Like A Rocketship

President Buck Rogers is always talking about things taking off “like a rocketship.” 

You want to talk about something that has literally taken off like your rocketship, Bucko? How about the endless international demonstrations that have you hiding in the cellar? How about the world coming out to protest the final straw of the televised murder of George Floyd? In the midst of a deadly pandemic, the streets of America and the world are filled with a vast majority of peaceful citizens who are willing to literally risk their lives to prove that black lives do indeed matter.

Hey, Buck, take a look down 16^thStreet. You should never mess with a mayor who buys her yellow paint by the barrel. Every person who sets foot on that street will read that and know why it's there and who it is for and who it is from – a mayor who will stand up to you and get directly in your face and find a way to let the world know where she and most of America stand: BLACK LIVES MATTER. 

Those all cap block letters were inspired, street genius. Christo just died, but his spirit lives on 16^thStreet. Muriel Bowser showed Trump what HER city thinks of him and his brutal, para-military takeover of the nation's capitol, fencing off the White House and standing armed, masked soldiers on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

For almost two weeks, there have been protests against police brutality in countless cities in America, and in countless small towns from coast to coast. A confluence of the tensions of the coronavirus pandemic and the murder of George Floyd has produced a perfect storm of protest here and abroad. It is literally stunning and enervating and almost mystically gratifying. While many maskless Americans are seeking self-satisfaction and gratification at the beaches and bars, mostly masked protesters are literally walking the walk, putting social conscience before social distance.

Yet as if to demonstrate the legitimacy  of the protests, the police, the military, the national guard, and masked, anonymous para-military forces have behaved in many ways with brazen brutality even while being videoed.

To demonstrate the endemic rot of police brutality, when two Buffalo cops accused of shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground, where they left him, were released on no bail the Buffalo police, firefighters, and citizenry showed up to applaud them and the rest of their SWAT team resigned in protest.

In Camden, NJ, though, the police chief marched with protesters, as did other police around the country, and Houston police chief Art Acevedo told President Buck Rogers in no uncertain terms to keep his mouth shut. There are legions of decent police who are as appalled as he is.

Also of great significance is the fact that so many ex-military leaders, including former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, a highly repected ex-Marine, who finally could maintain a military silence no longer, have sent the message loud and clear that the military serves the Constitution, not the president. Current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley sent a memo to all hands proclaiming the same thing. The great Lucian K. Truscott IV has pointed out that these ex-generals keep in touch and that there is a code in their messages that should push come to shove, Trump will not have military backing.

Buckle up, Buck, this rocket ship is a bunker buster.