Federal judge requests investigation of McConnell for pressuring older judges to retire so Republican can appoint young Republican judges | Just days before the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider the nomination of Senate Mitch McConnell’s protégé to the nation’s second-highest court, the court's chief judge has asked for an investigation into whether McConnell pressured a judge to retire to create the opening. Demand Justice, a progressive judicial watchdog group, requested a postponement of Wednesday’s scheduled hearing before the Senate Judiciary on the nomination of Judge Justin Walker of Louisville to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The chief judge of that court issued a public order May 1 asking U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts to transfer to another circuit Demand Justice’s allegation that a judge on the court may have been persuaded to retire to allow another judge to take his seat.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/mitch-mcconnell/2020/05/04/judge-asks-mcconnell-investigation-allegedly-pressuring-judges/3083144001/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/us/politics/senate-confirmation-justin-walker.html
The New York Times has won its lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, as a federal judge ruled Thursday that the FCC must turn over net neutrality comment records that it refused to give to the NYT. The NYT sued the FCC in September 2018, saying the agency denied a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) request for records that the NYT said might shed light on possible Russian interference in the net neutrality repeal proceeding. The Times' motion for summary judgment was granted by Judge Lorna Schofield of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/05/fcc-broke-public-records-law-by-refusing-nyt-document-request-judge-rules/
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.501225/gov.uscourts.nysd.501225.33.0.pdf
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/09/did-russia-meddle-with-net-neutrality-comments-nyt-sues-fcc-to-find-out/
Trump Spent the Weekend Tweeting Wild Conspiracy Theories While Nearly 5,000 Americans Died of Coronavirus
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jgeyy3/trump-spent-this-weekend-tweeting-wild-conspiracy-theories-while-nearly-5000-americans-died-of-coronavirus
Dr. Fauci dismisses Wuhan lab as source of coronavirus, contradicting Trump and Pompeo | “If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what's out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated … Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species,” Fauci says. Based on the scientific evidence, he also doesn’t entertain an alternate theory—that someone found the coronavirus in the wild, brought it to a lab, and then it accidentally escaped.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/anthony-fauci-no-scientific-evidence-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-chinese-lab-cvd/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/03/how-coronavirus-mutations-can-track-its-spread-and-disprove-conspiracies/
Poor health from pollution, homelessness, domestic violence, alcoholism/drug addiction, cancer, hunger, these losses are just as real and far outweigh the covid19 losses. 70+ billion animals are intentionally murdered each year for slaughterhouses alone and nobody cares. Most people really don't care about covid19.
If 51 Republican Senators are already going to vote Yea for confirmation, then I don't particularly care how the Democrats vote; if they feel the need to vote Yea in order to poll better, then that's fine with me. However any nominees that require Democrats in order to pass should be fought tooth and nail.
Dolphins Hall of Fame coach Don Shula passed away this morning at age 90, one of his children confirmed.
https://twitter.com/flasportsbuzz/status/1257309206799020032
A Colorado man arrested after federal agents allegedly discovered pipe bombs in his home had also been helping organize an armed protest demanding the state lift its coronavirus restrictions, an official briefed on the case tells ABC News. FBI and ATF agents served search warrants Friday morning at the Loveland, Colorado, home of Bradley Bunn, 53. Agents discovered four pipe bombs and potential pipe bomb components inside the house, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Attorney for Colorado Jason Dunn.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/colorado-man-planning-armed-protest-states-coronavirus-restrictions/story?id=70491370
But on Monday the secretary said the Senate legal counsel had reviewed relevant laws and, based on strict confidentiality requirements, advised that “the secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information as requested in Vice-President Biden’s letter of 1 May”. The Biden campaign responded with three questions: can the Senate disclose whether the records exist; is there anyone to whom the records could be lawfully disclosed; and can the Senate release any procedures used by the office that would have overseen a sexual harassment complaint in the 1990s. |
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/04/joe-biden-tara-reade-senate-records-reject-request
The Senate makes its own rules; if there was something damaging to Biden in those records, the Republican Secretary of the Republican-controlled Senate would release it.
ESPN's "Last Dance" continues to hold onto most of its audience. Sunday's episodes down 7% from the previous week, 10% from the debut. Series now accounts for ESPN's top six documentary audiences since at least 2004.
