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Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

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Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

Happy birthday to the blacklisted activist
Born November 3, 1987

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

August 2016

August 14 & August 20, 2016: injured San Francisco 49er quarterback Kaepernick goes unnoticed while sitting during the anthem. Kaepernick wasn’t in uniform and didn’t play during these first two games.

August 26, 2016: Kaepernick gained attention for his protest. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said.

August 28, 2016: Kaepernick met with the media two days after the game and for the first time since the protest gained national attention. He reiterated that he was acting to give a voice to people who didn’t have one.

“I’m going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change. When there’s significant change and I feel that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent, and this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand.”

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

September 2016

September 1, 2016: Kaepernick took a knee during the anthem and teammate Eric Reid joined him. This was the first time during his protest, Kaepernick wasn’t alone.

Also, Jeremy Lane of the Seattle Seahawks sits during the national anthem

Lane became the first non-teammate to join Kaepernick in protest. He sat on the bench prior to the national anthem in Oakland, just minutes after Kaepernick and Reid took a knee during the anthem in San Diego.

“I wasn’t trying to say anything. Just standing behind Kaepernick,” Lane said following the game. He added that he would keep doing it until he felt like justice was served. (FS & CK, see Sept 4)

September 4, 2016: National Women’s Soccer League Megan Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem in support of Colin Kaepernick. Before the NWSL match between the Seattle Reign and Chicago Red Stars, Rapinoe took a knee during the national anthem, while the rest of her teammates remained standing. She expressed solidarity with Kaepernick, saying that, as a gay American, she knows “what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties,” and that “it’s important to have white people stand in support of people of color on this.” (FS & CK, see Sept 9)

September 9, 2016: Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall took a knee during the national anthem at the NFL regular season opener.

Marshall became the first player to take a knee or sit during the anthem prior to a regular season game. He was a college teammate of Kaepernick at the University of Nevada. Like Kaepernick, Marshall said it was about social change.

“I’m not against the military. I’m not against the police or America,” Marshall said, according to the Denver Post. “I’m against social injustice.

September 11, 2016: NFL Seahawks, Dolphins, Chiefs and Patriots players demonstrated during nation anthem

The first Sunday of the NFL season took place on the 15th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. This made the national anthem ceremonies on that day particularly emotional. Four Dolphins players — running back Arian Foster, safety Michael Thomas, wide receiver Kenny Stills and linebacker Jelani Jenkins — took a knee during the anthem after standing up for a 9/11 acknowledgment.

After the game, Foster explained that he loves the country and the rights it affords him. He later tweeted “don’t let the love for a symbol overrule the love for your fellow human.”

No Seahawks players took a knee during the anthem, but the entire team did link arms as a way of honoring the flag and continuing the conversation that Kaepernick started.

The Kansas Chiefs locked arms before kickoff of their game with the San Diego Chargers. Cornerback Marcus Peters held up a fist, saying he supported Kaepernick’s efforts to raise awareness to the justice system.

Prior to Sunday Night Football, Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett and safety Devin McCourty also raised their fists after the national anthem.

September 12, 2016: Eric Reid kneels alongside Colin Kaepernick. 49ers teammates and Rams players raise their fists

Kaepernick maintained his protest, and was joined by several players set to take the field before Monday Night Football. As expected, safety Eric Reid knelt next to the quarterback during the national anthem, just as he did during the last week of the preseason. 49ers linebacker Eli Harold and safety Antoine Bethea stood, but with their fists raised in the air.

The 49ers players were joined by their opponents. Rams defensive end Robert Quinn (No. 94) and wide receiver Kenny Britt (No. 18) also stood with their fists in the air.

September 16, 2016: all of Garfield High School’s (Seattle) football players and coaches kneel during the national anthem.

Joined by a few players from the West Seattle Wildcats, Garfield High School’s football players and coaches kneeled during “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which head coach Joey Thomas said would continue for the rest of the season. Speaking with the Seattle Times, Thomas was candid about racial injustice and the team being compelled to protest the anthem, especially after players learned about the song’s racist third verse.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

September 16, 2016: twelve high school football players from Laguna Creek High School in Sacramento took a knee during the national anthem

According to the Sacramento Bee, a number of parents reportedly told the players to “stand up.” The Elk Grove School District announced in a statement that it would not discipline the students, saying that although it supports standing for the national anthem, it “respects and supports our students’ individual experiences and their right to exercise their freedom of speech and expression protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”

September 17, 2016: Howard University (Washington, DC) cheerleaders knelt during the national anthem

Before Howard took on Hampton University at the AT&T Nation’s Football Classic, Howard University’s cheerleaders took a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Howard’s players did not kneel, but raised their fists instead. (FS & CK, see Sept 18)

September 18, 2016: more San Francisco 49ers joined Kaepernick, Dolphins continued protest

Kaepernick’s teammates Antoine Bethea, Eli Harold, Jaquiski Tartt and Rashard Robinson joined in protesting during the national anthem by raising their right fists ahead of San Francisco’s game vs. the Carolina Panthers.

Meanwhile in Foxboro three of the same Miami Dolphins players continued their protest. Arian Foster, safety Michael Thomas and wide receiver Kenny Stills all kneeled during the anthem. (FS & CK, see Sept 19)

September 19, 2016: four Philadelphia Eagles raised their fists during the anthem

Prior to the game, Malcolm Jenkins said the Eagles would protest during the anthem. Jenkins was joined by Steven Means, Ron Brooks and Marcus Smith in raising a fist while standing during the anthem. (FS & CK, see Sept 20)

September 20, 2016: in support of Colin Kaepernick’s protest against racial injustice, several members of Oakland Unified School District’s Honor Band took a knee while playing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It happened toward the end of the song.

Band director Zack Pitt-Smith said he didn’t know until rehearsal that the band was going to kneel, saying that the idea originally came from a few students and eventually spread around. John Sasaki, a spokesperson for the school district, stated that the organization was “proud” of its students for making the decision to kneel:

“They knew that this was a controversial issue across our nation, and yet they decided to go ahead with their protest knowing it would not be well-received by some Americans.”

That evening, during his appearance on Conan, Marshawn Lynch was asked about his thoughts on Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem. Lynch said he’d rather see Kaepernick “take a knee than stand up, put his hands up, and get murdered.”

September 21, 2016: Cleveland Cavaliers player Iman Shumpert announced he would raise money for families impacted by police fatalities

On his Twitter and Instagram accounts, Shumpert announced that, for every steal he makes during the 2016-17 NBA season, he will donate money to organizations that aim to “improve the struggle between the badge and the citizen.” While showing support for Kaepernick, he also noted that he would not be kneeling during the national anthem, despite originally hinting at it in a song he released on Sept. 16 titled “His Story,” saying “I no longer believe taking a knee is the answer.”

