By now it should be obvious to anyone paying attention that Donald Trump is one of the most notorious revisionists of any modern president, routinely authoring his own myths, lies and tall tales to counter the brutal reality of his incompetence, malevolence and despotism. It started from Day One, with his easily debunked insistence that his inauguration generated the largest audience in the history of audiences. His myth-making continues today with his whiny laments about his popularity backed with alleged “Democrat hoaxes” surrounding every one of his obvious crimes.
Pence Misleadingly Blames Coronavirus Spikes on Rise in Testing
Vice President Mike Pence encouraged governors on Monday to adopt the administration’s explanation that a rise in testing was a reason behind new coronavirus outbreaks, even though testing data has shown that such a claim is misleading.
“I would just encourage you all, as we talk about these things, to make sure and continue to explain to your citizens the magnitude of increase in testing,” Mr. Pence said on a call with governors, audio of which was obtained by The New York Times. “And that in most of the cases where we are seeing some marginal rise in number, that’s more a result of the extraordinary work you’re doing.”
Charlie Pierce: This Is the Fire That the President* Is Willing to Play With for Political Advantage
The prion disease that has afflicted American conservatism—and the Republican Party, which is its outward expression—ever since Ronald Reagan fed the movement the monkey brains in 1979 now has reached full-blown epidemic proportions. It’s beyond even that which researchers anticipated would happen with the election of the current president* of the United States, although he has been a formidable vector for its transmission. Between the actual pandemic and the current turmoil, the prion disease is manifesting itself in several dangerous ways.
The Supreme Court’s Rejection of Sanctuary City Case Is a ‘Major Setback’ for the Trump Administration
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s request for the justices to hear arguments in a legal challenge to California’s “sanctuary city” laws, which protect undocumented immigrants from deportation. While the decision is likely to be overshadowed by the Court’s watershed civil rights ruling granting gay, lesbian, and transgender workers protection from discrimination under Title VII, attorneys said the Court’s denial is a stinging loss for the president and the latest in a continuing trend of federal court losses over sanctuary city laws.’
In landmark case, Supreme Court rules LGBTQ workers are protected from job discrimination
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal anti-discrimination laws protect gay and transgender employees, a major gay rights ruling written by one of the court’s most conservative justices.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the court’s liberals in the 6 to 3 ruling. They said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “because of sex,” includes LGBTQ employees.
Atlanta police officer fired, police chief resigns after Rayshard Brooks death during confrontation at Wendy’s drive-thru
The fatal shooting of an Atlanta man by a city police officer at a fast-food restaurant late Friday night launched a day of protests and the resignation of the department’s highest-ranking official on Saturday.
Officials have identified the man as 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks.
Eric Boehlert: How Trump’s mental health became the third rail of American journalism
Trump woke Tuesday morning and decided to advertise his unstable mind again.
Pointing to a niche cable TV conspiracy claim made by a former Sputnik reporter, Trump suggested the 75-year-old peace activists who was pushed to the ground in Buffalo last week by two police officers was possibly affiliated with an alleged terror ring. Trump claimed on Twitter that when the old man lay motionless on the ground with blood pouring out of the back of his head, the event was part of a false flag set-upby left-wing agitators to sabotage the police.
The Rude Pundit: Donald Trump Wants More Violence at the BLM Protests So He Can Pretend He’s Tough
Look, I’m just gonna spitball here on what I really think happened on Monday, June 1, when protesters at Lafayette Square, right near the White House, were pushed out by a bullshit combination of Park Police, National Guard, and Secret Service, along with various other law enforcement officers. Sure, sure, the story we’ve heard, that the peaceful crowd was violently ejected to make room for President Donald Trump to undulate a few hundred feet to St. John’s Church for a bizarre and worthless photo op, is fuckery of the highest order.
Trump Struggles To Pronounce General Douglas MacArthur’s Name, Lift Water Glass During West Point Speech
President Donald Trump appeared to struggle several times during a commencement address he delivered Saturday afternoon at West Point, including stumbling over the pronunciation of the name of the legendary World War II General Douglas MacArthur and needing two hands to lift a glass of water.
The New York Daily News described Trump’s delivery of the speech as “lethargic,” and that, plus the moments listed below, drew a lot of mocking commentary on social media.
As coronavirus cases climb, some local officials put reopening on hold
A rise in coronavirus cases is spurring leaders in some cities and states to delay reopening additional businesses and warn that a return to stricter shutdown orders is possible should cases continue to climb.
White House guidelines for reopening called for states to reevaluate after each phase and move backward if the virus spreads. Nationwide, few officials have publicly done so, and states with rapidly increasing caseloads and hospitalizations are moving forward with reopening amid political and economic pressure to return to normal. Increased testing in some states has contributed to the uptick.
Trump moves Tulsa campaign rally scheduled for Juneteenth after facing backlash
President Trump has moved his campaign rally that was originally scheduled for June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the following day. The rally’s original date sparked criticism because June 19, otherwise known as Juneteenth, marks the day that slavery ended in the U.S. The rally also drew condemnation for taking place in Tulsa, the site of a race massacre in which 300 people, mostly black men, women, and children, were killed nearly a century ago.
Mr. Trump tweeted late Friday night that he rescheduled the rally on the advice of African American friends and supporters.
Seattle protesters set up ‘autonomous zone’ after police evacuate precinct
“THIS SPACE IS NOW PROPERTY OF THE SEATTLE PEOPLE” reads a giant black banner with red lettering at the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” an area around the abandoned police precinct that demonstrators moved into, setting up tents with plans to stay.
The Seattle Police Department vacated the East Precinct on Monday night, and protesters against the killing of George Floyd and police brutality established the zone, known as CHAZ, and changed the boarded-up building’s sign to read “Seattle People Department.”
Biden unveils proposal to reopen the economy, slams Trump’s ‘one-point plan’
Joe Biden on Thursday blasted President Donald Trump for failing to offer a comprehensive plan on how to reopen the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, while also unveiling his own proposals on how how to do so safely.
At an in-person round-table discussion with community leaders in Philadelphia, Biden said the federal government had “abdicated any effective leadership role” in responding to the pandemic and reopening the economy, and slammed Trump for having “basically a one-point plan” that focused solely on “opening business.”
The former vice president, in turn, offered his own multifaceted plan to safely reopen businesses in the United States.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley discussed resigning over role in Trump’s church photo op
The Pentagon’s top general discussed resigning amid criticism over his participation in President Donald Trump’s controversial photo opportunity at a Washington church, three defense officials familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized over the incident Thursday, saying, “I should not have been there.”
Dow sinks 1,800 as virus cases rise, deflating optimism
Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street on Thursday as coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased again, deflating recent optimism that the economy could recover quickly from its worst crisis in decades.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 1,800 points and the S&P 500 dropped 5.9%, its worst day since mid-March, when stocks had a number of harrowing falls as the virus lockdowns began.
Trump to resume campaign rallies with June 19 event in Tulsa without any pandemic protections
President Donald Trump’s signature campaign rallies are back in business, after a gap of more than three months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump announced on Wednesday that his reelection campaign would be holding a rally in Tulsa, Okla., on June 19 and would also be holding rallies in Florida, Texas and Arizona — as well as an event in North Carolina “at an appropriate time.”
Trump says he will ‘not even consider’ renaming military bases honoring Confederates
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would “not even consider” renaming Army bases that honor Confederate leaders who fought to protect slavery and uphold white supremacy despite nationwide reckoning over racial discrimination in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd.
“The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations,” he tweeted.
‘It’s a lot of pain:’ George Floyd’s brother tearfully demands police reforms during emotional Congressional hearing
George Floyd’s brother Philonise pleaded in a highly emotional statement to members of Congress on Wednesday that they pass police reforms and listen to the calls around the world to “stop the pain.”
During a particularly devastating moment during his testimony to members of the House Judiciary Committee, Floyd sobbed as he discussed how tragic it was that his brother’s death in police custody last month would be available for children to watch online forever — and described the intense pain his whole family is feeling.
US hits over 2 million coronavirus cases as hospitalizations go up in some states
The US surpassed 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases Wednesday night as new hotspots emerge and hospitalizations go up in some states. Nearly 113,000 people have died from Covid-19 nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The spike in numbers highlights how complicated it is to stop the spread of the virus despite improvement in early hotspots such as New Jersey. Since Memorial Day, the number of coronavirus hospitalizations has gone up in at least a dozen states, according to data CNN aggregated from the Covid Tracking Project between May 25 to June 9.
‘Worst Nightmare’ Coronavirus Pandemic Far From Over, Fauci Warns
Describing COVID-19 as his “worst nightmare” come to life, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday that a lot is still unknown about the coronavirus and warned the ongoing pandemic is far from over.
“Oh my goodness. Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of really understanding,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said of the pandemic during a virtual conference held by BIO, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, The New York Times reported.
‘Haven’t read the damn thing’: Republican senators dodge questions about Trump’s conspiracy tweet
Republican senators don’t want to talk about President Donald Trump’s tweet. Some say they haven’t read it. Others say they don’t want to know about it. Yet others say they have a policy of not discussing what the president says on Twitter.
That’s perennially true — but perhaps never more so than on Tuesday, when Trump floated an evidence-free conspiracy theory about an elderly Buffalo man captured on camera falling, hitting his head and bleeding after being pushed by a police officer. The man was hospitalized and two officers were charged with assault after the video went viral and drew national outrage.
A final farewell to George Floyd, whose death touched off national protests
Mourners vowing to be good Samaritans in the fight for racial justice packed a Houston church Tuesday and paid tribute to George Floyd, whose death while in police custody touched off worldwide protests against racism and police brutality.
Capping a three-state, nearly weeklong memorial, Floyd’s loved ones said final goodbyes at The Fountain of Praise church, honoring the Minneapolis man who was born in North Carolina and raised in Houston.
Just as the service began, Floyd’s golden casket was closed for a final time.
Georgia election ‘catastrophe’ in largely minority areas sparks investigation
Hourslong waits, problems with new voting machines and a lack of available ballots plagued voters in majority minority counties in Georgia on Tuesday — conditions the secretary of state called “unacceptable” and vowed to investigate.
Democrats and election watchers said voting issues in a state that has been plagued for years by similar problems, along with allegations of racial bias, didn’t bode well for the November presidential election, when Georgia could be in play.
Bob Cesca: All the president’s garbagemen… Has Trump finally lit a dumpster fire his enablers can’t put out?
Donald Trump’s presidency has always been propped up with chicken wire and spit. Which is to say: this president is so grotesquely out of his depth that he requires copious backstopping in order to artificially appear as if he’s not quite as incompetent as he actually is.
Since the beginning, my rule for observing the consequences of Trump’s decisions has been: Trump always makes things worse for Trump. No matter what, Trump invariably makes the wrong choices for his presidency and for the nation, damaging his own status as much as he’s damaging institutions, norms, the rule of law and, generally, the rest of us. Consequently, Fox News, AM talk radio, Russian trolls and scores of Red Hat fanboys are tasked with desperately covering for his total inability to handle the gig.
AG Barr Contradicts Trump’s Claim of Bunker ‘Inspection,’ Says President Was Rushed to Bunker By Secret Service Amid Protests
During a Monday interview on Fox News, Attorney General Bill Barr contradicted President Donald Trump’s claim that he had merely visited visited the White House’s secure bunker as part of a dress rehearsal in case he should later need it.
Trump was reportedly upset that the press reported of his retreat to the underground bunker during the first Friday of protests in the wake of the alleged murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police as documented by a viral video. Trump’s frustration that the reports portrayed him as weak was reportedly the genesis of his decision to stage a photo op three days later at the nearby St. John’s Church, which was partially burned when an earlier protest went awry.
Trump’s job approval falls amid racial unrest, while Biden jumps to 14-point lead
President Donald Trump’s overall job approval rating dropped 7 percentage points over the past month, according to a survey released Monday that also shows him trailing former Vice President Joe Biden by 14 points ahead of the general election in November.
The CNN poll showed that 38 percent of respondents said they approve of the “way Donald Trump is handling his job as president,” and a majority — 57 percent — indicated that they disapprove.
Read the rest of the story at Politico
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Charlie Pierce: The Word ‘Reform’ Has Lost All Credibility When It Comes to Policing
Apparently, we’re going to squabble over the semantic difference between “defunding” the police and “dismantling” a renegade police force, as has happened in Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. The White House is going all-in, beating the word “defunding” into a weapon in its upcoming retrograde and Nixonian “law ’n order” campaign, and braying that Joe Biden is going to fire everyone with a badge everywhere in America. There are people who sincerely believe that this could be the magic bullet that pulls El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago’s ample hindquarters out of the fire, even though the president*’s poll numbers continue their steady drop toward Middle Earth. To hell with it, boys. Slogans away!
Mitt Romney takes part in protest supporting Black Lives Matter near White House
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, joined demonstrators Sunday marching to the White House in protest of George Floyd’s death in the custody of Minneapolis police.
About 1,000 protesters marched through Washington.
Colin Powell backs Biden, says Trump has ‘drifted’ from Constitution
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized President Trump for threatening to use active-duty U.S. troops against protesters, saying it shows he has “drifted away” from the U.S. Constitution.
In a CNN interview, Powell aimed a broad critique at Trump’s approach to the military, a foreign policy that he said was causing “disdain” abroad and a president he portrayed as trying to amass excessive power. Powell, who served under Republican President George W. Bush, says he’ll vote for Democrat Joe Biden in the general election.
“We have a Constitution and we have to follow the Constitution and the president has drifted away from it,” Powell said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Majority of Minneapolis City Council commits to dismantling city’s police department
A majority of the Minneapolis City Council agreed Sunday to dismantle the city’s police department after the in-custody killing of George Floyd, a council member said.
In an interview with NBC News, Councilman Jeremiah Ellison said the council would work to disband the department in its “current iteration.”
“The plan has to start somewhere,” he said. “We are not going to hit the eject button without a plan, so today was the announcement of the formulation of that plan.”
Eric Boehlert: Why New York Times and Facebook employees are rebelling
Even during a pandemic that has unleashed historic unemployment and at a time when media jobs are vanishing at a stunning rate, some brave employees at Facebook and New York Times have had enough, and risked their careers by calling out their employers over the way they constantly bow down to authoritarian Republican power in the age of Trump. Having ignored outside criticism for years, Facebook and the Times now have to deal with internal revolts that are much harder to dismiss. This time, the howls of protest are coming from inside the building.
