therealnews--2020-09-11--Why are we just hearing evidence Trump knew dangers of COVID now?

President Donald Trump admitted to downplaying the dangers of the coronavirus pandemic despite having evidence to the contrary , newly published interviews with noted investigative journalist Bob Woodward revealed .
According to the interviews , Trump knew the virus was dangerous in January .
“ It goes through the air , ” Trump said during a Feb. 7 interview with Woodward .
“ That ’ s always tougher than the touch .
You don ’ t have to touch things .
Right ?
But the air , you just breathe the air and that ’ s how it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deadly than even your strenuous flus.
” At a White House press briefing on Thursday , Sept. 10 , Trump was confronted over his lies .
“ Why did you lie to the American people ?
And why should we trust what you have to say now ?
” asked ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl .
“ I didn ’ t lie , what I said was we had to be calm , we can ’ t be panicked , ” Trump responded .
He was then asked whether he would stop downplaying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t want to jump up and down and scream ‘ death , ’ because that ’ s not what it ’ s about , ” Trump said .
There have been more than 190,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States while Trump and his campaign push conspiracy theories that the 2020 elections are being rigged against him and Antifa is coming to the suburbs .
Despite knowing about the threat back in January , Trump diminished the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak , pushed states to reopen quickly , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social distancing guidelines .
A week after the Feb. 7 interview , Trump said at a White House briefing that the number of U.S. coronavirus cases “ within a couple days is going to be down close to zero.
” On Feb. 28 , Trump referred to coronavirus as Democrats ’ “ new hoax.
” Spreading fear and panic over exaggerated or invented threats has been a hallmark of Trump ’ s presidency .
Eight minutes after tweeting on Thursday morning that his public comments about COVID-19 were to maintain “ calm , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballots were a “ total fraud in the making.
” Trump has claimed , without evidence , that absentee ballots were “ rigged ” against him , and said he may not accept the election results if he loses .
One hour later , Trump again tweeted the baseless conspiracy theory that Democrats will allow suburbs to be overrun by “ anarchists ” and “ protesters.
” Later in Thursday ’ s press conference Trump said , “ If Bob Woodward thought it was bad he should have immediately gone out publicly , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ widely criticized for not publishing Trump ’ s comments when they were recorded , or when Trump ’ s public comments contradicted what he ’ d told Woodward in interviews , but instead waiting to release them with his upcoming book .
As a pandemic raged and Trump continued to mislead the public about its dangers , Woodward continued reporting .
Woodward said in an interview with The Washington Post that he didn ’ t have an agreement to withhold Trump ’ s comments until the publication of his book .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he said , but as far as promising not to publish in real time , or signing such an agreement , “ I don ’ t do that.
” Woodward said his aim was to provide a fuller context than could occur in a news story : “ I knew I could tell the second draft of history , and I knew I could tell it before the election.
” 60 Minutes correspondent Wesley Lowery responded : “ When the president of the United States is publicly underplaying the seriousness of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people to go to rallies/reopen businesses , while only privately acknowledging how deadly the virus is , the potential urgency to report should be obvious.
” This raises the question whether Woodward and the corporate media is holding the powerful accountable , or seeking ratings and profits at any cost .

President Donald Trump admitted to downplaying the dangers of the coronavirus pandemic despite having evidence to the contrary, newly published interviews with noted investigative journalist Bob Woodward revealed.
According to the interviews, Trump knew the virus was dangerous in January.
“It goes through the air,” Trump said during a Feb. 7 interview with Woodward. “That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”
At a White House press briefing on Thursday, Sept. 10, Trump was confronted over his lies.
“Why did you lie to the American people? And why should we trust what you have to say now?” asked ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl.
“I didn’t lie, what I said was we had to be calm, we can’t be panicked,” Trump responded.
He was then asked whether he would stop downplaying the threat of COVID-19.
“I don’t want to jump up and down and scream ‘death,’ because that’s not what it’s about,” Trump said.
There have been more than 190,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States while Trump and his campaign push conspiracy theories that the 2020 elections are being rigged against him and Antifa is coming to the suburbs.
Despite knowing about the threat back in January, Trump diminished the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, pushed states to reopen quickly, and has packed campaign events while flouting local social distancing guidelines. A week after the Feb. 7 interview, Trump said at a White House briefing that the number of U.S. coronavirus cases “within a couple days is going to be down close to zero.”
On Feb. 28, Trump referred to coronavirus as Democrats’ “new hoax.”
Spreading fear and panic over exaggerated or invented threats has been a hallmark of Trump’s presidency.
Eight minutes after tweeting on Thursday morning that his public comments about COVID-19 were to maintain “calm, no panic,” Trump tweeted mail-in ballots were a “total fraud in the making.” Trump has claimed, without evidence, that absentee ballots were “rigged” against him, and said he may not accept the election results if he loses.
One hour later, Trump again tweeted the baseless conspiracy theory that Democrats will allow suburbs to be overrun by “anarchists” and “protesters.”
Later in Thursday’s press conference Trump said, “If Bob Woodward thought it was bad he should have immediately gone out publicly, not waited four months.”
Woodward was widely criticized for not publishing Trump’s comments when they were recorded, or when Trump’s public comments contradicted what he’d told Woodward in interviews, but instead waiting to release them with his upcoming book. As a pandemic raged and Trump continued to mislead the public about its dangers, Woodward continued reporting. Woodward said in an interview with The Washington Post that he didn’t have an agreement to withhold Trump’s comments until the publication of his book.
“I told him it was for the book,” he said, but as far as promising not to publish in real time, or signing such an agreement, “I don’t do that.”
Woodward said his aim was to provide a fuller context than could occur in a news story: “I knew I could tell the second draft of history, and I knew I could tell it before the election.”
60 Minutes correspondent Wesley Lowery responded: “When the president of the United States is publicly underplaying the seriousness of a global pandemic and at times encouraging people to go to rallies/reopen businesses, while only privately acknowledging how deadly the virus is, the potential urgency to report should be obvious.”
This raises the question whether Woodward and the corporate media is holding the powerful accountable, or seeking ratings and profits at any cost.
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therealnews--2020-09-19--US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , a stalwart liberal in the U.S. Supreme Court since 1993 , died on Friday at age 87 , the court said .
Ginsburg ’ s death gives President Donald Trump a chance to expand its conservative majority with a third appointment at a time of deep divisions in America .
The presidential election is just 46 days away , and the inauguration of the next president 124 days away .
Ginsburg , a champion of women ’ s rights , died at her home in Washington of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer , the court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surrounded by her family .
“ Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature , ” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement .
“ We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague .
Today we mourn , but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her—a tireless and resolute champion of justice.
” Her departure could dramatically alter the ideological balance of the court , which currently has a 5-4 conservative majority , by moving it further to the right .
Earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was prepared to fill any Supreme Court vacancy , despite denying former President Obama the ability to confirm Merrick Garland as a justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia in 2016 , because Scalia died in an election year .
Supreme Court justices require a simple majority to be confirmed to the high court , and Republicans control the Senate 53-45 .
In the days before her death , Ginsburg said : “ My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed , ” NPR @ @ @ @ @ @ @ judges over the past week alone , and over 200 under Trump , working in haste ahead of the election with polls showing they could lose their majority in the Senate .
Trump , seeking reelection on Nov. 3 , already has appointed two conservatives to lifetime posts on the court : Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 .
Supreme Court appointments require Senate confirmation , and Trump ’ s fellow Republicans control the chamber .
On Sept. 9 , Trump released a shortlist of potential Supreme Court picks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Ted Cruz , and former White House lawyer and D.C .
Circuit Judge Greg Katsas .
A private interment service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery , the court said , but did not specify a date .
This article contains additional reporting by Reuters .

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a stalwart liberal in the U.S. Supreme Court since 1993, died on Friday at age 87, the court said. Ginsburg’s death gives President Donald Trump a chance to expand its conservative majority with a third appointment at a time of deep divisions in America. The presidential election is just 46 days away, and the inauguration of the next president 124 days away.
Ginsburg, a champion of women’s rights, died at her home in Washington of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said in a statement. She was surrounded by her family.
“Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement. “We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her—a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”
Her departure could dramatically alter the ideological balance of the court, which currently has a 5-4 conservative majority, by moving it further to the right.
Earlier this year, Politico reported the GOP was prepared to fill any Supreme Court vacancy, despite denying former President Obama the ability to confirm Merrick Garland as a justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia in 2016, because Scalia died in an election year. Supreme Court justices require a simple majority to be confirmed to the high court, and Republicans control the Senate 53-45.