September 21, 2016: in the Women’s National Basketball Association, the entire Indiana Fever team and two Phoenix Mercury players knelt during the national anthem

Before the first game of the WNBA playoffs, every player on the Indiana Fever locked arms and kneeled during the national anthem, while the Mercury’s Kelsey Bone and Mistie Bass joined them on the other side. Afterward, Fever coach Stephanie White told her team that she was “proud of y’all for doing that together.”

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

September 22, 2016: Time magazine featured Colin Kaepernick on its cover in its October 3 issue.

It featured Kaepernick kneeling in his full 49ers uniform. The issue included a cover story from Sean Gregory, where Kaepernick’s protest was a centerpiece in a larger conversation among athletes regarding sports activism and patriotism.

Also on September 22, Houston Texan’s Duane Brown raised a fist while standing during the national anthem

Brown didn’t play due to an injury, but did participate in the protest for the first time that season. He had been vocal about recent police shootings.

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

October/November 2016

October 1, 2016: in college football, before East Carolina took on the University of Central Florida, a few members of ECU’s band took a knee during the national anthem. People in the crowd noticed, and the response was split between students and alum.

When it came time for the band to perform at halftime, there were many boos directed at them.

ECU chancellor Cecil Staton issued a statement shortly after, saying that the school “respects the rights of our students, staff and faculty to express their personal views.” (see FS & CK, see Oct 4)

October 4, 2016: NBA’s  Rockets and Knicks opened the season joined arm in arm The Celtics also showed unity as a team, standing together with their arms crossed and heads down.

November 6, 2016: Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall decided to stand during the anthem again. Before the Broncos’ Sunday Night Football matchup against the Raiders, Marshall explained in an Instagram post why he would no longer kneel during the national anthem.

“I’m encouraged with the many productive discussions and progress that has taken place as the Denver Police department has decided to review its use of force policy, ” Marshall wrote. “I’m proud to have joined so many of my peers throughout sports who’ve also made their own statements.”

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

2017

March 1, 2017: the San Francisco 49ers announced that quarterback Colin Kaepernick opted out of the final season of his contract with the organization in order to become an unrestricted free agent.

August 12, 2017: in the NFL, Marshawn Lynch knelt after coming out of retirement. Lynch retired during the 2016 season, but returned to join the Oakland Raiders in the offseason. While he didn’t play in the team’s preseason opener, he made his thoughts on the last year’s events regarding Kaepernick clear by taking a sit on the bench during the playing of the National Anthem.

August 13, 2017: NFL Michael Bennett remained seated during the national anthem. The outspoken Bennett had expressed support for Kaepernick in the past, and as the Seahawks faced the Chargers in preseason action, he remained seated for the national anthem.

September 24, 2017: President Trump called for football fans to boycott N.F.L. games unless the league fired or suspended players who refused to stand for the national anthem, saying that players must “stop disrespecting our flag and country.”

“If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our country, you will see change take place fast,” Mr. Trump wrote.

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

October 2017

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

October 13, 2017: in an unusual and public call to arms, Russell Okung, a Los Angeles Chargers lineman, posted a letter on The Players’ Tribune urging the league’s 1,700 players to take a unified stand against pressure from N.F.L. team owners to curb demonstrations during the national anthem before games.

“We can either wait until we receive our respective marching orders, speak up individually, or find a way to collaborate, and exercise our agency as the lifeblood of the league,” Okung, wrote.

Okung’s nearly 900-word manifesto took N.F.L. owners to task for making decisions on anthem demonstrations, which had typically involved players kneeling or sitting during the anthem, without broadly consulting players. The demonstrations were originally intended to draw attention to racial inequality and police shootings of African-Americans.

October 15, 2017:  Kaepernick, who remained unemployed after the 2016 season in which he began the movement of players protesting during the national anthem, filed a grievance accusing NFL teams of improperly colluding to keep him out of the league.

Kaepernick reportedly retained an attorney to pursue the collusion claim and it will be Kaepernick’s outside legal representation and not the NFL Players Association primarily in charge of preparing and presenting his grievance.

The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league and the players’ union prohibits teams from conspiring to make decisions about signing a player. but the CBA also said the mere fact that a player was unsigned and evidence about the player’s qualifications to be on an NFL roster do not constitute proof of collusion.

October 16, 2017: President Trump reiterated that he wanted the National Football League to suspend players if they knelt during the pregame renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” saying the players were disrespecting the country.

October 17, 2017: National Football League officials announced that they would not seek commitments from its players to stop kneeling during pregame renditions of the U.S. national anthem.

“We spent today talking about the issues that our players have been trying to bring attention to. About issues in our communities to make our communities better,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters.

October 18, 2017: at the next day of the NFL meetings, NFL Houston Texan owner Robert McNair, in response to some players supporting Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling in 2016 with their own associated protests, said, ” “We can’t have the inmates running the prison,”

NFL executive Troy Vincent, a former player, later stood up and said he was offended by McNair’s characterization of the players as “inmates.” Vincent said that in all his years of playing in the NFL — during which, he said, he had been called every name in the book, including the N-word — he never felt like an “inmate.”

October 29, 2017: about 40 members of the Houston Texans knelt during the national anthem in protest of their team owner Robert McNair’s “inmates running the prison” remarks.

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

November /December 2017

November 1, 2017: Papa John’s Founder and CEO John Schnatter claimed that the NFL kneeling protests were costing the company lots of money. Papa John’s had been an official NFL sponsor since 2010, but has seen its stock drop 24 percent in 2017

Schnatter  blamed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Schnatter said, ““The NFL has hurt us by not resolving the current debacle to the players’ and owners’ satisfaction … The NFL has hurt Papa John’s shareholders.”

November 14, 2017: Pizza chain Papa John’s apologized for its CEO John Schnatter’s claim that protesting National Football League players had hurting profits.

On its official Twitter account Papa John’s  “sincerely” apologized “to anyone that thought they [Schnatter’s remarks] were divisive.” “That definitely was not our intention,” the company added.

Schnatter’s remarks also led to the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer to endorse Papa John’s as the official pizza of the self-proclaimed alt-right — an accolade the company rejected.

November 20, 2017:  President Donald Trump’s attack on black athletes continued as he tweeted criticizism of Oakland Raiders player Marshawn Lynch for sitting during “The Star-Spangled Banner” and then standing for Mexico’s national anthem. The Raiders were playing the New England Patriots in Mexico.

Trump’s tweet read in part: “Great disrespect! Next time NFL should suspend him for remainder of season. Attendance and ratings way down.”