In both cases, the worker rebellions are being fueled by deep anger over corporate behavior that emboldens Trump’s divisive and hateful ways. At Facebook, the resentment stems from how the social media giant has given Trump a green light to lie and use the global social media platform as a misinformation weapon this campaign season. Facebook has also allowed itself to become a sewer for racist content during a time of national disturbance and protest.
The Rude Pundit: The Terrorist Cops of America
Black and brown and LGBTQ and so many other people know this already: What we call “policing” in too many places in the United States might more properly be called “government-sponsored terrorism.” For what else is the purpose of the way in which police around the country have responded to anti-racism and anti-police violence protesters than to try to make them cower before their helmeted, riot-geared presence? To terrorize them into giving up the protests? What we’re seeing in video after video from the last week plus of protests is terrorism in action on a large scale.
A ‘misclassification error’ made the May unemployment rate look better than it is. Here’s what happened.
When the U.S. government’s official jobs report for May came out on Friday, it included a note at the bottom saying there had been a major “error” indicating that the unemployment rate likely should be higher than the widely reported 13.3 percent rate.
The special note said that if this “misclassification error” had not occurred, the “overall unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported,” meaning the unemployment rate would be about 16.3 percent for May. But that would still be an improvement from an unemployment rate of about 19.7 percent for April, applying the same standards.
Biden vows police reform after sealing Democratic nomination to challenge Trump
When Joe Biden announced he was running for president, he framed his campaign as “a battle for the soul of this nation,” saying President Trump threatened its core values by condoning the racism of torch-carrying neo-Nazis who marched in 2017 through Charlottesville, Va.
The former vice president, who has captured the 1,991 delegates he needed to formally win the Democratic nomination, returned to the theme of racial discord Saturday as thousands protested the killing of George Floyd, an African American man who died last month after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes.
Trump demanded 10,000 active-duty troops deploy to streets in angry Oval Office rant
In a heated and contentious debate in the Oval Office last Monday morning, President Trump demanded the military put 10,000 active duty troops into the streets immediately, a senior administration official told CBS News. Attorney General William Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley objected to the demand, the official said.
In an attempt to satisfy Mr. Trump’s demand, Esper and Milley used a call with the nation’s governors later that morning to implore them to call up the National Guard in their own states, the official said. If these governors didn’t “call up the Guard, we’d have (active duty) troops all over the country,” this official said.
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Confirmed coronavirus cases are rising faster than ever
New cases of the novel coronavirus are rising faster than ever worldwide, at a rate of more than 100,000 a day over a seven-day average.
In April, new cases never topped 100,000 in one day, but since May 21, there have only been less than 100,000 on five days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Newly reported cases reached a high of 130,400 on June 3.
The increase in case rates may be partially explained by increases in testing capacity, but there’s still not enough testing to capture an accurate picture in many countries.
Goodell says NFL was wrong not to encourage players to protest peacefully
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday apologized to players for not listening to their concerns regarding racism sooner.
In a video posted to Twitter, Goodell offered his condolences to families who have endured “police brutality,” including George Floyd, a black man who died while in Minneapolis police custody last week; Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old woman killed during a police raid in Kentucky; and Ahmaud Arbery, who was gunned down while out for a jog in Georgia.
“We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people,” he said. “We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all players to speak out and peacefully protest.”
Biden secures Democratic presidential nomination for November showdown against Trump
Joe Biden won enough delegates on Saturday to become the Democratic presidential nominee in November’s election against President Donald Trump, NBC News projects.
To win the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination on the first ballot at the party’s convention, a candidate must receive support from a majority of pledged delegates — at least 1,991 of the total 3,979 pledged delegates available.
Heading into the weekend, Biden had already amassed a projected 1,970 pledged delegates after winning a series of Democratic primaries on June 2. He now has 2,000, according to NBC News.
Over 1,000 coronavirus deaths reported in the past 24 hours. Officials fear protests will bring new outbreaks
In a little over a week, Americans have gone from taking their first hesitant stepsoutside again to marching in tightly-packed crowds in cities all over the country.
Any uncertainty about venturing out during a coronavirus pandemic has been seemingly cast aside to protest police brutality after watching the video of George Floyd pinned under an officer’s knee in Minneapolis. They’ve chanted slogans and shouted Floyd’s name, some without masks. During arrests, police have loaded them into vehicles and holding cells — without social distancing.
Civil Rights Groups Sue Trump After Violent Dispersal Of Protesters Outside White House
The American Civil Liberties Union and Black Lives Matter sued the Trump administration for what the groups called an “unconstitutional” and “frankly criminal attack” on protesters outside the White House earlier this week.
The federal lawsuit, filed on behalf of five demonstrators, comes after law enforcement used gas canisters and flash-bang grenades to disperse largely peaceful crowds gathered in Lafayette Square on Monday to protest the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd on May 25.
Moments later, President Donald Trump strode to the nearby St. John’s Church for a photo-op as he held up a Bible and declared America the “greatest country in the world.”
George Floyd’s memorial filled with love, hope and calls for change
A memorial service for George Floyd on Thursday at North Central University in Minneapolis was filled with love, hope and calls for sweeping change.
The first of a handful of services planned to honor Floyd’s life and mourn his death, hundreds of people, including family and civil rights leaders, were in attendance.
Family remembered Floyd’s 46 years of life.
Obama calls for police reforms, tells protesters to ‘make people in power uncomfortable’
Former President Barack Obama offered advice to demonstrators during a virtual town hall on Wednesday in his first on-camera remarks as growing unrest against police brutality continues across the country.
“To bring about real change, we both have to highlight a problem and make people in power uncomfortable,” Obama said. “But we also have to translate that into practical solutions and laws that can be implemented.”
The event was organized by the Obama Foundation, which featured a discussion about nationwide police reform, in the wake of national unrest sparked in large part by the killing of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.
3 more Minneapolis officers charged in George Floyd death, Derek Chauvin charges elevated
Three more former Minneapolis police officers were charged Wednesday in the death of George Floyd, five days after charges were brought against a fourth officer who was seen in a video kneeling on Floyd’s neck.
The three former officers, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, were charged with aiding and abetting murder, according to criminal complaints filed by the state of Minnesota. The murder charge against the fourth, Derek Chauvin, was also elevated to second-degree, from third-degree.
James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution
James Mattis, the esteemed Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018 to protest Donald Trump’s Syria policy, has, ever since, kept studiously silent about Trump’s performance as president. But he has now broken his silence, writing an extraordinary broadside in which he denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accuses him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens.
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”
Read the rest of Former Secretary of Defense Mattis’ statement in The Atlantic.
Joe Biden: George Floyd’s final words ‘I can’t breathe’ are a wake-up call ‘for all of us’
Joe Biden on Tuesday praised the nationwide peaceful protests following the death of George Floyd, calling his killing in police custody a “wake-up call for our nation” and accusing President Donald Trump of sowing division.
In a speech from Philadelphia City Hall, Biden repeated Floyd’s final words before he died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes — and said it was time “to listen to those words … and respond with action.”
Trump Says RNC Will Pull Republican Convention From North Carolina
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the Republican National Committee would relocate its upcoming nominating convention from North Carolina after the state’s governor refused to guarantee that tens of thousands of people could gather in an indoor arena during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Governor [Roy] Cooper is still in Shelter-In-Place Mode, and not allowing us to occupy the arena as originally anticipated and promised,” Trump tweeted. “Would have showcased beautiful North Carolina to the World, and brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, and jobs, for the State.”
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) ousted in Iowa GOP primary
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who has a long history of racist and outrageous remarks, lost his long-held House seat in a primary race Tuesday, NBC News projected.
With 95 percent of the vote counted at 12:18 a.m. ET, King trailed his challenger, state Sen. Randy Feenstra, by 7,785 votes, or 45.8 percent to 35.8 percent.
The Republican primary challenge, the fiercest since King was first elected to Congress in 2002, came after he was stripped of his committee assignments in the House last year because of comments to The New York Times about white nationalism.
Protests remain peaceful, show no sign of fading more than a week after the death of George Floyd
Americans hit the streets for a seventh day to decry the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, a shocking incident caught on video that has reanimated a nation paralyzed by a pandemic.
Demonstrations that began in Minneapolis on May 26 spread across the nation over the following nights and, on Tuesday, found mass appeal for the fourth straight day in Lafayette Square in Washington, where protesters stayed past a 7 p.m. curfew.
Bob Cesca: Donald Trump’s chaos and cruelty set the tone for the nation — and here we are
This is what it looks like when too many aggrieved Americans become deluded enough to elect a buffoonish, malicious, bigoted weirdo who tried to sell beef in Sharper Image mall stores. Yet it still manages to shock us, and rightfully so, when we observe how Donald Trump remains grossly out of his depth, incapable of even the most basic presidential responsibilities. Nearly four years into the job, his inability to carry out the paint-by-numbers traditions of benevolent leadership in the White House remains in critical focus as the nation falls further from greatness by the second, with chaos erupting all around.
Peaceful Protesters Were Gassed Outside The White House So Trump Could Get A Photo Op At A Church
Police unloaded rounds of tear gas at peaceful protesters outside the White House on Monday evening, clearing the way for President Donald Trump to deliver an ominous speech against the nationwide protests sparked by the latest killings of unarmed black people. He then walked through the newly opened path to participate in a nearby photo op.
Trump was apparently agitated by night after night of looting and violent protestsoutside his door and around the nation. The dystopian scenes played 24/7 on cable news, paired with reports that last week he was rushed to a White House bunker amid the unrest, brought him to lash out beyond his own Twitter feed.
Independent autopsy and Minnesota officials say George Floyd’s death was homicide
Experts hired by George Floyd’s family and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner have concluded his death was a homicide, but they differ on what caused it.
The independent autopsy says Floyd died of “asphyxiation from sustained pressure” when his neck and back were compressed by Minneapolis police officers during his arrest last week. The pressure cut off blood flow to his brain, that autopsy determined.
But the medical examiner’s office, in its report also released Monday, said that the cause of death is “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” Cardiopulmonary arrest means Floyd’s heart failed.
Trump, Barr tell governors to ‘dominate’ streets in response to unrest
In a call with the nation’s governors Monday, an angry President Donald Trump told state leaders they must “dominate” out-of-control protests, calling on law enforcement to get “much tougher” and blaming unrest erupting across many communities squarely on “the radical left.”
The president and Attorney General William Barr used the word “dominate” nearly a dozen times in describing how law enforcement should posture themselves.
As Protests Swell, Trump Vows To Unleash Military Against Anti-Racist Demonstrations
Speaking from the Rose Garden on Monday evening, Donald Trump issued an unprecedented threat from an American president: that he would send “thousands of heavily armed soldiers” into Washington, D.C., to quell protests and would follow by invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy the military into other U.S. cities if mass protests against police brutality continued.
As he spoke, federal law enforcement officials working alongside military police officers fired projectiles and tear gas upon American citizens protesting peacefully just yards from the White House so that the president could be photographed holding up a Bible in front of a nearby church.
Charlie Pierce: The President* Is Right: He Has Nothing New to Say
The more leaks there are from Monday’s disastrous teleconference between El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago and the nation’s governors, the more you realize exactly what a perilous moment this is in our history. As background, however, we should first look at another report that emerged prior to when everything hit the fan in Lafayette Park.
Newly Released Transcripts Show Michael Flynn Betrayed the United States
Michael Flynn did something far worse than lie to the FBI. He betrayed the United States. That’s the major revelation of the just-released transcripts of the conversations he had during the presidential transition with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Up until now, the Flynn scandal has generally centered on his criminal case, in which Flynn, Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, was charged with—and pleaded guilty to—lying to FBI about his calls with Kislyak. Flynn told bureau agents that he had not discussed the sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration in response to Vladimir Putin’s attack on the 2016 election. Well, he had. And Flynn had even encouraged the Russians to not retaliate severely, suggesting that when Trump took office things between Moscow and Washington could be smoothed over. The FBI knew this because US intelligence had intercepted those calls, presumably part of routine surveillance of the Russian official. Flynn took a deal, and he pleaded guilty to lying to avoid being charged for an unrelated crime (failing to register as a foreign agent for Turkey).
Biden visits protest site in Delaware
Former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday left his home for a site in Wilmington, Del., that has seen protests over the death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer.
It was his second time in a week he ventured outside after having elected to campaign from his house since coronavirus lockdowns went into effect. On Monday, Biden had attended a quick Memorial Day ceremony with his wife.
Tanker Truck Barrels Toward Crowd Of Thousands Of Protesters In Minneapolis
A tanker truck sped toward thousands of protesters in Minneapolis on Sunday in a shocking moment as demonstrations over the death of George Floyd continue to spread around the nation.
Local news outlets were broadcasting live from the protest on Minneapolis’ I-35 highway, the sixth day of demonstrations following the man’s death in police custody. In the footage, large crowds gathered on a bridge suddenly begin to part before a truck is seen barreling toward the group. It speeds through the crowd before coming to a stop on the highway.
Unrest Overshadows Peaceful U.S. Protests For Another Night
With cities wounded by days of violent unrest, America headed into a new week with neighborhoods in shambles, urban streets on lockdown and shaken confidence about when leaders would find the answers to control the mayhem amid unrelenting raw emotion over police killings of black people.
All of it smashed into a nation already bludgeoned by a death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surging past 100,000 and unemployment that soared to levels not seen since the Great Depression.
Trump White House in turmoil as top staffers battle over how to address massive street protests
According to a report from Politico, top aides to Donald Trump are at a loss over how to address the street protests over the death of George Floyd that have expanded right up to the White House gates.
With reports that the Secret Service moved a “rattled” Trump to a secure bunker under the White House as the protests raged outside, the report states that chief staffers are at loggerheads over what to do next as the president stays out of sight.
Elie Mystal: People Can Only Bear So Much Injustice Before Lashing Out
I would never throw a rock at the police. I would never throw a brick through the window of a big-box store. I would never set fire to an office building. But I want to. I understand why some people do.
I know I am supposed to counsel nonviolence. I’m a 42-year-old man with a wife, two kids, and a mortgage; I’ve got a college degree and a law degree and a blue check mark on Twitter; I know I am supposed to shun “rioters” and “looters” who allegedly cede the moral high ground of protests when they respond to tear gas and rubber bullets with stone and flame. But all people have a limit to the injustice they can bear before lashing out.
The second day of protests in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd erupted into violence last night. I understand why. And I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often.
George Floyd protest updates: Police arrest almost 1,700 people across 22 cities in 3 days
The death of George Floyd, a black man who died on Memorial Day after he was pinned down by a white Minnesota police officer, has sparked outrage and protests in Minneapolis and across the United States.
City leaders have pleaded with communities to voice their outrage in a lawful manner, but the widespread escalation of protests continued Friday night and Saturday night.
