THe 169th Week in Trumpganistan!

[JackLuis]

As the 169th Week begins In Trumpistan:


Jared Kushner MBAsplains Coronavirus To America's Governors. Guess We're All Gonna Die.

coronavirus covid-19 jared kushner coronavirus jared kushner coronavirus task force jared kushner coronavirus press conference
Jared Kushner MBAsplains Coronavirus To America's Governors. Guess We're All Gonna Die.
Liz Dye
April 03, 2020 01:10 PM
Screenshot, Axios on HBO

"The notion of the federal stockpile was it's supposed to be our stockpile," Jared Kushner said during yesterday's coronavirus MAGA rally. "It's not supposed to be states' stockpiles that they then use."

"WHO THE FUCK IS 'OUR'?" screamed America in unison. If it doesn't belong to the states, is the stockpile the property of DC, Guam, and Puerto Rico? Or does Jared think he and Vanky own the nation's stash of medical supplies and can dole them out as they see fit?

That's a joke, because, DUH, of course he does.

"The Strategic National Stockpile is the nation's largest supply of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out," according to its website. "When state, local, tribal, and territorial responders request federal assistance to support their response efforts, the stockpile assures that the right medicines and supplies get to those who need them most during an emergency."

Oh, whoops! Looks like that's not the case anymore. Since Jared's star performance at yesterday's presser, that language has been removed from the web. Now it says that the president owns those ventilators and masks and can hand them out to red states that might vote for him in November, because, HELLO! read your Constitution, people!

Yesterday, Vanity Fair, Politico, and the New York Times all ran hair-raising stories about Jared Kushner taking over the nation's coronavirus response.


Michelle Malkin
✔
@michellemalkin

America is finally united: NOBODY likes Jared Kushner. NOBODY wants him in charge. NOBODY.

This is the way that you run a Government like a business. Unfortunately like a Trump & Co. business, you know bankrupted!......

 

[JackLuis]

Box Score to start the 169th Week:

USA 290,947 detected cases

+13,786 New Cases

7,844 Total death, so far

+440 New Deaths

Only half of Italy's deaths, so much for winning!

 

[JackLuis]

Trump is preparing the ground for a totalitarian dictatorship

https://www.rawstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/trump-afp-7.jpg

We’re all going to know someone who has died of the coronavirus when this is over. The tragic news is all over Facebook and Twitter already. My friend Patricia Bosworth, the actress and biographer, died on Friday of the virus. Everyone has friends and acquaintances who have the virus, family members who have died, favorite musicians or actors and friends of friends who are sick and dying. The virus has taken them from us, but so has Donald Trump with his inaction and lying and childish finger-pointing and failure to take responsibility.

We're gonna need bigger Tumbrels!

 

[JackLuis]

Breadlines form down the street from Mar-a-Lago as the Trump economy collapses

On Saturday, Bloomberg News highlighted how the collapse of the economy, spurred by the coronavirus pandemic and the U.S. government’s poor response, is leading to destitution in the backyard of one of President Donald Trump’s most famous properties.

“Though it’s just a four-minute drive across the lagoon from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s private club, and ten minutes from the Palm Beach outposts of Chanel and Louis Vuitton, Howley’s diner has become an emblem of America’s stark new economic reality,” wrote Shawn Donnan and Reade Pickert. “With more than 10 million people across the nation suddenly unemployed, bread lines are forming in the shadows of privileged enclaves like this one in Florida.”

The report continued: “For the past two weeks, the kitchen staff at Howley’s has been cooking up free meals — the other day it was smoked barbecue chicken with rice and beans, and salad — for thousands of laid off workers from Palm Beach’s shuttered restaurants and resorts. The rows of brown-bag lunches and dinners are an early warning that the country’s income gap is about to be wrenched wider as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, and the deep recession it has brought with it.”

Trump, bringing people together, in breadlines!

 

[phrodeau]

Trump rejects his own administration's advice on masks.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...futes-his-own-administrations-advice-on-masks

“I just don’t want to wear one myself. They say ‘recommendation’, they recommend it. I’m feeling good,” – a remark that ignored evidence that many virus carriers do not show symptoms.

He went on: “I just don’t want to be doing – somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it for myself. Maybe I’ll change my mind, but this will pass, and hopefully it will pass very quickly.”

Maybe the orange greasepaint will be adequate.

 

[JackLuis]

4-4-20

USA
311,637 Total cases
+280 New Cases
8,454 Total deaths, so far
+2 New Deaths

So only two dies today.

Heck of a Job Trumpy!

 

[JackLuis]

‘Act of modern piracy’: US allies denounce country’s strong-arm tactics to procure masks for coronavirus fight

From Europe to South America, U.S. allies are complaining about the superpower’s “Wild West” tactics in outbidding or blocking shipments to buyers who have already signed deals for vital medical supplies.

