Patterico's Pontifications

6/11/2020

Trump Rally Attendees To Sign Disclaimer: Aware Of Inherent Risk Of Exposure To COVID-19 In Public Places

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:56 pm



[guest post by Dana]

So this is a new development. We learned yesterday that Trump’s first campaign rally will be held in Tulsa on June 19. And according to reports today, all attendees will be required to wear a mask and keep a healthy distance from their neighbor sign a disclaimer before entering the venue:

The Trump campaign on Thursday sent out registration information for the president’s first rally since March, with the campaign’s chief operating officer, Michael Glassner, proclaiming that there is “no better place” to restart rallies than Tulsa, Okla.

But the fine print on the registration page for the June 19 event underscores the continued health risks associated with reviving the “Make America Great Again” rallies, which pack thousands of supporters into arenas for hours at a time — doors for next week’s rally open four hours before Trump is set to begin, for instance.

Right above a red “register” button on the page, the site includes a short disclaimer, informing attendees that “by clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present.”

The disclaimer goes on to warn that by attending the rally, attendees and their guests “voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19” and agree not to hold the campaign, Tulsa’s BOK Center or a slew of other related parties “liable for any illness or injury.”

The report also notes that there is no mention of any social distancing measures in place, nor any requirement (or recommendation) that attendees wear a mask. This reflects Trump’s personal preference of not wearing a mask, and it also plays into his campaign goal of presenting an image of Americans getting back to work and stimulating the economy.

–Dana

Racism: ‘National Achilles Heel Because It Forces Confrontation With Identity, Demands Proper Balance Of Liberty & Security To All Citizens’

Filed under: General — Dana @ 1:08 pm



[guest post by Dana]

I want to point you to a compelling piece over at National Review by Theodore R. Johnson (Brennan Center for Justice) titled, America Begins to See More Clearly Now What Its Black Citizens Always Knew:

The present moment is neither about animus between white and black Americans nor about whether there is an institutional bias in law enforcement against black people. It is decidedly a question about the duties of the state to its citizens, especially those who have been historically excluded, and about the state’s acceptance of accountability when it falls short.

Racism remains a national Achilles heel because it forces a confrontation with our identity and demands that the proper balance of liberty and security be available to all citizens regardless of their race or ethnicity. The protests spawned by the killing of George Floyd are an interrogation of this quandary that black Americans have insisted on since the beginning. Will the people reject the illiberal application of state-sanctioned power, especially against those who have long been its primary object? That the protests today are showing small signs of multiracial solidarity among the general population — something that the nation has rarely seen — is a definitive answer to the question and a reason to believe that the moment we’re in may be different.

The piece has certainly elicited a wide-range of responses. A few comments left at the article:

Hey, how about that Seattle Free Autonomous Zone just established by BlackLivesMatter? Maybe Mr. Johnson could move there and be finally free of racism. Maybe we should carve the entire country up so we can all live with like minded people.

Nahhh, this just guerrilla theater moving the Overton Window. This is about establishing power, making sure we know who has it and who doesn’t.

and:

NR, thanks for publishing this article. It challenges my thinking because it presents the experiences of Black Americans that I cannot ever attain, and that I have not tried hard enough to understand. While I may not agree with everything he states in the article (as an indictment of the integrity of liberal democracy), he makes a strong case that alongside the protests and the police in the streets, there is history, alive and kicking. His very positive message that so many whites and blacks gathered together in condemning these injustices, is the clearest example in our history that the U.S. wholly rejects this discrimination.

Please take the time to read the essay in its entirety.

–Dana

D.C. Mayor Responds To Critics: Budget Recognizes All Parts Of Public Safety, Including Policing

Filed under: General — Dana @ 12:17 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Mayor Bowser in Washinton D.C. finds herself in a bit of a pickle these days. Facing pressure to defund the police, the Mayor explains why she believes her budget addresses the current concerns highlighted by recent protests:

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser responded Monday to criticisms and calls to defund the police that have been made by protesters marching through the District in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis.

She said D.C. has been reforming its police department for nearly two decades.

“We’ve been on the pace of reforming our department for the last 18 years; we’ve had the commitment of wonderful police leadership,” Bowser said. “This department is different than many places in the country because of that steady pace of reform over the last 18 years.”

Bowser said the budget she submitted focuses on public safety and added that money for D.C. police has increased slower than for social service agencies.

“We saw a 12% change in investments in (the D.C. police) since 2015,” Bowser said. “DHS, our Department of Human Services, has seen a 75% change. Likewise for schools, both (D.C. Public Schools) and public charter has seen a 40% change. (D.C. Healthy Families), which handles a lot of our health programs, has seen a 21% change. (The Department of Behavioral Health) that handles our mental health programs has seen a 15% change. The Office of Victim Services, in the last five years, has seen a 90% increase in funding.

“So, I just want to be very clear that the budgets that we have sent to the council over the last five years have recognized all parts of public safety, policing, but certainly intervention and opportunity programs,” said Bowser.

