Light News

House Democrats introduce plan to pay Americans $2,000 a month until economy recovers from COVID-19 closure
https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-would-receive-2000-a-month-under-house-democrats-plan-2020-4

An estimated 90% of the cumulative deaths in the US from Covid-19 ... might have been prevented by putting social distancing policies into effect two weeks earlier, on March 2 [Trump implemented them on 3/16].
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/opinion/covid-social-distancing.html

Did anyone point out the 19 stands for ... 2019? (the year it was discovered, not the 19th time it made an appearance)
https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1250395628305362944

Indiana Republican Rep. Trey Hollingsworth says letting more Americans die of coronavirus is lesser of two evils compared to economy tanking | "it is always the American government's position to say, in the choice between the loss of our way of life as Americans and the loss of life, of American lives, we have to always choose the latter."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/politics/trey-hollingsworth-coronavirus/index.html

Paris climate goals failure 'could cost world $600 tn' | Researchers found that the world would gain $336-422 trillion by 2100 if action was taken to keep warming to 2C and 1.5C respectively. But if they fail to achieve the Paris temperature goals, countries stand to lose up to $600 trillion
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-paris-climate-goals-failure-world.html

Reminder: Joe biden unveils plan to forgive student debt and expand medicare eligibility as unemployment soars
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-unveils-plan-forgive-student-debt-expand-medicare-eligibility-unemployment-soars-1497202

Reminder: A delay of even 1 day in stimulus checks is too much, but especially just to flatter 45's vanity & give him political advantage. Hold him accountable. Vote Democrat straight down the ballot in November.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/coming-to-your-1200-relief-check-donald-j-trumps-name/2020/04/14/071016c2-7e82-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html

Now more than ever, we need the truth. And the truth is that Donald Trump dismantled the infrastructure handed to him which was meant to plan for and overcome a pandemic, resulting in unnecessary deaths and economic disaster. | The truth is that in January Donald Trump was warned about this pandemic, ignored those warnings, took insufficient action and caused unnecessary death and disaster. | The truth is that Donald Trump told his most loyal followers that the pandemic was a hoax and that it would magically disappear, thus endangering lives and paving the way for economic disaster. | The truth is that we did not have proper testing available in March despite Trump repeatedly claiming that we did; and even now, we do not have adequate tests, masks, PPE, and necessary equipment, which creates unnecessary death and suffering. | The truth is because of an incompetent reaction to this health crisis, the strong economy handed to Donald Trump is now a disaster, causing the suffering of countless Americans and endangering lives. | The truth is a weak person, a poor leader, takes no responsibility. A weak person blames others. | There are important decisions ahead. Making the right choices requires understanding the truth of what took place & of what is currently happening.
https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/41420-0

Judge rejects effort from Mike Huckabee, others to access private Florida beaches amid coronavirus
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/mike-huckabee-others-sued-florida-county-get-access-private-beaches-n1183521

The Pentagon’s top general has said that US intelligence has looked into the possibility that the coronavirus outbreak could have started in a Chinese laboratory, but that the weight of evidence so far pointed towards natural origins.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/14/covid-19-origin-lab-general-mark-milley

5G-Masts are still under attack in the UK, Ireland and Netherlands due to a coronavirus conspiracy theory
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52281315

Zoos that should have been crowded in the sunny Easter holidays are now hard-up and asking for donations, as the coronavirus lockdown bites. A zoo director in northern Germany has even admitted that some animals might soon have to be fed to others, if the zoo is to survive. "We've listed the animals we'll have to slaughter first," Neumünster Zoo's Verena Kaspari told Die Welt. | Ms Kaspari's zoo belongs to an association, which is not covered by the state emergency fund for small businesses. | Germany's national zoo association (VdZ) argues that zoos, unlike many other businesses, cannot go into hibernation and run down costs. Animals still have to be fed daily and looked after, while a tropical enclosure has to be heated above 20C.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52283658

Can we make him sign the death certificates instead? Trump had originally asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to allow him to formally sign the checks, but the president isn't legally authorized to do so.
https://www.newsweek.com/stimulus-checks-may-delayed-trump-requires-us-treasury-print-his-name-them-1497916

Kansas Congresswoman Sharice Davids, one of the first two Native American women to serve in Congress, endorses Joe Biden
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/two-native-american-congressmen-endorse-joe-biden-for-president/

I’m seeing way too many of my peers proudly claim that they won’t be voting for Biden in November, so I made this TikTok in response. There is far too much at stake to vote based on what makes us feel good inside. We have lives to save — and an egomaniac to beat. #Biden2020
https://twitter.com/ziadtheactivist/status/1248801095322939392

Leaked CDC and FEMA plan warns of ‘significant risk of resurgence of the virus’ with phased reopening
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2020/04/15/daily-202-leaked-cdc-and-fema-plan-warns-of-significant-risk-of-resurgence-of-the-virus-with-phased-reopening/5e9688d288e0fa101a763033/

