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A new study has revealed the link between one of Scotlands most famous churches and an ancient forest in Morayshire.

The research into the timber used to build the bell tower of St Giles in Edinburgh has uncovered details about its construction as the kirks 900th anniversary beckons.

Historic Environment Scotland provided funding for the South East Scotland Oak Dendrochronology project, led by Dr Coralie Mills, to investigate the five-storey timber frame within the bell tower of St Giles High Kirk on the Royal Mile.

Originally founded in 1124, the church has undergone many additions and alterations during its history, particularly in the 19th century.

Dendrochronology the process of dating tree rings to the exact year they were formed was conducted on samples from oak timbers in the bell frame, which has refined the probable date for completion of the St Giles bell tower to between 1460 and 1467.

These established the felling dates for timber in the frame in the winters of 1453-54 and 1459-60 and revealed it was sourced from one of the last remaining reserves of old oak timber in Scotland, the Royal Forest of Darnaway, in Morayshire.

Dr Coralie Mills, who carried out the work, told History Scotland: Discovering the date and provenance of the timbers in the tower at St Giles and allowing a new insight into the medieval history of our native woods, has been a highlight of my career.

The mid-15thcentury was a pivotal time when Scotland turned to Scandinavia for most of its timber supply, but this research shows that Darnaway still had reserves of old growth oak, by then a very scarce and valuable resource in Scotland.

The St Giles timbers match closely with other material from reused timber in the Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle, which is also thought to have come from Darnaway.

These results enhance our understanding of St Giles construction history and provide valuable insights into the medieval timber supply in Scotland.

John Lawson, Edinburghs city archaeologist, said: This fascinating research into the original timber used to build the bell tower of St Giles has given us new insight into the Kirk, a building we thought we knew so well.

This has been an incredible piece of work which has helped shed light on the question of exactly when and how the present tower was constructed.

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New study highlights Moray link to construction of St Giles in Edinburgh - Press and Journal

Published 4 June 2020

Glasgow City Heritage Trust has announced over 360,000 of funding to support 12 heritage projects in the city,including five historic building repair projects, in its latest round of funding.

A building repair grant of 57,344 has been awarded towards conservation repairs to the Category A-listed Royal Faculty of Procurators building, which was modelled on Sansovinos Library in Venice and is a rare city centre building by architect Charles Wilson, better known for his work in Glasgows Park District.

As part of the repairs programme, there will also be a small exhibition about the building and Charles Wilson, guided walks around legal buildings in Glasgow, and Strathclyde University Law Clinic will run legal advice clinics.

A building repair grant of 80,000 has been awarded in the form towards conservation repairs to Smiths Hotel at 963 Sauchiehall Street, which is within a Category B-listed early Victorian tenement on the western stretch of Sauchiehall Street as it passes through the Park Conservation Area.

The aim of the project is to return the property to a condition in keeping with the wider Sauchiehall Street townscape in this key approach to Kelvingrove from Glasgow city centre. As part of the repairs programme, there will also be traditional skills training offered to schools and the surrounding community, with site visits and demonstrations of the conservation work in progress.

In Hillhead, a 5,886 collective building repair grant has been offered to the six owners of 3-7 Great George Street, a Category B-Listed early Victorian tenement in Hillhead.

The failing and dangerous window jambs on the tenements main faade have been propped with timbers for several years so the repairs are required on Health and Safety grounds, as well as to preserve the character of the handsome well-proportioned facade.

As part of the repairs programme, the stonemason will be training apprentices in traditional skills, while a traditional skills demonstration event will also be offered to local schools and community.

A viability study is being supported with a 5,000 development grant to Glasgow Building Preservation Trust to help carry out work to determine if Govanhill Trinity Church could be used as a community space.

The Category B-listed building, known locally as the Daisy Street Church and built in 1878, closed as a church in 2015 when its congregation joined forces with nearby Queens Park Govanhill Church. The study will look at the repair works that need to be done to the building and how it could be used in the future to benefit the community.

Other recipients of funding from the Glasgow City Heritage Trust include Smithycroft Secondary School which has been awarded a traditional skills grant of 4,424 to provide vocational traditional construction skills training to a class of 12 pupils, providing them with the skills necessary to improve their employment prospects.

As well as providing a qualification, it is hoped that the course will encourage an appreciation of the historic built environment in Glasgow with speakers and demonstrations from people in a number of traditional construction crafts as well as hands-on experience on current sites.

The Trust has also funded educational and outreach projects including phase two of the popular Ghost Signs of Glasgow project run by volunteers and On Our Streets: Protest & Celebration, a social history study of Govanhill being delivered by Govanhill Baths Community Trust.

Torsten Haak, director of Glasgow City Heritage Trust, said: We are delighted to announce this round of financial support for Glasgows historic buildings and neighbourhoods. Im particularly pleased that we are supporting such a wide variety of projects, from small grants for domestic stonework repairs to comprehensive projects to repair significant buildings in the city centre, along with traditional skills training and projects that will support communities to engage with their local place and their heritage.

Throughout the current crisis we are still open, still listening to ideas and still providing funding for projects that protect, conserve and celebrate our citys rich built heritage. We know how difficult this time is for our partners and colleagues and we are trying to be as supportive and flexible as possible. We want to help those who already have projects underway to continue their work where possible, and to encourage people with new projects in development to get in touch and see if we can help.

With total project costs of 1.4 million for this latest round of support, every pound the Trust has invested has helped to secure another 3 from other sources. This funding has come from the five grant programmes run by the Trust, which is supported by Historic Environment Scotland and Glasgow City Council. Applications are open throughout the year and are considered quarterly. The next closing date is the end of July.

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Historic Glasgow buildings to be protected in 360000 funding round - Scottish Construction Now

SINGAPORE - A construction firm began to assiduously impose strict social distancing measures at its work site and dormitories a few months ago, yet almost 30 per cent of its workers at a project site were infected by Covid-19, said Second Minister for National Development Desmond Lee on Friday (June 5).

Recounting its efforts, he said the measures include having all the workers of a project live at the site and ensuring they are segregated, as well as disallowing those living on different levels of dormitories to mix.

The workers had not left the worksite since late March, even before circuit breaker measures kicked in.

But despite the full attention the management paid to safety and protection against the coronavirus, Covid-19 could not be kept at bay, noted Mr Lee, who is also Minister for Social and Family Development.

He cited the firm, which he did not name, to explain why stringent measures had to be imposed on construction companies before they were allowed to resume work progressively, starting from June 2.

The minister acknowledged their anxieties and eagerness to resume work, which has been suspended for two months under the circuit breaker that ended on June 1.

But the experience of the mentioned project shows how infectious the Covid-19 disease is, and how difficult it is to prevent a single case from infecting many more who live and work together, Mr Lee said during the debate on the supplementary Fortitude Budget.

"Imagine how much more challenging it might befor projects with workers living in different accommodation, or having to move between different sites."

So, it is equally important that the resumption of work is done safely, not just swiftly, he said, given that most of Covid-19 cases were construction workers.

A new case could easily cause another outbreak, which could bring the industry to a halt again, he added.

He also told the House that 60 dormitories have been cleared of Covid-19, and another 111 are due to be cleared in the coming weeks.

Workers tested and found free of the infection are being resettled in designated dormitory blocks.

The minister also said more regular updates will be given to the industry, including a rolling forecast of the dormitory clearance schedule to help the builders plan ahead on when their workers can return to work.

