Bible Photo Op

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Apparently Donald Trump was fuming mad that the press reported that he was moved to a bunker below the white house when demonstrations got violent on Sunday night. He at first denied being moved to the bunker but later admitted the security precaution. He decided it was necessary to exhibit a show of force that had US Military, National Guardsmen and Federal Officers firing tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bombs on a peacefully assembled crowd in front of the White house in Lafayette park on Monday  June 1, 2020.

Polls have been showing support slipping among white evangelical Christians. He therefor decided to walk to Saint John’s Church, The Church of Presidents, along with several aids and his daughter Ivanka Trump who was the only one wearing a mask. He had ordered an assault on US Citizens for the sake of this PR stunt. He was handed a bible and looked at it like he had never seen one before.

The President has been threatening to use the US Military to crush any protests in Cities around the country.  However he is barred from doing so by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 which outlaws the willful use of any part of the Army or Air Force to execute the law unless expressly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress. Trump pushed for out-of-state National Guard members to patrol the streets of Washington, DC, against the mayor’s will; deployed 1,600 active-duty troops on the capital’s doorstep; and threatened to send more forces around the country to arrest vandals.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper spoke about, dominating “the battle space” as if the protests and riots in American cities were taking place in a third world country.  A retired top military officer who also just stepped up the plate is former US Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, who wrote in The Atlantic Tuesday evening: “It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel—including members of the National Guard—forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president’s visit outside St. John’s Church. I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump’s leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent.”

Several Democratic governors on Monday June 1, 2020, pushed back against President Donald Trump’s threat to deploy the U.S. military unless they dispatch National Guard units to “dominate the streets” in reaction to the violence that has erupted across the country. Pentagon Chief Mark Esper, who walked behind Trump to the church said he does not support using active duty troops to quell the large-scale protests across the United States triggered by the death of George Floyd. Esper claimed that he had no idea that they were walking to the church for a photo op. On Wednesday June 3, 2020 Esper said, that clearing the park “was not a military decision, not a military action.”

James Miller, an undersecretary of defense at  the Pentagon resigned, citing Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s role in President Donald Trump’s photo op. “You may not have been able to stop President Trump from directing this appalling use of force, but you could have chosen to oppose it. Instead, you visibly supported it,”  for policy, wrote in his resignation letter to Esper.

The White House announced on June 3, 2020 that the president could instate the Insurrection Act which is a 1807 federal law that allows the president, in dire circumstances, to deploy military and federalized National Guard troops inside the country to suppress civil disorder, insurrection and rebellion. Mark Esper said, “We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.” Trump’s show of force has turned the military into a political tool.

Garage Sale

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I helped a friend with a garage sale and sketched the driveway from my perch inside the garage. I had just held a sale of $1 figure drawing sketches to help with moving expenses. This scene reminded me that my life had been stripped to the bone. I had a chair and the clothes on my back. I ended up buying a table which I now use to mat and frame artwork. People came in waves throughout the day although the biggest crowd was in the morning. There was something for everyone including a three cornered hat should you want to be a pirate for Halloween.

Three buildings were torn down for new condo development in my old neighborhood just south of Lake Eola. I suspect my old apartment building will succumb soon enough to this rapid development. I liked the place precisely because it reminded me of an old New York apartment building. On the edge of the city and suburbs anything could pop up next.

Vicious Dogs

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President Donald Trump tweeted that had protestors breached the fence outside the white house, they would “have been greeted with the most vicious dogs and most ominous weapons.” He was moved to a bunker below the white house for about an hour as fires flared up all around the white house in Washington DC. This was in reference the Birmingham Alabama civil rights injustices back in 1963 where police used high-pressure water hoses and police attack dogs on the children and adult bystanders.

Twitter issued a warning label for a tweet from Trump about the protests, stating that he had violated its rules against glorifying violence because of the historical context of his last line: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” This quote was was first used by a Miami chief of police back in 1970 who said, “There is only one way to handle looters and arsonists during a riot and that is to shoot them on sight. I’ve let the word filter down: When the looting starts the shooting starts.”

