[TACOMA] – (MTN) COVID numbers in Pierce County continue to worsen with metrics for cases per 100,000 and hospitalizations indicating the county should move to Phase 1 under the Healthy Washington plan implemented on March 11. On May 4, to the surprise of the business community and health leaders, Washington Governor Jay Inslee suspended the Healthy Washington plan for 2 weeks, based on data from the Washington State Department of Health (DoH) that cases were reaching a plateau. The next evaluation will be on May 17.
In the latest data from the DoH, Pierce County has 367 cases per 100,000 and 12.1% of acute care beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. Although the case number has improved, the positivity rate has jumped to 12.3%, which indicates significant under testing and widespread community transmission. Only 35% of the population of Pierce County is vaccinated against coronavirus, the lowest among the most populated counties in the state.
Pierce County COVID Scorecard for May 8, 2021
Snohomish County has also seen cases per 100,000 drop slightly to 225.4 while the positivity rate has increased to 7.5%, which indicates under testing within the community. ICU utilization has increased significantly in the last week to 73%, and 19.1% of all ICU patients have COVID.
King County has seen cases per 100,000 drop to 249.1, which is still well over the number required to stay in Phase 2. The positivity rate has crept upward to 5.5%, which ICU utilization has fallen to 84.2%, which is considered high.
King County COVID Scorecard for May 8, 2021
Incentives are growing to increase vaccination numbers
COVID vaccine demand is declining significantly across the United States, leading many health officials to believe that the country will never achieve herd immunity. Locally, businesses and other organizations are working on promotions to encourage vaccination.
The Seattle Mariners announced that from May 6 to June 2, 5,000 additional seats will be made available for home games with discounted tickets priced at $10 or $20. Tickets are available in the outfield bleachers, the 300 section, and the 100 section.
Additional benefits include exclusive access to the T-Mobile Pen and Trident Deck, which has remained closed due to social distancing rules, a 20% discount on in-park food, a 20% discount at the team store, and special entrances to the park. Through May 19, vaccinated fans and their children can also receive a SEA Us Rise Mariners T-Shirt.
Social distancing is not required in the section, but mask wear is. Individuals over 16 years old must present a valid, signed CDC vaccination card and had their final dose 14 days or more before entry. Children from 2 to 15 don’t need to be vaccinated but are required to show proof of a negative COVID test no more than 72 hours before game time, and must be masked at all times. Tickets for the vaccinated section cannot be resold or gifted.
Additionally, private suites for 14 to 26 vaccinated fans are available. The Mariners indicated that any ticket holder for the designated vaccination sections who cannot provide proof of vaccination or a child who cannot provide a required negative COVID test will not be allowed entry into the park.
Numerous vaccination sites are also offering gift cards and certificates and other incentives to vaccination holdouts.
For those thinking they’ll print their own vaccination card or buy a fake one, be warned it comes with a stiff penalty. Because a valid vaccination card comes with a government seal on it, the production of a fake one is a federal felony. Penalties, if convicted, include fines up to $5,000 and up to 5 years in prison for each offense.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) The April 26 COVID update from King County Health Department is out and indicates the region no longer qualifies to stay in Phase 3 reopening. In the latest updated King County is reporting 226.0 cases per 100,000, and 5.2 hospitalizations per 100,000. To remain in Phase 3, the county cannot exceed 200 cases per 100,000 and 4.9 hospitalizations.
The numbers back an alarming trend as regional hospitals report a significant increase in COVID patients. Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, once ground zero for coronavirus in the United States, is reporting 13 patients. Overlake in Bellevue has seen a sharp increase in hospitalizations.
The Washington State Department of Health is reporting 484 hospitalized statewide, the highest level since January. Health officials stated that 40% of hospitalized patients are under 40 years old, and many are sickened by COVID variants. The U.K. variant is replacing the dominant strain. The B.1.1.7 strain is more contagious, virulent, and targets younger adults.
Moving back to Phase 2 will drop restaurant occupancy to 25%, and could result in the closure of movie theaters and sports arenas such as T-Mobile Park.
Snohomish County is also at risk of moving back to Phase 2, and Pierce County, which dropped to Phase 2 on April 16, has seen its metrics get worse.
Experts state that a number of factors are converging to push Washington into the fourth surge of COVD infections. COVID fatigue with social distancing and masks, the reintroduction of in-class teaching, better weather, vaccination hesitancy, and more contagious variants have combined to increase cases across the state.
