Category: Uncategorized

Who’s Clapping

I thought it would be interesting to follow up this post with a little research into who Donald Trump brought in as cheerleaders for the signing ceremony for his executive order on policing. It is actually a harder exercise than it seems. You might think that links or expanded captions would be de rigueur journalistic practice in an era of digital news and reporting, but it’s not. I first located a list of attendees from CNN, then started googling.

From left, the law enforcement officials in the photo are:

  • Sheriff Tony Childress of Livingston County, Illinois

  • Dennis Slocumb, executive director of the International Union of Police Associations

  • Chief Steven Casstevens, president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police

  • Sheriff Tom Hodgson of Bristol County, Massachusetts

  • Sheriff Mark Cage of Eddy County, New Mexico

  • Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, president of the Florida Sheriffs Association

  • Larry Cosme, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association

  • Pat Yoes, president of Fraternal Order of Police

So I find myself at the edge of a rabbit hole. Beyond names and stations, who are these people? I assume they are there for something more than optics, that there is an expectation of an exchange of influence or power. What else do they hope to gain? Who paid their way to Washington? What are they getting for their applause? A night in a suite at the J. W. Marriott and a hefty per diem? Anything more? 

And further, what does Trump expect to gain? 

We are exposed to images like this all the time, to the extent that they are normal, and normalizing. For some reason this one has caught my interest, and I want to study it and think about it a bit more critically. I want to understand the symbolic value of the photo and the reasons these men were selected for it. In the context of widespread demand for a change in policing in America, what are these people expected to bring to the conservative and reactionary counter-argument? 

This photo is by Alex Wong for Getty Images. 

I am fascinated by staged images of Donald Trump presidenting, as in this shot for Getty Images by photographer Alex Wong. Here Trump has surrounded himself with old, white law enforcement officials (exception noted) as he signs today’s executive order on policing. There are hundreds of such images. Whenever Trump does anything remotely official, hand-picked supporters assemble in carefully mounted tableaux

to offer the president unmerited applause and signal approval with their shit-eating grins. I know this is an ancient photo-op ritual, that even presidents that I liked and admired resorted to the practice, and yet with Trump it seems to have reached a low point of cynical contrivance. 

Still, Trump is as bad at propaganda as he is with everything else he puts his hand to, and there is nothing believable or authentic to be seen here. I don’t know who any of these men are in this photo. Surely they know they are being exploited. But they seem nonetheless willing, and meretricious enough to go on with the show. I wonder what is in it for them?

I think I’ll start saving these photos when I find them. I want to accumulate some evidence, keep a small documentary archive of Trump’s enablers. It takes a contingent of toadies and ass-kissers to prop up someone as weak and feckless and desperate for stroking as our president. Trump thrives on unwarranted adulation, and seems to like action shots with lots of clapping. I’m going to label the archive folder Presidential Hand Jobs. 

Actions speak louder than words. Of all the cities dealing with the tragedies of officer-involved shootings and violence inflicted upon black lives, Louisville’s administration has been the least transparent, the slowest and the most frustrating. This administration simply believes it is above the law. Our administration in Louisville blatantly ignored our requests for an independent investigation. Here, our department continues to investigate itself, claims no video (while dodging the question of the existence video for any of the other 120 officers dispatched to the scene) and continues to allow plain clothes officers to execute warrants and conduct business as usual.

Attorneys for Breonna Taylor’s family, in a statement released to CBS/WLKY in Louisville. 

Americans want law and order. They demand law and order. Some of them may not even know that is what they want.

Donald Trump, Driveler in Chief and President of the United States, at a Rose Garden signing of a police reform executive order today.

To be clear, Mr. President, I know exactly what I want: an end to systemic racism, a revolution in public safety practices and policing and not mere reform, and an end to your malignant presence in public life. Be gone already. 

Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae), at Ash Canyon. They are not uncommon here, but still rarely seen. As much as I love the clownish faces of the males, I think the females (center photo) are more beautiful still, with a color pattern that makes them almost invisible as they move through the grasses. 

At the Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary, Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory, Cochise County, Arizona.

Etymology note, from the Cornell lab:  “Montezuma quail have long, sickle-shaped claws on each toe that are about half again the length of the foot. It uses these claws for digging up bulbs, tubers, and invertebrates. Montezuma quail’s genus, Cyrtonyx, comes from the Greek words for bent (kurtus) and claw (onux). Pits in the soil more than an inch deep are a sign that these birds are foraging in the area.”

Jack.

Probably a blacktailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus). Antelope jackrabbits (L. alleni) also occur here, but with so much cover, really how can you tell? All of my jackrabbit sightings are like this: a brief flash of movement, quick concealment in the grasses, and just a glimpse of those long ears.

In Cochise County, near Hereford, Arizona.