https://twitter.com/paulsen_smw/status/1257419027045126146
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8420184/
At one point in the town hall, Biden dared Trump to “look one of these essential workers in the eye — the meat packers, delivery drivers, health care workers, grocery store clerks and tell them they don't deserve a livable wage, paid sick leave.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1199656#blogHeader
3 people charged with 1st-degree murder in killing of a Michigan security guard following a dispute over masks, prosecutor says.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-security-guard-killed-police-investigating-if-it-was-over-n1199241
Field organizers for Biden's campaign ratified a union contract that will give them a $15-an-hour minimum wage, overtime pay and a grievance process. For the first time, the staff of a major party's presidential nominee will be covered by a union pact.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-campaign-union-contract-labor-democrats_n_5eb07099c5b602af0b8c5427?fkg
May snow, spring polar vortex to shock parts of US in developing weather pattern | An unusually chilly spring is about to turn even more shocking as cold air, moisture and a visit from the polar vortex team up to trigger way out-of-season conditions for mid-May across portions of the Northeast. AccuWeather meteorologists anticipate the upcoming pattern to bring snow that defies the norms for so late in the season and freezing conditions.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/may-snow-spring-polar-vortex-to-shock-parts-of-us-in-developing-weather-pattern/733545
Michelle Obama Is Mad at Democratic Voters, Not Trump Voters: “I understand the people who voted for Trump,” she continued. “The people who didn’t vote at all, the young people, the women, that’s when you think, man, people think this is a game. It wasn’t just in this election. Every midterm. Every time Barack didn’t get the Congress he needed, that was because our folks didn’t show up. After all that work, they just couldn’t be bothered to vote at all. That’s my trauma.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/netflixs-becoming-shows-michelle-obama-is-mad-at-black-voters-not-trump-voters
She's ignoring the fact that 8+ million Democrats voted for Trump and 8+ million more voted third party (mostly Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, and writing in Bernie Sanders and others). Not many stayed home.
Oklahoma State Supreme Court tosses notary requirement for absentee ballots.
https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1257414218598567937
Significantly, this is what Reade told AP last year: "They have this counseling office or something, and I think I walked in there once, but then I chickened out." If that is so, Biden's office would not have been notified of any complaint against him, and process would end.
Hundreds of animal slaughterhouses in the US alone are heavily infected and shut down, the slaughterhouses of Canada are being hit, RELEASE THESE POOR TORTURED CREATURES TO SANCTUARY FARMS ALREADY: 936 workers at a single meat plant in Alberta, Canada test positive for coronavirus.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-union-questions-worker-safety-as-cargill-reopens-plant-at-centre-of/
Alright my rant about covid19, kept it bottled up long enough. I will never under any circumstances wear a mask (masks do not protect you, neither do gloves) and have never used and will never use "sanitizers" because "sanitizers" do not sanitize, they trap and spread dirt, grime, germs, bacteria, and viruses. Sanitizers do not under any circumstances destroy the aforementioned. The FDA at one point ordered the "sanitizer" industry to stop labelling their products as germ/bacteria/virus killers but Republicans during the Bush II Years rolled the rule back and banned the FDA from re-issuing the order. Warm water and soap kill most but not all germs, bacteria, viruses.
- All Democrats are liberal and progressive. Only a few are leftist
- Sanders and his campaign brainwashed you into believing Leftism is Progressivism, it's not
- Leftism is not Progressivism
- Leftism includes racism and discrimination and antisemitism and misogyny and isolationism and anti-governmentism
- Leftism encompasses the alt-left and the alt-right and (right-wing) libertarianism etc
- Obama and Hillary and Biden etc are progressive and liberal as well as centrist and moderate aka normal
- Being pro-Israel does not mean you're a Republican, it means the person accusing you of being a Republican for being pro-Israel is an antisemite
- Democrats are pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian statehood and generally anti-BDS but also support Palestinian statehood
- Leftists only support Palestinian statehood, define Israel itself as Palestine, define Israeli Jews in Israel and the West Bank as illegal occupiers and legitimate military targets, and idiotically claim the Middle East is "historically Islamic". Christianity and Judaism and ancient polytheism/canaaitism and ancient sumerianism etc would like a word.