Triple-digit billion dollar airlines that donated to Trump's re-election gets first dibs on $25 billion dollar "bailout" | Trump chose White House lawyer Brian Miller to serve as the inspector general, though he will need to be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate. | The airlines in line to get aid have ties to the Trump administration, according to TrumpBailouts, a new website launched by the government watchdog group Accountable.US Action to track the recipients of the funds, as well as their ties to the Trump administration and contributions to the Trump campaign. Daniel Elwell, the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, previously worked as a lobbyist for Airlines 4 America, which represents companies like American, Southwest and JetBlue. The data gathered by the watchdog group shows the airlines have contributed to Trump's re-election bid. American, which is getting $5.8 billion, contributed $264,366 to Trump's re-election effort. Southwest, which is in line for a $3.2 billion bailout, donated $125,655. JetBlue, which is expected to receive just under $1 billion, contributed more than $42,000. | "For the millions of Americans facing painful financial choices right now, the very least the Trump administration can do is spend their tax dollars responsibly and effectively," Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US Action, said. | American, which saved about $924 million thanks to the tax cut, spent more than $1 billion on stock buybacks last year. Southwest, which saved more than $1.3 billion, spent more than $2 billion on stock buybacks in 2019.
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/14/airlines-that-donated-to-trumps-re-election-get-first-dibs-on-25-billion-corporate-bailout/
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/14/coronavirus-aid-us-airlines-treasury-department-reach-agreement-in-principle-on-aid.html
https://www.trumpbailouts.org/

Guatemala's health minister says 75% of deportees on a recent flight from US tested positive for coronavirus but tell us again how the WHO is the problem
https://lahora.gt/monroy-75-en-un-vuelo-de-deportados-dieron-positivo-por-covid-19/

When 100% of the swing seats in 2018 and 2019 were flipped by a moderate Democrat and when Biden is blowing out Sanders in Florida, Michigan, and Wisconsin, it absolutely baffles me why "the left" think we should all bow down to their demands

- "So we vote Trump out, thus letting the DNC know that candidates like Joe Biden are totally fine and this is what we want the future of the party to look like?"
- Me: Okay, fair. So we don't vote Trump out, thus letting the DNC know that candidates like Donald Trump are totally fine and this is what we DEMOCRATS want the future of the party AND AMERICA AND THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE to look like.

Berniebros: Bernie’s been right about everything for the past 40 years. Also Bernie Bros: Bernie is wrong to endorse Biden!

Democrat Barbara Bollier leads Republican Kris Kobach 44-42 for US Senate seat in Kansas
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000171-7d10-d92d-a5ff-fd3a416c0000
https://bollierforkansas.com/
https://twitter.com/BarbaraBollier
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/wyden-bollier

Kris Kobach is a failure of a human being. He has a Yale law degree but was ordered by a judge to take remedial law classes for handling a case so bad while he was Secretary of State for Kansas. He also misspelled his name while filling to run this election.

"If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it."
-Lindsey Graham

I want Donald Trump to look these folks in the eye and explain to them why they or their loved ones haven’t been able to get tested for COVID-19. We’ve got to do better.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1250227340145197056

Remember: Donald Trump (R-Impeached)
Remember: Trump killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda

If Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could deliver the young people vote Sanders would be the nominee. Fuck her and the other two antisemitic pieces of shit (Omar, Tlaib) and the entire "left". She's stil refusing to simply say, "Yes I'll vote for Biden because that means putting the entire Democratic party - including all the leftists and moderates - back in control of the government where it belongs". 

Normal Democrats are looking way better in all this. Do you really think Sanders would have reached out to Biden to change his platform? Hell no. Do you think Obama would have said about Sanders if he won the nomination "Yeah, I think we'll see". The so-called moderates are bending over backward to work together with others while leftists behave like they are owed something for losing a primary. Then you see that Sanders supporters come on and say they are the only ones who have to compromise and they are sick of it. Everyone is compromising all the time. Republicans have propaganda networks on tv, radio, and online that keep their base stupid and in line. We have to all come together to build a large enough coalition to beat that. Or we get zero progress.

Obama warned of pandemic threat in 2014 and Republicans blocked funding. If Trump inherited empty cupboards, why did he wait to fill them up? That's a much more pressing question than asking about Obama's situation that Obama tried to correct but was blocked by the Republicans..
https://www.ajc.com/news/obama-warned-pandemic-threat-2014-but-republicans-blocked-funding/dh2H9HxiuBY05T5uPqtqpI/

The IRS has launched a Get My Payment tracking tool for the $1,200 stimulus checks that it’s sending to most Americans
https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

Russia Is Still Interfering With US Elections And Trump And Republicans Are Covering It Up
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/adam-schiff-russia-is-still-interfering-with-us-elections-and-trump-is-covering-it-up/

"Now you may be asking yourself, 'How much damage can he really do in the next several months until the election?' A lot, a lot of damage."
- Adam Schiff, January 2020, impeachment trial.

