Government Response to Coronavirus 4: The Reality Show From Hell

[GreyhoundFan]

Every time I think the repugs can't go lower, another speaks: "GOP congressman says he puts saving American ‘way of life’ above saving lives from the coronavirus"

Spoiler

As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on American lives, Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) told an Indiana radio station Tuesday that it’s time for policymakers to “put on their big-girl and big-boy pants” and decide between the “lesser of two evils”: Do we try to save more lives or our livelihood? Restart the economy and kill more people or keep staying home and kill more jobs?

The answer, he said, is “unequivocally to get Americans back to work, to get Americans back to their businesses,” reopening schools and churches as well.

“There is no zero-harm choice here,” he told Indianapolis’s WIBC. “Both of these decisions will lead to harm for individuals, whether that’s dramatic economic harm or whether it’s loss of life. But it’s always the American government’s position to say, in the choice between the loss of our way of life as Americans and the loss of life of American lives, we have to always choose the latter.”

Hollingsworth’s position, putting “way of life” over life, has been echoed by some conservatives in recent weeks as the pandemic continues to cause economic disaster for millions of families nationwide. Notably, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) called on grandparents to sacrifice themselves to save the economy during an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News. Conservative radio host Glenn Beck followed suit, saying he would “rather die than kill the country.”

To be sure, the economic consequences are proving momentous, with more than 17 million Americans filing for unemployment in three weeks, as of nearly a week ago. But public health experts and economists have warned that reopening the country too soon, causing a spike in cases and death, could be even more disastrous for the economy if the virus isn’t contained.

President Trump on Tuesday suggested May 1 as an aspirational date for restarting the country, saying he was “authorizing” governors to reopen by then. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told the Associated Press that the target date was “a bit overly optimistic.”

“I’ll guarantee you, once you start pulling back there will be infections. It’s how you deal with the infections that’s going [to] count,” Fauci told the AP. He said we “have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet.”

In a statement to The Washington Post elaborating on his remarks, Hollingsworth clarified that he believed the country could both reopen the economy and quell the infection rate, that we didn’t have to pick.

“It’s hyperbolic to say that the only choices before us are the two corner solutions: no economy or widespread casualties,” he said. “We can use the best of biology and economics to enable as much of the economy to operate as possible while we work to minimize disease transmission.”

It’s unclear what that would look like. Governors are exploring soft reopening plans, while the federal government prepares guidelines to combat the virus and get Americans back to work. While Trump would like the process to begin next month, other models by public health experts are significantly less rosy. One eyebrow-raising model by Harvard University public health experts, which projected the pandemic’s trajectory, found that “prolonged or intermittent social distancing may be necessary into 2022″ and that covid-19 may recur seasonally.

The plan created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, obtained in part by The Washington Post on Tuesday, envision a gradual process in reopening the economy, phasing cities and states out of stay-at-home orders and into moderate or mild forms of social distancing behavior. There is no specific start date for the plan, although it specified “not before May 1.”

The plan stresses that significantly better testing capacity and contact tracing will be required in areas that want to ease social distancing restrictions, so that people infected with the virus can be isolated. And as Fauci has noted, the timetable for easing those restrictions will largely depend on how badly a community has been hit or is projected to be hit.

“It is not going to be a light switch,” Fauci said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “It is going to be depending where you are in the country, the nature of the outbreak you’ve already experienced, and the threat of an outbreak that you may not have experienced.”

The joint plan from the CDC and FEMA reflects Fauci’s concerns, containing this warning: “Models indicate 30-day shelter in place followed by 180 day lifting of all mitigation results in large rebound curve — some level of mitigation will be needed until vaccines or broad community immunity is achieved for recovering communities.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Great. He's turned it into yet another Trump vanity project -- and in doing so delaying the payments.

In unprecedented move, Treasury orders Trump’s name printed on stimulus checks

I have a few thoughts about this, other than the automatic disgust for Twitler:

1. It's just as much about the election as his vanity.
2. Many people will get their payments via direct deposit, so they won't see his name.
3. I'm guessing that the bulk of the people who don't have direct deposit will be older and/or not live in highly populated areas. Many probably already support Twitler, so he's reinforcing his standing with them.
4. I think he's hoping to pick up some supporters outside his base. However, I can't see most people with functioning brain cells to fall for his shit.

[GreyhoundFan]

Why am I not surprised? "Justice Dept. appears to back Mississippi church contesting ban on drive-in services"

Spoiler

The Justice Department on Tuesday intervened in a federal lawsuit brought by a Greenville, Miss., church over the city’s efforts to shut down drive-in religious services, telling a judge that local officials had possibly violated the Constitution in their bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

In a hedged, 14-page legal “statement of interest,” the Justice Department asserted that the circumstances described by Temple Baptist Church “suggest that the city singled out churches for distinctive treatment” and that officials should allow Temple Baptist to proceed with drive-in services.

The department’s filing stressed that state officials were within their rights to impose temporary restrictions — including on constitutional rights — on residents during an emergency and that the “best path to swiftly ending COVID-19’s profound disruptions to our national life and resuming the normal economic life of our country” was to follow state and federal guidance.

But the Justice Department also asserted that there was no blanket “pandemic exception” to the Constitution and seemed to take Temple Baptist’s side as it urged the judge to carefully consider whether the city’s actions were legal.

“The facts alleged in the complaint strongly suggest that the city’s actions target religious conduct,” the Justice Department wrote. “If proven, these facts establish a free exercise violation unless the city demonstrates that its actions are neutral and apply generally to nonreligious and religious institutions or satisfies the demanding strict scrutiny standard.”

The filing offers a window on how the Justice Department is thinking about the thorny legal considerations surrounding coronavirus-related restrictions on constitutional rights — though it provides no clear-cut answer.

