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If the information is true, it means NATO countries were informed back in November which means every single government knew back in November which means every single government dismissed the information. It means every single government on the planet knew and refused to tell the public and refused to lift a finger to prepare: US warned Israel about COVID-19 in November | The information was also handed over to the White House, 'which did not deem it of interest.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/1587059866-report-us-warned-israel-about-covid-19-in-november

They all knew, nobody wanted to sound the alarm until it was too late, just like China did. No country lifted a finger to address covid-19 until March.

Trump’s COVID-19 Plan Aims To Shift Blame To Governors If Things Worsen
https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-covid-19-plan-aims-to-shift-blame-to-governors-if-things-worsen/

An internal memorandum written by U.S. officials and addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns that cutting funding to the World Health Organization, as President Donald Trump said he would do Tuesday, would erode America’s global standing, threaten U.S. lives and hobble global efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The memo, which was prepared before Trump’s Rose Garden announcement, was written by officials within the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and includes a detailed list of how U.S. funding to the WHO helps countries in the Middle East control the pandemic.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-officials-warned-against-halting-funding-to-who-leaked-memo-shows

Covid-19  Claims At Least 6,900 Lives In U.S. Nursing Homes
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/us/coronavirus-nursing-homes.html

Kamala Harris: Trump's Failure to Lead On Coronavirus Has Resulted in ‘Body Bags’ | "There is no question that that had we a president in charge who actually took their responsibility seriously, that we would probably be looking at a lot less damage than we have incurred," she said in an interview with VICE News. "We watch every day of the number of people infected and the number of people who are dead. We are every day hearing and watching stories about body bags. So, look, the buck stops with the president." | “The fact is that he has abandoned his role of leadership and meaning the role of the president of the United States," she said. "He’s abandoned the role of the president of the United States.”
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3m8nv/kamala-harris-president-trumps-failure-to-lead-on-coronavirus-has-resulted-in-body-bags

Researchers say one of the world's rarest owl species has a chance at survival after a breakthrough discovery on a remote Australian island. For the first time in almost a decade, a pair of Norfolk Island morepork owl chicks have been located.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-17/norfolk-island-morepork-owl-new-generation/12150012

Testing is the key to opening our country to resume our lives.  The White House’s vague and inconsistent document does nothing to make up for the President’s failure to listen to the scientists and produce and distribute national rapid testing. | The President’s continued insistence on moving forward without testing, contact tracing, demographic data collection and a respect for science and the facts risks further death and economic disaster. | On March 4th, the House passed our first bipartisan coronavirus response bill focusing on testing, testing, testing.  Six weeks later, we still do not have adequate testing.  Sadly, the President continues his assault on the truth and says that we have more testing than any other country, when just one percent of Americans have been tested. | For the good of the lives and livelihoods of the American people, we must insist on the truth.
https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/41620

As Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis rejects pleas to increase unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of workers hit by coronavirus closings, the state is sending only a small number of jobless residents any aid at all. | As DeSantis has refused to make the benefit more generous, only about 5 percent of applicants for aid in the past month have actually received payments from the state. Of the 650,000 people who applied for unemployment benefits since March 15, about 33,600 have received payments, the Department of Economic Opportunity said Thursday.
https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/04/16/florida-pays-on-only-5-percent-of-jobless-claims-as-desantis-rejects-calls-for-generosity-1277282

The only people who romanticize suffering are people who've never really experienced any. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger is nonsense pablum. Suffering ruins lives and it's not inherently a character lesson.

April 16th: Trump holds conference call with governors and tells them “You’re going to call your own shots. You’re going to be calling the shots. We’ll be standing right alongside of you, and we’re going to get our country open and get it working. People want to get working.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-testing-outcry-mounts-trump-cedes-to-states-in-announcing-guidelines-for-slow-reopening/2020/04/16/202ec300-7ffa-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html
https://twitter.com/charlesornstein/status/1251170730080972800

April 17th: Trump incites armed uprising against Democrats (insurrection) because of social distancing measures in Democratically governed states.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1251169987110330372
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1251168994066944003
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1251169217531056130
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-calls-on-people-to-liberate-virus-stricken-states-with-democratic-governors

He also live-tweeted during Gov Cuomo's presser, to which Cuomo replied on live tv: "If he's sitting home watching TV maybe he should get up and go to work."
https://theweek.com/speedreads/909445/cuomo-reacts-trump-tweet-real-time-slams-president-sitting-home-watching-tv

Social distancing to conquer covid-19 has become a "use your guns to fight for your freedom against Democrats because Democrats shut down your gun stores to ban guns and shut down your churches to ban your religion and shut down businesses to take away your jobs and ordered you to stay home to take away your freedom, Democrats took our guns and bibles and churches and businesses and now have us under house arrest."