In the days before her death, Ginsburg said: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” NPR reported.
Republicans have confirmed eight federal judges over the past week alone, and over 200 under Trump, working in haste ahead of the election with polls showing they could lose their majority in the Senate.
Trump, seeking reelection on Nov. 3, already has appointed two conservatives to lifetime posts on the court: Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Supreme Court appointments require Senate confirmation, and Trump’s fellow Republicans control the chamber.
On Sept. 9, Trump released a shortlist of potential Supreme Court picks, including far right Sens. Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz, and former White House lawyer and D.C. Circuit Judge Greg Katsas.
A private interment service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery, the court said, but did not specify a date.
This article contains additional reporting by Reuters.
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therealnews--2020-09-18--Toxic wildfire smoke is another reason to wear your mask

As wildfires burn across the western states , hot gusty winds carry plumes of smoke across the country , turning the sun into an eerie yellowish blob shining weakly through hazy East Coast skies .
The National Weather Service confirmed that this spectacle hanging over Washington , D.C. , the entire week was caused by the fires 2,500 miles away .
Sparked by the freak conditions brought on by the climate crisis—back-to-back heatwaves and intense bolts of lightning—the wildfires have raged across the West Coast for more than a month .
At least 30 people have died in California , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more are reported missing .
The fires have charred four million acres across 10 states since August .
The air quality map shows plumes of smoke blanketing the entire United States and crossing into Mexico and Canada .
According to Alexander Gershunov , a research meteorologist with Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego , heatwaves blew the smoke high into the mid-atmosphere , which can carry it across the country .
Gershunov explained that wind circulation is typically from west to east , enabling the smoke to move across the country and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smoke appearing in European skies .
In the midst of this climate chaos , the air quality index in the West Coast states of California , Oregon , and Washington rose to hazardous levels , prompting local authorities to issue public health advisories asking residents to take precautions .
As smoke traveled inland over the last few days , similar advisories were issued for Alaska , Arizona , Colorado , Idaho , Montana , Nevada , New Mexico , and the Carolinas .
“ Smoke levels have recently fluctuated between unhealthy ( red @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oregon and Southwest Washington .
When smoke levels are hazardous everyone needs to take steps to protect themselves , ” reads the Sept. 17 advisory for Oregon .
Some areas of Colorado faced an even more severe situation : “ If smoke is thick or becomes thick in your neighborhood you may want to remain indoors .
This is especially true for those with heart disease , respiratory illnesses , the very young , and the elderly , ” reads the health advisory .
It recommends relocating “ if smoke is present indoors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ professionals , meanwhile , are contemplating how to mitigate the possible risks to public health and medical complications arising from toxic smoke , especially during the ongoing pandemic and a nearing flu season .
Compounding the situation is the awareness that the actual wildfire season in California typically gets going in October , which means there will likely be more fires and more smoke as a result .
Hospitals and clinics across the western states are already responding to complaints of respiratory problems in the young and elderly in the affected areas .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ PM 2.5 ) that can penetrate into lungs and interact with the circulation system .
Such fine particles impact the respiratory system through inflammation , oxidative stress , and by reducing the immune function , ” Tarik Benmarhnia , an epidemiologist with University of California San Diego ( UCSD ) said over email .
“ Such acute exposure to high levels of PM 2.5 from smoke will then exacerbate existing health conditions such as asthma and lung diseases and may lead to hospitalizations or even premature death.
” He cautioned that wildfire smoke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We may observe more severe cases and an increase in fatality rates in the next few weeks because the wildfire smoke will exacerbate preexisting conditions.
” People whose immune systems have already taken a hit because of COVID-19 , air pollution , or the flu are more likely to die .
And with the blanket of smoke already covering the United States and beyond , medical practitioners recommend keeping an eye on the local air quality index and take precautions if the air gets polluted .
“ It ’ s going to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just because you ’ re not close to wildfires does not mean you ’ re immune to the hazards the smoke poses , ” Sydney Leibel , assistant professor at UCSD ’ s Department of Pediatrics , said .
“ Following the air quality index is the best thing people can do .
And the guidance is given to anyone with preexisting conditions such as asthma or chronic inflammatory lung disease ( COPD ) , ” Leibel said .
He predicted 2020 will see more days with polluted air because the wildfire season @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The way things are looking , it is going to be this way for the coming months because of the continuing fires .
And people are going to have to adjust .
Especially with kids.
” Both Leibel and Benmarhnia agree the extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves , hurricanes , and lightning that ignited the California fires are creating unprecedented conditions and pose unique challenges to health practitioners and public policy administrators .
“ We might think staying indoors might be the best measure if air quality drops , ” Leibel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are in school and indoors , that might not be a good idea because of the COVID .
What we ’ re dealing with is unprecedented and we ’ re looking at how these factors interact with the situation involving a pandemic.
” The experts TRNN spoke to recommend wearing a mask .
It is the best thing anyone can do under the circumstances .
“ Wildfire smoke is another reason to wear a mask , especially the N-95 mask , which is designed to filter out hazardous particles such as PM 2.5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that wearing a mask is also helpful to guard against other respiratory infections that wildfire smoke could trigger in addition to the risks posed by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic : “ In the absence of a safe vaccine , social distancing and masking up are effective tools available to us while we wait for the vaccine to arrive .
People who are sensitive to air pollution should limit outdoor exposures and should stay indoors while keeping an eye on their local air quality index .
”

As wildfires burn across the western states, hot gusty winds carry plumes of smoke across the country, turning the sun into an eerie yellowish blob shining weakly through hazy East Coast skies. The National Weather Service confirmed that this spectacle hanging over Washington, D.C., the entire week was caused by the fires 2,500 miles away.
Sparked by the freak conditions brought on by the climate crisis—back-to-back heatwaves and intense bolts of lightning—the wildfires have raged across the West Coast for more than a month. At least 30 people have died in California, Oregon, and Washington, and many more are reported missing. The fires have charred four million acres across 10 states since August.
The air quality map shows plumes of smoke blanketing the entire United States and crossing into Mexico and Canada. According to Alexander Gershunov, a research meteorologist with Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, heatwaves blew the smoke high into the mid-atmosphere, which can carry it across the country. Gershunov explained that wind circulation is typically from west to east, enabling the smoke to move across the country and beyond. There are already reports of smoke appearing in European skies.
Here is a visible satellite image valid at 2pm PDT showing the vast extent of the wildfire smoke. The area in the orange contour is smoke in the mid-upper levels of the atmosphere that has reached as far east as Michigan! The red contour is the dense smoke near the West Coast. pic.twitter.com/J0OEFVA4oD — NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) September 13, 2020
In the midst of this climate chaos, the air quality index in the West Coast states of California, Oregon, and Washington rose to hazardous levels, prompting local authorities to issue public health advisories asking residents to take precautions. As smoke traveled inland over the last few days, similar advisories were issued for Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, and the Carolinas.
“Smoke levels have recently fluctuated between unhealthy (red) and hazardous (maroon) for Oregon and Southwest Washington. When smoke levels are hazardous everyone needs to take steps to protect themselves,” reads the Sept. 17 advisory for Oregon.
Some areas of Colorado faced an even more severe situation: “If smoke is thick or becomes thick in your neighborhood you may want to remain indoors. This is especially true for those with heart disease, respiratory illnesses, the very young, and the elderly,” reads the health advisory. It recommends relocating “if smoke is present indoors and is making you ill.”
Health professionals, meanwhile, are contemplating how to mitigate the possible risks to public health and medical complications arising from toxic smoke, especially during the ongoing pandemic and a nearing flu season. Compounding the situation is the awareness that the actual wildfire season in California typically gets going in October, which means there will likely be more fires and more smoke as a result. Hospitals and clinics across the western states are already responding to complaints of respiratory problems in the young and elderly in the affected areas.
“Wildfire smoke contains fine particles (PM 2.5) that can penetrate into lungs and interact with the circulation system. Such fine particles impact the respiratory system through inflammation, oxidative stress, and by reducing the immune function,” Tarik Benmarhnia, an epidemiologist with University of California San Diego (UCSD) said over email. “Such acute exposure to high levels of PM 2.5 from smoke will then exacerbate existing health conditions such as asthma and lung diseases and may lead to hospitalizations or even premature death.”
He cautioned that wildfire smoke will also exacerbate COVID-19 cases: “We may observe more severe cases and an increase in fatality rates in the next few weeks because the wildfire smoke will exacerbate preexisting conditions.”
People whose immune systems have already taken a hit because of COVID-19, air pollution, or the flu are more likely to die.