“Courts reviewing a challenge to a measure responding to the ‘society-threatening epidemic’ of COVID-19 should be vigilant to protect against clear invasions of constitutional rights while ensuring they do ‘not second-guess the wisdom or efficacy of the measures’ enacted by the democratic branches of government, on the advice of public health experts,” the Justice Department wrote.

As the department filed its statement of interest in the Temple Baptist case, Attorney General William P. Barr issued a lengthy statement urging people to follow state and local social distancing orders, while noting that there are limits to such directives.

“For example, if a government allows movie theaters, restaurants, concert halls, and other comparable places of assembly to remain open and unrestricted, it may not order houses of worship to close, limit their congregation size, or otherwise impede religious gatherings,” Barr said. “Religious institutions must not be singled out for special burdens.”

Temple Baptist and its pastor, Arthur Scott, filed the suit last week with the help of the Alliance Defending Freedom advocacy organization. They alleged that Greenville had sent police officers to issue $500 tickets to those who had come to the church’s parking lot in their cars earlier this month to listen, with their windows up, to a service broadcast on FM radio.

“This was both unnecessary and unconstitutional,” the church wrote in its request for a federal judge to issue a restraining order blocking the city from enforcing the restrictions.

Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Ryan Tucker said Tuesday he appreciated the Justice Department’s support.

“In Greenville, you can be in your car with the windows rolled down at a drive-in restaurant, but you can’t be in your car with the windows rolled up at a drive-in church service,” he said.

At a news conference Monday, before the Justice Department’s statement, Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons called allegations that he was unlawfully targeting churches “ridiculous.” He said that when the city issued tickets at Temple Baptist this month, it did so only to those people who refused to leave voluntarily, and it would not require anyone to pay the fines.

“People are dying,” Simmons said.

Barr had previously expressed some wariness about the restrictions states have imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus. In an interview with Fox News last week, he called some of the measures “draconian” and said they should be revisited when federal guidance on the topic expires at the end of the month.

Barr said in the interview that the Justice Department already had “jawboned” some local governments that had imposed restrictions that applied to churches but not others, and he was watching the matter closely.

“I think religious liberty is the first liberty,” Barr said. “It is the foundation of our republic, and a free society depends upon a vibrant religious life among the people. So any time that’s encroached upon by the government I’m very, very concerned.”

Temple Baptist argued in the lawsuit that Greenville aimed restrictions directly at churches — even though, as essential businesses, they were specifically exempted from the state’s stay-at-home order. The church said it assiduously followed guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in organizing the drive-in services, requiring all attendees to stay in their vehicles and limiting its production team to less than 10 people. It noted that Greenville residents were still allowed to use drive-in restaurants.

While many Christians hunkered down at home for Easter Sunday, watching virtual services, there were some signs of frustration with states’ stay-at-home orders and their effect on churches. A pastor in Louisiana, for example, defied the state’s ban on gatherings larger than 50 people, holding a service that a local police chief said drew more than 300.

There is some precedent for courts rejecting government-imposed coronavirus-related restrictions on a church. A federal judge in Louisville recently blocked that city’s mayor from forbidding drive-in church services, writing that the decision to do so was “stunning” and “unconstitutional.”

The Kansas Supreme Court, however, struck down a Republican-led effort to allow the continuation of in-person services, despite the governor’s ban on them.

 

[fraurosena]

24 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

“I think religious liberty is the first liberty,” Barr said. “It is the foundation of our republic, and a free society depends upon a vibrant religious life among the people. So any time that’s encroached upon by the government I’m very, very concerned.”

Huh. It seems the Attorney General has no idea what the Constitution actually says...

The phrase "liberty" is mentioned exactly four times:

In the preamble:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

In the Letter of Transmittal to the President of Congress
"It is obviously impracticable in the Federal Government of these States to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all. Individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest." 

In Article [V] (Amendment 5 - Rights of Persons)
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

In Article XIV (Amendment 14 - Rights Guaranteed: Privileges and Immunities of Citizenship, Due Process, and Equal Protection)
"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

No mention of religion in relation to liberty whatsoever.

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by fraurosena
you'd think by now I'd get the hang of these merged posts, but no

[GreyhoundFan]

6 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Trump blames WHO and freezes funding

Quote

Donald Trump has been condemned for putting countless lives at risk after announcing the US is freezing payments to the World Health Organization (WHO) over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He accused it of “severely mismanaging and covering up” the threat, even though the WHO declared a public health emergency on 30 January – after which the president continued to hold rallies, play golf and compare the coronavirus to the common flu. It has also emerged that relief cheques to get hard-hit Americans through the crisis are being delayed because Trump wants his name printed on them.

The WHO is indeed facing criticism but Trump’s attacks have been laced with falsehoods and contradictions that are catalogued in Julian Borger’s analysis: “Trump’s turn against the WHO only gathered pace over the past week, as more and more reports emerged of the administration’s own complacent and dysfunctional response.” There has been condemnation across the world of Trump’s action. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the Lancet medical journal, said it was “a crime against humanity … Every scientist, every health worker, every citizen must resist and rebel against this appalling betrayal of global solidarity.” Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, said now was “not the time” to cut funding or to question errors – a process that should take place “once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic”.

Read more  

 

I saw this and had a much-needed laugh:

 

[fraurosena]

Ah, the alternative facts-verse of K-Con...

Does anyone else think she looks absolutely terrible and that her voice sounds off? Has she been crying? Or screaming into her pillow at night?

[clueliss]

FYI- Re Florida and the Wrestling - someone in the 'talent' end of things has a postive covid19 test.

Edited April 15, 2020 by clueliss

[47of74]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

The radio show would have been better. Just turn it off. But, of course, Rush's fee fees are paramount in our government response: "Trump Wanted a Radio Show, but He Didn’t Want to Compete With Limbaugh"

Spoiler

On a Saturday in early March, Donald J. Trump, clad in a baseball cap, strode into the Situation Room for a meeting with the coronavirus task force. He didn’t stop by the group’s daily meetings often, but he had an idea he was eager to share: He wanted to start a White House talk radio show.