In France and Germany, senior officials said the United States was paying far above the market price for medical-grade masks from No. 1 producer China, on occasion winning contracts through higher bids even after European buyers believed a deal was done, and Brazil’s health minister reported a similar incident.
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“Money is irrelevant. They pay any price because they are desperate,” one high-level official in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling CDU/CSU group told Reuters.
Defend democracy. Click to invest in courageous progressive journalism today.

A German government source said: “Americans are on the move, carrying a lot of money.”

Yeah our Money, and then after paying 3-4 times asking price, the goods get shipped to commercial distributors who ask even more to get the goods shipped to Red States!

 

[JackLuis]

Trump administration quietly guts COVID-19 paid leave provision that already excluded 75 percent of workers

The Trump administration has quietly issued new guidance that will exempt many small businesses from having to provide some workers with paid leave during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Department of Labor issued a temporary rule Wednesday that effectively exempted businesses with fewer than 50 workers from being required to provide 12 weeks of paid leave for workers whose children are suddenly at home from school or child care under the coronavirus stimulus package signed by President Donald Trump.

But wait , there's More!

The guidance was just one way in which the Trump administration has sought to undermine provisions in the bill pushed by Democrats. The president issued a signing statement last week undercutting the law’s provision creating a “special inspector general,” who would be charged with overseeing corporate loans made by the Treasury Department under the new law.

“I do not understand, and my administration will not treat, this provision as permitting the [inspector general] to issue reports to the Congress without the presidential supervision required” by Article II of the Constitution, Trump said in the signing statement, arguing that the administration views that provision and those requiring reports to Congressional committees as optional. “These provisions are impermissible forms of congressional aggrandizement with respect to the execution of the laws.”

The move drew strong criticism from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

PeeResident 'Scoff Law' says, "No I don't accept and will not execute the Law if I don't want to. And you can't make me!"

Bad Trumpy, BAD!!!!

 

[JackLuis]

Trump appears to have fraudulently manipulated financial markets yet again

Trump continues to fuck ALL the chickens!


‘That would be a false statement’: Dr. Fauci knocks down claim virus is ‘under control’

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, warned on Sunday that states without stay at home orders are putting themselves at risk for COVID-19 outbreaks.

“This is going to be a bad week,” Fauci explained to CBS News host Margarett Brennan. “We’re going to continue to see an escalation. We should also hope that within a week, maybe a little bit more, we should start to see a flattening out of the curve.”

Trump vows to take anti-malaria drug touted by allies as treatment for coronavirus

President Donald Trump said Saturday he may take an anti-malaria drug that he’s been promoting as a treatment for coronavirus even though doctors warn that it’s unproven, and he hasn’t been diagnosed with the illness.“I might do it anyway. I may take it, OK? I may take it,” Trump told his daily briefing. “And I have to ask my doctors about that. But I may take it.”Trump’s remarkable offer to take hydroxychloroquine even though he doesn’t need it came during a freewheeling news conference in which he touted the “efficient” rollout of a small business relief program and attacked the Navy captain…

Let's make "STFU-GTFO Lumpy" trend on Face Pages all over the world!

 

[JackLuis]

Trump announces ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’ during coronavirus outbreak: ‘We want to open our country’

President Donald Trump announced in his daily press briefing that everything is going to be fine soon.

Speaking Sunday, the president announced that he was handed a government that was somehow broken, though he didn’t clarify what he was working on for the three years ahead of the coronavirus.

While doctors are begging Americans to stay home, Trump said, “we’ve got to open up our country.”
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“The airplane industry, the airline industry, a lot of great industries that we have that are in trouble because of what took place over the last short period of time,” said Trump. “These are industries that were doing better, for the most part, doing better than ever. The airlines were doing great. Oil was doing great, oil and gas, and the energy industry was doing phenomenally well. It got hit like nobody’s ever been hit before. Just about like no industry’s ever been hit before. There is there’s never been anything like this. But we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Things are happening. Things are happening. We’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully, in the not too distant future, we’ll be very proud of the job we all did. We can never be happy when so many people are dying, but we’re going to be very proud of the job we did to keep the death down to an absolute minimum, the least it could have happened with this terrible, terrible virus.”

That is exactly the point of being prepared, it might cost a bit, but not as much as not being prepared. Being prepared means not having the economy crash over a little thing like a Pandemic.

Perhaps we need to look a the other side of this. Without a pandemic the Trumpublicunts wouldn't be able to grift a half trillion out of the public treasury? Was Trump just stalling until he could get a half trillion out of congress?