And with the blanket of smoke already covering the United States and beyond, medical practitioners recommend keeping an eye on the local air quality index and take precautions if the air gets polluted. “It’s going to be a long, drawn out situation and just because you’re not close to wildfires does not mean you’re immune to the hazards the smoke poses,” Sydney Leibel, assistant professor at UCSD’s Department of Pediatrics, said.
“Following the air quality index is the best thing people can do. And the guidance is given to anyone with preexisting conditions such as asthma or chronic inflammatory lung disease (COPD),” Leibel said. He predicted 2020 will see more days with polluted air because the wildfire season will officially set in around October. “The way things are looking, it is going to be this way for the coming months because of the continuing fires. And people are going to have to adjust. Especially with kids.”
Both Leibel and Benmarhnia agree the extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves, hurricanes, and lightning that ignited the California fires are creating unprecedented conditions and pose unique challenges to health practitioners and public policy administrators.
“We might think staying indoors might be the best measure if air quality drops,” Leibel said. “But if the kids are in school and indoors, that might not be a good idea because of the COVID. What we’re dealing with is unprecedented and we’re looking at how these factors interact with the situation involving a pandemic.”
The experts TRNN spoke to recommend wearing a mask. It is the best thing anyone can do under the circumstances. “Wildfire smoke is another reason to wear a mask, especially the N-95 mask, which is designed to filter out hazardous particles such as PM 2.5,” Leibel said.
He added that wearing a mask is also helpful to guard against other respiratory infections that wildfire smoke could trigger in addition to the risks posed by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic: “In the absence of a safe vaccine, social distancing and masking up are effective tools available to us while we wait for the vaccine to arrive. People who are sensitive to air pollution should limit outdoor exposures and should stay indoors while keeping an eye on their local air quality index.”
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therealnews--2020-09-18--San Diego wildfire rages, just misses tribal areas and big cat sanctuary

Viejas Fire Department Chief Bob Pfohl told The Real News he breathed “ huge sigh of relief ” that the over 17,000-acre Valley Fire in eastern San Diego County , which destroyed 30 homes , wasn ’ t even worse .
Had the 45-55 MPH winds blown as forecasted , the destruction could have proven far more severe .
“ [ The winds not arriving ] gave us more time to work on things as best we could and the day before the weather was mild by comparison to the first few days—kind of overcast conditions , cooler temperatures , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said of the fire , now 90 % contained .
A fire chief in various San Diego County jurisdictions for 12 years , Pfohl oversees a department for the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians with 20 staffed firefighters who do their work in the eastern part of San Diego County , 24 miles from San Diego ’ s city limits .
Pfohl said that while wildfires are a fundamental part of life in San Diego County , this was different due to the converging threats of a record heat wave , the ongoing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happening statewide simultaneously .
“ You factor all that and the strategy and decisions are very challenging , ” he said .
The fire near San Diego shows how , in the age of climate change-worsened wildfires in California and the broader western U.S. , sometimes avoiding the worst ravages of megafires is just a matter of luck .
Two other tribal reservations in the area , the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and the Jamul Indian Village , were also barely spared from the Valley Fire .
In northern California , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a close call , with tribal land located right next to the Red Salmon Fire .
The fire started on July 27 and was only 17 % contained as of Sept. 16 , covering over 100,000 acres .
Almost 7,900 distinct fires have torn through 3.4 million acres in California so far this year .
That ’ s the most acreage burned in a year in state history .
The latest wave of fires have killed 25 people , according to Cal Fire .
Making these numbers all the more shocking is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ season isn ’ t even here yet , and is generally at its worst from late September through October .
At a Sept. 11 press conference in burned down Butte County , Gov .
Gavin Newsom addressed the enormity of the wildfires .
He stated we are in the midst of a “ climate damn emergency ” and that California is “ America on fast-forward ” for the climate crisis .
“ Mother Nature is physics , biology and chemistry .
She bats last and she bats 1,000 .
That ’ s the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The debate is over around climate change .
Just come to the state of California .
Observe it with your own eyes.
” Three days later , President Donald Trump dismissed climate change in a visit with Newsom and his climate team .
“ It ’ ll start getting cooler .
You just watch , ” Trump said during the visit .
California Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot responded to the president , “ I wish science agreed with you.
” “ Well , I don ’ t think science knows actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of climate science was apparent from the Viejas Kumeyaay reservation .
The glow from the fire was visible from tribal land , and smoke engulfed the reservation , said resident Ral Christman , son of a longtime California Fire firefighter , and host of the Live From The Rez podcast .
He said reservation residents were spared from the worst of the fire because it happened two mountainous hillsides and two valleys away .
But that doesn ’ t mean they weren ’ t affected .
“ You can look over there and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it looked like a bomb had gone off or something and you see that smoke cloud come up , ” Christman said .
“ And what happens is it goes up and it starts to fill the sky and come back down.
” Christman said that fires exist as part of the natural ecosystem in the region , something the Kumeyaay Indigenous people have learned to contend with over generations .
Their relationship with the land has taught the Kumeyaay people how to prepare for wildfire season well in advance , doing things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around the perimeter of reservation land .
And yet , despite preparation , the climate crisis has created unprecedented challenges for those living on the reservation .
“ Well , we ’ ve lived here so long that our people have experienced more than just one climate .
We ’ ve been here through various climates , ” Christman said .
“ But definitely we are seeing right now that there is a shift in the environment .
We are seeing temperatures that , in our elders ’ lifetimes , we have not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this hot this many times a year.
” Another piece of land near the Valley Fire zone is owned by Lions , Tigers , and Bears , a sanctuary for formerly injured or abused big cats and bears .
Located in Alpine , California , eight miles east-southeast of the Viejas Kumeyaay reservation land off of Interstate Highway 8 , the sanctuary is even closer than the reservation to the Valley Fire perimeter .
The sanctuary ’ s founder and Executive Director Bobbi Brink told The Real News that she implemented a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ animals on site , putting them in a trailer to prepare for a rapid evacuation .
Some non-exotic animals such as horses were temporarily evacuated , even though fires did not ultimately encroach upon the sanctuary ’ s land .
“ Normally we live in the best region in the country for these animals , ” said Brink .
“ They don ’ t have to be locked up for months out of the year like some places for the weather .
So this is really opportune climate normally , but there are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all got to suffer.
” The animals , Brink added , adjusted well to the heat wave in the days preceding the Valley Fire .
“ You know , they ’ re smarter than us and they actually all did really well , ” she said .
“ So , a lot of times , you ’ ll see they ’ ll go into the pool .
And they ’ ll kind of lower their body temperature and then they ’ ll lay in the shade and the concrete , or in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ ll sleep it off .
So all of our animals did really just fine and in the heat.
” For those living on the reservation in the age of the climate crisis , Christman advised viewing wildfires as invitable and preparing accordingly .
“ If we were living on the outside , I think the mindset ’ s a little different .
You kind of do just focus on maybe your own , your own home or your own family , ” Christman said .
“ And so we do that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a community leading up to fire season , not when the fire is happening , but prior because we know it ’ s going to come .
It ’ s not about if the fire is going to come , it ’ s about when is the fire going to come because it ’ s going to happen .
”

Viejas Fire Department Chief Bob Pfohl told The Real News he breathed “huge sigh of relief” that the over 17,000-acre Valley Fire in eastern San Diego County, which destroyed 30 homes, wasn’t even worse. Had the 45-55 MPH winds blown as forecasted, the destruction could have proven far more severe.
“[The winds not arriving] gave us more time to work on things as best we could and the day before the weather was mild by comparison to the first few days—kind of overcast conditions, cooler temperatures, not—not real strong winds,” Pfohl said of the fire, now 90% contained.
A fire chief in various San Diego County jurisdictions for 12 years, Pfohl oversees a department for the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians with 20 staffed firefighters who do their work in the eastern part of San Diego County, 24 miles from San Diego’s city limits. Pfohl said that while wildfires are a fundamental part of life in San Diego County, this was different due to the converging threats of a record heat wave, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, and so many fires happening statewide simultaneously.
“You factor all that and the strategy and decisions are very challenging,” he said.
The fire near San Diego shows how, in the age of climate change-worsened wildfires in California and the broader western U.S., sometimes avoiding the worst ravages of megafires is just a matter of luck.
Two other tribal reservations in the area, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and the Jamul Indian Village, were also barely spared from the Valley Fire. In northern California, too, the Hoopa Valley Reservation had a close call, with tribal land located right next to the Red Salmon Fire. The fire started on July 27 and was only 17% contained as of Sept. 16, covering over 100,000 acres.
The 5 largest wildfires in California history have burned in the last 3 years.