- "Democratic Socialism" in the USA is leftism and alt-leftism and alt-rightism and libertarianism
- Bernie wrongly equates kibbutzimism and European Democracies with "Democratic Socialism" and leftism
- Leftism is hateful garbage and it's winning
Florida on Monday night removed data from the Department of Health website that showed 171 patients had coronavirus symptoms or positive test results in January and February, before any cases were announced to the public. The novel coronavirus infected as many as 171 people in Florida as long as two months before officials announced it had come to the state, a Palm Beach Post analysis of state records shows. Patients reported symptoms of the deadly virus as early as Jan. 1, when the disease was thought to be limited to China, Department of Health records reveal. The records don’t say if patients reported those symptoms to the state until months later or if local offices of the health department actively investigated the illnesses at the time or a combination of both. The state pulled the records off its website late Monday without explanation.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20200505/coronavirus-florida-patients-in-florida-had-symptoms-as-early-as-january
Tens of thousands of ballots that arrived after Election Day were counted, thanks to court decisions | The surprising outcome after warnings that many Wisconsinites would be disenfranchised amid the pandemic was the result of a largely unexamined aspect of the court’s decision that temporarily changed which ballots were counted. Because of the order, election officials for the first time tallied absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day, rather than just those received by then — underscoring the power of narrow court decisions to significantly shape which votes are counted. | The Post’s review found that the impact was more complicated. Fewer votes were counted than if the lower courts’ orders had remained in place. But the Supreme Court’s decision superseded the stricter existing law, expanding the universe of valid ballots compared with previous elections. In all, The Post found that more than 30,000 votes arrived after Election Day in 11 cities where that information was available, more than 10 percent of all votes cast in those cities. In Brookfield, a western suburb of Milwaukee in conservative Waukesha County, the figure was closer to 15 percent. Together, those cities are home to less than a quarter of Wisconsin’s 3.4 million registered voters. The Wisconsin Election Commission has not yet released the statewide number, which will probably be substantially larger.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/unexpected-outcome-in-wisconsin-tens-of-thousands-of-ballots-that-arrived-after-voting-day-were-counted-thanks-to-court-decisions/2020/05/03/20c036f0-8a59-11ea-9dfd-990f9dcc71fc_story.html
New Mexico Invokes Riot Law to Control Virus Near Navajo Nation | The lockdown in Gallup, on the edge of the country’s largest Indian reservation, comes in response to a worsening outbreak. | Cities across the country have closed down businesses and ordered residents to remain at home, but the threat of the coronavirus in Gallup became so serious last week that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham invoked the state’s Riot Control Act to lock down the entire city. The downtown of shops, bars and Indian trading posts is now nearly deserted. | As of Sunday, the Navajo Nation had reported a total of 2,373 cases and 73 confirmed deaths from the virus. With a rate of 46 deaths per 100,000 people, the tribal nation has a higher coronavirus death rate than every state in the country except New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. | The riot control law invoked by the governor allows police to issue misdemeanor citations for first-time violators. Repeat offenders could face felony charges. | Native Americans account for 53 percent of New Mexico’s confirmed coronavirus cases, while making up about 11 percent of the state’s population. Epidemiologists list several contributing factors, including multiple generations living in single households on reservations and a shortage of running water, making basic hygiene difficult.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/us/coronavirus-new-mexico-gallup-navajo.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
https://cvprovider.nmhealth.org/public-dashboard.html
While thousands of their workers are filing for unemployment benefits, these companies rewarded their shareholders with more than $700 million in cash dividends. They are not alone. As the pandemic squeezes big companies, executives are making decisions about who will bear the brunt of the sacrifices, and in at least some cases, workers have been the first to lose, even as shareholders continue to collect. Executives say the layoffs support the long-term health of their companies, and often the executives are giving up a piece of their salaries. Furloughed workers can apply for unemployment benefits. But distributing millions of dollars to shareholders while leaving many workers without a paycheck is unfair, critics argue, and belies the repeated statements from executives about their concern for employees welfare during the coronavirus crisis.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/05/dividends-layoffs-coronavirus/
ORGANISERS OF AN online fund to help Native American people who’ve been affected by Covid-19 have thanked Irish people for their support. A GoFundMe page for the Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation has so far surpassed $1.6 million. Organisers say these communities have a particularly high number of people in high-risk groups, such as those who are diabetic, asthmatic or who have cancer. Covid-19 rates among the community are also higher-per capita than almost all US states. The Navajo Nation is home to about 175,000 people in an area that straddles three southwestern states and is roughly the size of Scotland. As well as poor phone and internet connectivity exacerbating information gaps, up to 30% of Navajo people do not have access to running water. The goal of the Go Fund Me page is to support volunteers to bring groceries, water and health supplies to vulnerable people in the communities. Many of the recent donors to the fund have come from Ireland, with messages on the message board making reference to the support of Native American people during Ireland’s Great Famine.
https://www.thejournal.ie/ireland-native-american-fund-5091473-May2020/
A White House memo to congressional committees says no member of the administration’s coronavirus task force can agree to testify on Capitol Hill unless the invitation is expressly approved by the president’s chief of staff. Democrats bristled at the rule as a crimp on their ability to gather detailed information about the nation’s response to the pandemic. The memo follows a recent White House move to block Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, from testifying before a House panel while allowing him to appear the following week at a Senate hearing. The Senate is held by Trump’s Republican allies while the House is controlled by Democrats. The memo, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, also seeks to limit the number of coronavirus-related appearances on Capitol Hill for those at key departments responding to the pandemic. It states that “the demands on agencies’ staff and resources are extraordinary in this current crisis.”
