babylonsister
babylonsister's JournalGeorgia Is In Play
https://politicalwire.com/2020/05/23/georgia-is-in-play/
Georgia Is In Play
May 23, 2020 at 9:42 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
“A look at the statistics tell us that Biden’s team isn’t bluffing. Georgia is definitely in play in the 2020 presidential election, even if it isn’t as strong a pickup opportunity for Democrats as some other states.”
"In America, we need more prayer, not less." 45
"In America, we need more prayer, not less." 45
Is that so? It's too late for him to say that. Stop pandering; it's so ugly and hypocritical.
Is Trump Setting the Stage to Dismiss the 2020 Election Results?
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/is-trump-setting-the-stage-to-dismiss-the-2020-election-resultsVoting Rights
Is Trump Setting the Stage to Dismiss the 2020 Election Results?
The president—who has repeatedly lied about widespread voter fraud since winning the 2016 election—threatened to cut federal funding to Michigan and Nevada as he escalates crusade against mail-in voting in 2020.
By Eric Lutz
May 20, 2020
snip//
Indeed, Trump and his allies have expressed fears that increased voter turnout would spell their doom at the ballot box—even though measures like vote-by-mail have not been shown to favor one party over another, and are not, as the president claims, inherently prone to fraud. Trump himself cast a mail-in ballot in Florida’s election in March. “I can vote by mail,” Trump said in April, when pressed by a reporter to reconcile why it’s alright for him to cast a mail-in ballot but “horrible” when others do. “Because I’m allowed to.”
Contrary to Trump’s claim Wednesday, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson did not send registered voters absentee ballots; Benson, whom Trump described in his tweet as “rogue,” actually sent absentee ballot applications to Michigan voters—something other states, including Republican-led Georgia, have also done. That the president didn’t call out Georgia, led by ally Brian Kemp, but threatened Michigan, home of Trump foe Gretchen Whitmer, tells you everything you need to know: This is not about protecting the election, but about suppressing turnout and sowing confusion about the process.
The 2020 election is already poised to be rife with challenges and the potential for funny business, thanks to the COVID pandemic that has already made a mess of state elections this spring. But things are likely to be made worse as the Trump campaign takes advantage of the crisis, falsely accusing Democrats of illegal voting practices. Muddying the waters this way, along with Republicans’ brazen disenfranchisement efforts, could prove disastrous in November. At the very least, Trump’s voter fraud lies could lay the foundation for him to challenge or throw out the results of the election should it not go his way—a potential threat to democracy in America that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago but that can no longer be easily brushed aside.
Ron DeSantis: Florida 'lifting all restrictions on youth activities'
Ron DeSantis: Florida ‘lifting all restrictions on youth activities’
This includes summer camps.
Gov. Ron DeSantis at a news conference in Jacksonville on May 22, 2020. [Florida Channel]
By Kirby Wilson
Published 1 hour ago
Updated 8 minutes ago
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday in Jacksonville that Florida would allow organized activities for children, including summer camps and youth sports, effective immediately.
However, the Republican governor said he would not preempt municipalities from making their own rules. No official executive order had been issued by DeSantis as of Friday morning.
DeSantis, speaking at a news conference, noted that children are much less likely to face serious consequences from the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. In Florida, five in six coronavirus deaths have come from people 65 and over.
more...
https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2020/05/22/ron-desantis-florida-lifting-all-restrictions-on-youth-activities/
Chris Wallace debunks Trump: No record of massive or serious fraud from mail-in voting
And under the bus he goes!
TheHill.com
Chris Wallace debunks Trump: No record of massive or serious fraud from mail-in voting
By Joe Concha - 05/22/20 12:43 PM EDT
Fox News's Chris Wallace discredited President Trump’s claims that mail-in voting is susceptible to fraud, arguing Friday "there really is no record of massive fraud or even serious fraud from mail-in voting."