Super weird to hear talk of "liberating" states from the same people who actively do everything they can to deny so many citizens of those states of their right to vote. Also totally out of step with public opinion when 2/3 worry restraints will be lifted too soon. Trump is very cavalier with Americans' lives

Those people are armed with military rifles and flying the US flag upside down and wearing the confederate cross and swastikas, they are legitimate military targets and should be shot dead on the spot: This week, about 100 Republican Pro-Trump protesters gathered outside the Ohio statehouse in Columbus to push for Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to reopen the state. In Raleigh, more than 100 Republican Pro-Trump protestors gathered to protest Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's stay-at-home order, where at least one protester was charged with violating the order. In New York, a few dozen Republican Pro-Trump protestors gathered Thursday outside the state Capitol in Albany to rally for returning to normal. Kentucky, Utah and Wyoming also saw similar protests. More events are scheduled for Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas, Oregon, Idaho and Washington state. Republicans are all terrorists and should be shot dead on the spot already.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/tea-party-style-protests-break-out-across-country-against-stay-n1185611
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/lock-her-anti-whitmer-coronavirus-lockdown-protestors-swarm-michigan-capitol-n1184426
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article241999131.html
https://twitter.com/MattHunterTV/status/1250830770329001986
https://www.abc27.com/news/local/anti-shutdown-protest-planned-to-take-place-in-front-of-state-capitol-building-next-week/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/us/coronavirus-rules-protests.html

The Republican & dark money conservative and conspiracy-theorist orgs making common cause with the radical right: Protesters in Michigan and other states claim to speak for ordinary citizens, but are also supported by street-fighting far-right groups | While protesters in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and other states claim to speak for ordinary citizens, many are also supported by street-fighting rightwing groups like the Proud Boys, conservative armed militia groups, religious fundamentalists, anti-vaccination groups and other elements of the radical right. | The pattern of rightwing not-for-profits promoting public protests while still more radical groups use lockdown resistance as a platform for extreme rightwing causes looks set to continue in events advertised in other states over coming days.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/far-right-coronavirus-protests-restrictions

Brazilian President Bolsonaro Fires Health Minister Who Refused To Downplay Pandemic | “Brazil is the only country in the world where the Minister of Health will fall for having decided to fight the Coronavirus,” a leftist politician said.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bolsonaro-coronavirus-brazil-mandetta_n_5e97778bc5b6ead140070f6e

The president’s statements this morning encourage illegal and dangerous acts. He is putting millions of people in danger of contracting COVID-19. His unhinged rantings and calls for people to “liberate” states could also lead to violence. We’ve seen it before. The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies even while his own administration says the virus is real and is deadly, and that we have a long way to go before restrictions can be lifted. Just yesterday, the president stood alongside White House officials and public health experts and said science would guide his plan for easing restrictions. The White House released a sensible plan laying out many of the guidelines that I agree are essential to follow, as we work to resume economic activity. Trump slowly read his script and said the plan was based on ‘hard, verifiable data’ and was done ‘in consultation with scientists, experts and medical professionals across government.’ Less than 24 hours later, the president is off the rails. He’s not quoting scientists and doctors but spewing dangerous, anti-democratic rhetoric. We appreciate our continued communication with the vice president, Dr. Birx, Admiral Polowczyk, Admiral Giroir and others in the federal government, but their work is undermined by the president's irresponsible statements. I hope someday we can look at today’s meltdown as something to be pitied, rather than condemned. But we don’t have that luxury today. There is too much at stake. The president’s call to action today threatens to undermine his own goal of recovery by further delaying the ability of states to amend current interventions in a safe, evidence-based way. His words are likely to cause COVID-19 infections to spike in places where social distancing is working — and if infections are increasing in those places, that will further postpone the 14 days of decline that his own guidance says is necessary before modifying any interventions. I hope political leaders of all sorts will speak out firmly against the president’s calls for rebellion. Americans need to work together to protect each other. It’s the only way to slow the spread of this deadly virus and get us on the road to recovery.
https://www.governor.wa.gov/news-media/inslee-statement-trump-encouraging-illegal-and-dangerous-acts