 

[JackLuis]

John Oliver busts Trump, ‘moron’ Jared Kushner and the GOP governors: ‘I pray you never show your face again’

 

[JackLuis]

‘A really chilling moment’: Trump refuses to allow Dr. Fauci to answer question on dangers of hydroxychloroquine

During a press briefing Sunday night purportedly aimed at providing the U.S. public with crucial information amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump refused to allow the nation’s top infectious disease expert to answer a reporter’s question about the efficacy of an anti-malaria drug that the president has recklessly touted as a possible COVID-19 treatment despite warnings from medical professionals.

Trump should definitely take the drugs, all of them! Drinking a quart of Round-Up is the sure cure Donnie, try it!


Coronavirus task force members furious Trump is trying to get them to listen to TV’s Dr. Oz: ‘This isn’t celebrity showcase’

Reporting that the president told officials it would be “a good idea” if they spoke with the controversial television doctor, one administration official working with task force expressed disgust.

 

[JackLuis]

Giuliani trying to ‘regain relevance’ by advising Trump behind the scenes on coronavirus cures: report

According to a report in the Washington Post, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is slowly reinserting himself back into White House affairs by advising Donald Trump on possible cures for the coronavirus.

Giuliani, who has mostly dropped out of sight since the GOP-controlled Senate refused to oust the president after the House presented them with articles of impeachment, popped up on Fox News on Sunday to make the case for alternative cures for COVID-19 and has also been calling the president the report states.

 

[JackLuis]

Masks On, Masks Off​

The US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, made dual appearances on NBC's "Meet The Press" and "Fox News Sunday" to inform the American people of the newest recommendations from the CDC.

On "Meet The Press":

ADAMS: Here's what's changed. We now know that about 25%, in some studies even more, of COVID-19 is transmitted when you are asymptomatic or presymptomatic. And so the CDC has now recommended that people wear cloth face coverings when they're going to be out in public and they can't be more than six feet away from each other.

Chuck Todd then asked whether the instruction to build homemade cloth masks was driven by shortages of medical supplies which Adams clarified:

ADAMS: Well, the reason why we're saying, "Make a homemade one," is because that's effective in protecting you from me. Remember, I'm wearing a mask to protect you, Chuck, and you're a wearing a mask to protect me. That is what you need. We want to make sure we're saving the medical masks for the health care workers, and we still wouldn't recommend that people wear an N95 even if we had enough.

Oh ok, I get it! The wearer of the mask does it to protect others, in case they are asymptomatic to COVID-19, rather than to protect themselves. Well, as long as WE ALL take part everything is gonna be...

It's just gonna be TREMENDOUS!

 

[JackLuis]

Monday Score Card!

USA
356,414 Total cases

+19,741 New Cases

10,490 Total Death, so far 2.9% deaths per reported cases

+874 New Cases

19,247 Total Recovered 5.35% recovery so far!

 

[KeithD]

Giuliani trying to ‘regain relevance’ by advising Trump behind the scenes on coronavirus cures: report

We wondered what Giuliani was up to now. We knew it wasn't anything good.

 

[JackLuis]

Landlord ‘changed the locks’ on church after pastor refused to abide by shut-down order: report

Members of a church in Lodi, California, found themselves locked out of their place of worship after the building’s landlord changed the locks in response to the pastor’s refusal to abide by lockdown orders meant to combat the coronavirus.

The landlord of the Cross Culture Christian Center changed the locks, effectively blocking congregants from celebrating Palm Sunday services this weekend, according to a report from KTVU. The landlord’s action come one week after the San Joaquin County Health Department ordered the church to shut down its in-person gatherings.

 

[JackLuis]

Big pharma-funded group founded by billionaire Trump backer tied to president’s promotion of malaria drug for COVID-19

Many Americans are wondering why President Donald Trump has been relentlessly and dangerously promoting two old malaria drugs to fight the deadly coronavirus, but now it seems a legitimate tie may have been found.

The investigative news site Sludge reports a top Trump backer’s advocacy group, fueled with funds from Big Pharma, “has been pushing Trump to approve the use of hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19.”

Home Depot founder and billionaire right wing activist Bernie Marcus founded the non-profit group Job Creators Network, which works for right wing causes including lower taxes, less regulations, and so-called “free-market solutions.”

Marcus donated millions to groups which worked to get Trump elected. He has said he will again donate millions to help get Trump re-elected.

Job Creators Network has been funded by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a drug industry trade that counts among its members leading hydroxychloroquine makers Novartis, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Bayer. According to tax documents, PhRMA donated $500,000 to Job Creators Network in 2017.

 

[jomar]

‘A really chilling moment’: Trump refuses to allow Dr. Fauci to answer question on dangers of hydroxychloroquine

Word is Trump owns a piece of the company that makes the drug.

 

[JackLuis]

‘Follow the money’: MSNBC contributor blows the lid off Trump’s personal stake in drug he’s pushing as COVID-19 cure

President Donald Trump has been raising questions by his dogged endorsement of an unproven treatment for the coronavirus — and his motivations appear to be more financial than medical.