The Anti-Trump Republicans see Biden as a placeholder President to bring politics back out of lunatic space and buy time for a more sensible conservative party to reemerge. Republicans endorsing Biden does not mean the Democratic Party's platform is "republican" nor does it mean Republicans support the Democratic Party platform.

U.S. Supreme Court to hear Trump financial records cases on May 12
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-trump-finances/u-s-supreme-court-to-hear-trump-financial-records-cases-on-may-12-idUSKCN21X2V1

Trump Abandons Task Force on Reopening U.S., Hosts Calls Instead | Several of the companies and other participants said they found out they were invited only after Trump announced their names in a Rose Garden news conference on Tuesday or from a subsequent White House statement. They said they didn’t know the format or the purpose of the calls, and some expressed doubt the exercise would be productive.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-15/trump-s-task-force-to-reopen-u-s-becomes-a-day-of-phone-calls

We Alerted The World' To Coronavirus On Jan. 5, WHO Says In Response To U.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/15/835179442/we-alerted-the-world-to-coronavirus-on-jan-5-who-says-in-response-to-u-s

Past 24 hours:
-Russia test fired an anti-satellite missile
-Russian jet buzzes U.S. spy plane in Mediterranean
-Iranian gun boats harass U.S. warships in Persian Gulf
-North Korea fires cruise missiles into sea
-China may have conducted nuclear test (h/t @mgordonwsj)
https://twitter.com/LucasFoxNews/status/1250531724490137601

11 Iranian IRGC Navy boats conducted "dangerous and provocative actions" by getting too close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the northern Persian Gulf today, the Navy said
https://twitter.com/dave_brown24/status/1250528215862566916

As Trump courts Putin: Russian Su-35 jet performed an “unsafe” intercept of a US P-8 surveillance aircraft Wednesday while it was flying in international airspace over the Mediterranean Sea, says @USNavy.
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1250533464945893382

Armed White Nationalist Michigan Conservative Coalition Protestors gather at Michigan’s state Capitol in opposition to Gov. Whitmer's stay-at-home order, clogging the streets with their cars while others ignored organizers' pleas to stay inside their vehicles. They are using their cars to gridlock everything, block hospital entrances ... in an attempt to protest social distancing
https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/1250532494379749377
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/lock-her-anti-whitmer-coronavirus-lockdown-protestors-swarm-michigan-capitol-n1184426

It's taken less than 2 weeks to reach the $349B cap for stimulus small business loans. This is a sign that more than 1.3 million small businesses will eventually get desperately needed cash. It's also a sign that way more might be needed.
https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-stimulus-cap-small-business-c72c6836-03ee-43d9-a617-bcfa0826eed6.html

Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced unauthorized immigrants in California can apply to receive $500 of coronavirus relief provided by the state starting in May. "Every Californian ... should know that California is here to support them during this crisis."
https://www.axios.com/california-undocumented-immigrant-coronavirus-cash-52c596a0-6dc3-4697-8293-673c579d73ab.html

Kentucky Republicans Celebrate After Making It More Difficult for People to Vote During Coronavirus Crisis
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2020/04/kentucky-republicans-celebrate-after-making-it-more-difficult-for-people-to-vote-during-coronavirus-crisis/

“I think the 9/11 families have lost all hope that the president is going to step up and do the right thing. He’s too beholden to the Saudis.” | Illegally Appointed Criminal Attorney General Barr Refuses to Release 9/11 Documents to Families of the Victims
https://www.propublica.org/article/attorney-general-barr-refuses-to-release-9-11-documents-to-families-of-the-victims

Data shows a decline over past few weeks in emergency room visits for #COVID19 like illness.
https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1250538476103221249

Trump just announced he'll reveal new reopening guidelines tomorrow. "It's been a horrible time to see such death and destruction - "especially coming out of such a fantastic economy."

He says "death" like it turns him on. His enthusiastic fixation with violent imagery during speeches is disturbing.

