Hello, Daily Kos community! We are back at It again with another episode of “How Did We Get Here?” 

This week we are tackling, or should I say toppling, Confederate monuments.

The topic of the Confederacy is near and dear to my heart as someone who was raised primarily in the American South. I’ve lived in Louisiana and Georgia, as well as different cities in North, Central, and South Florida.

Hold the press, New Jersey is busted for partying again! While not at the level of Florida yet, residents in the state of New Jersey are trying to play catch up. Large social gatherings have begun to resume as the state started reporting a decline in the number of novel coronavirus cases. Just Monday, Daily Kos reported over a dozen lifeguards from two New Jersey towns tested positive following indoor beach parties.

Like all of the major internet sites—notably Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google—Amazon.com has an ongoing problem with not only providing a platform for violent far-right extremists, but helping to monetize their operations.

In an otherwise unbroken stretch of some pretty depressing news, one uplifting tidbit comes from California, where the Esselen Tribe is finally getting back some of its ancestral lands. The Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, a nonprofit designed to preserve tribal heritage, is being transferred ownership of just under two square miles of the undeveloped property in Big Sur. The land is about five miles from the ocean and has previously been known as the Adler Ranch.

Donald Trump’s campaign strategy in Michigan has been a thing to behold. His months-long assault on the state included insulting nearly every female state official, mocking its iconic companies, and repeatedly threatening to shortchange it in the middle of a global pandemic. 

It appears that unique approach has not paid off—unless you consider not needing to direct any advertising dollars there a cost savings for the campaign. Then it was aces.