Thursday morning I woke up to this lovely local story, which I planned to add to the long list of stories about cops standing with protesters:
Buffalo Police officers take knee, crowd leaves as curfew strikes
Here is a video of that beautiful moment of solidarity
But less than 24 hours came this story:
Buffalo Police Officers Suspended After Shoving 75-Year-Old Protester
Here is video of that awful moment
At least one cop was front and center in *both* those videos.
It shocked me that they pushed an unarmed 75 year old. But what chilled me to the bone was that cop after cop walked by him and kept going.
You can watch that first video and assume all cops are good people. You can watch that second video and assume that all those cops are bad people.
But you can also watch either video and think about the power of that situation.
Over 50 years ago Stanley Milgram, in his classic studies on obedience, found that even good people will do awful things when ordered to by an authority figure. What always strikes me about the Milgram studies isn’t the finding that almost everyone talks about — that 67% gave a stranger 450 volts of electric shocks — but the often ignored fact that 100% of people went to 300 volts. 100% of people gave electric shocks to a man who clearly didn’t want them and was clearly in pain. A different study found that, when asked to guess, 99% of people are sure they personally would NOT deliver 300 volts of electric shock to an innocent person. So 99% of us think we are better at standing up to authority figures and ignoring the power of the situation than we really are.
That research shows us, in the most straightforward and shocking way, that when situations are structured the exact wrong way, they can lead us to do things that run against our best selves. They also show us that when leaders encourage terrible behavior, people do terrible things.
We are putting cops in situations that bring out the worst in people and they are being led by a monstrous man. Putting cops in head to toe riot gear with military weapons makes them way more likely to be violent with civilians and makes situations much more likely to escalate. You have taken the human out of a person and activated the part of them that just follows orders. You have made violence and dehumanization salient.
This is not to say that all cops are good people in a bad situation. Some cops are awful racist people. But if you put all cops in situations that promote being awful, fascist, and racist you will get an awful lot of racist, fascist, and terrifying behavior. We are seeing that this week.
There are research driven things we can do to change police culture from bringing out the worst in human beings. You can find a list here along with a way to check what your police department is doing and how to encourage them to do more. You can find information here on the increased militarization of the policy, how it affects your area, and what you can do to stop it.
But we should also remember that this is a part of a larger ingrained system that pushes inequality and hatred and fear. A system that leads to problems in schooling, in housing, in incarceration, in physical health, and in basic human dignity. A system that is currently led by the worst kind of man.
And until we change that system and change that leader, any changes we make will be insufficient: important but insufficient.
There are many problems in policing that we need to address but the police problems are a symptom of a larger system that blames people for their own poverty, that dehumanizes and devalues people of color, that pits people against one another, and that hoards wealth for the top 1%.
And as long as our current leader is in charge and that system is held up and encouraged to flourish and grow, any changes will be temporary and insufficient. Necessary, but not enough.
We need changes in policing. But they won’t be enough without changing the system.
And we can’t change anything — we can only watch the worst parts of it flourish — until we get rid of Trump.
In the past months, we have pushed here at the GNR for people to donate to a fund to win the Senate. Winning the Senate is of utmost importance.
But at this time, the Democratic challengers for Senate are pretty flush with cash — most of them have more than their R opponents.
But Joe Biden has less money than Trump. Much less money. The 1% who benefit from Trump have loaded him with cash that he is spending on propaganda and lies.
To fight back, Biden needs money too.
So we have set up a fund to donate to Biden as a Good News Roundup group.
Click here to donate to Biden. Your donations will come from you and 100% of them will go to the Biden campaign to defeat Trump, but will be funneled through our Good News Roundup group portal.
Click here to donate to Biden. You are donating to get rid of Trump. You are donating to put in judges that care about people. You are donating to have people like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders making policy. You are donating to save our democracy.
With our help JOE CAN WIN.
Here is some reason for hope in our victory (if we work hard):
Joe Can Win
lots of poll numbers look great for us right now. Here is some info on that:
this is a positive trend:
and this:
and this:
even state level polling is looking good:
Fox News polls: Trump trails Biden in Ohio, Arizona and Wisconsin
President Trump trails presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Ohio, Wisconsin and Arizona, according to surveys from Fox News released Wednesday.