https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/white-house-limits-task-force-appearances-on-capitol-hill/502-9ae39079-cbd6-49be-9d6a-4c4b914441cc
Next week, the Supreme Court will hear three cases that could upend one of the most basic assumptions that the Court has maintained since the Nixon years — that the president of the United States is not above scrutiny or immune from investigation. The Court will hear these cases, moreover, in an unusual remote argument — the Supreme Court’s building remains closed to the public due to the coronavirus. | They are maddening because, in all three cases and especially in the first two, existing law is clear that Trump should lose. Mazars and Deutsche Bank concern Trump’s attempts to immunize himself from congressional oversight seeking access to many of his financial records. Meanwhile, Vance involves a New York prosecutor’s investigation into alleged criminal activity by the Trump Organization — which also seeks some of Trump’s financial records. | In all three cases, investigators targeted third parties with access to Trump’s records — banks and an accounting firm — so the president cannot resist these subpoenas simply by refusing to comply with them. | Up until now, the Supreme Court has generally erred on the side of oversight. But it remains to be seen whether this Supreme Court, with its Republican majority, will act consistently with the Court’s prior decisions. | In Mazars, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA. As a lower court that upheld this subpoena explained, this investigation began after “the Office of Government Ethics announced that it had identified an error in one of the several reports that Trump had filed since he became a presidential candidate in 2015.” | Similarly, the Deutsche Bank case involves two parallel House investigations targeting Deutsche Bank and Capital One. One probe is being run by the House Financial Services Committee, which seeks many documents, most of which are actually unrelated to Trump. Among other things, it is investigating “the influx of illicit money, including from Russian oligarchs,” which “has flowed largely unimpeded into the United States through … anonymous shell companies and into U.S. investments, including luxury high-end real estate.” But the broader investigation into foreign money laundering and similar crimes touches on Trump and his businesses. According to a 2017 article in USA Today, Trump “and his companies have been linked to at least 10 wealthy former Soviet businessmen with alleged ties to criminal organizations or money laundering.” | Meanwhile, the second probe by the House Intelligence Committee also seeks many of the same documents from Deutsche Bank. Its investigation touches more directly upon Trump himself, as it seeks to answer questions like whether there are “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government, or related foreign actors, and individuals associated with Donald Trump’s campaign, transition, administration, or business interests, in furtherance of the Russian government’s interests.” This investigation may also inform legislation seeking to reduce foreign interference in US elections. Finally, the Vance case involves Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s criminal investigation into the Trump Organization and related businesses. Vance’s brief to the Supreme Court points to “multiple public reports” describing “transactions and tax strategies . . . spanning more than a decade,” which suggested that Trump’s businesses were engaged in criminal activity within Vance’s jurisdiction. Vance points specifically to “‘hush money’ payments made on behalf of [Trump] to two women with whom [Trump] allegedly had extra-marital affairs.”
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/5/21232869/supreme-court-mazars-vance-deutsche-bank-trump-subpoenas-immunity-nixon
https://www.vox.com/2019/10/11/20909811/trump-loss-congressional-oversight-mazars-tatel
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-715/134253/20200226162318816_Nos%2019%20715%20760%20%20Merits%20Brief%20Final.pdf
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/03/28/trump-business-past-ties-russian-mobsters-organized-crime/98321252/
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-635/134172/20200226111950479_19-635%20Brief%20of%20Respondent.pdf
Biden denies sending Trump apology letter
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/may/04/donald-trump/without-evidence-trump-claims-biden-sent-him-apolo/
NFL denies sending Donald Trump letter over presidential debates
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nfl-denies-sending-donald-trump-letter-over-presidential-debates/
Boy Scout leaders deny Trump's claim that they praised his speech
https://www.businessinsider.com/boy-scout-leaders-deny-trumps-claim-that-they-praised-his-speech-2017-8
North Korea denies Trump’s claim that Kim sent him ‘a nice note’
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/north-korea-denies-trumps-claim-that-kim-sent-him-a-nice-note-2020-04-19
But they were the most beautiful letters. Perfect letters. I remember he was telling reporters in front of his helicopter that he got a beautiful letter from Kim. One of the reporters asked what Kim wrote about and Trump said he hadn’t read it yet. He literally meant the letter/envelope looks pretty.
The Michigan Capitol Commission has sought legal advice and could make a decision Monday on whether guns should be banned inside the Capitol, the vice chairman of the commission said Tuesday. The longstanding practice of allowing open carry of firearms inside the Capitol came under national scrutiny Thursday when demonstrators, some carrying long guns, pressed together outside the entrance to the House chamber and shouted to be allowed inside.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/05/05/michigan-capitol-guns-inside-banned/3083564001/
Trump Lost It on Twitter Over Kellyanne Conway's Husband Again - The president was awake at 12:46am tweeting about the important stuff, like his feud with his adviser's husband.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xg8qx7/trump-lost-it-on-twitter-over-kellyanne-conways-husband-again
Trump’s late hours are why he can’t show himself before 11:00am. These are his natural cycles.
