babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal'I really need a miracle today': Republican who denied COVID begs for prayers after hospitalization
‘I really need a miracle today’: Republican who denied COVID begs for prayers after hospitalization
Aysha Qamar
Daily Kos Staff
Friday December 11, 2020 · 2:10 PM EST
Cases of the novel coronavirus are increasing at a rapid rate across the U.S. Despite this, some individuals are still refusing to wear masks. As a result, many of those who once denied the severity of the virus are now suffering the consequences of doing so after infection. While some have expressed regret and have warned others to not take the virus and safety measures lightly, others—like Donald Trump—are continuing to deny its severity despite multiple hospital visits.
Longtime COVID-19 denier and Tennessee state Rep. David Byrd is another Republican who once dismissed the virus as a hoax only to contract it. Byrd, who is currently hospitalized, is at risk of being put on a ventilator, the Tennessean reported. The controversial Republican posted on Facebook Thursday begging friends for prayers and a “miracle” after being hospitalized over the weekend with pneumonia following a positive COVID-19 test.
Byrd tested positive for the virus less than two weeks after attending a meeting with almost 70 House Republicans in attendance in the House chamber on Nov. 24. During the meeting, the 63-year-old representative was seen without a mask on the House floor.
But it doesn’t end there: Days before the meeting, Byrd even hosted a dinner with a number of his fellow caucus members at a restaurant to kick off a series of Republican retreat events. According to NBC News affiliate WBIR, one of the events was overnight.
Not only has Byrd been spotted without a mask on multiple occasions but in June he also voted in support of a House resolution that insisted that "mainstream media has sensationalized the reporting on COVID-19 in the service of political agendas,” the Tennessean reported. Byrd is the second Republican Tennessee House member to be hospitalized after contracting the virus. Rep. Mike Carter, who also voted in support of the same legislation, was hospitalized earlier this year with COVID-19.
more...
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/12/11/2001294/--I-really-need-a-miracle-today-COVID-19-denying-Republican-begs-for-prayers-after-hospitalization
Orlando Sentinel sues DeSantis for refusing to release weekly White House coronavirus reports
Orlando Sentinel sues DeSantis for refusing to release weekly White House coronavirus reports
By Naseem S. Miller
Orlando Sentinel |
Dec 11, 2020 at 1:15 PM
The Orlando Sentinel has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis and his office for failing to provide the weekly White House Coronavirus Task Force reports in a timely manner.
DeSantis’ office has not provided any of the task force reports for the month of November. It’s been 37 days since the newspaper requested the Nov. 1 weekly report.
The lawsuit alleges that DeSantis and his office have violated the Public Records Act by refusing the release of the reports. It seeks the immediate release of the requested and future reports.
more...
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/coronavirus/os-ne-coronavirus-orlando-sentinel-sues-desantis-20201211-a67bacptvfbd5cmzh3c2lvavsa-story.html
Muslim men said the FBI put them on no-fly list for retribution, SCOTUS grants them the right to sue
Stories like this give me hope.
Muslim men said the FBI put them on no-fly list for retribution, SCOTUS grants them the right to sue
Aysha Qamar
Daily Kos Staff
Friday December 11, 2020 · 5:45 PM EST
On Thursday, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of three Muslim men who said they were wrongly placed wrongly on a “no-fly” list. The men, all U.S. residents, went to court on the basis that the FBI put them on the government’s no-fly list for refusing to spy on U.S. Muslim communities and act as informants. All three men were allegedly placed on the list without evidence to prove that they threatened airline or passenger security. As a result of being on the list, not only were the three men’s reputations and employment statuses harmed, but they could not visit family in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen for a span of years.
The Supreme Court’s decision, the latest in a spate of rulings in favor of religious liberties, allows the men to sue the FBI agents for monetary damages under a federal law protecting religious exercise.
snip//
The victory served as not only a civil rights milestone but as relief for the men who experienced this trauma. While money cannot change the experiences they’ve had, such a victory can help others who follow.
Shinwari, a manufacturing contractor who came to the U.S. with his father from Afghanistan when he was 14, expressed similar joy. His name on the no-fly list not only prevented him from doing his work, but from visiting his wife who was in Afghanistan at the time.