November 23, 2017: Kaepernick went to Alcatraz Island to join Native Americans protesting the genocide they said  Thanksgiving Day represents to them.

Kaepernick made the surprise visit to the site of the former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary to join indigenous people who occupied the island off the coast of San Francisco between 1969 and 1971. There has been an annual sunrise gathering on the island since the takeover of Alcatraz to highlight the deadly, destructive impact on indigenous people of the arrival in America of European colonizers.

He received two eagle feathers from a Native American elder before delivering a brief speech at the UnThanksgiving Day event.“I’m very humbled to share this space with all of you,” he said. “Our fight is the same fight. We’re all fighting for our justice, for our freedom. And realizing that we’re in this fight together makes us all the more powerful.”

December 3, 2017: the ACLU of Southern California presented the Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award to Colin Kaepernick.

“Our next honoree took a stand. He took a stand knowing he would risk his job,” Southern California ACLU Executive Director Hector Villagra said. “And he has lost his job, one that he loved and was supremely talented and skilled at. He took a stand knowing that some would criticize him, and he has been viciously and unfairly criticized. He has been called a traitor, because too many people in this country confuse dissent for disloyalty. He took a stand knowing some would even threaten him, and he has had his life threatened, which is why, though we are profoundly honored to have him here, we didn’t publicize his presence tonight.”

Kaepernick raised a fist as he received a standing ovation.

December 4, 2017: Time magazine announced that Colin Kaepernick was a finalist for their Person of the Year award.

December 5, 2017: Kaepernick received the the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. According to its site, “The Legacy Award was created in 2008 to honor former athletes and sports figures who embody the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership and philanthropy as vehicles for changing the world.”

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

2018

January 23, 2018: Colin Kaepernick was named a finalist for an award honoring players for their community service work.

Kaepernick and four other players were announced as finalists for the NFL Players Association’s (NFLPA) Byron “Whizzer” White Community MVP award.

April 21, 2018: human rights organization Amnesty International  honored former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick with its Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2018, lauding his peaceful protests against racial inequality. The former San Francisco 49ers star was handed the award at a ceremony in Amsterdam by onetime teammate Eric Reid.

Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty called Kaepernick “an athlete who is now widely recognized for his activism because of his refusal to ignore or accept racial discrimination.”

May 23, 2018: the National Football League’s 32 owners decided to overhaul N.F.L. policy on protocol for the national anthem. At their two-day meeting in Atlanta, the owners said that the league would allow players to stay in the locker room during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but said that teams would be fined if players “do not stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem.”

Those teams can then punish players however they see fit.

July 10, 2018: the NFL players union filed a grievance over the league’s new requirement that players stand for the national anthem or wait in their dressing rooms, a policy that followed President Donald Trump’s denunciation of pregame protests.

The National Football League said on May 23 it would require any player who did not wish to stand during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games to stay off the field until the ceremony ended.

Before the league announced the new policy, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) had offered to discuss other ways to defuse tensions over the protests, which were prompted by a series of police killings of unarmed black men in Missouri, New York and other cities.

“The union’s claim is that this new policy, imposed by the NFL’s governing body without consultation with the NFLPA, is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and infringes on player rights,” the NFLPA said.

July 19, 2018: hours after The Associated Press reported that Miami Dolphins players who protest on the field during the anthem could be suspended for up to four games under a team policy issued, the NFL and the players union issued a joint statement saying the two sides were talking things out.

“The NFL and NFLPA, through recent discussions, have been working on a resolution to the anthem issue. In order to allow this constructive dialogue to continue, we have come to a standstill agreement on the NFLPA’s grievance and on the NFL’s anthem policy. No new rules relating to the anthem will be issued or enforced for the next several weeks while these confidential discussions are ongoing,”

August 30, 2018: arbitrator Stephen Burbank decided that NFL free agent Colin Kaepernick’s grievance alleging the league’s owners colluded to keep him out can go to trial.

September 3, 2018: Colin Kaepernick signed a new,  multiyear deal with Nike that made him a face of the 30th anniversary of the sports apparel company’s “Just Do It” campaign. The campaign featured his image with the words, “”Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything” over the image.

Nike would produce new Kaepernick apparel, including a shoe and a T-shirt.

Nike would also donate money to Kaepernick’s “Know Your Rights” campaign.

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/rihanna-super-bowl-halftime-show-colin-kaepernick-744650/

October 17, 2018: NFL owners announced that their national anthem conduct policy was no longer in effect.

Team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell signaled that message at the exit of the NFL’s annual fall meetings in New York when all the power brokers passed on revisiting punishment for forms of social protest by players. The league’s anthem conduct policy had been suspenced by team owners last July and hadn’t been brought back to the table since, despite a handful of players continuing to protest social and racial inequalities during the pregame ceremony.

After the NFL’s broadcast partners stopped showing the anthem on television and political rhetoric around the issue died down, the league passed on revisiting forms of punishment in what was billed as a meeting where any changes (if at all) could be made.

October 25, 2018: on line sales of Nike’s Colin Kaepernick t-shirt sold out in 7 hours.

November 1, 2018: Kayla Morris, of Antioch, California and a member of Gold Rush, the San Francisco 49ers cheerleader,  appeared to take a knee during the national anthem. It was the first time that an NFL cheerleader had done so.

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

2019

February 15, 2019: Colin Kaepernick reached a settlement over his collusion grievance against the National Football Leage. His attorneys, Mark Geragos, and Ben Meiselas and the NFL released a joint statement announcing that a settlement had been reached by the league and the former San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback and Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid, who filed a similar grievance.

February 27, 2019:  WINK TV reported that Charlotte County School District school authorities forced Alissa Perry, a Port Charlotte High School teacher, to take down a Black History Month poster she made because it featured former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

“Thank you all for participating in this,” said Perry.

Perry made a poster to celebrate Kaepernick for Black History Month, but the poster stirred up a different type of emotion in a lot of parents.

The District said the front office was getting too many phone calls asking for the poster to be taken down, but students said the school district cracked under pressure.

October 10, 2019: Trump supporters tossed 23-year-old Saul Eugene out of a Trump rally in Minneapolis. Eugene had worn a Colin Kaepernick shirt to a He also called th N- word. Eugene is white.

November 12, 2019: according to a copy of a memo to the league’s 32 teams that was reviewed by The New York Times, the NFL invited Colin Kaepernick to work out for teams on November 16 at the Atlanta Falcons’ facility so they could evaluate whether to sign him.

“Earlier this year, we discussed some possible steps with his representatives, and they recently emphasized his level of preparation and that he is ready to work out for clubs and be interviewed by them,” the memo said. “We have therefore arranged this opportunity for him to work out, and for all clubs to have the opportunity to evaluate his current readiness and level of interest in resuming his N.F.L. career.”