A volunteer on Jared Kushner's coronavirus response team filed a complaint to the House Oversight Committee in April expressing concerns that the group's efforts to obtain vital medical supplies were "falling short," which was linked to inexperience, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. "Americans are facing a crisis of tragic proportions and there is an urgent need for an effective, efficient and bold response," the complaint states. "From my few weeks as a volunteer, I believe we are falling short. I am writing to alert my representatives of these challenges and to ask that they do everything possible to help front-line health-care workers and other Americans in need." "I believe the volunteers are competent, hard working and intelligent, but we represent a smaller procurement team than at most midsized companies despite the magnitude of the crisis," the complaint added. "I believe America deserves a larger, better-funded response. The team generally works 12+ hour days, seven days per week, but frankly has little to show for it." The complaint was sent to the committee on April 8. The volunteer, whose identity remains anonymous, has left the group. The Post said that half a dozen administration officials, and one outside adviser, confirmed key elements of the complaint.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kushner-coronavirus-effort-said-to-be-hampered-by-inexperienced-volunteers/2020/05/05/6166ef0c-8e1c-11ea-9e23-6914ee410a5f_story.html
A federal scientist who says he was removed from his post after disputing the efficacy of an unproven malaria drug to combat coronavirus has filed a whistle-blower complaint alleging that his warnings were dismissed by the administration. Dr Rick Bright, who led the office overseeing the development of a vaccine, says officials launched a “baseless smear campaign” against him and levelled “demonstrably false allegations about his performance in an attempt to justify what was clearly a retaliatory demotion” following his opposition to the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. He argued to White House officials that the use of the drugs, which the federal Food and Drug Administration later warned against using, lacked “scientific merit” while the administration pushed to “flood” parts of the US with drugs “imported from factories in Pakistan and India that had not been inspected by the FDA”, the complaint says. Ignored by the White House, Dr Bright felt an urgency to “inform the American public that there was insufficient scientific data to support the use of these drugs for Covid-19 patients” and ”believed that Americans needed to have this critical information available to them to better inform them of the risks before taking the medicine”. His attorneys argue that his removal from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority after speaking with a reporter and members of Congress about his concerns violated the Whistleblower Protection Act.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/rick-bright-complaint-read-coronavirus-whistleblower-trump-hydroxychloroquine-a9500586.html
This should be another impeachment. This is damning, seventy thousand dead over political favors and inaction. To be fair, all governments (excluding China, China was already dealing with it) knew as early as early December and refused to lift a finger to prepare.
White House coronavirus task force to end by Memorial Day
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/05/politics/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-winding-down/index.html
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday his department will begin sending out today $4.8 billion in disputed aid for U.S. tribal governments.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-will-disburse-48-billion-of-disputed-coronavirus-aid-to-native-american-tribes-2020-05-05
Only without the tens of thousands of deaths that he is responsible for: Trump's approach to the 2014 Ebola outbreak offered a preview of his coronavirus response. He spread false info, attacked rivals, and tweeted through the whole thing. | The 2014 Ebola outbreak devastated countries in West Africa, but barely touched the US. As frightening as it was, the outbreak never posed a significant threat to Americans. But that did not stop Donald Trump from attempting to whip up hysteria about the outbreak while accusing President Barack Obama of putting the country in danger.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-behavior-during-ebola-2014-offered-preview-of-coronavirus-response-2020-5
Republican Ohio Gov. DeWine and the Ohio GOP announces $775M in budget cuts, most to medicaid and education, in the midst of the pandemic. Ohio Republicans refuse to touch Ohio's $2.7B Rainy Day Fund. If a global pandemic doesn't meet the criteria of a rainy day, I don't know what does. Even the rainy day fund doesn't trickle down. Makes you wonder what does count as a rainy day. Slightly lower than projected corporate earnings?
https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/05/ohio-gov-mike-dewine-announces-775m-in-state-budget-cuts-to-education-medicaid-and-more.html
This was a very mixed bag. Tuesdays often result in spikes in deaths as states report data after weekend lags. This issue is getting bigger as NY (which did NOT have big week/weekend lags) is declining as a share of deaths. We had a BIG spike today to more than 2,500 deaths.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1257782676188250112
Perhaps more troubling though than the daily spike is the fact that we had more deaths in the past 7 days (12,782) than in the 7 days before that (12,054). Although the period two weeks ago was slightly worse (14,405).
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1257783235368681472
On the other hand, the trend in the cases numbers is comparatively good, both on its own and (more importantly) as a share of tests. Today was the lowest positive test rate yet (8.6%), in fact, and we've been <10% for two days in a row.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1257783912962691072
Having done this for a while now, I would say two days is too soon to jump to any conclusions. If you see something for four or five days in a row, or say 7 days out of 8, then maybe we can start revising our priors.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1257784727572041731
In a letter to the National Archives, former president Barack Obama blasted the Senate GOP investigation into Joe Biden and alleged Ukrainian election interference, calling it an effort to "to give credence to a Russian disinformation campaign." https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmaloop/obama-records-biden-ukraine-russian-disinformation …
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmaloop/obama-records-biden-ukraine-russian-disinformation
Days after enacting a plan to re-open Texas' nonessential businesses on May 1, a leaked recording reveals Gov. Greg Abbott acknowledging the order would lead to more COVID-19 infections. | “How do we know reopening businesses won't result in faster spread of COVID-19?" Abbott asks on the audio. "Listen, the fact of the matter is, pretty much every scientific and medical report shows that whenever you have a reopening ... it actually will lead to an increase in spread. It's almost ipso facto ... The goal never has been to get COVID-19 transmission down to zero.” | As the recording progresses, Abbott says his goal is to open the state using strategies that can minimize the spread of the potentially deadly disease. Grocery stores remained open during the statewide shutdown while allowing customers in at limited capacity, he adds. "It's simply not either scientifically or mathematically possible to get to zero in the transmission rate, whether it be for COVID, whether it be for the regular flu, whether it be for any type of infectious disease," the governor continues on the recording.
