Cover art by beloved Broadway illustrator Justin “Squigs” Robertson
Randy Rainbow has gotten me and my friends through very difficult times during the Pandemic. When he released 'Andy' his video about Andrew Cuomo's dynamite leadership during the early months of COVID-19, whenever I was down, I played it. My friend nearly wore out her phone watching his antics and appreciating his voice, lyrics re- playing replaying it before she went to bed at night to stave off nightmares. When we found out that was nominated for two Emmys we cheered him on.
Randy Rainbow (courtesy of his website)
Randy Rainbow's (nominated for Two Emmys) work is spot-on farce, satire and parody using choice Broadway songs. Usually, the subject of the parody includes ridiculing Trump and the Trump Administration characters. IN his somgs he has also uplifted Governor Andrew Cuomo, his brother CNN TV journalist Chris Cuomo and Kamala Harris. Much of what he does is talent and genius with excellent technical add-ons and well-placed drag in-between. I have even shamelessly referred to him in a play I recently wrote about our country's political divisions via zany family dynamics.
Randy Rainbow has been turning up everywhere.And now, fortunate for us, he has emerged alongside two-time Tony Award® winner Patti LuPone in their collaboration on a new video parody of a song from Gypsy, "If Momma Was Married."
The following is the Press Release for Wednesday, October 7th, 2020. Two-time Emmy nominee Randy Rainbow released today his first-ever collaboration with . The new parody video/song, “If Donald Got Fired,” is based on “If Momma Was Married”from the classic Broadway musical Gypsy,written by Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne.
The legendary Patti Lupone (courtesy of her website)
“This is a dream come true,” Rainbow said. “It’s no secret that I have always been obsessed with Patti LuPone. She’s been an idol of mine since childhood, so I still can’t believe this actually happened!”
“I’m so thrilled to be part of Randy’s satiric brilliance,” said LuPone. “I wish I could have lived up to it but he’s in a stratosphere all his own.”
The video is available now onYouTube where it will serve as a fundraiser for the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) which is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”
Additionally, a digital single is also available now from Broadway Records at all major digital music retailers. The single features original cover art by beloved Broadway illustrator Justin “Squigs” Robertson.
For more information on Patti Lupone, Randy Rainbow and Broadway Records, see below.
There have been protests globally in support for justice for George Floyd's lynching by Derek Chauvin and the Black Lives Matter Movement. These are in concert with the BLM protests in every state in the U.S. This represents a critical mass against white supremacy (groups lifting up white nationalism, the KKK, the Neo Nazis). Considering that the protests by millions of people have been peaceful, by default the violence that broke out in various cities in the U.S. to disrupt the protests, represents hatred, criminality and cruelty.
Hatred/fear, brutality and criminality are the historical fruits of slavery, colonialism and the wretched aftermath of centuries of discrimination: kidnapping, oppression of ownership of humans, beatings and killings, rape and horrific conditions on plantations while whites lived in luxury. Above all was the separation of children from their parents during slave auctions. The tradition has stained this nation for centuries; the U.S. has never been great as a result.
Perhaps these protests represent the beginning of a long awakening of our society to the horror of institutional genocide (in healthcare, the justice system, the education system). And they should cut at consumerism, which relies on the mass brainwashing through fascist/white supremacist advertising, social oppression and appearance shaming for profit, a sub rosa uplifting of the perfection of white against the inferiority of black, brown and indigenous people.
BLM George Floyd justice protests in the UK. Winston Churchill statue may be toppled. (Axios)
The hatred and violence that is white on black/brown/Native American, comes
largely from the U.S. history of slavery, abuse, violence, murder. The
same can be said for Western Civilization colonialism which infected
practically every nation on the earth.
MADRID, SPAIN
Demonstrators outside the United States Embassy on Jin Madrid on June 7. Photo: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images (Axios)
Finally, like a boil, the George Floyd lynching has sliced open the pustule of white supremacy and the brutality toward colored races. The stench is overwhelming; the wound must be cleaned out. And oppression by white men (purchased by the rich) over colored nations and women will not be tolerated institutionally.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Berlin and other German cities against racism on June 6, per DW.com. Photo: Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images (Axios)
The police brutality on display during the protests is finally
being addressed by police departments Attorneys General in various
blue states. The critical mass will encompass red states. The House has
written a federal law which nationalizes police reforms that will save
lives and would have saved the lives of Breonna Taylor who was killed because of a
no-knock warrant, and George Fl who was killed by Derek Chauvin's 8
minute chokehold.
IN JAPAN
People attend a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Tokyo on June 6. Photo: David Mareuil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images (Axios)
This nation and our allies across the globe are protesting to insure that justice be served and reforms be instituted so that murders like George Floyd's, Michael Brown's, Travyon Martin's and countless others never happen again. And if they do, justice be swift,k equitable and righteous under the law. The House Bill for reforms must be passed by the Senate. The White Supremacist Mitch McConnell must sign the bill into law or forever expose himself and his Red State senators as White Nationalists who have no place in our capital, and liars who swear to uphold their oath to the constitution, then don't. What constitution are they swearing on? The constitution of the CONFEDERACY?