10 of the top 20, in the last 10 years according to @CAL_FIRE.
2,3,4 are still burning/not fully contained. #CaliforniaFires
(These numbers date back to 1932) pic.twitter.com/qidh0C1kce — Ian Cull (@NBCian) September 10, 2020
Almost 7,900 distinct fires have torn through 3.4 million acres in California so far this year. That’s the most acreage burned in a year in state history. The latest wave of fires have killed 25 people, according to Cal Fire. Making these numbers all the more shocking is the fact that California’s official wildfire season isn’t even here yet, and is generally at its worst from late September through October.
At a Sept. 11 press conference in burned down Butte County, Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed the enormity of the wildfires. He stated we are in the midst of a “climate damn emergency” and that California is “America on fast-forward” for the climate crisis.
“Mother Nature is physics, biology and chemistry. She bats last and she bats 1,000. That’s the reality,” Newsom said. “The debate is over around climate change. Just come to the state of California. Observe it with your own eyes.”
Three days later, President Donald Trump dismissed climate change in a visit with Newsom and his climate team.
“It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch,” Trump said during the visit.
California Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot responded to the president, “I wish science agreed with you.”
“Well, I don’t think science knows actually,” Trump said.
The reality of climate science was apparent from the Viejas Kumeyaay reservation. The glow from the fire was visible from tribal land, and smoke engulfed the reservation, said resident Ral Christman, son of a longtime California Fire firefighter, and host of the Live From The Rez podcast. He said reservation residents were spared from the worst of the fire because it happened two mountainous hillsides and two valleys away. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t affected.
California Natural Resources Secretary @WadeCrowfoot: "We've had temperatures explode this summer…"
President Trump: "It'll start getting cooler, you just watch."
Crowfoot: "I wish science agreed with you."
Trump: "I don't think science knows, actually." pic.twitter.com/xJPYoTjJBo — CSPAN (@cspan) September 14, 2020
“You can look over there and see the smoke plume come up and it looked like a bomb had gone off or something and you see that smoke cloud come up,” Christman said. “And what happens is it goes up and it starts to fill the sky and come back down.”
Christman said that fires exist as part of the natural ecosystem in the region, something the Kumeyaay Indigenous people have learned to contend with over generations. Their relationship with the land has taught the Kumeyaay people how to prepare for wildfire season well in advance, doing things such as weed abatement and preventative burns around the perimeter of reservation land. And yet, despite preparation, the climate crisis has created unprecedented challenges for those living on the reservation.
“Well, we’ve lived here so long that our people have experienced more than just one climate. We’ve been here through various climates,” Christman said. “But definitely we are seeing right now that there is a shift in the environment. We are seeing temperatures that, in our elders’ lifetimes, we have not reached. It hasn’t been this hot this many times a year.”
Another piece of land near the Valley Fire zone is owned by Lions, Tigers, and Bears, a sanctuary for formerly injured or abused big cats and bears. Located in Alpine, California, eight miles east-southeast of the Viejas Kumeyaay reservation land off of Interstate Highway 8, the sanctuary is even closer than the reservation to the Valley Fire perimeter.
The sanctuary’s founder and Executive Director Bobbi Brink told The Real News that she implemented a “stay-in-place” policy for most of the animals on site, putting them in a trailer to prepare for a rapid evacuation. Some non-exotic animals such as horses were temporarily evacuated, even though fires did not ultimately encroach upon the sanctuary’s land.
“Normally we live in the best region in the country for these animals,” said Brink. “They don’t have to be locked up for months out of the year like some places for the weather. So this is really opportune climate normally, but there are the few days that we’ve all got to suffer.”
The animals, Brink added, adjusted well to the heat wave in the days preceding the Valley Fire.
“You know, they’re smarter than us and they actually all did really well,” she said. “So, a lot of times, you’ll see they’ll go into the pool. And they’ll kind of lower their body temperature and then they’ll lay in the shade and the concrete, or in a wet spot on the grass. and they’ll sleep it off. So all of our animals did really just fine and in the heat.”
For those living on the reservation in the age of the climate crisis, Christman advised viewing wildfires as invitable and preparing accordingly.
“If we were living on the outside, I think the mindset’s a little different. You kind of do just focus on maybe your own, your own home or your own family,” Christman said. “And so we do that as a community and we do that as a community leading up to fire season, not when the fire is happening, but prior because we know it’s going to come. It’s not about if the fire is going to come, it’s about when is the fire going to come because it’s going to happen.”
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therealnews--2020-09-18--Flint water crisis continues despite settlement

In 2014 , the water source of the city of Flint , Michigan , was switched from Lake Huron to the untreated and polluted Flint River , tainting the city ’ s water supply and setting off a chain of events that led to at least 12 deaths from Legionnaires disease , as well as miscarriages , brain and developmental damage to children , and lead poisoning for the 100,000 residents of Flint .
In late August , the state of Michigan offered a $ 600 million settlement to those affected .
Activist Melissa Mays of the Flint advocacy group @ @ @ @ @ @ @ settlement does not go far enough to compensate the residents of Flint .
“ $ 600 million sounds like a lot , I know that it does from the outside , but you got to figure there are 100,000 people in Flint , ” Mays said .
Mays argues that even over 2,300 days since the start of the crisis , the city of Flint still does not have safe water , and most residents are still buying bottled water for their daily needs .
Thousands of damaged water service lines have not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community water line bursts , chlorine , which is necessary to kill residual bacteria , is lost from the system .
In addition , the corrosive water that went through Flint ’ s pipes did not stop at the city-provided ones—It affected every pipe and fixture in residents ’ homes , making them all a source of danger until they are replaced .
The city of Flint was part of an austerity effort by the state of Michigan to appoint emergency managers to handle cities ’ “ fiscal crises.
” Emergency managers have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ majority cities in Michigan and no white majority cities .
These managers are able to ignore citizens and city councils , and have privatized many of the cities ’ resources .
In 2014 , Flint ’ s emergency manager , Darnell Earley , was responsible for switching the water source to the polluted Flint River .
This decision was made knowing the potential grave consequences for residents ’ health .
Later in 2015 , a new emergency manager , Gerald Ambrose , overruled a unanimous decision by Flint ’ s city council to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ River .
Because of this history and the continuing problems in Flint caused by emergency managers , Flint residents do not have much trust in the government officials who are supposed to help them .
“ The minute they stop saying ‘ everything is fine and they are going to move Flint forward , ’ that will be a good step to earning our trust , ” Mays said .
“ Just because we don ’ t have Ph.D.s doesn ’ t mean we didn ’ t learn quick.
” The original lawsuit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 2016 and is only being settled now with one party ( the state of Michigan ) .
According to May , this is evidence that everyone involved has not been interested in the welfare of the people of Flint .
The coalition Flint Rising ( Mays ’ organization is a member ) has been the only group talking to the residents of Flint about what action they actually want to resolve the crisis , by going door to door and interviewing them .
Flint Rising found out that the people of Flint @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the crisis replaced , residents hired to make the necessary repairs , every water bill to be refunded .
and full holistic health care for life .
“ We should be full of federal and state supports because people are supposedly sorry for what they did to us , but where are the resources ?
” Mays said .
“ This is a huge disaster , everyone in the world knew about it , why isn ’ t it getting fixed ?
” The settlement , which has yet to be finalized , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who will likely have a lifetime of health issues resulting from this crisis .
Approximately 25,000 children will be awarded an average of $ 16,000 each by the state .
The settlement does not stop the lawsuit from going forward against the other parties in the case , which include the Environmental Protection Agency , the city of Flint , and the private engineering companies who were all involved in the decisions that caused the water crisis .
Mays feels like the settlement is the first time the state has admitted any fault @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state has dodged responsibility and has failed to criminally prosecute anyone for the series of decisions that were made that caused this poisoning .
Initially the state brought charges against 15 individuals , including emergency managers Earley and Ambrose , but in July of 2019 those charges were dropped by new Attorney General Dana Nessel ( a Democrat ) .
Since dropping the charges , Nessel has not communicated with Flint residents about whether any new charges will be brought .
Mays worries that the criminal prosecution was dropped in order to make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with residents for less money .
“ Everything is about money , ” Mays said .
“ Everything is about saving money and cutting corners and not about giving Flint anything except poisoned water and excuses.
” Since the COVID-19 pandemic started , Flint has been even further devastated .
Many of the people of Flint are immunocompromised .
Flint has a 9.5 % —12.5 % death rate from COVID-19 , which is higher than the rest of the country .
The water crisis has made it difficult because people can not even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effective steps in fighting the virus .
High water bills mean many residents face shutoffs , and have no water at all .