At the time, the virus was rapidly spreading across the country, and Mr. Trump would soon announce a ban on European travel. A talk radio show, Mr. Trump excitedly explained, would allow him to quell Americans’ fears and answer their questions about the pandemic directly, according to three White House officials who heard the pitch. There would be no screening, he said, just an open line for people to call and engage one-on-one with the president.

But that Saturday, almost as suddenly as he proposed it, the president outlined one reason he would not be moving forward with it: He did not want to compete with Rush Limbaugh.

No one in the room was sure how to respond, two of the officials said. Someone suggested hosting the show in the mornings or on weekends, to steer clear of the conservative radio host’s schedule. But Mr. Trump shook his head, saying he envisioned his show as two hours a day, every day. And were it not for Mr. Limbaugh, and the risk of encroaching on his territory, he reiterated, he would do it.

One of the officials involved directly in the effort said it wasn’t the first time Mr. Trump had discussed hosting a radio show from the White House. But if some in the room were unsure whether the president’s proposal was a joke, they knew his deference to Mr. Limbaugh was anything but.

When it comes to the president’s favored media figures, most observers tend to fixate on the Fox News lineup of Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. But several people close to Mr. Trump say that in the midst of a pandemic, he has come to keenly appreciate the extent of Mr. Limbaugh’s reach, and the fact that his show, perhaps more than any other source, offers a real-time metric of how the president’s decisions are playing with his supporters.

Now, as multiple voices vie for the president’s ear on the appropriate timeline for America’s path to normalcy, Mr. Limbaugh is amplifying Mr. Trump’s instinct for swiftness. And for this president, as well as much of his party, Mr. Limbaugh’s affirmation remains a powerful motivator.

“Talk radio is still a powerhouse when it comes to Republican voters,” said Jason Miller, co-host of the War Room podcast and a former Trump communications adviser. And the president, Mr. Miller said, “realizes how big a powerhouse Rush is.”

The White House declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s desire for a radio show.

“The Rush Limbaugh Show” has been the most popular talk-radio show in the country for decades, currently drawing 15.5 million listeners a week. In that time Mr. Limbaugh has traded in the kind of deeply divisive messaging that Mr. Trump regularly brandishes to appeal to his conservative base.

Like the president, Mr. Limbaugh has also dispensed disinformation and falsehoods at a rapid clip. In the last few weeks alone he has repeatedly referred to the coronavirus as the “common cold.” His history of anti-gay remarks was revived as recently as February, when he said Americans would not elect Pete Buttigieg after seeing him “kissing his husband onstage, next to Mr. Man, Donald Trump.” (Mr. Limbaugh later told listeners that Mr. Trump had called him and told him not to apologize for the comments.)

Mr. Limbaugh is among Mr. Trump’s most influential backers, praising him for his politics and leadership well before many other Republicans cast their lot with him. He recently called attacks on the president’s handling of the virus crisis “a political hit job.” The president has returned the favor: In a surprise move during his State of the Union address in February, he awarded Mr. Limbaugh, who had recently revealed he had late-stage lung cancer, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. He highlighted Mr. Limbaugh’s charitable work and called him “the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet.”

As public health officials urge caution in relaxing stay-at-home restrictions, corporate executives and conservative activists alike are pleading with the president to reopen the economy. Mr. Trump has argued that he alone has the power to override stay-at-home orders imposed at the state level — a claim that legal scholars reject and that he appeared to walk back on Tuesday. Still, many Republican governors are looking directly to the White House to set the tone for a path forward.

As for his own guidance, Mr. Trump’s preferred media sources have tempered their advocacy. After initially dismissing the severity of the virus, many of Mr. Trump’s go-to talkers on Fox News, including Mr. Hannity, have approached the question with relative delicacy, appearing to take their cues from the president rather than try to proactively urge one path or another.

Mr. Limbaugh, conversely, has been a forceful voice from the get-go. Along with casting medical experts like Dr. Anthony S. Fauci as “Hillary Clinton sympathizers,” he has used his enormous platform to call for a rapid return to normal life.

“Are we just going to sit by and watch $22 trillion — that’s the value, that’s the sum total of the G.D.P., that’s the U.S. economy — are we just going to sit by here and watch it evaporate?” Mr. Limbaugh said in one segment on March 31. “Because that’s what we’re doing, under the guise of not losing any unnecessary life.”

On Monday, Mr. Limbaugh argued that the “shutdown” was “a political effort to get rid of Donald Trump in the election this November” — as well as a Democratic ploy to “keep people fed without them having to go to work” and to “fine them for going to church.”

Mr. Limbaugh, a frequent golf partner of Mr. Trump’s in Palm Beach, Fla., has been candid and proud about his direct line to the president. During his show on Friday, Mr. Limbaugh revealed that the president calls him “once a week just to see how I’m doing” and that sometimes Vice President Mike Pence joins. He added that their conversations were only about his health, not policy. (Attempts to reach Mr. Limbaugh through a colleague for this article were unsuccessful.)

But in this moment, as Mr. Trump grapples with what he has called “the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make,” Mr. Limbaugh has an unparalleled perch.

“A lot of politicians — obviously conservatives — tune into his show as they’re trying to figure out what their point of view should be,” said Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union.

Mr. Schlapp noted that with most decisions, the president uses various media sources as a way to “think through questions.” And while the president is listening to his public health advisers in this moment, Mr. Schlapp said, he’s also adhering to the formulas he knows best.

“The school nurse doesn’t run the school,” Mr. Schlapp said. “The principal runs the school.”

Polling shows that the vast majority of Americans support a national stay-at-home order, but Mr. Limbaugh’s audience — in other words, the president’s base — shares his agitation about jump-starting the economy. His recent shows illustrate the extent to which many of Mr. Trump’s supporters remain suspicious of the public health experts and other officials who have recommended stay-at-home orders and similar guidelines to slow transmission of the virus.

