In The Year 2525...

The Schloss-Blog has been looking around America and is concerned.

More than 100,000 are now dead in three months from the coronavirus. The president says this is a badge of honor in tribute to all the testing we're doing. Sorry, but I've got a problem being proud of 100,000 people dying and likely 200,000-plus by the November election. By the way, 100,000 is the capacity of the Rose Bowl.

Most experts, by the way, conclude that the 100,000 count is likely 30,000 under-estimated.

The president says he doesn't wear a mask because he doesn't like the way it looks, but he knows damn well he would not have been allowed into the heart of the production facility at Ford if he didn't wear one. I wear one everywhere I go and keep one in the car just in case. (No, I don't wear one when I play golf, but I do stay very deliberately socially distanced while I play.)

He calls testing "overrated." I've got 100,000 reasons to disagree. And the vast majority of medical experts, including his own task force, disagree as well. Until there's a vaccine, test, test, test. Even then, keep testing until we know the vaccine works.

Florida and Georgia governors have called upon the president to move the Republican National Convention to their states. Both states are showing spikes in coronavirus cases since reopening. Hello! Can’t wait to see 50,000 people from all over the country return home after the convention in one of those states and bring the virus with them. As a friend of mine referred to the governor of Georgia, Dr. Shotgun.

The president says vote-by-mail is fraught with danger and scandal. Which is why he uses it himself. Which is why the military has used it for deployed troops for decades. Which is why the nation's shut-ins (and we've got a lot of 'em) use them as their only option. Which is why the Republican Party just sent a plea to Pennsylvania voters to be sure to vote by mail.

Hypocrisy rules.

Meanwhile, in the streets, police stations burn. Media are attacked and arrested. The streets of Hong Kong? No. The streets of Iran? No. The streets of Venezuela? No.

Cincinnati. Atlanta. Los Angeles. Detroit. Chicago. And, of course, Minneapolis. Where is our president? Igniting the riots instead of calming America. We usually cover protests like these in foreign countries. Now the foreign press is covering them here as racism protests run rampant and the sentiment of them can't be denied although the intensity did not need stoking from the White House (i.e, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts").

Now, on top of all that, the president's favorite social-media outlet is putting "fact-check" labels on any of his tweets that could or do contain false information.

Interesting how Congress has held social-media companies' feet to the fire for allowing false and misleading claims and Russian 'bot' posts attempting to influence the elections, but now the president is ticked that they're doing it to him, but only as needed. Twitter is not stopping him from posting sexist slurs and conspiracy theories; they're just reminding his followers to fact-check the ones that Twitter spotters choose to flag.

Because Trump doesn't.

His executive order about the social-media companies is a joke. They have more money and lawyers, and better lawyers, than the Department of Justice.

This is no different than his attitude toward the Washington Post, which continues to publish daily the growing number of his false and misleading statements. He can't shut them down but he likes to go after amazon because WAPO is owned by amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Oh, did we remember to say that 41 million have filed for unemployment as a result of the impact from COVID-19? Yeah, that many have filed and it doesn't include those who have given up looking for work.

Things are just peachy. Sorta' like the president's tan lines.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More tonight on my radio show on "underground" rocker Radio Free Phoenix (dot com).