Mays says that Flint is being ignored because it is a majority Black and poor city , but she cautions other communities who think that what happened in Flint can ’ t happen to them .
Austerity measures like the ones that were used to take control away from Flint residents are being employed across the country .
Many places like Lowndes County , Alabama , the Navajo Nation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problems just as severe as the ones in Flint .
“ I don ’ t know where I would move to , ” Mays said .
“ I ’ ve travelled all over the country… and nowhere is safe .
They either are on the verge of becoming Flint or they already are in the same boat as us .
”

In 2014, the water source of the city of Flint, Michigan, was switched from Lake Huron to the untreated and polluted Flint River, tainting the city’s water supply and setting off a chain of events that led to at least 12 deaths from Legionnaires disease, as well as miscarriages, brain and developmental damage to children, and lead poisoning for the 100,000 residents of Flint.
In late August, the state of Michigan offered a $600 million settlement to those affected. Activist Melissa Mays of the Flint advocacy group Water You Fighting For says that the settlement does not go far enough to compensate the residents of Flint.
“$600 million sounds like a lot, I know that it does from the outside, but you got to figure there are 100,000 people in Flint,” Mays said.
Mays argues that even over 2,300 days since the start of the crisis, the city of Flint still does not have safe water, and most residents are still buying bottled water for their daily needs. Thousands of damaged water service lines have not yet been replaced. Every time a community water line bursts, chlorine, which is necessary to kill residual bacteria, is lost from the system. In addition, the corrosive water that went through Flint’s pipes did not stop at the city-provided ones—It affected every pipe and fixture in residents’ homes, making them all a source of danger until they are replaced.
The city of Flint was part of an austerity effort by the state of Michigan to appoint emergency managers to handle cities’ “fiscal crises.” Emergency managers have been appointed in 89% of Black majority cities in Michigan and no white majority cities. These managers are able to ignore citizens and city councils, and have privatized many of the cities’ resources. In 2014, Flint’s emergency manager, Darnell Earley, was responsible for switching the water source to the polluted Flint River. This decision was made knowing the potential grave consequences for residents’ health. Later in 2015, a new emergency manager, Gerald Ambrose, overruled a unanimous decision by Flint’s city council to stop using the water from the Flint River.
Because of this history and the continuing problems in Flint caused by emergency managers, Flint residents do not have much trust in the government officials who are supposed to help them.
“The minute they stop saying ‘everything is fine and they are going to move Flint forward,’ that will be a good step to earning our trust,” Mays said. “Just because we don’t have Ph.D.s doesn’t mean we didn’t learn quick.”
The original lawsuit in this case was filed in January of 2016 and is only being settled now with one party (the state of Michigan). According to May, this is evidence that everyone involved has not been interested in the welfare of the people of Flint. The coalition Flint Rising (Mays’ organization is a member) has been the only group talking to the residents of Flint about what action they actually want to resolve the crisis, by going door to door and interviewing them. Flint Rising found out that the people of Flint want all pipes and fixtures impacted by the crisis replaced, residents hired to make the necessary repairs, every water bill to be refunded, and full holistic health care for life.
“We should be full of federal and state supports because people are supposedly sorry for what they did to us, but where are the resources?” Mays said. “This is a huge disaster, everyone in the world knew about it, why isn’t it getting fixed?”
The settlement, which has yet to be finalized, is mainly structured to go to children who will likely have a lifetime of health issues resulting from this crisis. Approximately 25,000 children will be awarded an average of $16,000 each by the state. The settlement does not stop the lawsuit from going forward against the other parties in the case, which include the Environmental Protection Agency, the city of Flint, and the private engineering companies who were all involved in the decisions that caused the water crisis.
Mays feels like the settlement is the first time the state has admitted any fault for what happened in Flint. The state has dodged responsibility and has failed to criminally prosecute anyone for the series of decisions that were made that caused this poisoning. Initially the state brought charges against 15 individuals, including emergency managers Earley and Ambrose, but in July of 2019 those charges were dropped by new Attorney General Dana Nessel (a Democrat). Since dropping the charges, Nessel has not communicated with Flint residents about whether any new charges will be brought. Mays worries that the criminal prosecution was dropped in order to make it easier for the state to settle with residents for less money.
“Everything is about money,” Mays said. “Everything is about saving money and cutting corners and not about giving Flint anything except poisoned water and excuses.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Flint has been even further devastated. Many of the people of Flint are immunocompromised. Flint has a 9.5%—12.5% death rate from COVID-19, which is higher than the rest of the country. The water crisis has made it difficult because people cannot even safely wash their hands—one of the most effective steps in fighting the virus. High water bills mean many residents face shutoffs, and have no water at all.
Mays says that Flint is being ignored because it is a majority Black and poor city, but she cautions other communities who think that what happened in Flint can’t happen to them.
Austerity measures like the ones that were used to take control away from Flint residents are being employed across the country. Many places like Lowndes County, Alabama, the Navajo Nation, and Inez, Kentucky, have water problems just as severe as the ones in Flint.
“I don’t know where I would move to,” Mays said. “I’ve travelled all over the country… and nowhere is safe. They either are on the verge of becoming Flint or they already are in the same boat as us.”
With additional reporting from Molly Shah
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therealnews--2020-09-21--How woke is this new show? Hint: it’s actually called ‘Woke’

Keith Knight : I ’ m an artist it ’ s important to preserve a little mystery .
Keith Knight : Lenny Kravitz is Batman .
You ’ re on your way to the top .
Keith Knight : Happens all the time .
Marc Steiner : Welcome to The Real News , I ’ m Marc Steiner .
It ’ s good to have you all with us .
We ’ re about to have a conversation with cartoonist Keith Knight , who as many say , has always been woke , or at least most of the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new Hulu show Woke .
Once wanted to tell stories of everyday black life in his comics and not focus on political struggles , but then he found himself pinned down by police officers because he was a black man with a pen in his pocket , was mistaken for a robbery suspect .
And then he found his comic strip , the K Chronicles becoming increasingly more political .
Now there ’ s a new TV show on Hulu called Woke , which follows some of Knight ’ s trajectory in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deeply surreal fashion .
It ’ s a fabulous program .
It fuses animation into narrative , like talking garbage cans and Native American artifacts that come alive , cursing out appropriators of their culture .
Speaker 5 : Extraordinary .
Tell me about this .
Speaker 8 : It was given to me by my great great uncle Colonel John Beasley , he got it as a gift from the Sioux tribe .
Artifact : Oh , for fuck sakes .
How many times do I have to tell you ?
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yokut .
Beasley and his regiments slaughtered the tribe that made me took all their possessions and raped the horses .
Artifact : You heard me .
Raped the horses .
That white man was a freak .
He even sticked me up his ass while he was doing it .
Horse rapist , mother fuck him and John Wayne .
Marc Steiner : It ’ s a very deep show , a very meaningful show .
It tackles issues like gentrification , racism , and more with suitable and relatable humor .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ things I ’ ve watched in a while .
This series premiered , September 9th and all eight episodes are available on Hulu .
So we all can binge watch .
So Keith it really is good to have you with us here .
To go back to 2015 when you won the NAACP History Maker Award for that cartoon series , They Shoot Black People , Don ’ t They ?
And I was just thinking about what you said back then .
About the time we ’ re in and people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be woke and people have to be ready to move , to change things .
And here you are five years later launching a new program and when it was launched , when you were doing it with no idea that we were going to be in the midst of a COVID pandemic and all the demonstrations taking place around the country and people fighting about racism in America , in ways I ’ ve not seen in my lifetime , not in this mass way .
I mean , that five-year-old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just curious how you felt about all that from then in 2015 to now , as this program ’ s launching on Hulu and here we are again .
Keith Knight : Yeah , it ’ s interesting because it really , I kept on saying even in 2015 , when I would do that slideshow , I would tell people it ’ s going to get a lot worse .
It ’ s going to get worse before it gets better .
And it ’ s continued to get worse and worse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when we finished shooting February 28th of this year , like we finished February 28th , a week and a half later , everything shuts down and it just ends up being like the perfect storm of everything .
People being stuck in .
And honestly , you know , police brutality happens all the time and it ’ s been happening forever .
But the fact that people are stuck inside and they don ’ t have a job to go to not think about it .
And they ’ re forced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cop , like staring into the camera with like , what are you going to do about it ?
Like , this is my job .
And I think people , and then they look to a President that doesn ’ t want to bring people together .
I think if we had any other president , they would have tried to bring people together .
And I don ’ t think people would have reacted the way they did it , but they saw that this President does not care about bringing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people are just like , we have to hit the streets .