“I agree the right person is in office to bring this country out of this,” said a Las Vegas police officer named Marcus who called into Mr. Limbaugh’s show on Monday. “But, you know, when you look at numbers, Rush — the numbers don’t add up as far as, like, you know, the amount of people that die of a normal flu every year and those sort of things. I mean, it’s terrifying how one thing can make us give up our rights so quickly.”

On Friday, a caller from Prescott, Ariz., wondered if experts were urging the shutdown of the economy as a way to model the potential effects of legislation intended to combat climate change. “Isn’t this kind of like a dry run of the Green New Deal?” he asked.

In the midst of everything, Mr. Limbaugh’s listeners unequivocally support the president. On Friday, a New York construction worker named Andy criticized the transformation of Manhattan into a “ghost town,” and said, “There is no better man to be in the White House right now than Donald Trump.”

It is the kind of affirmation that helps illuminate radio’s increasing appeal to Mr. Trump. Television indeed plays an outsize role in the president’s assessment of himself and his administration. But with no campaign rallies to look forward to, people close to the president say he feels stifled in his inability to communicate directly with his supporters, complaining that the news media tries to distort his message at his daily briefings.

The president may have dropped plans for his own talk radio show. But for Mr. Trump, what Mr. Limbaugh offers is perhaps second best: a taste of the validation he craves, as well as a blueprint for how to make his supporters even happier.

“Rush is perfectly confident and competent to play the outsider to the system,” said Kellyanne Conway, the White House counselor. “In that way, he and the president learn from each other.”

 

[thoughtful]

8 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

“The school nurse doesn’t run the school,” Mr. Schlapp said. “The principal runs the school.”

OK, Schlapp, I'll run with your stupid metaphor. I've worked in schools.

I had a game that involved kids role-playing with hats. The nurse told me to stop using the hats due to the possibility of head lice. I stopped. Had I protested, I'm sure the principal would have sided with the nurse, because duh.

When we had students with life-threatening allergies, the nurse ran a school meeting in which we  learned how to use epi-pens and were each issued one - we reviewed the process yearly. The principal, of course, let the medical expert run those meetings, and backed her up with policy. Not only could it save lives, it could save other kids from the horror of seeing a classmate die, and keep the school system from being sued. It was moral, useful, and practical, and the nurse's expertise was respected.

The nurse always had the decision-making power to keep children who weren't feeling well in her office, send them back to the classroom (she was pretty good at spotting fakers), home, or, if need be, the hospital (parental preferences were on file for every child). Keeping that child safe and comfortable was weighed against the safety of all and possible exposure to illness.

We had students with neurofibromatosis, type 1 diabetes, inability to walk, colorblindness, foreshortened fingers, and a host of other physical issues. We had students with temporary physical injuries, like broken limbs or sprains. Can you imagine how cruel (and again, impractical and lawsuit-worthy) it would be if the principal didn't listen to the nurse when advising classroom teachers, me (music), art and physical education teachers about how to accommodate those kids?

I'm sure there were a thousand other ways in which the nurse's expertise, and those of the children's family doctors informing her of their individual needs via the parents or direct communication, changed the way school was run, for one child, several, or all, at various times.

Because the principal was not an idiot.

Trump, on the other hand . . .

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump said hospitals and testing were just fine. Then his White House guest said family died after being turned away."

Spoiler

On Monday, President Trump and Vice President Pence both downplayed the idea that hospitals had been overrun during the coronavirus outbreak. Trump has also in recent days suggested testing in the United States is going swimmingly.

On Tuesday, a guest they invited to the White House undercut those claims.

Michigan state Rep. Karen Whitsett (D) has become something of a celebrity on Trump-friendly media like Fox News for crediting her hydroxychloroquine treatment with her recovery from the coronavirus, and for praising Trump for promoting it, even as she comes from the other major political party. But while her anecdotal account has fed optimism about the unproven treatment, other things she said Tuesday contradicted the assurances we’ve been getting from Trump and others in his administration.

Whitsett said during a White House roundtable Tuesday that she was grateful for the treatment she received. But she also said certain members of her family haven’t been so lucky.

“I’ve lost several family members to covid — all in one household,” she said. “My cousin, Cheryl Fowler, was in ICU. She lost her husband. He was turned away from numerous hospitals, as was she — over four times. And within six hours, she lost her father-in-law, who was turned away numerous times.”

The idea that people are being turned away from hospitals is something both Trump and Pence had rejected — including less than 24 hours before.

“No one who has needed a hospital bed has been denied a hospital bed,” Trump said Monday.

Pence added later in the daily briefing, “Our hospitals were not overwhelmed and are not overwhelmed at this hour.”

Trump has also downplayed continued reports of testing problems, saying Friday, “We have a great testing system. Right now, we have the best testing system in the world.”

Whitsett and her family offered a similar account of their troubles to the Detroit Free Press a week ago. At the time, they indicated family members had sought treatment and tests but hadn’t been able to get them. Whitsett said she didn’t believe she would have been able to get tested had she not been in the state legislature. Family members corroborated the account:

Keith Gambrell, 33, the son of Cheryl Fowler and the stepson of Gary Fowler, said his mother was taken to Henry Ford after she was turned away Tuesday night from Beaumont Hospital in Grosse Pointe, despite having a high temperature.

Beaumont Health can’t comment because of federal health privacy laws, said spokeswoman Maryanne MacLeod. Beaumont, which is Michigan’s largest hospital system, has about 1,500 workers — including 500 nurses — off the job because of coronavirus symptoms, the Free Press reported Monday.

Gambrell’s stepfather, Gary Fowler, who raised him and whom he considered his father, tried unsuccessfully to get tested [at] three different places and was repeatedly told he probably just had bronchitis, Gambrell said.

Gambrell, who was not sure whether his stepfather had a primary care physician, said Fowler went to Beaumont in Grosse Pointe about two weeks ago, then to Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit on Friday, followed by Detroit Receiving Hospital, and finally back to Beaumont on Sunday. None would test him for coronavirus, he said.

