Last Call For Trump Goes Viral, Con't

As Greg Sargent calls out, the White House has exactly the kind of rapid, through and robust COVID-19 testing protocols that Donald Trump refuses to make available for the American people because they're not necessary for the rest of us serfs.

Katie Miller, the wife of adviser Stephen Miller, has tested positive for the coronavirus. The infection of Ms. Miller, a close adviser to Vice President Pence, means potential exposure to President Trump’s inner circle — so reporters are raising questions about White House internal testing policies.

The White House has indicated to reporters that Pence and many members of his staff have been getting tested daily, and Pence and Trump appear not to have had contact with Katie Miller recently.

Meanwhile, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany sought to reassure the news media that the White House testing procedures are sound. I wanted to draw attention to this quote from McEnany:

“We have put in place the guidelines that our experts have put forward to keep this building safe, which means contact tracing," McEnany told reporters during Friday’s news briefing. "All of the recommended guidelines we have for businesses that have essential workers, we are now putting them in place here in the White House. So as America reopens safely, the White House is continuing to operate safely.”

The careful reader will note a jarring juxtaposition here. McEnany claims both that the United States is reopening safely and that the White House is operating safely. But only one of these two — the White House — actually has the sort of testing regime the White House itself is now implicitly acknowledging is a prerequisite to safety.
The rest of the country largely lacks this level of testing — because Trump doesn’t want to take the steps necessary to stand up a robust federal testing regime.

The rub here is that the guidelines by themselves (which McEnany referenced) aren’t enough. Equipment and resources are also necessary.

Trump, Pence and their aides have access to rapid and regular testing, which is also given to those who meet with them. They have access to the resources that enable the very sort of safe testing regime McEnany described here.

It’s true that the fact that Miller tested positive — as one of Trump’s valets did earlier this week — shows that having robust testing isn’t absolutely foolproof. The coronavirus can still get in. But as Philip Bump notes, having that intensity of testing is exactly what prevented it from spreading.

Trump and his staff get tested and tested regularly.  We on the other hand get to wait in line for tests that just aren't available and never will be.

And remember, Trump's own rabid base is being told testing is not needed to be a Real American Warrior and to go back to work without a mask.  They either don't notice the ridiculous hypocrisy or they are glad to die for the God-Emperor of Stupid.

And if you still think we don't need testing:

How do we fix the U.S. #SupplyChain in the wake of #COVID19? It might be more complicated than you think. We examined travel paths of mobile devices from some of the nation's top #meatpacking plants and what we saw was eye-opening... (data courtesy of @xmodesocial) pic.twitter.com/aCYuq1n3jT

— Tectonix GEO (@TectonixGEO) May 6, 2020

These plants have hundreds of sick workers each.  These workers have traveled all over the Midwest.  Cases and deaths will continue to rise. And Donald Trump is both mentally and emotionally unable to lead the country out of this disaster...a disaster the White House now officially believes is over.

In a week when the novel coronavirus ravaged new communities across the country and the number of dead soared past 78,000, President Trump and his advisers shifted from hour-by-hour crisis management to what they characterize as a long-term strategy aimed at reviving the decimated economy and preparing for additional outbreaks this fall.

But in doing so, the administration is effectively bowing to — and asking Americans to accept — a devastating proposition: that a steady, daily accumulation of lonely deaths is the grim cost of reopening the nation.

Inside the West Wing, some officials talk about the federal government’s mitigation mission as largely accomplished because they believe the nation’s hospitals are now equipped to meet anticipated demand — even as health officials warn the number of coronavirus cases could increase considerably in May and June as more states and localities loosen restrictions, and some mitigation efforts are still recommended as states begin to reopen.

The administration is struggling to expand the scale of testing to what experts say is necessary to reopen businesses safely, and officials have not announced any national plan for contact tracing. Trump and some of his advisers are prioritizing the psychology of the pandemic as much as, if not more than, plans to combat the virus, some aides and outside advisers said — striving to instill confidence that people can comfortably return to daily life despite the rising death toll.

On Friday, as the unemployment rate reached a historically high 14.7 percent, Trump urged Americans to think of this period as a “transition to greatness,” adding during a meeting with Republican members of Congress: “We’re going to do something very fast, and we’re going to have a phenomenal year next year.” The president predicted the virus eventually would disappear even without a vaccine — a prediction at odds with his own science officials.

A White House spokesman defended the status of testing by pointing to comments in mid-April by two of the medical professionals on the task force, Anthony S. Fauci and Adm. Brett Giroir, saying there have been enough tests to safely reopen the country.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also backed the administration’s response, saying, “President Trump is committed to a data-driven approach to safely reopening the country. His steadfast leadership has saved American lives, and the American people recognize his leadership.”

Some of Trump’s advisers described the president as glum and shell-shocked by his declining popularity. In private conversations, he has struggled to process how his fortunes suddenly changed from believing he was on a glide path to reelection to realizing that he is losing to the likely Democratic nominee, former vice president Joe Biden, in virtually every poll, including his own campaign’s internal surveys, advisers said. He also has been fretting about the possibility that a bad outbreak of the virus this fall could damage his standing in the November election, said the advisers, who along with other aides and allies requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The president is also eager to resume political travel in June, including holding his signature rallies by the end of the summer in areas where there are few cases, advisers said. Trump’s political team has begun discussions about organizing a high-dollar, in-person fundraiser next month, as well as preliminary planning about staging rallies and what sort of screenings might be necessary, according to Republican National Committee officials and outsider advisers. One option being considered is holding rallies outdoors, rather than in enclosed arenas, a senior administration official said.

Officials also are forging ahead with the Republican National Convention planned for late August in Charlotte, albeit a potentially scaled-back version.

Once again:

We are being sacrificed for Trump.  We are being told to accept 2,000 deaths a day as the New Normal, and that toll is going to increase dramatically over the next few weeks as the true cost of "re-opening the economy" becomes bloodily apparent.

When do we say hell no to this?

Black Lives Still Matter, Con't

The investigation into the race-driven murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia continues, as the suspects, Greg McMichael and his son Travis, were arrested Thursday afternoon for the February murder, and now we know exactly why it took so long: The elder McMichael worked for and was friends with the county DA, Jackie Johnson.

Two Glynn County commissioners say District Attorney Jackie Johnson’s office refused to allow the Glynn County Police Department to make arrests immediately after the Feb. 23 shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.