Trump won all three states in 2016, and few believed until recently that Ohio might be in play.
The Fox News poll of the Buckeye State found Biden at 45 percent and Trump at 43 percent, which is within the survey’s 3.5 percentage point margin of error.
Trump Campaign Looks at Electoral Map and Doesn’t Like What It Sees
As polls show President Trump significantly trailing his rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., his campaign is spending heavily in states, like Ohio, that it had hoped would not be competitive at all this year.
and we see groups turning against trump:
More signs emerge that Trump’s base may be eroding
The poll finds that 41 percent of Americans overall view Trump favorably, while 55 percent hold an unfavorable view. There’s been a slide among Republicans: 83 percent view him favorably, down from 90 percent in April. And among independents, 35 percent hold a favorable view, down from 43 percent.
Among white Americans without a four-year college degree, views of Trump have continued a downward trend. The proportion who hold favorable views of the president decreased to 47% from 54% in April and 66% in March.
That’s a real decline, and if Trump is really below 50 percent favorability among whites without a college education, that will be alarming to his campaign.
The PRRI poll also finds big slippage among another key demographic:
Currently, 37% of white Catholics hold favorable views of Trump, a significant drop from 49% across 2019, and a substantial downward trend from a high of 60% in March and 48% in April.
Trump’s Approval Slips Where He Can’t Afford to Lose It: Among Evangelicals
Polls and private concerns from top social conservatives show the president’s standing with the cornerstone of his base isn’t what it used to be. A photo op with the Bible was supposed to help fix that.
and energy among our base:
Black Voters Are Coming for Trump
Fury over the cruel death of George Floyd, a black man in police custody, combined with fear of a deadly virus and its painful economic impact, make this a dark, dizzying moment in our national life. But African-Americans shouldn’t feel hopeless, because the black vote does matter — it has never mattered more. It is at the heart of the fight to take back America.
The biggest story of 2020 politics is hard to ignore. But somehow it is being ignored.
The black vote now defines American politics.
Black Americans have had enough. They have an explosive, personal investment in defeating Mr. Trump in 2020. More than 80 percent of them say Mr. Trump is a racist. For them, defeating him is the civil rights movement of 2020.
And it is not an empty threat.
If black voters returned to the polls at their 2012 levels, the Democratic presidential candidate “would win the Electoral College by 294-244,” according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress.
we have allies in our fight against Trump.
Anti-Trump Republican group attacks Trump on race in new ad
Their goal is for Trump to lose reelection -- last month the group ran an ad endorsing Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee -- but getting under Trump's skin is an added benefit for the group.
Hell froze over this week and I agreed with George Will:
Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers.
The president’s provocations — his coarsening of public discourse that lowers the threshold for acting out by people as mentally crippled as he — do not excuse the violent few. They must be punished. He must be removed.
A political party’s primary function is to bestow its imprimatur on candidates, thereby proclaiming: This is who we are. In 2016, the Republican Party gave its principal nomination to a vulgarian and then toiled to elect him. And to stock Congress with invertebrates whose unswerving abjectness has enabled his institutional vandalism, who have voiced no serious objections to his Niagara of lies
we are winning other races:
Ella Jones Is Elected First Black Mayor of Ferguson
Ms. Jones is also the first woman to lead the Missouri city, which erupted in protests in 2014 after a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, a black teenager.
Historic Wins for Women of Color as Nation Protests Systemic Racism
Amid widespread protests against police brutality and the coronavirus pandemic, a determined electorate pushed turnout past 2016 levels.
As the nation remained gripped by widespread protests against police brutality and systemic racism, black and Hispanic women won elections in multiple states on Tuesday while Representative Steve King, a nine-term congressman with a long history of racist remarks, was ousted in a Republican primary in Iowa.
Despite all of this we have to work really hard. Polls will go up and down between now and November. Don’t freak out when he climbs a little in some random poll (or even in all of them for some stupid week). That will happen.
And Trump and his lying crowd will cheat and steal to win and they have the power of the presidency behind their efforts.
So despite good numbers, it is only with hard work that we can win. Let’s do it.
