babylonsister
babylonsister's JournalAG Bill Barr orders US attorneys to pursue legal action against 'overbearing' COVID-19 rules
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/ag-bill-barr-orders-us-attorneys-to-pursue-legal-action-against-overbearing-covid-19-rules/?fbclid=IwAR1XZPrRiGd7uLPk4oHC7OKcTMU9Li4ySefPVvtHEEBu7Z7FdY4XhH2rRU8
AG Bill Barr orders US attorneys to pursue legal action against overbearing COVID-19 rules
Published 14 mins ago
on April 27, 2020
By Matthew Chapman
On Monday, Attorney General William Barr issued a memorandum titled Balancing Public Safety with the Preservation of Civil Rights, in which he directed the Justice Department to take legal action against certain coronavirus lockdown rules imposed by states.
If a state or local ordinance crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court, continued Barr. I am therefore directing the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Eric Dreiband, and Matthew Schneider; the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, to oversee and coordinate our efforts to monitor state and local policies and, if necessary, take action to correct them.
Barrs action comes as right-wing groups increasingly protest stay-at-home orders, particularly those that restrict dangerously large church gatherings and require the closure of nonessential businesses. Polls show the public broadly supports most of these measures.
To The People Protesting Stay-At-Home Orders: How Dare You
https://www.scarymommy.com/people-protesting-stay-at-home-orders/?utm_source=yahoo&utm_campaign=feedTo The People Protesting Stay-At-Home Orders: How Dare You
by Anonymous
April 24, 2020 Updated April 27, 2020
Courtesy of Kristine Koser
I have largely stayed away from COVID posts, despite it consuming the rest of my life. Im not looking for a debate, or even affirmation for my views. I know I may not change any minds, but those who express their opinions need to allow me a platform to safely express mine.
I want to make this clear: I am in no way opposed to peoples right to protest. I definitely dont want to see my husband and so many friends out of work. No one wants to see businesses go under or families lose their homes. I know that I am not in the same boat as so many others, but I also dont want to keep seeing refrigeration trucks outside of hospitals to hold the overflow of bodies. I support the slow reopening of businesses as soon as appropriate safety measures are in place. Although vague, the White House has already laid out recommendations for opening the country that make sense, and our state is nowhere near ready for phase one.
This is why these protests were so incredibly counter-productive. There were people wearing MAGA hats that clearly hadnt read the recommendations that came from Trumps office. Although it was taken down, there was a confederate flag flying. There was a woman holding a sign that read I want a haircut.
A more productive protest would have been 1000 people, each spaced ten feet apart, and wearing face coverings, to demonstrate that we are ready for at least one of the core state preparedness responsibilities set out.
What a lot of the protestors forgot is they cant reopen and run their business if they are sick at home, or hospitalized, or dead. They will have to shut down again if an outbreak happens at their workplace because precautions werent in place, and we dont yet have the ability to track those at risk. The bills an owner or employee could receive from a COVID-19 hospitalization may be far larger than the revenue generated or income made from reopening a business before the state is ready.
That is why, when I saw the protests, I feared the extra time it might take to reopen businesses because of the second wave of COVID-19 that may result from so many people in close contact. I thought about the influx of sick patients we are going to see in the hospital because people were not maintaining their distance or wearing masks.
If these individuals were brazen enough to do this publicly, Im sure they are not adhering to the guidelines in their day to day lives, either. I thought about the heartbreak that patients and family members are going through being separated during hospitalizations or ICU stays. I thought about my colleagues across the country who fear they could run out of the ventilators they need to save as many people as they can.
359 days ago, I was in an ICU bed fighting for my life on a ventilator. One week earlier, I was considered a healthy young woman. I wonder how many other low risk people just havent found out that they are living with a condition that actually makes them high risk.
The biggest difference between one year ago and now, is that hospitals then were fully equipped with the resources to take care of me. The treatments for my condition were well-established. I was able to be surrounded by family and friends. I was not alone.
If you are uncomfortable seeing someone intubated in an ICU bed, stay at home. Just because you cant enter a hospital to see what is happening, doesnt mean we are exaggerating the circumstances.
I have heard people say that those who support stay at home orders are just scared and living in fear. How dare you. That is trashing all the hospital workers who are stepping onto the frontlines every single day. So many hospital employees also have an and. I am a physician and a cancer survivor. I finished chemotherapy four months ago, and yes, I worry that every day I walk into the hospital or clinic is the day I will be exposed. But I still go to work. If we removed all the medical workers who have an and, we wouldnt have enough physicians to fight this infection. We wouldnt have enough nurses to take care of you if you become sick.
For those who say the flu kills more people, H1N1 killed more people, or heart disease/cancer/other non-communicable diseases kills more people for the last ten years, influenza has killed 12,000-61,000 US citizens annually. H1N1 killed 12,500 US citizens in one year at the peak of the outbreak and there were antivirals that were effective at treating it.