The GBI announced the arrests of Travis McMichael, 34, and his father Greg McMichael, 64, on Thursday - more than two months after the fatal shooting. They were denied bond Friday afternoon.

“The police at the scene went to her, saying they were ready to arrest both of them. These were the police at the scene who had done the investigation,” Commissioner Allen Booker, who has spoken with Glynn County police, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She shut them down to protect her friend McMichael.”

Greg McMichael, now retired, once worked as an investigator in Johnson’s office.

Commissioner Peter Murphy, who also said he spoke directly to Glynn County police about the incident, said officers at the scene concluded they had probable cause to make arrests and contacted Johnson’s office to inform the prosecutor of their decision.

“They were told not to make the arrest,” Murphy said.

Johnson recused herself from the case within days of the shooting. Her office has not responded to a request to comment on the commissioners’ account of what happened, or on the case in general.

Arbery would have turned 26 today.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case.

Friday morning, GBI Director Vic Reynolds told reporters another arrest could be forthcoming. He also noted that by statute, the GBI’s involvement in a local case must be requested and declined to comment on how other agencies have handled the case.

“In a perfect world would we have liked to have been involved in February? Of course,” Reynolds said. “But it’s not a perfect world.” 

Reynolds confirmed the harrowing video capturing Ahmaud Arbery’s death on Feb. 23 was made by William Bryan, who had helped Greg and Travis McMichael pursue Arbery as he ran through the Satilla Shores community just south of Brunswick.

“We’re investigating everyone involved in the case, including the individual who shot the video,” Reynolds said.

Again, the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in cold blood would have never been prosecuted or even investigated if the video trophy hadn't been leaked, and frankly the case would have been closed under Georgia's stand your ground laws if the video hadn't been taken in the first place.

The McMichaels (and Bryan) would have 100% gotten away with murder otherwise.  Greg McMichael was a retired cop.  Retired cops don't get charged with murder.

As a side note, county prosecutor/district attorney/judge advocate elections matter. A local DA who dropped a felony murder charge because the suspect worked for her at one time and the victim was black should be facing a lifetime in prison along with the killers.

Johnson, the DA, recused herself because she had worked with Greg McMichael before.  But the second prosecutor, George Barnhill, also came to the conclusion that there was no evidence to charge the McMichaels and then recused himself after the Arbery family asked him to because Barnhill's son also worked for Jackie Johnson in the DA's office.  It went to a third DA, Tom Durden.

The NY Times picked up the story shortly after Durden became involved, then NBC News picked it up at the end of April.

And then the video spread Tuesday after Shaun King posted it on Twitter (side note numero dos, it may be the first real Black Lives Matter activist thing King has done in years in a career marked by grift and lies)  The police and the DA's office had the video all along, but again, nothing was going to be done about it. It was only after the video leaked and caused outrage across the country that Durden brought in the GBI, the arrests were made, and he pushed for the grand jury proceedings.

Without the video, the McMichaels get away with this. We were never, ever meant to see it, the case was never, ever supposed to go to grand jury, let alone trial.

This is 2020.  This level of massive injustice still exists daily.

Black Lives Still Matter.

Lowering The Barr, Con't

Barack Obama has weighed in on the Flynn meta-pardon, and as a legal scholar, Obama is brutal in his assessment.

Former President Barack Obama, talking privately to ex-members of his administration, said Friday that the “rule of law is at risk” in the wake of what he called an unprecedented move by the Justice Department to drop charges against former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.

In the same chat, a tape of which was obtained by Yahoo News, Obama also lashed out at the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as “an absolute chaotic disaster.”

“The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed — about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn,” Obama said in a web talk with members of the Obama Alumni Association.

“And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”
The Flynn case was invoked by Obama as a principal reason that his former administration officials needed to make sure former Vice President Joe Biden wins the November election against President Trump. “So I am hoping that all of you feel the same sense of urgency that I do,” he said. “Whenever I campaign, I’ve always said, ‘Ah, this is the most important election.’ Especially obviously when I was on the ballot, that always feels like it's the most important election. This one — I’m not on the ballot — but I am pretty darn invested. We got to make this happen.”

Obama misstated the charge to which Flynn had previously pleaded guilty. He was charged with false statements to the FBI, not perjury. But the Justice Department, in a filing with a federal judge on Thursday, asked that the case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller be dismissed, arguing that FBI agents did not have a justifiable reason to question the then national security adviser about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak — talks FBI agents and Mueller’s prosecutors concluded he had lied about.

Still, Obama’s unvarnished remarks were some of his sharpest yet about the Trump administration and appeared to forecast a dramatically stepped-up political role he intends to play in this year’s election. The comments came during a lengthy chat in which he also sharply criticized the response to the coronavirus pandemic, blaming it on the “tribal” trends that have been stoked by the president and his allies.

“This election that’s coming up on every level is so important because what we’re going to be battling is not just a particular individual or a political party. What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy — that has become a stronger impulse in American life. And by the way, we’re seeing that internationally as well. It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty. It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.

“That’s why, I, by the way, am going to be spending as much time as necessary and campaigning as hard as I can for Joe Biden,” he added.

Once again President Obama makes it very clear what the choice is in November, and I'm glad that the gloves are finally off.  We didn't listen to him last time, but something makes me thing we may actually not make the same mistake twice.

It's About Suppression, Con't

For all the endless complaining that Republicans do about how voting by mail is "fraud", the GOP sure does like to steal elections.

Colorado Republican Party Chair Ken Buck, a U.S. representative from Windsor, pressured a local party official to submit incorrect election results to set the primary ballot for a state Senate seat, according to an audio recording of a conference call obtained by The Denver Post. 

“You’ve got a sitting congressman, a sitting state party chair, who is trying to bully a volunteer — I’m a volunteer; I don’t get paid for this — into committing a crime,” Eli Bremer, the GOP chairman for state Senate District 10, told The Post on Wednesday, confirming the authenticity of the recording. “To say it’s damning is an understatement.”

Buck says he was merely asking Bremer to abide by a committee decision. 

At issue is the Republican primary for the District 10 seat currently held by Sen. Owen Hill, who’s term-limited. State Rep. Larry Liston and GOP activist David Stiver both ran for it. To qualify for the November ballot via the caucus and assembly process, a candidate must receive 30% of the vote from Republicans within the district. 

