Stock exchange,and who also knew his wife might be the subject of a DOJ investigation) gave a million dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC-- that sure is a lot of money!

In the meantime, Burr gets served with a warrant, has his phone seized by the FBI, with both stories immediately leaked to the press.  Loeffler, however, gets a chance to cooperate with the FBI-- no warrant, no leaks.  Hmmm-- are you starting to smell something fishy here?

Well guess what?  We found out this week that Loeffler's case has been closed (along with Feinstein's and Inhofe's).  That's it-- we're done here.

But not Richard Burr-- he's in a different category.  It seems that the DOJ investigation is going to hang over his head for a little longer- and perhaps he will have to face actual criminal charges.    But Kelly Loeffler is going to walk away scot-free even though it seems the two did pretty similar things.

Maybe that's how it should be-- that Burr's behavior is worse and that the donation from Loeffler's husband had no connection whatsoever with the treatment her case got.  Or can it be that the DOJ's behavior is so brazen, open and corrupt?  Can we really trust Barr's DOJ to do the right thing? 

U.S. Citiznes Denied Pandemic Relief in Texas

Nearly 2.4 million people in Texas were shut out of federal relief by the Trump administration, San Antonio Express-News reports, including hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens who are excluded from funds because they’re married to an immigrant.

The financial barriers come even as local prosperity in the state has been thanks in part to the labor of immigrants: “In Houston, immigrants are responsible for more than 26 percent of the area’s GDP, according to a study by New American Economy,” the report said.

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), has been among the groups that have sued the federal government over the denial of relief to mixed-status families. Under the CARES Act, only taxpayers who have a Social Security number are eligible for relief, shutting out immigrants who filed returns using an IRS-issued Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) as well as their U.S. citizen spouses if they filed joint returns.

”Among the U.S. citizens suing the federal government is Christina Segundo Hernandez, a Texas resident,” MALDEF said in a statement. “She filed her 2019 tax return with her husband, a construction worker, who has an ITIN. She recently learned that her family, which includes her four U.S.-born children, are blocked from receiving a recovery check.”

Because of the federal government’s cruel policy, their family is at increased risk during this pandemic. "The federal government shouldn't be able to exclude some U.S. citizens from getting help because of the person they are married to," Segundo Hernandez said in the statement. "My husband and I pay taxes; I was born in this country. My children were born here, yet the U.S. government now wants to turn its back on me and treat me as if I'm not a citizen. That's wrong."

Birdwatching While Black

Amy Cooper, choking her dog while weaponizing the police

A white American woman called the police on a black man after he asked her to put her dog on a leash in a New York City park yesterday.  The man, described as an "avid birder", was concerned the dog could endanger wildlife in Central Park.  The woman, later identified as Amy Cooper told him, "I'm going to tell them [police] there's an African-American man threatening my life."

A video of the incident posted on social media later went viral. Ms. Cooper was later suspended by her employer, Franklin Templeton Investments, where she served as Vice President of Investment Solutions.   Cooper was also pressured to return her dog to a rescue center after she was accused of cruelty, appearing to choke the animal while calling the police.

The incident started when the bird-watching man noticed Ms Cooper's dog "tearing through the plantings" in an area of Central Park called the Ramble.  He was concerned the dog would destroy the bird habitat, and he called out to Cooper, "Ma'am, dogs in the Ramble have to be on the leash at all times. The sign is right there."  However, Cooper refused to restrain her dog.  He then offered the dog some treats, as a way to encourage it to leave the woodland.   Cooper then scrambled to grab her dog, yelling “don’t you touch my dog.”

The man began to film Cooper with his mobile phone, and she asked him to stop.  She then picked up her dog by the collar and began walking toward him, prompting  him to tell her, “please don’t come close to me,” as she asked him to stop recording. “Sir, I’m asking you to stop recording me,” Amy Cooper said, before extending her arm and dragging her dog along as she moved closer to Cooper. “Please take your phone off,” the woman said, as the man again tells her not to come closer.

Amy Cooper, while holding her dog by the collar, then pulled out her phone and said, “I’m taking a picture and calling the cops.”   On the video, she dials 911 and feigns distress, telling the dispatcher, “I’m in the Ramble and there’s an African American man in a bicycle helmet. He’s recording me and threatening me and my dog. As she is speaking to the dispatcher, her dog starts pulling at his collar and trying to get free, appearing to struggle to breathe as she focuses on the call.  She repeats, “There’s an African American man. I’m in Central Park, he is recording me and threatening myself and my dog.” Her dog then tumbles to the ground and yelps before panting heavily.

