In early 2018, when Donald Trump had trouble bringing a water glass to his lips during a cmpaign rally and also had difficulty expressing his thoughts in cohesive sentences during media interviews, the Atlantic was one of many media outlets raising the issue of his potential neurological decline and lamenting the the lack of any testing requirement for presidential candidates or a president by which the country could be alerted to significant mental impairment.

Is something neurologically wrong with Donald Trump? It is best not to diagnose the president from afar, which is why the federal government needs a system to evaluate him up close.

We still don't have such a system.

Trump's neurological state was also a topic of discussion on Memorial Day when he seemed to sway at Arlington Cemetary and had difficulty raising his arm high enough to lift a wreath.

But yesterday, at West Point, the issue generated a state of frenzy in social media, with the hashtag #DonaldTrumpWearsAdultDiapers trending. [More...]

I have no idea where this week went but it's almost over.

What happens now that the protests are winding down?
If raising awareness of racism in this country was the goal, they certainly succeeded. If a change in police culture is what they are after, that's going to take a little longer.

Is there a police brutality database where identifying details of offending officers are publicized? The police didn't take well to the idea of "Who's a Rat" (one naming informants) but they have no problem with posting mug shots of those busted for prost*itution.

Back in 2019, USA Today published a database of 85,000 police officers charged with misconduct, including case documents. The searchable database is here. Maybe it should be updated. And limited to cases in which discipline was imposed, so as not to infringe on the most bedrock principle of our criminal justice system which is the presumption of innocence.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

There are now more than 2 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. More than 112,000 people have died - the highest number among all the countries in the world.

Coronavirus rates are rising in 21 states. I think this was entirely predictable given the early reopening of many states, and the refusal of so many people to continue to practice safe-distancing.

Unfortunately, Washington has moved on to other topics.

I hope everyone here is staying safe and healthy, and still wearing a mask in public.

It's time for a new open thread, all topics welcome.

MN Attorney General Keith Ellison today announced that three additional police officers present at the scene of George Floyd's death who witnessed Derek Chauvin's attack on Floyd have been charged with aiding and abetting Chavin. Chauvin's charges were upgraded to second degree murder and second degree manslaughter.

These are state, not federal charges. The officers are Thomas Lane, Alexander Keung and Tou Thau. Lane is already in custody, police are in the process of arresting the other two.

Obama is speaking now. You can watch here. He says the events of the last few weeks have given us a chance for change. He's excited about all the young people coming out. He feels optimistic -- like this country is going to get better. [More...]

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, has resumed his campaign appearances. Today he made a speech in Philadelphia on the crisis facing America and Donald Trump's unacceptable and inadequate response.

“Donald Trump has turned this country into a battlefield riven by old resentments and fresh fears,” Mr. Biden said, speaking against a backdrop of American flags at Philadelphia’s City Hall. “Is this who we want to be? Is this what we want to pass on to our children and grandchildren? Fear, anger, finger pointing, rather than the pursuit of happiness? Incompetence and anxiety, self-absorption, selfishness?”

The country, Mr. Biden said, is “crying out for leadership.”

Indeed we are. But the country is also crying out for an end to police brutality, for equal justice and for the implementation of change now (not in January, 2021 or during the next four years of the next president's administration) that provides persons of color and the impovrished with equal economic opportunities.

I have my doubts that the man who spent 30 years in Congress passing some of the most draconian and oppressive criminal justice legislation of the century, which to this day results in arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement against minorities, is the right one to lead us out of the cess-pool Donald Trump has dumped us in.

I think Democrats need an angel to step in. Joe Biden's legislative record on crime alone warrants him giving serious consideration to withdrawing from the race. Why should we have to choose between bad and worst?

A party-goer who attended the shameful display of indifference to the lives of others at the now infamous pool party in the Ozarks on Memorial Day weekend has now tested positive for the coronavirus, possibly infecting as many as 250 people.

If anyone comes down with Covid-19 that can be traced to the party-goer, or worse, the person who he infected dies, can he be charged with a crime under Missouri law? How about federal law?

Missouri now has its largest COVID numbers since the pandemic began. Will Missourians hold Republican Gov. Mike Parson accountable for (in my opinion) irresonsibly opening the state up too early?

The City and County of Denver has just announced a curfew for tonight. Appearing on my cell phone:

I don't mind the curfew as much as I do the end of social distancing in Denver. (From today at the state capitol).

The past two days most of the protesters, even in the afternoon, wore masks. On Friday afternoon, at least when they approached the corner of my house, many seemed to stay more than 6 feet apart. [More...]

Bump and Update: Protesters have set a Minneapolis police precinct on fire. The police are no longer there. There are no sirens and no one coming to put out the fire. Their philosophy seems to be we are outmanned, we're heading out and they're on their own. There are thousands of people in the streets.

The sad thing is that attention is being drawn from such a legitimate protest. People will focus on the violence of the protesters rather than the actions of the police that precipitated them. [More..]

Time for a new open thread, here it is, all topics welcome.

Archie Williams served 37 years for a rape and stabbing he didn't commit. Thanks to the persistence and hard work of Innocence Project Litigation Director Vanessa Plotkin, the Louisiana Innocence Project, and Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck , Archie was freed from prison in 2019 when fingerprint evidence in an FBI database proved him innocent and identified the real perpetrator -- a serial rapist, now long deceased. What took so long? For years, Louisiana's state laws provided barriers to inmates' requests to access untested evidence for innocence claims, and many other procedural hurdles. The I.P. began working on Archie's case in 1996.

In the video above, watch Archie fulfill his dream of singing on the big stage, during a recent episode of "America's Got Talent". The audience response and response of the judges, including Simon Cowell, is wonderful to watch.

After learning about Archie and the Innocence Project, Barry confirmed that Simon has signed on to be an Ambassador for the project. [More...]

This is a day to honor those who served in the military and made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives.

In light of the 97,000 plus Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19 in the last 90 days, I don't see any reason it can't also be a day to remember them. The New York Times clearly feels the same way -- here is the front page of their Sunday edition.

I also agree with the New York Times that it's an appropriate time to say "thank you" to the more than 144 million Americans who followed their state's stay at home orders for weeks on end, donned (and are still wearing) masks and who are still practicing "social distancing".

This is love of country at its best, generous and communal. And it’s all the more important to keep that spirit alive as we enter the warmer months and are tempted to forget all that we have learned in this dark and deadly spring. .

[More...]