COVID-palooza by Chip ProserYesterday I referenced Señor Trumpanzee farting out, during his daily barrage of misinformation and manipulative lies, that "Our death totals, our numbers, per million people, are really very, very strong. We’re very proud of the job we’ve done." As I pointed out the U.S. death totals per million are anything but "really very, very strong." They're really very, very mediocre and lag badly behind many other countries, including the most American-like of countries, Canada.Yesterday, U.S. deaths came in at 197 per million. Canada's was a far more reasonable 90 per million. Yesterday, Canada reported 54,784 total cases and 3,387 deaths. Our neighbors to the north have 1,452 cases per million. That isn't great but the states that have been most steepening the curve are in worse shape than Canada's 1,452 cases per million:
• South Dakota- 2,921 per million• Indiana- 2,807 per million• Georgia- 2,656 per million• Mississippi- 2,413 per million• Nebraska- 2,248 per million• Tennessee- 1,788 per million• Florida- 1,686 per million• Utah- 1,585 per million• North Dakota- 1,472 per million
These are also states with Trumpist governors opening up too rapidly and too early and likely to cause big jumps in reinfection rates, not just in their own states, but subsequently everywhere. And big reinfection rates always mean that a month later there are jumps in the death rates too. Congratulations, Kristi Noem, Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis... you're killing off your state's citizens. And-- no coincidence-- these are also states that would rather take advise from the NRA than from public health experts.While Trump was encouraging the right-wing vigilante terrorists bringing assault weapons to rallies protesting social distancing rules, Trudeau announced that his government is banning 1,500 types of military grade assault weapons.
Starting today, licensed gun owners will no longer be allowed to sell, transport, import or use these sorts of weapons in this country."As of today, the market for assault weapons in Canada is closed," Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said. "Enough is enough. Banning these firearms will save Canadian lives."Trudeau said there will be a two-year amnesty period to allow people who already own these firearms to comply with the ban. Trudeau promised to pass legislation in the coming months to provide "fair compensation" to people who own these firearms...."These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time," Trudeau said. "There is no use and no place for such weapons in Canada."
Trump, on the other hand... back to describing terrorists as "very good people."Rev. John Pavlovitz devoted his blog yesterday to discussing The White Privilege to Terrorize, something many people thought of when they saw Trump encouraging them (again). "As a white man watching the Michigan protests of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders," he wrote, all I could think was:
• Black people don’t get to do this.• Muslims don’t get to do this.• Latinos don’t get to do this.• People who don’t look like this don’t get to do this.
Pavlovitz noted that non-whites "don’t get to swarm American capitol buildings in tactical gear with high-powered weapons, screaming in close proximity to police officers. They don’t get to dress up like Call of Duty cosplayers and attempt to physically intimidate politicians into bending to their wills. They don’t get to get to stop traffic in city streets decked out like they work at the Death Star and brazenly wield semi-automatic rifles. They don’t get to terrorize decent people and walk away. Only white people get to do this. This violence is a singular privilege afforded to caucasian men in America."12 year old black boys playing with a toy gun in a park are shot down by the police who are then exonerated.
Black people don’t get to to wear menacing masks or flash handguns on courthouse steps or accost strangers looking like dollar store stormtroopers, in an attempt to frighten people.They frighten jittery white people by simply existing in their blackness.They frighten them by lingering in coffee shops.They frighten them by eating lunch in their cars.They frighten them by standing in front of their own homes....It’s no coincidence that in the middle of the fight to oppose stay-at-home protections by Blue governors choosing humanity over commerce, Trump tweeted out seeming non sequitur invocations to LIBERATE several cities and warned of second amendment encroachment. Though on their surface the subjects seemed unrelated to stopping the spread of the virus, these tweets were clear dog whistles for his snarling white base to suit up, strap on weapons, and provide the free muscle in his reckless push to reopen American in the throes of a pandemic, knowing they’d never be held accountable.This is MAGA America in its dawning renaissance of outward racism, showing us what is at stake as we approach another election. We aren’t just choosing a president or party to steward us through the coming years, we’re making a statement on what we will and will not tolerate as a people.What we witnessed in Michigan was an act of terrorism, by the very definition of the word. We have seen many such acts this week, and if November allows this malevolence another four years, they will seem tame. The self-appointed soldiers in the army of the lord will grow more brazen and become more violent in their holy war to make America whiter-- so decent white people need to resist them in the streets, on social media, and at the polls.I fully suspect people of color will oppose this presidency in large numbers, because they see the disparity.What I hope and pray, is that more white people, especially those who claim to be Christian, will also stand to reject the supremacy and racism that yields such willful homegrown terrorism; that we will use the unearned currency of our privilege to declare this violence un-American and inhuman and unacceptable.White terrorists can no longer have a friend in the White House-- not if we really want to make America great.
