As Arkansas Governor and Med School Chancellor Warn We Are at a Critical Point, Arkansas Attorney General Rutledge Tweets Photos of Maskless Gathering

 

Leslie Rutledge on Twitter

This is Arkansas's Republican attorney general Leslie Rutledge on December 4.

As US President Demands That Churches Re-Open, Case Study from Minnesota

In a Play to His Base, US President Demands That Churches Open "Right Now": Twitter Talks Back

President Trump says the country must reopen churches and other places of worship because they are essential.

He said, “If they don’t do it, I will override the governors.”

The President left without taking questions.

— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) May 22, 2020

As US President Demands That Churches Be Re-Opened, Tragic Failure of Imagination of Many US Christians Driving Re-Opening Project

There are times in history when it becomes apparent that the human community (or portions thereof) cannot continue doing business as usual. This becomes clear when business as usual has led to a dead end.

Biblical theology calls such times kairotic moments. /1

— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪 🌈 (@wdlindsy) May 22, 2020

Here's How I See the Response to the Pandemic Playing Out Now in the United States: People Who Will Pay Highest Price for "Re-Opening" Are the Vulnerable, Elderly, Poor, Minorities

The U.S. just reported its deadliest day for coronavirus patients as states reopen, according to WHO. At least 2,909 people died of Covid-19 in 24 hours. https://t.co/ZepbBKONel

— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) May 3, 2020

Here's how I see things playing out now: the "re-opening" process is going to be more or less the norm across the US. We Americans are never long-term thinkers, in any case. We like frenzy and mobility and things to do. We also don't have a solidaristic bone in our bodies: it's all about individualism and (my) liberties.

Whose Life Is Expendable, Whose Is Not? More on Tacit Agenda of the "Pro-Life" Party Supported by White Christians to "Re-Open" US

Two days ago, I wrote, 

What most "pro-life" white Christian Republicans will not say out loud right now — though an increasing number are doing just that — is that they consider some human lives expendable when it comes to generating income for those who are already rolling in money. 

This pandemic is disproportionately killing the elderly, those with pre-existing medical challenges,  members of minority communities including notably African Americans and Hispanics, and those in prison.  

For "pro-life" Republicans, some lives are expendable.

While the Elderly, Minorities, and the Imprisoned Die, A Push to "Re-Open" the Country by "Pro-Life" Christian Republicans

Reported US coronavirus deaths:

7 weeks ago: 0 deaths
6 weeks ago: 17 deaths
5 weeks ago: 49 deaths
4 weeks ago: 249 deaths
3 weeks ago: 1,588 deaths
2 weeks ago: 7,152 deaths
1 week ago: 18,758 deaths
Right now: 36,997 deaths

— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) April 18, 2020

Cristina Cabrera, "Reported US Coronavirus Deaths Surge To Record 4,591 In A Single Day":

The U.S. saw a grim milestone this week: A record 4,591 patients in the U.S. with COVID-19 died in a 24-hour stretch ending at 8 p.m. ET Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, the figure beats the previous record of 2,569 deaths. 

The sharp increase is likely because in New York City's probable coronavirus deaths are now being counted in the official tally. 

As of Friday morning, John Hopkins University reports that the death toll in the U.S. has reached 33,286, the highest mortality rate in the world.

Facts, Numbers, Trump's Real Pandemic Record — and Continued Truth-Skirting of "Pro-Life" White Christians as Death Tolls Mount

In my absolutely darkest moments right after the 2016 election I could not imagine this moment: thousands of Americans dying a day, an economic contraction to rival the Great Depression and Trump just listing off the names of CEOs while congratulating himself for a job well done

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) April 14, 2020

 

Jonathan V. Last, "The Real COVID-19 Death Toll Is Higher Than We Think":

"One of the themes we’ve been talking about for the last month is that the official American death toll right now is almost certainly an undercount which will eventually be revised upwards after the epidemic has passed and we have time to sift through the records. 

Why? Because most localities seem to be ascribing deaths to COVID-19 only in the presence of a positive test. And since we've had a persistent shortage of tests, many patients in serious condition are admitted without being tested, since they are presumed positive cases and the test can be better used on someone else. 

Also we have home-deaths, in which case no testing is performed.

What We're Seeing Now: Unmasking of What "Pro-Life Politics and Religion in US Have Always Meant

The photo of grafitti on a wall in Munich is by Peter Kneffel, AP, by way of The Guardian 

I'm continuing to provide information and commentary about the coronavirus pandemic, and, in particular, about the response to it in my country, the United States. I'm doing this because so much disinformation is circulating — "It's just the flu," "All these preparations and precautions are ridiculous panicky reactions infringing on my liberty," "It's a Democratic ruse to re-impeach my president," "It's a foreign virus and a foreign plot to bring my country down," "The death rate is minimal right now and this shows us that the concerns are overblown." And on and on.

