It didn’t need to happen. Really. Logic and science said it would; but both were ignored. So states re-opened, after never really shutting down and now tens, if not hundreds, of thousands will die.

The president never understood this issue, never cared about it except how it might hurt his reelection and now, quite frankly, it’s over for him. Like anything to do with Russia (like bounties) he simply doesn’t want to hear about it. COVID-19 will miraculously go away. We still have a governor in Georgia who is suing Atlanta to prevent a mandate to wear masks. Let that utter criminal stupidity sink it. Of course, he stole the election so crimes pile on top of themselves.

As far as Portland. At first I was very concerned about the reports coming out of un-named, unbadged police picking people up. We have a big problem with police. People misinterpret Unfund the Police. They means shift some of the money away from police to other agencies that would relieve the police of missions that shouldn’t be there’s to begin with. Police are no marriage counselors. They aren’t trained in a lot of the things they’re called upon to do. We need people trained in those areas to work with the police. Better for everyone.

The more I dig into the Portland thing, it is still disturbing but perhaps not drastic.

First, police have been ignoring the First Amendment A LOT lately. What happened in Lafayette Square so Trump could get his photo op was illegal. The police are instigating a lot of violence against relatively peaceful protestors. Certainly there are many who go too far. More so, there are criminals who use protests to carry out looting and other illegal activity and its hard to sort it out.

Second. Portland could be a trial balloon for the Republican Party to build up intimidation leading to the November election. From Trump on done they have publicly and privately been doing everything they can to suppress the bolt. They’ve admitted it. The less people vote, the better for them. The new Postmaster General is grinding down USPS and Republicans (even though the hypocrites vote by mail) are working hard to block mail in ballots.

Third, however, I don’t think it is a big scheme plan. People need to stop thinking Trump plays three dimensional chess. He’s cunning. He’s a criminal. He’s excellent at blackmail and intimidation (read Republican Senators). But he doesn’t plan. If he did, he wouldn’t have gone bankrupt multiple times. He wouldn’t be running the worst campaign ever. He can’t help himself. As he says, he relies on his instincts and his gut and they are STUPID. He’s killing hundreds of thousands of use because of that, but let’s not give him credit he doesn’t deserve. This is an over-zealous non-ratified DHS acting secretary. We’ve got whackos in a number of high positions starting with Trump, Barr, Pompeo, DeVoss and others but they couldn’t plan anything in concert. They’re all after their own interests.

I take great faith from the turnouts in Wisconsin for the Supreme Court and in other Democratic primaries that have broken records. People are not staying home in November. They will not tolerate this insanity any longer.

I highly recommend reading Mary Trump’s book, Too Much and Never Enough. Many people don’t understand that Trump is severely physiologically impaired. He is not in reality. That doesn’t excuse anything he does, but we absolutely do need to understand it.

Here’s what worries me immediately about Portland. It’s a liberal city in a very otherwise red state. Oregon is home to many militias. I foresee a possibility of a militia group dressing up like DHS or CBP, slapping a velrco POLICE thing on their body armor (I get a half dozen catalogues a month where you can buy all that, including badges) and driving around in SUVs and vans and reeking havoc. Or, someone like me, walking along and having something like that pull up next to me and guys jumping out trying to grab me? There’s a good chance of blood in the streets, because they aren’t taking me. That’s not a boast. I trained SWAT times while in SF. I know the law and frankly I do not trust a lot of these people. I also don’t understand the extreme militarization of our police. I think it emboldens them to be more aggressive than they normally would be. BTW, Barr, pepper balls are chemical. Duh, Too many people have had an eye taken out or worse injuries from rubber bullets. When I heard that old man’s head hit the concrete in Buffalo– you could even see the cops in line pause and look. That was completely out of line.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also in Kindle Unlimited.