And this is the first time where me doing these comics , that white people were super on board with it , which is like , which is crazy .
And it ’ s a shock .
And I hope that this leads to something , but it ’ s one of these things where it ’ s like , we ’ re so psyched that we got the television show down , but it ’ s just like in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s just TV and we ’ re excited that we ’ re coming at this point and people keep on that saying , you must be amazed , the timing is great , but racism and police brutality are evergreen .
It ’ s been like this 20 years ago , 40 years ago , 60 years ago .
And it ’ s going to be like this 10 years from now , 20 years from now .
But I think there ’ s a sea change in the idea that like five @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about white privilege and white supremacy , people were like , are you insane ?
They were shocked by that .
If I talk about reparations , they ’ d say get out of here , but we are incrementally moving forward .
So that I ’ m excited about .
I ’ m excited about that more than I ’ m excited about this show and I ’ m really excited about the show .
So , yeah .
Marc Steiner : Yeah I was thinking about when people tell you that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time and it shouldn ’ t be great .
I mean , that ’ s the problem , right ?
Marc Steiner : I ’ m curious about the animation and comedy dealing with this , what is a very serious subject , but also semi-autobiographical about you and how that , how using that genre plays into all this .
The comedy , the animation that ’ s really well done and it ’ s just , I just love it .
I mean , it ’ s real and surreal at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you think that plays into all this ?
Keith Knight : The show is really an extension of my autobiographical comics .
I ’ ve been doing autobiographical cartoons for decades , and there ’ s always a note of magical realism in the comics ; which is I take something that happens to me for real , but then I sort of have it veer off into some bizarre situation .
So we were just trying to figure out how can we do that visually in a live action type of setting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Marshall Todd , the co writer of the pilot , and co-creator with the idea of , okay , what if we based it on , the police incident that you had , but it triggers this third eye and what sort of crazy thing where a cartoonist see that ’ s unique to himself and not everybody else .
And so we just thought , okay , stuff starts animating and inanimate stuff starts animating .
Why is it that as people of color we ’ re always having to stand for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cartoonist .
Keith Knight : And that ’ s why I keep it light .
Speaker 11 : Don ’ t move .
Centrally the suspect in question , six foot tall .
Speaker 12 : You got the wrong guy .
Speaker 11 : Copy that .
This isn ’ t the suspect .
Keith Knight : I can ’ t believe they did us like that .
Are you cool ?
Keith Knight : That was where it took off .
And I have to say that it was Maurice Marable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to us and said that he was interested in not doing just flat 2D animation , but having puppetry and all sorts of 3D type of stuff going on in it , which I think totally elevated it .
I think if it was just flat to the animation , it wouldn ’ t have sold at all .
And I think the animation is done so well that it just makes it trippy and it adds to the setting and it adds to the situation .
And it ’ s just really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of my favorite things is how the animation manifests itself in different ways throughout the season .
Marc Steiner : Yeah , for me to .
Aman said that it really popped out at us when we were talking about that and thinking about this conversation with you , just how that ’ s used and the idea of using comedy to really drill down and using these other voices in the animation to drill down on a very serious topic .
It ’ s really nothing new and maybe more powerful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Keith Knight : Oh , definitely so .
Like one of the things about cartooning and about editorial cartooning is it takes complex issues and hopefully uses humor and metaphors and different things like that to engage and get people to understand a topic that might be just a nightmare to read about or something like that .
So I feel like cartoonists are the modern day court jesters who speak truth to power .
And so that was important for us , which is to use comedy to address these important issues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go down just a little easier .
Marc Steiner : Like George Carlin and all the rest who , and Richard Pryor did the same thing for us , right .
For generations .
Marc Steiner : So the one scene that you had in there , just to kind of explore for a second for our viewers here is , when you went into Darnell ’ s barbershop .
That was just to me such , not just funny , it was just this poignant seeing the idea of the black barbershop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You walk in the barbershop with nothing but white people , but Malcolm on the wall .
Keith Knight : It ’ s interesting because , I felt that way , even when I was living in San Francisco .
I left San Francisco 2007 , but my barbershop Stuart ’ s Style-O-Rama on Hayes street .
I just remember the clientele changing from black men to like , suddenly there were like more white guys going in there and he ’ s still doing it , but you just start to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I shouldn ’ t say evolution , but that gentrification of a neighborhood .
And then I remember just moving down to Los Angeles and seeing like full swing barbershops like that , just hipster , everybody ’ s got the beards and there ’ s the whiskey and the sports and all that stuff .
And so it was very important for us to include that in there .
Oh , I ’ m sorry .
And the irony of it is , what ’ s great about it is , Marshall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Entertainer is the voice of the trashcan outside the barbershop .
And he was in the original Barbershop .
Trash can : Down here my brother .
That ’ s right I ’ m a talking trash can .
Keith Knight : This is all wrong .
Trash can : I tell you what ’ s wrong .
Those man bun , co-opting ginger fine devils .
Keith Knight : Marshall didn ’ t even realize that while we were shooting that , and it was like , wow , this moment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And he ’ s like , why is that ?
And I explained it to him .
He was like , I didn ’ t even realize .
So , that was cool .
Marc Steiner : The story of Keith Knight confronted the police in San Francisco , the story of Keef Knight being confronted by these police .
And this epiphany that he has , I mean , how much of that is you ?
Keith Knight : Well , it ’ s definitely a much more naive version of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think we ’ re packing 30 years into an eight episode season .
But when it happened to me , it wasn ’ t as dramatic .
And I didn ’ t get thrown to the ground .
What was shocking to me was my roommate , my white roommate was on a bus coming down the street when it was happening .
And he said , he looked off the bus and he saw these cop cars around all these cops .
He was like , Oh man , SFPD hassling your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as he got closer , he saw it was me .
And he was like , Oh , wait a second that ’ s my black man .
He was just like , you should have seen him come off the bus .
He came off the bus and he raged across the street , screaming bloody hell and getting up in the cops faces .
And that to me was really my woke moment , which was seeing these cops treat him like he was their boss .
They treated him with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t treat me .
And that ’ s when that was the epitome of white privilege to me .
And at that time I was doing stuff about police brutality and racism , but it really made me double and triple down with the work that I was doing .
Which eventually led to doing the slideshow and all that stuff , so .
Marc Steiner : To digress here for just moment .
So did you have a conversation with your roommate about that afterwards ?
Did you kind of probe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ definitely .
Definitely .
I mean , it ’ s pretty shocking to see .
So yeah , I definitely had that conversation .
Had he been black or brown , he would have been on the ground and they would have hit him .
They would have done something to him .
And I was just amazed .
I was just amazed .
Marc Steiner : Given the moment we ’ re in , I was thinking about five years ago when you got that award and the interviews I saw that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the NAACP award , the History Maker Award .
And the rebellions that took place across the country , whether it was in Ferguson or in Baltimore and all across the country .
And here we are now .
And all of a sudden , we ’ re also seeing millions of non black people , white folks , Asians , Latinos , everybody together in the streets .
Even I talked to a friend of mine out on the rez , his rez the other day , and they ’ re out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it seems like we ’ re in a very different , surreal moment .
And it ’ s hard to say where it ’ s going to go .
And I am , let me stop there for a minute .
Go ahead .
Keith Knight : No , it is hard .
It ’ s hard to say where it ’ s going to go .
And I mean , I was just amazed .
Yeah , seriously at the widespread protests that were going on .
We ’ re going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to see what happens in November .
We ’ re going to see what happens six months from now .
We ’ re going to see what happens a year from now .
I think there ’ s people jumping on the bandwagon posting their black lives matters avatars and stuff like that .
But I think there are people really talking about systemic change , which I know I ’ ve had conversations with the school superintendent of the schools that I went to high school .
And I just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about just the importance of having black literature , having thoughts .
I didn ’ t have , I didn ’ t read a book .
I read more books where the animals were protagonist , than people of color .
You know , Animal Farm and Beowulf and Jack London books .
And it wasn ’ t until I was in college that I read James Baldwin and Maya Angelo and stuff like that .
So it ’ s important I think to me to start a very young age and address @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fundamental aspects of life .
Including getting people of color into Hollywood boardrooms .
The people who make the decisions for this stuff , cause you know , I don ’ t know if we could have sold the show if it wasn ’ t surrounding , if it wasn ’ t about racism .
There ’ s so many amazing shows that have come up about this .
The Watchman series and the Lovecraft Country and stuff .
But I want to get to the point where we can just have just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know , where there are black protagonists and it ’ s not based on racism or something like that .
Just like straight up romance , fantasy , science fiction of those sentiments .