 A Travis County judge sided with Texas voting advocates this afternoon, agreeing that Texans who wish to avoid the polls on Election Day can apply for mail-in ballots even if they are not yet sick or disabled. Story incoming on @CourthouseNews.com, details to follow.
https://twitter.com/cucumbermarg/status/1250512566641721344


“[Trump] looked us in the eye on 9/11, he shook our hands in the White House and said, ‘I’m going to help you — it’s done,’” recalled one of those present, Brett Eagleson, a banker whose father was killed in the World Trade Center. “I think the 9/11 families have lost all hope that [Trump] is going to step up and do the right thing. He’s too beholden to the Saudis.” | "the Justice Department has doubled down on its claim that the information is a state secret." (Which proves the point of the victims suing Saudi Arabia. The "state secret" is that Saudi Arabia has been a central funding source and supporter of international Islamic terrorism. Of course Republicans don't want to expose that fact because Saudi Arabia is also a key source of illegal campaign funding for Republican politicians.)
https://www.propublica.org/article/attorney-general-barr-refuses-to-release-9-11-documents-to-families-of-the-victims

The "state secret" is that Saudi Arabia has been a central funding source and supporter of international Islamic terrorism.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/analyses/wahhabism.html

Here's the real reason why Trump's VOA nominee Michael Pack's nomination has stalled: Pack used nonprofit donations to fund his media firm
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/20/trump-nominee-michael-pack-used-nonprofit-donations-to-fund-media-firm.html

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday she respects the right to protest but believes many of the thousands of people who gathered at the Capitol Wednesday put themselves and others at risk of contracting COVID-19. | "I was really disappointed to see people congregating and not wearing masks," Whitmer said. She said she saw one person "handing out candy with bare hands." Whitmer said she was also disappointed with reports of at least one ambulance being delayed amid other traffic disruptions. Also, "they were in close proximity, they were touching each other." “We know that this demonstration is going to come at a cost to people’s health," Whitmer said. "When people gather that way without masks ... that’s how COVID-19 spreads. "The sad irony here is that ... they don’t like being in this stay-at-home order and they may have just created the need to lengthen it, which is something we’re trying to avoid at all costs.” Whitmer said she also saw at least one demonstrator "flying the Confederate flag" — a symbol of racism and white supremacy. | Whitmer said for the sake of Michigan's health care professionals fighting on the front lines in the state's overloaded hospitals, everyone should keep a six-foot distance from others and wear masks in public. "This is about public health," she said. "I'm not focusing on politics. I'm trying to save lives here."
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/04/15/gretchen-whitmer-protest-michigan-capitol-coronavirus/5136070002/

I've never seen/witnessed/experienced anyone lie as much as Donald Trump does. It's fascinating and terrifying.

It is, again, extremely false that China never gave the US "10 cents" before Trump. In addition to hundreds of billions in Chinese purchases, and the fact Americans pay the tariffs, US tariffs on China generated about $12B per year in revenue from 2007 to 2016.

Trump asked why his name is going to appear on relief checks: "I don't know too much about it, but I understand my name is there." He says people will be "very happy" to get a "big, fat, beautiful check and my name is on it."

__________________________________

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/this-is-joe-bidens-biggest-moment-why-does-he-feel-so-small/2020/04/14/db74422c-7d91-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html

This is Joe Biden’s biggest moment. Why does he feel so small?

By Ben Terris

April 15, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Joe Biden the idea lives in our minds. He’s a statesman, a senator, a vice president who helped start wars, confirm Supreme Court justices and expand health care to millions of Americans. He’s larger than life, a big effing deal.

Joe Biden the man, on the other hand, takes up considerably less space.

“I’m locked in a basement,” he said, live-streaming into the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO’s virtual convention on a recent Tuesday from his home in Delaware. “Like a lot of you are.”

This month, Biden as much as clinched the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. It is unquestionably the biggest thing to happen in his decades-long career as a public servant, and yet, shrunken down to the size of an iPhone screen or panel in a Zoom chat, the candidate has never seemed quite so small.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bernie-sanders-to-end-his-presidential-campaign/2020/03/18/cf7a1824-4d18-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html

“I would like to see more of him,” said Gloria Wilkins, 66, a self-described “enthusiastic” Biden supporter in Georgia. “I’ve started to wonder if [New York Gov. Andrew M.] Cuomo should run for president.”

“I think he should be more present,” said Stephanie Johnson, a social worker from outside Denver. “I think he should be getting his opinion out there more, or telling us what he would be doing, or at least saying what an idiot Trump is.”

“Huh, you know, I really haven’t seen him much,” said Denise Minton, a retired pipe fitter in Michigan. “I wonder if that’s intentional.”

It’s not, the Biden campaign says. He’s increasing his time in the friendly corners of television: going on “The View,” wearing a Phillies baseball cap on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show on what would have been Opening Day (“It’s the way to be able to sleep with my wife,” Biden said. “She’s a Philly girl”), and having an amiable back-and-forth with CNN’s Chris Cuomo (“It’s good to see you, pal,” he said). This week he chatted with Sen. Bernie Sanders on Periscope, the two calling for a unified party just one day before former president Barack Obama came off the sidelines to endorse his former wingman.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/23/biden-addresses-nation-coronavirus-quickly-constructed-home-studio/
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/489824-biden-to-phillies-cap-to-kimmel-its-the-way-to-be-able-to-sleep-with-my-wife
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-bernie-sanders-endorses-joe-biden/2020/04/13/6e754a62-7d92-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/07/politics/biden-trump-phone-call-coronavirus-cnntv/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-president-barack-obama-to-announce-support-for-joe-biden-his-former-vice-president/2020/04/14/99a49a56-7e57-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html

He also upped the number of “virtual town halls,” started podcasting and looked for outside-the-box opportunities to get his message out, even if that means staying in with his bookshelves, his family photos and that small desk lamp in the corner.