He assured the House that there isenough testing capacity for workers living in the wider community.

And that almost 20,000 safety management officers will be trained this month to ensure workers comply with safety measures, with priority given to officers in charge of projects that are ready to restart.

"Many firms in the construction sector, including many small and medium-sized enterprises, are very anxious about survival and about their future. Let me assure you that our main priority is to restart construction quickly but safely," said Mr Lee.

Singapore's efforts to raise productivity in construction have been going on for decades, Mr Lee said, in his reply to Nominated MP Walter Theseira, who called for a rethink of Singapore's dependence on foreign labour, particularly in construction.

Under the construction sector's Industry Transformation Map, "major structural changes" are needed on how work is done to reduce the reliance on foreign labour, including the greater adoption of technology, the minister said.

But the change will create higher-skilled jobs, including many good jobs for Singaporeans. Foreign workers who take on such jobs will also need to be higher skilled, he noted.

"However, the construction sector will not be able to reduce our foreign worker reliance to zeroas there will still be lower-skilled jobs that Singaporeans do not want to take up.

"We appreciate the contributions of our foreign workers, who have come to Singapore to make an honest living for themselves and their families, and it is incumbent on us to also take good care of them when they are unwell," said Mr Lee.

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Singapore's top priority is to restart construction quickly but safely after Covid-19 circuit breaker, says Desmond Lee - The Straits Times

So youve added a splash of color to the walls in your kitchen and upgraded the appliances, but its not quite enough. Those cabinets still seem drab, bringing down that fresh look you were going for. Or perhaps youre looking to sell your house, but the kitchen is not a selling point because of worn-out cabinetry. Your cabinets need a pick-me-up, and professionals usually opt for one of three ways to give your kitchen a facelift: replacing, refacing or refinishing.

Replacing

Replacing your cabinets gives you a chance to go with something completely new. A company comes in, guts your kitchen and gives you brand new cabinet doors, drawers and boxes. You can go from a very traditional look to a modern, European style, change the wood, add doors with glass panes, or even restructure the kitchen layout. This is great for old, rundown cabinetry thats been chipped, cracked and worn.

Keep in mind that this generally leads to a bigger project as homeowners will often replace countertops and sinks and maybe even the flooring to give the kitchen a fresh, new look.

Refacing

For a little less drastic and more economical kitchen renovation, refacing is an option. You pick out new doors and drawer fronts to replace the ones you have, and the existing cabinet boxes are covered with a veneer to match your new doors/drawers. There is a wide variety of colors and finishes to choose from.

Refacing cabinets gives you lots of options and half the mess!

For those who want to update their kitchen look without changing the layout, this is a great option. And since the doors and drawer faces are being replaced, they dont have to be in mint condition.

Refinishing

But what if your cabinets are in great shape and you like the style, but the finish needs to be updated, thats where refinishing comes in. Refinishing is the most affordable and usually the quickest way to bring life back into dreary cabinets.

It's vital that the cabinets are in good condition since refinishing includes paint stripping, sanding, and staining or painting. The most economical choice here is to match the existing finish.

Refinishing cabinets requires the right tools!

Creating a unique faux finishing or going from one color or stain to another is more expensive. You can go from whitewashed to a deep cherry wood color. It is, however, hard to go from a very dark to very light.

Painting is another option, with unlimited color choices. You can match your cabinet color to that perfect shade of blue on the dishes as professional paint stores can easily perform a match on any item you bring in. Generally, this is a project for a professional painter. They have the tools and expertise to make cabinets look like new.

Pricing

Refinishing costs: It is most economical to match the finish of the existing cabinetry. The cost of changing the color or creating a faux finish increases the price to as much as it would cost to install nice, lower end cabinets.

Refacing costs are as much as a faux finish, but the advantage to both is that there is less of a mess. Cabinets, flooring and countertop can stay in place and dont need to be replaced.

Cabinet costs: A good quality new cabinet starts at about $550 per cabinet box professionally installed. A typical nice, whole kitchen cabinet package is hard to buy installed for less than $5,000 in a small kitchen. And going to this level probably involves new counters, plumbing fixtures and flooring.

Of course, you can do some mixing and matching. Stain the cabinets to that beautiful oak color, but have a door or two replaced with glass panes to show off the fine china and crystal.

Revamp the kitchen and reface the cabinets in the bathroom. Giving your cabinets a total-body makeover or just a facelift can make the whole house seem to come back to life.

For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com. An Arizona home building and remodeling industry expert for 35 years, Rosie Romero is the host of the syndicated Saturday morning Rosie on the House radio program, heard locally from 8 to 11 a.m. on KNST-AM (790) in Tucson and from 7 to 10 a.m. on KGVY-AM (1080) and -FM (100.7) in Green Valley. Call 888-767-4348.

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Rosie on the House: Check out choices for outdated cabinets - Green Valley News

This time of year is normally filled with joy and celebration, as millions of graduates across the country take their first steps into the "real world".

Some of you reading this are families of graduates. Some are graduates yourselves. Either way, you may be thinking of all the 2020 graduates who didn't get a ceremony, celebrated with loved ones over Zoom, and are entering into the most uncertain jobs market since the Great Depression.

I am, too.

So here's my message to the Class of 2020:

I'm not going to beat around the bush. These are hard times. You're graduating into the worst economy in 80 years, and we don't have any idea when or how the economy will recover. Much depends on the course of this tragic pandemic.

On the other hand, I don't want you to despair. You have your entire lives in front of you. And you have your education, and, hopefully, resilience and fortitude.

The multiple crises we're facing are also opportunities to remake this nation and the world, hopefully into more just societies.

In this spirit, I wanted to share with you a final class I taught a few years back, when I and my students were still all together in a classroom. In watching it, it seemed to me that the lessons still hold, especially in this pandemic and economic crisis the importance of personal resilience, the inevitability of failure, the challenge of designing your own hoops to jump through, the new careers and forms of work you'll encounter, the central importance of gaining wisdom about yourself.

I hope these ideas give you the courage to face the future with realism and resourcefulness, and the confidence to dedicate at least some of your life to fortifying the common good.

Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written 15 books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "The Common Good." He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." He's also co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism."

Link:
Robert Reich's advice to the Class of 2020 - Salon

(CNN) Although most governments are still advising against "nonessential" international travel, a host of popular destinations are beginning to ease their Covid-19 lockdown measures and border restrictions and are moving toward welcoming tourists back.

Earlier this month, the European Union unveiled an action plan to reopen its internal borders in time for summer, while countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have formed "travel bubbles," lifting restrictions for each other's citizens.

A number of Caribbean islands are preparing to open their doors to foreign visitors in June, while destinations such as Mexico and Thailand are planning to open up again region by region in the coming weeks.

If you're one of many travelers eagerly awaiting news on where you can travel to this year, here's a guide to the top destinations making plans to reopen, as well as some of those that are keeping their borders firmly closed for now.

Cyprus

Cyprus has pledged to cover holiday costs for Covid-19-positive tourists and their families.

Courtesy Cyprus Tourism Organisation

Cyprus is so keen to get its tourism industry back on track, officials are offering to cover the costs of any travelers who test positive for Covid-19 while on vacation in the Mediterranean island nation.

According to a letter shared with CNN, the Cypriot government will pay for lodging, as well as food, drink and medication for tourists who are taken ill with coronavirus during their visit.