Just prior to Trump giving a speech in the Rose Garden, police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bombs on peacefully assembled protestors in front of the White House in Lafayette Park. This action came a full 25 minutes before the 7 PM curfew and with out provocation.  He said, “I am your President of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters.” Stun grenades could be heard in the distance as he spoke. Attorney General William Barr had ordered police to clear the crowd of protesters that had gathered near the White House, according to a Justice Department official, minutes ahead of President Donald Trump’s televised address from the Rose Garden.

After his speech Trump walked across the street surrounded by sycophants and military personnel. As William Barr walked behind the president. This march was so he could stand in front of Saint John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op holding a bible. It was a strange and very disorganized, hankering to the actions of third world dictators. The church was closed and Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde had had to disavow the presidents actions. She was shocked and outraged.

Trump threatened to “deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.” In a conference call to multiple state governors. “You have to dominate,” Mr. Trump told the governors, warning them that “you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks” if the National Guard were not heavily deployed in protest areas.

Trump told the Army on Monday to deploy active-duty military police to Washington, a military official said. One military official likened the deployment to Mr. Trump requesting his own “palace guard” to protect him from protesters. The Defense Department also requested 600 to 800 additional National Guard troops from Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Utah to  join the 1,200 D.C. National Guard troops, a Pentagon official said Monday night. Governors have turned down Trumps offer of military assistance.

The country has needed compassion and leadership during this time, instead, the country is faces with the president’s bitterness, combativeness and self-interest. Trump’s walk to the nearby church, which he does not typically visit, technically violated the District of Columbia’s Monday curfew. The protests against police violence come against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused more than 108,048 deaths in the U.S., with black Americans disproportionately affected.

One line of the speech writer I rather liked, “America needs creation not destruction, cooperation not contempt, security not anarchy, healing not hatred, justice not chaos.” However all too often Trump is the one seeding hatred and division. American Democracy is in deep trouble.

Anatolian Houses Hotel in Görome Turkey.

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I stopped at the Anatolian Houses Hotel (Cevizler Sk, 50180 Göreme Belediyesi/Nevşehir Merkez/Nevşehir Merkez/Nevşehir, Turkey) two years ago on a trip. The rooms were carved into the limestone cliffs with stone rooms as additions. This stone living room where my X slept on the red couch, was connected via arched doorways into a bedroom that was carved into the cliff. The bathroom, also deep inside the cliff was a few steps up from the bedroom and had a large tub and plenty of pockets in the limestone walls to store towels and toiletries. Tiny windows carved in the walls overlooked the village below.

Another bathroom had deep holes in the floor covered in glass that fell away into the depths of the rock. The arched doorways between rooms had a definite disadvantage in that they were carved by someone who is less than 5 feet tall. I banged my head really hard one time as I was rushing to get out for a day of frantic sight seeing.

Colosseum

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I  keep trying to find a way to illustrate the toll that Covid-19 has taken here in America. As of this writing, June 1, 2020, according to World O Meter, 106,878 people have died in the United States from the virus. I decided to find out which football stadium has the highest seating capacity and found that Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, can seat 107,420 people. By the time this painting posts, that seating capacity may have been surpassed, or soon will be surpassed, by the number of people who have died from Covid-19. I then started thinking about how the protests across the country are playing out in real time on social media platforms. It is as if Twitter and Facebook have become the modern day equivalents of the Roman Colosseum. What if the dead are watching the violence unfold from their stadium seating?

Many are watching events unfold from the safety of their home isolation while others are being shot at by police with rubber bullets and tear gas. President Trump was hidden away in a White House basement bunker as protests in Washington D.C. resulted in fires burning all around the White House. The nation wide protests will certainly result in a spike in Covid-19 infections.