Maybe he has no choice but to follow the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to be a model citizen and ace social distancer, to seek his connections with the electorate in isolation. And maybe the approach will have political benefits. It’s possible that voters will look at Biden stuck at home and see a pocket-size reflection of themselves — even though he wears a suit (including the pants, his campaign confirmed).

But then again, after a month of amateur haircuts, canceled gym memberships and questionable personal hygiene, who wants to look in a mirror right now?

The coronavirus affects the various political animals differently: Where it's caused Biden to shrink, it's pumped even more airtime into the Donald Trump show, giving the president the opportunity to vamp, contradict his scientific advisers, and pick fights with the media in front of millions of viewers who tune in to his nightly news conference-cum-campaign rally. It's even made New York Gov. Cuomo into something of a Democratic star, who, with his state a center of the pandemic, has provided his own daily briefings for a nation desperate for solid information.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/28/what-you-need-know-about-coronavirus/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/andrew-cuomo-during-the-covid-19-crisis-is-the-same-as-ever-with-one-big-difference-people-like-him/2020/03/28/11a89a0a-6fd7-11ea-b148-e4ce3fbd85b5_story.html

“The challenge for Biden is that he doesn’t have a perch from which to do that at the moment,” said Ian Sams, a former spokesman for Sen. Kamala D. Harris’s presidential campaign. “He’s retired.”

Sure, he can roll out endorsements or release blueprints to rebuild an economy, but traditional political news can’t survive long in a pandemic. It usually dies as soon as Trump’s evening performance in the White House briefing room comes to life.

Sams is of the belief, shared by many, that politically speaking this may not matter. People already know who Biden is, and what he stands for, Sams said. Or, to put it in consultant speak:

“His brand as a candidate is already baked in,” he said. “His brand is appealing right now. His brand is competence.”

Even if his brand is Ovaltine, something marketed to older people that doesn’t really taste very good — at least it’s not a nondescript bag of dried beans in the basement. The idea of Biden has always meant a return to “normalcy,” and even if such a thing isn’t possible anymore, it’s been enough for him to vanquish his flashier Democratic rivals. So what if he stumbled at the debates (“My time’s up,” he said), or that the more time he spent in a state, the worse he seemed to do there (hello, New Hampshire and Iowa).

Biden, who has run for president three times, has always had his weaknesses as a campaigner. He’s prone to misstatements and trips over his messaging (most recently, refusing to call for Wisconsin to delay its in-person primary held in the midst of a pandemic, only to say after the fact that his “gut” told him it was a bad idea).

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/biden-changes-tune-on-whether-wisconsin-primary-should-have-taken-place

Perhaps all he needs to win this election is to not be Trump. The president may be getting good television ratings, but the more people hear him speak, the more they seem to disapprove of the job he’s doing. Perhaps less is more for Biden.

https://www.businessinsider.com/approval-of-trump-on-coronavirus-is-underwater-for-first-time-2020-4

And so, an idea has taken hold among some in the chattering class, that the best thing Biden can do is keep a low profile so as not to tarnish the myth with reality.

“Joe Biden is stuck in his basement,” a Los Angeles Times column read. “It just might help him win.”

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-04-05/joe-biden-lying-low-just-might-help-him-win

This school of thought, according to Lis Smith, the spokeswoman for Pete Buttigieg’s campaign, is “insane.”

“What’s the lesson we learned from 2016 about sitting around and waiting for Donald Trump to self-destruct?” she said.

Now is the time, she said, to be “omnipresent.” Get Biden on popular podcasts, get him on sports shows, have him talk to Instagram influencers, or do virtual cooking shows. In the last presidential election, it could seem as if Trump controlled every news cycle — even an empty lectern awaiting his arrival seemed to get more airtime than his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Even if the news was bad, he was there and never faded, in the polls or from the forefront of anyone’s mind.

“This is a time to throw caution to the wind,” Smith said, noting that the Biden team deserves credit for moving in this direction. “He’s a human guy and has the opportunity to provide a stark contrast to Donald Trump, so I say do it.”

But then again, perhaps that contrast is as clear as it needs to be. Maybe everyone has seen enough of the two to get it already.

“So much of this election is going to be about the virus and the president’s response to it,” said David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama. “I’m not sure there’s a hell of a lot Biden can do about that.”