The detailed plan was set out in a five-page letter issued to governments, airlines and tour operators on May 26.

Officials have also earmarked a 100-bed hospital for foreign travelers who test positive, while a 500-room "quarantine hotel" will be available to patients' family and "close contacts."

"The traveler will only need to bear the cost of their airport transfer and repatriation flight, in collaboration with their agent and/or airline," states the letter.

The news came shortly after Cyprus Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos announced hotels in the country will reopen on June 1, while international air travel will restart on June 9.

Once the destination reopens, visitors from only chosen countries will be allowed to enter.

Incoming flights from Greece, Malta, Bulgaria, Norway, Austria, Finland, Slovenia, Hungary, Israel, Denmark, Germany, Slovakia and Lithuania will be authorized first.

From June 20, Cyprus will also permit incoming flights from Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Estonia and the Czech Republic.

However, the list is to be expanded to include furthe23r countries in the coming months.

Travelers heading to Cyprus will need to provide a valid certificate proving they've tested negative for Covid-19, while they'll be subject to temperature checks on arrival as well as testing at random during the course of their trip.

The destination has already put measures in place to protect travelers and residents, such as ensuring hotel staff wear masks and gloves, regularly disinfecting sunbeds and keeping tables at restaurants, bars, cafs,and pubs at least two meters (6.5 feet) apart.

Bali

At least 6.3 million people visited Bali in 2019.

SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images

Bali has also been successful in containing its coronavirus outbreak, with less than 350 confirmed cases and, at the time of writing, a total of four deaths.

The Indonesian island now hopes to welcome tourists back by October, provided its infection rates stay low.

Bali's economy is hugely dependent on tourism and visitor numbers have been rising in recent years, with around 6.3 million people visiting in 2019.

All foreign nationals, except for diplomats, permanent residents and humanitarian workers, are currently banned from Indonesia, and anyone entering the island must undergo a swab test and provide a letter stating they are free of Covid-19.

It's unclear what the entry requirements will be if restrictions are lifted later this year, or whether Bali will accept travelers from regions badly affected by the pandemic.

Thailand

Thailand plans to reopen different regions stage by stage towards the end of 2020.

JACK TAYLOR/AFP via Getty Images

Thailand has long been among the top destinations for travelers, receiving close to 40 million foreign tourists last year.

However, visitors have been banned from entering the Southeast Asian country since March because of the pandemic.

While the number of cases here has been relatively low in comparison to other destinations -- Thailand has reported more than 3,000 confirmed cases and over 50 deaths -- officials aren't taking any chances when it comes to reopening the country.

The governor went on to stress there will be limitations on who can visit the country and what regions they can go to once restrictions are relaxed.

"We are not going to open all at once," he added. "We are still on high alert, we just can't let our guards down yet.

"We have to look at the country of origin [of the travelers] to see if their situation has truly improved."

This effectively means Thailand is unlikely to open its borders to travelers from destinations that don't appear to have the coronavirus situation under control.

Those that are given permission to enter may be offered "long-stay packages" in isolated areas "where health monitoring can be easily controlled," such as the remote islands of Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Samui.

However, Thailand's borders are firmly shut for the time being.

Like many other global destinations, Thailand is currently focusing on domestic tourism.

In fact, some resorts and hotels have already been given the go ahead to reopen -- Hua Hin, located about 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Bangkok, being one of them.

Shopping malls, museums, markets and some tourist attractions have also been reopening their doors, with Bangkok's Grand Palace due to reopen on June 4.

France

Residents of France will be allowed to take holidays within the country during July and August.

DAMIEN MEYER/AFP via Getty Images

France was the most visited country in the world before the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, like the rest of the EU, restrictions are currently in place on all nonessential travel from outside the Schengen Zone (a grouping of 26 countries which normally have open borders).

Travelers who do enter the country, with the exception of EU citizens or arrivals from the UK, will be subject to a compulsory 14-day coronavirus quarantine until at least July 24.

"Since the start of the crisis, the closure of the borders is the rule, and the authorization to cross a border is the exception.

"What is good for tourism is often good for France, what strikes tourism strikes France," he said during a news conference.

Although some businesses have been given permission to reopen, the country's hotels, bars, restaurants and cafs are to remain closed at least until June 2.

Even then, it's unlikely establishments in Paris, which has been marked as a coronavirus "red zone" by officials, will be allowed to open any time soon.

It was announced on May 29 that the country's most visited museum, the Louvre, will reopen July 6.

"Tourism is facing what is probably its worst challenge in modern history," added Philippe. "Because this is one of the crown jewels of the French economy, rescuing it is a national priority."

He went on to state that residents can take holidays within France during July and August.

The country's hotels will be reliant on domestic tourism once they do reopen, as all signs suggest international travelers will not be able to enter for the foreseeable future.

"When the lockdown measures soften, French tourists are likely to want to stay close to home in the short term," a spokesperson for French hotel chain Accor told CNN Travel earlier this month.

"It will be the moment for them to rediscover their own country and we will be there to welcome them."

Greece

Officials in Greece are hoping to reopen the country on June 15.

cunfek/Getty Images

Tourism accounts for almost 20% of Greece's gross domestic product, as well as one in five jobs, so it's perhaps no surprise the Mediterranean nation is angling to reopen to tourists as soon as it possibly can.

The European country, which managed to keep its coronavirus case numbers low by implementing a strict lockdown early on, plans to allow travelers back in on June 15.

"The tourism period begins on June 15, when seasonal hotels can reopen," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on May 20.

"Let us make this summer the epilogue of the [Covid-19] crisis," he added.

However, Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis has indicated health officials will conduct spot tests when necessary.

"Maybe no bars may be open, or no tight crowds, but you can still get a fantastic experience in Greece -- provided that the global epidemic is on a downward path."

The 29 countries are Albania, Australia, Austria, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Japan, Israel, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, New Zealand, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, South Korea, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Finland.

Bars and restaurants have also been allowed to take up business again, while city hotels are scheduled to reopen on June 1, followed by seasonal hotels in July.

All international passengers had previously been required to take a Covid-19 test upon arrival or go into quarantine for 14 days.

Mitsotakis had suggested tourists would be required to undergo testing before their visit as a further precaution in the future, but it seems this is only the case for travelers from countries that aren't on the list, whichn based on a document from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency of airports worldwide "located in affected areas with high risk of transmission of the Covid-19 infection."

Germany

Restrictions in Germany are being gently relaxed as the country prepares to revive its tourism industry.

JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

Officials are also considering allowing entry to visitors from Turkey, the UK, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, although a final decision is yet to be made.

"The revitalization of tourism is important both for travelers and the German travel industry, as well as for the economic stability of the respective target countries," it reads.

The Austria/Germany land border is also reopening -- travel between Austria and Germany will be possible from June 15 -- and restrictions around the country are being relaxed.

Mexico

Over the coming weeks, Mexico will begin to open up region by region.

ELIZABETH RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images

Mexico is aiming to welcome visitors back within weeks.

While the nation remains in lockdown, with hotels and restaurants yet to recommence business, officials are planning to reopen the country bit by bit in order to get things back on track.

"The target is domestic travelers first, followed by travelers from the US and Canada and then the rest of the world.

The border between the US and Mexico border is closed to "nonessential" travel until at least June 22 and most international flights in and out of Mexico's key airports are currently suspended or significantly reduced.

However, Delta Air Lines will be increasing and/or resuming various services from the US to Cancun, Mexico City Los Cabos and Puerta Vallarta in the coming weeks.