During an interview with NPR, Bowser answered a question about whether she will be reconsidering her budget submitted last month, which increased police funding:

Not at all. What our budget proposal, and I can’t speak for other departments, but they fund the people that we need. And certainly we wouldn’t want the people on our forces not to have the proper training or equipment that makes for better community policing. And I think you also have to look at the context of our entire budget. I’ve been mayor for five years. We’ve seen police spending increase 12% in those five years. At the same time, our population has increased and our calls for service have increased. If you look at our safety net programs, they have increased 75%. And I’m talking specifically about human services and homeless services.

Chief of Police Peter Newsham echoed Bowser’s comments:

“We have been on a path to reform for policing in Washington, D.C., since 2002,” Newsham said, before addressing some of the history of the department.

“For those of you who were here prior to 2002, you’ll remember a series of articles about the D.C. police that came out in 1999, where they painted the D.C. police as using more excessive force, shooting more rounds, poor investigations, everything soup to nuts, which painted MPD in a negative light,” Newsham said.

He added that the U.S. Department of Justice got involved and found a pattern and practice of using excessive force.

After several years, D.C. police came into compliance with an independent monitor, according to Newsham, with the monitor finding that the department “was committed to fair, unbiased and constitutional policing.”

“That is something we are very proud of,” he said.

In spite of her critics, Bowser is sticking to her guns with regard to police funding:

…my budget doesn’t fund it a penny more than we need and certainly not a penny less.

Last week, Bowser faced public criticism from President Trump after she demanded that he remove military personnel and federal law enforcement sent to her district during the George Floyd protests:

Bowser told ABC News that the president’s criticism of her only served to draw more protesters to her district.

Also, concerning the rumors that she is being considered as a possible running mate for Joe Biden, Bowser remained the politician that she is:

“Angie, you already know, I have the best job in Washington, D.C.,” Bowser said with a smile when asked if she was being considered as Biden’s running mate.

Angie asked again and got a more definitive answer.

“I haven’t, Angie, but I know that we need a change,” Bowser said. “We need to change the senate and we need to change the White House. That’s what I’m going to be spending my time — making sure that we get that word out in Washington, D.C. and I certainly will help in any way that I can.”

–Dana

Today in Insufferable Celebrities

Filed under: General — JVW @ 10:55 am



[guest post by JVW]

The COVID-19 lockdown brought us the unimaginable horror of celebrities singing a mindless John Lennon song about a world with no possessions, all from the comfort of their multi-million-dollar mansions. So it was pretty certain that the same Hollywood/New York/ski resort crowd would bother us with hare-brained virtue signaling around the whole issue of police brutality and black lives. Created by an outfit called Confluential Films which would appear to be the brainchild of a black film producer named Tommy Oliver, producer of a bunch of films that I have never heard of, I present to you this two-minute short called “I Take Responsibility.”

About the only fun part of these pompous and grating exercises in self-indulgence is to try to guess in advance which celebrities will ritually abase themselves in a vain effort to prove that they are indeed Good People. I didn’t recognize the gal on the thumbnail, but I guessed we would see the usual lineup of Demi Moore, Will Farrell, Alyssa Milano, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, Anna Kendrick, along with a secondary character from a comic book movie, a dullard from Saturday Night Live, a mostly forgotten actor from The Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter series, a handsome 30-something heartthrob once nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar whose name I would not be able to recall, and two people from semi-popular television series that I do not watch. Write down your guesses and then watch the movie, and tell us how you did in your picks.

After viewing this video all I am going to tell you is that it is even worse than I had expected. Actors are gonna act, but this is the definition of chewing the scenery.

– JVW

Insanity in Seattle

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:06 am



You want to know what life without police looks like? It looks like this. Antifa protesters fought with police in an area surrounding the Seattle Police East Precinct building. Then … well, this:

Then, in a stunning turn of events, the City of Seattle made the decision to abandon the East Precinct and surrender the neighborhood to the protesters. “This is an exercise in trust and de-escalation,” explained Chief Carmen Best. Officers and National Guardsmen emptied out the facility, boarded it up, and retreated. Immediately afterward, Black Lives Matter protesters, Antifa black shirts, and armed members of the hard-Left John Brown Gun Club seized control of the neighborhood, moved the barricades into a defensive position, and declared it the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone—even putting up a cardboard sign at the barricades declaring “you are now leaving the USA.”

On the new rebel state’s first night, the atmosphere was festive and triumphant. Hooded men spray-painted the police station with slogans and anarchist symbols, renaming it the “Seattle People’s Department East Precinct.” Raz Simone, a local rapper with an AK-47 slung from his shoulder and a pistol attached to his hip, screamed, “This is war!” into a white-and-red megaphone and instructed armed paramilitaries to guard the barricades in shifts. Later in the night, Simone was filmed allegedly assaulting multiple protestors who disobeyed his orders, informing them that he was the “police” now, sparking fears that he was becoming the de facto warlord of the autonomous zone. A homeless man with a baseball bat wandered along the borderline and two unofficial medics in medieval-style chain mail stood ready for action.

This is happening in an American city, with the support of the local government.

The country is going insane.


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