Police are also shooting at, macing, and arresting reporters who the president dubs “the enemy of the people.” A young African American couple are tazered and dragged out of their car on live TV. A family watched as police marched past their home and then police shouted “Light Um Up” and they shot rubber bullets at the family when they did not get back inside fast enough. It is a dystopian nightmare. Police violence has erupted nationwide. At least two have been killed in the Nation wide protests. a 21 year old journalist had his eye ruptured by a tear gas canister in Indiana

Meanwhile 106,878 ghosts watch from their stadium seating as police cars burn. Close up and violent details can be seen on the jumbo tron and in every social media post. Racism has existed for hundreds of years but today the injustice is captured by cell phones which everyone has in hand.

An independent autopsy found that George Floyd‘s death was a homicide. He died of “asphyxiation from sustained pressure. ” That that is plain to see if you watch the cell phone footage of officer Derek Chauvin as he keeled on Floyd’s neck as Floyd begged him saying, “I can’t breath.” The officer had his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds in total and two minutes and 53 seconds after Floyd was unresponsive. Dr. Michael Baden said, “Police have this false impression that if you can talk, you can breathe. That’s not true,” Baden said. George died because he needed a breath. He needed a breath of air.

Flight to DC then Turkey.

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 A couple of years ago, my X and I went to Turkey to visit her niece Allison Brown
who works for the United States foreign service. At the time we visited
Allison, she said that her job might get very complicated if there was
politically charged dissent in the country. Her hotel had metal posts at
a guard booth that were intended to stop any terrorist threat of, let’s
say, a bomb filled truck. Luckily, she is now working in Washington
D.C.during the time of the present civil unrest.

Turkey has been in the news recently with a huge “March for Justice” that ended in Istanbul. Hundreds of thousands of people joined the rally in Istanbul following the 25 day long march to protest the government of president Recip Tayyip Erdogen. The government has been cracking down against any perceived threats after a failed coup last summer. The president was granted sweeping new powers after a controversial referendum in April. Erdogen claims to be cracking down on those who support militant organizations, but the government definition of what constituted backing terrorism is so broad that it has led to the arrest of thousands of civil servants, journalists, campaigners and other workers. Protesters demanded “Rights, Laws, Justice.” Also since this trip, Washington Post Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at the Turkish Consulate. What seemed like a gorgeous country to visit turned out to be dangerous.

The trip began with a flight to Washington D.C. where we would transfer to the international flight to Istanbul. I can never sleep on a plane, so the sketch pad invariably comes out.

It is a chance for me to check for the closest emergency exits and observe my fellow passengers.

Of course the flight from Orlando to D.C. wasn’t too long, but the flight to Istanbul was eternal. I watched plenty of movies and the progress map to pass the time after the sketch was done. Sketching on a plane is a thing that can only amuse me once a day. I don’t tend to like sitting in an audience staring at the back of heads and that is the only view available on an airplane. I can also easily pass the time watching the clouds which make amazing patterns, but this was an overnight flight which meant it was pitch black outside and everyone had their blinds down.

Crealdé Fall Session

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The Crealdé School of Art Fall sessions will be session from August 17, 2020 to October 8, 2020. The Crealdé main campus and the Hannibal Square Heritage Center reopened on Saturday, May 16, 2020.

I will be teaching an Urban Sketching Course  in the Fall but likely students will remain on campus for doing location drawings. The sketch above is an example of a quick demo I did for students on campus.

The school is initiating new safety features and health practices which will be in place until further notice.

The Crealdé School Covid-19 Safety Measures.

1. Reducing the maximum number of students in classes to 6 – 8 students depending on classroom size and medium.

2. Re configuring the studio spaces and work tables to allow for 6 feet of social distance. Classroom floors will be clearly marked in a way that student traffic and pathways utilized will not impede or intrude upon the six-foot or more social distancing.

3. Galleries and exhibition spaces will be limited to 10 visitors at a time adhering to the 6 foot social distancing guidelines.

4. On a daily basis, Crealdé and Heritage Center staff are cleaning bathrooms and disinfecting doors, handles and classroom surfaces.