Quintana Roo, a state on the Caribbean side of Mexico that's home to the likes of Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, hopes to reopen in mid-June, according to Marisol Vanegas, the state's tourism secretary.

"We want to revive tourism and expect to start opening sights and hotels sometime between June 10 and 15 but don't know which ones yet," she says.

"It depends on what the federal government allows us to do."

Rodrigo Esponda, managing director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board, says he hopes to be able to accept both international and domestic travelers by August and September.

However, beach destination Riviera Nayarit, situated north of Puerta Vallarta, currently has no immediate plans to bring back tourists, according to Richard Zarkin, the public relations manager for the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Turkey

Turkey is aiming to receive international visitors from mid-June.

Burak Kara/Getty Images

Turkey made over $34.5 billion from tourism in 2019, and the transcontinental country is eager to get back in business.

According to Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the destination plans to restart domestic tourism by the close of May and hopes to receive international visitors from mid-June.

The country has set out new guidelines for its hotels and resort facilities, such as temperature checks at entrances and at least 12 hours of room ventilation after checkout. Guests will be required to wear face masks and maintain social distancing.

Meanwhile, restrictions on intercity travel have been lifted, while restaurants, cafes, parks and sports facilities are permitted to reopen from June 1, along with beaches and museums.

Italy

Italy is dropping its compulsory quarantine for arrivals in a "calculated risk" to entice tourists back.

PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP via Getty Images

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Which international destinations are reopening to tourists? - CNN

Once darkness had fallen, the general went to see the situation for himself. Mark Milley strode across the battlefield in olive-green camouflage and heavy boots, not to inspect a residential street in Fallujah or mountains in Afghanistan, but the streets of Washington, D.C.

A reporter asked Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, if he had a message for the American people. His response: "Just allow freedom to assemble, freedom of speech, that's perfectly fine, we support that," he said. "We took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America to do that, and to protect everyone's rights and that's what we do."

It was a striking statement given that it came just a short time after security personnel, including members of the military police, deployed batons and flashbang grenades to forcibly push peaceful protesters out of the streets surrounding the White House. There are competing narratives as to whether they had been warned before force was deployed, but it is clear why they were moved: to provide a photo op for U.S. President Donald Trump.

Around 6 p.m. on Monday, after several days in which the White House had looked like a defensive fortress surrounded by a sea of furious demonstrators, Trump stepped outside. Up to that point, the president had hardly said a word about the largely peaceful protests or the limited rioting that had beset Washington, D.C., and dozens of other towns and cities across the nation. He was unable to find the courage or desire to give a consoling speech following the horrific slaying of George Floyd, a black man who was murdered by a white policeman who kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes.

Once the crowds were cleared on Monday evening, Trump stood in front of St. John's Church, which had been damaged by fire the previous evening. He fiddled with a Bible, then held it aloft, as though unsure exactly what to do. When Trump was asked about his favorite verse in what he described as his "favorite book" last year, he had been unable to come up with one.

In front of the church, a journalist asked the president about his thoughts about the current situation. Trump muttered a few unintelligible comments into the wind. He was surrounded exclusively by white men and women, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the four-star General Milley, who had been tasked by the president a short time earlier with coordinating the military response to the unrest in the country.

The scene was as ridiculous as it was ominous, more reminiscent of South American potentates than of American democracy. Trump, who is fond of taking about "my generals" and also claimed to have the "support of the army," had arranged for a military escort for his foray into the streets of America. He also indicated that he wanted to send military units into American cities to confront the protesters, whom he has described as "terrorists."

The pushback came quickly. Defense Secretary Esper voiced his disapproval of the plan, as did several others. After Trumps church appearance, retired General John Allen, who once commanded NATO troops in Afghanistan and was part of the fight against Islamic State, said, "The slide of the United States into illiberalism may well have begun on June 1, 2020." James Mattis, also a retired general and once Trump's defense secretary, wrote in The Atlantic that Trump was the first president who was seeking to divide the country rather than unite it. But Trump's political allies were still there for him. The New York Times published an op-ed by Republican Senator Tom Cotton headlined, "Send In the Military."

Trump and his political accessories are using the rhetoric of authoritarianism. Militarized police forces haven't just been using violence to quell plundering and rioting, they have also been attacking peaceful demonstrators. Journalists have been arrested as well.

Should we be worried about the United States? Is a fundamental shift taking place in a country that is synonymous with deeply rooted democracy? The current chaos on the streets of America isn't just the product of the countrys economic and societal tensions. The president himself has repeatedly exacerbated those conflicts with his rhetoric. Trump, it seems, needs the chaos. He feeds off it.

Few other democratically elected leaders have as much power as the U.S. president, a reality that can lead to abuse. Trump has made personal loyalty the most important qualification for those with whom he surrounds himself. He harbors deep admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and once voiced his support for the violent crushing of the pro-democracy protests on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, saying it was a sign of strength.

The Russia investigation and his impeachment did not show him the limits of his power, and instead awakened in him a desire to hit back hard and to get rid of anyone within government who does not fulfill his every whim. In the waning months of his first term in office, just a few months before Election Day, he is increasingly putting his authoritarian tendencies on full display.

Not long ago, it seemed absurd to question the strength of America's system of checks and balances. U.S. democracy, more than 200 years old, has survived numerous crises and its resilience has always withstood attempts to grab power. But after more than three years of Trump, and despite him being the democratically elected president, the foundations of American democracy have grown brittle. Trump has continually pushed back the limits of what was considered acceptable under his predecessors. Flouting tradition, he placed the powerful Department of the Interior and the intelligence agencies in the hands of loyal acolytes.

"It's very frightening," says Rosa Brooks, a professor of law at Georgetown University. "I hope that I'm being much too paranoid but it's hard not to think of things like the Reichstag fire at this moment."

From the German perspective, of course, the comparison seems farfetched. In February, 1933, the National Socialists used the fire in Berlins Reichstag building as an excuse to issue the "Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State. This essentially meant the suspension of the Weimar-era constitution and the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship.

The U.S. is far away from that. The system of checks and balances is a long way from being defanged and opposition is lively, as the streets in recent days have shown. In the House of Representatives, the Democrats have a solid majority and both Washington and New York are home to newspapers that wield tremendous power.

But the president is flirting with authoritarianism. And his party is following along.

On Monday, Trump retweeted a post by Cotton, the Republican senator, reading: "If local law enforcement is overwhelmed and needs backup, let's see how tough these Antifa terrorists are when they're facing off with the 101st Airborne Division."

On Monday night, military helicopters circled at low altitude above the streets of the capital to intimidate demonstrators and looters. In military jargon, the tactic is known as a "show of force," and tends to be used in foreign battlefields in places like Iraq or Afghanistan. Meanwhile, National Guard troops in battle equipment lined up in front of the Lincoln Memorial, their faces covered. And then, suddenly, a high fence was erected around the White House on Thursday. To protect the president from the American people.

Daniel Ziblatt, a professor of the science of government at Harvard, co-authored the book "How Democracies Die" two years ago. It quickly became a widely respected work about the rise of autocrats and the strategies they employ. "When we wrote the book, we wanted to avoid seeming too alarmist," Ziblatt says today. "Now, I think we were too optimistic. We thought the Republican Party would break with Trump when he began attacking the democratic system. But that hasn't happened."