Workout moved

November 16, 2019: 30 minutes before its scheduled start, Colin Kaepernick changed the location of his planned NFL workout, moving the event to Drew High School in Riverdale, Georgia, roughly 60 miles away. In a statement after the workout, the free agent quarterback slammed the NFL for a lack of transparency.

Kaepernick’s agent Jeff Nalley told reporters that representatives from eight teams attended the event.

The NFL responded with a statement saying they are “disappointed that Colin did not appear for his workout.” According to the NFL’s statement, 25 teams had sent representatives to the original location. [CBS News article]

November 23, 2019: ESPN reported that in the week after Colin Kaepernick worked out for seven NFL teams at Charles R. Drew High School in Riverdale, Georgia, no teams reached out to work him out, visit with him or sign him

Kaepernick’s representatives also sent video of their client’s workout to the 25 NFL teams that did not attebd, but that did not led to any interest, either.

No Response

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

November 23, 2019: ESPN reported that in the week after Colin Kaepernick worked out for seven NFL teams at Charles R. Drew High School in Riverdale, Georgia, no teams reached out to work him out, visit with him or sign him

Kaepernick’s representatives also sent video of their client’s workout to the 25 NFL teams that did not attend, but that did not led to any interest, either.

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

Successful shoe release

December 23, 2019: Nike’s new Colin Kaepernick “True to 7” shoe  sold out on the first day of its North American release, according to the company’s website.

“This Air Force 1 season, Nike partnered with a collective of collaborators to design an AF1 that connects to their life personally. Colin was identified because we believe his voice and perspective inspire many generations on and off the field,” said a Nike spokesperson in an email.

The $110 black-and-white shoe sports an embroidered portrait of Kaepernick on the heel tab, reflective Swoosh and his personal logo on the tongue. [CNBC article]

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

2020

Drew Brees

June 3, 2020: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said in an interview that he would never agree with N.F.L. players who knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality, and he was immediately condemned.

Drew Brees walks back

June 4, 2020: a host of players, including some of Drew Brees’s teammates, responded with statements of their own, calling Brees’s comments hurtful and criticizing him for ignorance of or callousness to the struggles of African-Americans.

“Drew Brees, you don’t understand how hurtful, how insensitive your comments are,” Malcolm Jenkins, Brees’s teammate, said in a video posted to Twitter. “I’m disappointed, I’m hurt, because while the world tells you, ‘You are not worthy,’ that your life doesn’t matter, the last place you want to hear it from are the guys you go to war with and that you consider to be your allies and your friends.

“Even though we are teammates, I can’t let this slide.”

Later that day, Brees walked back his position in a post on Instagram, saying his earlier comments were “insensitive and completely missed the mark.” Brees also asked for forgiveness and said that he took full responsibility for his words.

“I recognize that I should do less talking and more listening … and when the black community is talking about their pain, we all need to listen,” he wrote.

President Trump, who had praised Bree’s first comment, criticized Bree’s retraction.[NYT article]

Roger Goodell support

June 5, 2020: though not mentioning Colin Kaepernick by name,  NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, issued his strongest support yet for the players seeking to fight racism and police brutality.

In a swift response to a video montage featuring star players asking the league to address systemic racism, Goodell said he apologized for not listening to the concerns of African-American players earlier and said he supports the players’ right to protest peacefully.

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

Docuseries

July 6, 2020: Colin Kaepernick’s production arm, Ra Vision Media, and Disney announced that Colin Kaepernick would be featured in an exclusive docuseries produced by ESPN Films as part of a first-look deal with The Walt Disney Co

The partnership would focus on telling scripted and unscripted stories that explore race, social injustice and the quest for equity. It also will provide a platform to showcase the work of minority directors and producers.

“I am excited to announce this historic partnership with Disney across all of its platforms to elevate Black and Brown directors, creators, storytellers, and producers, and to inspire the youth with compelling and authentic perspectives,” Kaepernick said in a statement. “I look forward to sharing the docuseries on my life story, in addition to many other culturally impactful projects we are developing.” [ESPN article]

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

#StillReady

November 23, 2020: for the first time in the National Football League’s history, the seven-man crew officiating the Monday Night Football game between the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were Black.

However, on the same day the Colin Kaepernick tweeted out a video of himself training with former San Francisco 49ers teammate Eric Reid, along with the caption: “1,363 days of being denied employment. Still putting in work with @E_Reid35 Still going hard 5 days a week. #StillReady #StopRunning.” [CNN story]

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted

Colin Kaepernick/Ben & Jerry’s

December 17, 2020: Vermont ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s honored Colin Kaepernick with a new flavor blending his civil rights activism and non-dairy, vegan appetite.

“Change the Whirled” — a mix of caramel sunflower butter, fudge chips, graham crackers and chocolate cookies — would raise money for Kaepernick’s “courageous work to confront systemic oppression and to stop police violence against Black and Brown people,” the company said in a statement. [VTDigger story]

February 24, 2022: Colin Kaepernick announced the start of a new initiative to offer free second autopsies to family members of anyone whose death is “police-related.”

The Autopsy Initiative, offered through Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp organization, would provide free, secondary autopsies conducted by board-certified pathologists who would  disclose the preliminary findings and issue the final autopsy reports to families. [NPR article]

Activist Colin Kaepernick Blacklisted
Peace Love Art and Activism

Defeated Trump Denies

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Defeated Trump Denies

Since 1845, Election Day in the United States has been the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. In the year 2020 that day was November 3. We didn’t know results at the end of that day and we would not know results for nearly a week…

Final presidential vote totals would be:
Joe Biden: 81,268,867 (51.3%)…306 electoral votes.
Donald Trump: 74,216,747  (46.8%)…232 electoral votes.
We first had to sludge through many days of dissent and denial…

Tuesday 3 November

November 3, 2020: there were thousands of names on ballots all over the United States, but there were really only two: Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Millions had already voted. Some in person and some by mail.

On Tuesday night there were still several key states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, that could not yet complete their count. “Too close to call” became the catchphrase.

Joe Biden asked voter for patience. Donald Trump predicted victory in States where he was ahead, but where thousands of mail in ballots were yet to be counted. Historic numbers of Americans had voted by mail in because of the ongoing COVID pandemic and some States using that method nearly exclusively.

Many more Democrats than Republicans had used the mail. President Trump himself may have been responsible as he had posted more than 70 tweets casting doubt on mail-in voting, referencing voter fraud or “rigged” elections since April. Trump himself had, in the past, used mail-in or absentee ballots.