IN FRANCE
Demonstrators in Nantes, on June 8. Protesters across France have been
defying a ban on large gatherings implemented in response to the
coronavirus pandemic to rally against racism. Photo: Loic Venance/AFP
via Getty Images (Axios)
A demonstrator holds a banner reading, "It's not whites vs blacks, this
is the world vs racism" in front of a burning barricade following the
intervention of security forces in Paris, on June 2, amid days-long
protests. Photo: Julien Benjamin Guillaume Mattia/Anadolu Agency via
Getty Images (Axios)
Enough is enough. If Mitch McConnell doesn't get the Red State senators on board to sign the bill, the handwriting is on the wall. They will be voted out with the White Nationalist in the "White House" in November 2020, despite Georgia Senator Kemp's attempt to disenfranchise whole counties of black voters with the gaslighting ruse of new voting machines which somehow don't work.
IN AUSTRALIA
Tens of thousands of Australians
have protested in cities including Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and
Sydney, where a traditional indigenous welcoming ceremony is held during
a rally outside Sydney Town Hall in Australia on June 6. Photo: Speed
Media/Icon Sportswire (Axios)
There have been arguments in
defense of the recent police brutality. Arguments have been made against
George Floyd- he was a criminal and Chauvin feared for his life. Arguments have been made supporting the legality of the no-knock warrant which ended up in the death of Brianna Taylor.
However, these arguments are typical white supremacist gaslighting. And the U.S. populace is not buying it.
They recognize that it is just like the gaslighting by
the Minneapolis corner who was pressured by the DA to find George Floyd had drugs in his system which caused his death along with some underlying issues. The very idea that the truth should so be obscured represents white supremacy and unequal justice under oppression. White males in power cover up and protect one of their own against the powerless black "criminal" to escape punishment and to walk with impunity between the raindrops. That way, they can kill again.
IN SWEDEN
A Black Lives Matter demonstration in Stockholm on June 3. Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images (Axios)
Such killings are reminiscent of those by man-eating tigers who, once they taste the flesh and blood of human beings, savor the taste and go for more kills. Human predators are the same. And they have had free reign in our police departments, whose warrior/soldier mentality has destroyed their humanity and wrecked their mission to be peace officers, a quaint notion that has never really pertained in reality. Does this apply to all police? No. But if even one cop is a killer on a police force, it is one too many and most probably, his "kill" will be a black man or as in the case of Sandra Bland, a black woman.
IN GREECE
Protest reference some of George Floyd's final words during a protest in
Athens, Greece, on June 4. Photo: Menelaos Michalatos/SOPA
Images/LightRocket via Getty Images (Axios)
The Floyd family got their own investigator (the same one as the family of Eric Garner) and an autopsy was done. The report showed George Floyd died of asphyxiation. With breaking news today, since Chauvin and Floyd knew one another and there was friction between them as witnessed by the owner of the club where both worked, Chauvin will probably get Murder 1. Considering that Chauvin choked Floyd for 8 minutes and strangled the breath out of him while his police buddies let him, the act was a premeditation. He watched the man die when he should have been saving him. Instead of stopping when George Floyd pleaded for his life and warned he couldn't breathe, Chauvin went on and on. How long can you hold your breath under water before you feel like you're drowning and then drown?
IN MEXICO
Hand-drawn portraits of George Floyd are hung on a gate outside of the
U.S. Embassy in Mexico City on Saturday. The sign reads "Racism kills,
here, there, and all over the world." Photo: Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty
Images (Axios)
The protests which have continued for 13 days nationwide, joined by New Zealand, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Ghana, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Greek Islands, Syria, Israel, most of the world (except Russia who bans protests). The effect of these global protests has been self-reflection in which the countries have decried their histories inundated with slavery and colonialism. Protestors have thrown down the statues of slavery merchants, colonialists and in the case of Belgium, the notorious abuser and tyrant King Leopold of Belgium who chopped off the hands of black enslaved who didn't produce their quota of rubber. On a dour note, Winston Churchill was decried for his racist remarks. It is a sign of the times when one must look to one's own past to see the villainy there and hopefully expurgate it and reform.
IN ITALY
Protesters gather outside of the U.S. consulate in Milan, Italy, on May
31 with signs reading, "I can't breathe," as the country remains in a
Phase 2 lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Alessandro
Bremec/NurPhoto/Getty Images (Axios)
But for some, reform, apologies and self-reflection are impossible. Donald Trump, the WH, William Barr, the GOP for example, are incapable of reform or of holding up citizens' rights spelled out in the constitution, despite swearing to their oaths of office. Trump has done the reverse with Barr's gaslighting assistance. He has thrown down the constitution following a Putin-like use of military force against U.S. citizens.
IN CANADA
Thousands attend a protest at the Vancouver Art Gallery in Vancouver,
Canada, on May 30. Photo: Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty
Images (Axios)
Tearing gassing and rubber pepper bulleting peaceful protestors is not upholding the Bill of Rights to encourage peaceful protest for redress of grievances. For Trump who sees any disagreement with his policies or ideas as treason, of course, the protestors are scurrilous cockroaches. And initially afraid of them and hiding in a bunker (an incredible irony) he emerged in full coward's dress, backed by numbers of officers in riot gear and National Guard troops who bombed and disperse the crowd for his sacrosanct moment in front of St. John's church holding a Bible.
Vilified by former Republican military, the former presidents and Senator Mitt Romney who joined protestors later in the week to reveal he is NOT a Trumpist, one wonders if Trump got the message? No. He has yet to make a national statement of support in favor of the protestors and BLM. He has yet to condemn police brutality.