The U.S. has been beset by a perfect storm. In absolute numbers, no other industrialized country has been hit as hard by the coronavirus pandemic as the United States, with more than 100,000 dead. The economic consequences of the virus have also been devastating: More than 40 million Americans have lost their jobs, a disaster second only to the Great Depression. And now, the killing of George Floyd has torn open the country's oldest wound: the deep-seated racism left behind by slavery.

Police protecting the White House from demonstrations out front.

During the initial weeks of the coronavirus crisis, many people took comfort in the notion that "were all in this together. The phrase was repeated daily by news anchors, politicians and celebrities. But many black people in the United States saw it as an affront. They have been hit much harder than white Americans by unemployment - even George Floyd had lost his job as a bouncer at a restaurant in Minneapolis. Furthermore, the chance that a black American will die from COVID-19 is three times higher than for white people.

"Our country will thrive and prosper again," Trump said in his inaugural address in January 2017. But now, dozens of U.S. cities have seen destructive rioting, and curfews have been imposed on 60 million Americans.

Racist police violence has a long, ugly tradition in the United States and white terror existed long before Trump rose to power, but almost all presidents in recent history have tried to unite the country. When a white terrorist shot and killed nine black people during a Bible study on June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina, Barack Obama sang a moving rendition of "Amazing Grace" at the memorial service. It comforted the nation.

"I hope that I'm being much too paranoid but it's hard not to think of things like the Reichstag fire at this moment."

Rosa Brooks, a professor at Georgetown University.

The contrast to Trump could hardly be greater. Last year, the current president awarded one of the countrys two highest civilian honors to the racist radio host Rush Limbaugh a man who once said: "If any race of people should not have guilt about slavery, it's Caucasians." When the first disturbances began following the killing of George Floyd, Trump issued a warning that culminated in the sentence: "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." The sentence was used in the 1960s by racist politicians and police chiefs. Trump seemed to intentionally be throwing a match into a barrel of gasoline. And now, the country is burning.

"I am here to fight for my black skin," says a breathless Tranesha Smith, 25, in Oakland. She is holding up a homemade sign as a dark wall of police assembles in front of her. The sign reads "Peace for George Floyd" on the front and, on the back: "You killed my black brother." She says she is fighting for her children, for all black people. And for justice.

"No justice, no peace," is one of the most frequently chanted slogans at the demonstrations. It is often followed by a second sentence: "No racist police!" Thousands have taken to the streets of Oakland in recent days, just as they have in dozens of other cities and towns around the country: in Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington, Houston, Portland, Louisville and Chicago. Windows have been broken in Oakland, which is located across the bay from San Francisco, and there has been looting.

But on this recent afternoon, the protests are peaceful, at least in physical terms. The anger is still there, expressed in slogans like "fuck the police!" which is chanted over and over again. The heavily armed officers, dressed in dark-colored riot gear, show no emotion under their helmets. Tranesha Smith, who works as an elder-care nurse, is wearing sandals, torn jeans and a colorful top.

A woman with the letters BLM on her face, which stands for Black Lives Matter.

Oakland is a good place to understand the rage of black people in America. Many African American people from the South moved to the so-called "Harlem of the West" in the middle of the 20th century. In the 1960s, it was the birthplace of the militant Black Panthers, who confronted the virulent police brutality of the time with violent force. Their logo can be seen these days on many of the T-shirts worn by demonstrators. Another popular motif is an image of Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers who popularized the practice of kneeling during the national anthem as a sign of protest. Oakland has a long tradition of black resistance.

And with good reason. Whereas black residents made up roughly half of the city's population in 1980, their share is below a quarter today. One reason for their displacement is the economic boom in Silicon Valley and the entire Bay Area, where high-salaried tech workers drove up housing prices, making it too expensive for many long-time residents to stay. Gentrification has long-since taken root in San Francisco, where black faces are frequently only seen among the homeless.

"I'm here to fight for my black skin."

Tranesha Smith, a protester in Oakland

The geography of Oakland is itself evidence of structural racism: The neighborhoods where the city's black population tends to live are located in the lowlands and crisscrossed by highways raised on cement pillars. White residents tend to live higher up on the hillsides, with views of the bay.

As the demonstrators march past City Hall, they chant the names of the victims: "Say their names! George Floyd! Say their names! Breonna Taylor! Say their names! Ahmaud Arbery!"

Breonna Taylor was killed by police in Kentucky in March. Ahmaud Arbery was a young black man who was apparently shot and killed while jogging in Georgia by a white civilian. They are just three names in a long list of black victims. Many American cities have their own George Floyd.

"But this time, it's different," says Jackie Byers, 48, from a local human rights organization called Black Organizing Project, who is also marching with the demonstrators. It's different, Byers believes, than during the unrest in Ferguson in 2014, when Michael Brown was shot and killed. And different from the 1991 uprising in Los Angeles after police beat Rodney King half to death.

Whats new, says Byers, is that millions of Americans could see the expression on the face of the policeman Derek Chauvin as he presses his knee into the neck of George Floyd for eight minutes and 46 seconds. The video immediately went viral on the internet. The lack of emotion, the impassiveness, says Byers, "is like a stab in our hearts." It reflects, she says, the degree of arrogance of white law enforcement officers who don't have to fear ever having to face justice for their actions.

According to the Mapping Police Violence database, 99 percent of all deaths caused by police between 2013 and 2019 resulted in no charges whatsoever. Each year, around 1,000 people in the United States lose their lives at the hands of the police, though the likelihood of being one of those victims is almost three times higher for blacks than it is for whites.

Another new aspect, says Byers, is that there are now two life-threatening viruses fueling the rage of black Americans: racism, which is deeply rooted in American culture and history, and SARS-CoV-2, which has hit blacks much harder than whites. Together, they have created a social explosion.

The fact that a greater proportion of black Americans die from COVID-19 is also a consequence of the conditions in which they live. On average, black Americans are much poorer than white Americans, which frequently translates to worse health and inadequate access to quality medical care. The average income of a black household in the United States is around $40,000 per year. For white households, that number is $70,000. Black Americans are also relatively more exposed to the virus because they are more likely to work at lower paying jobs that they cannot perform from home working in supermarkets, delivering packages or caring for patients in the hospitals.

Walking around the Chicagos Austin neighborhood with Elce Redmond, one gets a sense of how American capitalism has treated black residents. A community organizer, Redmond has spent 30 years focusing his attentions on Austin, one of the city's poorest and most dangerous districts. Some 81 percent of its population are African-American, and 13 percent are Latino.

Until the end of the 1980s, Redmond says, Austin was a solid, stable neighborhood. But then, spurred by globalization, numerous companies moved production overseas, plunging many people into unemployment and the neighborhood into a constant battle against poverty, drugs and crime. In some streets, nice homes with well-tended yards show that not everyone is losing the battle. But just one block away, entire rows of houses stand empty, with the windows either broken out or boarded up.

Children who grow up in Austin have a difficult start in life. "People used to think they had a chance if they worked hard and didn't give up," says Redmond. But that faith is waning. "The American dream doesn't work because there is a wall: institutional racism." To show what he means, Redmond points to a large building whose windows have been bricked up. It used to be Emmet Elementary School, but like many schools in Chicago's poorer neighborhoods, the school was closed down in 2014. "The only path to advancement is education," says Redmond. "There are plenty of dedicated teachers here, but there is a lack of financial means and there is a lack of desire to change things."