https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2020/05/05/texas-gov-greg-abbott-caught-on-recording-saying-reopening-will-increase-spread-of-coronavirus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck0C1e2Cahw
Cheered on by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others, a new generation is making gains on everything from layoff protections to gender-neutral pronouns. Can they help save the industry?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/business/media/coronavirus-union-newsrooms.html
Former MTV VJ Kurt Loder turned 75-years-old today. How old do you feel right now? That generation of MTV News personalities and where they are now is really fascinating. Hard pivots for all of them.
A federal judge issued an illegal ruling Tuesday illegally requiring New York to hold its presidential primary in June and restore Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other former presidential contenders to the ballot.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/496276-judge-orders-sanders-others-to-be-reinstated-to-new-york-primary-ballot
Parties are allowed to conduct their primaries any way they want which means there is no such thing as an unconstitutional primary. State election boards are allowed to cancel primaries at any given time for no reason as well as unilaterally remove defunct candidates from ballots. DNC needs to appeal this illegal decision.
Prague revamp reveals Jewish gravestones used to pave streets: Dozens of paving stones made from Jewish headstones have been found during redevelopment work in Prague’s tourist district, confirming speculation that the former communist regime raided synagogues and graveyards for building materials.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/05/prague-revamp-reveals-jewish-gravestones-used-to-pave-streets
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Tuesday with an infection caused by a gallstone, the Supreme Court said. The 87-year-old justice underwent non-surgical treatment for what the court described as acute cholecystitis, a benign gall bladder condition, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. | Ginsburg took part in the court’s telephone arguments Monday and Tuesday and plans to do so again Wednesday, the court said.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/05/justice-ginsburg-hospital-infection-court-says/5173388002/
As Georgia and other states rush to reopen, some out-of-the way places might believe that the virus won’t find them. Many here thought that, too. But it arrived, quietly at first then with breathtaking savagery.
https://apnews.com/b2a2add19ce7f4f75f42b29331034706
Former President Barack Obama will deliver a televised prime-time commencement address for the Class of 2020 during an hour-long event that will also feature LeBron James, Malala Yousafzai and Ben Platt, among others. ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC will simultaneously air the special May 16 at 8 p.m. Eastern along with more than 20 other broadcast and digital streaming partners, according to the announcement Tuesday from organizers. Several high school students from Chicago public schools and the Obama Youth Jobs Corps will join, as will the Jonas Brothers, Yara Shahidi, Bad Bunny, Lena Waithe, Pharrell Williams, Megan Rapinoe and H.E.R. The event is titled “Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020.” It's hosted by the education advocacy group XQ Institute, The LeBron James Family Foundation and The Entertainment Industry Foundation.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-nw-barack-obama-tv-commencement-address-20200505-pgqn3ibpq5epbnzy3scutrjvim-story.html
The choice between the economy and public health is a false one—if we don’t beat the virus, we'll never get back to full economic strength and will lose countless lives. We have to get the number of new cases down and scale up testing before we return to some sense of normalcy.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1257818848591351809
Millions of Americans are taking part in an unprecedented experiment in working from home. Many are happier.
- Less time on the road
- Greater productivity
- A cleaner environment
- Money saved
- More job satisfaction
- Less sickness
- More time for fitness
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/business/pandemic-work-from-home-coronavirus.html
Democrat House bill would forgive medical school debt for COVID-19 health workers
https://abcnews.go.com/US/bill-forgive-medical-school-debt-covid-19-health/story?id=70509644
They need one that grants unconditional US citizenship for frontline covid19 health workers who are not citizens
There is no evidence the death rate has been exaggerated, and experts believe coronavirus deaths in the U.S. are being undercounted, not over-counted: Trump has complained to advisers about the way coronavirus deaths are being calculated, suggesting the real numbers are actually lower, and a number of his senior aides agree
https://www.axios.com/trump-coronavirus-death-toll-d8ba60a4-316b-4d1e-8595-74970c15fb34.html
A senior administration official said he expects the president to begin publicly questioning the death toll as it closes in on his predictions for the final death count and damages him politically.
