But on my latest dive into familiar (and supposedly romantic) films of the past three decades, I can hardly see their leading men for all the red flags flapping around them. Watching these films has suddenly become less escapist -- and more reflective of our current reality.

Pick a decade -- 1980s, 1990s or early 2000s -- and it seems that one of its defining leading men is a manipulator, someone who gaslights.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/24/opinions/feel-good-movies-feel-bad-stewart/index.html

It's a fun read. I remember thinking as a nerdy 20-something, "Is it just me or do women seem to have the notion that the only manly men are complete assholes"?

Read the article. Maybe it wasn't just me.

1. Don't panic. One way they achieve their goals is to instill fear in the populace. Don't let them.

2. Lose the Die Hard fantasies. Yeah, there'd be a certain satisfaction if someone put these em-effers in the hospital, but that's what Trump wants.

3. Remember that these are a tiny handful of people who have to get by in a city that mostly hates them. They are still people. They're not ghostly wraiths that disappear after snatching someone. They still have to eat, sleep, and poop. They have faces and names and families. They drive cars with recognizable makes, models, and colors, and so far, license plates. (Not recommending this exactly, but those cars would get a whole lot more recognizable if somebody tagged 'em.)

4. There are way more of us than there are of them. We can, if we we are determined, turn nearly unlimited resources against them. Imagine you're one of these guys, knowing that if you lower your mask, even for a second, somewhere there are several of us patiently waiting with a long telephoto lens to snap a recognizable picture of you. Imagine when you eat or sleep there are workers who might be passing information on your whereabouts. Speaking of eating, do you feel a little queasy after that last meal? Oh, it's probably nothing, but still.

5. Work with your local politicians. Especially push them to pass the word on to the local PD that these people are felons and anyone who aids them is setting themselves up for a whole array of conspiracy charges.

6. Go about in groups. The Trumpstapos know very well that an encounter with ten or twenty people is a whole different animal than one with one or two. There will be multiple corroborating eyewitness accounts and quite likely multiple videos. Again, not recommending violence, but thugs are less likely to go up against a group as opposed to picking on stragglers.

7. Decide what you're going to do if one of your number is taken. Decide in advance if *you* are taken, if you want your face and identity splashed all over social media and tell your friends about that. Keep pictures of your friends on your devices so you can get them out there within minutes if needed.

8. Wear an outfit that's easily recognizable from several directions. If there's an incident, it could turn out to be enormously helpful if a bunch of eyewitnesses could all remember you as "that guy in the Spider-man shirt." Might not be a bad idea to have a plan to ditch the shirt if it comes to that.

The Constitution says:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors...

What if they don't? Does the EC voting proceed as if those states don't exist? Or, could one or more states throw sand in the gears by claiming they had to delay their elections?

Could this end up in the SCOTUS?

I was really happy that NY had gotten through Sundays with zero deaths from COVID-19. I was naive enough to think that everyone, regardless of their political outlook, would see that as good news.

Stupid me.

That just gave one Trumphole the opportunity to spout off and say that NY's policies had been useless, the pandemic had just run its course, and that's what would happen in all the states experiencing spikes, even without masks and isolation and shutdowns. I get it. Cuomo is the liberal enemy and the liberal enemy can't possibly have done something good. Trump is God and he couldn't have possibly done anything less than perfectly.

Of course, when the deaths go over a million, Hannity and Limbaugh will give them new canned lines to regurgitate. I really can't grasp the mentality of people who'd rather be smug now than be actually alive later.

...and is gathering as many of his loyal supporters as possible to be with him in the Fuhrerbunker so they can all go down spectacularly together.

Couldn't even make it to a third.

...to close any facility open to the public if it deems it to be a major health risk?

Also, what do BOK’s insurers have to say about this? I’ve heard that lawyers are saying that the waivers being signed by the attendees of Brother Don’s Travelin’ Con-tagion Show aren’t worth spit.

Bad me.

On edit: Wupps Saturday. Fixed it.

Chances are, some major insights would be gained.

I realized that anything I'd write probably would get deleted by the mods. Then I came around to the point of view that my hypothetical post probably should have been deleted.

Trump's retweet was full-on evil. Anyone who needs more convincing of that is as bad as he is.