The American education system is heavily tilted toward the haves and away from the have nots. Schools in wealthy neighborhoods receive more public funding than those in poor neighborhoods because funding is dependent on local tax revenues. "Children who need help don't have a chance," Redmond says. And the many local initiatives in Austin can hardly change that situation. Now they are having to deal with the coronavirus as well. "This is a virus hotspot," says Redmond, a situation, he says, that came about in part because of high residential density and a lack of quality health care. The local hospital was shut down years ago.

The virus has combined with this widespread rage to feed the current unrest on American streets. The sentence George Floyd uttered as he was dying, "I can't breathe," has become the slogan of the nationwide demonstrations against police violence. But it also reflects the particularly hard impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the black population in the past several months.

Colin Kaepernick's kneel of protest has also taken on new meaning in recent days, mirrored as it is by the way the policeman knelt on George Floyd's neck. In many parts of the U.S., kneeling has become a way for the police to demonstrate solidarity with protesters. These scenes shouldn't be forgotten amid the news coverage of burning buildings, plundered shops and clouds of tear gas.

America finds itself at a high-stakes crossroads. Although there has been looting and rage, hundreds of thousands of white Americans have joined the anti-racist protests. Indeed, the protests seem to also be aimed at the man in the Oval Office, whose administration does not include a single black person in a prominent cabinet position and whose campaign events are almost exclusively attended by white supporters.

Outside the White House, the United States is becoming increasingly diverse, making it increasingly difficult to win an election without support from black and Latino voters. The unrest is thus not just about racist police officers or jobs, but about who has the say in the United States, about power.

In 2016, Trump received 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton, who won 89 percent of the African American vote. Trump only won because of the Electoral College, which grants the primarily white states in the Midwest influence far outstripping the size of their populations. Demographically, though, whites are shrinking as a share of the population.

In Texas, a Republic stronghold for decades, the non-white population has already overtaken the white population. "We are experiencing the death rattle of the America represented by Donald Trump," believes Eddie Glaude, an historian at Princeton University. "Politically, that leads to panicked efforts to hold onto an America that is dying out. It has been accelerated by COVID-19."

"People used to think they had a chance if they worked hard and didn't give up."

Elce Redmond, community organizer in Chicago

The Republicans have entered into a devil's bargain with Donald Trump. He delivered all that the party has ever pined for: tax cuts, conservative judges and sharp anti-abortion rhetoric. In return, the party has completely subordinated itself to Trump, whose re-election strategy hinges on the support of white voters without a college education. The strategy can only be successful if large portions of the electorate are kept away from the voting booth.

The Republican conception of free and fair elections was on full display in Wisconsin in early April, during a vote in which Democrats also chose their favored candidate for the presidency. Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, wanted to delay the vote to give citizens an opportunity to vote by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But Republicans in the Wisconsin statehouse didn't just reject that effort, they ensured that the number of voting booths was drastically reduced particularly in areas where many African Americans lived. In Milwaukee, 175 of 180 polling stations were closed. Those wanting to cast their ballots had to stand in endlessly long lines.

It was part of a long tradition. "There is no Republican majority in America, except on election days," wrote the New York Times in a recent editorial. Instead of striving to attract new groups of voters, the Republicans have adopted a different strategy: They are trying to prevent minorities from voting at all. And it is made easier by America's system of administration, which is not easy for Continental Europeans to understand.

Because American's do not carry federal IDs, citizens must register to vote. And every state decides on its own which document is required to do so. Since 2014, the state of Alabama has demanded a driver's license. Documents entitling holders to social housing are no longer sufficient, but for many African Americans, they are the only official documents that they possess.

The exclusion of black voters was an invention of the Democrats, once the party of Southern slave owners. After the end of the Civil War in 1865, they wanted to prevent former slaves from rising to positions of power. The Republicans, who have almost no black support today, expanded and modernized those efforts in the 20th century. "It used to be: If you vote, you die," says historian Carol Anderson, referencing the lynchings that used to take place in the South. "Today, intimidation works differently."

Troops from the National Guard standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Crystal Mason is familiar with that intimidation. In the 2016 presidential elections, she wanted to cast her ballot for Hillary Clinton. Because her name was no longer the registration rolls, however, she cast a provisional ballot. It is a standard procedure and votes thus cast are examined after the election to determine if they are valid.

The mother of three had served a five-year jail sentence for a tax offense, but because she was on parole, she was ineligible to vote. By phone, she explains that she didnt know about the rule, and received a shocking surprise a few months later: She was being charged with voter fraud. Mason was ultimately sentenced to ten more months in prison for violating her parole and sentenced to additional five years in jail for voter fraud. A court rejected her appeal. The three judges who ruled on her case had all been appointed by Republicans. "Prison for a vote cast in good faith that wasnt counted this is a textbook example of voter intimidation, argues Anderson, the historian.

Another popular method Is to cleanse voter-registration rolls. The Republican-run state of Georgia stalled 53,000 peoples voter applications shortly before the states gubernatorial election in 2018. Because of alleged discrepancies within the registration system, these residents were made to meet confusing identification requirements in order to vote. Of those affected, 70 percent were black hardly a coincidence. Ultimately, Republican Brian Kemp, a fervent admirer of Trump, won by approximately 55,000 votes.

Its unclear if these kinds of tactics will help Trump win the election in November. The virus has shattered the strong economy he hoped would propel his election campaign. Millions of Americans have lost not only their jobs, but also their health insurance in recent weeks. The economic hardship in the U.S. is now so severe that many families no longer know how to feed their children. Miles-long queues have formed in front of food banks, and American downtowns are on fire.

Trump is trying to profit from the anger felt by many Americans about the looting, which has been especially serious in New York, Washington D.C. and Minneapolis, all of which are run by Democratic mayors. "I am your president of law and order, Trump said in a White House address on Monday. But it is unclear if those kinds of appeals will actually help him.

The nation is watching footage on its screens of burnt-out police cars and shattered storefronts, of an America in chaos. In a recent CBS News survey, 49 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with Trumps management of the crisis, compared to 32 percent who thought he was doing a "good job.

American self-confidence has always been predicated on the belief that it is special. In his farewell address on January 11, 1989, Ronald Reagan spoke of a "shining city upon a hill, admired not only for its prosperity but for its richness in ideas, its goodness and cosmopolitanism. Ten months later, the Iron Curtain fell, and it seemed like the age of American dominance was upon us.

This notion of American exceptionalism also came up in Trumps inauguration speech in January of 2017, albeit in a vulgar form: "American will start winning again, winning like never before, the president said. Three and a half years later, there are no signs of victory. The defeat in the war in Afghanistan, the longest in U.S. history, is now as good as certain. The war will soon have lasted 19 years and cost the lives of 2,400 U.S. soldiers and Trump is eager to withdraw from the country, though there is little doubt that the Taliban will take over in Kabul when he does, much like the Communists overran Saigon after the last GIs left Vietnam. China is seizing the opportunity provided by the crisis to impose itself on Hong Kong, and Trump is in danger of destroying the G-7 Summit, the last influential venue for discussion among the Western developed nations.

As a result, older voters in particular seem to increasingly be turning away from Trump and toward Biden and the Democrats. In a survey conducted by Morning Consult, a polling institute, 45 percent of those asked said they would vote for Joe Biden, Trumps challenger, due to the protests. Whats particularly unsettling for Trump is that his challenger is currently ahead in the polls in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Biden now even has a chance of winning in erstwhile Republican strongholds like Arizona, Georgia and Texas. Polls predict a very close race in these states, something would have been unthinkable a few months ago.