Biden, it appears, isn’t so sure either. The old joke about senators is that when they look in the mirror, they all see presidential candidates. And yet on the precipice of clinching the nomination, Biden, the three-time candidate for president, was pining for his old desk.

“I wish I were still in the Senate,” he said late last month. “Being able to impact on some of these things.”

It's easy to feel small in the face of a crisis. No one knows that better than Biden. He's suffered more than most, losing his first wife and an infant daughter in a car crash, and a son to brain cancer. He's not a candidate who can "feel your pain," so much as the candidate who can show you how to live with it. He's always been able to make people believe they are the only ones in the room, but is it possible to transfer that feeling when he's in a room by himself?

“It’s his empathy and his compassion,” his spokeswoman Kate Bedingfeld said, listing the qualities that make him the right candidate for this moment. “As we think about campaigning now, we’re looking for moments and venues and opportunities for forging that connection with people on virtual platforms. It’s easy for him to create in real life; our challenge now is how do we create those moments online.”

So, when not getting briefings or jumping on the phone with Trump for a “good” but otherwise newsless phone call, or broadcasting an unadvertised chat at 3 p.m. on a Monday with Sen. Sanders, he spends his days making calls to supporters. He talks to people who lost family members and lost jobs, and offers to call their mothers and kids, and everyone gets the sense he really would, that his own pain is never far off.

“As a matter of fact, my son Beau’s children live a mile away as the crow flies,’’ he told Jimmy Kimmel. “They walk over through the woods and through a neighborhood, and they sit out in the backyard in two chairs, and I sit up in the porch, and we have our conversations, because I’m not allowed to go hug them. I miss it.”

That, in itself, as Americans shared Passover seders and Easter brunches with their families over videoconference apps, may be the most relatable part of the Biden campaign. Is asking any more of him asking for too much?

“This idea of him breaking through seems to be one of the more idiotic ideas going around Washington right now,” said Anita Dunn, a top adviser to Biden’s campaign. “What you do at a time like this, what Joe Biden is doing, is you put out your best ideas and best proposals, you model presidential leadership.”

And if only a few people notice? Well, hopefully they’ve already got the idea of Biden living somewhere in their heads.
__________________________________

The White House is installing Trump campaign veteran and Roger Stone pal Michael Caputo in the health department’s top communications position, Caputo confirmed to POLITICO. The move is designed to assert more White House control over Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whom officials believe has been behind recent critical reports about President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to two officials with knowledge of the move.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/michael-caputo-azar-hhs-189046

Trumo threatens to adjourn Congress so he can fill vacant positions and judicial slots all over the place (recess appointments). If a nominee is stuck in committee as Trump complained, it's because Republicans have an issue with them.  Article II of the Constitution gives the President the power to adjourn Congress if and only if the House and Senate cannot agree on a date for ending the current session. But they have agreed: January 3, 2021. There’s a reason why this power has *never* been exercised before. The Senate could always try to change that. But a motion to adjourn would be subject to cloture, meaning it would need at least 7 Democratic votes. The majority could get rid of cloture by a simple majority, but I have to think this would be a bridge too far for all staunch pro-Trump Republians in the Senate (most of them). Trump still doesn't know how the federal government works despite being President for three years now.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4869002/user-clip-trump-proposes-adjourning-congress

The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts, not to over-throw the Constitution, but to over-throw the men who pervert that Constitution
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.19243/
https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/ppmsca/19200/19243r.jpg

Trump National Doral Miami lays off 560 employees. Why doesn't multi-billionaire Trump keep everybody and pay them their normal paychecks?
https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2020/04/15/trump-national-doral-miami-lays-off-560-employees/

"I hope the President has learned his lesson but we will have to see,” Collins said. “It’s important that Congressional oversight will still be there and the President has said he does not like having the fact that he was impeached on his resume."
- Susan Collins, February 6th 2020, voting to acquit Trump of all charges.
https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/politics/sen-collins-i-hope-the-president-learned-his-lesson/97-1b5c10ee-443f-4689-833e-39b6596b98df

67 days later, he is threatening to invoke a dubious power no President has dared even attempt to exercise and unilaterally adjourn both houses of Congress.
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-ii/clauses/348

How the fuck was that only 67 days ago? Feels more like 6 or 7 months ago.

We’re past the point of diminishing returns. The briefings are actively counterproductive now.