A Lie Well-stuck to is as Good as the Truth
Defeated Trump Denies

Wednesday 4 November

By Wednesday, the situation was similar. The leads that Trump held in some States dwindled as those mail in ballots were counted. Trump promoted the false notion that those ballots were invalid because election day had already ended. Pennsylvania, a key state, had ruled before Election Day that no mail in ballots could be counted until after Election Day.

Defeated Trump Denies

Thursday 5 November

On November 5, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Trump campaign to stop vote-counting in Pennsylvania. The Trump campaign had alleged that its observers were not given access to observe the vote, but its lawyers admitted during the hearing that its observers were already present in the vote-counting room.

On the same day, Judge James Bass,  Georgia judge,  dismissed a lawsuit by Trump’s campaign that alleged dozens of late ballots were mingled with on-time ballots in Georgia.

“The court finds there is no evidence that the ballots referenced in the petition were received after 7 p.m. on Election Day, thereby making those ballots invalid,” Bass said in a ruling.

The same day, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens dismissed a Trump campaign’s lawsuit requesting a pause in vote-counting to allow access to observers. The judge noted that vote-counting had already finished in Michigan and also noted that the official complaint did not state “why”, “when, where, or by whom” an election observer was allegedly blocked from observing ballot-counting in Michigan.

Defeated Trump Denies

Friday 6 November

Although some State regulations required that mail in ballots be received by Election Day itself, some States allowed a longer period. Such States included Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Though counting continued, Joe Biden’s overtook Trump in both Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Though ahead, the Biden’s narrow margin of victory in Georgia automatically requires a recount.

Defeated Trump Denies

Saturday 7 November

The Associated Press, Fox News, and the other major networks call Pennsylvania for Biden, thus putting him above the required 270 electoral votes. Celebrations spontaneously erupt in various “blue” areas, but Trump supporters protest in front of various state capitol buildings across the country.

At the time, Trump was playing golf and later refused to concede. At the same time, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani held a press conference in the parking lot of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a business in Philadelphia. Giuliani announced the president’s intention to litigate over claims of voter fraud.

Defeated Trump Denies

Sunday 8 November

Although the nonpartisan Center for Presidential  Transition released a statement urging Trump to let the transition proceed, Emily W. Murphy, administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), refused to sign a letter allowing Biden’s transition team to formally begin work.

On Twitter, Trump continued to hype his claims of election fraud. He sent 25 tweets with links to right-wing media supporting him or rumors about the count in some states — many of which were flagged by the platform as disputed.

Defeated Trump Denies

Monday 9 November

President-elect Biden states at a press conference: This election is over. It’s time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric that is designed to demonize one another.

Trump continued to file challenging lawsuits in various key States.

Defeated Trump Denies

A Week Later…

Tuesday 10 November

Trump continued his refusal to concede and continued to unsuccessfully challenge the results. Biden said that Trump’s refusal is “an embarrassment, quite frankly … At the end of the day, you know, it’s all going to come to fruition on January 20”

The New York Times reported that it had contacted the offices of the top election officials in at least 45 states and not one of them suspected or had evidence of voting fraud.

The Nevada Supreme Court dismissed the Trump campaign’s appeal challenging Clark County, Nevada’s election processes, ruling that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joked in a press conference about preparing for a “second Trump administration,” for which he was later praised by the president.

Thursday 12 November

Two coalitions of federal and state election officials, the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council, issued a joint statement saying, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

The Trump administration prevented President-elect Biden from receiving messages from foreign leaders according to State Department officials familiar with the messages.

Friday 13 November

The Third Circuit Court in Wayne County, Michigan rejected a petition by two Republican poll challengers seeking to stop the county’s vote certification, alleging fraud by poll workers. The court ruled that the plaintiffs’ “interpretation” of the events were “incorrect and not credible” and “decidedly contradicted” an election expert that was put forth by the defense.

Seven days after Biden’s win was confirmed , he still did not have access to the Presidential Daily Brief — the highest level of security information–as he was supposed to.

Sunday 15 November

In a series of tweets, Trump stated that Biden “won because the Election was Rigged”, referencing an unproven conspiracy theory held by right wing groups alleging that voter tabulation machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems had been compromised, resulting in millions of votes for Trump being deleted or switched to Biden. Trump further tweeted that Biden “only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go.”

Defeated Trump Denies

Two Weeks Later

Tuesday 17 November

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court delivered a 5-2 decision against Trump’s lawsuit alleging that its poll observers were unlawfully restricted from inspecting the counting in Philadelphia.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that an audit of Georgia’s voting machines had found no evidence of tampering.

The Trump campaign filed a new lawsuit in the Nevada First Judicial District Court alleging that “fraud and abuse renders the purported results of the Nevada election illegitimate” and thus either Trump “be declared the winner of the Election in Nevada” or that the results be annulled and no Nevada winner certified.

Wednesday 18 November

The Trump campaign filed a third version of its federal lawsuit over the Pennsylvania results, claiming that 1.5 million mail-in or absentee votes in seven counties should be thrown out and thus either he should be named the winner in Pennsylvania or the Pennsylvania Legislature should be given the authority to appoint presidential electors pledged to Trump.

Thursday 19 November

The Maricopa County Superior Court dismissed the Arizona Republican Party’s lawsuit seeking to order an audit of the county’s ballots.

US District Judge Steven D. Grimberg dismissed the Trump campaign’s lawsuit seeking to delay the certification of Georgia’s election results, ruling, “It is well established that garden-variety election disputes do not rise to the level of a constitutional deprivation. The fact that [Trump] didn’t win doesn’t rise to the level of harm“.

Friday 20 November

Nevada District Court Judge Gloria Sturman dismissed a lawsuit brought by conservative activist Sharron Angle and her organization, the Election Integrity Project seeking to nullify the entire Nevada November election, not just the presidential results. Sturman noted in her ruling that “if the election was thrown out there would be no one holding office, including me”

Saturday 21 November

US District Judge Matthew W. Brann dismissed the Trump’s campaign lawsuit seeking to block the certification of the Pennsylvania results, ruling that the president’s legal team merely presented “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations” that were “unsupported by evidence.”

Sunday 22 November

Michael Steel, a spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems, defended the company’s voting machines during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, saying, “It is not physically possible for our machines to switch votes from one candidate to the other.”

Trump appealed to the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn Judge Brann’s previous day ruling and block the certification of the Pennsylvania results.

Three Weeks Later

Tuesday 24 November

President Trump, Emily Murphy, and the GSA reversed course and formally allowed Biden’s transition team to have access to the required federal resources.

Minnesota, Nevada, and Pennsylvania certify their respective election results, with Biden as the official winner in all three states

Thanksgiving 26 November

During a Thanksgiving Day press conference, his first such presser since the election, Trump admitted that he would leave the White House if Biden were officially declared the winner of Electoral College, but added, “If they do, they made a mistake … It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede“.