Now a seemingly outrageous question is increasingly being asked: Would Trump accept defeat? "The next five months before the election could become very serious. Trump has the potential to significantly affect free and fair elections. He can undermine the entire electoral process and create maximum chaos, says Bill Kristol, who was long one of the country's leading conservative voices. Kristol is known for bringing Sarah Palin, John McCains running mate in the 2012 presidential election, into the spotlight, and was the editor-in-chief of the Weekly Standard, a now-defunct conservative magazine once owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Kristol broke away from Trump early on, partly because he argues Trump is leading the Republican Party to disaster. He believes Trump is capable of anything in a fight for political survival. "He can fake a crisis, spread false information, for example, by simply claiming a week before the election that he discovered a conspiracy.

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The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 24/2020 (June 6, 2020) of DER SPIEGEL.

A look back to February 2016 is instructive when it comes to Trump's view of democratic mores. At the time, he was only one of many candidates for the Republican nomination and he had just lost the first primary in Iowa to Texas Senator Ted Cruz. The voting was fair, but Trump still claimed he had been cheated. "Ted Cruz didnt win Iowa, he stole it, Trump wrote on Twitter. "Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified. Neither of those things happened.

Back then, few took Trump's allegations seriously. Now, though, hes in the White House, and many people he trusts occupy positions in the state apparatus. Briefings on the security of the presidential election, for example, are now being given by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, a Trump acolyte who has spread the abstruse theory that the scandal about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was in fact a conspiracy perpetrated by Barack Obama.

Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University argues that there can be no doubt that Trump is setting the stage for a refusal to accept a potential election defeat in November. Brooks has formed a working group for the Democrats that is tasked with preparing Bidens campaign team for the worst-case scenario: a president planning a coup dtat. If Biden doesnt win by a landslide, Trump will most likely claim victory, Brooks believes.

Trump had peaceful protesters cleared out of the way for his photo op in front of St. John's Church near the White House.

Trump has been saying for weeks that his opponents in the fall presidential election are preparing to carry out large-scale fraud. The Democrats believe its no coincidence that the presidents criticism is focused on postal voting, even though it makes no sense at first glance. A study by Stanford University published in mid-April concluded that neither Republicans nor Democrats would benefit from a U.S. vote carried out entirely by mail.

Around half the American electorate wants to vote by mail this fall, more than ever. This is mainly because of the coronavirus, which has led millions of Americans to want to avoid waiting in long lines for hours in front of their polling locations, as is common in the U.S. At the same time, Trump and congressional Republicans are refusing to provide additional money to ensure an orderly election process. "That's a recipe for distrust, says Nathaniel Persily, who teaches at Stanford University Law School and specializes in American electoral law.

Trump already declared in 2016 that he wont voluntarily concede defeat, and the chaotic electoral system in the U.S. gives him several opportunities to question a Biden victory. Over 10,000 different bodies are responsible for carrying out the presidential elections cities, municipalities, counties and the postal voting system is a patchwork quilt. In some states, like Texas, vote-by-mail is only permitted if the voter gives a valid reason. Other states have switched entirely to mail voting. There are also different deadlines and security standards. In some states, the signature on the envelope must match the signature given at the time of vote-by-mail registration, which opens the door to challenges to the validity of hundreds of thousands of postal votes.

Now Rosa Brooks and many other American lawyers are working through scenarios that, until recently, seemed unthinkable. What if, on election day, Republicans imposed a curfew on cities with traditionally large numbers of Democratic voters? What should be done if the outcome is close and the president refuses to recognize the result in a swing state like Pennsylvania? Given that it takes days to receive and count all postal votes, what should be done if Trump proclaims himself the winner before that happens?

"We don't have some single entity that can validate" the outcome of the election, Brooks says. "Its purely political. The more the professor has looked into the subject, the more pessimistic she has become that a president can be stopped if he has no qualms about ignoring the will of the people. Its not even clear that the Supreme Court would accept a suit against a president who refuses to vacate the White House. And even then, what if Trump simply disregards a Supreme Court ruling?

"The next five months before the election could become very serious. Trump has the potential to significantly affect free and fair elections.

The Secret Service would have to escort the president out of the Oval Office. But the Secret Service reports to the Department of Homeland Security, Brooks says. "Their boss is the secretary of homeland security. His boss is Trump."

There have been several extremely close election results in the United States. In 1960, Richard Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy by less than 113,000 votes. In 2000, the race between George W. Bush and his Democratic rival, Al Gore, came down to only a few hundred votes in Florida. But in both cases, the country was spared a constitutional crisis by the fact that the defeated candidates ultimately conceded defeat. This kind of humility can hardly be expected from Trump.

"Trump is going to contest whatever happens if he loses, Jacob Hacker, who teaches political science at Yale University, argues. The question would then be whether American society can force the president to back down. Trump may have the Republican Party and parts of the state apparatus under his control, but the protests that are happening daily across the country are increasingly turning towards the president.

This past Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of people, young and old, black and white, once again protested outside the White House. They were facing down police officers with helmets and truncheons. The crowd included Pat Rolich, 60, from Virginia. "Trump is escalating the situation, causing more and more violence. It almost feels like living in a police state, he says. For him, it is clearer than ever that Trump is no longer tenable as a president. "We need someone who can bring peace back to our country.

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A Perfect Storm: Democracy on the Defensive in Trump's America - DER SPIEGEL

Tom Savage, For the Dell Rapids Tribune Published 1:37 p.m. CT June 5, 2020 | Updated 1:47 p.m. CT June 5, 2020

Officials at St. Mary are hoping to turn the current practice facility on Garfield Avenue into its permanent football field in the future.(Photo: Tom Savage)

The St. Mary Cardinals havent played a home game at Rickeman Field since Aug. 30, 2019. After opening with back-to-back home games last season, the Cardinals hit the road for two straight.

Then the Big Sioux River broke through its banks, flooding Rickeman and displacing the Cardinals for the balance of the season. They played one home game in September against Avon at Dell Rapids public, and homecoming in October was against Centerville and played at Sioux Falls OGorman. St. Mary played its two home playoff games at Chester because of the damage to Rickeman.

Although 2020 has so far been a headache on sports schedules, Dell Rapids at least caught a break when the Big Sioux stayed inside its banks this spring and the predicted second round of flooding never transpired. But Rickeman was heavily damaged in last falls flooding and city officials didnt make repairs to the playing surface under the assumption that more flooding would occur in the spring.

With those waters never creeping onto the field, officials began repairs earlier this spring and Dell Rapids PBR played its first baseball game of the season at Rickeman on May 31 with all repairs completed.

Dell Rapids St. Mary prepares for the game against Colman-Egan on Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. (Photo: Abigail Dollins / Argus Leader)

There is now hope that St. Mary will be able to use the field this fall after seeding on the outfield, which doubles as St. Marys 80x40 football field in the fall, had come in nicely by PBRs opener.

The field was covered in sand following the fall flooding, and there was some doubt if baseball or football could be played on the surface in 2020. But city administrator Justin Weiland said he thinks the field will be fine for the Cardinals to compete this fall. St. Marys home opener isnt until Sept. 4 when they host De Smet.