Reminder, Trump+Republicans:

 - Hoarded Medical Supplies
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jared-kushner-slammed-for-saying-the-federal-medical-supply-stockpile-isnt-meant-for-states-2020-04-03

- Out bid states for supplies they desperately needed
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-trump-outbid-states-on-medical-supplies-2020-3

 - Required governor's to compliment him to receive aid
https://theintercept.com/2020/03/28/exchange-aid-trump-wants-praise-governors-can-use-campaign-ads/

 - Sent medical supplies to another country before any of his own people
https://www.the-sun.com/news/613981/trump-coronavirus-medical-supplies-italy-shortages-hospitals/

 - Downplayed the virus to look good
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/33-times-trump-downplayed-the-coronavirus/2020/03/05/790f5afb-4dda-48bf-abe1-b7d152d5138c_video.html

 - Pushed untested and life threatening drugs
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/hydroxychloroquine-trump-coronavirus-drug

 - Used briefings as rallies
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/politics/trump-coronavirus-briefings-rallies/index.html

 - Publicly derided and shamed experienced and knowledgable personnel who contradicted him
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/06/with-worst-to-come-3-in-4-us-hospitals-now-facing-covid-19-167853

 - Put inexperienced, idiotic people in positions that put the public's health at risk
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/01/jared-kushner-coronavirus-response-160553

 - Put into positions of power criminals and sycophants who would put the public health at risk
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/supreme-court-wisconsin/609631/

 - Actively stolen necessary supplies from states to boost unused federal supplies
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/coronavirus-fema-medical-supplies.html

 - Gone golfing seven times during which he claimed to have known this would be a global pandemic
https://trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings

 - Had political rallies with thousands attending in close proximity and claimed to have known this was a pandemic and the severity of it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_post-election_Donald_Trump_rallies

 - Called it the Wuhan/Chinese virus perpetuating stereotypes and harmful prejudices
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/opinion/china-coronavirus-racism.html

 - Criticized and chastised reporters who ask him to say something to scared Americans
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/20/trump-coronavirus-question-attack-reporter-over-fears

 - Blamed previous administrations for his own shortcomings
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-condemns-cdc-lack-coronavirus-testing-blames-obama-n1157671

 - Blamed democrats from occupying him in a impeachment of which he REFUSED TO PARTICIPATE IN
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/republicans-impeachment-distracted-trump-coronavirus.html

 - Used the pandemic to suspend EPA environmental enforcement for corporations
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/27/trump-pollution-laws-epa-allows-companies-pollute-without-penalty-during-coronavirus

 - Used a stimulus package to try and award himself a $500 billion dollar slush fund
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/23/democrats-slush-fund-republican-rescue-package-143565

 - Cut vital personnel and funding from the White House Security Council Pandemic Response team
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/14/21177509/coronavirus-trump-covid-19-pandemic-response

 - Used Twitter to spout dangerous rhetoric that potentially put American's health at risk and attacked other leaders and organizations for taking preventative measures)
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/23/in-coronavirus-tweet-storm-trump-touts-suspect-cure.html

 - Said that keeping death's to 100,000 - 200,000 means "We've done a good job")
https://www.syracuse.com/coronavirus/2020/03/trump-on-coronavirus-if-us-has-100000-to-200000-deaths-weve-done-a-good-job.html

 - Invoked a Presidential authority to force companies to produce life saving machines only to refuse to obtain them because of a "price issue"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/02/coronavirus-trump-said-force-gm-build-ventilators-he-hasnt/5100856002/

 - Supported the removal of a Captain who expressed concern for the health and safety of his crew from a COVID-19 outbreak that wasn't being managed correctly
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/magazine/navy-captain-crozier-positive-coronavirus.html

 - Refused to take responsibility for his botched COVID-19 response and testing kit access, and pushed it off on unspecified rules and system)
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/13/trump-coronavirus-testing-128971

 - Lost his temper and berated reporters who pressed him for what his response was in the lead up to the outbreak in the country
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/13/trump-loses-temper-white-house-coronavirus-briefing-biggest/

 - Cut funding to the World Health Organization in the middle of the Worst Pandemic the world has seen in over 100 years
https://apnews.com/0c263f38d646a2b714e54459ac3b7974

 - Delayed essential public aid so his name could appear on the checks being delivered
https://www.newsweek.com/stimulus-checks-may-delayed-trump-requires-us-treasury-print-his-name-them-1497916

 - Claimed he had 'Total Authority' over state coronavirus restrictions and when to ease them
https://www.npr.org/2020/04/14/834641661/trump-falsely-claimed-total-authority-over-states-now-he-s-backpedaling

Texas AG Ken Paxton Threatens Voting Rights Groups With Felony Charges For Promoting Vote-By-Mail. Ken Paxton was indicted for felony fraud in 2015 and has yet to see the inside of a courtroom. Texas Democrats are seeking to have coronavirus meet the legal standard of "disability" to qualifty for a mail-in ballot so people have the CHOICE of voting in-person or by mail during a national pandemic (which is also a global pandemic). Republicans pretend it's voter fraud.
https://lawandcrime.com/covid-19-pandemic/texas-ag-threatens-voting-rights-groups-with-felony-charges-for-pushing-vote-by-mail/