During a district assembly in March, Liston received 75% of the vote and Stiver just 24%, according to documents filed later in Denver District Court. Stiver complained the election was unfair, and the issue was taken up with the state central committee, which agreed, Buck said in an interview Wednesday. 

The central committee consists of nearly 500 members, including elected officials and county officers. About 200 were on the line during an April 17 conference call in which the group voted to place Stiver on the ballot for the seat, even though he failed to receive 30% of the district’s votes. After the vote, Buck asked Bremer, the District 10 chair, whether he would comply with the committee’s decision. 

“Do you understand the order of the executive committee and the central committee that you will submit the paperwork to include Mr. Stiver and Mr. Liston on the ballot, with Mr. Liston receiving the top-line vote?” Buck said on the call. 

“Uh, yes, sir, I understand the central committee has adopted a resolution that requires me to sign a false affidavit to the state,” Bremer replied. 

“And will you do so?” Buck said. 

Bremer: “I will seek legal counsel as I am being asked to sign an affidavit that states Mr. Stiver received 30% of the vote. I need to seek legal counsel to find out if I am putting myself in jeopardy of a misdemeanor for doing that. ” 

Buck: “And you understand that it is the order of the central committee that you do so?”
Bremer: “I will consult with counsel. Yes, sir, I understand the central committee has ordered me to sign an affidavit stating that a candidate got 30% who did not. And I will seek legal counsel and determine if I am legally able to follow that.” 

Buck: “All right, Mr. Bremer, I understand your position; we will now move on.” 

Buck, a lawyer, told The Post on Wednesday that it has been the tradition in both parties for their committees to make such decisions.

Note here Buck isn't denying he basically committed a felony. His excuse is that COVID-19 makes elections hard and besides the Democrats do it too, so who cares?

But hey, the Supreme Court made it clear today that convicting state officials on fraud charges is no good.

The Supreme Court threw out fraud convictions on Thursday against two New Jersey officials involved in the "Bridgegate" political scandal, the George Washington Bridge traffic jam that rocked the administration of then-Gov. Chris Christie. 

Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Elena Kagan said that "for no reason" other than "political payback" the aides "used deception" to cut access lanes from Fort Lee, New Jersey, to the bridge. 

The move "jeopardized the safety of the town's residents," Kagan wrote, but concluded that "not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime." 

Bridget Anne Kelly, who served as an aide to Christie, and Bill Baroni, the deputy director of the Port Authority, were convicted for their roles in the scandal and ultimately sentenced to 13 and 18 months in 2017. Currently out on bond, they asked the Supreme Court to reverse their convictions.

The ruling is the latest example of the court narrowing the type of conduct by public officials that can be considered fraud under federal law. 

In recent years, the court has decisively narrowed the government's ability to charge public officials with federal crimes for corruption offenses, most notably in 2016 after former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell took hundreds of thousands of dollars from a businessman who wanted the governor to intervene on his behalf with state officials to benefit his business. 

"Once again, the Supreme Court has thrown out federal criminal convictions of public officials who, by their own admission, abused their power for corrupt and illegitimate purposes," said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law. 

"The harder question is whether Congress will respond to rulings like this one by expanding the scope of these laws, or whether we're going to end up with a world in which criminal liability for such nefarious conduct depends upon the color of one's collar," Vladeck added. 

Christie's aides argued that they were wrongly convicted and that prosecutors overreached when they charged them under various federal fraud statutes.
Kagan added that the aides' scheme did not aim to obtain money or property, and therefore they could not have violated wire fraud laws. 

In a statement to CNN, Christie says members of his administration were "dragged through the mud" since the case was first taken up by the Justice Department. 

"As many contended from the beginning, and as the court confirmed today, no federal crimes were ever committed in this matter by anyone in my administration. It is good for all involved that today justice has finally been done," Christie said.

So even if Buck was charged, corruption isn't a federal crime.  Colorado's state Supreme Court is refusing to hear the case for the same reason.

Finally, let's not forget that the Trump regime is now openly stating that it will sue Democratic states "into oblivion" to stop voting by mail.

President Donald Trump’s political operation is expanding its legal effort to stop Democrats from overhauling voting laws in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Republican National Committee and Trump reelection campaign are doubling their legal budget to $20 million as litigation spreads to an array of battleground states. With the virus likely to complicate in-person balloting in November, Democrats have been pushing to substantially ease remote voting restrictions — something the Trump campaign and RNC are aggressively fighting in the courts.

Trump, who has long been fixated on voter fraud, has taken a personal interest in the project. He is expected to discuss the legal maneuvering during a meeting with his political team Thursday.

The battle over voting laws — specifically Democrats' efforts to make it easier for people to vote remotely during the pandemic — has emerged as a key front in the general election showdown between the parties.

More than two dozen Republican operatives are focusing on the legal battles and have been closely coordinating with party officials at the state and local levels. The Trump campaign and RNC recently intervened in Nevada, where Democrats are pushing for the state to ease restrictions by mailing ballots to all registered voters. Republicans have also been active in New Mexico, where they fought back a similar Democratic-led lawsuit.

The legal skirmishing has also been taking place in such battlegrounds as Pennsylvania and Georgia. While Republicans say they are open to some changes amid the pandemic, they are opposed to many of the farther-reaching reforms Democrats are pursuing.

“We will not stand idly by while Democrats try to sue their way to victory in 2020,” said RNC chief of staff Richard Walters. “Democrats may be using the coronavirus as an excuse to strip away important election safeguards, but the American people continue to support commonsense protections that defend the integrity of our democratic processes.”

The RNC and Trump campaign initially announced in February that they would direct $10 million to legal fights. But the party, Walters said, is prepared to sue Democrats “into oblivion and spend whatever is necessary.”

Democrats have long pushed to ease voting restrictions. Marc Elias, a prominent election law attorney who is leading the party’s effort, said Democrats were currently focused on litigation in more than a dozen states, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. Many of the lawsuits, he said, involve expanding vote-by-mail rules.

He acknowledged, however, that the Republican Party’s massive investment is a hurdle.

“We’re not unrealistic about the fight that is ahead,” Elias said. “There is no question that Donald Trump and the Republican Party have made opposing voting rights a top priority for their campaign.”

We just have to accept that massive corruption and voter fraud by the GOP is standard in America, as one of the lawyers for the New Jersey plaintiffs argued.

