Milt Reynolds: Thinking Out Loud

I am convinced that my rants and sobs of distress, claiming that "these are the worst days that our republic has ever seen" are caused my my ignorance of history! thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

Facebook Makes A Terrible News Source! Right now, with staffing troubles and ineffective AI, it's easy to create fake news ads, submit them to Facebook, pay for the advertising fee, and have them approved for publishing...despite the ads violating Facebook guidelines and commonsense ethics. https://www.consumerreports.org/social-media/facebook-approved-ads-with-coronavirus-misinformation/

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get—only with what you are expecting to give. - Katharine Hepburn

Fallen Officers From the COVID-19 Pandemic ODMP - https://www.odmp.org/search/incident/covid-19 As of June 22, 2020

The 3.5% Rule ...It Only Takes A Spark, To Get A Fire Going I'm a fan of bushcraft and camping how-to articles and videos. In all that I've seen and read, there is one basic skill that is repeatedly taught: how to make fire. Fire is life-giving and life-sustaining. It need not be seen as a metaphor for destruction and loss. It may be better seen as a metaphor for change...change for the better. But, this is true only when the "fire" is carefully tended, controlled and guarded. A reckless disregard for vulnerable, tinder-dry materials nearby can make the life-giving "fire" quickly become a catastrophic storm of violence and destruction. Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change. *Look deeper: www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world

COVID-19 is not "just the flu" In May 2020, nineteen law enforcement officers died in the line of duty nationwide. Of those nineteen deaths, more than half were due to duty-related illnesses: nine were the result of COVID-19, one was the result of 9/11-related duty illness. Five were the result of gunfire (four felonious, one inadvertent), two officers were struck by vehicles, one died in an aircraft accident, and one died as the result of a heart attack. At the end of May 2020, a total of 93 officers have died in the line of duty in the U.S. - a significant 48% increase over the same time last year. This increase is largely due to the 40 COVID deaths that have occurred in the last two months. http://blog.odmp.org/2020/06/end-of-watch-may-2020.html?m=1