Police have made 1,669 arrests across 22 U.S. cities since Thursday, according to numbers released by The Associated Press.
Eric Boehlert: America has a Mark Zuckerberg problem
If Trump has a chance of being re-elected this year, that chance runs right through Facebook and its compliant CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
He’s already given the Trump campaign a green light to lie incessantly on social media by announcing Facebook would not police false political content, and that candidates could post whatever misinformation they wanted. Then this week, Zuckerberg lashed out at Twitter, criticizing the social media giant for having the temerity to fact check one of Trump’s blatantly false tweets.
We also just learned an internal Facebook report from 2018 confirmed that the company’s refusal to address rampant political misinformation among users was driving people apart. Facebook executives, having watched the platform help elect Trump in 2016, quietly shelved the report’s findings, in part because they were afraid conservatives would be upset at Facebook for trying to reign in disinformation and divisive content.
The Rude Pundit: The President Is the Enemy
May 4 was the 50th anniversary of the Kent State Massacre, where the National Guard opened fire on Vietnam War protesters on the campus of Kent State University, killing 4 people. The authorities shooting unarmed protesting Americans was a thing that happened with ludicrous regularity in the 1960s and early 1970s. Really, for most of our history, but it was particularly intense five decades ago during the era of civil rights unrest and antiwar marches. Still, Kent State was different because of the involvement of the National Guard, because it wasn’t state police or local cops doing the shooting, but an arm of the military. President Nixon, the commander-in-chief, was the enemy that needed to be stopped.
Guest At Packed Memorial Day Weekend Pool Party in Lake of the Ozarks Tests Positive For Coronavirus
A person who attended a packed pool party in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, over Memorial Day weekend — video of which went viral and drew widespread condemnation — has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Camden County Health Department issued a health warning on Facebook on Friday, revealing an unidentified person from Boone County had “arrived here on Saturday and developed illness on Sunday, so was likely incubating illness and possibly infectious at the time of the visit.”
Ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin charged with murder in George Floyd case
The former Minneapolis police officer shown on video putting his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than 8 1/2 minutes — as he pleaded for air and his mother — was arrested Friday and charged with murder, authorities said.
Derek Chauvin, who was fired on Tuesday along with the three other officers involved in the arrest of Floyd, was taken into custody Friday and faces charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced.
A night of ‘absolute chaos’ as outrage over George Floyd’s death spreads across America
In Minneapolis — where Floyd died Monday after a white officer pressed his knee into the 46-year-old’s neck — businesses were torched and shots were fired at police, who struggled to enforce an 8 p.m. curfew enacted after several nights of unrest. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) called it “absolute chaos” and said he would “take responsibility for underestimating the wanton destruction and the sheer size of this crowd.”
A CNN crew has been arrested live on television while covering Minneapolis protests
A CNN crew was arrested by police Friday morning while giving a live television report in Minneapolis, where the crew was covering ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd.
The crew, including correspondent Omar Jimenez, were handcuffed and detained as Jimenez gave a live report on a Minneapolis street shortly after 5 a.m. CT (6 a.m. ET).
Police told the crew they were being detained because they were told to move, and didn’t, one member of the CNN crew relayed to the network.
“A CNN reporter and his production team were arrested this morning in Minneapolis for doing their jobs, despite identifying themselves — a clear violation of their First Amendment rights. The authorities in Minnesota, including the Governor, must release the three CNN employees immediately,” CNN said in a statement.
Minneapolis police precinct burns as protests rage on after death of George Floyd
A police precinct was burning in Minneapolis as protests over the death of George Floyd raged on for a third straight day.
Protesters late Thursday focused their attention on the police department’s 3rd Precinct, the base of four officers who were firedafter Floyd’s death in their custody Monday.
Twitter places warning on Trump post overnight, saying tweet glorifies violence
Twitter said Friday that President Donald Trump violated its rules against glorifying violence when he tweeted about protests over the death of George Floyd. The company, which is already embroiled in a dispute with the president over what is acceptable on the platform, did not remove the tweet.
On Thursday, with fires burning in Minneapolis during a third night of protests in the wake of the death of Floyd, Trump threatened to call in the National Guard, labeled the protesters “thugs” and said Mayor Jacob Frey had lost control over the city.
White House Says Trump Plans to Sign Executive Order ‘Pertaining to Social Media’
President Donald Trump went on a tear against Twitter after the social media platform flagged his tweets on mail-in voting as misinformation. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters this afternoon the president plans to sign an executive order “pertaining to social media.”
1 Dead As Minneapolis Protests Erupt After Death Of George Floyd
Protests erupted in Minneapolis for the second day in a row on Wednesday over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck.
The demonstrations turned violent in some areas following a daylong protest outside a police station where officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse attendees. Some people later began looting stores as night settled in, setting an AutoZone retail outlet on fire and carrying goods out of a vandalized Target. Police said early Thursday one person was shot and killed at a pawn shop by the store’s owner as officials urged residents to go home.
U.S. death toll from coronavirus tops 100,000
More than 100,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S., the highest death toll of any nation, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. There have been nearly 1.7 million confirmed cases of the virus across the country (out of more than 5.6 million cases worldwide).
New York continues to have the highest number of deaths of any state in the U.S., with more than 29,000. New Jersey, the state with the second-highest toll, has lost over 11,000 people to the illness.
Talkers Magazine: Miller’s Tour Going Virtual
The global pandemic can’t keep Stephanie Miller’s “Sexy Liberal Tour” down. Miller’s SM Radio Productions says, “Until it’s safe to travel
and gather in large groups again, the hysterically funny ‘Sexy Liberal Tour’ is now set to come into fans’ homes with ‘Stephanie Miller’s Sexy Liberal Virtual Tour.’”
Radio Ink: Talker Stephanie Miller Goes Virtual
Stephanie Miller, the Crossover Media Group syndicated political talker, is hitting the virtual road for a comedy show tour. Stephanie Miller’s Sexy Liberal Virtual Tour debuts Saturday, June 6.
The montly online event will feature Miller, along with John Fugelsang, Hal Sparks and Frances Callier and Angela V. Shelton (aka “Frangela”) in a special online version of the Sexy Liberal Tour.
All Access: Stephanie Miller’s Sexy Liberal Tour Goes Virtual
Syndicated talk host STEPHANIE MILLER’s SEXY LIBERAL TOUR standup comedy shows have been sidelined from the live event circuit due to the pandemic, but it is continuing as a monthly video live stream from MILLER’s SM RADIO PRODUCTIONS, INC. and RUN THE WORLD. The debut online edition will stream on JUNE 6th at 9p (ET), with MILLER, JOHN FUGELSANG, HAL SPARKS, and FRANGELA (FRANCES CALLIER and ANGELA V. SHELTON) on the bill. Tickets are now available at SexyLiberal.com/Tour, with chat available on RUN THE WORLD’s app and VIP tickets available for a “Backstage Meet & Grope” after-show.
White dog owner fired after calling 911 on black man in viral-video leash-law dispute
A cellphone video has gone viral and is sparking widespread outrage after capturing a white dog owner calling 911 and claiming an African American birdwatcher who told her to keep her pet leashed was “threatening myself and my dog” in New York City’s Central Park.
The confrontation occurred on Memorial Day in a wooded area of the urban oasis known as the Ramble, a popular destination for wildlife fans looking to spot rare birds. By Tuesday morning the dog owner had returned her pet to the rescue shelter she adopted it from, was fired from her job at the Franklin Templeton investment firm, and issued an apology for her behavior in an interview with CNN.
Officers involved in death of black man detained in Minneapolis have been fired
Four Minnesota officers have been fired following the detainment of a man who died Monday night after being pinned to the ground by an officer who put his knee on the man’s neck for about eight minutes.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said it was the “right call” to terminate the officers in a tweet announcing the decision Tuesday. The police department said the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI would be independently investigating the incident.
Trump calls mask wearing ‘politically correct,’ Biden calls him a ‘fool’
President Trump dismissed a mask-wearing reporter as being “politically correct” on Tuesday while the presumptive Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, called him a “fool” for mocking their use.
The president’s refusal to wear a face mask in public, defying recommendations from public health experts, has become a symbol for his supporters resisting stay-at-home orders amid the coronaviruscrisis. To wear one then is seen by some as being anti-Trump.
Twitter Applies Fact-Check Labels To Trump Tweets For First Time
Twitter labeled two of President Donald Trump’s tweets with a fact-check warning on Tuesday for the first time, prompting the president to accuse the platform of “stifling free speech.”
The social media platform applied the tag on two of Trump’s tweets that made claims, without evidence, that voting with mail-in ballots would be “substantially fraudulent.” The labels say “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” and direct users to a collection of news reports and articles debunking the tweets.
Charlie Pierce: For Republicans, It’s Just Pure Base Politics Now
The news from the Laboratories of Democracy never sleeps, and that is especially true in the bubbling beakers and flasks of the great state of Oklahoma, which, apparently, has had enough of messing around with exceptions to the rules.
WHO Warns Of ‘Second Peak’ In Coronavirus Infections If Restrictions Lifted Too Soon
Countries where coronavirus infections are declining could still face an “immediate second peak” if they let up too soon on measures to halt the outbreak, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
The world is still in the middle of the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak, WHO emergencies head Dr Mike Ryan told an online briefing, noting that while cases are declining in many countries they are still increasing in Central and South America, South Asia and Africa.
Trump threatens to pull Republican convention out of North Carolina if convention arena can’t be completely full of people
President Donald Trump began a solemn Memorial Day railing against North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, ahead of the 2020 Republican National Convention, threatening to pull it out of Charlotte, where the convention is expected to be held August 24 to 27.
Trump contended that Cooper is “unable to guarantee” that the arena can be filled to capacity.
Biden wears mask at Memorial Day event in Delaware
Joe Biden ventured out of his home in Wilmington, Delaware, for his first brief public event in two months on Monday, to observe Memorial Day. Accompanied by his wife Dr. Jill Biden, he laid a flower wreath at Wilmington Memorial Park. The Bidens, who both wore black masks, placed the wreath of white roses before the Memorial Wall, which includes 15,000 names of men and women from Delaware and New Jersey who died in World War II and the Korean War, according to the Memorial’s website.
The two paused in front of the memorial for about a minute and then walked away, hand in hand. Biden also saluted a small group of veterans who were also at the memorial and thanked them for their service.
The Lincoln Project: Memorial Day
To the families of the fallen women and men who have died for this land we love: we thank you and honor your loss by continuing the fight for liberty, justice, and freedom each and every day. A new ad from @ProjectLincoln #MemorialDay https://youtu.be/KwIESh3HVdQ
Biden Spokesperson Symone Sanders STEAMROLLS Chuck Todd On ‘You Ain’t Black’ Question: ‘I’m Not Going To Do This’
Senior Joe Biden campaign adviser Symone Sanders positively steamrolled MSNBC’s Chuck Todd when Todd tried to ask a question about Biden’s controversial remark to radio host Charlamagne Tha God. At the tailed end of a lengthy interview Friday, Biden cracked “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or for Trump, then you ain’t black.”
In a clip that went viral on social media and was flagged here by Crooks and Liars’ Karoli Kuns, Todd played some video of former Obama adviser and longtime senior Democratic operative Patrick Gaspard criticizing Biden over the remarks.
White House Press Secretary Goofs Up, Broadcasts Trump’s Banking Details
Oops. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Friday inadvertently revealed President Donald Trump’s banking details to a massive audience as she showed off a check he had written.
Trump’s bank account and routing number were visible on the paperwork McEnany displayed to the media at a press briefing, The New York Times noticed.
The information could typically be exploited to hack into an account. But the president’s account would likely have high-level protections to ward off theft.
Trump Plays Golf As Coronavirus Death Toll Nears 100,000 In U.S.
President Donald Trump played golf Saturday for the first time since he declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency more than two months ago, leading to the shutdown of much of American society. His return to the course was the latest sign that he wants the country back to pre-outbreak times, even as the U.S. death toll from the virus nears 100,000, twice what he once predicted it would be.
Trump also planned Memorial Day visits to Arlington National Cemetery and the Fort McHenry national monument in Baltimore, followed by a trip to Florida’s coast on Wednesday to watch to U.S. astronauts blast into orbit.
Congress is moving to another round of coronavirus relief. Here are the battle lines.
Congress is moving toward another round of coronavirus relief as jittery Republican senators demand action and the Trump administration says more legislation is likely to be needed, with unemployment soaring and the U.S. death toll approaching 100,000.
Lawmakers are far from a deal, but the battle lines are emerging in what is likely to be the most contentious negotiations yet after trillions of dollars have already been spent to ease the economic and public health devastation wrought by COVID-19.
Trump spotted wearing mask during Ford tour but refuses to wear it in front of news cameras
President Donald Trump has a face covering with the presidential seal on it, but he refused to wear it Thursday on the public part of his tour of a Ford plant in Michigan despite factory policy.
The president was given a mask by Ford. He was photographed wearing a mask at the plant, and a source familiar with the matter confirmed the authenticity of the photo.
“I wore one in this back area, but I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” Trump told reporters during an appearance at a Ford plant in Ypsilanti that is making ventilators to combat the coronavirus.
Biden holds 11-point lead over Trump in new national poll
Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by 11 points in a new national poll of registered voters focused on November’s presidential election. The survey from Quinnipiac University shows Biden with 50% to Trump’s 39%, up from the 49% to 41% lead Biden held in an April 8 poll by the same university. The survey noted that more than two months into the coronavirus crisis in the U.S., Trump’s job approval rating is ticking lower. In an average of national polls from RealClearPolitics, Biden leads Trump by 5.6 points. That average includes the Quinnipiac poll, which was taken May 14-18 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
Trump’s Vaccine Chief Has Vast Ties to Drug Industry, Posing Possible Conflicts
The chief scientist brought on to lead the Trump administration’s vaccine efforts has spent the last several days trying to disentangle pieces of his stock portfolio and his intricate ties to big pharmaceutical interests, as critics point to the potential for significant conflicts of interest.
The scientist, Moncef Slaoui, is a venture capitalist and a former longtime executive at GlaxoSmithKline. Most recently, he sat on the board of Moderna, a Cambridge, Mass., biotechnology firm with a $30 billion valuation that is pursuing a coronavirus vaccine. He resigned when President Trump named him last Thursday to the new post as chief adviser for Operation Warp Speed, the federal drive for coronavirus vaccines and treatments.
Trump has ‘legal’ and ‘moral responsibility’ to wear mask on Ford plant tour, Michigan attorney general says
Ahead of President Trump’s planned trip Thursday to a Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan, the state’s attorney general implored him to wear a face mask on his tour, citing a “legal responsibility.”