"Smoking Gun: Trump Suppressed Coronavirus Testing to Keep the Numbers Low and Boost His Chances at Reelection" — More Commentary

This is the smoking gun.

Trump suppressed coronavirus testing to keep the numbers low and boost his chances at reelection. https://t.co/5zneoVL62T

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 13, 2020

In Trump Administration Response to a Pandemic, the "Pro-Life" Agenda Is Unmasked: Hasn't Been About a Meaningful Ethic of Life at All

Top headling, Huffington Post, noon, 11 March 2020.

AP, "Nearly 1,000 People Diagnosed With Coronavirus In U.S.":

The number of COVID-19 cases reported across the country is expected to grow in coming days as testing efforts expand.

"Pro-Life" Christians May Yet Be the Death of Us All: Who's Driving Trump's Nonchalance About Coronavirus and Why

Yesterday, I pointed you to a recent article by Ruth Graham about why Trump-friendly Christian leaders are feeling fine about coronavirus. As that article notes, if Mr. Trump says the virus is contained and it's no worse than the flu and his "numbers" are good, his white Christian fan club will fall into formation and cheer him on — though they claim they support him to the moon because he's "pro-life," and lying about and ignoring an impending pandemic that's killing lots of people seems hardly congruent with any meaningful "pro-life" values.

Fiddling, Burning: Commentary in the Time of Coronavirus

#ProLife https://t.co/YEM6KsIotU

— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪 🌈 (@wdlindsy) March 9, 2020

David Remnick, "Trump in the Time of the Coronavirus": 

Donald Trump is incapable of truth, heedless of science, and hostage to the demands of his insatiable ego.

"Indescribable Cruelty": Commentators on the Concentration Camps Now Being Operated by the United States Under Donald Trump

7/ For 10 years, not one migrant child died in U.S. government custody.

Since September, at least 6 kids have died in the custody of DHS or HHS.

How many more kids must die before we end this madness?

— Alvaro Bedoya (@alvarombedoya) June 21, 2019

The firing of gay employees of Catholic institutions is hardly the most horrific thing happening in the world today. There's also this:

Viral Video of KY Catholic Teen "Pro-Life" Marchers Taunting Native American Elder Puts "Pro-Lifers" in Spotlight: "A Feature Not a Bug" of "Pro-Life" Movement

Imagine if Catholic schools made racism and not abortion the centerpiece of their moral education.

— Natalia Imperatori (@nimperatori) January 19, 2019

Kentucky Catholic Students at Pro-Life March Mock Native Americans; Michael Sean Winters Chides Catholics Lukewarm to Pro-Life Movement — Side-by-Side Stories

After Michael Sean Winters shook his finger at liberal Catholics for being insufficiently pro-life as the March for Life was staged, will he now address the "pro-life" behavior of the group of students from a Catholic school in Covington, KY, who came to D.C. for that march? /1

— 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖 𝙳. 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚎𝚢 (@wdlindsy) January 19, 2019

Death of 7-Year-Old Girl in U.S. Custody, a Family Funeral, and the Inexplicable Cruelty of Right-Wing U.S. Catholicism: An Advent Conundrum

Sometimes I follow threads in Catholic discussions on Twitter down rabbit holes. I know I shouldn't do this, because the holes inevitably turn out to be dark, claustrophobic, and stifling. 

Quote for Day: Why Scott Pruitt Kept Opulent Dinner with Cimate Change Denying Cardinal Pell a Secret — "It Was a No-Brainer"

Rachel Olding in an article entitled "Why George Pell dined with under-fire EPA's Scott Pruitt in secret," on Cardinal Pell's secret opulent dinner with climate change denier and Trump's EPA head Scott Pruitt — and why Pruitt sought to keep the dinner secret:

More on Catholic Schools and National Walkout: "Unfortunately, Some of the Sponsors of the National School Walkout Advocate for Positions That Are Contrary to the Church’s Teachings"

Two PA Catholic Schools to Pray Instead of Protest in Walkout Over Gun Violence https://t.co/wNaYKEaXgh

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 14, 2018

I'm grateful to Betty and Sarasi for pointing me to additional news coverage of how Catholic schools responded to the National School Walkout protesting gun violence and advocating for gun control as a solution to gun violence. Betty points us to an article in National Catholic Reporter which suggests that there was wide buy-in among Catholic schools nationwide supporting the walkout. 

"Catholic Schools Pray Instead of Protest for National School Walkout": When "Pro-Life" Means "We Don't Protest — Well, Not for Gun Control. Abortion Is Another Matter."

Two PA Catholic Schools to Pray Instead of Protest in Walkout Over Gun Violence https://t.co/wNaYKEaXgh

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 14, 2018