Informed – Page 5 – Confluence Daily

Reading Time: 8 minutes I occasionally hear Trump described as the “Teflon president.” Many liberals are agog at how many scandals, disasters, and offensive comments Trump has survived. It can seem like nothing sticks to him.

But Trump isn’t Teflon. It’s simply that whatever will stick to him has already stuck to him. Absorbing this much damage and provoking this much loathing has not been a successful strategy. Stable poll numbers in the low-40s are hardly a political triumph.

Informed

August 25, 2020 Confluence

Vox: The police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black Wisconsin father, explained

Reading Time: 6 minutes Protesters in Kenosha and across the country are still demanding systemic change. Michael Bell Sr., the father of shooting victim Michael Bell, told the New York Times following the shooting of Blake, “The system is broken. The system here is broken.”

An anti-violence cookout is held to celebrate the life of 11-year-old Davon McNeal, who was fatally shot by a stray bullet in Washington, DC, on July 4. Jahi Chikwendiu/Washington Post via Getty Images

Informed

August 7, 2020 Confluence

Vox: How cities can tackle violent crime without relying on police

Reading Time: 10 minutes Give an alternative coalition of residents and organizations a chance to play a central role in creating a safe community and give them the resources that we devote to law enforcement.

Informed

August 6, 2020 Confluence

Forbes: New Evidence Suggests Young Children Spread Covid-19 More Efficiently Than Adults

Reading Time: 3 minutes Two new studies, though from different parts of the world, have arrived at the same conclusion: that young children not only transmit SARS-CoV-2 efficiently, but may be major drivers of the pandemic as well.

Informed

August 5, 2020 Confluence

Vox: How Portland’s Wall of Moms collapsed — and was reborn under Black leadership

Reading Time: 10 minutes For there to be progress, all leaders, especially those organizing across racial lines, must be on the same page about the movement’s objectives.

Informed

August 5, 2020 Confluence

Video: Hundreds wounded as huge blast rips through Lebanon’s Beirut

Reading Time: < 1 minute Hundreds of people have been wounded in a strong blast that ripped through Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, according to the country’s health minister.

Informed

August 4, 2020 Confluence

“They are dying. That’s true. It is what it is.” Trump’s Axios interview was a disaster.

Reading Time: 4 minutes Trump’s difficulty with push-back is often concealed when he answers questions beside a loud helicopter or in the friendly confines of Sean Hannity’s show. But the Swan interview, which came out just two weeks after Trump’s similarly disastrous performance on Chris Wallace’s show, highlighted the degree to which Trump is unable to defend his record in the face of even mildly challenging questions.

Informed

July 22, 2020 Confluence

Esquire: The Authoritarian Operation in Portland Is Only a Dress Rehearsal

Reading Time: 4 minutes Portland may be a dumbshow for dummies, but it also looks like a dress rehearsal. This is not an “authoritarian impulse.” This is authoritarian government—straight, no chaser. And this administration has a powerful thirst for it. It will do anything if it thinks it can get away with it in order to benefit a president* who wants to bring the Republic down on his head.

Informed

July 22, 2020 Confluence

CNN: Trump’s ‘law and order’ is starting to look like martial law

Reading Time: 3 minutes This is sketchy stuff. And it’s not a good look for a country that’s supposed to be an open society. And it’s particularly distressing that the President is openly threatening cities based on the political affiliations of their leaders.

Informed

July 21, 2020 Confluence

Portland is How it Starts

Reading Time: < 1 minute It’s not just a dress-rehearsal. It’s happening. It’s real. It’s the beginning of the endgame of a dictator.