In an open letter addressed to Trump, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) asked the president, who has consistently appeared barefaced in public and at the White House, to adhere to executive orders issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Ford’s policy mandating masks to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Trump is scheduled to visit a factory southwest of Detroit that has been repurposed to manufacture ventilators.
Trump blasts mass absentee ballot efforts in Michigan & Nevada, ignoring identical efforts in Georgia & West Virginia
President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to withhold federal funding for Michigan and Nevada over their pursuit of mass mail-in voting.
The president said, falsely, that Michigan is sending “absentee ballots” to 7.7 million voters, following that with a warning to Nevada if it pursues voting by mail.
Michigan’s secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, said Tuesday that all of those registered voters will be mailed applications for absentee ballots for the state’s elections in August and November — not the absentee ballots themselves.
Jon Sinton: A Turning Point: Part I, Where We Are
What has gone wrong with our country since its peak, which, one might argue, was the fifty-year period following the second world war? After putting men on the moon, we felt as though the government, comprised of a lot of our neighbors and friends with “the right stuff,” could do anything. It’s hard not to feel that a relatively few years ago, we would have stared this miserable virus down with civic discipline and the willingness to act on the advice of the experts. With an unselfish eye toward the common good, the public/private partnership that conquered space, also invented penicillin, cured polio, and gave us microwave ovens and color TV. We were strong. We were united. We believed we were all in this together. Our decline leaves me wondering how we went from the world’s can-do country to its can’t-do country.
Read the rest of Jon Sinton’s piece at his blog.
Jon Sinton is the President of Progressive Voices, a Stephanie Miller affiliate.
Mnuchin, Powell defend government’s efforts to revive economy as senators press for answers
President Trump’s drive to swiftly reopen the economy came under fire Tuesday from Democratic senators who pointedly questioned the administration strategy, forcing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to insist the White House would not sacrifice workers’ lives for economic gain.
But the growing insistence by Trump and Republican lawmakers to push for reopening while halting any new talks about government aid has created a stark divide in the government’s approach. As Trump has largely shut down negotiations for more government emergency assistance, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell warned Tuesday that much more may be needed.
Trump Shuts Down Reporter for Asking About Unemployed Americans: ‘Just a Rude Person, You Are’
President Donald Trump shut down a reporter who asked why he hadn’t yet revealed a plan to get unemployed Americans back to work following the coronavirus pandemic, calling her a “rude person” on Tuesday.
“Mr. President, why haven’t you announced a plan to get 36 million unemployed Americans back to work. You’re overseeing historic economic despair. What’s the delay?” questioned the reporter, prompting President Trump to reply, “Oh, I think we’ve announced a plan. We’re opening up our country.”
“Just a rude person, you are,” he snapped.
Bob Cesca: Trump, Barr and the Obamagate scam… there’s no there there. The Red Hats won’t care
As we slowly advance closer and closer to November, it’s important to remind ourselves that Donald Trump was impeached for attempting to cheat in the 2020 presidential election. Indeed, it’s crucial to circle back to events like this during the Trump era, given how the firehose of news relentlessly floods the zone with awfulness every damn day, one Trump trespass against reality — and the rule of law — after another. Otherwise, all kinds of atrocities get lost in the deliberate noise.
Seriously. Trump was impeached. That’s a thing that actually happened. Enough evidence was gathered by investigators, including transcripts and eyewitness testimony, to allege that Trump thought it’d be a clever idea to withhold military aid to Ukraine in order to extort that nation’s newly-elected president into announcing an investigation into Burisma, an energy company that had employed Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, on its board.
Pelosi slams Trump for taking hydroxychloroquine, calls him ‘morbidly obese’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., chastised President Donald Trump on Monday for his decision to take hydroxychloroquine, saying that health experts have warned about its effects and that it could be harmful to the president because she said he’s “morbidly obese.”
“As far as the President is concerned, he’s our president and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group, morbidly obese, they say. So, I think it’s not a good idea,” Pelosi said in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN.
Trump says it’s OK for Pompeo to have a paid government employee wash dishes if his wife or son isn’t there
President Donald Trump said Monday that he would prefer for government employees to wash Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s dishes if his wife or son was not there to do so.
While the dish-washing assertion was not among those reportedly investigated by the State Department inspector general fired by Trump last week at Pompeo’s recommendation, the secretary of state faced dual investigations by the department watchdog into whether he had staffers perform personal chores and whether he looked to circumvent Congress in accelerating an arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
Trump threatens to make WHO funding freeze permanent
President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to make the freeze on U.S. funding for the World Health Organization permanent.
He also laid out allegations of “missteps” in the way the agency responded to the coronavirus in a letter he said he sent to the WHO’s leader.
The letter, which was posted to Trump’s Twitter account and comes midway through the World Health Assembly, is addressed to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. It accuses the organization of an “alarming lack of independence from the People’s Republic of China.”
Trump says he’s taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19
President Donald Trump said Monday that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine, an unproven treatment for COVID-19 that he has vigorously promoted.
“A lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy. A lot of good things have come out. You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers — before you catch it,” Trump said at the White House. “I happen to be taking it. I happen to be taking it. … I’m taking it — hydroxychloroquine — right now.”
Charlie Pierce: Republicans Have Turned to Full-On Voter Intimidation in 2020
Again, I say to my friends at The Lincoln Project, and to the Never Trump community in general: put some money and energy behind campaigns against the policies that made the current president* not just possible, but inevitable. Help the country out that way, so that debacles like the current one are less likely to reoccur. For example, how about joining in the campaign against legalized ratfcking under the color of law, and camouflaged by a bogus crisis?
The Lincoln Project: This Week
Nearly 90,000 American lives have been lost. The virus is still spreading. And Donald Trump continues to deny and deflect, failing the people he was elected to serve.
Check out the latest video from The Lincoln Project.
Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine shows encouraging early results in human safety trial
Moderna, the Massachusetts biotechnology company behind a leading effort to create a coronavirus vaccine, announced promising early results from its first human safety tests Monday. The company plans to launch a large clinical trial in July aimed at showing whether the vaccine works.
The company reported that in eight patients who had been followed for a month and a half, the vaccine at low and medium doses triggered blood levels of virus-fighting antibodies that were similar or greater than those found in patients who recovered. That would suggest, but doesn’t prove, that it triggers some level of immunity. The antibody-rich blood plasma donated by patients who have recovered is separately being tested to determine whether it is an effective therapy or preventive measure for covid-19.
Eric Boehlert: West Wing nervous breakdown — and media still won’t demand Trump resign
Unfurling a West Wing nervous breakdown, Trump spent Mother’s Day tweeting like a true mad man, posting and re-posting more than 120 missives. The rants ricocheted from alleged crimes by Democrats, to an array of perceived enemies swirling around his head, including a cable TV host, FBI officials, and the entire state of California.
The President of the United States collapsed into another of his bewildering and manic bouts of anger, while a public health crisis crippled the U.S. economy, and it was met with mostly shoulder shrugs from the Beltway media, which refuses to demand that the mad man resign for the good of the country.
Fired State Department watchdog was looking into whether Pompeo made staffer walk his dog, pick up laundry
The State Department inspector general who was removed from his job Friday was looking into whether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a staffer walk his dog, pick up his dry cleaning and make dinner reservations for Pompeo and his wife, among other personal errands, according to two congressional officials assigned to different committees.
The officials said they are working to learn whether former Inspector General Steve Linick may have had other ongoing investigations into Pompeo.
White House adviser blames CDC for letting ‘the country down’ with early testing snags
One of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s early response to the coronavirus spread Sunday, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” the CDC “let the country down” initially with testing problems.
When asked whether Trump had faith in the CDC, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, and coordinator of the Defense Production Act response, said that is a question for the president before criticizing the federal health agency’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Rude Pundit: At the Bright Hearing, Republicans Tell Scientists… You May Have Your Fancy Studies, But We Have Anecdotes
Dr. Rick Bright, who has spent his adult life working to make vaccines to prevent terrible diseases and who desperately tried to get the louche, evil frauds in the Trump administration to do something about the goddamn coronavirus that was about to fuck our shit up and then got fired for his efforts, was the star witness at the hearing of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s health subcommittee today. And you gotta pity Bright as he faced down the goobers, goons, crackers, and crazies in the Republican Party who either wanted to peddle some batshit ideas about how to treat COVID-19 or prop up the saggy tits of President Trump by discrediting Bright.
Justin Amash Abandons Third-Party Run for President
Independent Michigan Congressman Justin Amash has abandoned his flirtation with a third-party presidential run, announcing his decision in a Twitter thread Saturday afternoon.
In a lengthy Twitter thread, Amash cited, among other things, the challenge of campaigning during the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump Orders McConnell to ‘Get Tough and Move Quickly’ to Investigate ‘Russia Hoax’ in Twitter Rant
President Donald Trump demanded that GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ‘get tough and move quickly’ to get back at Democrats for launching the ‘Russia Hoax’ during a Saturday morning Twitter rant.
“Mitch, I love you, but this is 100% true,” Trump said quote tweeting a user advocating for going after Democrats for “Russian collusion hoax.” “Time is running out. Get tough and move quickly, or it will be too late. The Dems are vicious, but got caught. They MUST pay a big price for what they have done to our Country.”
Obama slams Trump administration’s leadership amid coronavirus pandemic
Former President Barack Obama criticized “the folks in charge” for their response to the coronavirus pandemic in a commencement address Saturday, offering some of his most pointed condemnation of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing,” Obama said in the address, which was streamed online. “A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.”
“If the world’s going to get better, it’s going to be up to you,” he said.
House passes Democrats’ $3T coronavirus ‘HEROES’ aid: Stimulus checks, money for states, rent assistance
The House on Friday narrowly passed a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package crafted by Democrats that would include another round of stimulus payments of up to $1,200 per person.
President Donald Trump this week declared the Democrats’ proposal “DOA.”
Similar to the first major coronavirus aid package signed into law in late March, the 1,815-page HEROES Act would provide up to $1,200 in payments (or $2,400 for married couples), with an extra $1,200 per dependent up to a maximum of three. The income thresholds are the same as in the earlier CARES Act, with money for people making up to $99,000 and couples up to $198,000. The amount would start to reduce from $1,200 above thresholds of $75,000 and $150,000, respectively.
Trump fires State Department watchdog looking into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
President Donald Trump on Friday removed a watchdog critical of personnel moves in the State Department.
Trump informed Congress of the move in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, in which he gave no specific reason for firing State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.
Trump wrote he “no longer” had full confidence in the State Department’s inspector general.
5 takeaways from pandemic whistleblower Rick Bright’s House hearing
Rick Bright, who filed a whistleblower complaint after being removed from his position as head of the agency in charge of pandemic response, testified for just under four hours Thursday before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s health subcommittee.
Bright slammed the Trump administration’s coronavirus response and urged lawmakers to listen to the voices of scientists to prevent “unprecedented illness and fatalities.”
Officials Release Long-Delayed And Edited Down Coronavirus Reopening Guidance
U.S. health officials on Thursday released some of their long-delayed guidance that schools, businesses and other organizations can use as states reopen from coronavirus shutdowns.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted six one-page “decision tool” documents that use traffic signs and other graphics to tell organizations what they should consider before reopening.
The tools are for schools, workplaces, camps, childcare centers, mass transit systems, and bars and restaurants. The CDC originally also authored a document for churches and other religious facilities, but that wasn’t posted Thursday. The agency declined to say why.
Donald Trump Refuses To Wear Mask At Mask Supplier, Suggests Testing Is ‘Overrated’
President Donald Trump on Thursday griped about the pressure he’s facing to increase the ability to test people for the coronavirus, saying that testing might be “overrated” anyway.
“We have the best testing in the world. Could be that testing is, frankly, overrated. Maybe it is overrated,” Trump said during a visit to Owens & Minor, a medical supply company in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that distributes masks and other products.
“You know, they always say, ‘We want more, we want more,’ because they don’t want to give you credit. Then we do more, and they say, ‘We want more,’” he added.
McConnell admits he was wrong to say Obama didn’t leave Trump a pandemic ‘game plan’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., admitted he was wrong when he that the Obama administration never left a plan for President Donald Trump for how to handle a pandemic.
“I was wrong — they did leave behind a plan. So I clearly made a mistake in that regard,” McConnell said in a Thursday evening interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier when asked about his initial comments.
Natasha Bertrand: Trump exults in his Mueller revenge play
“Hope you had fun investigating me,” reads a meme that has been reposted by President Donald Trump, his family and his allies several times over the last week on social media. “Now it’s my turn.”
More than one year after the Russia investigation ended and six months before he faces re-election, Trump is getting his revenge—and his most trusted advisers, some newly installed throughout the Justice Department and intelligence community since his impeachment acquittal three months ago, are helping him do it.
The Risks: Know Them, Avoid Them
It seems many people are breathing some relief, and I’m not sure why. An epidemic curve has a relatively predictable upslope and once the peak is reached, the back slope can also be predicted. We have robust data from the outbreaks in China and Italy, that shows the backside of the mortality curve declines slowly, with deaths persisting for months. Assuming we have just crested in deaths at 70k, it is possible that we lose another 70,000 people over the next 6 weeks as we come off that peak. That’s what’s going to happen with a lockdown.
Unreleased White House report shows coronavirus rates spiking in heartland communities
Coronavirus infection rates are spiking to new highs in several metropolitan areas and smaller communities across the country, according to undisclosed data the White House’s pandemic task force is using to track rates of infection, which was obtained by NBC News.
The data in a May 7 coronavirus task force report are at odds with President Donald Trump’s declaration Monday that “all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly.”
Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down state’s stay-at-home order
The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down the state’s stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic as “unlawful, invalid, and unenforceable” after finding that the state’s health secretary exceeded her authority.
In a 4-3 ruling, the court called Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm’s directive, known as Emergency Order 28, a “vast seizure of power.”
Trump criticizes Fauci’s Senate testimony: ‘Not an acceptable answer’
President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized comments Dr. Anthony Fauci made during a congressional hearingabout the risks of reopening the country too soon as “not an acceptable answer.”
“I was surprised by his answer, actually, because, you know, to me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools,” Trump said during a meeting Wednesday afternoon with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in the Cabinet Room of the White House.
Biden Increases Lead Over Trump From 2 to 8 Points as President Slumps in New Poll
A new poll out Wednesday reveals a whole lot of good news for former Vice President Joe Biden, and bad news for President Donald Trump.