Marc Steiner : Other than Woke and the role that a program like Woke plays in all of this .
The ability to tell a story that is layered and has magical realism with realism intertwined and makes you laugh almost all the way through it at the same time .
I mean , there ’ s a power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t realize and that you ’ re harnessing here .
Keith Knight : Yeah , and it ’ s funny because it was really hard to convince some people that it would work .
I think so many .
And again , it ’ s the limited amount of what we see with black characters and protagonists .
It has to be couched in reality , it has to be urban really realism .
And it ’ s like , no , this is a show about a black nerd .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of comics culture and black culture smashing together .
And I would always say , it ’ s so important that we got to get , let ’ s get these references to hip hop in there , let ’ s get references to Star Wars in there .
Let ’ s get references to old school , black television and then let ’ s get as much in as possible .
And I know it will work and just because people haven ’ t seen it before , I just knew it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I think the idea of growing consciousness through comedy is really important .
Right ?
Keith Knight : A long tradition , it ’ s a long tradition .
This is that rare moment where the door is open for a lot of black creators .
And I just kept on saying the whole time , it takes two flops for that door to close and I just don ’ t want to be one of those flops .
You know .
I want to keep that door open and get in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have stories to tell and we should be able to tell it and tell our stories ourselves .
Cause whenever I talk to kids , whenever I talk to cartoonist , I just say , tell your story , tell your story because if you don ’ t , someone else will tell it for you and they will get it wrong .
And it usually stinks .
So you tell your story .
Marc Steiner : Well , I think that the magic of your mind along with Lamorne Morris ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be drawn into this .
I did not know what to expect .
I know that when we were watching , Eric and I were watching the pieces online , I was just , I loved it .
I just could not stop laughing and thinking , and people need to watch this .
Keith Knight : Yeah , Lamorne did an amazing job .
And I ’ m surprised that he wasn ’ t leaving a show earlier than he did like now .
I mean , I ’ m psyched that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just wanting to do it .
I ’ m just so fortunate .
So fortunate to have such talented people around me .
Marc Steiner : Well Keith Knight I want to thank you so much for joining us today .
This was great .
Keith Knight : Thank you .
Thank you .
Appreciate it .
Marc Steiner : Thanks for joining us .
So for co-producer Eric Blount and the real news network , I ’ m Marc Steiner , take care .
Speaker 15 : Thanks a lot for watching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one more solid favor , hit the subscribe button below , you know you want to stay up on the videos .

Cartoonist Keith Knight’s dramedy “Woke” is a semi-autobiographical mixing of political consciousness with outrageous humor and surreal animation.
Story Transcript
Keith Knight: I’m an artist it’s important to preserve a little mystery.
Speaker 2: You’re not mysterious. Lenny Kravitz. He’s mysterious.
Keith Knight: Lenny Kravitz is Batman. You’re on your way to the top.
Newspapers, TV show, movie deals.
Speaker 3: So you’re Keef Knight?
Keith Knight: I am.
Speaker 3: It’s funny. I didn’t think you’d be tall.
Keith Knight: Happens all the time.
Marc Steiner: Welcome to The Real News, I’m Marc Steiner. It’s good to have you all with us. We’re about to have a conversation with cartoonist Keith Knight, who as many say, has always been woke, or at least most of the time. He created K Chronicles and the new Hulu show Woke. Once wanted to tell stories of everyday black life in his comics and not focus on political struggles, but then he found himself pinned down by police officers because he was a black man with a pen in his pocket, was mistaken for a robbery suspect. And then he found his comic strip, the K Chronicles becoming increasingly more political. Now there’s a new TV show on Hulu called Woke, which follows some of Knight’s trajectory in a hilarious, comedic, and often really deeply surreal fashion. It’s a fabulous program. It fuses animation into narrative, like talking garbage cans and Native American artifacts that come alive, cursing out appropriators of their culture.
Speaker 5: Extraordinary. Tell me about this.
Speaker 6: I love antique appraisals.
Speaker 7: Isn’t it great?
Speaker 8: It was given to me by my great great uncle Colonel John Beasley, he got it as a gift from the Sioux tribe.
Artifact: Oh, for fuck sakes. How many times do I have to tell you? It’s Yokut, not Sioux, Yokut. Beasley and his regiments slaughtered the tribe that made me took all their possessions and raped the horses.
Keith Knight: Raped the horses?
Artifact: You heard me. Raped the horses. That white man was a freak. He even sticked me up his ass while he was doing it. Horse rapist, mother fuck him and John Wayne.
Marc Steiner: It’s a very deep show, a very meaningful show. It tackles issues like gentrification, racism, and more with suitable and relatable humor. It’s one of the best things I’ve watched in a while. This series premiered, September 9th and all eight episodes are available on Hulu. So we all can binge watch.
So Keith it really is good to have you with us here. To go back to 2015 when you won the NAACP History Maker Award for that cartoon series, They Shoot Black People, Don’t They? And I was just thinking about what you said back then. About the time we’re in and people having to be conscious and people have to be woke and people have to be ready to move, to change things. And here you are five years later launching a new program and when it was launched, when you were doing it with no idea that we were going to be in the midst of a COVID pandemic and all the demonstrations taking place around the country and people fighting about racism in America, in ways I’ve not seen in my lifetime, not in this mass way. I mean, that five-year-old arc is amazing. I mean, just curious how you felt about all that from then in 2015 to now, as this program’s launching on Hulu and here we are again.
Keith Knight: Yeah, it’s interesting because it really, I kept on saying even in 2015, when I would do that slideshow, I would tell people it’s going to get a lot worse. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. And it’s continued to get worse and worse, but we really had no idea when we finished shooting February 28th of this year, like we finished February 28th, a week and a half later, everything shuts down and it just ends up being like the perfect storm of everything. People being stuck in. And honestly, you know, police brutality happens all the time and it’s been happening forever. But the fact that people are stuck inside and they don’t have a job to go to not think about it. And they’re forced to see George Floyd murdered with a cop, like staring into the camera with like, what are you going to do about it?
Like, this is my job. And I think people, and then they look to a President that doesn’t want to bring people together. I think if we had any other president, they would have tried to bring people together. And I don’t think people would have reacted the way they did it, but they saw that this President does not care about bringing anybody together. And so I think people are just like, we have to hit the streets.
And this is the first time where me doing these comics, that white people were super on board with it, which is like, which is crazy. And it’s a shock. And I hope that this leads to something, but it’s one of these things where it’s like, we’re so psyched that we got the television show down, but it’s just like in the big scheme of things, it’s just TV and we’re excited that we’re coming at this point and people keep on that saying, you must be amazed, the timing is great, but racism and police brutality are evergreen.
It’s been like this 20 years ago, 40 years ago, 60 years ago. And it’s going to be like this 10 years from now, 20 years from now. But I think there’s a sea change in the idea that like five years ago, when I was talking about white privilege and white supremacy, people were like, are you insane? They were shocked by that. If I talk about reparations, they’d say get out of here, but we are incrementally moving forward. So that I’m excited about. I’m excited about that more than I’m excited about this show and I’m really excited about the show. So, yeah.
Marc Steiner: Yeah I was thinking about when people tell you that the timing is great. With the time and it shouldn’t be great. I mean, that’s the problem, right?
Keith Knight: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Marc Steiner: I’m curious about the animation and comedy dealing with this, what is a very serious subject, but also semi-autobiographical about you and how that, how using that genre plays into all this. The comedy, the animation that’s really well done and it’s just, I just love it. I mean, it’s real and surreal at the same time. So how do you think that plays into all this?
Keith Knight: The show is really an extension of my autobiographical comics. I’ve been doing autobiographical cartoons for decades, and there’s always a note of magical realism in the comics; which is I take something that happens to me for real, but then I sort of have it veer off into some bizarre situation. So we were just trying to figure out how can we do that visually in a live action type of setting. And so I have to credit Marshall Todd, the co writer of the pilot, and co-creator with the idea of, okay, what if we based it on, the police incident that you had, but it triggers this third eye and what sort of crazy thing where a cartoonist see that’s unique to himself and not everybody else. And so we just thought, okay, stuff starts animating and inanimate stuff starts animating.
Why is it that as people of color we’re always having to stand for something in our work? Just a cartoonist.
Speaker 10: Because the world’s a racist place.
Keith Knight: And that’s why I keep it light.
Speaker 10: Keep it light.
Keith Knight: Yeah, keep it light.
Speaker 11: Don’t move. Centrally the suspect in question, six foot tall.
Speaker 12: You got the wrong guy.
Speaker 11: Copy that. This isn’t the suspect.
