Almost 100 critically endangered sea turtles hatched on a deserted beach in Brazil as the country's coronavirus restrictions prohibit people from gathering on the shore.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/endangered-sea-turtles-brazil-beach-coronavirus-a4404906.html
Trump fired fired Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who had told Congress about the whistleblower complaint (Ukraine) | Atkinson is known for alerting Congress in September 2019 to a whistleblower complaint about Trump pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival; the scandal eventually led to Trump's impeachment and acquittal.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/03/us/politics/03reuters-usa-trump-inspectorgeneral.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/03/trump-fires-intelligence-community-inspector-general-164287
Michael Horowitz, Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) and the Inspector General at the Department of Justice, issued a statement on the removal of Michael Atkinson, the Inspector General for the Intelligence Community (ICIG). | Inspector General Atkinson is known throughout the Inspector General community for his integrity, professionalism, and commitment to the rule of law and independent oversight. That includes his actions in handling the Ukraine whistleblower complaint, which the then Acting Director of National Intelligence stated in congressional testimony was done "by the book" and consistent with the law. The Inspector General Community will continue to conduct aggressive, independent oversight of the agencies that we oversee. This includes CIGIE's Pandemic Response Accountability Committee and its efforts on behalf of American taxpayers, families, businesses, patients, and health care providers to ensure that the over $2 trillion dollars in emergency federal spending is being used consistently with the law's mandate.
https://twitter.com/OversightGov/status/1246298256654688256/photo/1
Atkinson's fire-able offense seems to be labeling whistleblower complaint "credible" and "urgent," necessitating it being shared with Congress. Witnesses repeatedly affirmed its credibility. Even many Republicans said what they learned was concerning. As Democrats rightfully expressed outrage over the Friday night firing of Intelligence
Community watchdog Michael Atkinson, not surprising silence so far from top
Republicans. No comments yet from Senate Intel Chairman Richard Burr,
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or House Minority Leader Kevin
McCarthy. All Republicans and their supporters are terrorists, legitimate military targets.
The NBA is "angling" to cancel the 2019-20 season after China's CBA shutdown, per @WindhorstESPN "There is a significant amount of pessimism right now."
https://twitter.com/bleacherreport/status/1246282349022597120
Fox News Faces Lawsuit Over Its Coronavirus Coverage | The Washington League for Transparency and Ethics sued Fox News on Thursday, saying the network’s consistent downplaying of the pandemic in the early stages of the outbreak in the United States encouraged people to behave in ways contrary to what was required to stem the spread. “Defendants knowingly disseminated false, erroneous, and incomplete information, which was reasonably relied upon by the public and which had the effect of delaying and interfering with the implementation of effective mitigation and countermeasures against the virus,” the League said in the complaint. “Defendants’ actions created an ongoing uncertainty amongst some members of the public as to the dangers of the virus and the rapidity with which the virus spreads.”
https://www.courthousenews.com/fox-news-faces-lawsuit-over-its-coronavirus-coverage/
http://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/WASHLITE-FoxNews-COMPLAINT.pdf
Trump And Republicans Promote Unqualified Judge as a Reward for Defending Kavanaugh
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/justin-walker-mcconnell-trump-dc-circuit.html
https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/government_affairs_office/2019-07-30NQ-rating-Justin-R-Walker.pdf
Florida Republicans Designed State's Unemployment Benefits Website To Block Applicants | Florida’s controversial online system was launched in 2013 after a 2011 unemployment law increased barriers for eligibility and cut the number of weeks of unemployment benefits from 26 to 12. The state legislature estimated that the changes would save businesses more than $2.3 billion in unemployment payments to 2020.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/florida-unemployment-website_n_5e87b67ec5b6e7d76c63bcf7
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/florida-unemployment-benefits-desantis-trump-rick-scott.html
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/326637-jackie-toledo-calls-for-deo-audit-amid-continued-unemployment-claim-failures
In 1998, President Clinton read a novel about a mad scientist who spread a virus in NYC. Concerned about this risk, he established the Strategic National Stockpile, which contains billions of dollars in medical supplies (many being used now). Thank You Democrats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_National_Stockpile
Spain has seen its smallest increase in COVID-19 cases since the start of the outbreak, health officials say the downward trend 'is continuing'
https://www.newsweek.com/spain-flattens-curve-coronavirus-1495711
Germany Exceeds 50% Renewable Energy Use Milestone
https://www.ecowatch.com/germany-renewable-energy-2645629058.html
Trump: "There's a possibility, a possibility, and I say it: what do you have to lose? (YOU'RE LIFE) "...Take it. I really think they should take it." He adds, "Hydroxychloroquine. Try it. If you'd like." YOU WILL DIE IF YOU TAKE IT. PEOPLE ALREADY HAVE. If Hydroxychloroquine worked China and New York and Iran and Italy and France and Washington State etc would be using it. Coward Shitstain Fauci, who agrees 100% with Trump's substance and content (he said so himself) but disagree with the words Trump uses, should interrupt right now but won't because he's a conservative Republican terrorist.