The next evaluation by the state for if King and Snohomish County will move back to Phase 2 is on May, 2.
Editor’s note: This article links to content to validate our research and findings. They are in no way an endorsement or an attempt to validate disproven conspiracy theories.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Weeks after Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States, ardent believers of “stop the steal” have moved to a new message – stop the vaccine. While a shrinking fringe clings to the idea that Trump is or will be President, a loose affiliation of far-right, neo-fascist, and QAnon followers has taken to the Internet using various tactics to interfere with national vaccination efforts.
Within hours after the polls have closed on November 3, groups were forming to support the message of “stop the steal.” Amy Kramer, a Tea Party activist, created a Facebook page before election coverage had even finished. Before Facebook removed the page, she had amassed more than 360,000 followers. Facebook and other social media channels removed pages as quickly as they popped up, so the movement became more decentralized.
A review of Telegram, Parler, and the darker corners of Reddit shows a begrudging acceptance of the 2020 election among the believers and architects of stop the steal. It isn’t clear if that motivation is because the message of an illegitimate election no longer resonates among a widening group of Republicans or if organizers are chasing donors. The new mission is to erode trust, discredit the government, and slow down the vaccine rollout.
For far-right and neo-fascist groups such as Boogaloo and Proud Boys groups, the message is about government overreach. They see vaccination efforts, which are voluntary even among military members, as government overreach and control. For these far-right militias and anti-government groups, the anti-vaccination message is the actions of a controlling government.
British conspiracy theorist David Icke has produced a video called Murder by Vaccine. Icke is better known for his theory that lizard people run the planet. In a rambling 1 hour and 10-minute production, Icke tries to build a case that the COVID vaccine permanently alters human DNA with lethal consequences.
For QAnon adherents, the message is a hodge-podge of beliefs. Among them are ideas steeped in the distortion of Biblical prophesy that receiving a vaccination is getting the mark of the beast. QAnon followers have been wrestling with the “great awakening” concept since former President Donald Trump endorsed getting the COVID vaccination. On social media, some have accused the former President of being part of the deep state, while others have accused him of being paid off by Bill Gates.
COVID-19 has created a perfect storm of misinformation at the same time that numerous groups either are actively trying to build distrust or inherently distrust the government. Anti-vaccination physician and founder of America’s Frontline Doctors, Dr. Simone Gold, was arrested on January 20 for her part in the Capitol insurrection. Her organization includes Doctor Stella Immanuel, who infamously stated she believes in “demon sperm” as the cause of sexually transmitted diseases and alien DNA.
America’s Frontline Doctors pushed hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID. An idea embraced by the Trump Administration resulting in millions of purchased doses using federal and state tax dollars. Some states have attempted to force distributors to repurchase the doses, with Oklahoma leading the charge.
The more sinister efforts are happening at the state and local levels. On Telegram, groups have organized to take advantage of vaccination schedules.
In some regions, a hodge-podge of disconnected systems finds and assigns vaccination slots. Different insurance networks, providers, government agencies, and pharmacies don’t share information across these systems.
Small but organized efforts are clogging the queues with fake appointments using fake information. On Telegram, one person in Michigan wrote, “Me and my coworkers creating fake appointments to keep people from getting the vaccine. Let’s make Biden look bad!”
Other groups have shown similar efforts, but it is hard to determine if this is online bravado or an honest attempt to disrupt and slow down distribution. Nationally, the number of no-shows for vaccination appointments is around 20%. While the Johnson and Johnson vaccine doesn’t require specialized handling, the Modera and Pfizer vaccines do and have a short shelf life.
A growing number of experts are becoming concerned that a fourth wave of COVID cases is building in the United States. Twenty-seven states show growing infection rates, with Florida leading the way. Variants from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and California are taking hold. Here in Washington state, 14 counties are outside of the requirements to remain in phase three opening, including Pierce County. Detected cases have almost doubled in the last two weeks, with schools on the brink of reopening and office workers returning to Microsoft and Facebook.
Among those recruiting new members into the anti-government movement, fear of COVID-19 and vaccine efforts is a fertile hunting ground.
Dr. Anthony Fauci talks with Malcontent News in Wide-Ranging Interview about COVID, AIDS, and the Opioid Epidemic
In cooperation with Unite Seattle Magazine, Dr. Anthony Fauci sat down with Renee Raketty of Malcontent News in a wide-ranging interview. Dr. Fauci spoke with Renee about battling COVID, and what it was like working within multiple Presidential administrations, the continuing fight against AIDS, and shared his views on the criminality of drug abuse.
