COVID-19: Trump's Death Wish Crusade

From Worldometer,  COVID-19 new deaths:

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil   India   South Africa

May     27    1535     5283         1148     190         28

            28    1223     4612         1067     177         25
            29    1212     4873         1180     269         34
            30    1015     4084           890     205         32
June      1      638     3189          480      223         40
              2      730     3053          732      200         22
              3    1134    4669         1232      221         50
             4     1083    4928         1269      259         37
             5     1031    5511         1492      275         56
             6       975    4906         1008      286         60
             7       706    4253           910      297         44
             8       586    3157           813      266         82
             9     1093    4732         1185      246         82
           10       982    5163         1300      388         48
           11       904    4951         1261      394         74
           12       791    4603           843      389         70

Summary:  Looks good for Humanity.

Do you get a sense that President Donald Trump has a death wish, on himself?  There are, of course six films with that name, five with Charles Bronson and #6 starring Bruce Willis.  Rotten Tomatoes gave the first one a 65 rating, but the next five:  33, 6, 14, 0 and 17.

Add all those gaffes, lies, embarrassments...create your own others.  Now, he has decided to move the Republican Convention to Florida.  Have you noticed this state is experiencing a renewed climb of cases?

Here are Trump's first few campaign rallies, featuring no masks and participants signing a waiver if they catch COVID-19:

     Trump says he intends to hold rallies in Oklahoma, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina after coronavirus hiatus

At least he delayed his first one, on June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the next day.  Did you know that Texas was the last state of the Confederacy to quit the Civil War?  That happened on 19 June 1865 when slavery was abolished in the country.  But if that was the reason that date was picked by Trump to celebrate this event, why the one day adjustment?

Of greater consequence is that Tulsa is said to have suffered the single worst incident of racial violence in American history, almost a century ago, in 1921.  Except the situation was reversed, for white residents attacked black residents and businesses, destroying 35 square blocks of what was described as the wealthiest black community in the U.S.  Up to 300 died, mostly black.

This was a terrible period for the country, as there was a conjunction of events that tore up the nation.  In 1918, 125,00 African-Americans had returned home from overseas at the end of World War I.  This was also the year of the Spanish Flu Pandemic.

W.E.B Du Bois, editor of the NAACP monthly magazine wrote:

By the God of Heaven, we are cowards and jackasses if now that the war is over, we do not marshal every ounce of our brain and brawn to fight a sterner, longer, more unbending battle against the forces of hell in our own land.

This led to the Red Summer of 1919 when:

Researchers believe that in a span of 10 months, more than 250 African Americans were killed in at least 25 riots across the U.S. by white mobs that never faced punishment. Historian John Hope Franklin called it “the greatest period of interracial strife the nation has ever witnessed.”

But back to Tulsa, the county is today experiencing a coronavirus cases rise of over 75%.  The state of Oklahoma is continuing to show an increase of new cases.  Why is Trump starting with Tulsa, Oklahoma?

Okay, what's the next Trump state?  Arizona, just hitting its highest seven-day average of new cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

Next?  North Carolina, already insulted with the move of the convention to Florida.  Today:

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Saturday reported an additional 1,428 cases of the virus. Saturday marked the sixth time in eight days the state’s new case count exceeded 1,000.

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article243508416.html#storylink=cpy

It sure looks to me that President Donald Trump has a death wish crusade with his scheduled presidential rally appearances, all where he will not wear a mask.  I noticed today that graduating cadets wore masks walking in, but took them off when listening to Trump give the commencement address at West Point.  Why would anyone wear a mask in Oklahoma, Arizona, North Carolina and Florida on his future mass crowd events?

There seems to be an uneasy relationship these days between the commander in chief and military officers.  What if this name-changing infection being fought by Trump extends to presidents owning slaves?  George Washington had 124 slaves at Mount Vernon.  From Washington, D.C. to what?  Oh, did you know that Washington predicted Trump?

Enough of Trump.  Watch 43 minutes of humor from President Ronald Reagan.  About Trump bragging about the Boeing's Dreamliner being made in the USA, see this.  However, those lithium batteries that grounded this aircraft came from Japan.

Now into the Year 2012:

• Remember all those versions of Munch's The Scream that keep getting stolen?  Well, a pastel of The Scream sold for $120 million, setting a new world record for an auctioned work of art.
• Vladimir Putin elected President of Russia.  Oh, he was also president from 1999 to 2008.

• World Expo in Yeosu, South Korea.  Rather minimal.
• Tokyo Skytree, the tallest self-supporting tower in the world at 2080 feet opens.
• MERS did not rate pandemic status, but the mortality rate was 34.4%, compared to COVID-19 at around 0.5% and the seasonal flu at 0.1%.  However, there were only 2494 cases, worldwide.

• Lonesome George passes away at the age of 112.  He was the last of his species (Pinta Island tortois--came from Galapagos).  He was named after George Gobel.  Remember him?
• Higgs Boson, the so-called God Particle, discovered at the Large Hadron Collider.
• Summer Olympics in London.
• Curiosity lands on Mars.

• Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person to break the sound barrier without machine assistance by diving from a helium balloon at a height of 24 miles.
• Hurricane Sandy becomes the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, spanning 900 miles, killed 233 and caused $69 billion of damage.  She was the one that flooded the subways of New York City.

• In the Pacific, Typhoon Bopha killed nearly 2000 in the Philippines.
• Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, with 28 shot to death.
• Lorene from Sweden sings Euphoria to win the Eurovision Song Contest.  I'm into euphoria these days.

#1 songs of 2012 in two minutes.  The highlight of my year was another global adventure of only four real stops (Star Alliance allows for up to 15 of them):

• Japan to follow the blossoming of cherry blossoms.  A particularly memorable meal was one where Jiro personally made my sushis at his restaurant in Tokyo.
• Amsterdam for their Floriade and tulips.

• One week of golf with Kenji's Safari in Las Vegas.  
• Dave and I had a meal at Robuchon's of Las Vegas.
• I had a giant hot dog at Coor's Field, for a Rockies baseball game.
• The World Renewable Energy Forum in Denver.  That blue bear is peering into the conference center.
• The best part of trips is coming home.  My first view of Oahu.

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