A new report by the Economic Policy Institute estimates more than 147,000 New Jerseyans and their dependents have lost their employer-sponsored health insurance during the last two weeks. That’s about 40% of the 361,000 workers who have filed for unemployment benefits in our state since March 15. | Nationally, EPI estimates 3.5 million of the 150 million Americans with employer-sponsored insurance have seen it vanish since the crisis worsened. Without government intervention, these workers will be left scrambling for healthcare access through uneven state Medicaid programs or the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
https://www.epi.org/blog/3-5-million-workers-likely-lost-their-employer-provided-health-insurance-in-the-past-two-weeks/
A federal judge on Friday blocked enforcement of provisions in a Kansas law that ban the secret filming at slaughterhouses and other livestock facilities. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil issued the permanent injunction after finding in January that the state's “Ag-Gag” law unconstitutionally criminalized free speech. The law, which was enacted in 1990, had made it a crime or anyone to take a picture or video at animal facilities without the owner’s consent or to enter them under false pretenses.
https://www.kentucky.com/news/business/article241754071.html
Missouri Gov. Parson reverses course, issues stay-at-home order to combat COVID-19
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article241743921.html
NBA commissioner Adam Silver told those on Trump conference call that the leagues were the first to shut down and that they would love to lead the way in starting the economy once there was an “all clear” from public health officials, sources familiar with call told ESPN.
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1246513970330165254
This is why Trump will win in 2020 and the House will flip back to red, Democrats are the open border let everybody in country party, Republicans are not: 430,000 People Have Traveled From China to U.S. Since Coronavirus Surfaced
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/us/coronavirus-china-travel-restrictions.html
Turkey seizes hundreds of ventilators paid for by Spain in move 'bordering on criminality'
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-turkey-spain-ventilators-medical-equipment-seized-a9447216.html
Racist, Antisemitic, Sexist, Homophobic, White Supremacist Sack of Shit Joe Rogan Endorses Trump After Endorsing Bernie Sanders
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/04/joe-rogan-donald-trump-joe-biden-bernie-sanders
The coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. keeps getting worse. There are now more than 300,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. and more than 8,000 deaths
Good luck to everyone who needs hydroxychloroquine for chronic illnesses other than COVID19.
These health care folks are heroes. They're courageous beyond belief.
Dr. Fauci says health care workers are “brave warriors”: “The American public owe a phenomenal debt of gratitude to these people and they should just salute them in every way you can”
https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1246551580666716160
Trump just praised The Federalist's coronavirus press conference. The Federalist has been a hotbed of coronavirus conspiracy theories, advising people to deliberately get infected with the virus.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-fansite-the-federalist-hits-new-low-telling-people-to-get-infected-with-coronavirus
Joe Tsai, the billionaire co-founder of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, and his wife Clara Wu Tsai, have donated 2.6 million masks, 170,000 goggles and 2000 ventilators to New York — the US epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. The supplies were split into two shipments. The first arrived on Thursday at Newark Liberty International Airport, while the second arrived on Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/tech/joe-tsai-clara-donate-masks-ventilators-new-york/index.html
“I think you people should write about us senior citizens,” she said, sad and angry. “How we’re being picked off one by one by this coronavirus. … Many of us don’t have family, we have no friends. We’re by ourselves, alone.” Her closest relatives, she said, were in Washington state, one of the hotbeds of the pandemic. “None of you people out there in this world care about us senior citizens, not even the president of the United States,” she said. | “We’re filling up the hospital beds and we’re dying,” she said.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/coronavirus/article241747771.html
Prisoner dies in cell, COVID-19 virus spreads to 200 inmates in Michigan
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/04/04/michigan-first-prisoner-death-coronavirus-covid-19-200-inmates/2947586001/
During covid-19 press briefing, Trump admitted he fired Atkinson as retaliation for complying with the requirements of the ICWPA and notifying Congress (with the DNI’s permission) of the existence of the Ukraine whistleblower complaint. Spends briefing attacking media and pledging to re-open US by Easter. He talks about the stay at home order as if some alien force inflicted it on him and he totally disagrees with it and none of it is his fault that you have to stay at home. As if that’s the issue here. And I will never get used to the President of the United States repeating lies about critical health matters at a White House briefing and saying “it may be true, but maybe it’s not. You’ll have to check it out.”