Donald J. Trump, a stable genius (courtesy of the website)
Instead, he has accused Martin Gugino, a 75-year old Catholic pacifist for tripping himself up and being a conspirator against Trump, a member of ANTIFA. Indeed, if you believe Trump's white supremacist inference the man purposely fell, and let loose a blood squib (used in films) to fake the seriousness of his fall and injuries at the hands of police. If that were true, the "fake" injuries would have been immediately exposed once Gugino was admitted to the hospital. Instead, Mr. Gugino was in critical condition in the ICU. Since then he is undergoing rehabilitation, but has brain injuries according to his doctor.
Trump has been condemned for this psychotic, hyperbolic comment. Everyone that is except #QAnon, the KKK, white nationalists and Neo Nazis online who are charged toward violence by the meme "ANTIFA" a group which does not exist and which the Russian military intel has used to inspire fake protests against it in previous years. Antifa is "anti-fascist" and against Trump. Considering the full meaning of the meme, the U.S. fight against Nazi Hitler's Germany was ANTIFA. Thus, by design, ANTIFA stands for the millions of people who are against white supremacist groups like the Neo Nazis, white nationalists and the KKK. Google Frank Figluizzi (former Assistant Director for Counterintelligence at the FBI) who has studied hate groups. Antifa is not among them. So if you hear the Trump/Barr dog whistles blow "Antifa," think white supremacist inciting meme.
The KKK is very active in Mitch McConnell's state of Kentucky (courtesy of the site)
Trump and Barr have used references to Antifa to incite to protest and violence. But it's not working. Nor did the white supremacist provocations to burn down black stores and businesses work to continue violence toward race war work. Immediately, there was clean up by protestors the next day as people united to rebuild. And the protests continued. White supremacy isn't working. There aren't enough white supremacists to go around. There are petitions to reinstate the KKK as a domestic terrorist organization. And surely Neo Nazi organizations and groups like Boogaloo Bois and Proud Boys are being put on notice. Their intent to begin a race war is not a dog that will hunt in 2020. They are white, male, violent. That is the only color that the vast numbers of Americans are NOT color blind to.
At the heart of their dumb philosophies rests the confederacy. The confederacy had to be kept alive by rich planters who stayed rich by having an enslaved work force. They brainwashed the poor whites to fight for them, though poor whites couldn't afford slaves and resented that the rich planters didn't fight in order to keep their plantations going. At the heart of the confederacy was the lie that Christianity mandated slavery. There was also an utter disregard for indigenous cultures and peoples. The following quote by Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the confederacy states in a speech right before the Civil War what the Confederate States believed was the cornerstone of why the confederacy must secede.
Alexander Stephens of the confederacy lived a life of lies. (Wikipedia)
"Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth,
that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination
to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition. This, our new
government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this
great physical, philosophical, and moral truth." (Alexander Stephens, VP of the failed confederacy)
The confederacy was a lie. It could not stand because the "new government" was based upon the lie that blacks are not equal to whites. It is a lie that negro inferiority is a "physical, philosophical, moral" truth. The truth which the social contract stands upon is that all human beings (regardless of gender, race, religion) have inalienable rights. Our constitution is supposed to protect the rights of each citizen of the U.S. Then and now, the assertion that one group is racially inferior to another is a lie and cannot stand ever. Interestingly, every culture that attempts to by force and oppression assert that genocidal argument ends up falling and being destroyed by itself.
William Barr has blown the dog whistle "Antifa" to demean protestors (courtesy of the site)
Thus, all remnants of a destroyed government shall not be uplifted. The confederate flag chic is not chic. It is a failure and a lie. We don't uplift failures and lies. To do so is preserving an immoral, wrong philosophy. It is patently stupid, as stupid and criminally negligent as saying COVID 19 is a hoax.
if you are a white man in black garb with an AR-15 and you are not active military in a country in Africa, but are on the streets of America? You are a terrorist. You are a racist. You are a white supremacist and you are most probably AN ALWAYS TRUMPER and supporter of #QAnon and JFK Jr. becoming Trump's Vice President. (google some of the insanities this group posits...it's probably promoted by Russian military intel).
Being a card carrying member of the KKK or neo Nazi or any hate group is Un-American. Since when is domestic terrorism American? Since when is hate speech at the point of a gun peaceful protest? Since when is violence against any American peaceful protest? The confederacy was a lie in 1866 (the end of the Civil War). And the confederate flag and what it stands for, domestic terrorism against Americans, is worse than a lie: it is an active threat against this country and the constitution. It is the antithesis of patriotism. And white supremacy is against the constitution.
Do these uphold the constitution or the white supremacist president? (courtesy of the site)
If you are active military and are ordered to tear gas and rubber bullet peaceful protestors who have a right to redress their grievances, you should resign. "I'll lose my job." Yes. But is that a job? Or are you a slave to a philosophy that is against the oath you took in your role in the military? Resign or be a coward and traitor to the U.S. constitution.
It is about time the white privileged feel the heat of shame and guilt. Maybe they will grow up. The protestors have nothing to lose. They have already lost their lives to white supremacists in the police force and on the streets of this nation. White supremacist violence has no place in our culture. Women and the LGBT community are on board with color blindness. And there is only one color the world is now recognizing; white supremacist violence by males. The "whole world is watching" for each other's back against ultra conservative right wing groups which uphold violence and brutality out of some lurid assertions that they are superior. Since when are psychoses superior?