“I just feel like no one is trying to help the black community,” said Gambrell, who owns a cleaning company and lives in Detroit. “They send black people home to die.”

The account from the Free Press article suggests this was a matter of testing and not necessarily available hospital beds. And other reporting from the Free Press has indicated Wayne County, home to Detroit, had plenty of beds — at least as of early April.

But the situation in the area had deteriorated, and CNN reported Tuesday that one hospital in the city has been so overrun that it is storing bodies in vacant hospital rooms because its morgue was full. “All I know is we ran out of beds to keep our patients on so we couldn’t spare any for the bodies,” one anonymous emergency room worker said.

Trump has repeatedly offered premature and false assurances about the response to the coronavirus, saying more than a month ago that anybody who needed a test could get one. Despite Trump’s comments on Friday about the “great testing system,” White House coronavirus task force member Anthony S. Fauci said in an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, “We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet.”

Whitsett’s account — delivered at the invitation of the White House on Tuesday — seemed to back up Fauci’s account, rather than Trump’s assurances.

 

[clueliss]

Okay then - Parsons (Governor (R) Missouri) is considering extending state stay at home AND he's in talks with Kansas (could we be seeing a Center of the Country Governor/State grouping in the works here?)

Kansas by County unemployment figures (and you can tell where the population centers in the state are from this)

Spoiler

 

4895 Cases & 147 Deaths in Missouri

Spoiler

 

and Missouri Senator (guess his party, just guess) had THIS dandy about allowing people to sue the Chinese Communisty Party (seriously - what the hell is the man smoking - US court system and Foreign County)

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[fraurosena]

I notice Trump is back to his monarchistic autocratic ranting...

 

[47of74]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

Okay then - Parsons (Governor (R) Missouri) is considering extending state stay at home AND he's in talks with Kansas (could we be seeing a Center of the Country Governor/State grouping in the works here?)

Kansas by County unemployment figures (and you can tell where the population centers in the state are from this)

  Reveal hidden contents

 

4895 Cases & 147 Deaths in Missouri

  Reveal hidden contents

 

and Missouri Senator (guess his party, just guess) had THIS dandy about allowing people to sue the Chinese Communisty Party (seriously - what the hell is the man smoking - US court system and Foreign County)

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Yeah my sister and brother in law high tailed it out of Missouri a couple years ago and haven’t looked back because of fucking idiots like these. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Apparently a rat ran behind Twitler on camera. Rick's reaction is great:

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Recap:  GM video of them making ventilators even though we don't need as many, but we're the greatest and will be able to give them to other countries as no one can do what we do.

Genius companies working on therapies, AIDS, ebola, no one can believe what these incredible companies can do.  

Lot of patients have recovered and so happy to have recovered they want to give their blood as a thank you for getting such great care.

Many positions unstaffed due to Democrats holding up approval.   448 federal judges, but Dems spend so much time on judges no time to approve - days - no time to fill other appointments.  Many waiting years...129 nominees stuck in senate due to Dem obstruction.  He keeps hearing how he doesn't fill positions - some don't need to be filled and others can't be filled due to Dems.  

Dems won't allow it to happen.  

Anyone getting the idea this is just a campaign rally?  Me too.

Michale Pak has been waiting 2 years to get in voice of america and fix the disgusting things they say, but senate won't let him.

Pro Forma sessions where no one is even there prevents him from using the authority of recess appointments.  Now more so than ever before, we have to do whatever we have to do.  Made it very difficult to run government.  No other administration has done what they've done, but nothing but roadblocks by democrats.

He will use his authority to not allow them to adjourn pro forma.  It's a scam what they do, it's been done for a long time and everyone knows it.  He won't play any more political gains - great people who gave up jobs waiting years to be approved.  Lengthy hearings on judges senate knows should be approved immediately.

Hold on funding to WHO - which he still can't say properly.  

Patting himself on back for several paragraphs for travel ban from china, blaming WHO for fighting it, perhaps they knew how bad it would be, but maybe they didn't but perhaps they did.

Paycheck protection program has saved many small businesses and they need to replenish but congress wont.  Congress doesn't want to save the small businesses and workers.  

Someone from OK and another from NE thank Trump for the programs, which congress is now stopping.  Sonny Purdue will be speaking soon.

Food processing is a profession.  (I am not making this shit up)

The shelves in our stores aren't bare, like the shelves of the stockpile he inhereted.

Economy will come back quickly and will be better than before. That was a miracle and this will be more of a miracle.

We'll be opening up some states much sooner than the deadline of May 1st - govenros chomping at bit to get going.  Some are ready to go - he and Pence will be speaking with govenors tomorrow.  

Talked to top leaders in health, health care, hospitaility, real estate, sports, some other stuff I missed.  We miss stports it's important, we miss everything.  Spoke to very very smart people level of IQ highest youve ever seen on a phone call.  Lot of calling and lot of great ideas.  

We have tremendous amounts of protective gear coming in, robust testing, infrastructure, broad band that people don't have because politicians forever.  Telemedical is a new thing and incredible - leaps and bounds - learning so much without ability to see doctor.  Going to be important.

Forge even brighter future - we'll all be the comeback kids.  Very proud of the people to whom he's spoken.  Want to get our country back - soon.

Invited Birx to speak:

She thanks the president in a way only Mike Pence can.  Thanks health care workers who are saving lives.  Thanks people for social distancing.  9 states with less than 1000 cases and less than 30 new per day.  Some like Ca, WA, OR that never had a peak due to how well their populations distanced.  RI in unique situation, caught between hotspots of NY and MA and they are keeping an eye on them.  Reminds us this is highly contagious, always a chance asymptomatic person can spread unknowingly.  Continue to follow guidelines and don't gather even though improving.