Have you donated to Joe yet? if not here is the link again:
Click here to donate to Biden. Your donations will come from you and go to Joe, but will be funneled through our Good News Roundup group portal.
Joe Biden is Great
I was a Warren supporter but Joe wins me over more and more every day. I really think he is the man we need for this moment in time.
Here are some great things from just this week:
Biden Urges Equality For People With Disabilities
The presumptive Democratic nominee for president is calling for more access to community-based services, competitive employment and greater disability representation in government.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is pushing a slew of changes in an effort to bring about “full equality” for those with disabilities.
In his disability plan released late last week, Biden said he wants to boost Supplemental Security Income benefits, fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, phase out subminimum wage and increase support for direct care providers as well as family caregivers
Joe Biden pulls Julián Castro into campaign, asks for help to 'tackle police reform'
Former Vice President Joe Biden followed a speech addressing the national protests over the death of George Floyd on Tuesday with a welcoming of Julián Castro to his campaign to help tackle police reform, an issue that was a cornerstone of Castro's failed presidential campaign.
“Julián — I made a promise to George’s family that he wouldn’t just become another hashtag. We’re going to tackle this head on — and we’re going to need your help to do it. Grateful for your support,” Biden said in a retweet of Castro's tweet of support for Biden.
Biden’s Made a Subtle, Important Shift About How He Talks About Race
On Friday, in livestreamed remarks from his home in Delaware, Biden called the pain of racism “too immense for one community to bear alone,” adding that “it’s the duty of Americans to grapple with it, and to grapple with it now. With our complacency, our silence, we are complicit in perpetuating these cycles of violence.”
as outrage over Floyd’s death in Minneapolis—compounded by the deaths of more than 104,000 Americans from the coronavirus pandemic and a resultant economic collapse, both of which have disproportionately affected black communities—has spread, Biden has foregrounded the concerns of protesters, rather than put them on equal footing with those of law enforcement
That change in messaging reflects a half-decade’s shift in Democratic orthodoxy about criminal justice and violence against black people at the hands of law enforcement
Trump and Biden offer a vivid contrast in thinking about our crisis
Biden did condemn looting and violence, but he did it after pointing to the broad problems that gave rise to the protests in the first place. Trump, on the other hand, said, “I am your President of law and order, and an ally of all peaceful protesters,” but he never said what the protests are about
Both men pointed toward the future. But for Trump it meant tossing in a perfunctory “By far, our greatest days lie ahead” after talking about how unrest would be crushed.
Biden, on the other hand, talked at length about using his term in office to address systemic racism and police misconduct, including listing a number of concrete reform proposals he supports.
This may be the clearest contrast that emerges in listening to Biden and Trump. The president sees this unrest as a short-term problem of a bunch of troublemakers; put them down with sufficient force (“dominate the streets”) and the problem will be solved. Biden, on the other hand, places the problem in a broad historical context that stretches far into the past and far into the future.
Click here to donate to Biden. Your donations will come from you, but will be funneled through our Good News Roundup group portal.
Democrats Are Great
Emotional debate erupts over anti-lynching legislation as Cory Booker and Kamala Harris speak out against Rand Paul amendment
In an emotional exchange on the Senate floor, Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California spoke out Thursday against an amendment that GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was trying to add to anti-lynching legislation.
"It would speak volumes for the racial pain and the hurt of generations," Booker said. Raising his voice, he continued, "I do not need my colleague, the Senator from Kentucky, to tell me about one lynching in this country. I've stood in the museum in Montgomery, Alabama, and watched African-American families weeping at the stories of pregnant women lynched in this country and their babies ripped out of them while this body did nothing."
Lawmakers call for legislation to force federal officers to identify themselves
Democratic lawmakers are calling for legislation forcing federal law enforcement officers in uniform to clearly identify which department they represent.
The potential legislation comes amid rising concerns from Democrats after officers were seen without any identifying labels on their uniforms as they policed protests in Washington, D.C.
Trump’s Weakness in polling is leading to Weakness in his support
How history is made: Not everyone hops off the sinking ship at once
Something is changing. Whether 1 percent or 10 percent of Republicans abandon Trump (by offering public criticism, or endorsing Biden, or simply refusing to vote for Trump’s reelection) is yet to be determined. (Simply increasing Democratic turnout in November by a few points could produce a landslide, by the way.) Not everyone will jump ship at once. Some Republicans will disclaim responsibility for support only if and when Trump loses.
Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Condemns Trump's Threat To Use Military At Protests
In rare public comments, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Ret. Gen. Martin Dempsey condemned Trump's threat to use military force to suppress nationwide protests as "dangerous" and "very troubling," in an interview with NPR on Thursday.
"The idea that the president would take charge of the situation using the military was troubling to me," Gen. Dempsey said.
Ex-Defense Secretary William Perry joins Mattis in condemning Trump
Former Defense Secretary William Perry on Thursday accused President Donald Trump of politicizing the armed forces and criticized his threats to deploy the military against American citizens.
Perry, a national security expert who served in government for decades, including as Defense secretary from 1994 to 1997 under President Bill Clinton, said in a statement provided to POLITICO that the military “was never intended to be used for partisan political purposes.”
Pentagon officials express concern as Trump threatens to use military to 'dominate' protestors
Defense officials tell CNN there was deep and growing discomfort among some in the Pentagon even before President Donald Trump announced Monday that he is ready to deploy the military to enforce order inside the United States.
As Trump Threatens to Send Military Into Cities, Some GIs Refuse to Comply
some National Guard and active-duty GIs are refusing to deploy to U.S. cities rising up against police-perpetrated killings, saying no to complicity in the repression of the American populace and that they have not been properly trained in riot response or de-escalation tactics on domestic soil.
Veterans and GI rights organizations told Truthout that dozens of GIs are reaching out to assess their options as President Trump orders military and federal police onto the streets of Washington, D.C., and threatens to use the 1807 Insurrection Act to send active-duty military into cities across the U.S. if governors cannot repress dissent in their states.
Hundreds of Former National Security Officials Condemn Trump’s Response to Protests
In a letter, more than 200 former senior diplomats and military leaders say there is “no role” for the U.S. military to deal with protesters exercising free speech rights.
Twitter takes action against Rep. Matt Gaetz for glorifying violence
Twitter has restricted a tweet from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for violating its policies against glorifying violence, following a similar action taken against President Donald Trump last week.
Snapchat will no longer promote Trump's account in Discover
Snapchat will no longer promote President Trump's account on its "Discover" page of curated content, a spokesperson tells Axios, after Trump tweeted comments that some suggested glorified violence amid racial justice protests.
Graham postpones Russia probe subpoena vote as tensions boil over
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) postponed a vote on authorizing subpoenas for more than 50 individuals as Republicans ramp up their investigation into the Russia probe.
Graham said he was delaying the vote to give senators enough time to fully debate the issue, as the meeting brushed up against a pre-scheduled vote on the Senate floor.
Graham's announcement came after a tense moment in the committee, with multiple members yelling at each other as they tried to figure out the schedule for the meeting.
Our View: To President Trump: You should resign now
President Trump: We’re sorry that you decided to come to Maine, but since you are here, could you do us a favor? Resign.
This Movement is Amazing
Even amid strife, the best of America shows itself
EVEN AMID the tear gas, the rubber bullets, the sirens, the fires, the standoffs, the looting, the “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons,” the best of America has been visible. People who were angry and scared have acted with peace and compassion, defusing situations by protecting and embracing — sometimes literally — those whom others in their position might have feared.
First of all, this involved everyone coming together
and
and
Ta-Nehisi Coates is hopeful
I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but I see hope. I see progress right now, at this moment.
I had an interesting call on Saturday with my dad, who was born in 1946, grew up dirt poor in Philadelphia, lived in a truck, went off to Vietnam, came back, joined the Panther Party, and was in Baltimore for the 1968 riots. Would’ve been about 22 at that time.
I asked him if he could compare what he saw in 1968 to what he was seeing now. And what he said to me was there was no comparison — that this is much more sophisticated. And I say, well, what do you mean? He said it would have been like if somebody from the turn of the 20th century could see the March on Washington.
The idea that black folks in their struggle against the way the law is enforced in their neighborhoods would resonate with white folks in Des Moines, Iowa, in Salt Lake City, in Berlin, in London — that was unfathomable to him in ‘68, when it was mostly black folks in their own communities registering their great anger and great pain.