According to the latest Retuers/Ipsos survey, Biden — the presumptive Democratic nominee — has surged to an eight point lead in the race. The same poll showed Biden ahead by only two points just last week — well within the four point margin of error.
6 takeaways from Anthony Fauci’s and health officials’ testimony
The appearance came after the White House blocked Fauci from testifying in the Democratic-controlled House but allowed him to testify in the GOP-controlled Senate. Fauci and the committee’s chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), appeared via video after being exposed to those who had come down with the novel virus.
Also appearing at Tuesday’s hearing were Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn and President Trump’s coronavirus testing czar, Adm. Brett Giroir.
Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Releasing Trump’s Financial Records
The very nature of the presidency was under scrutiny at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the justices heard more than three hours of arguments on whether House committees and prosecutors may obtain troves of information about President Trump’s business affairs.
The court’s ruling, expected by July, could require disclosure of information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump’s financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry.
Bob Cesca: Dr. Trump’s crazypants new plan… A fast reopen, lots more death and he wins anyway
Every ridiculous action taken by Donald Trump makes a little more sense when viewed through the prism of re-election. Every terrible decision, every whiny outburst, every childish tweet is issued with the goal of helping Trump get re-elected, and of course re-election explains his horrifyingly incompetent response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rather than safely and sanely handling the crisis, Trump continues to desperately rush things along like a Mountain Dew-guzzling little boy in the back seat of his parents’ car chanting, “Are we there yet?” Trump doesn’t know much, but he at least understands that the deeper the economy collapses into a historically massive recession, the worse his chances for re-election get, even with Russia’s help, even with disgruntled Bernie supporters refusing to vote for Joe Biden, even with voter ID and the possibility of limited mail-in ballots, and even with his $1 billion disinformation “Death Star” across the Potomac from Georgetown.
Charlie Pierce: You Can’t Ignore This Stuff During a Pandemic, When All Life’s Usual Guideposts Are Gone
The marriage of right-wing political paranoia with anti-vaccination foolishness is enough of a public-health debacle on its own without grafting reactionary Catholicism onto it as a bonus. (This letter reeks of the old anti-Masonic Catholicism, from the days when joining the Masons meant automatic excommunication. I’m not that nostalgic for the days of Leo XIII.) Vigano long ago staked out his position as one of the leaders of the opposition to Papa Francesco, so he’s comfortable out there on the fringes. But pandemic trutherism in the alleged service of the gospel is a whole ‘nother level of nutty.
DOJ to consider possible federal hate crime charges in Ahmaud Arbery shooting
The Department of Justice said Monday it will consider a request by Georgia’s attorney general to review the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery and assess whether federal hate crime charges should be pursued in the high-profile case.
The federal government’s further involvement would underscore a larger demand by Arbery’s family and civil rights groups for another law enforcement agency to closely examine the handling of the case since Arbery was killed on Feb. 23. Also on Monday, the state’s top prosecutor, Chris Carr, appointed a new district attorney — the fourth since Arbery’s death — to take over the case.
Unreleased White House report shows coronavirus rates spiking in heartland communities
Coronavirus infection rates are spiking to new highs in several metropolitan areas and smaller communities across the country, according to undisclosed data the White House’s pandemic task force is using to track rates of infection, which was obtained by NBC News.
The data in a May 7 coronavirus task force report are at odds with President Donald Trump’s declaration Monday that “all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly.”
Fauci Reportedly To Warn Senate Of ‘Needless Suffering And Death’ If U.S. Reopens Too Soon
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, plans to warn lawmakers on Tuesday that the country could face “needless suffering and death” should the American economy reopen too soon, according to an email exchange with The New York Times.
“The major message that I wish to convey to the Senate [Health, Education, Labor and Pensions] committee tomorrow is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely,” Fauci wrote to the Times’ Sheryl Gay Stolberg on Monday evening. “If we skip over the checkpoints … then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country.”
Trump Storms Out Of Coronavirus Briefing After Female Reporters Challenge Him
President Donald Trump abruptly ended his coronavirus press briefing on Monday after getting visibly angry with two female reporters.
In the final moments of his briefing, Trump took a question from CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang, who asked him why he so often claimed the U.S. was “doing far better than any other country when it comes to testing” and framed it as a “global competition” when so many Americans are still dying, she said.
Trump Adviser: It’s ‘Scary To Go To Work’ As Coronavirus Spreads Through White House
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said it is “scary to go to work” in the White House after several officials were diagnosed with COVID-19 and several others entered self-quarantine to avoid spreading coronavirus.
“It is scary to go to work,” Hassett said on “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “I think that I’d be a lot safer if I was sitting at home than I would be going to the West Wing. But, you know, it’s the time when people have to step up and serve their country.”
Pence putting ‘a little distance’ after staffer tests positive for COVID-19
Vice President Mike Pence was putting “a little distance” between himself and others this weekend after a staffer tested positive for COVID-19, a senior administration official told NBC News.
The official said that Pence would take the advice of the White House medical unit and that he continues to test negative for the virus. The vice president chose not to attend a national security meeting Saturday, the official said, adding that there is “no restriction” on his activities.
Eric Boehlert: Access journalism is killing us
Finally emerging from his pandemic-era Fox News bunker, Trump sat for an interview with ABC News this week. For weeks as the U.S. death toll skyrocketed and tens of millions of people lost their jobs, Trump had agreed only to answer pleasing, one-on-one questions from Fox News. He did his best to create an alternate universe, where the deadly cornonavirus would soon “wash away.”
Agreeing to be interviewed by ABC, Trump appeared to be taking a risk by exposing himself to tougher questions about his historically incompetent response to the public health crisis, and a mountain of evidence that he personally chose to do nothing to protect the country from a virus invasion. In the end, the soft-as-a-pillow interview on ABC proved to be no risk. And Trump probably knew that going in, because TV journalists, perhaps more concerned about access than answers, simply refuse to hold him accountable in-person.
The Rude Pundit: Directions to Damnation… Donald Trump’s Deranged Interview with ABC
How fucking weird and disconcerting and downright disturbing was the interview President Donald Trump did with ABC anchor David Muir? The fact that they were propped awkwardly on tall chairs over 10 feet from each other on the factory floor of the Honeywell plant that makes masks for COVID-19 protection (and which Trump had toured without wearing a mask) was the least weird part of the whole thing.
I mean, of course, the entire thing was filled to the brim with lies and then more lies were thrown in until it was overflowing with lies and then a dam of lies broke which flooded the entire valley with lies and, since the valley was filled with Trump voters, they were happy to drown in his lies.
‘Chaotic disaster’: Obama hits Trump’s coronavirus response, warns of disinformation ahead of election
After largely staying out of the fray since leaving the White House, former President Barack Obama pointedly criticized the Trump administration on a range of issues while also sounding the alarm about the spread of misinformation ahead of the presidential election as he rallied former members of his administration to join him in doing all they can to back his former vice president.
In a call with thousands of alumni of his administration Friday night, the contents of which were first reported by Yahoo! News, Obama also was harshly critical of the Justice Department directing prosecutors to drop its case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, warning that the “rule of law is at risk.”
Anthony Fauci Enters ‘Modified Quarantine’ After ‘Low Risk’ COVID-19 Contact
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and member of the White House coronavirus task force, says he’s going into a “modified quarantine” after coming into contact with an administration staff member who contracted COVID-19, CNN reported Saturday.
Fauci told CNN that his contact with the staff member is considered “low risk,” meaning he did not come into close proximity with the infected person, who remains unnamed.
Brace yourself, America, for “single worst jobs report in history”
Just two months ago, American workers were enjoying the fruits of the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. But Friday’s jobs report, reflecting April’s official unemployment rate, is expected to show just how thoroughly the economic collapse caused by the coronavirus has eviscerated the U.S. labor market.
Glassdoor economist Daniel Zhao bluntly predicts “the single worst jobs report in history” when the Labor Department on Friday releases employment numbers for April. Forecasters expect the nation’s jobless rate, which was at 4.4% in March, to skyrocket to an annualized unemployment rate of 15% to 20% for the April period, based on a survey of workers during the week of April 12.
Father and son arrested and charged with murder in death of Ahmaud Arbery
A white man and his son who are accused of killing an unarmed black man in Georgia in February have been arrested after video of the incident sparked widespread outrage.
Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced. Both men face charges of aggravated assault and murder.
Trump’s personal valet tests positive for coronavirus
One of President Donald Trump’s personal valets, who works in the West Wing serving the president his meals, among other duties, has tested positive for the coronavirus, the closest the virus is known to have come to the president, a White House official said.
Since the White House medical unit was made aware of the case, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have both tested negative, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Thursday. The White House did not say when the valet developed symptoms or when the president was last exposed to the individual.
Justice Department drops case against ex-Trump adviser Michael Flynn
The Justice Department is dropping criminal charges against Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser.
In documents filed Thursday in federal court in Washington, D.C., the Justice Department said it was recommending that the judge dismiss the criminal case “after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information.”
“The Government has concluded that the interview of Mr. Flynn was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn,” the filing said.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized for gallbladder condition
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was treated Tuesday for a gallstone that was causing an infection, the court said in a statement.
She underwent nonsurgical treatment for a benign gallbladder condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The condition was detected Monday after the court’s historic telephone session for oral arguments. Tests confirmed that a gallstone had migrated to her cystic duct, causing a blockage and infection.
White House to wind down coronavirus task force
President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force is in the early stages of winding down, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The meetings in the Situation Room of the White House have been shorter, and the task force no longer meets every day, according to the two people. Drs. Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci are still expected to be at the White House daily, but other members of the task force may be present less frequently. However, two separate sources familiar with the matter noted that the task force met Tuesday.
‘There’ll be more death’: Trump says it’s time to reopen country despite fears of coronavirus rebound
President Donald Trump said Tuesday “there’ll be more death” related to the coronavirus pandemic as a growing number of states move to slowly relax their stay-at-home mandates in the coming months.
“It’s possible there will be some because you won’t be locked into an apartment or a house or whatever it is,” Trump told ABC News in an exclusive interview while visiting a mask-making factory in Arizona. “But at the same time, we’re going to practice social distancing, we’re going to be washing hands, we’re going to be doing a lot of the things that we’ve learned to do over the last period of time.”
Bob Cesca: Dr. Trump’s crazypants new plan… A fast reopen, lots more death and he wins anyway
Every ridiculous action taken by Donald Trump makes a little more sense when viewed through the prism of re-election. Every terrible decision, every whiny outburst, every childish tweet is issued with the goal of helping Trump get re-elected, and of course re-election explains his horrifyingly incompetent response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Donald Trump’s failed presidency has left the nation weaker, sicker, and teetering on the verge of a new Great Depression.
Watch the latest video from The Lincoln Project.
Senate set to reopen as virus risk divides Congress
The Senate will gavel in Monday as the coronavirus rages, returning to an uncertain agenda and deepening national debate over how best to confront the deadly pandemic and its economic devastation.
With the House staying away due to the health risks, and the 100 senators convening for the first time since March, the conflicted Congress reflects an uneasy nation. The Washington area remains a virus hot-spot under stay-home rules.
Reade: ‘I didn’t use sexual harassment’ in Biden complaint
Tara Reade, the former Senate staffer who alleges Joe Biden sexually assaulted her 27 years ago, says she filed a limited report with a congressional personnel office that did not explicitly accuse him of sexual assault or harassment.
“I remember talking about him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable,” Reade said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. “I know that I was too scared to write about the sexual assault.”
Birx says protesters not practicing social distancing are ‘devastatingly worrisome’
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that anti-lockdown protests are “devastatingly worrisome” because demonstrators who do not practice social distancing measures could contract the illness and pass it on to others back home.
“It’s devastatingly worrisome to me personally, because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather who has a comorbid condition and they have a serious or a very … unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of [their] lives,” Birx said. “So we need to protect each other at the same time we’re voicing our discontent.”
Trump warns coronavirus death toll could reach 100,000
President Donald Trump has warned that the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus outbreak could reach 100,000 — revising upwards his estimate on the number of people the outbreak could kill by tens of thousands.
“Look, we’re going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people. That’s a horrible thing. We shouldn’t lose one person out of this,” Trump said speaking during a Fox News virtual town hall.
Eric Boehlert: Sorry media, Biden case isn’t like Kavanaugh’s — Kavanaugh lied about everything
Rushing to anoint the “hypocrite” label to Joe Biden, large parts of the Beltway media are stressing that a 27-year-old allegation of sexual assault against Biden is an awful lot like the decades-old allegations that were lodged against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing in 2018. At the time, Debra Ramirez and Christine Blasey Ford offered detailed accounts of being assaulted by Kavanaugh in high school and in college. The claim today is that if Democrats didn’t believe Kavanaugh’s denials then, how can they believe Biden now, and aren’t they playing politics with claims of sexual assault?
The Rude Pundit: Things to Keep in Mind About the Tara Reade Allegations
As Democrats grapple with how to handle the accusation by former staff member Tara Reade that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in a hallway in the Senate office building in 1993, let’s remember that as much as we want it to be about finding out the truth, it’s never just that. And let’s remember that not every purported rape victim is telling the truth and that every victim doesn’t have to act like you think she should act.
Hundreds of protesters, some carrying guns in the state Capitol, demonstrate against Michigan’s emergency measures
Hundreds of people protested outside the Michigan Capitol building in Lansing on Thursday, with some pushing inside while the Legislature was debating an extension of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s state of emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Protesters held signs, waved American flags and even carried firearms, while some chanted “Let us in!” and “This is the people’s house, you cannot lock us out.” Others tried to get onto the House floor but were blocked by state police and sergeants-at-arms, according to NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit.
Read the rest of the story at NBC News.
Statement by Vice President Joe Biden
April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Every year, at this time, we talk about awareness, prevention, and the importance of women feeling they can step forward, say something, and be heard. That belief — that women should be heard — was the underpinning of a law I wrote over 25 years ago. To this day, I am most proud of the Violence Against Women Act. So, each April we are reminded not only of how far we have come in dealing with sexual assault in this country — but how far we still have to go.
Matthew Miller: It’s not just the bleach. Trump is a catalog of bad ideas that tax resources
President Trump’s open-mic riff suggesting government health experts explore injecting patients with bleach or household disinfectants to fight covid-19 made for easy parody. “And then I see the disinfectant, that knocks it out in a minute, one minute,” he said at Thursday night’s televised news briefing. “Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection, inside, or almost a cleaning.” Because the coronavirus “does a tremendous number on the lungs,” he went on to say, “it would be interesting to check that.” He added his usual disclaimer, “I’m not a doctor,” but assured viewers that “I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.”