Trump and all the white supremacists in his administration and those in the GOP who do not uphold the constitution out of loyalty to Trump are domestic terrorists. Enough is enough.
The Whited Wall surrounding the White House, Protest Signs and a future president give it meaning (courtesy of the site)
White supremacy is nothing new in our nation. What is new is a president who upholds racism and white supremacy in a public show of pretentious force. And it is new when our country has lived through racially based crises each generation since the Civil War and Reconstruction and the current administration uplifts RACISM, pushing us back to the "good ole days." Throughout Trump's presidency, he has condoned and enabled white supremacists to rise without decrying or criticizing such behavior. With this administration everything is MAGA.
The Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo has inferred that the United States was never really "great," considering its history of racism, discrimination against ethnic groups, women and LGBT communities; and its imperialism and genocide of Indigenous Peoples and more. Trump's very program of MAGA is white supremacist. It obviates the history of oppression and lifts up the preeminence of the white male for being loathsome, indecent and predatory. Such a concept is demeaning to every US citizen and the constitution. It is the crux of why Donald Trump is in the WH with the help of a chief white supremacist, Vladimir Putin.
Proof of Trump's enduring white supremacist notions goes back to his grandfather who was a whoremonger and preyed upon women, then his father who was a racist and supporter of the U.S. Nazi movement in the 1920s. Today, it resides in Trump's appointing a staff member like Steven Miller who is the voice behind the Muslim ban, the immigrant bans and the Southern Border cages where migrants are placed and whose children have been displaced and cruelly separated from parents for months. White supremacists have determined Trump's base. One has only to look online for evidence of this during the years of his presidency.
The photo op that trampled first amendment rights of peaceful protestors (courtesy of the CBS)
After Trump's inauguration, the KKK and David Duke had a celebratory march. Other such marches followed around the country. Trump welcomed them and roiled up the white supremacists in his rallies. These have been enabled by Trump. And they have continued their support of themselves and their cause (replete with neo Nazi and Confederate flags) with marches like the one in Charlottesville, Va. where chants of "Jews will not replace us," and the Nazi slogan "blood and soil" identified their fascist beliefs. Make no mistake. These groups hate people of color, the LGBT community, the #MeToo Movement and religions that are not a fragmented and twisted Christianity.
Domestic terrorists like Dylann Roof responsible for the 2015 massacre at a black church have been on watchlists. But since Trumpism, the active designation of white supremacists as terrorists has been obscured. Christopher Wray head of the FBI to his credit has stood up to Trump attacks. Nevertheless, hate groups have been given a pass by Trump's rhetoric and his refusal to decry racism and anti-semitic groups like the KKK, the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers,Boogaloo Bois, Daily Stormer, Breitbart (which helped to get him elected) and many more including @QAnon.
Using elements of racism and discrimination, Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, The New York Post and other news organizations and groups, have at their foundation, core values that oppose the constitution and amendments (that uphold equality and due process under the law for every citizen). Toward anti-American, domestic, terrorist hate groups, Trump has been silent. On the other hand all former presidents from President George Bush Jr. to Jimmy Carter, as well as former Republicans, have spoken against these groups and Trump's position, especially after the march and death of Heather Heyer during the Charlottesville, Va. march of white nationalists.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden speaks out about racism (courtesy of the CBS)
Acknowledging Trump's criminal negligence in losing so many lives on his watch during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of whom have been black and Hispanic, due to economic institutional racism and injustice, U.S. citizens young and old are enraged. The breaking point of George Floyd's lynching has created a turning point. Is it any wonder that the situation has been completely exposed under this president who cares so little for American taxpayers save his wealthy supporters? As for his white supremacist base? He tickles their ears with his jokes, but leaves them in the dust when distributing tax dollars to improve their economic situation, which is predominately middle and lower middle class.
Only the wealthy need apply when it comes to the Trumptocracy. It is an irony that the white supremacy which he refused to condemn became unleashed in a wave of police brutality that not even the wealthy white supremacists can overcome with lies. Trumpism is imploding of its own inner rot as I write this. The whole world is watching and joining in protest, and the globe groans with the weight of his incompetence. His inequities and iniquities choke off our breath, as does COVID or the knee of white discrimination on the neck of Americans as Trump favors the wealthy over everyone else.
The Black Lives Matter peaceful protests were a long time coming. It is fitting they should explode into the sunlight with this unjust, tyrannical president. The press which has grown increasingly conservative propped up by editorialists like The New York Times' recently resigned James Bennet, have done little in the way of investigative journalism to ameliorate the injustices of Trumpism.
Peaceful protest in front of the White House before tear gassing and rubber bullets were fired (courtesy of the CBS)
Most news organizations have willfully fallen down on their mission to spotlight police brutality. Apparently, it has been unproductive to focus on the massive systemic corruption in American institutions: educational, justice, housing. Articles by concerned journalists have appeared. However they have been a sop extinguished by conservative media both online and televised who refuse to deal with the black experience in America. Trump has drained the lifeblood of a free press by dominating it with his lies, fleshly rhetoric, rants and accusatory, whiny, self-victimization. He has made the nation into a mental institution, a Bedlam, where he unleashes his psychosis and we are left to cringe at his insanities and inanities. To avoid listening to his diatribes and mendacity, many pull the "blanket" of avoidance over their heads. Many were driven to escape into media land distractions, live entertainment, movies, live sports...until the pandemic shut everything down. Woe and hell for the red necks who don't read.