5. The school staff will promote frequent and thorough hand washing by faculty, staff, students and visitors.

6. Any staff, faculty, students or visitors who are coughing, sneezing or in general not feeling well, are asked to please stay at home, and to continue to follow the directions of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or a health professional. Anyone demonstrating health issues will be asked to leave.

7. Students are encouraged to use their personal work and art tools and equipment when possible. For youth classes, separate individual “baggies” will be provided for each student’s class supplies.

8. The school is instituting regular/enhanced instructor housekeeping and maintenance/janitorial practices, including routine cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces, equipment, and other elements of the school environment after each class is dismissed.

9. Until further notice, the school strongly encourages the wearing of masks in classrooms and exhibition spaces for students and visitors.  All  instructors will be wearing masks in class.

I Can’t Breathe

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George Floyd‘s last words were, I can’t Breathe. The 46-year old black man died Monday May 25, 2020, pleading for air, as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest. George was  suspected of using a counterfeit bill at a store. A video circulated of his final moments shot by bystanders who pleaded for the officer to to let George breathe. Former Minnesota Police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George’s  neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The officer has been arrested and charged with murder.

This clear evidence of murder caused protests in Minnesota and across the country. A police station in Minnesota was burned by protestors. Police has to retreat out the back and surrender the building to the fire. Across the street the Minnehaha Liquor Store was also burned. The civil unrest in Minneapolis and St. Paul left a trail of burned out buildings, smashed windows, and looted stores across the Twin Cities. Over 100 businesses listed damages.

A black CNN reporter Omar Jiminez, and his crew were arrested live on TV as he was covering the protests. He was professional throughout the exchange with police and he was lead away in handcuffs and releases later that day. The CNN offices in Atlanta Georgia became a scene of violence when protestors broke down a front door to the office building. Protestors threw objects at police who created a phalanx in the lobby keeping protestors from entering the building. The escalating violence eventually was broken up with tear gas.

All this was happening in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic which has been killing African Americans at shocking rates, highlighting long standing inequalities. In Louisiana, African Americans accounted for 70% of COVID-19 deaths, while comprising 33% of the population. In Michigan, they accounted for 14% of the population and 40% of deaths, and in Chicago, 56% of deaths and 30% of the population. In New York, black people are twice as likely as white people to die from Covid-19. For me the angry protestors chants of “I Can’t Breath” reminded me of the thousands who might be struggling to breath on ventilators.

The CDC issued a report that states that offered race and ethnicity data from 580 patients hospitalized with lab-confirmed COVID-19.  45% of individuals for whom race or ethnicity data was available were white, compared to 59% of individuals in the surrounding community. However, 33% of hospitalized patients were black compared to 18% in the community and 8% were Hispanic, compared to 14% in the community. These data suggest an over representation of blacks among hospitalized patients.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo has vowed to investigate racial disparities in Covid-19 deaths. He asked, “Why do the poorest people always pay the highest price?” He noted that black New Yorkers comprise 28 percent of deaths in New York City and 18 percent of deaths in New York state, despite being 22 percent and 9 percent of the population, respectively.

President Donald Trump on the other hand issued a Tweed threatening to shoot protestors. Twitter had to issue a warning label for violating its policies on “glorifying violence.” The social media platform “determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible,” and allowed users to view Trump’s tweet if they chose.

Space X Scrubbed

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NASA initiated temperature checks and physical distancing at mission control leading up to the planned launch of the space X rocket, which is the first manned space flight in nine years from American soil. A successful launch requires the contributions from dozens of technicians at mission control.  Workers were separated into different rooms as much as possible and plexiglass was installed between work stations.

Extra precautions were taken with the Crew Dragon’s astronauts. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. They have been in quarantine since May 13, 2020 to be sure that they do not transport any pathogen or virus into space. As an extra step, both Behnken and Hurley will be tested for Covid-19 twice before they leave for the International Space Station. Anyone interacting with the astronauts before the launch will wear masks and gloves and have their temperature taken. I saw a picture of the astronauts saying good buy to their wives and family. They held their arms up as if in a hug but with a good 10 feet of separation.