"In an ideal world, public officials would always act solely in the best interest of the public," Roth argued. "But our world is decidedly not ideal, and politics is one of its inherent features, accepted as the cost of democratic accountability."

You play the game, you pay the cost.  Welcome to America.

Last Call For Open For Bloody Bluegrass Business

Giving in to political reality, I guess, Kentucky Gov, Andy Beshear is reopening the state's restaurants for dine-in on May 22, with gyms and theaters on June 1 as phase two of the state's reopening gets underway later this month.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday that Kentucky restaurants can reopen their dining rooms at a limited capacity on May 22 as the state saw 208 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky, bringing the total number of cases in the state above 6,000.

Restaurants will lead phase two of the reopening and will only be allowed to open at 33 percent capacity, plus unlimited outdoor seating that is six feet apart. Beshear said movie theaters and fitness centers will be able to reopen by June 1, campgrounds will be able to reopen by June 11 and some childcare services and outdoor youth sports will be able to reopen on June 15.

“This is a goal, a goal we are pushing for,” Beshear said of childcare services. “We want to have a safe plan for childcare, knowing that it is such a challenge for folks. I will tell you that it will be significantly reduced capacity and it will be very monitored to make sure that it’s safe.”

He said youth sports would be “low-touch” and that all of the youth sports will be outside.

Bars and groups of 50 or more people, which are part of phase three, may be able to open in July.

“While this is the schedule I want to make happen, one thing and one thing only sets the schedule in the end and that’s the coronavirus.” Beshear said. “Any peak that we see, any cause of major concern, we are all going to have to be willing to pause.”

People who are older than 65 and those who have heart or lung conditions are still being encouraged to stay home, even with the reopenings.

Beshear said he came to the decision to open restaurants on May 22 — before groups of 10 people or barbers and salons will be able to open on May 25 as part of phase one — after talking with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. Restaurants in Ohio will open to outdoor seating before Kentucky.

“We hope to be able to gradually raise that capacity,” Beshear said. “But this is the best compromise.”

The reality is that this is the plan to eliminate COVID-19 unemployment checks for thousands of Kentuckians. Beshear is 100% going along with it. I'd like to think it's because he has no choice, if he doesn't, the state GOP will simply make him do it anyway.

But he's going along with it.

Welcome To The Trump Depression

It's now official, folks.  We're in the Trump Depression, and we will be a long, long time.

The impact of the coronavirus-induced economic shutdown tore through the U.S. labor market in April at historic levels, slashing 20.5 million workers from nonfarm payrolls and sending the unemployment rate skyrocketing to 14.7%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Both numbers easily smashed post-World War II era records and help reflect the profound damage done through efforts used to combat the virus.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting payrolls to shed 21.5 million and the unemployment rate to go to 16%. April’s unemployment rate topped the post-war record 10.8% but was short of the Great Depression high estimated at 24.9%. The financial crisis peak was 10% in October 2009.

The bleak numbers paint a “pretty dismal picture, but April may be it for job losses going forward with the country starting to reopen,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank. “If there is a silver-lining in today’s dismal jobs report, it is in the realization that the economy cannot possibly get any worse than it is right now.” 

Spoilers: the job losses are going to continue as Americans aren't going to run out to restaurants and theaters and gyms, and those who do are going to get sick.

A sizable majority of Americans (68%) continue to say their greater concern is that state governments will lift coronavirus-related restrictions on public activity too quickly. Fewer than half as many (31%) say their greater concern is that states will not lift restrictions quickly enough, according to a new Pew Research Center survey that comes as some states begin to ease the restrictions they put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Overall, the public’s views on this question are little changed since early April, though they are somewhat more divided along partisan and ideological lines. Republicans, especially conservative Republicans, have become more concerned that the state restrictions will not be lifted quickly enough, while a growing share of Democrats worry more that they will be lifted too quickly.

Meanwhile, when Americans are asked about the restrictions on public activity in their area, about half (48%) say that the current number of restrictions is about right. The remainder are split between those who believe there should be more restrictions than there are right now (27%) and those who believe there should be fewer (24%), according to the survey, conducted April 29 to May 5 among 10,957 U.S. adults on the Center’s American Trends Panel.

The economy is absolutely going to get worse. Much worse.  And even if we had a vaccine today, nearly a fifth of Americans would refuse to get it and another quarter would be unsure.

As a number of states begin to reopen their economies, a clear majority of Americans believe they are moving too fast, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov coronavirus poll. Even residents of the reopened states agree.

Yet while the survey shows broad, continuing support for lockdown orders and skepticism about whether the time has come to lift them, a surprisingly large number of Americans seem reluctant to take the one step scientists say could actually bring the devastating coronavirus pandemic to an end.

Asked whether they plan to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if and when a vaccine arrives, a majority of Americans (55 percent) say yes.

The rest — a significant minority — say they won’t get vaccinated (19 percent) or they’re not sure (26 percent).

If those results were to hold, tens or even hundreds of millions of unimmunized Americans could ultimately undermine any vaccine’s ability to stop the spread of the virus.

As I keep saying, it's going to take a catastrophic death toll to get these goddamn idiots to play nice.

New tag: Trump Depression.
 

Still Russian To Judgment

As far as Donald Trump is concerned, still convicted national security risk Michael Flynn is now an asset to his 2020 campaign and he wants Flynn back on his team ASAP.

With the Justice Department announcing Thursday that it would drop the case against Michael Flynn, officials close to President Donald Trump are already gaming out ways to bring the former national security adviser back onto the national political stage.

Of the nine senior Trump administration officials, campaign staff, outside advisers, and longtime associates of the president reached on Thursday, all said that they wanted Flynn to assume some public-facing role in service of the president, including potentially as an official Trump surrogate Election Day inches closer. One even compared the ex-general, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials, to one of history’s greatest human rights icons.

“Years ago when Nelson Mandela came to America after years of political persecution he was treated like a rock star by Americans,” John McLaughlin, one of President Trump’s chief pollsters, told The Daily Beast on Thursday evening. “Now after over three years of political persecution General Flynn is our rock star. A big difference is that he was persecuted in America.”

Flynn’s career has been defined by remarkable highs and humiliating lows, having gone from a well-respected intelligence official to an outcast in the Obama administration, to a top surrogate for an insurgent Trump campaign to a disgraced but cooperative witness in the Mueller probe. A forthcoming chapter as a redeemed MAGA hero would seem, in some regards, almost appropriate.