Massive protests in Philadelphia (courtesy of The Insider)
Swelled by Trumpism's brainlessness and wantonness, the media, for the most part, has obscured difficult and complicated issues which Social media groups attempt to bring to the fore in an election year.
Where there have been gaps, everyday citizens fill in the spaces bravely. With their phone cameras, they are the investigative journalists in real time. The tell-tale George Floyd lynching is the case in point. For the young and the old who have been intentionally obtuse and occupied with their own mess, this has been an eye opening horror. For the 1960s protestors and marchers, it has been a reminder that racism dies hard, lynching is alive and well in the US, and injustice in our "glorious" institutions continues to the point that all of us are being smothered by it. We are reeling from the stench and toxicity of poisoned gas coming from the mouth and behind of a criminal president and his lackeys, chief of which William Barr is perhaps the most hideous.
DOJ William Barr is in lock step with Trump obeying his every wish regardless of its legality (courtesy of the CBS)
The mass protests which white supremacists attempted to stop with chaos-burnings and destruction of property- followed by the admonitions of Trump that the protests were either illegal or generated by "Antifa," continue. The peaceful protests are legal. The destruction of property is criminal. The politicized fear spreading by white supremacists is also inciting to riot. The separation between criminal behavior and peaceful protest is a schism. It will be made clear to what extent the destruction and burning of black businesses was effected by white supremacists whose hatred was unleashed at an opportune time.
Barr and Trump blamed Antifa (antifascist) which Frank Figliuzzi (former Assistant Director of Counterintelligence at the FBI) states is a group which isn't even organized and is merely a handle for anyone who is against fascism, meaning against Trumpism. Blaming this non existent group gives Trump the legitimacy to militarize and weaponize the situation. Meanwhile, if President Eisenhower, the WWII General who liberated the Auschwitz camps of Nazi fascists were alive, he would arrest all the white supremacist militias who demean our nation that fought and overcame the Italian and German fascist party. Eisenhower is ANTIFA. Trump as "Big Brother" (read 1984) has twisted criminality and hatred and made it his MAGA good.
Evidence of this is clear. He ordered military troops to use tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a peaceful protest so he could stand with a Bible for his photo op. How he got to this position is humorous. He had to come out looking "strong and brave" after news reports that he wussied out hiding in the WH bunker in fear, as peaceful protestors marched outside the WH. He recoiled instead of encouraging their peaceful advocacy against the murder of George Floyd by white supremacist police. His cowardice to hide, as his cowardice to get out of the Viet Nam War by pleading "bone spurs," is typical. Meanwhile, in the aftermath, people place signs and placards around the fence that Trump had built around the WH to wall him in from the American people. He is a creature of walls, of paranoia, of excessive fear and guilt. He would spread it when it is convenient: "Antifa" vs. opening up the country to contract COVID 19 so he can boast of a "great" economy for MAGA. His gaslighting is toxic; the "I can't breathe" meme fitting.
Jim Clyburn House Rep. D speaks on CBS about the protests
His photo op backfired with the country and the protests continue, followed by the outcry by American congressmen, mayors, governors in leadership: Andrew Cuomo (NY gov), Nancy Pelosi (Cal. D) James Clyburn (SC-D) and countless others. Of course, the Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden continues to speak out as do former presidents Barack Obama, George Bush Jr., Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
Their raised voices and the voices of peaceful protestors who march chanting "Black Lives Matter" have reached to the heavens. The Pope and other global leaders have come out decrying racism, joining in the chorus to petition for systemic change. Surely, God has heard. If you believe in "freedom and justice for all," tenets espoused by Christ and upheld in the Magna Carta, constitutional amendments, the Torah (in the ten commandments) and other religious belief systems, then followers of Christianity, Judaism, indeed every religion practiced around the world, should support the movement for equality. It is a movement which represents that all should be entitled to equal justice under the law, especially multicultural groups. One should not have to fear being lynched or abused/predatorized for not being a white male.
Trump, Trumpism, the Trumptocracy, including white evangelicals and white supremacists that support it are on notice. Though Trump doesn't say it, events of the past weeks have clarified the situation for American taxpayers. Far be it from Trump to condemn himself and his base of white supremacist, neo Nazi, KKK supporters. And as these groups breathe the Trumpy air in our nation, so do Mitch McConnell, Republican Senator from Kentucky, and Lindsey Graham Republican House member from South Carolina. They and the white supremacist, pederastic Republican Party support this toxicity. Putin's and Koch's money blinds them. Their eyes have not been opened though many white independent voters' eyes have been opened. If they honored their positions and the US taxpayer, they would, like Oedipus, pluck out their eyes in accepting the truth. They cannot, will not, they refuse: they remain the unwise accomplices to murder by COVID 19 and the maintenance of a wicked maladministration.
Banksy joined the protests with this work (courtesy of The Guardian)
They and other Americans must acknowledge what black, Latinex (some, not all) Native American, Muslim, and other multicultural groups have recognized with Trumpism. The one who is in the position of the presidency of the U.S. has attained that seat of power, fraudulently, with Putin's help. Trump negligence has caused harm, death and destruction. He is a white supremacist and egoist. Neither are acceptable in the executive branch of the government, what is left of it, as there are few checks and balances left, except for the lower courts and Sovereign Nation States' Rights.