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz violated House rules by shelling out $184,000 in taxpayer funds to rent office space from a longtime friend and donor
https://www.businessinsider.com/matt-gaetz-paid-taxpayer-funds-to-friend-donor-politico-2020-4

Reminder:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#Drunk_driving_arrest_and_speeding_tickets

San Francisco makes face masks mandatory for everyone outside.
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1251258576196251649

Attorneys are expecting a wave of new divorce filings once the coronavirus quarantine subsides. More numbers; there is an increase in domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual harassment reports. Lisa Rice, President & CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance speaks about the 300% increase in sexual harassment cases reported. The majority of these cases are reported by Black and Latina women, who face inappropriate behavior from landl/rds and building supers.
http://aurn.com/pandemic-bringing-out-the-worst-domestic-abuse-sexual-harassment-surge/

Have fun paying out the settlement when you lose the lawsuit brought by those who sustained heart damage the families of those who died in said trial: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in: "South Dakota is now the first state in America to launch a statewide, state-backed clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine to fight COVID-19.
https://www.newsweek.com/south-dakota-start-hydroxychloroquine-clinical-trials-coronavirus-1497585

More than 65% of Latinos have lost their jobs or suffered a significant reduction in their incomes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic—a "devastating" loss that will be difficult to recoup. https://www.newsweek.com/nearly-two-thirds-latinos-have-lost-jobs-face-economic-hardship-due-coronavirus-outbreak-poll-1498417

How many people have the virus? We still don't know. How many people have died from the virus? We still don't know. How deadly is this virus? We still don't know

The rush to distribute nearly $350 billion in federal aid from a popular —and now empty— small business relief fund resulted in the government sending billions to areas of the country with relatively few novel coronavirus cases, to companies in industries that have not been the hardest hit by the shutdown, and to companies that are not even small businesses. | Businesses in Texas got more PPP loans than any other state, although Texas has nearly 16,500 COVID-19 cases, or the tenth biggest coronavirus disease caseload in the U.S, according to Friday data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York, with about 216,000 cases, by far the most of any state, ranked fourth in the number of PPP loans. | The owner of the Ruth's Chris Steak Houses chain got $20 million from the small business loan program, despite having more than 5,000 employees and $468 million in revenue last year. It is one of more than 50 publicly traded companies that have already disclosed nabbing nearly $250 million in PPP funds. | Construction businesses received the most aid of any industry from the PPP, more than the Main Street retail stores that have essentially shut down and become the public face of the coronavirus recession. Construction firms, meanwhile, have been deemed an essential business in all but six states, allowing most to continue operating. | Instead, Minnis said, PPP loans appear to be going to the eligible firms most able to retain their workforces, even before receiving assistance. "The irony of the program is that if your businesses was still operating and had a large payroll you got more money," Minnis said. "The worst-hit firms had already laid off some or all of their people by the time the program got started, so they may not have gone for it."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paycheck-protection-program-small-business-missed-coronavirus-hot-spots/
https://sites.google.com/view/ppptool/home

Pennsylvania’s governor didn't violate the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble or other constitutional rights when he issued an executive order, ordering the closure of non-life-sustaining businesses, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled.
https://www.freedomforum.org/2020/04/17/pennsylvania-high-court-rejects-first-amendment-challenges-to-executive-order-closing-non-life-sustaining-businesses/
https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/2020/68-mm-2020.html

New NYC data follows distressing trend: Black New Yorkers have highest rates of Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1251124102808645632

ABC News has identified at least 25 individuals appointed to Trump's economic advisory council who have made substantial donations to his political campaigns or to outside groups supporting his presidency, raising concerns among ethics watchdogs.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-trumps-opening-country-council-features-political-donors/story?id=70214367

Stimulus cash is being sent to dead people | Relatives of dead Americans all over the country are receiving coronavirus relief payments from the U.S. Treasury Department on behalf of the loved ones this week. Many are confused. Was it a mistake? Are they required to send it back? Some of them have already tried to. Either way, they can rest easy. The U.S. government plans to allow heirs or spouses of dead people to keep the money, a source familiar with the matter said. A Treasury spokesperson declined to comment but said guidance on the matter is forthcoming.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/stimulus-cash-being-sent-dead-people-their-loved-ones-can-n1186446?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_np

One day before Trump announced a plan to open up the nation’s gyms in Phase One, he held a call with the owner of Equinox and Soulcycle—the same person who threw him a major fundraiser in his Hampton's home
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-calls-for-reopening-americas-gyms-day-after-call-with-soulcycles-owner

Cuomo made the most important point earlier today: The Colonies created the Federal Government, not the other way around.