Read the rest of Matthew Miller’s piece at The Washington Post.
Why I’m skeptical about Reade’s sexual assault claim against Biden: Ex-prosecutor
During 28 years as a state and federal prosecutor, I prosecuted a lot of sexual assault cases. The vast majority came early in my career, when I was a young attorney at a prosecutor’s office outside Detroit.
A year ago, Tara Reade accused former Vice President Joe Biden of touching her shoulder and neck in a way that made her uncomfortable, when she worked for him as a staff assistant in 1993. Then last month, Reade told an interviewer that Biden stuck his hand under her skirt and forcibly penetrated her with his fingers. Biden denies the allegation.
When women make allegations of sexual assault, my default response is to believe them. But as the news media have investigated Reade’s allegations, I’ve become increasingly skeptical. Here are some of the reasons why
Fed Chair Powell: Second quarter will be “worse than anything we’ve ever seen”
The Federal Reserve is holding its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero in an effort to offset the crushing economic impact of the coronavirus. The U.S. central bank said Wednesday it would keep rates low until there are “signs the economy has recovered from coronavirus and shutdown.”
In a press conference following the policy decision, Fed Chairman Jay Powell said he expects an “unprecedented” drop in economic activity over the next few months. He also hinted at the need for more government stimulus.
Mayor: Los Angeles is 1st major US city offering all residents tests
The city of Los Angeles will offer free coronavirus testing to all residents regardless of whether they have symptoms, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday.
Testing centers have been set up across the city but until now they were reserved for those with symptoms and frontline employees like health care and grocery store workers.
Los Angeles will be the first major U.S. city to offer “large, widescale testing to all its residents, with or without symptoms,” Garcetti said at his daily briefing. People can sign up online for appointments starting immediately.
Fauci touts ‘good news’ from remdesivir drug trial in treating COVID-19
Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday touted the results of trial examining an experimental drug treatment for the novel coronavirus, calling it “good news” as he spoke in the Oval Office alongside President Donald Trump.
A randomized, international trial of the drug remdesivir had resulted in “quite good news,” shortening the period patients experienced symptoms and potentially slightly reducing the mortality rate, according to Fauci, a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which sponsored the trial.
Trump erupts at campaign manager as reelection stress overflows
As he huddled with advisers on Friday evening, President Donald Trump was still fuming over his sliding poll numbers and the onslaught of criticism he was facing for suggesting a day earlier that ingesting disinfectant might prove effective against coronavirus.
Within moments, the President was shouting — not at the aides in the room, but into the phone — at his campaign manager Brad Parscale, three people familiar with the matter told CNN. Shifting the blame away from himself, Trump berated Parscale for a recent spate of damaging poll numbers, even at one point threatening to sue Parscale. It’s not clear how serious the President’s threat of a lawsuit was.
Coronavirus death toll in US now exceeds that of Vietnam War
The coronavirus death toll in the U.S. officially exceeds the number of fatalities during the Vietnam War.
Johns Hopkins University’s death toll in the country reached 58,351 as of Tuesday night, surpassing the 58,220 who died during the Vietnam War that lasted almost 20 years, according to the National Archives.
But the rate of deaths during the so far three-month-long coronavirus pandemic outpaces the fatality rate during the deadliest year during the war, NPR reported. The current death rate reaches 17.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to in 1968, when 8.5 troops for every 100,000 residents were killed.
Pence flouts Mayo Clinic policy by touring coronavirus testing facility without a mask
Vice President Mike Pence went on a tour of the Mayo Clinic’s coronavirus testing labs Tuesday — and ignored the prestigious Minnesota hospital’s rules that all occupants wear masks.
“Mayo Clinic had informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today,” the clinic tweeted while Pence was still inside meeting with doctors and patients.
The tweet was later deleted. Asked for comment, the clinic said only that it had “shared the masking policy with the VP’s office.”
Bob Cesca: Stay home or reopen? We can avoid Trump’s fake choice with a big, bold stimulus
One of the most insane bits of propaganda being injected into the dual coronavirus and economic catastrophes of the moment is the Trump-marketed gibberish about how “the cure can’t be worse than the problem.” It’s an infuriatingly simplistic zinger, condensing myriad complexities into a facile bumper-sticker slogan that will ultimately result in more dead Americans.
There’s a better solution that we’ll get to presently, but “the cure,” in the context of Trump’s zinger, is of course the stay-at-home mandate being exercised in most states. The worry, according to Trump and his disciples, is that maintaining social distancing and therefore keeping Americans safe — the “cure” — will precipitate a worsening economic calamity.
SBA program reopens with new glitches and new scrutiny after NBA franchise returns loan funds
The government relaunched its small-business aid program Monday, infused with $310 billion in fresh funding, but faced an outcry of complaints over faltering computer systems and delays from bankers and desperate business owners.
The program, run by the Small Business Administration, is one of the government’s signature efforts to buoy the nation’s employment during the pandemic since a majority of Americans work for companies with fewer than 500 employees. But the program’s technical problems and bureaucratic delays have highlighted the Trump administration’s struggles to deliver massive amounts of aid quickly.
White House issues coronavirus testing guidance that leaves states in charge
President Trump responded Monday by announcing what the White House called a “blueprint” for increasing testing capacity. But it leaves the onus on states to develop their own plans and rapid-response programs. A White House document said the federal role would include “strategic direction and technical assistance,” as well as the ability to “align laboratory testing supplies and capacity with existing and anticipated laboratory needs.”
Charlie Pierce: Trump’s Narcissism at the Five O’Clock Follies Has Now Been Quantified
Before we open the shebeen for our seventh week of self-quarantine, here’s a little something to brighten your morning: the great Brendan Gleeson and his son, Fergus, setting to music the fine words of Jem Casey, the Poet of the Pick, as first transcribed in the novel, At Swim-Two-Birds, by Flann O’Brien, and adapting the words. And I think we’ll all agree that the poem has one quality to it.
Permanence.
More states are easing coronavirus restrictions this week, unnerving experts and some local officials
Several states are reopening from coronavirus shutdowns this week despite the recommendations of health researchers.
Colorado, Minnesota and Montana plan to ease social distancing and stay-at-home restrictions.
Iowa will allow elective surgeries to resume and farmers markets to reopen starting Monday.
White House Coronavirus Official: Social Distancing ‘Will Be With Us’ Through Summer
Dr. Deborah Birx, a leading infectious disease expert on the White House’s coronavirus task force, warned Sunday that social distancing will be a necessary practice through the coming summer.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Birx was asked if Vice President Mike Pence’s prediction Friday that the coronavirus epidemic will be largely “behind us” by Memorial Day on May 25 was realistic.
Trump Touts Self as ‘Hardest Working President in History’ While Fuming at NYT, Denying He ‘Angrily’ Has ‘Hamburger & Diet Coke’ in Bedroom
Donald Trump got on the presidential Twitter machine on Sunday to go on an enraged rant against The New York Times and their report on his activities in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Eric Boehlert: Trump’s pandemic… 50,000 deaths, 26 million lost jobs. New York Times: Dems in Disarray!
The staggering weight of America’s pandemic continues to come into view with each passing day, as the death toll and the number of lost jobs catapult to new heights. Politically, the carnage represents the worst possible news for the incumbent president, who now has to run for re-election against the grim backdrop of 50,000 deaths and 26 million unemployed, as consumer confidence collapses in record time.
Yet incredibly, the political press remains committed to its longtime ‘Dems In Disarray’ narrative, deriding Democrats as being forever confused and outsmarted. (They’re not.) Specifically, the campaign coverage for November seems oddly focused on the supposed woes hounding Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.
The Rude Pundit: Andrew Cuomo Fu**s Mitch McConnell’s Sh** Up
It’s something that doesn’t get said much, but all those red states, all those states with their MAGA citizens looking down at the northeastern libtards who want immigrants but not guns, whose schools teach science and actual history, who elect Democrats, fer chrissakes, yeah, those states pretty much fucking stay in existence because of the northeast. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts are carrying your asses because of the tax revenue generated up here. You should be kissing our feet and thanking God or whatever that we live in a nation that includes our states and you’re not on your own.
But it took New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to remind us of that fact this past week in another of his moments where he looked at his bucket of fucks and found it completely empty. Unprompted, Cuomo responded to Senate Majority Leader and Man Who Perpetually Looks Like a Little Boy Who Saw a Vagina for the First Time Mitch McConnell saying that the states should be able to declare bankruptcy and that any help to states during this coronavirus crisis is “a blue-state bailout.” Cuomo went after that bespectacled, evil tortoise/human hybrid like a street fighter who decided to make an example out of the wannabe tough guy who pinched his girl’s ass.
White House considering scaling back Trump’s daily coronavirus briefings in coming weeks
After nearly 50 coronavirus press briefings in March and April, President Donald Trump’s aides and allies are increasingly worried that his lengthy appearances are backfiring politically and White House officials say they are evaluating whether to reduce his participation in news conferences in the weeks to come.
Concerns that the briefings are hurting the president reached an inflection point Thursday evening when Trump suggested that people might be able to inject household cleaning items or disinfectants to deter the coronavirus, sparking immediate and universal backlash from the medical community.
As global death toll tops 200,000, WHO warns there’s no evidence of coronavirus immunity
There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 are protected from a second infection, the World Health Organization warned Saturday as the worldwide death toll topped 200,000.
The health body tweeted that it was continuing to review the evidence on antibody responses to COVID-19, adding that most studies suggest that people who have recovered from the infection have antibodies to fight the virus.
“However, some of these people have very low levels of antibodies in their blood,” it said.
Trump signs coronavirus aid bill as tensions rise over next one
President Donald Trump signed a nearly $500 billion interim coronavirus bill into law Friday that includes additional money for the small-business loan program, as well as more funding for hospitals and testing.
Trump was joined in the Oval Office for the bill signing by Republican lawmakers and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who has been a key White House negotiator with Congress in coronavirus aid legislation. During the ceremony, Trump walked back his comments from the day before that people could get an “injection” of a “disinfectant” that kills the coronavirus, telling reporters that he was being “sarcastic.”
Read the rest of the story at NBC News
Unemployment around the U.S. will reach 16% this year, CBO says
Unemployment around the U.S., near a 50-year low before the coronavirus struck, will surge to 16% by September as the economy withers under the impact of the outbreak, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday.
That would far exceed the hit to the labor market during the Great Recession, when the jobless rate peaked at 10%. Unemployment will likely remain in double-digits into 2021, according to the agency.
Trump skips questions at coronavirus briefing after disinfectant debacle
A day after he floated the idea of using disinfectants and light to treat COVID-19, President Donald Trump declined to take any questions at his daily coronavirus briefing at the White House.
The briefing — which can sometimes last about two hours — was over in just over 20 minutes, following remarks from Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and FDA head Stephen Hahn. The two top government doctors charged with combating the coronavirus crisis, Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, were not in attendance.
On Thursday, Trump drew widespread criticism for suggesting light, heat and injecting disinfectants could be used to treat coronavirus patients.
Biden predicts Trump will try to delay November election
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday predicted President Donald Trump will try to delay the 2020 presidential election in a ploy to snag a reelection victory.
“Mark my words, I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” Biden said, according to a pool report of an online campaign event. “That’s the only way he thinks he can possibly win.”
Trump Reportedly Approved Of Georgia’s Reopen Plan Before Bashing It
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly told Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that they approved of his aggressive plan to allow businesses to reopen, just a day before Trump pulled an about-face and publicly bashed the plan, according to two administration officials.
The green light from Pence and Trump came in separate private conversations with the Republican governor both before Kemp announced his plan to ease coronavirus restrictions and after it was unveiled on Monday, the officials said. Trump’s sudden shift came only after top health advisers reviewed the plan more closely and persuaded the president that Kemp was risking further spread of the virus by moving too quickly.
‘It’s irresponsible and it’s dangerous’: Experts rip Trump’s idea of injecting disinfectant to treat COVID-19
President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested exploring disinfectants as a possible treatment for coronavirus infections — an extremely dangerous proposition that medical experts warn could kill people.
After a Homeland Security official mentioned the ability of disinfectants like bleach to kill the coronavirus on surfaces, Trump remarked on the effectiveness.
“And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” Trump said during his daily briefing at the White House. “Because, you see, it gets on the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it’d be interesting to check that. So that you’re going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds — it sounds interesting to me.”
Las Vegas Mayor Offers City as ‘Control Group’ to See How Many Die Without Social Distancing
Traditionally, Las Vegas has been a place where Americans go to forget about statistics, but in an appearance on Anderson Cooper 360, Mayor Carolyn Goodman stressed the need for a control group to determine if social distancing measures are the tool that have kept American deaths below the early, catastrophic estimates. Generously for the United States — and unfortunately for the people of her neon city — she offered that Las Vegas be that control group, allowing a return to normal to see if an intensified outbreak would occur.
U.S. likely to see 50,000 COVID-19 deaths by weekend
At the current rate, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 is likely to hit 50,000 in just a couple days. There’s no sign yet that the pace of the nation’s losses — in lives or money — is about to slow significantly.
This week’s national report on unemployment claims is expected to deliver another devastating economic blow today. That may fuel the debate roiling in state houses across the country over how and when to allow businesses to reopen, a debate President Trump has waded directly into with messages that seem to vary from day to day.
ACLU study linked to jails projects coronavirus deaths double US government estimates
Calling the 1,200 mid-sized to large jails in the nation “veritable volcanoes for the spread of the virus,” the American Civil Liberties Union released results on Wednesday of its own epidemiological model projecting a coronavirus death toll in the United States that more than doubles estimates from the federal government.
The ACLU teamed with academic researchers from the University of Tennessee, Washington State University and the University of Pennsylvania to create the model based on data from jails boasting populations of more than 100 and estimating the number of deaths from the contagion is 100,000 more than what the White House Coronavirus Task Force models are projecting.
House lawmakers scramble back to Washington to vote on $484B relief bill
As the coronavirus public health crisis wears on, lawmakers scrambled back to the nation’s capital for a House vote Thursday on the $484 billion relief package that will boost the exhausted small business loan program – even as the city of Washington remains under a strict stay-at-home order until at least mid-May.
“We are asking every member to return who can return, and we hope that is a large number,” House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday.
The Lincoln Project’s New “Pro-Biden” Ad
Donald Trump has left America in a state of danger, despair, and economic depression. We cannot allow him another term.
Barr calls stay-at-home orders ‘disturbingly close to house arrest’
Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the need for strong restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus may be passing and that the Justice Department might consider taking legal action against states that go too far.