The truth has been exposed. Evangelical Christianity has been subsumed under the rubric of white supremacy. Jerry Falwell Jr., Franklin Graham Jr. and others refuse to denounce the lynching of George Floyd. They refuse to denounce Trump's blasphemy of holding the Bible. That act alone is evidence of his "law and order" (a misnomer if ever there was one) tear gassing peaceful protestors and shredding the first amendment for a photo op. Likewise, the GOP refuses to denounce the abrogation of the constitution and the abuse of power in using military force against the public, a contravention of our national laws. We must conclude they are white supremacists. We must open our eyes to the ugliness. And we must not allow this to continue. Trump and his administration must go, the sooner the better.
“At first I thought I should just shut up and listen to black people
about this issue. But why would I do that? It’s not their problem, it’s
mine," Banksy's Instagram page, The Guardian.
Donald Trump is anxious to get the country up and running. He has created a task force to do this.Together this group is being guided by business leaders. And then there is Dr. Fauci somewhere in the mix.
In the past month when questioned, Donald Trump has stated that "we have done the most testing than any other country in the world." He has also stated in press briefings over the course of the Covid 19 pandemic that in the US anyone who wants a test can get a test." Both of those statements have been false from the time Trump uttered them until today. I have asked those on the front line (friends and relatives) about testing and who gets the tests. They tell me you have to manifest 4 symptoms and be in a high risk category for age or co-morbidities. New York has conducted the most tests anywhere in the world. Tests are very hard to come by.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, does little to scale up testing in the billions to test 1) for Covid 19 positives, 2)for antibodies of the recovered 3)for asyomptomatics. There is no contact tracing to speak of. And reports are coming out on MSNBC that less than 1% of the population has been tested and in fact the testing is decreasing. There isn't even an accurate number of test results in many states like Florida because there is a backlog for results to be given. (see article-click here) And Governor Ron De Santis knows how the death and Covid 19 numbers upset Trump. After all, this virus is supposed to be done, by God. Fewer numbers mean we can re-open the economy.
(L to R): DOJ William Barr, Donald Trump
Trump doesn't get the math. He failed school after school a function of his ADHD or learning disabilities. In those days, no help was given. It explains his insistence on his being a "stable genius," or saying he gets the science of the virus. No he doesn't. If he did, he would have shut down the country in January, geared up the testing in every state and did contact tracing. Math and Covid 19s structure, function and hunger to replicate in a host to the point where it will morph to continue to replicate? Nah. It will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for Trump to understand the math of Covid's communicability.
Thank God Governor Cuomo and now the other governors in the surrounding states with the help of experts get the mathematics of Covid. One infected person with the severest strain infects 3 people who each infect 3 people: that total is nine. Those 9 people each infect 3 people which is 27 people. Those 27 people infect 3 people each, which is 81 people on a bad day. Thus, with 4 transmissions 81 people are infected and the multiplication continues if these individuals are asymptomatics. Soon the numbers even if the transmissions are not three but two are in the millions. Such is the power of one transmission.
Crowds are the heaven of Covid 19. Cities are more problematic with the density; perhaps. The disease is telling us it isn't city vs. rural area; it is more complex. Even in a rural area for example, a church which has 100 parishioners the disease is a problem when one person has it and transmits. Those folks who get it go home to infect their families and friends. So the lie that Fox and the president would spread that only cities have the problem is criminal and negligent.
(courtesy of Fox)
The problem is the human being. You want to stop Covid 19? Eliminate humanity's liability to become infected. That means strengthen one's immune system or effect substances that nullify its replication, reducing human liability to catch it. Short of a vaccine there is only one way to stop the death and limit the spread.
Just on the math alone, quarantine is an imperative. We cannot afford people dying in the streets unable to get into packed hospitals for help. If and when we return to work, there must be a way to reduce transmissions to zero; that means temperature taking, three types of testing, contact tracing, masks, gloves, etc. at the work place and getting to and from the workplace. Governor Cuomo has laid out the ground rules to which types of work might open: essential work, guarantees there is no spread. Governor Cuomo and the governor consortium get the math.
We have a registered
320,000,000 Americans who are potential carrier terrorists or victims.
We have tested over 3 million Americans. By the numbers which are imperfect to interpretation a supposed 80 percent have recovered.
The rest have died. But because we are so behind the 8 ball, these numbers are probably inaccurate and are just approximations. We just don't know who had it and what happened. The only ones we know of went to the hospital or were tested positive or negative.
Problems arise with more questions. What about the rest of the untested
population, the other 99%? If they are tested one day and then get it three weeks later, what then? Can the ones who have "recovered" get it again as the
disease morphs and changes to adapt to survive in its hosts? We don't
understand the disease, its spread, its MO. We don't understand
completely who gets it or how they spread it. The uncertainties are as
exponential as the disease spread.
CDC molecular view of Covid 19
Getting an economy up and running so billionaires can make money is lovely. If they want to be on the front lines to do this, then they need to put up billions in investments and not expect handouts from poor Americans. Trickle down does not work. Besides, they already got millions in tax breaks with Trump's tax reform. What did they do with that money? AND THEY WANT MORE????