Trump admits he’s not a doctor — which, of course, he’s not — but MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and the Washington Post‘s Eugene Robinson are among many wondering whether the president is trying to boost the market for the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine.

Scarborough pointed to new revelations from the New York Times, which reported that Trump and his family had investments in a Dodge & Cox mutual fund, whose largest holding is Sanofi — the French drugmaker that produces the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine and sells it overseas.

“So two things are possible here,” Robinson said. “It is possible that Donald Trump is perfectly aware of these investments, and his potential stake in this drug, and that this is all deliberate. It’s also possible that he, he’s open to manipulation by friends and cronies, his billionaire Mar-A-Lago friends, who have these investments, and who are pushing him in this direction.”

It is also possible Trumpski is doing what he is told to do by those who hold his prodigious debts!

 

[JackLuis]

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed some disturbing truths about capitalism

The desperate policies of panic-driven governments involve throwing huge amounts of money at the economies collapsed in response to the coronavirus threat. Monetary authorities create money and lend it at extremely low interest rates to the major corporations and especially big banks “to get them through the crisis.” Government treasuries borrow vast sums to get the collapsed economy back into what they imagine is “the normal, pre-virus economy.” Capitalism’s leaders are rushing into policy failures because of their ideological blinders.

​The problem of policies aimed to return the economy to what it was before the virus hit is this: Global capitalism, by 2019, was itself a major cause of the collapse in 2020. Capitalism’s scars from the crashes of 2000 and 2008-2009 had not healed. Years of low interest rates had enabled corporations and governments to “solve” all their problems by borrowing limitlessly at almost zero interest rate cost. All the new money pumped into economies by central banks had indeed caused the feared inflation, but chiefly in stock markets whose prices consequently spiraled dangerously far away from underlying economic values and realities. Inequalities of income and wealth reached historic highs.

​In short, capitalism had built up vulnerabilities to another crash that any number of possible triggers could unleash. The trigger this time was not the dot.com meltdown of 2000 or the sub-prime meltdown of 2008/9; it was a virus. And of course, mainstream ideology requires focusing on the trigger, not the vulnerability. Thus mainstream policies aim to reestablish pre-virus capitalism. Even if they succeed, that will return us to a capitalist system whose accumulated vulnerabilities will soon again collapse from yet another trigger.

Quarterly focused Capitalists don't care if EVERYBODY DIes! As long as they make their numbers!

 

[JackLuis]

New Zealand’s prime minister provides a remarkably stark contrast to Trump’s constant coronavirus failures: columnist

Columnist Charlie Pierce wrote in his Esquire column Tuesday that one refreshing way to make it through the failures of President Donald Trump during the coronavirus crisis is to look at the competent leadership of other heads of state. Namely, New Zealand’s prime minister.

“Two days later, [Prime Minister Jacinda] Ardern delivered a televised address from her office — the first time since 1982 that an Oval Office-style speech had been given — announcing a coronavirus response alert plan involving four stages, with a full lockdown being Level 4. A group of influential leaders got on the phone with her the following day to urge moving to Level 4,” Pierce cited from a Washington Post report.

In New Zealand there is simple and easily understood language: Stay home. Trump has fumbled through downplaying the virus to constant claims that all is well. He wants to stay optimistic, he’s claimed, and deliver only positive news. While Americans need something hopeful and positive, the more important thing is information that could help save lives.

 

[JackLuis]

Box Scores for 4-7-20

USA
393,782 Total cases

+26,778 New Cases

12,692 Total Deaths

+1,821 New Deaths

21,561 Total recovered

 

[JackLuis]

Trump goes on confused rant when asked why he opposes funding for the Postal Service in coronavirus stimulus

At the White House coronavirus task force press conference briefing on Tuesday, President Donald Trump was asked why he didn’t support the Democratic proposal to send stimulus money to the Postal Service.

Trump’s response was to say that the Postal Service has been “losing billions of dollars a year for many, many years” and scorned the idea that suddenly “I’m now the demise of the Postal Service.” He then claimed the real problem with the Postal Service is that they get ripped off by tech companies like Amazon — something his own advisers have repeatedly told him is not true.

The Postal Service’s importance in delivering goods to people while they are in quarantine — and its potential importance in conducting elections predominantly by mail — has been a key point of stimulus negotiations.

Without the Postal Service Demonrats can't mail in their votes. Trump Logic!

 

[phrodeau]

Trump goes on confused rant when asked why he opposes funding for the Postal Service in coronavirus stimulus



Without the Postal Service Demonrats can't mail in their votes. Trump Logic!

The Postal Service is established by Congress, according to the Constitution. Only Congress can shut it down.