Amy Cooper wrapped up the 911 call by yelling, “I’m being threatened by a man in the Ramble. Please send cops immediately. I’m in Central Park in the Ramble, I don’t know.”

The video was later posted to Twitter by the victim's sister and was widely condemned on social media as many pointed out the high number of killings of black men by police.  Many made reference to the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was out jogging when he was killed by two men.

Amy Cooper has been dubbed “Central Park Karen” by some on social media. Police said the incident occurred about 8 a.m. and that officers were dispatched for a "possible assault."  Both Amy Cooper and the victim were gone when officers arrived. No tickets or warnings were issued. New York City Councilman Mark Levine tweeted, “Filling a false police report is a crime. Being racist is reprehensible. There needs to be accountability for this. Disgusting."

The victim later said on social media, “Once she put the dog on the leash, I birded my way out of the park as normal (I was done for the day and on my way out when I encountered her).” He added, “I’m fine… At this point, I’m getting used to this. Though the full-on racist slant was new.”

Amy Cooper's employer Franklin Templeton, an investment firm, has suspended her while it investigates the incident, saying  "we do not condone racism of any kind."   Cooper told the media, "I sincerely and humbly apologize to everyone, especially to that man, his family."  The incident made her realize that not everyone has the "luxury" of thinking of the police as a "protection agency," she added.

After many observed that Cooper choked the dog while calling the police, reports started coming in about other "mysterious" incidents involving Ms. Cooper and her dog-- including a fight with another dog, a ripped toenail, and a health care when the dog almost choked after eating something on the street.  As a result, Cooper returned her dog to the Abandoned Angels Cocker Spaniel Rescue center, where she adopted it a few years ago.  "The dog is now in our rescue's care and he is safe and in good health," the organization wrote on social media.

Judge: Florida Ex-Felons Can Vote Despite Fines or Fees

A federal judge on Sunday ruled that a Florida law that restricts felons from voting if they cannot pay court fines and fees is an unconstitutional “pay-to-vote system.” The ruling could allow thousands of people to vote but is expected to be swiftly appealed. U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled in favor of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed last year shortly after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the restrictions into law, barring Florida felons from the ballot box unless they resolve their financial obligations.

“The Twenty-Fourth Amendment precludes Florida from conditioning voting in federal elections on payment of these fees and costs,” Hinkle wrote in his order, noting that “every Florida felony conviction results in an order to pay hundreds of dollars in fees and costs intended to fund the government.” Hinkle also stressed that there is no system in place that keeps track or informs Florida felons of how much they owe. “This ruling means hundreds of thousands of Floridians will be able to rejoin the electorate and participate in upcoming elections,” said Julie Ebenstein, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU. “This is a tremendous victory for voting rights.”

Warning to Red States: Open Up at Your Peril

A Missouri hairstylist who had COVID-19 symptoms and tested positive for the disease served 84 clients over eight days earlier this month after Missouri re-opened businesses,  according to a local health department.  A day later, the Springfield-Greene County Health Department announced that a second hairstylist at the salon tested positive for COVID-19. The second person reportedly worked five days while experiencing mild symptoms, potentially exposing 56 clients to the virus.

With the second confirmed case, the total number of clients who were potentially exposed to the virus after the salon re-opened is 140.  The second hairstylist tested positive for COVID-19 only after they were alerted by the health department of possible exposure due to the first stylist testing positive.

The health department said it would notify and offer testing to the 140 clients who have been potentially exposed, as well as at least six other coworkers.  The hairstylists and their clients were all wearing face coverings, which could potentially limit the exposure.

The first stylist also visited a gym several times while infectious, as well as a Dairy Queen and Walmart, the health department said. Identifying those who had come into contact with the two hairstylists was possible thanks to the salon’s impeccable records, Clay Goddard, director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said.  However, more incidents like this could overwhelm the department’s capacity to identify the origin of infections.

“I’m going to be honest with you: We can’t have many more of these,” Goddard said. “We can’t make this a regular habit or our capabilities as a community will be strained.”

There have been more than 11,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Missouri and at least 685 deaths.  Republican Governor Mike Parson allowed the state’s stay-at-home order to expire on May 3. Except for St. Louis county, all businesses in Missouri, including movie theaters and concert venues, were allowed to reopen beginning May 4 as long as they implemented certain social distancing measures.  Thankfully, movie theaters have wisely decided to remain closed.

