USA - США - SAD

Lisa Edwards, 60, had been refusing to leave the hospital and was arrested on trespassing charges when she died in the back of the police cruiser - minutes after telling cops 'you're going to kill me'. She can be seen in Knoxville Police bodycam footage being taken into custody, gasping and wheezing before she tells officers that she 'can't breathe.' Authorities released the hour and 16-minute video with a warning that some of the video may be distressing. Her skin becomes grayer, and her voice more slurred as the footage continues. The latter is a well-known symptom of a stroke. One cop can be heard telling her that she's 'been medically cleared' before another says 'you weren't having any breathing problems when you were out here smoking a cigarette.'

Florida resident dies of brain-eating amoeba after using tap water to clean sinuses https://t.co/Zjpre8FnxW

— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) February 25, 2023

Trump announces if elected that he will start a global trade war by implementing a mercantilist system. He will raise tariffs on “most foreign products,” phase out all imports from China in 4 years, and punish US companies who do business and invest in China. pic.twitter.com/867rDuz2O2

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 27, 2023

Trump also reminded us that he is an existential menace to our national security. He reveled in a story he first told last spring—almost certainly a fiction—about how he informed a meeting of NATO leaders that he would let the Russians roll over them if they weren’t paid up. (Trump still thinks NATO is a protection racket.) He then fantasized about how easily a Russian attack could destroy NATO’s headquarters.

We’ve all cataloged this kind of Trumpian weirdness many times, and I still feel pity for the fact-checkers who try to keep up with him. But I wonder if there is any point. By now it should be clear that the people listening to Trump don’t care about facts, or even about policy or politics. They enjoy the show, and they want it back on TV for another four years. 

Stigma and judgment have a place in politics. There was a time when we forced people out of public life for offenses far less than Donald Trump’s violent and seditious corruption. We were a better country for it, and returning to that better time starts with media outlets holding elected Republicans to account for Trump’s statements—but also with each of us refusing to accept rationalizations and equivocation from even our friends and family. I said in 2016 that the Trump campaign was a test of character, and that millions of us were failing it. The stakes are even clearer and steeper now; we cannot fail this test again.