Kassem, who also serves as a professor at The City University of New York School of Law, noted the courage of the three men for standing up for their religious freedom, adding: “the Court’s unanimous decision also sends a clear message to FBI agents who should think twice now before abusing the power to put people on the No-Fly List.”
Government agents, no matter at what level, must be held accountable for their actions. Racism and discrimination on any basis should not and cannot be tolerated any longer in the U.S. “Today's unanimous #SCOTUS decision is a victory for American Muslims and all people of faith,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement posted to Twitter. “We can, should and must continue to hold government agents fully responsible for engaging in religious discrimination.”
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, we should treat these Republicans like the fascists they are
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/12/11/2001183/-Now-that-the-Supreme-Court-has-ruled-we-should-call-these-Republicans-the-fascists-that-they-areNow that the Supreme Court has ruled, we should treat these Republicans like the fascists they are
Dartagnan
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Friday December 11, 2020 · 7:04 PM EST
snip//
But back in our real world, Democrats have been remarkably quiet about what is happening. Perhaps it’s an expectation that it will all “blow over” once the Electoral College votes on Monday. Perhaps the thinking is, following the lead of Joe Biden, they want to project an air of professionalism and capability while the Republicans make fools of themselves. Perhaps they’re inclined to let the media do the castigating for them. Perhaps, as some have suggested, they feel as if their Republican counterparts are only behaving this way because they know their efforts will be unsuccessful.
I don’t understand this thinking. It seems ridiculously naive, particularly under these times of unprecedented crisis, where thousands of Americans are dying in hospitals every single day.
The Republicans have embraced fascism. I don’t know how many times it’s going to be necessary to say this. I don’t know how it can be said more clearly. There will not be any “cooperation” with these people. They’ve sold their souls.
Fascists are impervious to reason, shame or argument. The only thing they understand is power when it’s used against them.
The Democratic Party represents the majority—by a considerable margin—of the American voting public. As diverse as our coalition is, it is in fact the majority, and it needs to behave like a majority. We—not the Republicans—were the millions who marched in the streets of Washington in 2017. We—not the Republicans-- were the millions who marched in every major city in the country—and practically every other place in the country--in opposition to racism and police brutality. We—not the Republicans—were the ones who flooded the polls in 2018, and again in 2020, throwing this abomination out of office.
A majority has power, and knows when to use it.
What the Republicans are doing has been, and is, intolerable. Any Republican—at the state level, the federal level, or any other capacity-- should be made to understand that have betrayed the country, and they will they are going to be viewed—and treated-- like people who have betrayed their country for the rest of their political careers. They need to be made to understand that they will face the consequences of their treachery for the rest of their lives.
Unless and until that happens, they will continue to mock us, to disenfranchise us, knowing that we will sit back in fear, relying on our fragile “institutions” to protect us.
House Democrat Calls To Exclude 126 Republicans From Next Congress For Supporting Texas Lawsuit
Election 2020|Dec 11, 2020,06:19pm EST|14,041 views
House Democrat Calls To Exclude 126 Republicans From Next Congress For Supporting Texas Lawsuit
Andrew Solender
Updated Dec 11, 2020, 06:31pm EST
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) on Friday urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to refuse to seat any of the 126 Republican House members who signed an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit aimed at overturning the results of the presidential election.
Key Facts
Pascrell, who has been among the most vocal proponents in Congress of investigations into President Trump, called on Pelosi in a letter to “exclude” any members who signed the brief, claiming they want to “tear the United States government apart.”
Pascrell cites Section 3 of the 14th amendment – which states that anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” cannot serve in federal office – claiming the lawsuit seeks to “obliterate public confidence in our democratic system” and that those who signed it committed “unbecoming acts that reflect poorly on our chamber.”
The lawsuit the Republicans are supporting, brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and backed by 17 Republican attorneys general, asks the Supreme Court to invalidate electors in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan based on fraud claims already rejected by lowerthe courts numerous times.
The Republicans who signed the brief include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise and incoming House GOP Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson, who is spearheading the effort.