“It’s being carried out in Republican states, it’s being carried out in Democratic states, there is no indication that mail-in voting as opposed to in person voting tends to favor one party over another,” Wallace said.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1263841909774127104
When anchor Ed Henry asked if it was possible that a ballot mailed in could be swapped with another by someone receiving the mailed-in ballot, as Trump has suggested, Wallace was skeptical.
“But when people get their ballots and mail them in themselves, no history of fraud at all,” Wallace later added.
more...
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/499170-chris-wallace-debunks-trump-no-record-of-massive-or-serious-fraud-from-mail-in
Biden accuser Tara Reade dropped as client by lawyer
https://www.axios.com/tara-reade-dropped-lawyer-joe-biden-accuser-2572c0dc-1f34-4f1d-abae-bc899091a313.html10 mins ago - Politics & Policy
Biden accuser Tara Reade dropped as client by lawyer
Fadel Allassan
Douglas Wigdor, whose firm has represented plaintiffs in high-profile discrimination cases, announced Friday that he was no longer representing Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who has accused Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993.
The state of play: While Wigdor did not provide a reason behind his firm's decision, he did say that the move is "by no means a reflection" on the veracity of her allegations.
Despite his caseload, Wigdor has also garnered press for being a staunch conservative and supporter of President Trump.
Biden has flatly denied Reade's allegations.
The big picture: The development comes a day after California defense attorneys said they are reviewing cases in which Reade testified as an expert on domestic violence, following concerns that she misrepresented her academic qualifications.
What they're saying:
"Much of what has been written about Ms. Reade is not probative of whether then-Senator Biden sexually assaulted her, but rather is intended to victim-shame and attack her credibility on unrelated and irrelevant matters. We genuinely wish Ms. Reade well and hope that she, as a survivor, is treated fairly. We have and will continue to represent survivors regardless of their alleged predator’s status or politics."
— Wigdor's full statement on the decision
Paul Krugman: How Many Will Die for the Dow?
How Many Will Die for the Dow?
In a pandemic, Trump is reverting to type.
By Paul Krugman
Opinion Columnist
May 21, 2020
In mid-March, after weeks in denial, Donald Trump finally admitted that Covid-19 was a serious threat and called on Americans to practice social distancing.
The delayed acknowledgment of reality — reportedly driven by concerns that admitting that the coronavirus posed a threat would hurt the stock market — had deadly consequences. Epidemiological modelers believe that tens of thousands of deaths might have been avoided if America had started lockdowns even a week earlier.
Still, better late than never. And for a little while it seemed as if we were finally settling on a strategy for containing the virus while also limiting the economic hardship caused by the lockdown.
But Trump and the Republican Party as a whole have now given up on that strategy. They won’t say this explicitly, and they’re throwing up various disingenuous explanations for what they’re doing, but their basic position is that thousands of Americans must die for the Dow.
What was the strategy Trump abandoned? It was the same strategy that has worked in other countries, from South Korea to New Zealand. First, use a lockdown to “crush the curve”: reduce the number of infected Americans to a relatively low level. Then combine gradual reopening with widespread testing, tracing of contacts after an infected individual is identified, and isolation of those who might spread the disease.
more...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/opinion/trump-coronavirus-dow.html
Man who reportedly filmed Ahmaud Arbery's killing charged with murder
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/crime/man-who-reportedly-filmed-ahmaud-arberys-killing-charged-with-murder/93-9f3dc03f-e724-4faa-812c-bed8aac746beMan who reportedly filmed Ahmaud Arbery's killing charged with murder
According to the GBI, 50-year-old William "Roddie" Bryan Jr. was jailed on felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
Author: First Coast News Staff
Published: 5:56 PM EDT May 21, 2020
Updated: 6:02 PM EDT May 21, 2020
The man who reportedly filmed the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was arrested and charged with murder, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
According to the GBI, 50-year-old William "Roddie" Bryan Jr. was jailed on felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
The GBI said these charges stem from Arbery's killing on Feb. 24.
Bryan was booked into the Glynn County Jail.