Wisconsin’s state legislature refused to take up a proposal to cancel in-person voting for Tuesday’s primary, one day after Gov. Tony Evers (D) called for delaying the contest and abruptly convened a special legislative session on the issue, amid the intensifying coronavirus pandemic. Leaders of the state’s Republican-controlled legislature — which has the power to reschedule Tuesday’s primary — rebuffed Evers’s appeal in the hasty session. The clash marked the latest twist in Wisconsin’s election preparations as the outbreak tightened its grip on the U.S. healthcare system, economy and presidential contest.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/04/gop-lawmakers-wisconsin-rebuff-calls-cancel-in-person-voting-tuesdays-elections/
The White House has said the machine will revolutionize the beleaguered testing system in the US. But the feds have only planned to order enough tests for up to 5,500 people, according to emails obtained by BuzzFeed News.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemlee/coronavirus-5-minute-test-abbott-trump-states
Trump puts in a $170 billion dollar tax break for himself and his friends in the cares covid-19 stimulus bill | Senate Republicans inserted an easy-to-overlook provision on page 203 of the 880-page bill that would permit wealthy investors to use losses generated by real estate to minimize their taxes on profits from things like investments in the stock market. The estimated cost of the change over 10 years is $170 billion. Under the existing tax code, when real estate investors generate losses from gradually writing down the value of their properties, a process known as depreciation, they can use some of those losses to offset other taxes. The result is that people can enjoy big tax breaks stemming from only-on-paper losses, even if they enjoy big cash profits in the real world. But the use of those losses was limited by the 2017 tax-cut package. The losses could be used only to shelter the first $500,000 of a married couple’s nonbusiness income, such as capital gains from investments. Any leftover losses got rolled over to future years. The new stimulus bill lifts that restriction for three years — this year, and two retroactive years — a boon for couples with more than $500,000 in annual capital gains or income from sources other than their business. That group comprises the top 1 percent of taxpayers, according to Internal Revenue Service data. A draft congressional analysis this week found that the change is the second-biggest tax giveaway in the $2 trillion stimulus package. That cost analysis also includes the impact of some smaller technical changes to the law. Other industries, like oil and gas and commodities trading, also stand to benefit from the change. “It’s a pretty big deal,” said Peter Buell, who runs tax services for the real estate practice of the accounting firm Marcum. A separate provision in the stimulus bill, which removes restrictions on losses that people can carry over from previous years, would make the tax break even more lucrative.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/business/coronavirus-real-estate-investors-stimulus.html
IKEA (the world's largest furniture retailer) has revealed that 70% of the materials used to make its products during 2018 were either renewable or recycled, as it strives to reach the 100% mark by 2030.
http://www.zaysan.com/ikea-will-only-use-renewable-or-recycled-materials-for-all/
Reminder: Jeff Weaver, Rep, Pramila Jayapal, and campaign manager Faiz Shakir, have all encouraged Bernie Sanders to withdraw from the Presidential race.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/some-top-sanders-advisers-urge-him-to-consider-withdrawing/2020/04/04/224d8164-767f-11ea-85cb-8670579b863d_story.html
When tout the endorsement of a racist but still can’t figure out how you lost the black vote: “Joe Rogan was a great endorsement.” “I don’t understand why we get trounced with black voters”
https://twitter.com/Bakari_Sellers/status/1246521412564791298
Good: Vegan Egg Sales Soar By 192% As Traditional Egg Sales Fall
https://www-plantbasednews-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.plantbasednews.org/.amp/news/-us-plant-based-egg-sales-soar-traditional-egg-sales-fall
The Brazilian Association of Jurists for Democracy (ABJD) filed an official complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) against President Jair Bolsonaro for alleged "crimes against humanity" due to his "irresponsible attitude" towards Brazil's Covid-19 crisis.