Pelosi herself has signaled firm opposition to the Trump-backed effort, calling it “an act of flailing GOP desperation, which violates the principles enshrined in our American Democracy” in a letter to Democratic colleagues.
"Republicans are subverting the Constitution by their reckless and fruitless assault on our democracy,” Pelosi added in the letter, which was released after Pascrell’s, though she did not say whether she would heed his calls.
more...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/12/11/house-democrat-calls-to-exclude-126-republicans-from-next-congress-for-supporting-texas-lawsuit/
Katie Porter coming up on The View, fyi. nt
'Get off our damn asses': Stimulus debacle exposes broken Washington
How flippin' immature does Cornyn sound? I still contend he's just plain dumb.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/10/coronavirus-stimulus-relief-impasse-444320
‘Get off our damn asses’: Stimulus debacle exposes broken Washington
Top negotiators can’t agree where to start talks let alone how to finish them.
By BURGESS EVERETT, HEATHER CAYGLE and SARAH FERRIS
12/10/2020 12:45 PM EST
Updated: 12/10/2020 05:33 PM EST
snip//
“People are certainly going to assume [that] government is broken,” said Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), who has been part of those bipartisan talks and was defeated in a GOP primary battle earlier this year. “There’s a frustration and an anger in the electorate that’s starting to ripple through the United States. It’s time for us to do something to get off our damn asses.”
Democrats have latched onto the bipartisan talks as the only way out of the impasse. And they say McConnell has refused to get in the room for bipartisan negotiations, whether it’s with Mnuchin and Pelosi, Schumer or rank-and-file senators.
Republicans believe it’s unrealistic to think a Senate “gang” can force a solution to such a complicated political quagmire. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said McConnell’s arguments of dropping liability reform and state and local is the only way forward: “If they’re not going to do what we really want, then we’re not going to do what they really want.”
snip//
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said he remembers campaigning for Biden in the late fall and confidently telling supporters that Congress would approve some form of stimulus. He now concedes that in hindsight, that sentiment was “stupid.”
The senior Missouri Democrat, whose family spent time in public housing growing up, is flummoxed by the lack of urgency as unemployment aid and eviction protections are set to expire at month’s end.
“Maybe we don’t have enough people in here who have ever been poor,” he said.
Andrew Yang Has Decided to Run for Mayor
https://politicalwire.com/2020/12/11/andrew-yang-will-run-for-new-york-city-mayor/Andrew Yang Has Decided to Run for Mayor
December 11, 2020 at 7:31 am EST By Taegan Goddard
“Mr. Yang is not expected to announce his bid until next month, but with the Democratic primary less than seven months away, he has begun to make overtures to several of the city’s political power brokers.”
Manhattan D.A. Intensifies Investigation of Trump
https://politicalwire.com/2020/12/11/manhattan-d-a-intensifies-investigation-of-trump/
Manhattan D.A. Intensifies Investigation of Trump
December 11, 2020 at 6:47 am EST By Taegan Goddard
“The interviews with people who work for the lender, Deutsche Bank, and the insurance brokerage, Aon, are the latest indication that once Mr. Trump leaves office, he still faces the potential threat of criminal charges that would be beyond the reach of federal pardons.”
Sanders, Hawley team up to demand vote on second round of stimulus checks
Sanders, Hawley team up to demand vote on second round of stimulus checks
By Jordain Carney - 12/10/20 06:54 PM EST
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) are teaming up to push for a vote on a second round of stimulus checks — an unusual alliance that underscores the wide political spectrum that supports more direct payments.
The two senators introduced a proposal on Thursday that would provide a second $1,200 stimulus check to individuals who make up to $75,000, mirroring language included in the March CARES Act.
Hawley and Sanders are pledging to try to force a vote, either as part of a week-long stopgap bill that needs to pass by Friday night, or the duel government funding and coronavirus relief negotiations that need to be resolved by Friday, Dec. 18.
Sanders added in, "at the very least."
"All that Senator Hawley and I are asking for is the exact same language, word for word, that was in the CARES Act," Sanders said.
more...
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/529756-sanders-hawley-team-up-to-demand-vote-on-second-round-of-stimulus-checks
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