{"id":2946,"date":"2020-05-28T10:04:21","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T14:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2946"},"modified":"2020-05-28T10:04:26","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T14:04:26","slug":"money-or-the-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/05\/28\/money-or-the-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Money or the First"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Trump World<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Four events occurred in the past few days. The first, and most obscene, is the death of another black man at the hand (or knee) of a white man with \u201cofficial\u201d standing.  It\u2019s one of those things, like school shootings, that America seems to abhor, yet accept as \u201cunsolvable\u201d.  I have already said a lot about these actions in the past weeks, and this new incident doesn\u2019t change what needs to be done.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I will note is this:\u00a0\u00a0maybe for the first time, the \u201cblue wall\u201d of support has cracked.\u00a0\u00a0Police officers aren\u2019t immune to the depravity of some in their profession, but they are loath to discuss it.\u00a0\u00a0I understand that completely.\u00a0\u00a0When they are out in the field, they must be absolutely confident that their fellow officers have \u201ctheir back\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s literally life and death.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That confidence depends on supporting each other, regardless of personal likes and dislikes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the fastest way to change those few brutal outlier officers is from the inside.  It\u2019s not just \u201con\u201d their coworkers, but it\u2019s where change can begin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numbers<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The second is the ongoing battle of numbers. We now find that some of the tests, the fifteen million that President Trump is so proud of, are about as accurate as flipping a coin.  That allows everyone to simply ignore the most important number of the week: one hundred thousand dead from COVID-19 in the last four months.  And there is no stopping this yet:  it\u2019s almost 102,000 as I write this essay.  Like the school shootings, and like the death of black men, the numbers seem no longer shocking.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third is positive:  the United States is preparing to send humans back into space.  I was waiting for that launch: it\u2019s past time for an \u201cuplifting\u201d essay, and I am a huge proponent of space exploration.  But, as we are discovering with a vengeance in our current world, nature controls us so much more than we control her.  The rocket didn\u2019t launch yesterday, thunderstorms lurked around Cape Canaveral making it far too dangerous.  They will try again on Saturday.  I look forward to writing about the United States in space on Sunday morning.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of which leads us to today\u2019s topic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongress shall make no law\u2026abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press\u2026\u201d<\/strong> – First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In school, teachers talk about the First Amendment as \u201cthe five freedoms:\u201d religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition for redress of grievances.  But the wording of the Constitution is more nuanced:  it doesn\u2019t really asset a \u201cpositive right\u201d.  What it does do is establish a boundary:  Congress, representing the Federal government, shall make no law<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Amendment restricts the Government.\u00a0\u00a0It does not control what private individuals do.\u00a0\u00a0So for example, in New York City last week, a white woman was in Central Park, allowing her dog to run off-leash.\u00a0\u00a0A black man, in the Park bird watching, asked the woman to follow the \u201crules\u201d and leash the dog.\u00a0\u00a0He recorded the ensuing discussion\/argument on his cell phone.\u00a0\u00a0The woman responded by calling 9-11 and demanding that the police come and protect her from this \u201cAfrican American man \u2018threatening\u2019 the dog and her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White privilege and racism were loaded in all of her actions:  thankfully the police came and defused the situation. No one was arrested or charged. When the video of her actions went viral, she was fired from her investment company job.  Some claim that this is a violation of her First Amendment rights, including her \u201cright\u201d to be a bigot.  But the investment company is not the Federal Government:  it is a private corporation.  The First Amendment does not circumscribe their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are many negative things to say about the President of the United States, Donald Trump.  I\u2019ve spent three years and three months composing the essays of Trump World, <\/em>and many of them have criticized the President.  This is my \u201cright\u201d under the First Amendment, and in spite of the concerns of some friends and relatives, some of them from outside of the United States, I haven\u2019t had any \u201cgovernmental\u201d repercussions from speaking my mind.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one positive thing can be said about Mr. Trump:\u00a0\u00a0he has found a new way to bypass the media and communicate with the American people.\u00a0\u00a0In the past, Presidents could either use the press, or use the \u201cbully pulpit\u201d of the White House and speak directly to the public.\u00a0\u00a0But President Trump has made it an \u201cart form\u201d to use social media, particularly Twitter, to reach Americans.\u00a0\u00a0He has 81 million Twitter followers, but his Tweets resonate far beyond them to the rest of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Twitter has a \u201ccommunity use\u201d policy.  There is a list of actions that are banned from the platform (Twitter<\/a>): <\/p>\n\n\n\n