Unite Seattle Magazine April edition with the full interview with Dr. Fauci will be available at the beginning of April.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is featured in Unite Seattle Magazine
[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study investigating the potential changes in the number of ER visits for mental health, suicide attempts, overdose, and violence outcomes change during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Authored by Kristin M. Holland, PhD, MPH, Division of Overdose Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the study compared date from December 2018 to October 2020.
During lockdowns and social distancing mandates, ER visits changed in a telling way.
After the “15 days to slow the spread” COVID-19
mitigation program rolled out on March 16, 2020, ER visits for all reasons
decreased, but a surveillance program for certain conditions noticed that that
not all conditions saw the same changes.
Mental health conditions, drug overdoses in
general, opioid overdoses specifically, suicide attempts, suspected child abuse
and neglect, and intimate partner violence were all tracked in the surveillance
beginning at the end of December, 2018.
Visits for mental health conditions and
overdoses had significantly increasing trends prior to the pandemic and,
despite mild decreases with the initial mitigation efforts, continued these
trends into the pandemic.
Despite a falloff of all ER visits, the
conditions studied only had much smaller decreases and rebounded to trends
faster than other causes of ER visits.
The results are not conclusive, but they do
suggest that there is a greater burden of overdose occurring. The researchers
point out that not all patients experiencing the conditions studied present to
the ER for care even without a pandemic and the study underestimates the real
number of Americans who experience these conditions.
The study
looking at ER visits for specific conditions as compared to total ER visits on
a week by week basis began on December 30, 2018 and concluded on October 10,
2020. It drives home the point that the coronavirus pandemic combined with the
mitigation strategies and resultant social isolation and economic stress has a
cumulative impact on mental health conditions, suicide attempts, drug overdoses
and violence events. Even though there is a correlation between the pandemic
and increased presentation of the studied group compared to other diagnoses,
mental health conditions, suicide attempts, and overdoses were all trending
upward throughout 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conditions that
likely contributed to the fall in overall ER visits during the pandemic are
certain to include stay-at-home orders and apprehension about exposure to
COVID-19 in health care settings. The studied conditions may not have seen the
more dramatic decrease in ER presentation initially because patients’ regular
care providers would have been closed while they implemented strategies to
decrease transmission risks and focused mainly on COVID-19 specifically.
Further into the pandemic, many may have lost their employer-provided health
insurance limiting their options for treatment to emergency rooms.
Regardless of
the cause for relative increases in mental health, suicide attempts, overdoses,
and violence, the fact is that many patients suffering with these conditions do
not present for professional health care even outside of the pandemic
conditions. This study does not pretend to illuminate the number of patients
who did not seek such care, but it does highlight the need for heightened
attention to prevention and treatment of these conditions; for individuals presenting
to the ER, introducing appropriate measures (e.g., counseling on safe storage
of lethal means of suicide, making sure that naloxone is available, starting
buprenorphine therapy, and screening for intimate partner violence), directly
involving patients with in-person or virtual behavioral health and social
support services, and providing effective treatment for opioid use disorders
can provide immediate assistance for those in crisis. The authors also identify
the need for broader societal- and community-level prevention efforts in
addressing the growing instances of mental health conditions, suicide attempts,
drug overdose, opioid overdose, and domestic violence.
Social distancing doesn’t mean you never leave home and where is the flu
[SEATTLE] – (Malcontent News) Elise Barrett RN BSN CCRN is an oncology nursing supervisor at an elite cancer treatment center. She and her staff work with vulnerable patients who are at high-risk for catching COVID, and who could face catastrophic results if they caught the disease. As part of her job, Ms. Barrett has had access to some of the leading experts on epidemiology and COVID protocols, somethings she lives with every day in the care of her patients.
“What’s going on it’s definitely not a hoax,” Barrett stated. “I have many family members who live in areas where it is sort of considered a political opinion whether this exists or not, and unfortunately this weekend I discovered that my mother and her husband have COVID and are looking at potentially a pretty rocky course in the disease.”
Barrett spoke about some of the myths surround COVID-19 and one of her answers might surprise you. “The first myth is that you have to lock yourself in your house and never go outside and never interact with another human and be living in fear. That sort of creates a degree of tension and dread and almost fatalism that’s impossible to sustain.”