Former Miss Snow Queen Doubles Down on Fight With Indian Tribes

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has escalated her fight with two Native American tribes over highway checkpoints. Earlier this month, Noem threatened to sue the tribes to remove checkpoints they had set up on state and federal highways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on their reservations.  When that didn't work, Noem sent a letter to Donald Trump, the Justice Department, the Interior Department, and the members of her state's congressional delegation asking for help in making the tribes do what she says (imagine her stomping her foot).

 Throughout the pandemic, Noem has refused to let municipal governments issue stay at home orders and other public health measures she didn't like, so clearly, the tribes' defiance couldn't be allowed to stand, either.

The checkpoints were put in place on a number of state and federal roads by the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes to help enforce their own public health measures. The tribes argue that 19th Century federal treaties give tribal leaders sole authority to regulate who can and cannot come onto their land. The tribes, understandably, want to avoid a horrific outbreak like the one that has hit the Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, which now has the highest per capita rate of infection in the country.

In her original ultimatum to the tribes, Noem waved around a memorandum from the Bureau of Indian Affairs saying the tribes can only restrict traffic on federal and state highways after reaching an agreement with the state. Noem gave the tribes 48 hours to remove the checkpoints or she'd sue them in federal court.  Of course, the tribes called her bluff.  Darn tribes!

In her letter to Trump, posted to the state's COVID-19 website, Noem claims that the tribes are basically doing kidnapping or something; she claims that "interrogations of travelers" are being conducted, and that since some travelers may be turned away based on their answers at the checkpoints, the tribes are imposing an illegal "blockade" of state and federal roads.

In her letter, Noem says the tribes' claims of sovereignty based on treaty rights are invalid, because supposedly the tribes waived those rights when the roads were built in the last century. (She cites the easements from the 1950s to 1970s as support.).  Most experts say that's wrong.

Noems says that her "science" tells her that the checkpoints are actually dangerous: 

Based on the science we have today, we cannot stop the COVID-19 virus. The checkpoints/blockades actually increase the risk of speeding up the transmission of the COVID-19 virus to the reservations and increasing the frequency of exposure as tribal members interact with travelers that would otherwise pass through the reservation. Accordingly, there is no legal nor scientific basis for the CRST checkpoints/blockades.

So let's get this straight-- brief interactions at checkpoints (wearing masks) will expose tribe members more than allowing unrestricted traffic onto the reservation?  Let's see the scientific report on that!

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe spokesperson Remi Bald Eagle said Noem had sent a plan to the tribe proposing solutions to the impasse, and the tribe had been considering the feasibility of Noem's proposals when she prematurely escalated the fight by going to the Trump administration.

"We were working on that, and we told her that we would," Bald Eagle said. "Next thing you know, she runs off and does something like this, so it's a little confusing."

Bald Eagle told Indian Country Today that since Noem's letter was sent only to federal officials and not to the tribe, the tribe would "just have to wait and see what the feds do."  "We are going to continue to do our checkpoints until they're no longer a necessary part of our emergency response plan," he added.

Cheyenne River tribal chair Frazier has said the roadblocks are essential to making sure the tribe's health center, which has only eight beds and no ICU facilities, isn't overwhelmed. The nearest hospital able to provide the critical care needed for COVID-19 is three hours away from the reservation.

Noem's inability to win a fight she herself started has now attracted further attention.  Last week, a third tribe, the Rosebud Sioux, announced it too was setting up highway checkpoints as part of its extension of the public health lockdown.  Earlier this week, the tribe said five checkpoints were in place. Noem's letter reference the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's actions, but she'll probably get around to it.

Noem also loves playing up her loyalty to Trump, and seems to be calculating that a fight with the tribes is good politics, so expect this stupid posturing to continue.

Katy Perry - Daisies

Lowering the Barr on Justice

Some Good News About COVID-19 From South Korea

Soon after the first patients began to recover during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Hubei Province, China, researchers in the area noticed something both peculiar and frightening. A portion of those who initially tested positive, then were sent home after receiving a negative test result, were turning up again with a positive test at a later date. These results, which in some reports were as high as 15% of patients, brought into question both the accuracy of tests and even the possibility of a vaccine. After all, if patients could catch COVID-19 over and over, it seemed unlikely any vaccine could provide protection.

That same effect—a patient tests positive, then negative, then positive again—has continued to appear around the world.  As Bloomberg reports, researchers at the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied a group of 285 patients who had received at least one negative test result after recovering from COVID-19, then received a positive result at a later date. Their conclusion was that these “re-positive” patients were not only not contagious, but immune.