Friday 27 November

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump campaign’s challenge to the Pennsylvania election results, ruling that the “campaign’s claims have no merit … Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here”.

The recount in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin ended with Biden getting a net increase of 132 votes.

Monday 30 November

Arizona and Wisconsin certified their respective election results, with Biden as the official winner in both states

Defeated Trump Denies

December 2020

A month later

Tuesday 1 December: the Trump campaign filed a new lawsuit in the Wisconsin Supreme Court seeking to overturn the state’s certified election results.

In an interview with the Associated Press, US Attorney General William Barr stated that the Department of Justice  had not found any evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the election.

Wednesday 2 December

Trump posted a pre-recorded video address on Facebook, repeating his allegations of voter fraud.

Thursday 3 December

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch bid by Republican challengers to halt further action on the certification of the state’s election results.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s latest lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s certified election results, stating that the case needed to go through state’s lower courts first. (see Dec 14 below)

Friday 4 December

The Michigan Court of Appeals rejected the Trump campaign’s appeal to overturn a lower court’s previous decision, ruling that “the only valid recourse at the time would have been to request a recount, but the window to do so had passed … Because plaintiff failed to follow the clear law in Michigan relative to such matters, their action is moot.”

The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of Minnesota Republicans seeking to stop the certification of the state’s election results and order a full recount. The ruling cited the late filing of the petition on November 24, just hours before the elections results were officially certified, and that two of their key arguments regarded events and policies that took place before early voting began on September 18.

With California certifying its election results, Biden officially clinched enough pledged electors needed for the December 14 Electoral College vote to capture the presidency.

Monday 7 December

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger officially re-certified Georgia’s election results following the second state recount completed during the previous week, still showing Biden winning the state.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in order to invalidate the presidential election results in those states; the lawsuit, Texas v. Pennsylvania, is filed with the U.S. Supreme Court .

Defeated Trump Denies

Five Weeks Later

Tuesday 8 December

The Nevada Supreme Court unanimously ruled to dismiss the Trump’s campaign’s appeal seeking to overturn the state’s election results, affirming the Nevada First Judicial District Court’s ruling that they failed to identify any direct “unsupported factual findings”

Wednesday 9 December

U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa tossed out a lawsuit by Arizona voters, the last one against the state’s election results, citing “baseless claims.”

“Plaintiffs append over 300 pages of attachments, which are only impressive for their volume,” Humetewa said. “The various affidavits and expert reports are largely based on anonymous witnesses, hearsay, and irrelevant analysis of unrelated elections.”

U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper dismissed  Trump team attorney Sidney Powell’s lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission, stating that the “federal court has no authority or jurisdiction to grant the relief the remaining plaintiff seeks.”

Friday 11 December

The U.S. Supreme Court issued an unsigned order declining to hear Texas v. Pennsylvania on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article Three of the Constitution: “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections“. Justice Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, partially dissents, writing that the Court was duty-bound to hear the case, referencing Arizona v. California: “I would therefore grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but would not grant other relief, and I express no view on any other issue.”

Saturday 12 December

U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig dismissed the Trump campaign’s lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission, ruling that the allegations “fail as a matter of law and fact.”

Trump supporters held rallies in Washington, D.C. in front of the Supreme Court, the Capitol, and the Department of Justice.

Sunday 13 December

In an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday and was taped on December 12,  President Trump said, “It’s not over. We keep going.  And we’re going to continue to go forward.”

Defeated Trump Denies

Six Weeks Later

Monday 14 December
Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Supreme Court denied President Trump’s attempt to invalidate more than 200,000 votes in the state’s two biggest Democratic bastions for the second time this month.

The ruling ends the president’s efforts to overturn the result of the election just hours before the Electoral College is set to cast the state’s 10 votes for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

In a 4-3 decision, the conservative-leaning court rejected the Trump campaign’s attempt to throw out votes in Milwaukee County and Dane County, which includes Madison.

Electoral College

Defeated Trump Denies

December 14: the NY Times reported that Joseph R. Biden Jr. was affirmed as the president-elect as members of the Electoral College pushed him past the 270 threshold to win the White House, all but ending a disruptive chapter in American history in which President Trump sought to use legal challenges and political pressure to overturn the results of a free and fair election.

Russia

The president-elect passed the threshold after California cast its 55 votes for Biden, capping a day marked by heightened security in battleground states and an unusual level of scrutiny for what is normally a formal, procedural affair.

December 15: NPR reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had congratulated Joe Biden on his win in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, becoming one of the last world leaders to do so.

“For my part, I am ready for interaction and contacts with you,” Putin said in his message to Biden, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

December 28, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden that his transition team had encountered “roadblocks” from political leaders at both the Defense Department and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and called on the Trump administration to provide more information to avoid hiccups that adversaries could take advantage of during the transfer of power.

“My team needs a clear picture of our force posture around the world and our operations to deter our enemies,” Biden said in remarks following a meeting with national security and foreign policy advisers in Wilmington, Del. “We need full visibility into the budget planning underway at the Defense Department and other agencies in order to avoid any window of confusion or catch-up that our adversaries may try to exploit.”

“We have encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the department of defense and the Office of Management and Budget. Right now, we just aren’t getting all of the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas,” he continued. “It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.” [The Hill article]

Defeated Trump Denies

2021

Friday 1 January

Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle of the Eastern District of Texas dismissed a lawsuit led by President Trump’s allies in Congress that aimed to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the election, dealing a blow to lawmakers’ last-ditch effort to challenge President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.

Kernodle ruled that Republican lawmakers, led by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, lacked the proper standing to sue Mr. Pence in the matter. The lawsuit challenged the more than century-old law that governs the Electoral College process, in an attempt to expand an otherwise ceremonial role into one with the power to reject electoral votes that were cast for Mr. Biden. [NYT article]

Saturday 3 January

Vice President Mike Pence signaled support for a futile Republican bid to overturn the election in Congress on January 5, after 11 Republican senators and senators-elect said that they would vote to reject President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory when the House and Senate met to formally certify it.

The announcement by the senators — and Pence’s move to endorse it — reflected a groundswell among Republicans to defy the unambiguous results of the election and indulge President Trump’s attempts to remain in power with false claims of voting fraud.

Every state in the country had certified the election results after verifying their accuracy, many following postelection audits or hand counts. Judges across the country, and a Supreme Court with a conservative majority, had rejected nearly 60 attempts by Trump and his allies to challenge the results. [NYT article]

Defeated Trump Denies
Sunday 3 January 
Trump asks to “find” some votes

President Trump demanded that Georgia’s Republican secretary of state “find” him enough votes to overturn the presidential election, and vaguely threatened him with “a criminal offense,” during an hourlong telephone conversation with him on Saturday, according to audio excerpts from the conversation.