A U.S. judge canceled a key permit Wednesday for the Keystone XL oil pipeline that’s expected to stretch from Canada to Nebraska, another setback for the disputed project that got underway less than two weeks ago following years of delays. Judge Brian Morris said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to adequately consider effects on endangered species such as pallid sturgeon, a massive, dinosaur-like fish that lives in rivers the pipeline would cross. | The cancellation could have broader implications because it appears to invalidate dredging work for any project authorized under the 2017 permit, said attorney Jared Margolis with the Center for Biological Diversity, another plaintiff in the case. It’s unclear what projects would be included. Morris is holding a court hearing Thursday on two other lawsuits against the $8 billion pipeline. American Indian tribes and environmental groups want him to halt the construction at the border while a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s approval of the pipeline last year works its way through the courts. | “It creates another significant hurdle for the project,” said Anthony Swift with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the groups that challenged the permit. “Regardless of whether they have the cross border segment ... Keystone XL has basically lost all of its Clean Water Act permits for water crossings,” he said.
https://apnews.com/89e3f21d344db86b8743665ea66b892c

The Navy is looking into whether it can reinstate Capt. Brett Crozier, who was removed from command of the carrier Theodore Roosevelt after he pleaded for more help fighting a coronavirus outbreak aboard his ship.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/us/politics/coronavirus-navy-roosevelt-crozier.html

After Anonymous Tip, 17 Bodies Found at Nursing Home Hit by Virus |There have been 68 recent deaths of residents and nurses from the facility in a small New Jersey town. | Of the patients who remain at the homes, housed in two buildings, 76 have tested positive for the virus; 41 staff members, including an administrator, are sick with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to county health records shared on Wednesday with a federal official. Andover Subacute is not alone. Coronavirus has swept through the New York region’s nursing homes with devastating and deadly speed, killing thousands of residents at facilities struggling with staff shortages, increasingly sick patients and a lack of personal protective gear. But with beds for 700 patients, Andover Subacute is, records show, the state’s largest licensed facility — and the risk of continued spread is terrifying to family members who have turned to social media and their local congressman, desperate for answers and extra personnel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/nyregion/coronavirus-nj-andover-nursing-home-deaths.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/nyregion/nursing-homes-deaths-coronavirus.html

Another political rally played on cable networks. A full blown rally. Lies played without fact checks. He doesn’t let reporters answer questions. All partisan attacks. No news value. Why? I ask again. Why?
https://twitter.com/JoeNBC/status/1250554520750432258

Are we flattening the curve in Florida? The daily rate of increase of FL COVID testing has slowed and, as a result, the rate of increases of positive tests continues to slow But hospitalizations & deaths increased at higher rates for the past 2 days Tweet 1 of 2
https://twitter.com/MarcACaputo/status/1250588852315738120

While tests & positives increased 4% since yesterday, hospitalizations rose 7% (to 3,249) & deaths 8% (to 614). Florida has given 214,210 tests and 22,519 have been positive (10.5% positive rate) Tweet 2 of 2
https://twitter.com/MarcACaputo/status/1250588853687255046

I think what we've seen every day is Trump searching for new people to blame for his own failures

Texas voters who fear catching coronavirus can vote by mail, state judge rules
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2020/04/15/texas-ag-ken-paxton-fear-of-contracting-coronavirus-doesnt-qualify-voters-for-mail-ballots/

Trump’s ‘Opening Our Country Council’ Runs Into Its Own Opening Problems | The president participated in four calls with those groups during the day at the same time White House officials were playing down their the significance, claiming that the creation of a “task force” was never planned, despite the president’s mention of it last week. They said that there was no date for an in-person meeting planned, and that the goal was simply to begin, via conference calls, a dialogue about the economy after the pandemic recedes. The only task force that existed, they insisted, was the coronavirus task force led by Vice President Mike Pence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-economy-panel.html

They are claiming that this task force never existed even though it’s all they talked about the other day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Maldoror
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0539275/

Spent some time today speaking with Shamar Davis' aunt. He was caring for her throughout March, as her doctor recommended she not leave the house because of her underlying respiratory illness. Now, her caretaker is gone.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-brooklyn-man-murdered-shot-dead-fight-shamar-davis-20200415-saxd23lvwnbhnnazcjcmv2m374-story.html

.@WHO is on the front lines of this pandemic, providing advice, training, and equipment crucial to saving lives—including Americans’. Cutting their funding is not only dangerous—Trump doesn’t have the authority to do it. He should know: violating spending laws got him impeached.
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1250521691844902919

On the same day that Sanders said that he wouldn't turn over his own email list to Biden for fundraising: Elizabeth Warren raised more than *$100 million* without doing traditional big-money fundraisers for her presidential campaign. As part of her endorsement, she allowed Joe Biden to send a note to her full donor list today.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-elizabeth-warren-endorses-former-vice-president-joe-biden/2020/04/15/a1f59ba8-7f18-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html