My plague year, a136

The creation of intelligence report on journalists is part of a broader pattern of aggressive tactics by the Department of Homeland Security in Portland.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a135

The Arctic summer of 2020 is one that has been marked by raging fires in the Far North, with smoke extending more than 1,000 miles downwind, along with alarming new temperature records and ice melt.  Meanwhile, the current administration is busy destroying the homeland as well, spraying kids, moms, dads, and vets with toxic liquids to make them choke, keel over, and maybe have a heart attack.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a134

White house promotes video of doctor president calls 'impressive' and 'a voice to be heard', that is known for posting religious sermons online that link medical conditions to sex with demons and witches.

When a reporter mentioned Dr. Immanuel’s background to the president, including comments attributed to her that “doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens,” Mr. Trump responded, “I know nothing about her,” and abruptly ended the briefing moments later.

Rumor has it that the old gang of comedy writers from The Dana Carvey Show is now writing most of the white house's comedy sketches that they present every afternoon in the guise of a press conference.  Truly cutting edge work.   In my plague year.

My plague year, a133

The Trump administration’s deliberate decision to intervene in the Portland protests with a heavy hand, unconventional means and inflammatory political rhetoric has contributed to growing public distrust — particularly of the Department of Homeland Security.

That's putting it mildly.  The administration continues to make it very clear through their actions that said DHS needs to be completely disbanded, broken up, and severely de-funded, unless we want america to turn into even more of a fascist police state then it already has become.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a132

There is “a culture of cruelty towards migrants and border crossers that dehumanizes and demeans border crossers. So to see border agents who have already been desensitized by the mistreatment of immigrants redirected to engaging with protesters in the interior is very concerning.”

More concerning still is that the federal officers deployed in Portland, ostensibly to protect federal property, were spearheaded by an elite unit, the border patrol tactical unit. Better known as Bortac, it is a quasi-militarised outfit equivalent to the Navy Seals.

Bortac agents are among “the most violent and racist in all law enforcement”.

The quasi-military nature of the unit goes beyond their training, percolating into their state of mind. “They don’t exist within the realm of civilian law enforcement,” Budd said. “They view people they encounter in the military sense as enemy combatants, meaning they have virtually no rights.”

That strain of extra-judicial aggression runs through everything Bortac does, Budd said. “They don’t do normal vehicle stops. They will rip drivers from their seat, throw him against the side, put him in handcuffs – the same tactics you are now seeing Bortac agents use in Portland.”

My plague year, a131

America's global standing is at a low point, and americans themselves can't believe anything the white house or it's emissaries say at this point, in my plague year.

Here is comes - part 2

Wundermap processed by MSG screening preset at 6:30 am here. You can see how the hurricane has moved since the previous post yesterday. So the center looks like it is going to glide by the top of Maui.  It's been unusually quiet the last few hours since these things eat up the normal trade winds.  Trees are just started to blow a little bit now.  We'll see how bad it gets in a few hours.

Another MSG preset processing the source image for above visualizes the storm in a different way.

Here it comes...

Used the satellite image of incoming hurricane douglas headed towards hawaii as the source for MSG processing in Studio Artist.

Here's the magical Wundermap showing the projected path, satellite and radar cloud cover overlay.

Added some IpOp gradient lighting effect processing to pass the 'must be Studio Artist generated' requirement for posting to this Studio Artist art blog.

Now, we just have to hope that the magical properties of the very tall mountains on the Big Island and Maui will mess with the air flow on this thing and knock back the extended range a little bit.  Note that if you just slide the existing satellite image of the hurricane cloud spin up the path, the extended range completely covers the island of Maui.

The spin is counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere where we are. So we get hit by gusts blowing in from the north as it gets near, then it does a 180 degree spin and then starts blowing from the south. Last time one got near Maui it started a giant Brush fire on the west side associated with that southern wind flow, which always seems to be an evil wind here.

My plague year, a130

This is what happens when the war on terror is turned inward, on America.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a129

When the Trump administration cruelly separated children from their families at the southern border, that was, among other things, a performance designed to show the public just how much the president dislikes immigrants from Mexico and Honduras. The attack on demonstrators in Portland is like that: a performance designed to show just how much Trump dislikes “liberal” Americans, “urban” Americans, “Democrat” Americans. 

Welcome to the world of performative authoritarianism, a form of politics that reached new heights of sophistication in Russia over the past decade and has now arrived in the United States.

The chaos in Portland is not an accident.  The chaos is the point.  In my plague year.

Hot pandemic nights, chapter 1

Lord Emperor gathers his inner council to announce a fun new initiative.  Everyone is very excited.  Will we need to print up new banners for pressers and rallies?  Does it need a catchy theme song? What will it be called? 

My plague year, a128

The Trump administration has announced that it intends to send federal military forces similar to what they are currently deploying in Portland to other cities.  The Chicago Tribune reportes on plans to deploy about 150 federal agents to Chicago. “I don’t need invitations by the state,” Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said on Fox News Monday, adding, “We’re going to do that whether they like us there or not.”

There’s no way to know the affiliation of all the agents — they’ve been wearing military fatigues with patches that just say “Police” — but The Times reported that some of them are part of a specialized Border Patrol group “that normally is tasked with investigating drug smuggling organizations.”

There’s something particularly terrifying in the use of Border Patrol agents by the government against American citizens that are demonstrating against said government's policies. After the attack on protesters near the White House last month, the military pushed back on Trump’s attempts to turn it against the citizenry. Police officers in many cities are willing to brutalize demonstrators, but they’re under local control. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, however, is under federal authority, has leadership that’s fanatically devoted to Trump and is saturated with far-right politics.

