The Western Sky and the Protests

Yesterday was weird.  There were thunderstorms in the area, but we did not get any rain.  It gets humid, and is still hot.

See the seed pods on the tree branches?  That's what Palo Verde blossoms turn into.

Sunset last night.

Ok, I'm going to talk about it now.  Click away if you're sick of it.

Well the word of the day appears to be DOMINATE.  We're listening to the orange man's telecon with the governors from his bunker.  The streets must be DOMINATED, otherwise the governors will look weak.  He's been bloviating non-stop.  The protesters are TERRORISTS and are of the RADICAL LEFT.  He sounds unhinged.  His other repeated word is STRONGLY.   Note the use of the phrase "battle space" in regards to Esper's fellow Americans.

There was also discussion of putting General Mark Milly, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff "in charge".  This sort of reminds me of Tienamin Square.  Good grief, now he's talking about an installing an occupying force.  The discussion has moved on to the dreaded "outside agitators."  Holy cow, now he's talking about his opposition to flag burning.  I believe the Supreme Court has ruled twice that it's protected speech.  Orange man is now talking about using the legal system for retribution, not justice, retribution.  He just told the Governor of Illinois that he doesn't like his rhetoric.  I completely understand why the White House aides are resisting the idea of him doing an oval office address to the nation.  He's enough to scare you to death.

If you have 53 minutes of your life you're willing to dedicate to this shit, here's the link. It's interesting, sort of like a basket of snakes, it's hard to look away.

Tom Cotton has been advocating for calling up the 101st Airborne Division.  He wants them to shoot Americans.  

This is Wesley Somers, who burned down the historic Nashville courthouse during the protests.  He's under arrest.

Looters.

If you'd like to see more of the Seattle PD being ass hats, click through to here.  I find this particularly interesting because Seattle PD has been under a consent degree with the DOJ since 2012.  In early May, they declared themselves to be a "transformed department" and asked for the decree to be lifted.  It was originally imposed due to excessive force and excessive killing of people who posed no threat to anyone.  They have to have their final paperwork in by August 12.  I wonder how recent events will impact the request.  There probably won't be any push back since AG Barr has been actively involved in rolling back any oversight of local policing.

And finally, here's Matt Gaetz being stupid in public.

In a calming unifying speech late this afternoon, the orange man said that if governors don't deploy the National Guard, he will deploy the US Military to defend property rights and the second amendment.  There's a non sequitur for you.  You watch, he's going to declare martial law and cancel elections in November.

Before the speech, federal police (no one knows exactly who they were) moved all of the peacefully chanting protesters out of the area with rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bangs.  This photo is why, he wanted to go pose in front of St. John's Episcopal church with a bible.  These are dark days.