Mr. Trump, who had spent almost nine weeks making false conspiracy claims about his loss to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., told Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, that Mr. Raffensperger should recalculate the vote count so Mr. Trump would win the state’s 16 electoral votes.

“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Mr. Trump said on the call, a recording of which was obtained by The Washington Post, which published excerpts from the audio on its website Sunday. “Because we won the state.”

President Trump demanded that Georgia’s Republican secretary of state “find” him enough votes to overturn the presidential election, and vaguely threatened him with “a criminal offense,” during an hourlong telephone conversation with him on Saturday, according to audio excerpts from the conversation.

Mr. Trump, who has spent almost nine weeks making false conspiracy claims about his loss to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., told Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, that Mr. Raffensperger should recalculate the vote count so Mr. Trump would win the state’s 16 electoral votes.

“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Mr. Trump said on the call, a recording of which was obtained by The Washington Post, “Because we won the state.” [NYT article]

US defense secretaries

All 10 living former US defense secretaries declared that the US presidential election is over in a forceful public letter published in The Washington Post as President Donald Trump continued to deny his election loss to Joe Biden.

The letter — signed by Dick Cheney, James Mattis, Mark Esper, Leon Panetta, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Robert Gates, William Perry and Ashton Carter — amounted to a remarkable show of force against Trump’s subversion efforts just days before Congress was set to count Electoral College votes.
“Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived,” the group wrote. [CNN article]
Defeated Trump Denies

Nine Weeks Later

January 6 Insurrection

January 6, 2021: on the day that the joint Houses of Congress convened to confirm the election of Joe Biden, a mob of President Trump’s supporters surged into the U.S. Capitol with relative ease.

Armed with pro-Trump banners, the rioters far outnumbered and swiftly overwhelmed the U.S. Capitol Police as they charged up the steps, smashed windows, broke into the Senate chamber and occupied offices, including the one belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

More than 50 people were arrested, at least a dozen police were injured, and officers confiscated guns, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails. [NPR story]

January 7, the day after

Ending a day of public silence, Trump posted a 2½-minute video on Twitter denouncing the mob attack in a way that he had refused to do a day earlier. Reading dutifully from a script prepared by his staff, he declared himself “outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem” and told those who broke the law that “you will pay.”

While he did not give up his false claims of election fraud, he finally conceded defeat. “A new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.”

Trump initially resisted taping the video, agreeing to do it only after aides pressed him and he appeared to suddenly realize he could face legal risk for prodding the mob, coming shortly after the chief federal prosecutor for Washington left open the possibility of investigating the president for illegally inciting the attack by telling supporters to march on the Capitol and show strength. [NYT article]

Resignations

Following the insurrection, several Trump administration officials announced that they were resigning

Defeated Trump Denies

Social Media Blowback

By January 11, several major social media platforms banned or restricted Donald Trump:

  • Reddit: banned the subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump,
  • Twitch: disabled Trump’s channel, citing the move as a “necessary step” to protect its community and “prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence.”
  • Shopify: ook down two online stores affiliated with Trump — his organization and his campaign’s merchandise sites — for violating its policies on supporting violence.
  • Twitter: announced  the platform will permanently ban President Trump’s account effective immediately.
  • Google: pulled Parler, a social media app for conservatives and far-right extremists.
  • YouTube: accelerated its enforcement of election misinformation and voter fraud claims against Trump and other channels. 
  • Facebook & Instagram:  banned Donald Trump from posting on his Facebook accounts for at least two weeks until the transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden was complete.
  • Snapchat: disabled Trump’s Snapchat account because it believed the account promoted and spread hate and incited violence.
  • Tictok: removed content violations and redirected hashtags like #stormthecapitol and #patriotparty to its community guidelines.
  • Apple: threatened to remove right-wing-friendly social media app Parler from its App Store if Parler did not lay out a plan to moderate its content.
  • Discord: banned server The Donald
  • Pinterest: had been limiting hashtags related to pro-Trump topics such as #StopTheSteal since around the November election.
  • Stripe: would no longer process payments for President Trump’s campaign, which continued to fundraise.

Political Contribution Blowback

According to the DealBook newsletter, a number of companies reviewed political contributions via their corporate political action committees, a

  • Morgan Stanley suspended all PAC contributions to members of Congress who did not vote to certify the results of the Electoral College, a spokesman said.

  • Marriott said it would pause donations from its PAC “to those who voted against certification of the election,” a spokeswoman told DealBook. She did not say how long the break would last or how the hotel chain would decide when to resume donations.

  • The chemicals giant Dow said it was suspending all PAC contributions “to any member of Congress who voted to object to the certification of the presidential election.” The suspension will last for one election cycle — two years for representatives and up to six years for senators.

  • Shopify terminated online stores affiliated with President Trump. “Based on recent events, we have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause,” the company said in a statement.

  • Hallmark requested the return of campaign contributions its PAC made to Senators Josh Hawley Missouri and Roger Marshall of Kansas, both of whom voted against certifying the presidential election results. “Hallmark believes the peaceful transition of power is part of the bedrock of our democratic system, and we abhor violence of any kind,” the company said in a statement. “The recent actions of Senators Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall do not reflect our company’s values.”

Blue Cross Blue Shield, Boston Scientific and Commerce Bancshares are taking a similar, targeted approach to donation freezes. The newsletter Popular Information tracked  the responses of these and other companies that donated to lawmakers who challenged the election result. [NYT article]

Defeated Trump Denies

More Court Refusals

Monday 11 January: in a series of unsigned orders, the Supreme Court refused requests from President Trump and his allies to expedite consideration of various challenges to the results of the presidential election. The court would consider whether to hear the cases in the ordinary course in the next month or two, but the orders in effect made the challenges moot.

As is the court’s custom, the orders gave no reasons. There were no dissents noted.

Trump had hoped that the court, which included three of his appointees, would overturn the results of the election. But the court, notably in a terse order rejecting an audacious lawsuit in which Texas sought to sue four other states, has consistently rejected the requests. [NYT article]

Defeated Trump Denies

Wednesday 10 January 2021

Defeated Trump Denies

Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia initiated a criminal investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn Georgia’s election results, including a phone call he made to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Mr. Trump pressured him to “find” enough votes to help him reverse his loss.

fani Willis, the recently elected Democratic prosecutor in Fulton County, sent a letter to numerous officials in state government, including Mr. Raffensperger, requesting that they preserve documents related to Trump’s call, according to a state official with knowledge of the letter. The letter explicitly stated that the request was part of a criminal investigation, said the official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The inquiry cames as Trump faced a his second impeachment trial. [NYT article]

Defeated Trump Denies

Seizing Voting Machines

February 1, 2022: the NY Times reported that “…six weeks after Election Day, with his hold on power slipping, President Donald J. Trump directed his lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to make a remarkable call. Mr. Trump wanted him to ask the Department of Homeland Security if it could legally take control of voting machines in key swing states, three people familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Giuliani did so, calling the department’s acting deputy secretary, who said he lacked the authority to audit or impound the machines.”

Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, Defeated Trump Denies, 

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November 2020 COVID 19

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November 2020 COVID 19

November 2020 COVID 19

November 2020 COVID 19

November 2: Dr. Deborah L. Birx, who had carefully straddled the line between science and politics as she helped lead the Trump administration’s coronavirus response, delivered a stark private warning telling White House officials that the pandemic was entering a new and “deadly phase” that demanded a more aggressive approach.

The warning, contained in a private memo to White House officials as the nation’s daily coronavirus caseload had broken records and approached 100,000, amounted to a direct contradiction of President Trump’s repeated — and inaccurate — assertions that the pandemic is “rounding the corner.”

In the memo, Dr. Birx suggested that Mr. Trump and his advisers were spending too much time focusing on preventing lockdowns and not enough time on controlling the virus. [NYT article]

1,213,324 COVID Deaths Worldwide

November 3: 47,434,036 case worldwide; 1,213,324 deaths worldwide

237,009 COVID Deaths USA

November 3:  9,568,275 cases in the USA; 237,009 deaths in the USA.

November 2020 COVID 19
COVID Advisory Panel

November 9: President-elect Joe Biden named Dr. Rick Bright, a former top vaccine official in the Trump administration who submitted a whistle-blower complaint to Congress, as a member of a Covid-19 panel to advise him during the transition.

Biden had already revealed the three co-chairs of the panel: Dr. Vivek Murthy, a surgeon general under former President Barack Obama, who has been a key Biden adviser for months and is expected to take a major public role; David Kessler, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration for the first President George Bush and President Bill Clinton; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of public health at Yale University.

The panel also included Dr. Zeke Emanuel, an oncologist and the chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Emanuel is the brother of Rahm Emanuel, who served in the Obama administration, and has been a high-profile advocate of a more aggressive approach to the virus; Dr. Luciana Borio, a vice president at In-Q-Tel; Dr. Atul Gawande, a professor of surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Dr. Celine Gounder, a clinical assistant professor at the N.Y.U. Grossman School of Medicine; Dr. Julie Morita, the executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota; Loyce Pace, the executive director and president of Global Health Council; Dr. Robert Rodriguez and Dr. Eric Goosby, both professors at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

Vaccine progress

November 9: drug maker Pfizer announced that an early analysis of its coronavirus vaccine trial suggested the vaccine was robustly effective in preventing Covid-19

Eli Lilly

November 9: the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization of a Covid-19 antibody treatment made by Eli Lilly that is similar to a therapy given to President Trump shortly after he contracted the coronavirus.

The decision, announced by the agency, was likely to be seen as a valuable tool to treat patients with Covid-19 at a time when the pandemic was raging across the United States, hospitals were overwhelmed and doctors had few options to treat the disease. [NYT article]

1,213,324 COVID Deaths Worldwide

November 9: 51,041,400 case worldwide; 1,266,079 deaths worldwide

243,857 COVID Deaths USA

November 9:  10,319,131 cases in the USA; 243,825 deaths in the USA.

November 2020 COVID 19

Frightening New Highs

November 12: Covid-19 hospitalizations in the United States hit an all-time high of 61,964 and new daily cases passed 139,000 for the first time, as the raging pandemic continued to shatter record after record and strain medical facilities.

The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus, tallied by the Covid Tracking Project, had more than doubled since September, and exceeded the peak reached early in the pandemic, when 59,940 hospitalized patients were reported on April 15. A second peak in the summer fell just short of matching that record.

Those spikes in April and July lasted only a few days and quickly subsided, but as winter approaches experts did not expect that this time. [NYT story]

November 2020 COVID 19

1,304,938 COVID Deaths Worldwide

November 13: 53,467,371 case worldwide; 1,304,938 deaths worldwide

248,835 COVID Deaths USA

November 13:  10,918,789 cases in the USA; 248,835 deaths in the USA.

November 2020 COVID 19

November 16: the New York Times reported that drugmaker Moderna announced that its coronavirus vaccine was 94.5 percent effective, based on an early look at the results from its large, continuing study.

Researchers said the results were better than they had dared to imagine. But the vaccine will not be widely available for months, probably not until spring.

November 2020 COVID 19

1,326,589 COVID Deaths Worldwide

November 16: 54,953,213 case worldwide; 1,326,589 deaths worldwide

251,901 COVID Deaths USA

November 16:  11,367,214 cases in the USA; 251,901 deaths in the USA.

November 2020 COVID 19

November 18: NPR News announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved the first COVID-19 diagnostic at-home self-test provided rapid results.

The Lucira COVID-19 All-In-One Test Kit was a molecular single-use test the company said on its website.

“While COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been authorized for at-home collection, this is the first that can be fully self-administered and provide results at home,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement.

November 2020 COVID 19

November 21: as cases across the country continued to rise, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization for the experimental antibody treatment given to President Trump shortly after he had tested positive for the coronavirus, giving doctors another option to treat patients

The treatment, made by the biotech company Regeneron, was a cocktail of two powerful antibodies that had shown promise in early studies at keeping the infection in check, reducing medical visits for patients who get the drug early in the course of their disease.

On November 9, the FDA had given emergency approval to Eli Lilly for a similar treatment. [NYT article]

1,326,589 COVID Deaths Worldwide

November 22: 58,764,574 case worldwide; 1,390,454 deaths worldwide

261,932 COVID Deaths USA

November 22:  12,471,316 cases in the USA; 261,932 deaths in the USA.

November 2020 COVID 19

> One Million

November 25: for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak hit the United States, the country added more than one million cases in each of the past two consecutive weeks. Covid deaths, which lag reported cases by weeks, were also at a level not seen since the spring.

Some epidemiologists projected that the number of deaths in the coming weeks would exceed the spring peak, in spite of improved treatment. [NYT article]

November 2020 COVID 19

1,417,840 COVID Deaths Worldwide

November 25: 60,240,006 case worldwide; 1,417,840 deaths worldwide

265,986 COVID Deaths USA

November 25:  12,958,805 cases in the USA; 265,986 deaths in the USA.

November 2020 COVID 19

Previous and subsequent COVID-19 posts