“This is a classic way that violence happens in authoritarian regimes, whether it’s Franco’s Spain or whether it’s the Russian Empire,” said Snyder. “The people who are getting used to committing violence on the border are then brought in to commit violence against people in the interior.”

“When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.” In 2017, the idea of unidentified agents in camouflage snatching leftists off the streets without warrants might have seemed like a febrile Resistance fantasy. Now it’s happening.

In my plague year.

My plague year, a127

Christopher J. David had largely ignored the protests in downtown Portland, Ore., but when he saw videos of unidentified federal agents grabbing protesters off the street and throwing them into rented minivans, he felt compelled to act.

Mr. David, a Navy veteran, said that federal agents’ use of violent tactics against protesters, without the support of the mayor, the governor or local law enforcement, was a violation of the oaths that agents take to support, uphold and defend the Constitution.

And so, on Saturday, he took a bus downtown to ask the officers how they squared their actions with that oath.

Instead of getting an answer, Mr. David was beaten with a baton by one federal officer as another doused him with pepper spray, according to video footage of the encounter. After he walked away from the confrontation, Mr. David was taken to a nearby hospital, where a specialist said his right hand was broken and would require surgery to install pins, screws and plates.

In my plague year.

My plague year, a126

The fumbling of the virus was not a fluke: The American coronavirus fiasco has exposed the country's incoherent leadership, self-defeating political polarization, a lack of investment in public health, and persistent socioeconomic and racial inequities that have left millions of people vulnerable to disease and death.

My plague year, a125

Portland Mayor states the following. "The president has a complete misunderstanding of cause and effect. We have dozens, if not hundreds of federal troops descending upon our city. And … they are sharply escalating the situation. Their presence is actually leading to more violence and more vandalism. It’s not helping the situation at all. They’re not wanted here. We haven’t asked them here. In fact, we want them to leave.

The tactics that the Trump administration are using on the streets of Portland are abhorrent. People are … being denied probable cause and they’re denied due process. They don’t even know who’s pulling them into the vans. The people aren’t identifying themselves. And, as far as I can see, this is completely unconstitutional.”

Using federal troops as thuggish brownshirts to terrorize citizens for petty political purposes. The new america.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a124

The Trump administration is pushing to block billions of dollars for state-run testing and tracing, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and attempts to combat the pandemic at the Pentagon and state department. 

Trump himself has repeatedly claimed the US should do fewer tests, so fewer cases will be confirmed. And then he can declare victory,  mission accomplished, the spread of information has been halted.  

And this is the country we now apparently live in, a failing husk of it's former self.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a123

Federal agents dressed in camouflage and tactical gear have taken to the streets of Portland, unleashing tear gas, bloodying protesters and pulling some people into unmarked vans in what Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon has called “a blatant abuse of power.”

More fuel for the argument that the entire Department of Homeland Security should be disbanded.  Since the white house is basically using them for political purposes as their own 2020 version of the Sturmabteilung, a comparison they would probably be proud to endorse.  This is just so wrong, so un-american, unless you believe this is the new america.

In my plague year.

My plague year, a122

Portland protesters say federal officers in unmarked vans are detaining them.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a121

President turns a white house press conference into a meandering monologue.  For 63 minutes. He then falls asleep for a few minutes while everyone waits. Waits for more.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a120

Hospitals have been ordered to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all patient information to a central database in Washington, raising questions about transparency.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a119

US credibility has been contorted to protect the feelings of one man-child.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a118

Republican National Convention Becoming a Dumpster Fire.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a117

The surreal experience of living in a failing nation state. In my plague year.

My plague year, a116

“A president who makes us puke” fulfills his pledge to send the old order into a state of convulsive disarray, killing us all in the process. In my plague year.

My plague year, a115

Historic corruption while new virus cases also have record spike and climbing. In my plague year.

My plague year, a114

American idiot calls vaccines "the mark of the beast", and believes "Planned Parenthoods have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devil's work."  In my plague year.

My plague year, a113

More than 1,000 TSA employees have tested positive for coronavirus.  Nearly all the workers who have tested positive are front-line security officers who have continued to work screening passengers at airport checkpoints throughout the pandemic. In my plague year.

My plague year, a112

Should there be screening for 'sociopaths' prior to someone being permitted to run for office? Or to join the police or military for that matter?  We might all be a lot happier.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a111

White house declares USA is a leader, in the fight to get to the bottom.  In my plague year.

My plague year, a110

We're on the off ramp to victory.  We're on the trash truck to glory. In my plague year.

My plague year, a109

Down in the polls and failing to control a raging pandemic, the president cast himself as waging battle against reality itself. In my plague year.

My plague year, a108

USA sets another record for new cases, over 57000. And growing exponentially. In my plague year.

My plague year, a107

Are we still on the dump truck to excellence? Did we get there yet? In my plague year.

My plague year, a106

American, a place where a Senator warns of the danger of relying on expert advice in the fight against corona virus.  He would probably prefer that we use something  like a Magic 8-Ball, but the answer was hazy, and we'll need to ask again later.  In my plague year.

I held off on plague year series posts for the last 2 days of June so the ending of the Saga would stand out.  Hope you all enjoyed the first stage of the corona virus saga.  We must now turn to deep learning neural networks for part 2 of the saga.  Stay tuned.