No other details were released at this time.
The President Still Has No Clothes
The President Still Has No Clothes
The coronavirus has made Trump’s deficiencies more apparent. We still don’t quite know what to do with him.
By Dahlia Lithwick and William Sage
May 20, 20206:02 PM
Expressing his skepticism about the utility of widespread coronavirus testing, President Donald Trump recently said: “When you test, you find something is wrong. With people.”
We may never have the tests to determine exactly what is wrong with Trump himself. But we know that something is wrong, and we have known this for a long time. We know that he fails to exhibit emotional qualities we reasonably expect of a leader, particularly in times of crisis. Most notably, he fails to have empathy for (or, at a minimum, awareness of) human illness, suffering, and death. We also know something is wrong because we have heard, seen, and read statements by the president that are inconsistent, factually incorrect, tangential, and more than occasionally incoherent. Depending on the topic and setting, these behaviors range from intermittent to continual. Years have been wasted in an intramural debate among mental health experts over whether to diagnose the president remotely, and what such a diagnosis might be. But that, too, is a distraction from what is directly in front of our eyes.
There is, even as the president blurs the line between reality and fantasy while talking about a lethal pandemic, a tendency to puzzle over the president’s actions, to wonder if they are somehow part of a complex political strategy. Is the president’s behavior “genius,” as a recent Washington Post commentary chose to call it, while still labeling it “irrational”? A simpler explanation is that both his distracting tweetstorms and incompetent leadership arise from the same underlying cause, even if we cannot label it, and the correct descriptor is not “brilliant.” But despite years of largely uninformed incoherence, it’s still difficult for many of us to resist the temptation to find order in the mess.
In the absence of psychiatric or cognitive tests Trump may never undergo, we cannot establish that some affirmative condition accounts for his daily shortage of rational output. This leaves us in the uncomfortable position of having to document only what Trump lacks. And while proving a nullity seems impossible, the truth is that one doesn’t need a Ph.D. in clinical psychology to observe and record the ordinary human behaviors the president hasn’t mastered. Any rational observer can do it. The burning question is why we don’t.
Anyone and everyone charged with reporting on this president should make a fundamental commitment that describing or interpreting this president’s statements and actions must highlight, on an ongoing and even repetitive basis, what they don’t see. Reporters, public intellectuals, and pundits should stop filling in Trump’s gaps for him and should allow as full a picture as possible to emerge of his cognitive and personal incompleteness. Not doing so explicitly has resulted in four years of rationalizing, contextualizing, and indeed—in popular parlance—“normalizing” a president few of us would trust to take care of a pet over the weekend.
more...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/trump-emperor-no-clothes.html
Shelter-in-Place Orders Saved Nearly 250,000 Lives
May 19, 2020
Shelter-in-Place Orders Saved Nearly 250,000 Lives
New research suggests lockdowns have indeed flattened the curve.
Laura Thompson
Finally, some good news: Despite months of botched coronavirus testing, limited treatment options and flip-flopping on masks, new research suggests something is working to flatten the curve—stay-at-home orders. According to an analysis by the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, in the 30 largest metro areas, shelter-in-place orders likely saved 232,878 lives and prevented 2.1 million hospitalizations. In New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic, nearly 25,000 lives were saved in 45 days of stay-at-home. By the end of this month, the researchers estimate that New York will have avoided more than 30,000 covid-19 deaths, and nearly 300,000 hospitalizations.
snip//
“What we really wanted to do was to say this matters. Doing nothing is in fact doing something,” Jennifer Kolker, associate dean for public health practice at the Dornsife School, told The Hill. “We really wanted to give city leaders the opportunity to say to their residents and their jurisdictions, ‘Hey folks, look what you did, you saved lives, you kept people out of the hospital.'”
You can read more estimates from cities including Dallas, Detroit, Kansas City, San Francisco, and Seattle here.
https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/05/shelter-in-place-orders-saved-nearly-250000-lives/
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