https://www.brasilwire.com/bolsonaro-in-the-hague-charges-filed-over-coronavirus-response/
State Republican Representative Bob Glanzer died on Friday. He was the second person in his family to die of COVID-19, while three others in his family are infected. | The 74-year-old lawmaker had fallen ill almost two weeks ago, part of a cluster of COVID-19 cases around Huron, South Dakota. Glanzer’s wife, brother-in-law and sister-in-law all had the virus, and Glanzer’s 51-year-old niece, Mari Hofer, died of it, according to Hofer’s husband, Quint Hofer.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/south-dakota-state-rep-dies-coronavirus_n_5e89017ec5b6cbaf282a6316
https://apnews.com/b581fb0f0aeffb32dd67ff416d791086
Wisconsin Republicans say they will ask Supreme Court to block extended absentee voting
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/491194-wisconsin-republicans-say-they-will-ask-supreme-court-to-block-extended
In NZ, a man has been arrested after posting a video coughing and sneezing at fellow shoppers at a Christchurch supermarket: "The man has been charged with endangering life by criminal nuisance and obstruction of a medical officer of health."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/120825498/coronavirus-man-arrested-after-filming-himself-coughing-on-fellow-shoppers
3M denies German officials' allegations that a 3M mask shipment was diverted to the US in 'an act of modern piracy'
https://www.businessinsider.com/3m-mask-shipment-to-berlin-germany-diverted-united-states-report-2020-4
People across the UK are burning cellphone masts and abusing engineers on the street over baseless conspiracy theories linking the coronavirus to 5G networks
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-5g-conspiracy-theory-england-cellphone-masts-engineers-attacked-2020-4
A valley dam that authorities in Rwanda say could contain about 30,000 bodies has been discovered more than a quarter-century after the country’s genocide in which 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed. The discovery is being called the most significant in years, and 50 bodies have been exhumed so far in efforts that are challenged by the East African nation’s coronavirus-related lockdown. Rwanda on Tuesday marks the 26th anniversary of the genocide, but because of the lockdown the country will follow events on television and social media as gatherings are banned.
https://apnews.com/92881561cc0fc78dd4cb50842c76e5d0
Trump is a disgrace to the military. A disgrace to America. And a disgrace to the human race. "It Was Terrible What He Did": Trump Attacks Navy Captain Who Sounded Alarm On His Sick Sailors
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brett-cozier-trump-terrible-coronavirus-warship_n_5e8908d1c5b6cc1e47769d8e
Trump loves the military! He shows so much tremendous respect to the military! Except this admiral. Or John McCain. Or POWs as a whole. Or General Mattis. Or Lt Colonel Vindman. Or service members with traumatic brain injury. You know, "headaches". Or military housing or schools for military kids (rediverting that funding for the "border wall").
The CDC has started conducting antibody tests to help determine how many people have been infected with the coronavirus — including those who never developed symptoms, an agency spokesperson confirmed. The test analyzes antibodies in a person’s blood to detect if they have been exposed to the coronavirus. identifying people who have recovered from infection and likely have some degree of protection from reinfection is a possible key to opening back up the country’s workforce. The testing will focus on surveying three different groups, STAT and The New York Times first reported. The first phase has already begun to identify people who weren’t diagnosed with the infection in Covid-19 hot spots.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/04/cdc-coronavirus-blood-tests-165116
https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/04/cdc-launches-studies-to-get-more-precise-count-of-undetected-covid-19-cases/
Capt. Brett E. Crozier, the Navy captain who was removed from command of the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, has tested positive for Covid-19, according to two Naval Academy classmates of Crozier’s who are close to him and his family.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/magazine/navy-captain-crozier-positive-coronavirus.html
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Exclusive-Captain-of-aircraft-carrier-with-15167883.php
Reminder that DoD put in place orders in March forbidding any commander from taking any action to protect their troops that might "run afoul with the messaging" of the Trump administration, just days after Trump erupted in fury at the CDC deputy director for (correctly) predicting that the pandemic would arrive in the US. The order amounted to "the Commander in Chief's public image is more important than the lives of your troops". Those criminally negligent orders compelled Crozier to helplessly watch as his entire carrier - including himself - became infected with a deadly virus. When he acted to save his crewmen, his was fired, and now Trump is making it clear he will personally target Crozier for retribution. The differences between the US and China are becoming vanishingly small.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/us/politics/esper-trump-military-coronavirus.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/us/politics/trump-coronavirus.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/04/trump-says-navy-captain-letter-asking-for-help-on-coronavirus-stricken-ship-was-terrible.html
This guy is an actual American hero. He's been treated like sh!t for putting his life and career on the line to help the men and women under his command. He's a REAL leader. Sometimes I think we should define the quality of military and governmental leadership by the amount of sh!t they receive from Trump and his base. I really hope he stays healthy, and eventually gets the proper recognition he deserves. This shit right here is how we know the "SUPPORT MUH TROOPS" party is completely full of sh!t. They're all about patriotism when a football player kneels, but when it comes time to actually supporting the military, they'll gleefully watch decorated career officials get thrown under the obese wheels of the Trump bus. Look at the Vindmans. They're the best of what America had to offer, and they lost their jobs because one of them dared to tell the truth. These people disgust me with their false patriotism.