“Fortunately, we’ve had a lot of work done by experts in the field to tell us how we can interact with each other safely and how we can be out of our houses, and how to avoid catching the disease.” Barrett went on to recommend following social distancing guidelines and wearing a mask, but that avoiding all human interaction as a healthy adult can have negative impacts on your mental well being.
What about the effectiveness of masks? “Wearing what we call personal protective equipment (PPE) or masks in the nursing field [is] old news. We’ve been doing that forever. We know how effective it is but, that’s still a new concept for a lot of people. There’s a lot of fear around it for a lot of people because it is tied to this concept of being medical being rigid, being under a doctor’s care, [and] having to follow orders.”
Seasonal flu numbers around the world have been historically low. Some conspiracy theories have popped up that flu numbers are being rolled into COVID numbers. “The flu is less contagious than COVID so anything that stops the spread of COVID even a little is going to impact the spread of flu much more. We’ve actually seen a significant amount of flu in the community mostly among people who are still getting out and around and moving in the community. We’ve seen much lower prevalence in the older community that typically make up most of the casualties of the flu season.” Barrett went on to explain that the older community is more likely to socially isolate and vaccinate for flu, reducing their exposure further this season.
“If you’re wearing a mask during flu season you’re actually pretty well protected against flu. it’s not as easy to catch [and] it requires a much higher viral load.”
Sprawling across Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, the 173,000 member Navajo Nation suffers from “Dikos Ntsaaígíí-19” – COVID-19. Over seven-percent of the Navajo have tested positive for COVID-19, with 591 deaths. If the Navajo Nation was an independent country, the mortality rate of 4.7% would be third-worst globally, behind Iran and Mexico.
Tribal officials called the outbreak out of control this week. In this sprawling desert region, where one-third of the population has no access to running water, officials declared a 56-hour curfew in an attempt to curb case growth. The curfew is on top of an existing daily curfew from 9 PM to 5 AM.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been working with the Navajo and Pueblo Nations since April. In neighboring New Mexico, almost 50% of all COVID-19 deaths are Indigenous peoples who make up 10% of the state population. Reservations across the United States have reported a complete lack of support from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the federal government, and state officials. In Washington state a request for PPE from the federal government resulted in the shipment of body bags.
In South Dakota, where governor Kirsti Noem, R, has refused to have a mask mandate and permitted events such as the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Cheyenne River Sioux, and Oglala Sioux tribes established COVID-19 checkpoints to enter their reservations. Governor Noem sued in federal court to remove the checkpoints, but the courts supported tribal autonomy, and the checkpoints have persisted. Tribal leaders in South Dakota stated they had established the checkpoints to protect tribal members due to a lack of medical resources and PPE.
Inequality isn’t limited to Indigenous peoples. The respected medical journal The Lancet published a study on July 14, 2020, comparing the Bronx Montefiore Health System’s mortality rate before and after COVID-19. The study included over 505,000 patients in the system and concluded that the mortality rate of Blacks due to COVID was higher. Factors such as age and comorbidities could not explain the higher rate in the population.
Closer to home in Washington state, six percent of all COVID deaths are Black while making up four percent of the people. For Hispanics, the numbers are far worse, with 38% of state fatalities coming from the ethnic group, which makes up 13% of the population. COVID tore through Yakima County earlier this year, where state farmers fought against guidelines to protect farmworkers from the disease. County leaders took a strong anti-mask position, and the county sheriff refused to enforce regulations. When it was time for the early summer harvest in the agricultural county, officials had to fly patients to Seattle, Portland, and Spokane to relieve overloaded hospitals.
APM Research Labs has been compiling mortality statistics based on race for COVID since March, and it paints a grim picture. Only Asian Americans have a lower mortality rate for Coronavirus. For Black Americans, the mortality rate is double for whites. Despite the higher infection and mortality rates, the Kaiser Family Foundation concluded that minorities as a group were less likely to be tested for COVID-19, be sicker when tested, and require more treatment due to the delay in identifying patients. The study also stated about Black households, “they are more likely to be working in low-income jobs that cannot be done from home, to be living in larger households in densely populated areas, and to utilize public or shared modes of transportation.“
With the United States setting national and world records for the most positive tests in a day three days last week, the disparity is only getting worse. The IHME estimates that as many as 400,000 Americans could be dead from COVID by February 1, 2021, without drastic steps taken to lower infection rates. Back in Navajo County, Dikos Ntsaaígíí-19 may have impacted the national election. According to the Navajo Times, members of the nation voted in record numbers in Arizona, with 97% of the tribe voting for Joe Biden.