Besides protecting the ground crew and astronauts, NASA has a very short list for VIP visitors during the launch. Some members of Congress and of the National Space Council will be in attendance. But they can not bring any staff. Nine years ago over a million people gathered to see the launch but that can not happen during a pandemic. Ivanka Trump wore a face mask to the NASA launch on Thursday a day after her father, Donald Trump, mocked the practice as being “politically correct”.

While NASA took every precaution to keep people safe and encouraged people to stay home to watch the launch on TV, the Brevard County Sheriff, Wayne Ivey had his own ideas. “If NASA is telling people to not come here and watch the launch, that’s on them. I’m telling people what I believe as an American. And so NASA has got their guidelines, and I got mine.” he said.

The CDC has said that traveling bu car, plane or bus increases a persons chance of contracting the virus and spreading it. Crowds gathered on the A. Max Brewer Bridge in Titusville to watch the launch closing it down as they stood shoulder  to shoulder. The photo by Jim Shortt showed very few people wearing face masks.

A recent study from UC Berkeley’s International Computer Science Institute and at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology says that if 80% of Americans wore  masks, then Covid-19 infections wold plummet. The scientists created a computer forecast model called the masksim simulator that allows you to see how an infection spreads under different scenarios. It  is like watching a video game play out as the virus spreads with no one wearing a mask as opposed to 80 % of people wearing a mask. Even home made masks can make a huge difference in controlling the spread of the virus.  Wake up people, wear a mask. Wearing a mask is cool.

For those that want to watch on TV or from home, the launch was rescheduled for today, Saturday May 30, 2020 at 3pm.

Twitter Distraction

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Twitter has had to add fact checking links to President Donald Trump‘s tweets about voting by mail. As the country has to come to terms with the loss of now over 100,000 people, the president is focused on just one thing, the upcoming election. He falsely claimed that voting by mail would be “substantially fraudulent.” He himself votes by mail but wants …. …. to stop others from doing the same during a global pandemic. Clicking on the link on Trumps post takes users to a Twitter “Moments” page titled, “Trump makes unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud.”

Trump has claimed he is a war time president and now that Twitter is fact checking him he has something to fight about. He is threatening to regulate or even shut down social media companies he feels are out to get him. The Associated Press pointed out that the president, does not have the power to “unilaterally regulate or close …. …. companies, which would require action by Congress or the Federal Communications Commission.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Tweeted, “There is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this.” He added that Twitter will “continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.” …. ….”This does not make us an “arbiter of truth.” Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions,” Dorsey wrote.

The White House is expected to issue an executive order that will curtail some of the legal protections for social media companies. As of this writing it is still being drafted. It is hard to imagine that the government can regulate a private publishing platform.

This is another Trump distraction. He will have another sheet of paper to wave around. It is more grandstanding instead of substance. Fact checking the lies of this president is a nightmarish situation to step into. The media has to daily fact check the presidents tweets but they have been dubbed “the enemy of the people.” Now Trump has a new…. …. enemy in his favorite social media platform.  As of April 14, 2020 the president has made 18,000 false or misleading claims according to the Washington Post.  I would much prefer that President focused his attention on listening to health experts and scientists during this health crisis, but that might be too much to ask.

While Trump is claiming Twitter is infringing on his freedom of speech, his campaign  organization tried to remove a political cartoon from an online site called Redbubble. The cartoon showed Trump serving his followers bleach from a tub using a ladle.  They claimed trademark infringement since the artist depicted the followers in MAGA hats. The cartoon was re-posted after the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and other free speech organizations got involved. This makes it seem like the Trump campaign has a system in place to trawl online for materiel they find objectionable. Cartoonist Michael de Adder tweeted that the Counterpoint political cartoonist Twitter account was suspended. The account went live again the same day, but their 10,000 or so followers all disappeared.

“The freedom of the Press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments.” – Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776