They need to press Trump to operationalize the DPA on a massive scale. He must produce manufacturers in this nation who can produce massive equipment for the battle this is going to take to get workers in places free from Covid 19 with the right supplies.
(courtesy of the website)
Trump, you are the president of job creation and returning manufacturing to Americans? Well, Trump DO IT. HERE'S YOUR CHANCE WITH THE DPA. Produce supplies, tests, chemicals-reagents for the tests, masks, gloves, etc to help workers feel safe returning to work. Have the billionaire corporations guarantee healthcare for their workers... if their employees do get it, they will be covered and taken care of for risking their lives.
Business people like Trump must be generous in this time. They must not expect to just have the American taxpayers throw money into the abyss of their companies. We need guarantees to make a percentage of the profit the companies make with this "bail out." We don't want to "bail out" businesses when they mishandle or ill use what we have given them. Better to let them go bankrupt. They can afford it. Small businesses can't. Save the small businesses and give the states money to save AMERICAN WORKERS SO THEY CAN WORK FOR THESE CORPORATIONS.
There must be accountability and guarantees and the corporations must kick in billions to get billions. There is no free ride for the dead. There is no free ride for small businesses. There is no trickle down anymore when death is standing behind the worker who the corporation intends to shove out onto the floor of their business to do the work for an ill paying job with no benefits. It will get to a point if they have to choose getting this horrible disease and starving, they will eat less and less. Corporations and the wealthy have to do much more or their own lifestyles and lives will be at stake. It will be interesting to see if they value their lives beyond their material wealth, after all. The poor are used to being poor. The wealthy are not. When they lose their material wealth, will they have the strength to face it? See the quote about the rich man and the camel.
In defiance of humanity, decency, love, God's commandments, the social contract and the constitution, Governor Ron De Santis is encouraging large worshipful services for Easter by saying he will not "force" or "command" or "order" autocratically, the banning of large crowds in churches. He is not alone in this.
So much for God is love. So much for humility. So much for being as the scripture says, "wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove." So much for "love your neighbor as yourself." So much for "love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart and strength." So much for "God is a spirit; worship Him in Spirit and in Truth."
De Santis has been dilatory, following the lead of Trump and Fox News spreading misinformation CLICK HERE. Like Trump, he lacks the will to take a leadership position to protect the people of the state of Florida. I have elderly cousins who live there. I have friends who live there. I have family who life there. He is jeopardizing all of their lives, by being willfully, criminally negligent.
Republican Governor of Florida Ron De Santis (courtesy of CNN)
First, he has been criminally negligent by not closing down the state to prevent spring breakers and Disney World visitors congregating in mammoth crowds, sweating their asymptomatic Covid 19 molecules all over each other. These same Covid 19 infected then flew back to parts unknown all over the US to shed the disease to families and friends in their communities. Perhaps, they themselves came down with it. This is negligence on a mass scale of the type that Trump and his GOP Death Party are noted for. Shame on all of them!
The folks who congregated during spring break believed the convenient Fox "hoax" lie. Then they believed that Covid 19 was like the flu which killed more Americans, though Dr. Fauci warned hundreds of times that it was NOVEL, we didn't understand it, and that it was 10 X deadlier. The demeaning of the lethality of Covid 19 then morphed to deriding Dr. Fauci when Trump wanted to open by Easter in an Easter miracle. When Trump back tracked realizing the number of deaths that would be effected, he changed his tune and stated that unless we socially distanced, the death toll would be a minimum of 100,000. Still, he kept the sheltering in place voluntary and refused to close down the entire country of 330,000,000.
DOJ Barr and Donald Trump (media website)
That Easter sheltering and the 100,000 death number was a problem for the controversy addicts and liars on Fox and the alternate Federalist Society conservatives. The spin had to change; they pulled in QAnon to create a new meme. The disease morphed on Fox promulgated by Covid 19 Truthers @QAnon. They are spreading the disinformation that the numbers are blown up beyond proportion, as an extension of the "hoax" conspiracy theory. Therefore, the opening of the country should happen sooner than Dr. Fauci and others might suggest.
Meanwhile, genocide in Wisconsin perpetuated by Republicans in concert with the Supreme Court allowed the primary to go on in the pandemic. Wisconsinites had to decide to exercise their constitutional right or allow a conservative judge to win: select sickness and death or stay home. Clever Death Party Republicans had gerrymandered to making Wisconsinites to vote only at a very few select sites. Thus, the lines, populated most probably by some who had Covid 19 curled and lengthened around and around and around as they tried to distance 6 feet, but probably infected each other with aerosol breath. Tell me not one of them spread the disease. 1 X 3 X 9 X 27 X 81 and so on. That is why quarantine is a moral imperative.
The Plague Doctor circa 1650s Edinburgh, UK, the hazmat suit against the Bubonic Plague (Carole Di Tosti)
Back to up is down, right is left conservative news conspiracies and disinformation. According to my relative who tends to embrace conspiracy theories for the thrill of them like an addict hooked on Oxycontin, there were no refrigerator trucks at Elmhurst Hospital, no long lines there, no deaths. He told me it was fake news, the lying media. I invited him to come up and volunteer. Meanwhile, like Trump and all the hypocrites, this relative is scared out of his mind (with the exception of Rand Paul, perhaps). This Florida relative has bought 150 proof alcohol as a disinfectant; he has all sorts of anti-virals he's purchased on homeopathic websites; he has a plentiful supply of masks and gloves to care for his debilited wife, manic that she will become infected and die. The contradictions he is able to live with in a lack of logic is a Trumpy psychosis that Trump and QAnon and alternative media who duns mainstream media as false is their premeditated, murderous, exploitation perpetuating INSANITY. Did you know that INSANITY IS A DRUG AS ADDICTIVE AS HEROIN?
