Wildflowers and other matters

And you thought Friday would never come.

A data breach at GiveSendGo, a Christian crowdfunding site, has revealed the names of numerous police, public officials and an engineer at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory who donated anonymously in support of Rusten Sheskey, Kyle Rittenhouse and others for shooting Black Lives Matter protesters.  A donation from the executive officer of internal affairs for the Norfolk, Virginia police came with the comment, "God bless.  Thank you for your courage.  Keep your head up.  You've done nothing wrong."

In Oklahoma and other states it's legal to hit demonstrators with your car, but Florida decided that doesn't go far enough.  If you show up at a protest that turns violent, the Combating Violent, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act carries a carload of draconian measures including denial of bail and loss of food stamps or other public assistance.  That's in case some patriot from The Villages fails to kill you with his Ford Explorer.  

Karen Garner is 73 and suffers from dementia.  Last June she was walking away from Walmart in Loveland, Colorado, without paying for about $14 worth of items.  A police officer spotted her in a field, picking wildflowers, and wrestled her to the ground, handcuffing her and dislocating her shoulder.  She sat in a cell for six hours without anyone noticing she needed medical help.  

(It was the wildflowers.  My grandmother had dementia and wandered away from home, apparently spending the day gathering honeysuckle before she lay down and died of exposure.  I still remember Grandpa describing the odor of the flowers when he opened her purse.)

The lawsuit says Mrs. Garner is still traumatized and afraid to leave the house.  No charges were brought against the police apart from the usual paid vacation administrative leave.

What was Sgt. Jon Mattingly doing during his administrative leave from the Louisville Police?  The leader of the team that killed Breonna Taylor while she slept has written a book and had it published by a company that also counts Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz among its authors.  But he's been cancelled in his sleep by Simon & Schuster -- them again! -- which has a distribution deal with Post Hill Press but declines to touch The Fight For Truth:  The Inside Story Behind the Breonna Taylor Tragedy.  I guess we'll have to wait for the movie and put up with the whining from Tin-tray Tucker, et al.  The  "right of the people peaceably to assemble" may be vanishing but surely publishers are still required to distribute right-wing apologetics.   

The National Marrow Donor Program was re-authorized by the House with two dissenting votes.  Can you guess?  Oh, you're clever.  Yes, it's the Sod Squad, Six-gun Boebert and Bats-in-the-belfry Greene.  Six-gun, who recently earned her GED, is worried about the "billions" this program will add to the national debt, while Bats doesn't see why dear widdle fetuses should be sacrificed to live people with leukemia.  You know, morons.

Sure, Adam Toledo's hands were empty and raised, but his shirt said JUST DO IT.  The Chicago police had to shoot him after he made them run.  The thirteen-year-old didn't live to hear Sean Hannity describe him as "a man."  I wonder if he had a bar mitzvah.

Jon Ryan Schaffer is a founding member of the Oath Keepers, but he has apparently taken a different kind of oath to cooperate with prosecutors over his participation in the January 6 coup attempt.  If you can't trust an Oath Keeper to keep his oath, what's the point?  Now that Proud Boys leader/FBI snitch doesn't look so bad.

Americans continue to resist vaccination but are availing themselves of the quack cure from Oclo Nanotechnology Science of -- of course -- Florida.  Chlorine dioxide is an industrial bleach, much stronger than the laundry bleach Trump was urging idiots to drink last year.  That's because the UK Variant (B117) is more contagious and deadly than regular covid.  The company is owned by Ricardo Garcia, a self-described chemist and real estate agent, and for only $680 plus shipping he offers an enema version suitable for autistic children.  Does he promised to cure their covid or their autism?  My guess:  both.

The Trump family has done a one-eighty on covid, with Princess promoting vaccines on her Instagram page and Daddy raging about the Biden administration putting the Johnson & Johnson shot on hold.  As usual, there's no concern for people -- Trump is sure there's a conspiracy between Pfizer and the FDA.   And still, not enough praise for him.  So, not a "Democrat hoax" anymore?

In other deadly Trump news, Oklahoma has over a million doses of hydroxychloroquine purchased last year as a gesture of servile loyalty.  So if the Sooner Live Anyplace Else state sees a major outbreak of malaria this summer, they're laughing.  Or if it expires, I guess...fish tank cleaner?

When a woman tells the police her son is talking about "suicide by cop," maybe she should be taken seriously.  Brandon Hole's mother did that months before he killed eight people and himself at the Fedex facility in Indianapolis last night.  (He had to kill himself, he was white.  Yes, I'm bitter.)

And bitterly we roll along.