And Trump himself seems determined to see it happen. According to a source who has spoken to the president about Flynn in the past month, Trump had made clear that if legal circumstances permitted, he would want Flynn to get “something good” in his political orbit following years of bad press and legal turmoil. The source said it was unclear if Trump meant a job in the administration, a role for the 2020 campaign, or another position. But the remark was in keeping with other comments that the president uttered throughout the duration of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

As The Daily Beast reported in May 2017, Trump privately expressed hopes that a conclusion of the FBI investigation might permit Flynn to rejoin the administration from which he had recently gotten the boot. Several sources close to Trump said at the time that the president didn’t even believe Flynn should’ve been under any investigation at all.

“Trump feels really, really, really bad about firing him, and he genuinely thinks if the investigation is over Flynn can come back,” one White House official said in May 2017.

And last week, the president told the press that he would “certainly consider” reinstalling Flynn in his administration, adding that the retired general was already an “exonerated” man, even before the Justice Department ditched the case.

This is frankly a mobster capo being rewarded publicly for taking one for the Trump crime family.

Again, Judge Sullivan doesn't have to accept the DOJ dropping the charges.  Bmaz weighs in at Marcy Wheeler's place on what happens next:

Yeah, I don’t know the answer to that. We shall have to await Judge Sullivan entering in with his thoughts. I have no idea where Judge Sullivan will go. For the sake of the rule of law, and, frankly, legal sanity, I hope Judge Sullivan takes this as the full on broadside to law and intelligence that it really is. As I importune relentlessly, courts and law are a function of men and women. They are us. They speak and act for us. Judge Emmet Sullivan is not a man that will take this affront to justice lightly. Nor should he. It is absurd, the court should treat it that way, and, if anything, sanctions ought be imposed on Powell and Flynn.

Okay, where does that leave things? Now that is not a very easy question to answer. Here are a few thoughts though. The first one is “prejudice”. It is absolutely critical whether a dismissal request by the DOJ (or any prosecutor for that matter) is “with prejudice” or “without prejudice”. Here, Tim Shea, and it is crystal clear that means Bill Barr, demands that any dismissal be “with prejudice”. That means that no case based on these facts could ever be brought again. It is a pardon by a corrupt DOJ, without Trump ever having to even issue a pardon. Anybody, including the national press, that describes it differently is straight up lying.

The statute of limitations on a 18 USC §1001 charge for false statements is (as pretty much any charge possible against Flynn save for an ongoing conspiracy allegation) is five years, which is the general statute in federal criminal law. But, you see, that exceeds the time of Trump and Barr if Trump is not reelected. And therein lies the problem and why Mr. Barr and his lackeys Shea and Jensen, are apoplectic to make any dismissal “with prejudice”. Does this ever occur in real criminal justice life? No. Hell no. Of course not, in fact it is always “without prejudice”. Always, unless the government is caught by incontrovertible facts beyond dispute, and even then they usually demur to “without prejudice” dismissal.

But, wait, there’s more, I have other questions! Let’s talk about “materiality” for a moment. It is replete in the position taken by Bill Barr through his boy Tim Shea. To be kind to Mr. Shea, he is an eggplant installed by Trump and Barr. And, here, the eggplant has signed this pleading on his own. Normally any such pleading would be signed by underlings, including career prosecutors. But not here. Why? not clear, but no career track lawyer in DOJ would undersign this garbage. So there is that.

Back to “materiality”: Peruse pages 12-20 of the DOJ motion. Good grief, law review articles will spend hundreds of pages in the future laughing at the arguments Tim Shea has signed off on. Because, presumably nobody but a Trump/Barr appointed toady would even touch that. Yes, it is truly that absurd.

Okay, a parting shot: Normally, when a client puts an attorney’s work in dispute through claims of malpractice, all attorney/client privilege is waived. That is generally how it works. And if Flynn and his Fox News addled lawyer Sid Powell have not accused Rob Kelner and Covington & Burling of malpractice, then there has never been such an accusation. Privilege is waived.

While I thought Judge Sullivan should have disregarded the nonsense, denied all the the Powell crazy (arguably unethical conduct) and just sentenced Flynn. Marcy was right, and I underestimated just how sick the DOJ could be under Barr.
Well, here we are. Flynn and Powell have waived privilege. The DOJ under Barr and, here, Shea, is corrupt beyond comprehension.

But the irreducible minimum is that Judge Emmet Sullivan is the one with jurisdiction and control of this case. Not Trump. Not Barr. An honest and good judge, and one that has proven that over decades. Sidney Powell was right about one, and only one, thing: The Stevens case is a template for the court to find the truth.

Emmet Sullivan is a judge that can appoint an honest and independent special prosecutor to make sure real justice is done. Trump and Barr cannot fire the truth if Judge Sullivan seeks the truth and justice. And he should, for all of us. Judge Sullivan is a lion of justice that has done this before, and he should again.

We'll see what Judge Sullivan does.  I would think he's not going to lie down.

StupidiNews!

• The Bank of England is forecasting a massive depression in the UK, a 14% drop in the British economy that would be the worst yearly contraction in more than three centuries.
• The World Health Organization is warning that nearly 200,000 people could die across Africa if COVID-19 is not contained.
• Farmers in Washington state are giving away thousands of pounds of potatoes to food banks across the state as a direct response to food chain and hunger issues.
• Predictions of an active Atlantic hurricane season this year threatens a second deadly blow to Florida's tourism and agriculture industry as the state tries to reopen for business. 
• University of Kiel researchers have engineered a bacteria that turns solar power into hydrogen, which could find applications in storing solar array power at night.

Last Call For Lowering The Barr, Con't

Attorney General Bill Barr wasn't just brought in to undermine the Mueller investigation, although he has done that on multiple occasions. No, he was brought in to nullify it, as he took a big step in that direction today by dropping all charges against Michael Flynn.

The Justice Department moved Thursday to drop charges against President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts during the presidential transition.

The unraveling of Flynn’s guilty plea marked a stunning reversal by the Justice Department in its case against the retired three-star Army general, who was convicted in the course of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In court documents filed Thursday, the Justice Department said “after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information … the government has concluded that [Flynn’s interview by the FBI in January 2017] was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn,” and that it was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”

It is highly unusual for the Justice Department to seek to undo a guilty plea, and comes just months after Attorney General William P. Barr pressed prosecutors in another of Mueller’s cases to soften their sentencing recommendation for the president’s friend and former political adviser Roger Stone.

