The good news is that finally the military leadership is trying to distance itself from Trump.
STOP ELECTING STUPID PEOPLE!
"COLUMBUS —
During a hearing on whether to declare racism a public health crisis, state Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, asked if “the colored population” is hit harder by the coronavirus because perhaps they don’t wash their hands as well as other groups.
Huffman, an emergency room physician, asked a witness before the Senate Health Committee on Tuesday why COVID-19 is hitting African Americans harder than white people...."
“My point is I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and it makes them more susceptible to death from COVID. But why it doesn’t make them more susceptible to just get COVID. Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves? That could be the explanation of the higher incidence?” he said.
Ohio Commission on Minority Health Director Angela Dawson responded to Huffman: “That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country.” COVID-19 impacts the respiratory system so those with chronic conditions are more vulnerable, she said.
Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President Stephanie Howse, D-Cleveland, said Huffman’s word choice and question represent systemic racism.
“He highlights what racism is from a systematic perspective. He’s a full legislator but beyond that, professionally, he’s a doctor. When we talk about the health disparities that happen because black folks aren’t believed when they’re actually hurt, they aren’t given the treatment that they need. Do you think that someone who acknowledges the ‘coloreds’ is going to give the love and care that people need when they come through those doors?” said Howse, who attended the hearing.
She also said Huffman implied that African Americans are dirty and not smart enough to wash their hands.
Huffman said Wednesday that Howse misunderstood his question.
“I was trying to focus on why COVID-19 affects people of color at a higher rate since we really do not know all the reasons,” he said.
State Sen. Cecil Thomas, D-Cincinnati, who serves on the Senate Health Committee, said the audience cringed when Huffman made his remark. “He’s an example of why we have to have this discussion about racism and how it impacts people.”
Resolutions are pending in both the House and Senate to declare racism a public health crisis.
In response to the House resolution, state Rep. Nino Vitale, R-Urbana, on his Facebook page posted a photo of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus members and commented, “I am darker than MOST of the people in this picture.” He said in his childhood, he was made fun of for his skin color and name, and called a “greasy Italian.”
When asked about the post Wednesday, Vitale said “Do you have any idea about where I grew up or my past history? Look, their resolution is about black and brown people. I’m a brown person. I have a varied opinion on it. I don’t disagree that there are problems in our society. The question is how do we solve them.”
When asked about the post, House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, said, “I’m not Rep. Vitale and obviously I’m not black so I really can’t tell you how that comment is taken.” He noted that members of the OLBC talked to Vitale.
Howse, though, said the discussion didn’t yield a reason for Vitale’s post. “I will let you know why he did it: It’s an undermining of notion that racism exists.”
There are no words for TRUMP STUPIDITY!
In Tulsa on Juneteenth (June 19). That's just disrespectful. If you don't know about what happened in Tulsa in 1921, Google it. If you don't know the significance of Juneteenth, Google it.
Trump Will Return to Campaign Trail With Rally in Tulsa
The president’s first rally since the coronavirus shuttered most of the country will take place on Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery, in the city where one of the worst racist massacres in American history took place.
WASHINGTON —
President Trump will return to the campaign trail on June 19 with a rally in Tulsa, Okla., for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak forced most of the country into quarantine three months ago, a campaign official said Wednesday, as polls show former Vice President
Joseph R. Biden Jr. establishing
a significant national lead over Mr. Trump and the president’s approval ratings plummeting.
Oklahoma, a deep-red state Mr. Trump won four years ago by 36 percentage points, began lifting restrictions on businesses on April 24 and moved into Phase 3 of its reopening on June 1, allowing summer camps to open and workplaces to return with full staffing levels.
Mr. Trump will return to the campaign trail on Juneteenth, an annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States and celebrated as African-Americans’ Independence Day. After weeks of protests over the killing of George Floyd in police custody, protests and marches are already planned this year for the holiday in many states.
“Tulsa was the site of the worst racist violence in American history,”
said Representative Val Demings of Florida. “The president’s speech there on Juneteenth is a message to every Black American: more of the same.”
“This isn’t just a wink to white supremacists — he’s throwing them a welcome home party,”
said Senator Kamala Harris of California.
Brad Parscale, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager,
responded to the criticism Thursday morning, saying that Republicans were “proud of what Juneteenth represents” and touting what he called the president’s “solid record of success for Black Americans.”
Trump campaign officials are unlikely to put into place any social distancing measures for rally attendees, or require them to wear masks, people familiar with the decision-making process said, adding that it would be unnecessary because the state is so far along in its reopening.
Mr. Trump has also made it clear he doesn’t want to speak in front of gatherings that look empty because of social distancing, or to look out on a sea of covered faces as he tries to project a positive message about the country returning to normal life and the economy roaring back, even as his top health advisers have warned the
pandemic is far from over. “Oh my goodness,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday. “Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of really understanding.”
Campaign officials said they were considering some modest attempts at reducing risk by providing hand sanitizer on site, but said no final decisions had been made about how to safely bring together a large group of people.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Oklahoma had recorded
7,480 cases of the coronavirus and 355 deaths, according to its health department.
“Americans are ready to get back to action and so is President Trump,” Mr. Parscale said earlier in the week. “The Great American Comeback is real and the rallies will be tremendous.”
Mr. Trump also said Wednesday that he planned to hold rallies in Florida, Arizona and North Carolina.
In March, as the country began to shut down to help stop the spread of the virus, Mr. Trump reluctantly canceled campaign rallies planned for Colorado, Nevada and Wisconsin, and he has not been out for an official campaign event since then.
Instead, for weeks, he tried to use the White House briefing room as a rally stand-in, holding 90-minute news conferences where he aimed to rebrand himself as a “
wartime president.” But those efforts quickly devolved into fights with reporters as the president made stunningly inaccurate claims, including a suggestion that
injecting disinfectant into the human body could help combat the coronavirus.
In response, his poll numbers have dipped and his aides have warned him that his behavior is hurting him with many critical voting blocs, like older people and women.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump continued with the outbursts,
falsely targeting and attacking a 75-year-old protester in Buffalo who was in the hospital recovering from a head wound sustained when the police shoved him to the ground.
Republicans in Washington say that it has become increasingly clear to them that Mr. Trump cannot win the election from behind the Resolute Desk and that they are hoping the return to the campaign trail will offer the president a familiar and beloved outlet that will energize him.
But for years now, Mr. Trump’s rallies have not shocked, awed and driven news cycles the way they did during the 2016 election, when he was an unknown political entity.
And during the 2018 midterm election cycle, aides and advisers unsuccessfully pinned their hopes on rallies to improve the president’s mood over his lackluster polls and the special counsel’s investigation. But they did little to stabilize his frame of mind, or keep him less active on Twitter.