When samples of virus were taken from these patients, it would not reproduce in the lab. What was generating the positive result doesn’t appear to be live virus … but dead virus. So these patients had apparently developed an immune response that allowed them to fight off reinfection, and were not carrying virus that could infect others.

As a result of these tests, South Korean authorities will no longer require those who have tested negative after recovering from COVID-19 to take additional tests to confirm their status before returning to work, school, or travel. So far as researchers in South Korea are concerned, these people are not a threat. Not a threat to get COVID-19. Not a threat to spread it.

More Details Emerging Over State Dept. OIG Scandal-- and Pompeo's Fingerprints are All Over It

The State Department inspector general whom Donald Trump fired last week was investigating why Secretary of State Mike Pompeo fast-tracked more than $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia and its allies and whether Pompeo made a staffer run personal errands for him.

Steve Linick, a career State Department official who has served as the agency’s inspector general since 2013, was probing the arms deal because it was carried out without normal congressional oversight.

Pompeo used an emergency declaration from Trump to transfer the weapons to the Saudis, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in May 2019. Weeks later, Republicans voted with congressional Democrats to stop the sale and Trump vetoed the legislation.

Linick was also investigating whether Pompeo made a staffer walk his dog, pick up his dry cleaning and make dinner reservations for him and his wife, NBC News and CNN reported on Sunday. NBC described the official as a “political appointee who was serving as a staff assistant.”

The secretary of state has previously been probed in the past for his alleged misuse of staff to run personal tasks.  CNN reported last summer that congressional investigators were looking into allegations made by a State Department whistleblower about Pompeo’s alleged use of taxpayer-funded special agents to “pick up Chinese food” and the “Pompeo family dog from a groomer,” among other errands.

And now come reports that Pompeo himself instigated the purge, with the White House now confirming that Pompeo asked Trump to fire State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, The Washington Post reported. Pompeo tried to claim he he had made the request because Linick’s work was “undermining” the department’s mission.  He also claimed he did not know beforehand that Linick was investigating him-- an obvious lie, as the IG would have sent Pompeo formal requests for documents and employee interviews when the investigation started.

Trump Fires State Department IG in Apparent Retaliation For Investigation of Pompeo

Donald Trump might have broken the law by firing the inspector general of the state department.  Trump said in a letter to Speaker of the House NancyPelosi that he had lost confidence in Steve Linick, a seasoned government lawyer who had held the state department role since his appointment by Barack Obama in 2013.

However, there are reports that Linick was dismissed after he opened an investigation of secretary of state Mike Pompeo and his wife's use of government staff for private errands. Pompeo has denied wrongdoing.
 
“The president has the right to fire any federal employee, but the fact is if it looks like it’s in retaliation for something that the inspector general, is doing, that could be unlawful,” said Pelosi.  “They’re supposed to show cause,” she added. Democrats in Congress have opened an investigation of the dismissal, with the ostensible power to subpoena documents and call witnesses to testify.  However, the inquiry could be frustrated by stonewalling by Pompeo, who blocked the testimony of state department officials during the Trump impeachment inquiry last year.

Linick became the fourth inspector general to be ousted by Trump. Each major government agency has an inspector general, whom watchdogs regard as playing an essential role in fighting corruption.  On April 3, Trump fired Michael Atkinson,  the IG of the intelligence community- he handled the Ukrainian whistleblower complaint and found it credible (and reported it to Congress).  On April 6, Trump fired Glenn Fine, the IG of the Defense Department-- he was overseeing investigations of coronavirus relief spending.  On May 1, Trump fired Christi Grimm, IG of the HHS- she had just exposed shortages of testing and personal protective equipment at hospitals..  The Trump administration has mounted a week defense of these actions, claiming that the internal government oversight apparatus is part of a conspiracy against Trump.

Mitt Romney, a critic of the president who was the only Republican senator to vote in favor of convicting Trump on impeachment charges, expressed concern.  “The firings of multiple inspectors general is unprecedented; doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose,” Romney said in a statement. “It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power.”

Justice Trump-Style

There has been a lot of chatter about the kind of justice being dealt to former Trump cronies. Let's start with those who remained loyal to Trump and stayed in his favor.

Paul Manafort: He pleaded guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct justice, and was serving a sentence of seven years.  After his conviction, Manafort pledged to cooperate with the Russia investigation-- but a judge found that he lied repeatedly to the special counsel’s team.  The Bureau of Prisons has said it is “prioritizing for consideration” inmates who had served more than half their sentences or had 18 months or less remaining; Manafort is not in either category.  There are other inmates who are Manafort's age and have more serious medical conditions-- but they aren't getting out.  There have been no confirmed COVID-19 infections at the Loretto complex where Manafort was held, either.    But he gets out early.