Trump breaks with his own guidelines to back military-armed insurrectionist alt-right far-right anti-government conservatives
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/17/trump-states-stay-at-home-orders-192386

Almost no masks and no regard for social distancing guidelines outside of the Governor’s Residence. @MPRnews
https://twitter.com/efrostee/status/1251197546904670208

Constant division. Covid not a big deal. Nazi signs at protest are just irony. Confed flags are just nostalgia. Trump lying is just style. It never ends for state tv. Why are covid protests organized by trump fans and fringe rignt?
https://twitter.com/ChrisCuomo/status/1251268621587931142

.@cnn reporting sharp increase CV cases in states w/o stay-at-home orders, citing @JohnsHopkins: "Oklahoma saw a 53% increase in cases over the past week...Over same time, cases jumped 60% in Arkansas, 74% in Nebraska, and 82% in Iowa. South Dakota saw a whopping 205% spike."
https://twitter.com/jessemckinley/status/1251215004126392321

"We’re definitely not practicing social distancing, which is all right in my book. Believe in Jesus — you won’t fear death.”
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/demonstrators-gather-in-huntington-beach-to-protest-states-stay-at-home-order-and-defying-social-distancing-rules/

"Believe in Jesus": Jesus OPPOSED GROUP WORSHIP AND PUBLIC WORSHIP.

The protests are only happening in states with Democratic governors

The control group basically refused the treatment. The fact that these patients were being managed via telemedicine shows that they were in “good shape” to start with. Maybe they were going to improve anyways?...: 🚨BREAKING: Researchers examined medical records of 84 #COVID19 patients who got #hydroxychloroquine vs. 97 similar patients who didn't. Transfer to ICU or death within 7 days did NOT differ. The findings "do not support the use" of #hydroxychloroquine
https://twitter.com/DrDenaGrayson/status/1251193212993245187
https://www.jwatch.org/fw116555/2020/04/15/covid-19-hydroxychloroquine-hypoxic-pneumonia-timing

I Directed the Michigan Republican Party 2005-2009. I think @GovWhitmer has been doing a fantastic job. Not perfect, but apples to rutabagas in comparison to Trump. I've not become a Democrat - and I won't. But I'm glad I voted for her and to be supporting @JoeBiden this year.
https://twitter.com/jefftimmer/status/1251220638007779333

Conservatives know exactly how nasty those beliefs are and this is the behaviour we'd get pre-Trump, a lot more dogwhistles and avoiding saying it outright. Unfortunately Post-Trump they just yell it loud and proud.

The H1N1 flu killed 12,456 Americans, not 17K alleged here nor the more than 31K who already have perished in the pandemic @realDonaldTrump told us in February was a “hoax.” The @BarackObama admin mobilized quickly and was consistently led by the science. It’s a good template.
https://twitter.com/davidaxelrod/status/1251242190568738816

No. We haven’t. Not even close. Donald Trump says it is up to the states. This government can’t even coordinate its lies to complement each other.
https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1250814516922892289

Verifiable facts:
🔹Trump declined WHO tests in Feb used by 60 nations
🔹Severely under-tested
🔹Test shortages rampant
🔹Widespread testing is non-existent
🔹Testing dropped by 30% last week
🔹Fed govt confiscating tests Kayleigh is a Trump cult sycophant paid $183K/yr to lie.
https://twitter.com/TrinityResists/status/1250856566892314625

The only test he's helped us develop is a humanity test. If you support him, you lack it.

Will she ever actually face the press and take questions? Stating things on Twitter is not being a Press Secretary.

US intel has been examining the Wuhan lab theory for months, said people briefed. Intel committees have been asking agencies if hard evidence exists to support it. So far, there is none.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/17/china-secrecy-coronavirus-193120

Trump: "The governors are responsible for testing."