But the long-term solution to St. Marys situation could be their 5.5-acre practice field east of Rickeman and across Garfield Avenue. That area is where the Cardinals practice during the week, and its also home to St. Marys portable bleachers and goal posts, which are moved over to Rickeman each August and taken back to the practice field each October.

Athletic director Casey Michel said the school is in preliminary stages of turning the practice field into the Cardinals permanent home. Its a financial hurdle that the school has to overcome in order to make that a reality, and theyve got a big chunk to go to make it so.

Michel said theyve raised approximately $6,000 towards the project that could easily creep into six figures when completed. Between lights, wiring, a crows nest for timing and scoring, and potentially crowning the field to help with drainage, Michel admitted the need for fundraising in order to make it all work.

But thats our goal, to make that area our permanent field, he said. If we do it right, it would probably be pushing six figures pretty quick, which we just dont have.

Michel said flooding about 10 years ago forced the Cardinals to play their homecoming game at Garretson. That situation started the conversations about developing the practice field, but those talks cooled before resurfacing again last year after the flood.

A bid process was started and Michel said they have received quotes for the project.

The practice field is further away from the river (than Rickeman) and last year we may have lost a couple of home games, but by playoff time, we could have been able to play on it, Michel said. We would still run the risk of having to move a home game, but typically on that field, when the water recedes, its in good enough shape that you could play on it after a couple of weeks.

Although the six-figure number is a bit daunting, Michel said the school could just chip away at the goal slowly to get the field playable sooner than later.

If we could just get lights, we could make everything else work because we really dont want to play afternoon games, he said. So if we just got the money to do the lights, maybe we dont have a crows nest for a couple of years. We can figure that out and maybe just put them on the top of the bleachers.

For this fall, all indications are that the Cardinals will be back at Rickeman. Weiland said St. Mary will have to supply proper liability insurance paperwork and a mitigation plan due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Its the same paperwork the city is requiring baseball andsoftball teams using city facilities this summer.

We dont have a final answer, but I dont anticipate there being a problem,Weiland said of St. Mary playing football games at Rickeman this fall. Hopefully we dont see a second wave of this thing (COVID-19). Like everything, its really hard to plan that far out on anything right now.

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Where will St. Mary play football this season? - Argus Leader

A bed-bound great-grandmother died in a house fire while her family were attending a Christmas nativity play, an inquest has heard.

Alma Parsons, 75, of Cardiff, was killed in the fire at her daughter Lisa Scourfield's home in Aberporth Road, Gabalfa, on December 18 last year.

Emergency services were called to the property at around 3pm by a neighbour who saw dark smoke pouring from a letterbox and Mrs Parsons was removed from her bedroom by members of the fire brigade.

Despite the best efforts of firefighters and paramedics, who performed CPR on Mrs Parsons, she was declared dead at the scene.

Mrs Scourfield and her sister Catherine Parsons returned from Highfields Church in Monthermer Road, after being notified by a neighbour, to discover the house covered in smoke and the fire brigade outside the property.

They were taken to the University Hospital of Wales to await the arrival of their mother but were later told she had died.

An inquest hearing at Pontypridd Coroners' Court on Thursday heard Mrs Parsons moved in with Mrs Scourfield and her family following the death of her husband Terrance.

In a statement read out by coroner Rachel Knight, Catherine Parsons said her mother had "given up the will to live" and spent most of her time in bed sleeping.

In the days before her death Mrs Parsons had attended her GP and was diagnosed with a chest infection.

Catherine Parsons said Mrs Scourfield, her brother-in-law Marc Scourfield, and their family were watching her daughter perform in a nativity play on December 18 and last saw her mother sleeping before leaving the house.

In another statement Mrs Scourfield described her mother as "well-educated" and "prim and proper".

She said Mrs Parsons had come to live with her after struggling to manage living on her own following the death of her husband and said her mother would often fall over which made her reluctant to leave her bed.

After attending the nativity play Mrs Scourfield said she was called by a neighbour who said smoke was coming from her home. She said she rushed back to the house and the fire service were already at the scene.

The fire was first discovered by neighbour Colin Russell who saw smoke coming from the house as he walked with his mother and son.

In his statement Mr Russell said: "I saw smoke coming from an upper-storey window and there was dark smoke coming from the letterbox.

"I dialled 999 and saw flames so I told my mother to get away from the house. My father emerged from his house and said he saw the fire brigade bringing a body out the back of the house."

In his statement Mr Scourfield said he had also attended the nativity play and arrived back to Aberporth Road after dropping a family friend home.

He said he saw fire engines outside his home as he pulled up and he approached a fire officer to find out what was going on.

Mr Scourfield said: "I could see a number of firefighters giving CPR to my mother-in-law. I thought the worst and thought she wouldn't make it.

"My wife and sister-in-law arrived and they were standing in the street, hysterical, and asking about their mother. Neighbours were attempting to console them.

"Not long after my wife and sister-in-law left to attend hospital an officer at the scene told me after a valiant effort they were unable to save Alma. The whole family were left in shock."

Footage from the scene of the incident:

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A post-mortem examination revealed Mrs Parsons' cause of death was ischemic heart disease due to coronary artery atherosclerosis in a woman with an elevated concentration of carboxyhemoglobin.

A fire investigation report written by Stuart Townsend from the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service concluded the fire was caused accidentally after electrical wiring behind the cooker overheated causing the cupboard it was housed in to heat up and smoulder before bursting into flames.

Before delivering her conclusion coroner Ms Knight said: "I express my condolences to Mrs Parsons' family and friends. Her death must have come as a great shock and I am sure she is greatly missed."

A narrative conclusion was made by the coroner, stating: "Alma Parsons died as a result of ischemic heart disease in conjunction with coronary artery atherosclerosis, caused by an accidental fire at her home."

Following the inquest a family spokeswoman said: "The family are still devastated after Alma's death but they were helped so much by the love and support of the local community who came out to help them in the days after the tragedy. They just wanted to let people know how grateful they are for that support at such a difficult time."

See the article here:
Great-gran died in house fire when wiring behind cooker overheated - Wales Online

A fresh coat of white paint is a relatively inexpensive improvement that can substantially enhance the look of a home, and one that many homeowners can do on their own.

Refinishing wood floors can be a pain, but if the home is empty, it may be worthwhile. Or maybe not: The 2019 Remodeling Impact Report prepared by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry estimated the average floor-refinishing job was a financial wash a $2,600 job could potentially boost the sale price by the same amount.

The value of kitchen and bathroom renovations is far less certain. Sellers might recoup only $20,000 of an average $38,300 kitchen upgrade, the associations estimated, and $20,000 of a $35,000 bathroom renovation.

Of course, some kitchen and bathroom renovations are more appealing than others. Renovations completed by Curbio, Mr. Rudman said, regularly earn more than they cost. Thats because his contractors focus on using simple, inexpensive materials that will appeal to the broadest group of buyers possible, he said like white subway tile and white Shaker-style cabinets.

Its stuff that may not be somebodys dream kitchen or dream bathroom, he said. But what they do say is, Hey, I can live here for three, four or five years, and I dont have to do anything.

Homes with extremely outdated, unappealing kitchens and bathrooms stand to benefit the most from such renovations. So if your kitchen and bathrooms are generally acceptable, focus on cleaning and decluttering instead.

If you want to get the best price and attract the most buyers, Mr. Rudman said, you want it to look fresh, modern and move-in ready.

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Originally posted here:
Ready to Sell? Heres How to Refresh Your Home During Lockdown - The New York Times