Roger Stone: Another Trump ally who failed to cooperate with prosecutors, was convicted last fall of lying to Congress and witness tampering.  He was facing a prison term of nine years, but AG William Barr intervened in his case, causing all four career prosecutors to resign from the case.  Due to Barr's largess, Stone received a much lighter sentence than expected-- only 3 years. 

Michael Flynn:  The retired Army General admitted in federal court TWICE that he committed felonies-- lying to the FBI and lying in court in front of a judge.  But despite all that, William Barr interferes on his behalf.  Barr, in a stunning decision, approved the Justice Department's decision to ask a judge to dismiss the criminal case against Flynn. 

So what about Mike Cohen, who ratted out Trump? In May of last year, the Trump attorney pleaded guilty last year to financial crimes and lying to Congress-- he began serving a three-year sentence after providing testimony and evidence against Trump.  Last month, it was announced that Cohen would be released to home confinement as part of the push to stem the spread of coronavirus.  However, on the day he was set to leave prison, he mysteriously didn't-- without any explanation.  Sources say that his early release hasn't been canceled-- it is merely subject to additional review next month.  Yeah, right-- has anybody checked with Bill Barr?  He seems to be doing the political bidding of Trump nowadays.

Who Could Be the Source of COVID in the White House?

Waxahatchee - Lilacs

Trump Whistles in the Wind, Tries to Fake the Numbers While the COVID Starts to Rampage Through MAGA-ville

NBC News has released some (leaked) COVID-19 projection data from the White House coronavirus task force-- data they didn't want us to see for some reason. Maybe it's because, while Donald Trump is out there lying and saying coronavirus numbers are going "very rapidly" down "almost everywhere."  The truth is that their own data shows case numbers going up as much as 1,000 percent, specifically in the heartland-- where white Trump voters helped propel Trump to his unlikely "victory" in 2016.

Dr. John Ross, a medical professor at Harvard, pointed out a thing about this data-- all but one of the fastest-growing counties in America were Trump counties in 2016.

• Trousdale County, Tennessee
• Leavenworth County, Kansas
• Buchanan County, Missouri
• Muhlenberg County, Kentucky
• Colfax County, Nebraska
• Stearns County, Minnesota
• Kenosha County, Wisconsin
• Polk County, Iowa
• Hall County, Georgia
• Racine County, Wisconsin

Most of these outbreaks can be traced to prisons and meatpacking plants and the like. And what happens to outbreaks that start in prisons and meatpacking plants? The employees take them home to their families and neighbors and MAGA Happy Hour parties-- and before you know it, there's a new sheriff in town, and its name is COVID-19.

Republicans may have been saying lately that there must just be something about those people in the prisons and the meatpacking plants and their lifestyles that's spreading COVID-19, but unless Stephen Miller's wife is a participant in the same lifestyle now spreading corona-cooties all over the White House, those Republicans are full of shit.

But wait, there's more! There's another county chart of "locations to watch," and their numbers are showing disturbing trends.

•     Ramsey County, Minnesota
•     Jackson County, Missouri
•     Lancaster County, Nebraska
•     Dallas County, Texas
•     Rutherford County, Tennessee
•     Douglas County, Nebraska
•     East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
•     Hennepin County, Minnesota
•     Franklin County, Ohio
•     Fort Bend County, Texas

That's right-- they are all in the heartland. Many of them are in the same states where big rural outbreaks have happened.

Point is, again, Donald Trump is full of shit and lies when he says the pandemic is decreasing pretty much everywhere. It may be decreasing in some Democratic-run large cities that got hit hardest first and responded with stay-at-home orders backed by science.

But in the heartland? In Trumplandia? Coronavirus is barebacking its way through the voters Donald Trump needs if Russia is going to help him steal the 2020 election again on a technicality, and it's only going to get worse as time goes by. And it doesn't matter how much the White House castrates the CDC or tries to screw around with the death counts by pretending COVID-19 victims just died in car accidents, because piles of dead bodies don't lie.

Hey, did you hear Donald Trump is aching to do a bunch of MAGA rallies as soon as he gets the OK? Yeah--no joke.  

Neo-Nazis Working to Help The GOP

David Neiwert of DailyKos is reporting on how far-right extremists (white nationalists, neo-Nazis, unhinged QAnon and “Boogaloo” conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, and raving violent nativists) have slowly infiltrated the mainstream during the Trump era.   The Arizona Mirror has published results of their examination of leaked chats from neo-Nazi extremists seeking to increase their influence on the 2018 election—primarily by becoming avidly active in local Republican politics.