https://www.axios.com/trump-coronavirus-death-toll-d8ba60a4-316b-4d1e-8595-74970c15fb34.html
The daily tracking number for covid-19 is substantially below the real figure of deaths that can be attributed to the coronavirus. It represents only the bare minimum — confirmed deaths reported by hospitals, medical providers and state health authorities as caused by covid-19. The actual number is substantially higher, but that will only become apparent after statistical modeling on excess mortality during this period.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/27/those-covid-19-death-toll-figures-are-incomplete/
Questioning the death counts for a disease you said would never come here that was hyped by foes who would't believe in your miracle cure and were only trying to pull a hoax on the American people is just the latest iteration of Trump's gaslighting about coronavirus-19
Josue Tayub is an ICU nurse working on the front lines of the pandemic. He’s also a DACA recipient, and a looming decision by the U.S. Supreme Court could result in his removal from his adopted country and take him away from the profession he loves. | More than 4,000 DACA recipients work in health care in Texas, including many in hospitals. A pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling will decide whether they can continue that work — and stay in the country. | As they await a decision, the program's supporters are highlighting the essential roles some DACA recipients are filling during the coronavirus pandemic — including in the health care and research fields. The Center for American Progress estimates that about 202,000 DACA recipients work in industries the federal government considers “essential critical infrastructure,” including more than 30,000 in Texas. According to the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services organization at Yale Law School and the National Immigration Law Center, 27,000 DACA recipients are health care workers — including nurses, dentists, pharmacists, physician assistants, home health aides, technicians, and other staff. That includes about 4,300 Texas healthcare workers like Tayub, according to the Center for American Progress. | "So I got my [DACA] permit and then I got into nursing school and the rest is history," he said. “If they decide to get rid of DACA, everything that I worked hard for is going to disappear. And I love working as a nurse. I love living here in the states. At some point I even wanted to join the Army, but I wasn’t able to because of my status.” Even before the pandemic swept across the United States, the Association of American Medical Colleges filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court highlighting the sacrifices DACA recipients make to put themselves through school and the services they are then able to provide with that education. | "As the number of [coronavirus] cases rises in a particular area, the strain on health care institutions increases almost overnight, so you need a robust workforce and that includes not only physicians and nurses and physician assistants, but you need all hands on deck," he said. "And we know that during this pandemic crisis, individuals in DACA status have stepped up to fill critical needs in the community at a personal risk."
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/05/06/daca-frontline-workers-help-during-pandemic-supreme-court-decision/
Dallas salon owner who reopened in defiance of Texas' coronavirus restrictions sentenced to 7 days in jail
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/05/coronavirus-dallas-salon-owner-jail-texas-restrictions/5173426002/
Senate moves quickly on hearing for legally disqualified court nominee Justin Walker
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/06/politics/justin-walker-nomination-hearing/index.html
Metta World Peace, Formerly Ron Artest, has changed his name after marrying Maya Ford. He decided to take his wife's last name, and return to his original surname of Artest, but his first name remains unchanged. He is now Metta Ford-Artest.
A lot of the covid19 numbers don't mean anything because of cover ups and lack of testing. The excess death numbers are much more informative. In most places the death rate has just about doubled. In New York it's just about quadrupled.
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/04/16/tracking-covid-19-excess-deaths-across-countries
The Senate is slated to vote early next week on a House-passed bill to renew the government’s surveillance powers — nearly two months after key national-security tools lapsed amid an impasse between the two chambers.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/06/senate-vote-on-renewing-surveillance-powers-months-after-they-lapsed-240455
New York did *not* report data on cases and tests today. (It *did* report data on deaths.) That matters less than it once did because NY's cases have fallen a lot and its positive test rate is now similar to that of the country overall. But it's worth nothing.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1258146226161278977
Trump already admitted that he blocked Dr. Fauci from testifying for political reasons, and any other comment from the White House is just spin
Trump has vetoed a war powers resolution that would have curbed his ability to direct military action against Iran without Congress' authorization. The bipartisan measure came after Trump ordered a strike that killed Iranian Gen. Soleimani in January.