I don’t want to overstate this, but there are significant swaths of people and communities that are not black, that to some extent have some perception of what that pain and that suffering is. I think that’s different.
Thousands Defy Ban in Paris to Protest as George Floyd Outrage Goes Global
French protesters took a knee and raised their fists while firefighters struggled to extinguish multiple blazes as a largely peaceful, multiracial demonstration degenerated into scattered tensions. Several thousand people defied a virus-related ban on protests to pay homage to Floyd and Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody.
Hundreds March in Israel, West Bank for Palestinian, Black American Police Brutality Victims
Protesters in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv and Bethlehem call for justice for Eyad Hallaq and George Floyd
Also, it is leading to some results. Not enough, but some:
In aftermath of George Floyd's death, San Diego police will 'immediately' end use of carotid restraint
The San Diego Police Department, spurred by the fallout from George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, has immediately banned a controversial restraint technique.
At least three major police departments have banned similar neck holds or chokeholds amid increasing attention on policing maneuvers that cut off oxygen to people under arrest or restraint.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Officials Cutting $100 Million-$150 Million From LAPD Budget, Funds To Be Reinvested In Communities Of Color
The mayor proceeded to announce $250 million in cuts to the proposed budget and to reallocate those dollars to communities of color, “so we can invest in jobs, in education and healing.” L.A. Police Commission President Eileen Decker then announced that $100 million-$150 million of those cuts would come from the police department budget.
DC Police won't be able to use neck restraints or criminalize masks under new legislation
Councilmember Charles Allen announced the proposal on police accountability and transparency on Thursday as DC continued into its seventh day of demonstrations.
Manhattan DA won’t prosecute protesters amid mass NYC arrests, commends New Yorkers exercising civil rights at George Floyd demonstrations
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance on Friday said his office will decline to prosecute marchers arrested for breaking the city’s 8 p.m. curfew while out protesting the death of George Floyd — and he commended New Yorkers for sticking up for their civil liberties.
“The prosecution of protesters charged with these low-level offenses undermines critical bonds between law enforcement and the communities we serve. Days after the killing of George Floyd, our nation and our city are at a crossroads in our continuing endeavor to confront racism and systemic injustice wherever it exists,” Vance said in a statement.
Trump and Tom Cotton are losing the argument. New polls confirm it.
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds that Trump’s standing on the protests is in the toilet: Only 32 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the response to the death of George Floyd, who died under the knee of a white officer. Sixty-six percent disapprove.
The ABC News poll also finds that 74 percent think Floyd’s death is a “sign of broader problems in the treatment of African Americans by police.”
Good Virus News
DNA vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques
Vaccinated anscience.sciencemag.org/...imals developed humoral and cellular immune responses, including neutralizing antibody titers comparable to those found in convalescent humans and macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2.
The US should have a "couple hundred million" doses of a Covid-19 vaccine by start of 2021, Fauci says
The US should have 100 million doses of one candidate coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said Tuesday.“Then, by the beginning of 2021, we hope to have a couple hundred million doses,” Fauci said during a live question and answer session with the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Fauci said the first vaccine candidate, made by biotech company Moderna in partnership with NIAID, should go into a final stage of trials in volunteers, known in the industry as Phase III, by mid-summer. Preparations at national and international sites are already under way, he said.
“The real business end of this all will be the Phase III that starts in the first week of July, hopefully, “ Fauci said. “We want to get as many datapoints as we can.”
Phase III will involve about 30,000 people. The vaccine will be tested in people between the ages of 18 and 55, as well as in the elderly and in people who have underlying health conditions.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that with the multiple candidates we have with different platforms, that we are going to have a vaccine that will make it deployable,” Fauci said. He is optimistic, he said, because, while the number of deaths from Covid-19 are “profound,” largely people recover from this disease. Recovery shows that there is an immune response that can clear the virus.
That is it for today. Have you donated to our fund for Biden yet?
Click here to donate to Biden. Your donations will come from you, but will be funneled through our Good News Roundup group portal.
It will make you feel better and it is the right thing to do
So proud and lucky to be in this with all of you ❤️ ✊ ❤️