These chats revealed that right-wing activists weren’t only interested in infiltrating the Republican Party and moving up in its structure as they promoted right-wing politicians. Several also discussed running sabotage operations by posing as Democrats and infiltrating their local political operations as well.  “Maybe be double agents for the Dems here?” one user asked. The group also advised participants which ballot initiatives to vote for.

The GOP initially showed signs of resisting the incoming tide of white nationalists nfiltrating their ranks of supporters. When onetime College Republican leader James Allsup (who later emerged as an unrepentant white nationalist) attempted to become a local GOP precinct officer, he was summarily tossed out of the party and stripped of his position.

 However, extremists nonetheless have increasingly been welcomed into the Republican fold. The Oath Keepers, a “Patriot”/militia group, have repeatedly played semi-official security roles for Trump events. “Three Percenter” militiamen have been linking arms with New York state Republican operatives on Facebook.  Even when the welcome mat has not been extended, there has been strategic infiltration of the party from white-nationalist groups like Identity Evropa.

The presence of extremists like Rep. Matt Shea of Washington state is not particularly new for the party, and even when their antics reach a critical point (such as when Shea was found to have engaged in “domestic terrorism”) they manage to hang on to their power. Shea remains in his seat in the Washington House.

The QAnon movement is  also insinuating itself within the Republican Party.  Media Matters (which has been keeping a running count of how many Republican candidates around the country have explicitly embraced QAnon conspiracies) is now reporting that at least four QAnon-supporting congressional candidates will be on the ballot this coming November. Three of those will be in California, and one in Ohio. Another—candidate Samuel Williams in Texas’s 16th District—faces a primary runoff this summer.

In the meantime, right-wing extremists have been quietly gearing up to attack Democratic events, including the unfurling of a Nazi banner at a Bernie Sanders rally.  More recently, a QAnon fanatic from Illinois live-streamed her drive from her home to New York City with a car full of knives as she ranted about her plan to “take out Joe Biden” when she arrived there.

COVID America

Are We Done Yet With the Bogus Sex Allegations Against Biden?

Tara Reade, who backed out of a CNN interview, as the spotlight got a little to glaring, later agreed to a softball interview by disgraced former FOX anchor  Megyn Kelly.  Kelly failed to conduct due diligence on Reade's background or ask her about key holes in her story that had come to light prior to the interview.

Reade has given four different reasons she left DC in her own online writings:

1. Her boyfriend and future husband asked her to come with him when he was offered a job in the Midwest. (This was an article about her husband's domestic abuse).

2. She was pressured to resign by senior staff who harassed her after they said Biden wanted her to serve drinks and she refused (Biden never asked her directly).

3. She left because of U.S. imperialism and xenophobia (the Russia article).

4. And in a tweet, she said Biden himself fired her.

And then in the Kelly interview she implied that she was fired after she filled out an intake form complaining about sexual harassment.   But  Reade told the Associated Press last year: "They have this counseling office or something, and I think I walked in there once, but then I chickened out."  Another missed opportunity for Kelly to engage in some real journalism.

Senate sources later admitted that if Reade's claims to the AP were true, then Biden's office would not have been notified of any complaint against him, and the process would end

But it now seems that the real reason for Reade's departure from the Senate has coming to light.  Twitter users (before the Kelly interview, another botched opportunity) had searched through public records and discovered that Reade had been charged with check fraud right about the time she left the Biden office.  So it's looking more and more like she was forced to resign in lieu of termination. 

In the interview, Reade also claimed to have reached out to the Kamala Harris campaign to get her story out.   A senior advisor to Kamala Harris later said that there is “no record of any request from a Tara Reade or an Alexandra Tara Reade," adding that they would take a request of that sort very seriously.

I'm with Bill Maher:

The Ad That Trump is So Pissed About

Lockdown Protests are Just an Expression of White Privilege

Lawsuits demanding that stay-at-home orders be repealed have been filed this week in Maryland, Minnesota, and Nevada. In Michigan, a Family Dollar store security guard was shot after telling a customer to wear a face mask, which is mandated throughout the state for all retail stores. In Oklahoma, McDonald’s employees were shot at for asking customers to leave the dining area, which was closed due to coronavirus restrictions. Small but media-gobbling gatherings of armed protesters continue to gather, demanding that state stay-home orders be rescinded, using lethal weaponry to demonstrate a power their numbers cannot convey. Members of the state Supreme Court in Wisconsin, hearing arguments in a case challenging the governor’s safer-at-home rules, invoked the language of “tyranny” and the Japanese internment to describe the current public health efforts to contain a pandemic.