https://www.axios.com/trump-iran-war-powers-veto-d559e180-ff42-42ef-bdeb-b00cf585ea79.html
Goalposts keep moving. Trump said in late February the number of cases would soon be close to zero, saying that’s a pretty job they’ve done. And more recently he said the number of deaths would be 60,000-65,000. Now: McEnany: "There were supposed to be 2.2 million deaths & we're at a point where we are far lower than that, and it's thanks to the great work of the Task Force & the leadership of President Trump." (She's comparing what's happening to a scenario where the govt did nothing at all)
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1258135213311504387
Good, this is one of the two Black Lives Matters cases where there is an actual victim, where the person killed really is a victim. A Georgia district attorney is recommending that the case of Ahmaud Arbery, who was chased, shot and killed while running more than two months ago, go to a grand jury
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/05/ahmaud-arbery-killing/
https://twitter.com/MeritLaw/status/1257740136168722434
The video is clear: Ahmaud Arbery was killed in cold blood. My heart goes out to his family, who deserve justice and deserve it now. It is time for a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his murder.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1257876833581912065
This is a man-made crisis. The solution is straightforward: Congress must keep workers on payroll and guarantee their paychecks until the pandemic is over.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-05-06/small-businesses-april-job-cuts
To the nurses across America who are caring for our sick with unbelievable bravery and compassion: We stand with you. We will not stop fighting for the workplace safety, protective gear and the hazard pay you deserve. #NationalNursesDay: "I don't think people understand how stressful this job is." This New York nurse broke down after her shift in the ICU, describing the trauma of so many patient deaths. #NationalNursesDay AJ+
https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1258057567844130816
Nancy Pelosi is right. We must include the Paycheck Security Act in the next emergency legislation. The best way to protect our economy is to guarantee that, in the midst of this terrible crisis, workers continue receiving their paychecks and health care.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/pelosi-signals-support-for-massive-new-payroll-subsidies-as-small-business-loan-fund-nears-expiration-2020-05-05
You need health care whether you’re working or not, whether you have a good- or bad-paying job, whether you’re old or a kid. Health care must be a human right. If we don’t learn that lesson right now, we will never learn that lesson.
When a reporter asked if she would like to apologize for her claim months ago that the virus would never reach the US thanks to Trump, McEnany ended on reading from a list of news stories and opinion articles, mostly from the Washington Post, that downplayed how bad the virus would be, asking if they would like to apologize. She did not say when those articles were published or if they were official stories or opinion articles.
McEnany opened by showing a chart that Trump used in an interview with ABC, emphasizing that the US has done more tests than any country in the world at 7.5 million. She did not address how that accounts for under 3% of the US population
McEnany brought on Joe Shamas, veteran and owner of Flags For Valor, as a guest speaker to talk about his success with the small business loan program, to imply that his success with it represents every small business, despite evidence to the contrary. Shamas brought some products from his company, two wooden American flags, as props, thanked the president multiple times, and emphasized his patriotism by bringing up that he organized twice daily group pledges of allegiance to the flag
A reporter mentioned that the reason Trump and his people didn't wear masks when visiting the mask-making facility at Honeywell was because everyone there was tested and were negative for the virus. When they followed up that that's not possible at every workplace, McEnany replied that the idea that everyone in the US needs to get tested is "nonsensical" because people negative with the virus could be positive with it later. This would seemingly render her and the administration's point about having the most testing moot.
Ten days after covid19 infections peaked in Italy, Spain, and China, each nation showed declines in daily new cases. In U.S., ten days after infections peaked, we've showed few declines. Peak U.S. cases was 48,000 on April 26th. Since April 1st, average new cases are about 29,000
https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1258146730366951426
On the Same Day Sen. Richard Burr Dumped Stock, So Did His Brother-in-Law. Then the Market Crashed. The brother-in-law, a Trump appointee, sold between $97,000 and $280,000 worth of stock. Burr is under federal investigation over whether he traded on non-public information gathered through his work in the Senate.
https://www.propublica.org/article/burr-family-stock
The Senate will vote on whether to override the President’s veto of the Iran War Powers Act tomorrow afternoon. The vote will fall short of the two-thirds threshold.
Iraq’s Parliament chose an American-backed candidate, Mustafa Khadimi, as prime minister
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/world/middleeast/iraq-prime-minister-mustafa-khadimi.html
Governor Pritzker confirms churches will not be allowed to have services with more than 50 people until there is a vaccine, highly effective treatment, or elimination of any new cases over a sustained period.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2020/5/5/21248601/pritzker-reopen-restore-illinois-vaccine-treatment-immunity-normalcy-downstate-regions
He may want to realize that there has never been an effective vaccine for any coronavirus
Trump order to paint border wall black could drive up cost $500 million or more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-border-wall-black-paint/2020/05/06/dbda8ae4-8eff-11ea-8df0-ee33c3f5b0d6_story.html
The FCC just announced that Sinclair Broadcasting has agreed to pay a $48 million civil penalty, the largest ever paid by a broadcaster.
https://www.fcc.gov/document/sinclair-agrees-pay-48-million-civil-penalty
Goodbye USPS: Major Trump and RNC donor Louis DeJoy will become the next Postmaster General, putting a top Trump ally in charge as Treasury takes unprecedented control of the US Postal Service
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-republican-fundraiser-and-trump-ally-to-be-named-postmaster-general-giving-president-new-influence-over-postal-service-officials-say/2020/05/06/25cde93c-8fd4-11ea-8df0-ee33c3f5b0d6_story.html
In my area, for maybe 7/8 years, it has been common for the USPS to deliver mail twice in the same day. For maybe 5/6 years it has been common for USPS to deliver mail on Sunday. For 5/6 years, it has been common for USPS to deliver via a minicart additional mail that was missed the first two daily deliveries. That ended in my area in early March (covid19 precautions), and it has felt like the end of a lifetime. Now the USPS may be dismantled.
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