Flynn was one of the first and highest-ranking Trump aides to cooperate and be convicted in Mueller’s investigation. He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to making false statements about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States before Trump had taken office and as the FBI was attempting to ascertain whether anyone in Trump’s campaign had coordinated with Russia to influence the election’s outcome.

However, his case became one of the most bitterly contested after Mueller’s probe ended in March 2019. Flynn’s new defense lawyers began moving to void his conviction, alleging he was the victim of a partisan conspiracy by prosecutors, federal investigators and even his initial attorneys. His new defense team also alleged he was insufficiently represented by one of Washington’s most prominent law firms, Covington & Burling, when he entered his guilty plea.

Barr in January directed the U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen of St. Louis to review the case’s handling by the federal prosecutor’s office in Washington, which took over Mueller cases last year, and Jensen made the final recommendation.

“Through the course of my review of General Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Jensen said in a statement. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.”

The retreat could be a political windfall for Trump, who last month announced on Twitter that he was “strongly considering a Full Pardon” for Flynn, whom Trump removed just weeks into the new administration. The Justice Department’s decision also means that the president won’t have to become personally involved in the Flynn case to get the outcome he desired.

To accept the DOJ's logic here, given the voluminous evidence against Flynn, given the confession, trial and conviction, given Judge Sullivan's statement in that trial after conviction that he believed Flynn "sold his country out", you have to suspend disbelief but also basic legal theory.

The DOJ said that Flynn never should have been interviewed. Try to wrap your head around that.

Barr dropped the charges because Trump told him to find a way to do it, so that Trump didn't have to pardon Flynn.

"[Trump] was prepared to pardon [Flynn] as recently as last week... and he was talked out of it by advisors who said 'wait, let the Justice Department, let the judge handle it... rather than intervening in a direct way yourself'" - @peterbakernyt w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/7mF5ibUypA

— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) May 7, 2020

That's it.

That's the story.  Barr made it happen.  First the Stone sentencing mess, now this. This was a pardon without a pardon.

And even Trump was getting his marching orders.

President Donald Trump said he discussed the U.S. investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, calling the probe a “hoax.”

During a meeting with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Trump told reporters that Putin had called him to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Trump said he offered American-made ventilators to combat Russia’s coronavirus outbreak.

Then he remarked that “the Russia hoax” had made it difficult for the U.S. and Russia to deal with each other, “and we discussed that.”

“I said, ‘You know, it’s a very appropriate time, because things are falling out now and coming in line showing what a hoax this whole investigation was, it was a total disgrace, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a lot of things happen over the next number of weeks,”’ Trump said. “This is just one piece of a very dishonest puzzle.” 

Understand now that the next step is bringing charges against those involved in the Mueller probe for "misconduct".

That's coming very soon. Rule of law is just about dead in America.

Plan 9 From Out This Place

So turns out the CDC helpfully worked up a plan to help local and state governments "reopen the economy" safely as they were instructed to do by the Trump regime. The regime took one look at the plan, set it on fire, threw it in the trash can, and set the trash can on fire, then shot the whole thing into the sun.

The Trump administration has shelved a document created by the nation’s top disease investigators with step-by-step advice to local authorities on how and when to reopen restaurants and other public places during the still-raging coronavirus outbreak. 

The 17-page report by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,” was researched and written to help faith leaders, business owners, educators and state and local officials as they begin to reopen. 

It was supposed to be published last Friday, but agency scientists were told the guidance “would never see the light of day,” according to a CDC official. The official was not authorized to talk to reporters and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. 

The AP obtained a copy from a second federal official who was not authorized to release it. The guidance was described in AP stories last week, prior to the White House decision to shelve it. 

The Trump administration has been closely controlling the release of guidance and information during the pandemic spurred by a new coronavirus that scientists are still trying to understand, with the president himself leading freewheeling daily briefings until last week. 

Traditionally, it’s been the CDC’s role to give the public and local officials guidance and science-based information during public health crises. During this one, however, the CDC has not had a regular, pandemic-related news briefing in nearly two months. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield has been a member of the White House coronavirus task force, but largely absent from public appearances. 

The dearth of real-time, public information from the nation’s experts has struck many current and former government health officials as dangerous. 

“CDC has always been the public health agency Americans turn to in a time of crisis,” said Dr. Howard Koh, a Harvard professor and former health official in the Obama administration during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009. “The standard in a crisis is to turn to them for the latest data and latest guidance and the latest press briefing. That has not occurred, and everyone sees that.” 

The Trump administration has instead sought to put the onus on states to handle COVID-19 response. This approach to managing the pandemic has been reflected in President Donald Trump’s public statements, from the assertion that he isn’t responsible for the country’s lackluster early testing efforts, to his description last week of the federal government’s role as a “supplier of last resort” for states in need of testing aid.

Again, the official position of the Trump regime is that the pandemic is over and that tens of millions of Americans can safely go back to work, how they actually do that is up to the states. Giving federal guidelines would of course only put the responsibility on the regime, and they refuse to take responsibility for any of it while taking full credit for the "success" of "reopening the economy".

If that sounds not only bizarre but absolutely delusional, that's because it's both.  The "experts" are no longer needed, you see.  The choices have been made, the economy is back on track, and everything is fine.

Also another 3.2 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, bringing the total to 33 million and the unemployment rate to about 20%, but everything's fine.

Mission accomplished, right?

On Tuesday, as the number of reported deaths from Covid-19 in the United States topped 70,000, the Trump administration declared “mission accomplished” for Phase 1 of its fight against the coronavirus.

Specifically, President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence announced that the coronavirus task force, which Mr. Pence oversees, had been so successful in getting the pandemic under control that the group would most likely disband within the month, to be replaced by a new panel focused on getting America back to work.

“We will have something in a different form,” Mr. Trump explained during his tour of a mask manufacturing plant in Phoenix, at which he did not wear a mask despite signs requesting that one be worn “at all times.” He said that America had moved on to “the next stage of the battle” and that “now we are reopening our country.”

“It really is all a reflection of the tremendous progress we’ve made as a country,” Mr. Pence told reporters at the White House.

By Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump had changed the contours, though not the essence, of his plan. In a tweet thread, he said the coronavirus task force would, in fact, “continue on indefinitely” but shift its efforts — and most likely some of its members — to “focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN.” He closed with, “The Task Force will also be very focused on Vaccines & Therapeutics. Thank you!”

Whether dissolved or repurposed, the White House Task Force focused on coordinating the administration’s public-health response to the pandemic is soon to be no more. To which we can only say: No big loss.

In theory, bringing together a collection of experts to oversee a coordinated federal response to a national emergency makes perfect sense. In practice, the first phase of Mr. Trump’s coronavirus task force was its own form of disaster.

So yeah, we're still very, very screwed and it's only going to get much, much worse.

We're going to be fondly looking back on early May when only 75,000 Americans were dead.

The GOP Goes Viral, Con't

We've now reached the point where red states are openly lying about COVID-19 fatalities in order to help the GOP.

Acting under intense pressure from a coalition of Florida news organizations and open-government advocates, the state Wednesday evening released a list of every Florida fatality documented by a medical examiner resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

The information was so riddled with holes, however, that it sparked as many questions as answers.

Missing from the data set were the names of those who have perished from COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus infections, the probable cause of death (there can be multiple factors) and the circumstances of the person’s demise.
Several news organizations, including the Miami Herald, had for weeks sought access to the list, which is compiled by individual medical examiners and maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Earlier the state had been providing it.

The head of the Florida Medical Examiner’s Commission, which governs the state’s 21 medical examiners, has insisted the information — including the names — is subject to disclosure under the state’s public records law. The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, which oversees state health regulators, has warned the examiners to keep the information secret.

“The Department of Health is telling the medical examiners it cannot release this information that the medical examiners have been releasing on a regular basis,” said Barbara Petersen, president emeritus of the First Amendment Foundation, an open-government watchdog in Tallahassee.
“For whatever reason, our governor is trying to hide information — first about nursing homes, and now from medical examiners. They are trying to paint a rosy picture by refusing to provide us accurate information that allows us to make informed decisions about the health and safety of our families,” Petersen said.

“It’s a disservice to the citizens of the state of Florida.”

The data, while incomplete, provide a glimpse into the lives of the 1,300 to 1,400 people who died from coronavirus in Florida since the pandemic swept the state.

A similar situation is playing out in Arizona.

In an email Monday night, the Arizona Department of Health Services disbanded its team of modelers, which was predicting the spread of the coronavirus and advising state leaders on the impacts of reopening the state.

The modeling team consisted of at least 23 researchers from Arizona State University and University of Arizona. They produced at least two reports for ADHS, which were publicly released after repeated requests from ABC15 and other news agencies.

Steven "Rob" Bailey, an ADHS bureau chief, sent the email to the modeling team Monday evening, just hours after Governor Doug Ducey announced his intentions to open restaurants and beauty salons in the coming days.

A copy of Bailey's email, obtained by ABC15, said, "We've been asked by Department leadership to 'pause' all current work on projections modeling."

Bailey added that he wanted the team to know as soon as possible so they "won't expend further time or effort needlessly." He mentioned the possibility that the team may be called upon again in late summer or early fall.

The email said ADHS would also "pull back the special data sets which have been shared" with the researchers who are no longer assisting the department. The letter thanked the modeling team members, but it gave no reason for discontinuing their work.

Tuesday afternoon, an ADHS spokesman sent ABC15 an email explaining the decision.

It said, "The reason that ADHS is pausing the internal modeling is, as we have said before, we are looking at several national models and have determined that FEMA is the most accurate to help us develop and implement public health interventions to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak."

Again, we have the two states with the largest number of retirees per capita, the age group most vulnerable to COVID-19, reopening the state's businesses and taking overt steps to hide data from the people.

This is not an accident.

This is the GOP trying to keep seniors in the dark.

Last Call For Our Little Domestic Terrorism Problem, Con't

The coming COVID-19 economic depression is absolutely going to be marked by massive public unrest and violence here in the US, and we already know exactly where to start looking for the bad guys.

A Colorado man who planned to attend a “Reopen” rally in Denver on May 1 before he was arrested by the FBI for possessing pipe bombs was involved in the boogaloo movement, a far-right militia offshoot that uses cryptic pop-culture references to prepare for a future civil war. 

FBI agents and other law enforcement executing search warrants on Bradley Bunn’s residence in Loveland, Colo. on May 1 discovered four pipe bombs at the 53-year-old man’s home, according to a press release issued by the US Attorney’s office in Denver. Agents also discovered two one-pound containers of .308 caliber cartridge reloading gunpowder, a potential pipe bomb component, in Bunn’s vehicle. If convicted for possession of destructive devices, Bunn faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The arrest set off a flurry panicked texts from Bunn’s extremist associates in Colorado to allies networked across the country through boogaloo-inspired Facebook pages. On the morning of Bunn’s arrest, Chevy Lee McGee wrote on his Facebook page in all caps: “I might need backup ASAP. Possible police raid at my house.” Then he posted the address of his mother’s house in Fort Collins. He ended with a request: “Need QRF teams,” using a military term for “quick reaction force.”
The day after Bunn’s arrest, McGee identified “Bradley” as “the guy who was arrested and is still being held in corrections by the FBI” in a long Facebook message to Red Flag Alert, a gun-rights page. McGee described an encounter with a SWAT team outside Bunn’s house, a frantic effort to shake off pursuing law enforcement vehicles and an hours-long hideout in wilderness park. Then, after seeing a social-media post from another friend saying the police were at his house, McGee wrote, “I knew I was going to be next, so I made that post for everyone to standby just in case something happened. Then my mom’s freaking out because she works with the sheriff’s office [in Larimer County] and they were talking about me and how I talked to Bradley’s etc. [sic], so she told me to get my ass home. It could’ve been a setup so I have a couple bois roll with me there etc.” 

On the evening of May 1, the administrator of Allegheny Rescue Co., a boogaloo-inspired Facebook page, posted Bunn’s intake record at the Larimer County Detention Center, writing that it was proof of the arrest and the FBI’s involvement. 

Commenters erupted in anger on the page. 

“Should’ve shot their way out,” one commenter wrote. “This is why we need dedicated regiments and strike teams. Get your county and state boog bois together and be ready to go.” 