As essayed by Dahlia Lithwick on Slate, the words freedom and liberty have been invoked breathlessly in recent weeks to bolster the case for “reopening.” Protesters of state public safety measures readily locate in the Bill of Rights the varied and assorted freedom to not be masked, the freedom to have your toenails soaked and buffed, the freedom to take your children to the polar bear cage, the freedom to publicly display your worship preferences (even if it imperils public safety), and above all-- the freedom to shoot the people who attempt to stop you from exercising such unenumerated but essential rights.

Such a profound misunderstanding of the relationship between state powers and federal constitutional rights is understandable coming from seemingly undereducated people.  But their definition of freedom is perplexing-- first, because it seems to assume that other people should die for your individual liberties.  But secondly, that it presumes individuals have the right to harm, threaten, and even kill anyone who stands in the way of your exercising of the freedoms they demand.

These folks tend to forget that even our most prized freedoms have limits, with regard to speech, assembly, or weaponry. Those constraints are not generally something one shoots one’s way out of--  and simply insisting that your own rights are paramount because you super-duper want them doesn’t usually make it so.

A good number of these “protesters” and “pundits” represent fringe groups, financed by other fringe groups and amplified by a press that adores conflict. The data continues to show that the vast majority of Americans do not support fighting for the right to infect others for the sake of a McNugget.  It is not irrational in the least to fear a tyrannical government capitalizing on a pandemic; it’s happening around the world. But even for those who are genuinely suffering hardship and anxiety, it’s simply not the case that all freedoms are the same. And it’s certainly not the case that the federal Constitution protects everything you feel like doing, whenever you feel like doing it. 

As Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times points out, these anti-lockdown protests have a more insidious nature that shouldn't come as a surprise.  The vast majority of these protesters — like the vast majority of those who want to prematurely reopen the economy — are white. This is in stark contrast to the victims of Covid-19 (who are disproportionately black and brown), as well as those who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic (who are also disproportionately black and brown), as well as those who have been or will be forced to work — or work more — as a result of reopening (the service workers and laborers who are again disproportionately black and brown).

Legal scholar Cheryl Harris wrote in her 1993 Harvard Law Review article, “Whiteness as Property” that to be white was to have control over oneself and one’s labor. It was to be autonomous and subject to no one’s will but one’s own.  The tie between whiteness, freedom and autonomy would grow stronger in the 19th century, even after slavery was abolished.  Freedom from domination and control is one aspect of the meaning of whiteness. The other aspect, in a kind of ideological inversion, is the right to control the presence and the lives of nonwhites. To be white in antebellum America, for instance, was to be able to enslave Africans and expropriate native land.

This dynamic is present throughout American history, whether in westward expansion — understood as the extension of white control over native land, including the violent displacement of native peoples — or in the rise of lynchings at the turn of the 20th century, when ordinary white men claimed the right to inflict lethal violence on blacks (and others) who transgressed racial boundaries. You can see it in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the “sundown towns” that dotted the Midwest in the middle of the 20th century. 

You could even place the recent killing of Ahmaud Arbery — a young African-American man pursued by two white men while jogging through a middle-class neighborhood in Brunswick, Ga., and then shot to death by one of them — in this same context.  If whiteness has meant the right to control and to be free from control, then it is easy to see how racial identity might influence the reaction to the lockdowns among a certain subset of white Americans.

This perverse conception of freedom, meant to justify deprivation and inequality, has always been impoverished when compared with an expansive, inclusive vision of what it means to be free. And in the context of a deadly pandemic, the demand to be free of mutual obligation is, in essence, a demand to be free to die and threaten those around you with illness and death. Most Americans, including most white Americans, have rejected this freedom of the grave. 

The Rolling Stones - Living in a Ghost Town

I Bet Someone is Glad the Coronavirus Task Force is Ending

GOP Governors Brag About How They Didn't Shut Down-- Putting Thousands of Lives at Risk

Republican Governor Kim Reynolds has been bragging about how AWESOME she has been doing with the coronavirus thing in the state of Iowa-- so much so, that she co-wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post saying that it's time to open up-- everything's fine! 