The president has been referring to those 9 states who have been silent due to lack of major cases.  Thanks teams throughout the world, Africa, for working night and day to keep virus low.  

Sonny Purdue:  Honor to represent president.  

HOLY SHIT his voice is a nightmare!  Does he gargle with razor blades?!  IDK if I'll get through this.

Wants to keep essential workers in food industry safe.  it's impacting food processing facilities, he wants to assure us the American food supply chain is robust and safe.  The CDC has guidelines for positive case in food processing facility.  

He sounds like Foghorn Leghorn's grandfather getting an iced coffee enema.

Thanks the workers in the industry.  They are true patriotic heroes.  In the US we have plenty of food for all of our citizens - despite the empty shelves in grocery store.  Like Trump he's using millions of words to say the same thing over and over.  

China has paid us many many billions of dollars in tarrifs - being held by Sonny.  He wants him to soon distribute to the farmers.  NO ONE CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR FARMERS.  It's never happend to china before, they never gave us 10 cents and now they are paying billions of dollars.

Pence:  Task force met today.  3 mil and change tests, 600k and change tested positive.  45k + fully recovered.  27k+ died.  Theire hearts are with all the families.  Despite losses we're getting there.  

How can he be less reassuring than Trump?  The guy is an automaton.  

Half of the states in America have less than 25k cases per state.  Some areas will need continued mitigation and efforts and others will be able to open earlier.  Access to convelescant plasma.  He's explaining how antibodies are in the recovered.  He wants all recovered for at least 2 weeks to donate plasma.  Airbridge completed, 22 million facial masks coming into the market place.  FEMA working to move them to priorities like first responders.  Thanking men and women in uniform.  

If I took a shot every time he said "as the President" in a fawning way I'd have died by alcohol poisoning before finishing last paragraph.

We are slowing the spread and ensuring every american has the access to health care that they (Pence, trump) and their families do.  

Questions:  

Asked to clarify what he means about congress.  Trump said if they don't act and approve his appointment he'll do something he doesn't want to do but will do if he has do.  The level of specifics is mindblowing.

Trump will not be running a parking lot in Arkansas.  The states are better equipped to do it.

Why does he keep talking about WalMart parking lots?

More patting himself on back for ventilators which no one needed apparently.

If he's not happy with the governors he will let them know and take very strong action is needed.  Again that as specific as he gets.

"We have the right to do whatever we want"

Why did he have his name added to relief checks.  He doesn't know too much about it, doesn't think it delayed anything, people will be happy to get a big fat beautiful check with his name on it.

Govs and states need to control their boarders.  

Relationship with Canada is very good - at some point will talk about relaxing boarders.  Some nations are heavily infected.

Called on saying we've passed the peak - he throws a bunch of non-specifics.  models, doctors, but no facts mentioned.

Threat to adjourn congress would be radical - calling him on his own words saying this isn't the time for partisan ship.  He says it's been partisan for a long time going back several administrations...paycheck plan so beautiful going without a hitch and can't get dems to approve it.  Dems are partisan.  Some people left important jobs to join administration but haven't been approved for years.

How smart can they be if they left a job before getting approved for the next one?  

There are only so many hours in the day.  Thanks, Trump.

More Voice of America disgrace.  Wants to get his guy in there.  I need to google what nightmare the VOA is.  

Missed some things while dealing with my dogs...

someone asked if he thought this was created in a lab in china and he lit up.

He's getting a ton of softball questions and is in a very good mood - damn near giddy.

Nancy Pelosi wanted to have parties in Chinatown.

Trump wants to know why China is considered a developing nation when we're a developing nation too, in his book.

back on the WHO and how they are in league with China.

No one gives us credit for the billions of dollars we give to AIDS all over the world.  

Big day tomorrow!

I have an edible in my sock drawer calling my name.

 

 

 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

13 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

He sounds like Foghorn Leghorn's grandfather getting an iced coffee enema.

Rufus bless you for the whole recap, but especially this line!

[apple1]

Most of you probably recognize the idea that, at each elementary grade level, it is expected that kids can read and understand a certain number of vocabulary words.

I said that to say, I wonder what POTUS' grade level is, based on number and use of words. Dang, my granddaughter (3rd grade) has a larger and more appropriate vocabulary. And he is so repetitious.

P.S. - Somebody must have recently taught him the word "robust".

P.S.2 - About a month ago, I was at work and having a professional conversation. In the middle, the word "tremendous" inadvertently came out of my mouth. I backed up, corrected myself, and finished a couple of sentences. My coworker laughed. She and I have about the same political opinions.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 minute ago, apple1 said:

Most of you probably recognize the idea that, at each elementary grade level, it is expected that kids can read and understand a certain number of vocabulary words.

I said that to say, I wonder what POTUS' grade level is, based on number and use of words. Dang, my granddaughter (3rd grade) has a larger and more appropriate vocabulary. And he is so repetitious.

P.S. - Somebody must have recently taught him the word "robust".

P.S.2 - About a month ago, I was at work and having a professional conversation. In the middle, the word "tremendous" inadvertently came out of my mouth. I backed up, corrected myself, and finished a couple of sentences. My coworker laughed. She and I have about the same political opinions.

It's definitely below 5th grade.  When I first started working I had to ratchet my writing down to the 5th grade level for anything I was disseminating plant wide and it was still at a higher level than his natural patterns.  And I thought the same as I was listening, robust must have been his word of the week.

Sorry for all the typos, I may go back and clean up but I don't want to read his nonsense again atm.

[GreyhoundFan]

You couldn't make this up:

 

[Cartmann99]

Judge signals easing Texas mail-in voting rules amid virus

Quote

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A judge Wednesday moved toward lifting Texas’ restrictions on voting by mail, which President Donald Trump has taken a hard line against even as states controlled by Republicans make it more widely available during the coronavirus pandemic.