Another wrote: “This is fucking horse shit. The feds are nervous now, they see people arming and organizing.” He went on to reassure another commenter, using in-group boogaloo code for “brother”: “There will come a time when the police are the ones outnumbered, borther.”
Still another wrote: “They’re on to the boog bus. Tactics may have to change y’all. Just speaking objectively.” He went on to reference the Jan. 20 Second Amendment rally in Richmond, Va., and April 30 rally in Lansing, when Reopen protesters stormed the Michigan state capital: “Richmond was a success and recently Michigan scared some people… and they didn’t like that.”

When it becomes clear that the US economy is going to take a massive hit -- and there's evidence that we've already lost more than twice the jobs lost in 2008 to the Great Recession -- then the outrage and unrest will make this summer hot in more ways than one.

These jobs aren't coming back, folks.  The guy in charge is too busy looting the palace to care. And the rage in his wake is going to plunge us into something very, very bad.

Who Was That Masked Man, Con't

The biggest psychological barrier to Americans wearing a mask to go out is Donald Trump, period.

Most Americans have never had to wear a mask for their health before, let alone while they shop for groceries or go for a run. 

So, even as businesses or states increasingly require them, rebellion is natural -- to a degree, says Dr. David Aronoff, director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Division of Infectious Diseases and professor of medicine. 

But he urges Americans to think of the mask guidance not as forced conformity, but as a necessary act of solidarity: Wearing a cloth mask could stop seemingly healthy people from infecting others with coronavirus if they're asymptomatic. 

"We're all hopeful that this pandemic disappears," he said. "Then we can stop doing as much risk mitigation. But for now, we really depend on the trust and kindness of others to protect our wellbeing. And that's part of being an American." 

Even though wearing masks isn't compulsory in much of the US, adhering to these rules may feel like, to some, a forfeiture of their freedoms. 

People naturally rebel when they're told what to do, even if the measures could protect them, said Steven Taylor, a clinical psychologist and author of "The Psychology of Pandemics." 

"People value their freedoms," he said. "They may become distressed or indignant or morally outraged when people are trying to encroach on their freedoms." 

Aronoff compared the mask guidance to the ban on smoking cigarettes in restaurants or schools. 

"There are rules about not smoking in enclosed restaurants and bars because that smoke can be deleterious to someone else's health," he said. "Now we're in a situation where, if I'm infected with the Covid-19 virus, my breath can be lethal to someone else." 

But while that legislation is permanent, wearing masks won't be, Aronoff said.
But to vocal opponents, even temporary guidance is too much of a concession. 

In Michigan, where up to 700 protesters recently descended on the state Capitol to protest stay-at-home orders, masks are required in stores and businesses. This month, police say a Michigan Family Dollar security guard was shot and killed by customers who he'd asked to wear masks before entering the store.

Also in Michigan, a customer wiped his face on a Dollar Tree employee's shirt after police say the employee told him to wear a mask. 

And within a day of issuing an emergency proclamation requiring masks, the city of Stillwater, Oklahoma, amended the proclamation after citizens threatened violence. 

"Many of those with objections cite the mistaken belief the requirement is unconstitutional, and under their theory, one cannot be forced to wear a mask," city manager Norman McNickle said in a statement. "No law or court supports this view."

Any other president would say "wear a mask, it's the right thing to do."  Trump refuses to do even that.  There's no feeling of shared duty, rather, Trump tells us the shared duty is to go to work while sick to save the economy and his reelection chances.

I'm under no illusion that if Obama or Hillary were president right now that the protests wouldn't be happening, or that two-thirds of Republicans would think large sporting events were perfectly safe.

But good lord, we would have saved tens of thousands of lives.

Trump Goes Viral, Con't

The Trump regime has now dropped all pretense of a "federal response" to COVID-19 and is declaring that Americans will have to die to save the US economy.

President Donald Trump launched headlong into his push to reopen the country on Tuesday, saying Americans should begin returning to their everyday lives even if it leads to more sickness and death from the pandemic.

Trump, speaking in Phoenix during his first trip outside Washington in more than a month, said he’s preparing for “phase two” of the U.S. response to the coronavirus. That will include disbanding the White House task force of public health experts, including Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, that have steered the government response to the outbreak so far.

Trump acknowledged that reopening the economy would likely lead to more suffering.

“Will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes,” Trump said. “But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon.”

On his visit to a Phoenix-based Honeywell International Inc. factory producing medical masks, Trump made his most forceful case yet that the economic damage to the country has become too great to sustain an extended shutdown. He encouraged Americans to think of themselves as “warriors” as they consider leaving their homes, a tacit acknowledgment of deep public reservations about re-opening the country too soon.
The president has expressed increasing frustration with the coronavirus-sparked recession that has put more than 30 million Americans out of work and hurt his case for a second term. The U.S. continues to sport the largest coronavirus outbreak in the world, with about 1.2 million people infected and more than 70,000 killed so far.

Speaking separately in an ABC News interview that aired Tuesday evening, Trump said closing down the nation was “the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make.”

And he was resolute about the decision to reopen the nation, despite the certainty of suffering it will cause until a vaccine is developed.

“There’ll be more death,” he said. “The virus will pass, with or without a vaccine. And I think we’re doing very well on the vaccines but, with or without a vaccine, it’s going to pass, and we’re going to be back to normal.”
“But it’s been a rough process. There is no question about it,” Trump said. “I think our economy is going to be raging” next year, he added.

The White House medical taskforce is being disbanded.  No more federal help is coming. States and cities are now on their own. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, will die to a preventable disease, but only the economy matters, and lives will have to be sacrificed for the greater good of quarterly profits.

The man in charge of the country is going to sacrifice as many of us as it takes. And as far as Republicans around the country are concerned, the pandemic is over and the governors who took no social distancing measures are taking victory laps.

Why are we allowing this to happen?

StupidiNews!

• A federal judge has ruled that New York cannot cancel its June 23rd primary and must hold the vote regardless of health and safety concern.
• None of the GOP political leaders who toured an Arizona factory making PPE Tuesday with Donald Trump were wearing a mask, including Trump himself, who has refused multiple times.
• Disney says despite increased subscriptions to its Disney+ streaming service, the company estimates a $1.4 billion second-quarter loss that the company will recoup by not paying stock dividends.
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been hospitalized for a non-surgical gallbladder ailment, she is expected to be treated and to recover fully.
• California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is suing rideshare giants Lyft and Uber for violating the state's labor laws, which say the companies must treat drivers as employees with benefits.