It's shocking how Reynolds can make the claim that her approach worked.   Along with Mark Gordon of Wyoming. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, and Mike Parson of Missouri (all Republicans), Reynolds claimed:

"The Plains states have managed this emergency exceptionally well by many measures. Our states have simultaneously ranked low in terms of infection rates and deaths. We protected our health-care systems by allowing retired physicians and nurses to return to practice, and at no point have our hospitals been at risk of being overwhelmed."

These five states are destined to be part of the next wave in coronavirus infections, due to their lack of stay-at-home orders, social distancing or robust testing.  They are gambling with the lives of their residents, and trying to keep secret the extent of their outbreaks. 

In the editorial, Reynolds and her buddies boasted, "When emergencies hit, our tradition has been to plan and manage in consultation with community partners."  Don't tell that to the Major of Perry, Iowa.  For weeks, he's been trying to get information from Tyson's Foods, who runs the meat processing plant that employs over 15% of his town's 7,700 residents.   In cahoots with state health officials, Tyson's management has rebuffed the efforts of Perry's mayor to get information on the status of testing for the plant's 1,200 employees.  Naturally, the Major wanted to know what was going on, so that he could react accordingly for the safety of the town's residents. 

After weeks of secrecy and stonewalling, the shit hit the fan.  Perry's local newspaper finally was able to report that a jaw-dropping 58% of the workers in the local Tyson's plant tested positive for the coronavirus.   730 out of 1,200 workers have the virus and have been (potentially) spreading the virus to neighbors and family members while they went about their business (with no stay-at-home orders or business shutdowns).  Perry has only one hospital-- let us all pray they can keep up with all of these cases.

This shocking news comes on the heels of reports that over 444 workers at the Waterloo Tyson's Plant tested positive and generated over 1,500 cases of community spread in  Black Hawk county--overwhelming health facilities there.   In Columbus Junction, 221 cases of coronavirus were reported at the local Tyson's plant after weeks of stonewalling by Iowa State health officials.  There is no estimate yet of how many cases of community spread resulted while those cases were not reported to local officials.  In Tama (a town of only 2,900 people) 258 workers at the National Beef plant tested positive.  Tama isn't large enough to have its own hospital.  In Newton, 131 employees of a Newton wind turbine blade plant (owned by TPI Composites) also tested positive this week. 

Brag all you want, Kim-- I'll bet you won't be so proud after the virus is done victimizing the medically vulnerable and the poor in small towns across your state.

Wanna Guess How the Re-Opening Will Go?

Controversial NBC News Chief Finally Forced Out

Controversial NBC News chairman Andy Lack has finally been forced out amid a major shakeup at the company.  Lack was widely believed to have killed Ronan Farrow's reporting on Harvey Weinstein.  Farrow later won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting after it was published in the New Yorker magazine.

There had been rumors that Lack was on the chopping block after stories came to light that NBC was the target of an inquiry by the New York’s attorney general into allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation and gender discrimination.  Former NBC News anchor Linda Vester told reporters that she was one of the women who was interviewed as part of the investigation, and she said they wanted to know about any involvement that Lack had in claims of retaliation.  In 2018, Vester accused NBC News stalwart Tom Brokaw of making unwanted sexual advances, something that he denied.


In addition, talk had been rife for years that Lack was a "dead man walking" following a slew of high-profile scandals under his leadership.   During his time as chairman, Lack was repeatedly forced to deny that NBC News killed Ronan Farrow's Harvey Weinstein reporting.  Lack was universally ridiculed after he sent an exhaustive defense of the network's handling of Farrow's investigation of Weinstein to all NBC employees, denying that his close ties to Weinstein played any role in the network's rejection of Ronan Farrow's investigative reporting.

Lack was also at the helm when disgraced Today host Matt Lauer was forced out for sexual misconduct.   At the time, Lack released a statement claiming it was the 'first' time it had ever received a complaint about Lauer in his 30-year career at the network.  That statement was later revealed to be a lie, when reports surfaced that NBC insiders had long known about Lauer's apalling behavior.

Lack was also responsible for hiring controversial Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly for $69 million.  She struggled to hold ratings, and was later forced out after she tried to legitimize the use of blackface as part of a Halloween costume. 

While an executive producer in the CBS news division, Lack engaged in an extramarital affair with one of his correspondents,  Jane Wallace, who described him as "almost unrelenting" in his pursuit of her.   After the affair ended, she says Lack threatened her career and the network paid her for a non-disclosure agreement.

After Brian Williams lost his job as anchor of the NBC evening news for lying about his helicopter being shot down during the 2003 Iraq war, Lack controversially decided to bring Williams back as the breaking news anchor for MSNBC.