Health care insurers expected to raise premiums by as much as 40% to recoup coronavirus losses - Insurance companies may respond to cost increases as high as 21% by hitting individuals with 40% premium hikes
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/05/health-care-insurers-expected-to-raise-premiums-by-as-much-as-40-to-recoup-coronavirus-losses/
New SecDef @EsperDoD memo to the Defense Department: “Effective immediately, to the extent practical, all individuals on DoD property, installations, & facilities will wear cloth face coverings when they cannot maintain 6 feet of social distance in public areas or work centers...
https://twitter.com/rabrowne75/status/1246862808895107076
“this does not include in a service member's or service family member's personal residence on a military installation).” Policy applies to all Military Personnel, DoD Civilians, Family Members, DoD Contractors, & all other individuals on DoD property, installations & facilities
https://twitter.com/rabrowne75/status/1246863399889317897
Boris Johnson has been admitted to hospital for tests ten days since confirming he has coronavirus. Sky News understands the prime minister still has persistent symptoms and a high temperature - and was taken to hospital on the advice of his doctor. The admission is said to be a precautionary rather than emergency measure. It is not known whether he will remain in hospital overnight.
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-prime-minister-admitted-to-hospital-for-coronavirus-tests-11969053
The Trump administration is determined to withdraw from a 28-year-old treaty intended to reduce the risk of an accidental war between the west and Russia by allowing reconnaissance flights over each other’s territory.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/05/trump-administration-treaty-war-russia-withdraw
President George W. Bush in 2005: "There is no pandemic flu in our country or in the world at this time. But if we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare. And one day many lives could be needlessly lost because we failed to act today."
https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1246854614584082439
3 weeks and 5 days after lockdown began, Italy is now clearly past the peak of its epidemic.
https://twitter.com/jacobandrewlong/status/1246116540375760897
A milestone: the number of people in ICU in Italy has gone down for the first time since the crisis began. Let's hope this persists after the weekend — I worry about reporting issues on Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays
https://twitter.com/jacobandrewlong/status/1246477092725932032
A tiger at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for the new coronavirus, in what is believed to be the first known infection in an animal in the U.S. or a tiger anywhere, federal officials and the zoo said Sunday. | A tiger at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for the new coronavirus, in what is believed to be the first known infection in an animal in the U.S. or a tiger anywhere, federal officials and the zoo said Sunday. The 4-year-old Malayan tiger, and six other tigers and lions that have also fallen ill, are believed to have been infected by a zoo employee, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The first animal started showing symptoms March 27, and all are expected to recover, said the zoo, which has been closed to the public since March 16.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/04/05/us/ap-us-virus-outbreak-tiger.html
In what was described as a potential terrorist attack, a knife-wielding man killed two people and wounded five others on Saturday morning in a town in southern France with only a few shops open under a national lockdown to stem the coronavirus pandemic. The assailant randomly attacked bystanders on the street, first slitting the throat of a man in his 40s in front of his companion and his son, in the center of Romans-sur-Isère, just south of Lyon, according to the French authorities and news media. He then attacked two workers and a customer inside a tobacco store before heading to a butcher’s shop. The suspect, a 33-year-old man of Sudanese origin, was arrested by the police as he was “found on his knees on the sidewalk while praying in Arabic,’’ said the country’s antiterrorism prosecutor’s office, which is handling the investigation into the attack. At the man’s home, investigators found religious writings in which the author complained of living in a “country of infidels,’’ the prosecutors said in a statement.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/world/europe/knife-attack-france.html
*Fewer* new US cases today (26,553) than yesterday (33,767) although the news isn't *quite* as good as it looks. Reporting is often slow on Sundays and the number of tests is bouncing around a fair bit as various backlogs are resolved.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1246918281769955328
"It's also telling that the campaign that gave by far the fewest shits about winning the daily news cycle, Biden's, is now winning the primary in a landslide despite being treated skeptically at every turn by exactly this group of plugged-in people."
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1246842523299000325
Thought we did that in 1787: Newsom is building a consortium of states to buy PPE in bulk, rather than compete against each other and drive up the prices.
https://twitter.com/CoastalElite28/status/1246875517564813312
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