“There are very, very burdensome impingements on liberty,” he told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, “and we adopted them for the limited purpose of slowing down the spread. We didn’t adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease. We are now seeing that these are bending the curve, and we have to come up with more targeted approaches.”
First U.S. coronavirus death happened weeks earlier than originally believed
Medical officials in California’s Santa Clara County, in the heart of Silicon Valley, indicated late Tuesday that the first U.S. death connected to the coronavirus happened weeks earlier than previously believed.
Two deaths on Feb. 6 and Feb. 17 were not initially thought to have been COVID-19-related, but further testing has revealed that they were, the county medical examiner said Tuesday.
“Today, the Medical Examiner-Coroner received confirmation from the CDC that tissue samples from both cases are positive for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19),” the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner said in a statement.
CDC director warns second wave of coronavirus this winter could be worse
Even as states move ahead with plans to reopen their economies, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday that a second wave of the novel coronavirus will be far more dire because it is likely to coincide with the start of flu season.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in an interview with The Washington Post. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”
Bob Cesca: Donald Trump’s weird tales… His call to “liberate Virginia” is even worse than you think
The governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, is back on Donald Trump’s grievance radar. This time it’s for supporting a series of common sense gun safety proposals working their way through the newly Democratic-controlled legislature in Richmond.
By way of background, you might recall how the commonwealth’s governor was previously attacked by Trump after Northam bungled a remark regarding hospice or palliative care for infants born with catastrophic, terminal diseases and birth defects.
‘Xenophobe in chief’: Democrats blast Trump’s plan to suspend immigration to the U.S.
Congressional Democrats slammed President Donald Trump after he announced that he plans to suspend immigration to the United States, arguing that such a move does nothing to protect Americans from the coronavirus and deflects attention away from his handling of the outbreak.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., tweeted that Trump is the “xenophobe. In. chief.”
“This action is not only an attempt to divert attention away from Trump’s failure to stop the spread of the coronavirus and save lives, but an authoritarian-like move to take advantage of a crisis and advance his anti-immigrant agenda. We must come together to reject his division,” tweeted Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Congress reaches deal on coronavirus relief bill, which Trump is expected to sign
Congress reached a deal Tuesday on a nearly $500 billion interim coronavirus bill that includes additional funds for the small business loan program as well as more money for hospitals and testing, Democratic and Republican leaders announced.
The Senate will attempt to pass the bill by unanimous consent in a pro-forma session at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., advised members to return to Washington for a 10 a.m. vote on Thursday, meaning that the interim coronavirus legislation could be on President Donald Trump’s desk by the end of the week.
The Atlantic: We Are Living in a Failed State
When the virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly. Chronic ills—a corrupt political class, a sclerotic bureaucracy, a heartless economy, a divided and distracted public—had gone untreated for years. We had learned to live, uncomfortably, with the symptoms. It took the scale and intimacy of a pandemic to expose their severity—to shock Americans with the recognition that we are in the high-risk category.
The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational, and collective. The United States reacted instead like Pakistan or Belarus—like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering. The administration squandered two irretrievable months to prepare. From the president came willful blindness, scapegoating, boasts, and lies. From his mouthpieces, conspiracy theories and miracle cures. A few senators and corporate executives acted quickly—not to prevent the coming disaster, but to profit from it. When a government doctor tried to warn the public of the danger, the White House took the mic and politicized the message.
In Georgia and elsewhere in South, governors begin lifting coronavirus restrictions
Some governors in the South have begun loosening restrictions put in place to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday granted businesses across the state permission to reopen later this week, an announcement echoed by a handful of other Republican governors who are beginning to lift stay-at-home orders.
Kemp’s decision, which will apply to barbershops, gyms and other businesses that include close contact, comes days after President Donald Trump issued guidelines to reopen state economies. Protesters across the country have been gathering at rallies outside state capitals demanding an end to shutdown orders.
Trump says he is suspending immigration over coronavirus, need to protect jobs
President Donald Trump said Monday that he is suspending immigration to the United States in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the “need to protect jobs.”
In a tweet Monday night, the president attributed the suspension to an “attack from the Invisible Enemy” and the “need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens.”
He added that he would sign an executive order suspending immigration.
Oil prices go into negative territory — and Washington is paralyzed over what to do
Airlines, restaurants, retailers, farmers and a slew of other industries are getting billions of dollars in bailouts as the U.S. economy contracts because of the coronavirus pandemic — but America’s oil companies are hitting a dry hole.
U.S. oil futures prices fell to their lowest-ever level by far on Monday, at -$37.63 per barrel, meaning owners of the futures contracts were paying to offload them. It broke the previous low price record near $10 a barrel set in 1986 and comes as policymakers struggled to address the glut of crude that has seen the industry reverse a decade-long boom and sink into a deep recession that threatens to push dozens of companies into bankruptcy.
WHO chief warns the worst of the coronavirus is still ahead
The World Health Organization chief warned Monday that “the worst is yet ahead of us” in the coronavirus outbreak, reviving the alarm just as many countries ease restrictive measures aimed at reducing its spread.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus didn’t specify why he believes the outbreak that has infected some 2.5 million people and killed over 166,000 could get worse. He and others, however, have previously pointed to the likely future spread of the illness through Africa, where health systems are far less developed.
Negotiations over interim coronavirus aid bill hit snag on state, local government funding
Congressional negotiations on an interim coronavirus aid bill to further help small businesses and hospitals hit a snag Monday as Democrats continued to push for money for state and local governments.
Negotiators said earlier Monday that they were nearing an agreement, but a disagreement unfolded over the state and local funding — a nonstarter for Republicans, two sources told NBC News.
A number of governors including New York’s Andrew Cuomo have been calling on Congress for weeks to send their states financial assistance. Administration officials told lawmakers during a call Sunday that the funding would not be included in the legislation.
Charlie Pierce: This President* Is Simply a Louder and More Profane Ronald Reagan
There is so much of this administration that is simply a pile of dead fish that the smell of actual dead fish is largely obscured. But, as the Detroit Free Press reports, sooner or later, the balance between metaphorical dead fish and the reek of actual dead fish may well tilt toward the latter.
Read the rest of Charlie Pierce’s piece at Esquire.
Far Right Americans endanger own lives to protest coronavirus stay-at-home orders
Opposition to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders has continued to build from coast to coast, with at least five states the site of protests Sunday.
Protesters sporting masks and signs took to their state capitols, while others honked their car horns during gridlock demonstrations calling on their governors to open up their states.
In Washington state, a gathering in Olympia dubbed “Hazardous Liberty! Defend the Constitution!” called on Gov. Jay Inslee to rescind the state’s stay-at-home order. Washington, which had the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. in January, now has more than 11,800 confirmed cases.
Poll: Majority fear coronavirus restrictions will be lifted too soon
Almost 60 percent of American voters are worried that lifting restrictions on public behavior too soon will lead to a spike in coronavirus cases and deaths.
According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday, 58 percent of registered voters expressed concern about a loosening of restrictions, compared with 32 percent who worried that the restrictions would stay in place for too long. Three percent said they were concerned about both scenarios.
Contamination Likely Caused Critical Delay Of CDC Coronavirus Testing: Report
A contamination of the first round of COVID-19 testing kits made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention slowed the U.S. government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, The Washington Post and CNN confirmed Saturday.
The Food and Drug Administration told CNN that the CDC did not manufacture its tests under the agency’s standard protocol.
“CDC made its test in one of its laboratories, rather than in its manufacturing facilities,” an FDA spokesperson said. “CDC did not manufacture its test consistent with its own protocol.”
Governors say testing still isn’t adequate enough to lift restrictions while US death toll tops 40,000
As many governors across the US say coronavirus testing is far from full capacity, a few states may lift restrictions this week.
Announcements of lifting restrictions come as the United States’ coronavirus death toll topped 40,000 on Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The 40,677 deaths are among more than 755,533 coronavirus cases, the university’s Covid-19 tracker shows.
Several regional groups of states have discussed strategies to reopen with each other.
Eric Boehlert: ABC, CNN, New York Times all admit Trump briefings aren’t news — so now what?
If Trump’s daily pandemic press briefings aren’t newsworthy events, why does the news media continue to shower them with ceaseless attention?
Nobody is under any obligation to carry the briefings live and in their entirety. That’s a choice television news outlets make voluntarily. And everyday they choose to turn on the cameras and allow Trump to ramble, sometimes for two hours as he alternately unravels and misinforms about a public health crisis. Networks are making that choice at the same time more journalists concede the briefings aren’t actually news.
“Over time, the news conferences have become increasingly devoid of actual news,” ABC News recently conceded, in a report specifically about how Trump is using them not to inform the public, but as a way to maintain a high media profile.
The Rude Pundit: Andrew Cuomo Finally Gets Rid of His Last F***
(Note: Before I get all slobbery on Andrew Cuomo’s knob, lemme preface this by saying I agree with all the things you dislike about him. I’ve got lots of grievances, too, since I fuckin’ work for the state of New York. This ain’t about any of that. Are we good? Yeah, shut up. I don’t really care. Here we go.)
You gotta give New York Governor Andrew Cuomo credit. For weeks now, he has pretty much held his fire when it came to the vast amounts of fuckery being done during this COVID-19 pandemic by Donald Trump and the federal government he has deformed to fit his grotesque image. For the most part, he has thanked the president for various kinds of assistance, and he has avoided going after Trump by name or even office. Indeed, the few times that he has criticized the federal government’s response to the crisis, they have been mild reproaches about Trump palming things off on the states that DC should be taking care of. Still, even those exceedingly light comments would draw the typically snide tweets or comments from Trump. But Cuomo insisted he was staying above the fray.
While Small Businesses Struggle, Major Chains Like Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse Land Small Business Loans
While mom-and-pops struggle to get a loan through the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), a number of sizable restaurant chains are cashing multimillion-dollar checks from the relief initiative, a cornerstone of federal efforts to help small businesses through the COVID-19 crisis.
The parent of the Ruth’s Chris steakhouse chain collected $20 million by applying through each of two subsidiaries. Taco Cabana qualified for a $10 million loan, and Potbelly Sandwich Shop landed a $10 million loan, the largest advance permitted per applicant under the PPP.
Kura Sushi, a 25-unit sushi chain, qualified for a loan of just under $6 million. CEO Hajime Uba told investors Tuesday that a portion of the money will be used for owed rent, as permitted under the PPP program.
Congressional Democrats press Trump to ramp up testing before reopening economy
On two phone calls with President Donald Trump, congressional Democrats on Thursday pressed him to wait until widespread coronavirus testing is available before issuing federal guidance to reopen the country economically, two lawmakers on the teleconferences told NBC News.
But the president insisted that the economy would have to be reopened before broad testing can be available, Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., told NBC News.
Rep. Robin Kelly: The system is killing us… Why African Americans face a shockingly higher COVID-19 death rate
As our nation continues struggling to address the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing a shocking trend in deaths among African Americans.
According to reporting from ProPublica on April 3, African Americans accounted for just 15% of Americans in the 2010 census but represent 35% of COVID-19 diagnoses and 40% of COVID-19 deaths. This dataset is based on just a handful of states and occurred weeks before the peak, meaning the numbers have likely gotten worse.
In the communities reporting demographic data, we see the harsh reality of these statistics as human lives.
Read the rest of Rep. Kelly’s piece at The Casper Star Tribune.
Trump unveils three-phase plan for states to reopen amid coronavirus pandemic
President Donald Trump is set to announce new federal guidelines for reopening the U.S. on Thursday that puts the onus on governors for making decisions about their own state economies, according to the document obtained by NBC News.
Under the first phase of the three-phase plan, restaurants, movie theaters and large sporting venues would be appropriate to reopen under certain conditions, while schools, day care centers and bars would not.
The plan, released Thursday afternoon, is designed to “mitigate the risk of resurgence” of the pandemic and to “protect the most vulnerable.”
Record 22 million have sought unemployment aid in past month
The wave of layoffs that has engulfed the U.S. economy since the coronavirus struck forced 5.2 million more people to seek unemployment benefits last week, the government reported Thursday.
Roughly 22 million have sought jobless benefits in the past month — easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record. All told, roughly nearly 12 million people are now receiving unemployment checks, roughly matching the peak reached in January 2010, shortly after the Great Recession officially ended.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Cloth Face Masks
Now that we know we should all be wearing cloth face masks in public, it’s best to remember the basics of what to do and what not to do. Here is a quick guide:
Do:
- Wear a face mask whenever you are in public
- Wash your hands before and after putting on your mask
- Take the mask on and off using ear strings
- Wash the mask after each use
- Continue to keep at least six feet of distance between yourself and others
Don’t:
- Use a medical grade mask if you are not a medical worker or showing symptoms
- Touch the front of your mask
- Keep the mask in your pocket and reuse it
- Wear a damp mask
For the full list, along with some handy visual aids, check out the video at Lifehacker.
Testing Falls Woefully Short as Trump Seeks an End to Stay-at-Home Orders
As President Trump pushes to reopen the economy, most of the country is not conducting nearly enough testing to track the path and penetration of the coronavirus in a way that would allow Americans to safely return to work, public health officials and political leaders say.
Although capacity has improved in recent weeks, supply shortages remain crippling, and many regions are still restricting tests to people who meet specific criteria. Antibody tests, which reveal whether someone has ever been infected with the coronavirus, are just starting to be rolled out, and most have not been vetted by the Food and Drug Administration.
Pelosi calls Trump’s name appearing on stimulus checks ‘shameful’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday called the decision for President Donald Trump’s name to appear on stimulus checks amid the coronavirus pandemic “shameful.”
The President’s name will appear on checks sent to Americans to combat economic fallout from the spread of the disease in a last-minute Treasury Department order, a senior administration official confirmed to CNN on Tuesday.
Pelosi condemned the move in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead,” saying that it is “shameful” and “people are really desperate to get a check.”
Trump Threatens To Adjourn Congress For Not Confirming His Judicial Nominees
President Donald Trump spent much of Wednesday’s coronavirus briefing railing against Democrats for blocking his judicial nominees, threatening to shut down both chambers of Congress in the middle of a pandemic so that he can install them himself.
The president complained about what he called the “partisan obstruction” of nominees to federal judgeships and key administration roles that he said needed to be filled to address the spread of coronavirus, though he did not explain how. Trump blamed Senate Democrats ― who are the minority in the chamber ― for blocking his nominations, though most of the federal vacancies are a result of the president not selecting anyone to fill them.
With commerce frozen, retail sales plunge unprecedented 8.7%
U.S. retail sales plummeted 8.7% in March, an unprecedented decline, as the viral outbreak forces an almost complete lock down of commerce nationwide.