Texas has not been one of them. But state District Judge Tim Sulak of Austin said he was inclined to side with Democrats who sued to at least temporarily expand access to mail-in voting in Texas, which under normal circumstances is generally limited by law to those 65 or older or those with a “sickness or physical condition” that prevents them from casting a ballot in person.

Sulak, who didn’t immediately issue an order but signaled it was forthcoming, imagined the dilemma facing voters during a hearing that was held over video conference because of coronavirus restrictions. He said he could see voters facing a choice —- vote in person despite the dangers posed by COVID-19, or “Do I risk it and hope that it comes out OK?”

The state is expected to appeal the decision.

“Common sense and the spirit of the law won over the attorney general’s inexplicable stance that voters’ susceptibility to COVID-19 isn’t a physical condition under the law today,” said Joaquin Gonzalez, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Texas was originally scheduled to have primary runoff elections next week, but Republican Gov. Greg Abbott moved the date to July.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had defended the state’s current restrictions earlier Wednesday in a letter to a GOP lawmaker. He also warned that anyone encouraging Texas voters to apply for a mail-in ballot during the pandemic could face prosecution.

“Mail ballots based on disability are specifically reserved for those who are physically ill and cannot vote in-person as a result. Fear of contracting COVID-19 does not amount to a sickness or physical condition as required by the Legislature,” Paxton said in a statement.

Trump has claimed without evidence that expanding mail-in voting will increase voter fraud. But Republican state officials in Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia have all taken steps to ease access to mail-in ballots, following health officials’ warnings that voting in person can risk transmission of the deadly virus.

Nebraska’s Republican governor has also urged voters to apply for absentee ballots, and Florida’s GOP chairman says the party will continue to run a robust vote-by-mail program.

Trump’s hard line appears to be driven by his personal suspicions and concerns about his own reelection prospects. Statewide mail-in voting “doesn’t work out well for Republicans,” he tweeted last week without explanation.

That dent right above my eyebrows from banging my head on my desk is starting to worry me a bit.

 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

19 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Judge signals easing Texas mail-in voting rules amid virus

That dent right above my eyebrows from banging my head on my desk is starting to worry me a bit.

 

Idaho has had mail-in voting for absentee voting for a few (?) years now. Voters don't have to give a reason for wanting to vote absentee, unlike my first election decades ago. (I had to tell them that I would be in another county, at college, so that I could vote absentee.)

So, for our primary election next month, we've gone to mail-in ballots only. Our Presidential primary was 3 days before they announced our first case of Covid19, so not much had been closed down back then. (For some weird reason, our Presidential primary got separated from our regular primary election a few years ago. It's a week after Super Tuesday, so that makes it earlier, but the rest of the US still doesn't care about our results, so I'm not sure why we bothered moving it.) If any Idaho-based conspiracy theorists have objections to mail-in ballots, I haven't heard them. Maybe I should do a search and see what Ammon Bundy thinks.

[GreyhoundFan]

So, since Twitler refused to listen early on, we the taxpayers get to pay far too much for essential supplies. I wouldn't be surprised to read at some point that one or more of the companies is affiliated with Twitler's crime family: "In coronavirus scramble for N95 masks, Trump administration pays premium to third-party vendors"

Spoiler

The Trump administration has awarded bulk contracts to third-party vendors in recent weeks in a scramble to obtain N95 respirator masks, and the government has paid the companies more than $5 per unit, nearly eight times what it would have spent in January and February when U.S. intelligence agencies warned of a looming global pandemic, procurement records show.

The N95 masks are essential protective gear for health-care workers and others at elevated risk of coronavirus infection, and the government has recommended that people across the country wear masks and other face coverings when outside. Demand for the masks has created a frenzied, freewheeling global market that has pitted U.S. states against the federal government and rich nations against poorer ones.

Administration officials leaped into the fray late, then embarked on a voracious spending spree. Though U.S. federal agencies made a small number of relatively modest purchases before the second half of March, the government has ordered more than $600 million worth of masks since then.

Large U.S. companies such as Honeywell and 3M have received the biggest orders, but the Trump administration also has signed high-dollar deals with third-party vendors selling masks for many times the standard price.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded a $55 million contract for N95s this month to Panthera Worldwide LLC, which is in the business of tactical training. One of its owners said last year that Panthera’s parent company had not had any employees since May 2018, according to sworn testimony.

It also has no history of manufacturing or procuring medical equipment, according to a review of records produced as a result of legal disputes involving the company and its affiliates.

Panthera Worldwide’s parent company filed for bankruptcy last fall, and the LLC is no longer recognized in Virginia — where it has its main office — following nonpayment of fees, which according to Virginia code results in “the existence of a limited liability company” being “automatically canceled.”

James V. Punelli, one of the company’s executives, said he is working his military contacts to obtain the masks.

“We’ve done DoD medical training over the years and through those contacts with that community were brought sources of supply in order to assist in the COVID-19 response,” Punelli said in a text message to The Washington Post, referring to the Defense Department. “We made the connection with FEMA and offered these supplies to them.”

Asked about delivery of the masks, Punelli said: “We will provide these masks before May 1 for certain, in full and with a very high-quality product.” He said the company is registered as an LLC in Delaware and allowed its Virginia registration to lapse “because we’re not doing business in Virginia.”

According to its website, Panthera offers “elite training and mission support” for the U.S. military and other agencies. But in 2018, it entered into a 42-year lease handing over its principal asset — a 750-acre training facility in West Virginia — to a separate company that now operates the site. The facility features a mock village for training exercises in anti-terrorism and tactical operations.

“They don’t have masks. They’re not in that line of business,” said Robert Starer, a Virginia businessman who leased the training center from Panthera’s owners. “Is it possible that they have a relationship with someone in the world who could provide those masks? Who knows.”

Starer is now suing the company’s two executives — Punelli and Raymond C. Jones — alleging they overstated the extent of their contracts and customer base, resulting in financial losses for his company. In a complaint filed in Virginia’s Hanover County Circuit Court, Starer alleges that the two men misrepresented “estimated revenue” as “actual cash payments . . . based on existing contracts,” causing him to suffer cash losses in 2018 and 2019. Punelli and Jones have not responded to the lawsuit, according to an attorney who represents Starer.