Keith Knight: I can’t believe they did us like that. Are you cool?
Keith Knight: That was where it took off. And I have to say that it was Maurice Marable, our directing producer, who came to us and said that he was interested in not doing just flat 2D animation, but having puppetry and all sorts of 3D type of stuff going on in it, which I think totally elevated it. I think if it was just flat to the animation, it wouldn’t have sold at all. And I think the animation is done so well that it just makes it trippy and it adds to the setting and it adds to the situation. And it’s just really fun to watch. That’s one of my favorite things is how the animation manifests itself in different ways throughout the season.
Marc Steiner: Yeah, for me to. Aman said that it really popped out at us when we were talking about that and thinking about this conversation with you, just how that’s used and the idea of using comedy to really drill down and using these other voices in the animation to drill down on a very serious topic. It’s really nothing new and maybe more powerful than the pedantic side of preaching.
Keith Knight: Oh, definitely so. Like one of the things about cartooning and about editorial cartooning is it takes complex issues and hopefully uses humor and metaphors and different things like that to engage and get people to understand a topic that might be just a nightmare to read about or something like that. So I feel like cartoonists are the modern day court jesters who speak truth to power. And so that was important for us, which is to use comedy to address these important issues. And it just makes the medicine go down just a little easier.
Marc Steiner: Like George Carlin and all the rest who, and Richard Pryor did the same thing for us, right. For generations.
Keith Knight: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
Marc Steiner: So the one scene that you had in there, just to kind of explore for a second for our viewers here is, when you went into Darnell’s barbershop. That was just to me such, not just funny, it was just this poignant seeing the idea of the black barbershop, which is so powerful in culture. You walk in the barbershop with nothing but white people, but Malcolm on the wall.
Keith Knight: It’s interesting because, I felt that way, even when I was living in San Francisco. I left San Francisco 2007, but my barbershop Stuart’s Style-O-Rama on Hayes street. I just remember the clientele changing from black men to like, suddenly there were like more white guys going in there and he’s still doing it, but you just start to see the evolution of the gentrification. I shouldn’t say evolution, but that gentrification of a neighborhood. And then I remember just moving down to Los Angeles and seeing like full swing barbershops like that, just hipster, everybody’s got the beards and there’s the whiskey and the sports and all that stuff. And so it was very important for us to include that in there. Oh, I’m sorry. And the irony of it is, what’s great about it is, Marshall Todd co-wrote the original Barbershop and Cedric the Entertainer is the voice of the trashcan outside the barbershop. And he was in the original Barbershop.
Trash can: Down here my brother. That’s right I’m a talking trash can.
Keith Knight: This is all wrong.
Trash can: I tell you what’s wrong. Those man bun, co-opting ginger fine devils.
Keith Knight: Marshall didn’t even realize that while we were shooting that, and it was like, wow, this moment, must be really interesting to you. And he’s like, why is that? And I explained it to him. He was like, I didn’t even realize. So, that was cool.
Marc Steiner: The story of Keith Knight confronted the police in San Francisco, the story of Keef Knight being confronted by these police. And this epiphany that he has, I mean, how much of that is you?
Keith Knight: Well, it’s definitely a much more naive version of me in the show. And I think we’re packing 30 years into an eight episode season. But when it happened to me, it wasn’t as dramatic. And I didn’t get thrown to the ground. What was shocking to me was my roommate, my white roommate was on a bus coming down the street when it was happening. And he said, he looked off the bus and he saw these cop cars around all these cops.
He was like, Oh man, SFPD hassling your level of black man. And then as he got closer, he saw it was me. And he was like, Oh, wait a second that’s my black man. He was just like, you should have seen him come off the bus. He came off the bus and he raged across the street, screaming bloody hell and getting up in the cops faces. And that to me was really my woke moment, which was seeing these cops treat him like he was their boss. They treated him with respect in a way that they didn’t treat me. And that’s when that was the epitome of white privilege to me. And at that time I was doing stuff about police brutality and racism, but it really made me double and triple down with the work that I was doing. Which eventually led to doing the slideshow and all that stuff, so.
Marc Steiner: To digress here for just moment. So did you have a conversation with your roommate about that afterwards? Did you kind of probe it?
Keith Knight: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I mean, it’s pretty shocking to see. So yeah, I definitely had that conversation. Had he been black or brown, he would have been on the ground and they would have hit him. They would have done something to him. And I was just amazed. I was just amazed.
Marc Steiner: Given the moment we’re in, I was thinking about five years ago when you got that award and the interviews I saw that you had them. When you got the NAACP award, the History Maker Award. And the rebellions that took place across the country, whether it was in Ferguson or in Baltimore and all across the country. And here we are now. And all of a sudden, we’re also seeing millions of non black people, white folks, Asians, Latinos, everybody together in the streets. Even I talked to a friend of mine out on the rez, his rez the other day, and they’re out there doing it as well. So, it seems like we’re in a very different, surreal moment. And it’s hard to say where it’s going to go. And I am, let me stop there for a minute. Go ahead.
Keith Knight: No, it is hard. It’s hard to say where it’s going to go. And I mean, I was just amazed. Yeah, seriously at the widespread protests that were going on. We’re going to see what happens. We’re going to see what happens in November. We’re going to see what happens six months from now. We’re going to see what happens a year from now. I think there’s people jumping on the bandwagon posting their black lives matters avatars and stuff like that. But I think there are people really talking about systemic change, which I know I’ve had conversations with the school superintendent of the schools that I went to high school. And I just feel like, I talked to him about just the importance of having black literature, having thoughts. I didn’t have, I didn’t read a book. I read more books where the animals were protagonist, than people of color. You know, Animal Farm and Beowulf and Jack London books.
And it wasn’t until I was in college that I read James Baldwin and Maya Angelo and stuff like that. So it’s important I think to me to start a very young age and address the system at the start and all fundamental aspects of life. Including getting people of color into Hollywood boardrooms. The people who make the decisions for this stuff, cause you know, I don’t know if we could have sold the show if it wasn’t surrounding, if it wasn’t about racism. There’s so many amazing shows that have come up about this. The Watchman series and the Lovecraft Country and stuff. But I want to get to the point where we can just have just a straight up fantasy story that you know, where there are black protagonists and it’s not based on racism or something like that. Just like straight up romance, fantasy, science fiction of those sentiments.
Marc Steiner: Other than Woke and the role that a program like Woke plays in all of this. The ability to tell a story that is layered and has magical realism with realism intertwined and makes you laugh almost all the way through it at the same time. I mean, there’s a power to that. I think that people don’t realize and that you’re harnessing here.
Keith Knight: Yeah, and it’s funny because it was really hard to convince some people that it would work. I think so many. And again, it’s the limited amount of what we see with black characters and protagonists. It has to be couched in reality, it has to be urban really realism. And it’s like, no, this is a show about a black nerd. You know, this is a combination of comics culture and black culture smashing together. And I would always say, it’s so important that we got to get, let’s get these references to hip hop in there, let’s get references to Star Wars in there. Let’s get references to old school, black television and then let’s get as much in as possible. And I know it will work and just because people haven’t seen it before, I just knew it would work.
Marc Steiner: Well, I think the idea of growing consciousness through comedy is really important. Right?
Keith Knight: A long tradition, it’s a long tradition. This is that rare moment where the door is open for a lot of black creators. And I just kept on saying the whole time, it takes two flops for that door to close and I just don’t want to be one of those flops. You know.
I want to keep that door open and get in as many people in as possible because we have stories to tell and we should be able to tell it and tell our stories ourselves. Cause whenever I talk to kids, whenever I talk to cartoonist, I just say, tell your story, tell your story because if you don’t, someone else will tell it for you and they will get it wrong. And it usually stinks. So you tell your story.
Marc Steiner: Well, I think that the magic of your mind along with Lamorne Morris’ acting. People are just going to be drawn into this. I did not know what to expect. I know that when we were watching, Eric and I were watching the pieces online, I was just, I loved it. I just could not stop laughing and thinking, and people need to watch this.
Keith Knight: Yeah, Lamorne did an amazing job. And I’m surprised that he wasn’t leaving a show earlier than he did like now. I mean, I’m psyched that he’s read the script and just wanting to do it. I’m just so fortunate. So fortunate to have such talented people around me.
Marc Steiner: Well Keith Knight I want to thank you so much for joining us today. This was great.
Keith Knight: Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Marc Steiner: Thanks for joining us. So for co-producer Eric Blount and the real news network, I’m Marc Steiner, take care.
Speaker 15: Thanks a lot for watching. Appreciate it. But do us one more solid favor, hit the subscribe button below, you know you want to stay up on the videos.
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