The deterioration of sales far outpaces the previous record decline of 3.9% that took place during the depths of the Great Recession in November 2008.
Auto sales dropped 25.6%, while clothing store sales collapsed, sliding 50.5%. Restaurants and bars reported a nearly 27% fall in revenue.
Elizabeth Warren endorses former rival Joe Biden for president
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren endorsed Joe Biden for president on Wednesday, becoming the last of the major 2020 Democratic presidential candidates to throw their support behind the former vice president.
“In this moment of crisis, it’s more important than ever that the next president restores Americans’ faith in good, effective government,” Warren said in a video announcing her endorsement. “Joe Biden has spent nearly his entirely life in public service. He knows that a government run with integrity, competence and heart will save lives and save livelihoods.”
President Trump directs halt to payments to World Health Organization while US reviews virus warnings regarding China
President Trump directs halt to payments to World Health Organization while US reviews virus warnings regarding China.
Airlines ink agreement in principle on billions in payroll assistance
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday that 10 airlines, including the four major U.S. carriers, signaled that they plan to accept grants to cover employee payroll and benefits, almost three weeks after a coronavirus stimulus was enacted.
Under the stimulus law, Treasury was supposed to start cutting grant checks on April 6, but airlines and the administration have been sparring over the extent to which “warrants” or other financial stakes may be required for airlines to access that money, along with what some carriers characterized as a confusing application process.
Bob Cesca: Donald Trump’s scapegoat hunt… Blame China, blame Fauci, blame the governors
Whenever you read about an obvious scam perpetrated by Donald Trump, it’s important to remember one thing: He’s lying to his own disciples more than anyone else.
The rest of us — the “normals,” for lack of a better term — aren’t necessarily the dupes in his various acts of desperate treachery, even though, yeah, we’re all the victims of the consequences. But the initial targets of his Batman-villain gambits are his own gullible fanboys, and they’re devouring it the way Trump himself devours trans fats.
Charlie Pierce: The New York Times Red Dawn Scoop Lays Out the Truth of Trump’s COVID-19 Incompetence
Back in December, back before masks, and social distancing, and back before we all reeked of hand sanitizer and uncertainty, the Washington Post published a giant exclusive in which, through official government documents, the newspaper laid bare the lies and malfeasance behind America’s war in Afghanistan. At the time, it seemed as though this would be one of the biggest stories of the past five years. Instead, it disappeared from the national conversation even before the pandemic ate every news cycle. Meanwhile, the war ground on as American involvement gradually dissipated. So, while I hope that The New York Times’s massive “Red Dawn” reporting over this past weekend manages to have a shelf life beyond Monday’s Five O’Clock Follies, I’m not making book on that either way.
Obama endorses Biden for president, throwing weight behind his former VP
Former President Barack Obama delivered his long-awaited endorsement of Joe Biden for president on Tuesday, recording an 12-minute video to throw his support behind his former vice president.
Mr. Obama’s endorsement of his former vice president comes a day after Senator Bernie Sanders gave a full-throated endorsement of Biden’s presidential bid, ending speculation that the two rivals might remain at odds going into the general election season.
Trump Declares He Has ‘Total’ Authority As President In Defiant Press Briefing
President Donald Trump wrongly claimed during a press briefing on Monday that the president’s “authority is total” after reporters pressed him to explain how he would force governors to restart state economies during the coronavirus pandemic.
“When somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that is the way it’s gonna be,” Trump told reporters. “It’s total. And the governors know that.”
Soon afterward, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins let Trump know that his assertion was not true and asked him to explain himself. The president responded: “We’re going to write up papers on this. It’s not gonna be necessary. Because the governors need us one way or the other.”
What are antibody tests and what do they mean for the coronavirus pandemic?
As the world watches and wonders when coronavirus pandemic stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures might end, some hope antibody tests might help provide a solution.
Antibody tests — also known as serology tests — aren’t meant to diagnose active infection with the coronavirus. Rather, they check for proteins in the immune system, known as antibodies, through a blood sample. Their presence means a person was exposed to the virus and developed antibodies against it, which may mean that person has at least some immunity — although experts are not sure how strong the immunity may be or even how long it will last.
Trump uses coronavirus briefing to air his grievances
President Donald Trump’s grievances with the media and his political opponents took center stage Monday during the daily White House coronavirus briefing after a weekend of tough reporting on his administration’s handling of the pandemic.
“Everything we did was right,” Trump told reporters after playing a campaign-style video defending the White House’s response to the crisis.
California, Oregon and Washington to work together on plan to lift coronavirus restrictions, some Eastern states follow suit
Gov. Gavin Newsom and his counterparts in Washington and Oregon announced “a regional pact to recovery” from the coronavirus crisis on Monday and agreed to work together to develop a plan to lift restrictions on daily life and reopen economies along the West Coast.
The announcement comes as six states in the Northeast — New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island — also agreed to coordinate regional efforts to gradually ease restrictions adopted to prevent the spread of the virus.
Bernie Sanders endorses Joe Biden for president
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday officially endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president.
“We need you in the White House. I will do all that I can to see that that happens, Joe,” Sanders said to the former vice president during a livestream broadcast by Biden’s campaign on his website and on social media.
Sanders’ quick endorsement of Biden in mid-April, just five days after he suspended his campaign, was a stark contrast to the 2016 Democratic race, when Sanders continued to battle Hillary Clinton into June.
Trump Retweets ‘#FireFauci’ Post in Response to Fauci’s Claim Earlier Mitigation Would’ve Saved Lives
President Donald Trump was clearly annoyed by Dr. Anthony Fauci‘s comments on CNN today regarding the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, retweeting a former congressional candidate’s post that criticized Fauci and used the hashtag “#FireFauci.”
Earlier in the day, Fauci had appeared on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, and made several comments that may have raised Trump’s ire, including saying that if America had adopted coronavirus mitigation measures earlier, we could have saved lives, and that he had doubts that the pandemic would be sufficiently resolved by November in order for voters to be able to safely go to polling stations in person.
Fauci: Earlier social distancing measures ‘obviously’ would have saved more lives
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said Sunday that earlier efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. “obviously” could have saved lives but that top health officials faced “a lot of pushback about shutting things down.”
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was responding on CNN’s “State of the Union” to a New York Times report saying President Donald Trump’s top public health officials concluded by the third week of February that they should recommend to the president a new approach to COVID-19that included social distancing steps. But according to The Times, the White House “focused instead on messaging and crucial additional weeks went by before their views were reluctantly accepted by the president — time when the virus spread largely unimpeded.”
Eric Boehlert: If Trump were foreign leader, U.S. press would call him “authoritarian.” So why not here at home?
The telltale signs of autocratic rule are not difficult to identify. And for American news outlets, they’re often quick to tag authoritarian leaders around the world, as they move to curb liberties, skirt existing laws, and curtail press freedoms. Why is it so many of those same news outlets refuse to use the “A” word to describe Trump, even as he mimics the actions of authoritarian rulers here at home? Why is it considered ttaboo to describe a Republican president that way, when the description is apt and informative? It’s likely because the press doesn’t want to fend off cries of “liberal media bias,” and because the press doesn’t want to break protocol with its presidential coverage. In the process they’re allowing the unthinkable to become commonplace.
The Rude Pundit: Trump Stupidly Self-Owns on Pandemic Deaths
Ever since the first death from COVID-19, President Donald Trump has brayed like a howler monkey getting a tree branch stuck up its ass about how allegedly terrible President Obama handled the H1N1 outbreak in 2009-10. On a daily basis, we have heard about how the incompetent fuck-ups in the Obama administration personally went out and murdered, depending on the day, between 12,000 and 18,000 people with the swine flu. (The 12,000 is roughly the number the CDC came up with; the 18,000 is the upper estimate of U.S. deaths from H1N1.)
On March 5, Trump tweeted, “Gallup just gave us the highest rating ever for the way we are handling the CoronaVirus situation. The April 2009-10 Swine Flu, where nearly 13,000 people died in the U.S., was poorly handled.” Watch what happens with that number as the weeks go on.
As feds play ‘backup,’ states take unorthodox steps to compete in cutthroat global market for coronavirus supplies
Rushing to stave off a shortage of medical-grade protective gear to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Minnesota officials leaned on a local company’s global connections to airlift a cache of N95 masks from a Chinese factory back to the state for delivery this week.
Washington state purchased 750,000 cotton swabs for coronavirus tests, taking a risk because the product located by officials has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The state is also betting that a Seattle-based outdoor gear company, known for its backpacks and parkas, can reconfigure its operations to produce N95 respirators.
Check your balance: Coronavirus stimulus money starts to flow into bank accounts
Americans are starting to receive their cash payments via direct deposits, part of the $2 trillion bill passed by Congress to stimulate the economy after the decline caused by the pandemic.
“#IRS deposited the first Economic Impact Payments into taxpayers’ bank accounts today. We know many people are anxious to get their payments; we’ll continue issuing them as fast as we can,” the IRS tweeted on Saturday.
U.S. Overtakes Italy With Largest Number Of Coronavirus Deaths
The United States surpassed Italy in coronavirus fatalities on Saturday to become the nation with the highest number of reported deaths from the virus worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins data.
Italy has counted 152,271 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 19,468 deaths, while the U.S. has counted 522,286 infections and 20,283 deaths as of late Saturday afternoon.
As the world watched the crisis in Italy unfold in March, it was seen as a warning for America. Italian hospitals were overrun by patients within a matter of weeks between February and March because the country mobilized against the virus a little too slowly, and people started taking heed of stay-at-home orders a little too late.
He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus
“Any way you cut it, this is going to be bad,” a senior medical adviser at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Carter Mecher, wrote on the night of Jan. 28, in an email to a group of public health experts scattered around the government and universities. “The projected size of the outbreak already seems hard to believe.”
A week after the first coronavirus case had been identified in the United States, and six long weeks before President Trump finally took aggressive action to confront the danger the nation was facing — a pandemic that is now forecast to take tens of thousands of American lives — Dr. Mecher was urging the upper ranks of the nation’s public health bureaucracy to wake up and prepare for the possibility of far more drastic action.
Read the rest of this blockbuster story at The New York Times
It’s a hoax for Trump to say he was distracted by impeachment to concentrate on his coronavirus response
It’s a hoax for Trump to say that his impeachment hearings distracted him from the coronavirus response. Watch this video from The Lincoln Project and it will show you why.
Barack Obama Slams Wisconsin For Holding Election Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Barack Obama has slammed the decision to go ahead with this week’s election in Wisconsin, which forced thousands of people out to the polls amid a statewide stay-at-home order aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
The former president, in a thread on Twitter Friday, described the vote as a “debacle” and said “no one should be forced to choose between their right to vote and their right to stay healthy.”
Google and Apple team up for contact tracing COVID-19 app
Apple and Google announced a rare collaboration on Friday to help battle the novel coronavirus.
The tech giants said they would employ Bluetooth to create “contact tracing technology” tools to alert users if they have come in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a joint statement from the companies.
“A number of leading public health authorities, universities and NGOs around the world have been doing important work to develop opt-in contact tracing technology,” the statement said. “To further this cause, Apple and Google will be launching a comprehensive solution that includes application programming interfaces (APIs) and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing.”
Questions remain over whether COVID-19 recovery will guarantee immunity: Is reinfection still possible?
It has been only 101 days since a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, were reported to the World Health Organization, and already our understanding of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic seems extraordinary. But even with over 1.6 million people infected worldwide it’s unclear whether recovery will make patients immune going forward.
“The canvas that we call COVID-19 was absolutely blank [at the start], it’s so remarkable, inside this many weeks, you think of how many pixels we put on that canvas, it is astounding,” said Dr. Gregory Poland, director of Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group. “However, there are a lot of blanks on that canvas — immunity and reinfection is one of those.”
Trump approval dips as Americans question his handling of coronavirus crisis
President Donald Trump’s job approval has taken a negative turn as a growing number of Americans harbor doubts about his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
After seeing a late-March spike as the pandemic ravaged the United States, his approval ratings have fallen back to the mid-40 percent range, where they were before the death toll and jobless claimsexploded. The figure dovetails surveys showing the president narrowly trailing former Vice President Joe Biden, who this week became the apparent Democratic nominee to face him in November.
The latest numbers suggest the surge in job approval ratings that presidents tend to enjoy during a crisis was modest and short-lived for Trump. New polls this week by Quinnipiac, Reuters and CNN all find disapproval of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus rising to a majority of Americans.
U.S. spy agencies collected raw intelligence hinting at public health crisis in Wuhan, China, in November
U.S. spy agencies collected raw intelligence hinting at a public health crisis in Wuhan, China, in November, two current and one former U.S. official told NBC News, but the information was not understood as the first warning signs of an impending global pandemic.
The intelligence came in the form of communications intercepts and overhead images showing increased activity at health facilities, the officials said. The intelligence was distributed to some federal public health officials in the form of a “situation report” in late November, a former official briefed on the matter said. But there was no assessment that a lethal global outbreak was brewing at that time, a defense official said.
Unemployment claims surge by 6.6 million as coronavirus continues to rout U.S. workforce
Another wave of 6.6 million American workers filed first-time unemployment claims for the week ending April 4, bringing the cumulative total to an astonishing 16 million over the past three weeks.
For the week ending March 21, 3.3 million people filed new unemployment claims, easily shattering the previous record set in 1982 of 695,000. Last week, that astounding figure doubled, as 6.6 million people filed claims for the week ending March 28 — a figure that was revised upward to 6.9 million in the new release.
Thursday’s figure was at the high end of analyst estimates, which ranged from 4.5 million to 7 million.
Democrats seek hazard pay for health workers amid pandemic
Congressional Democrats are trying to add $13 per hour hazard payments for frontline health care workers up to a total of $25,000 in the next coronavirus relief package, along with $15,000 incentives for people who join the medical workforce surge during the pandemic.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said a so-called Heroes Fund could compensate nurses, EMTs and other workers for unanticipated risks as they confront a flood of new cases. Some workers have unsuccessfully sought payments from cash-strapped hospitals and other employers experiencing a downturn in business from lockdowns and cancelations of nonessential procedures.
US coronavirus predictions are shifting. Here’s why…
Things are still getting worse. The US death toll crossed 14,000 on Wednesday, with a record 1,858 deaths reported just on Tuesday. Since the outbreak started, about 425,000 cases have been diagnosed in the US. And researchers say the peak has yet to come.
But the main model used by the White House and pretty much everyone else was updated Wednesday to show far fewer projected US deaths from Covid-19 — down to 60,415 people by August, from the 82,000 the model showed on Tuesday (which was already lower than previous projections).