Jones did not respond to requests for comment. Punelli said of the lawsuit, “Those frivolous claims are being addressed in due course.”

The FEMA contract with Panthera, which was awarded without competitive bidding, has a start date of April 1, according to a summary. Lizzie Litzow, a FEMA spokeswoman, said the Panthera contract is for 10 million masks, adding, “Panthera is not a manufacturer, they are a distributor of N95 masks.”

The price that FEMA is paying Panthera per mask, about $5.50, is significantly higher than what the government pays companies such as 3M, which charges as little as 63 cents per N95 mask, with an average cost of about $1.50 for more advanced models, according to a price index. Prestige Ameritech, the largest domestic mask manufacturer, is charging FEMA about 80 cents per mask for the government’s order of 12 million N95 respirators, part of a $9.5 million contract that started April 7.

Beyond the premium the federal government is paying to Panthera, the decision to award a contract to an insolvent organization with no apparent expertise in the given field struck experts as unusual.

“Something is amiss there,” said Chuck Hagel, a former defense secretary and Republican senator from Nebraska. “This is not how the government procures training or any type of supplies. You just wouldn’t do business with somebody like that.”

In its bankruptcy filing, Panthera Enterprises estimated that it had as many as 99 creditors and said its liabilities could be as high as $50 million. Punelli said Panthera Worldwide “has no significant debt,” but both companies are jointly owned by him and Jones and use the same facilities, according to court records.

Founded as TenX Group in 2011, the parent company is incorporated in Delaware but has its primary office in Leesburg, Va., according to court records. It has received a handful of federal contracts in recent years, primarily for training exercises such as “high-risk driving,” according to a contract summary from 2018. But Punelli said in sworn testimony in October 2019 that the subsidiary now under contract with FEMA — focused primarily on “activities outside the country” — was bringing in no income. “Not right now,” he told a U.S. attorney who asked whether there were any earnings.

Litzow, in response to questions about FEMA’s contract with Panthera, said the agency is “bound by law to follow federal acquisition requirements and processes” and did so in this case. “Per these federal acquisition requirements and processes, the Contracting Officer conducted a contractor responsibility determination.”

The Department of Health and Human Services began gathering information on global supplies of N95s in January and posted a formal notice Feb. 24 to companies that it was preparing to place large orders, according to a department spokeswoman. On March 21, HHS bought 600 million N95s from five companies, with the largest orders going to 3M and Honeywell.

If the U.S. government had attempted to make large purchases before then, it would have thrown global markets out of whack, according to Stephanie Bialek, a spokeswoman assigned to the agency’s Strategic National Stockpile.

“It is never the intent of the SNS to disrupt the supply chain when supply is able to meet demand, even if demand is high,” she said. “Making large government purchases at that time likely would have disrupted supplies.”

Among members of the public, too, demand for masks has climbed, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that Americans wear masks and face coverings when in public. On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D-N.Y.) said he would issue an executive order requiring them for all New York residents.

Purchasing records show the Trump administration has placed at least $628 million worth of orders for masks in recent weeks. HHS has placed more than $400 million in mask orders, and the Department of Veterans Affairs has placed orders worth about $82 million.

One of the biggest buyers is FEMA, which has transformed itself into the supply chain manager for the White House coronavirus task force. The agency proposed a deal in recent weeks to obtain an additional 114 million N95 masks from Nutratrade Australia, whose website says it specializes in bulk shipments of grains, dairy products and other foodstuffs. The FEMA proposal was for $591 million worth of N95 masks, at an average cost of $5.19 per mask, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The agency said late Wednesday that it does not have a contract with Nutratrade Australia. A representative for Nutratrade reached Wednesday declined to respond to questions about the proposed contract.

FEMA is importing most of the medical supplies through a process the Trump administration calls “Project Airbridge,” and uses chartered cargo flights to slash delivery times and steer shipments directly to hospitals.

The government pays the cost of the flights, but it hands over approximately half of the supplies to large private medical supply companies, which then distribute them to their clients, according to FEMA.

Critics of the arrangement say it amounts to a lavish giveaway to the private companies, but administration officials say they are just trying to get badly needed supplies to hospitals as quickly as possible.

“All the traditional procurement rules are out the window,” said Rick Grimm, executive director of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, which trains and advises state and local governments on procurement. Grimm said that when the market is unstable, it can invite price manipulation or the possibility “you may end up with an inferior product you can’t use.”

Jennifer Ehrlich, a spokeswoman for 3M, said the company has not raised its prices and has taken aggressive legal action against vendors selling its products at a significant markup. The company is planning to increase its output from about 1.1 billion masks per year to 2 billion during the next 12 months, Ehrlich said.

The company has filed several lawsuits within the past week against companies it says have been engaged in price-gouging and fraudulent sales, including one company that tried to sell 45 million 3M masks to New York City officials at bloated prices and another that tried to sell “tens of millions of likely nonexistent 3M N95 respirators at grossly inflated prices to the federal Division of Strategic National Stockpile, all the while falsely affiliating itself with 3M.”

 

[apple1]

13 hours ago, apple1 said:

… I said that to say, I wonder what POTUS' grade level is, based on number and use of words. Dang, my granddaughter (3rd grade) has a larger and more appropriate vocabulary. And he is so repetitious.

From Seth Abramson's Twitter (and part of a very scary thread):

Quote

The conversation we're having about how to open up workplaces is so embarrassingly puerile that it can only be explained by the fact that the man leading the conversation apparently reads and thinks at a second-grade level. Is there *anyone* serious in federal government anymore?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

A bunch of MAGAts protested quarantine efforts in Michigan, complete with "lock her up" chants against the governor. Why am I not surprised that Betsy's family is behind it?