My tool kit against Covid 19 (Carole Di Tosti)
But who am I to judge? I live in the epicenter of the epicenter in Queens. I write reviews for Broadway shows, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway and New York Botanical Garden and Tribeca Film Festival and SXSW Festival and Edinburgh International Festival all of which are closed down. I do not have the luxury of being blind, deaf and dumb walking on the Florida beaches, swimming in Florida pools and pretending this deadly molecule does not exist. Bully for all those in Florida who ignore the deaths in Miami, the growing number of cases and deaths in Florida nursing homes which are notoriously delinquent with their patients.
(from the church website)
Bully, bully. I am living the sheltering in place to protect all those in the red states from getting this horrific disease. They could care less that their negligent actions supported by their delinquent criminally negligent governors of red states allowed the virus to spread exponentially. (See my previous blog posts on how it spreads unless one isolates.) Well, we in New York are in a PAUSE FOR THEM, FOR THIS COUNTRY, despite every time they defy any shut-down orders or shout MAGA SLOGANS IN THE NAME OF TRUMP. We in New York and in other states who stay at home in quarantine are keeping them safe with good will, despite their believing this is still a hoax, the death numbers are fabricated thanks to @QAnon as they wait for the next pusher drug via Fox News ranting that CNN and MSNBC that try to protect them are FAKE NEWS, FAKE MEDIA, ETC.
The interior of an Episcopal church in the US (courtesy of the website)
Think about it those of you hoaxer drivers and Fox news hypocrites who "pooh pooh" the virulence of Covid 19 while grabbing masks and gloves off camera. Is New York City and NY State acting like this virus does not exist? Go on Google search and see live pictures of the main roads in NYC, 5th Ave. Park Ave. and out on LI, LIE and in Queens, Queens Boulevard, normally traffic filled and bumper to bumper. Why is NY acting in such a way? Is something to wrong, perhaps?
"You can't tell us not to worship!" No one is telling you not to worship. The country, the vulnerable with underlying conditions (50-73 year old men) and the old in nursing homes in your states need you to worship God at home. The young who have underlying congenital conditions they don't know about which a Covid 19 infection exposes because it attacks the immune system, decommissions it then smashes into the lungs needs you to worship God in the way He commands you to worship: IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. Endangering others' lives with willful, criminal homicidal negligent action is not "loving your neighbor." Do you really think God is a respector of persons or place? He is not! He looks at your heart and your faith and your righteousness. Indeed, your sacrifice not to go to a building and staying at home to pray is a stronger unction than going to a building to be with the sheep and infect one another.
Il Duomo, Milan, Italy which is streaming services (courtesy of the website)
Realistically, congregating and singing hymns so your church and pastor gets on national TV is opening your church to class action lawsuits by the children of parents in nearby nursing homes. Projecting your voices in praise and worship to God causes atmospheric aerosol spread of Covid 19 molecules and will make the church a miasma of Covid 19. Don't believe me? Google what happened when a choir of 60 held practice though they followed social distancing practices to the max. Two died; 45 came down with Covid 19 people realized later that their praise and singing projection of breath spread the molecules all over the church. There is a reason why crowds are a happy place for this plague.
Churches across the south have found out the danger of congregating for service the hard way. Check the rural areas of Alabama which are woefully underprepared for this disease spread. But it's not supposed to be in RURAL AREAS. Are people living in RURAL AREAS? Yes. Well, Covid 19 goes wherever the people are; people are vectors it loves to inhabit until it destroys them and moves on to another host. That's why one person infects three people. This virus, like people, enjoys society, but as a death-dealer.
(courtesy of the website)
To governors of red states and Christian churches who are holding Easter services, one question. Are you bowing to Trump when you should be bowing to the Living God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Christ expects you to discern after the Spirit of the Living God. Why are pastors holding services, jeopardizing your lives and the lives of your loved ones? Is this not the sin which cannot be forgiven? Is this not Blaspheming the Holy Spirit. HOW? Is this not defying God's commandments with pride and arrogance to not love one's neighbor? How is this defiance of God humble? Isn't this more like Lucifer who questioned God's wisdom and will and placed himself above God then REFUSED TO ADMIT FAULT?
Dr. Fauci has led the country impeccably during this time of coronavirus (courtesy of The Daily Show)
By refusing to care for others in the US, pastors, Fox News, Trump/the WH and the GOP Death Party refuse to apologize for their crimes against humanity in their negligent and dilatory actions. They are not recognizing the lethality of this disease because of its communicability. Indeed, it spreads like wildfire with no one to put it out until it finds a proper host and kills that person by which point in time it has spread exponentially.
Worship God in your prayer closet at home. Do not continue to be supporting the pharisees and scribes who doubted the Words of Christ. Your prayers in your prayer closet at home will have more effectuality. Read St. James about the "effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous." And have a spiritual resurrection in your Life in Christ at home. Peace Out.