I am writing to you today to thank you for the last three-years-and-one-hundred-and-forty-seven-days of your presidency. When you were elected, you promised you would unite the American people together uttering the words, “When America is united, America is totally [sic] unstoppable.” So here we are, Mr. President, three years and 147 days later. I’m so proud as an American to see you have fulfilled your promise to unite us.
Through your divisive words and actions, good Americans from sea to shining sea are uniting. Your great words about Charlottesville, where you declared there were “very fine people, on both sides,” and you were pleading to not rush to judgment. In contrast, how quickly you condemned protesters in Minneapolis without wanting to learn more. Yes, Mr. President, you are uniting the country.
As you tightened the rules of legal immigration in the name of defending America, you placed asylum seekers and those seeking the light of freedom into the textbook definition of concentration camps. They shivered in the cold, unwashed, lacking medical treatment, a place to sleep, and even basic shelter in some cases. They died of preventable diseases, documented beatings and rapes by guards, and murdered at border crossings.
Peoples of the world, trying to escape the specter of violence, government abuses, and crushing poverty, had their children taken from them and placed in inhumane conditions. The same children were misplaced in government bureaucracy and malfeasance while their parents were deported. Yes, Mr. President, thank you for uniting us. The same children remain packed in unfit conditions, exposed to abuse, negligence, and COVID-19.
Your attacks on the free press in words and deeds have made the United States one of the most dangerous places on the planet for reporters and photographers. When faced with overwhelming evidence that the government of Saudi Arabia murdered a reporter from an American newspaper, you only gave it passing mention. Today as I write this, the news agencies that once supported you have grown weary, and cracks are forming. When confronted with their concerns, with their realization that no amount of spin can put you in a favorable light, you attack what was once your allies. Yes, Mr. President, you are uniting us with your actions.
You promised to bring dignity back to the White House and to be the hardest working President in history. For three years and 147 days, we’ve watched you use Twitter for diplomacy, spend your days watching TV, playing golf at taxpayer’s expense, and when faced with a crisis from your beloved people right outside your door, cower in fear in your basement bunker. Yes, Mr. President, you are uniting us.
You promised to control the deficit, balance the budget, and drain the swamp. Yet during a period of economic prosperity that you inherited, your tax cuts didn’t benefit 90% of Americans, enriched the top 10%, and grew our nation’s deficit by 5.2 trillion dollars in just three years 147 days. A debt that our children and our children’s children will inherit with inflation and lost prosperity. Our economy entered recession before the first COVID-19 death was reported on our shores, and you could count the active cases on one hand. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
Your authoritative and awe-inspiring words found within each of your Twitter broadsides vilified our friends and allies. You insulted our closest neighbors and most significant trading partners in Canada and Mexico. You have brought us to the brink of a cold war with China, left the dictatorial government of North Korea laughing at us, encouraged the Russian state, and left the globe wondering what has happened to American greatness. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
You claimed that the government has no place in regulating business. So you gutted environmental and wildlife protection, while placing tariffs, also know as price controls, on goods and services. The prices of those goods and services hurt businesses and ordinary Americans alike, removing any benefit from your tax cuts, and not coming close to filling the deficit hole as you promised. The farmers, coal miners, and factory workers you promised to help have been abandoned while foreign nations scammed you for tax breaks.
Your incredible response to the COVID-19 epidemic has exposed to the world that the disease ravaging our nation is not just a virus, but the impotent reaction from your leadership. Emergency rooms became overwhelmed, front-line medical workers died due to a lack of personal protection equipment, your agencies scammed by predatory companies and junk science, and our leaders in science and medicine silenced. One-hundred-and-fifteen-thousand dead Americans from what you declared was a hoax, was just the flu, would magically go away once warmer weather came. As I type this, the southern and southwestern states are being devastated by your hoax. Your playbook of distraction and Twitter diplomacy didn’t work against a virus. The world has learned that we are nothing but a paper tiger, with fragile infrastructure and resources.