So @GregGutfeldShow would like you to know that people with swastikas were using them to signify CRITICISM of the governor they were protesting, like shes a Nazi.. Same with the confederate flags they had: they were suggesting she shit the bed at Franklin.
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1251278137612066816

Trump: "New York was over-prepared"

Trump falsely suggests that the Javits Center field hospital was not needed. Cuomo said today that it treated 800 patients, below a capacity designed for CDC projections. Meanwhile, DOD contracts for other field hospitals getting little scrutiny.
https://www.courthousenews.com/as-us-cheers-army-corps-private-contractors-slide-under-the-radar/

More Americans died of the Coronavirus yesterday than died in the entire Iraq War: Thursday marked a new record for coronavirus deaths in the U.S., with 4,591 people dying from the virus in just 24 hours.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/493287-reported-us-coronavirus-deaths-hits-record-one-day-total-of-more-than-4500

Adam Silver says more than the reported seven players have tested positive for coronavirus, but "for privacy reasons we are not reporting any other tests."
https://twitter.com/truehoop/status/1251272515839803392?s=21

NBA commissioner Adam Silver says Board of Governors are in agreement that safety is paramount: “We are not in any position to make any decisions and it’s unclear when we will be.”
http://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1251266363341012995

Trump Campaign Illegally Paying $180,000 A Year To His Sons’ Significant Others | Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle are each illegally receiving $15,000 per month through the campaign manager’s private company | Stuart Stevens, a top aide to 2012 Mitt Romney’s campaign, was even more blunt: “That’s why Parscale has the job. He’s a money launderer, not a campaign manager.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-secret-payments-sons-wife-girlfriend_n_5e9a1c46c5b635d25d6c747a

Trump declares US 'king of ventilators' even as coronavirus death toll tops 36,000
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-coronavirus-conference-today-ventilators-us-death-toll-white-house-a9471806.html

The Trump Administration Funded And Promoted The Right-Wing “Operation Gridlock” Tantrum in Michigan
https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/04/a-devos-linked-group-promoted-the-right-wing-operation-gridlock-tantrum-in-michigan/

Republicans will turn a blind eye & too many in the press will focus on “tone.” But history books will say: In April of 2020, when the pandemic had already claimed 35,000 lives, the President of the United States incited people to storm their statehouses with AR-15s and AK-47s.
https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1251240005332238343?s=20

I see the Harvard education really paid for itself.
https://twitter.com/briebriejoy/status/1251276730351915008

This is direct incitement of violence, especially at a time when people are very agitated. It's intolerable. @JoeBiden has significant issues but when your alternative is this fascist madman, then you're cornered - there's no way not to vote for Biden.
https://twitter.com/cenkuygur/status/1251195013037469707

Just now: Asked by @mehdirhasan whether he'll be voting for Biden, Noam Chomsky says "of course, I wouldn't hesitate for a second... I'm not going to vote for the destruction of organized human society."
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1251229937694060544

Chomsky says that whatever hopes progressives have for the future, with "another Trump term, I don't think we get that far." A bluntly pragmatic point. (He talked at some length about nuclear weapons treaties, among other huge issues at risk this election.)
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1251234277133635584

Did I ever imagine I would think, "Hmm, Noam Chomsky makes sound points here"? No, I never imagined I would think that....: "Failure to vote for Biden in a swing state amounts to voting for Trump." In an interview with me, Noam Chomsky compares the #NeverBiden ppl to Communists in the 1930s who refused to ally with social democrats against the Nazis: "We know where that led."
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1251259137830379522

How do these whiners not see trump is destroying this country not just society? How privileged are you that you think the things he does won’t affect you? Did anyone think it could get this bad? That we’d be confined to our homes because trump didn’t care if we lived or died? What are they not getting?

Native American Tribes File Suit Against U.S. Treasury Over $8 Billion In Coronavirus Relief To Keep Money From Going To Corporations
https://www.newsweek.com/native-american-tribes-file-suit-against-us-treasury-over-8-billion-coronavirus-relief-keep-1498689

This is not ok. @realDonaldTrump, you are the most fucked up President ever. You incited this carelessness with your tweets and you should be removed from office for endangering lives. #RemoveTrumpNow
https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/1251239854660136966 

He told us his tweets are "official White House communications." Therefore, yes, the sitting President of the Untied States is encouraging White Nationalists carrying Confederate flags to protest the very governors that are following his guidelines.