Despite all of these missteps toward greatness, your support hasn’t wavered. Your staunchest allies and enablers have stood by you while trying to steer your course. Yet you continue to ignore the Constitution, jurists, leaders, scientists, doctors, and diplomats that have been attempting to save you from yourself. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
As our nation watched in horror at the street execution of George Floyd on a Minneapolis street, his life squeezed from him as he cried out for his mother, the people became united. You went to your same playbook to divide, vilify, and tweet. As the people you profess to love unprecedently protested outside your door, you built a wall, you hid in a bunker and watched the TV you deny you watch. You threatened to send federal troops against your People, to the disgust and disdain of retired and active-duty generals and admirals. You had peaceful protesters pepper-sprayed and beaten for a photo op at a church. As you spoke of law and order from the White House, a house built by slaves, the nation could hear your state-sanctioned violence against the First Amendment in the background. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
I want to thank you, President Trump, for the last three years and 147 days. Because of you, your words, and your deeds, I was able to see the hatred and racism that existed right under my nose. I could see what I thought were friends, for what they are. By encouraging the forces that want to destroy this nation, you exposed the great lie that there is equality in the eyes of the law, that the police forces of this nation have just a few bad apples, and make rare, but very public mistakes. I always suspected these were narratives were false, but you provided the proof.
You have united the American people, Mr. President, in a way that I never thought would be possible three years and 147 days ago. We are joined in historic protest from coast to coast and border to border—six-hundred-and-fifty cities and towns across America, from the biggest to the smallest. From marches measured in the hundreds of thousands to lone vigils of one. All these people, united against the hatred, the fear, and the anger you’ve fomented tweet after hateful tweet. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
We are united to no longer accept the idea that racism has been resolved in this country, or is just a passing problem. Because of you, the good people of this county who didn’t think these were real issues are now learning that it is deeply rooted in the very things you defend, and rotten to the core.
We see you for what you are, a dotard, barely able to stand on their own, obsessed with what people think of you. A narcissist, staring at their magic mirror, listening only to those who say yes. Outside your bunker, a giant has awoken and been filled with a great resolve to bring about change to our nation. Yes, Mr. President, you have united us.
I have watched first hand since May 30 as Black, white, Latino/Latina, Asian, Hispanic, indigenous, native-born, and immigrant have marched in peaceful protest. I have seen first hand the excessive force applied by our militarized police departments using CS and OC gas on peaceful citizens, firing rubber bullets, striking with batons, shocking with Tasers, and preventing peaceful assembly. My eyes have stung, my lungs have burned, and I have personally carried the wounded as I documented the actions you sanctioned.
The violence was so great that our allies in the United Kingdom have voted to stop selling rubber bullets and teargas to the United States. Violence on the people so troubling that even in South Africa, they are marching for the Black lives in our raging and grieving nation. Yes, Mr. President, South Africa looks more enlightened in the eyes of the world than our country because of your words and deeds.
We are once again the United States of America, Mr. President. We are united against you and those who think like you. We are joined together to bring out meaningful change, for full equality, to demand that this nation treat everyone as equals. Equality does not mean that some will get less, nor is that what We the People want. We want the level playing field the American dream promises for all people. We want our minority brothers and sisters in this great race of life to run that race unshackled, unencumbered, and without the oppression of institutional racism. Mr. President, those of us that want this change outnumber those of you who don’t.
You and your supporters are focused on agitators and those who are trying to discredit this movement. I applaud that, Mr. President, because distraction is useful when you are bringing about change. While you shudder in anger watching your TV and spitting out sentence fragments on Twitter, we are using the most potent weapons we have in the American arsenal. We are leveraging our rights. We are using our right to peaceful assembly. We are using our right to freedom of speech. We are using our right to videotape and photograph, and audio record the transgressions of those who are so comfortable with racism and inaction, that they feel they can freely operate in this connected world with impunity. And, Mr. President, we are sharing those videos, pictures, and audio clips, on Twitter for the world to see. We are using your actions to demand change at a local, county, and state level and, on November 3, at the federal level too.
Had you told me, Mr. President, that you would unite our nation in a singular fierce voice demanding change in just three years and 147 days, I would have said it was impossible. I had expected incompetence and hatred, but I never realized how dark your heart is, how you lack a soul, and how deep corruption runs to your core. You made these things mainstream and revealed the ugliness of America hiding in plain sight behind gossamer curtains. Those curtains, Mr. President, have been torn down.
On November 3, 2020, the American people will decide on whether they want to renew The Donald Trump Show for four more seasons. Forty-million unemployed, the numbers without health insurance exploding, institutional racism and violence defended by you, the Constitution defiled, 115,000 dead from COVID-19 and counting, and protests in 650 cities from coast-to-coast.
Thank you, Mr. President, for uniting us and putting America, for the first time in more than a generation, on a path to greatness. We, the people, are screaming in a singular voice, “no more.”
Three-years, and 147 days.
Journalists, activists, and researchers defending the First Amendment
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