Deaths from substance abuse, cancer, and heart disease do not happen because you had a bonfire with your friends to celebrate the start of spring. The death toll for COVID-19 is 35,000 in just three months. There are no well-proven treatments. Our only defense is to slow the spread. Maybe the same number of people will get sick over a longer period of time, but maybe a better treatment will be found that will save lives. Do you want to see the full damage COVID can do if it is allowed to spread unchecked so that life can go back to normal?
We are unfortunately very accustomed to the annual deaths from x, y, and z, but right now bombs of COVID have gone off across the country, leading to a previously-unanticipated loss of life. How many lives would be cut short if we reopen the country without diffusing the rest of the bombs? What economic burden on society would be created by years of potential productive life lost and cost of productivity lost?
We went to war over the deaths caused by 9/11, but now that this war has to be fought within the borders of our country and its not just soldiers being asked to make sacrifices, its too much and a threat to freedom.
The estimated death rate for COVID-19 is as high as three percent. Yes, this rate may be lower if we were able to test everyone to truly see how many people have asymptomatic infections, but the US population is around 330 million and we do not have 330 million tests. If you are so desperate for all businesses to reopen that you are willing to risk the lives of three friends, family members, or acquaintances for every 100 people you know, I feel sorry for you. I will pray for the lives of those people that you are willing to sacrifice.
So to all of you who supported me during my cancer treatment but now would rather put my family and me at unnecessary risk, please respectfully keep your comments away from me, unfriend me on social media or dont be surprised if you notice that I have unfriended you first.
Leonard Pitts: I will not die of stupid
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/20200426/leonard-pitts-i-will-not-die-of-stupid?fbclid=IwAR0sO7lhV0bKfreJt3lWutrRXCnrTM_xQB0cxNPZzkMb8Z06Smf_ZzQeD54Leonard Pitts: I will not die of stupid
By Leonard Pitts, Jr.
Posted Apr 26, 2020 at 9:01 AM
Someday, Im going to die.
This, I grudgingly accept. I have no idea how its going to happen. Maybe I will die of having a tree fall on me, of eating tainted shellfish, or of being struck by lightning. But this much I guarantee. I will not die of having wagered my life that TV carnival barkers, political halfwits and goobers in MAGA hats know more than experts with R.N.s, M.D.s, and Ph.D.s after their names.
In other words, I will not die of stupid.
snip//
But heres the thing. Theres been a lot of talk over who has the power to reopen Americas economy. Well, it doesnt belong to the president, nor to the governors. It doesnt even belong to business owners. No, ultimately, it belongs to me. And to you. It belongs to us, as consumers.
After all, the president and the governors can issue all the orders they want, the owners can remove all the padlocks, but none of it matters if customers are too afraid to walk back through the doors. And I am. I have no idea how many consumers I represent, but I suspect its more than a few.
I get that businesses are suffering. But I refuse to eat in a crowded restaurant, sit in a packed movie house or fly on a full flight again until I feel I can do so safely. And I am emphatically not assured by TV carnival barkers, political halfwits and goobers in MAGA hats.
No, I need to hear from serious, credible people. I need to know sufficient testing has been conducted and that they feel the virus is no longer a threat. If other people want to die of stupid, I cant stop them. But if America wants its economy back this part of its economy, at least it better do whatever is necessary to persuade Dr. Anthony Fauci its time to give the all-clear.
Look for me two weeks after that.
CNN Anchor Stops Lying GOP Senator In His Tracks
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/04/cnn-anchor-fact-checks-gop-senator-who4/26/20 11:29am
CNN Anchor Stops Lying GOP Senator In His Tracks
CNN's John King did his job for once when he stopped Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy's lame attempt to deflect from how they should be handling Trump's dangerous "advice" about disinfectants and coronavirus.
By Heather
Video @ link~
Good for CNN's John King for stopping one of these Republican liars in their tracks for once. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy was asked about Trump's ridiculous remarks about UV light and injecting disinfectants as a treatment for coronavirus, and and the fact that the CDC itself had to issue a warning on the use of household cleaners.
Cassidy did his best to downplay the real danger to public health that Trump represents, saying that no one took his advice seriously, and King was having none of it.
Were in the position this past week where the Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Surgeon General had to put out public statements, essentially saying, and this is my translation, dont listen to the president, be careful here.
As a doctor, what goes through your mind when the president dispenses medical advice and have you ever thought about picking up the phone and saying, sir, please, dont?
CASSIDY: The president speaks in such a way people are not going to inject themselves, and when I hear this kind of conversation around that, I think to myself, we should be talking about how do we use data to guide where we can reopen the economy, not about what the president said on Lysol, because, really, no one is going to inject themselves with Lysol.
KING: But, I'm sorry, I just need to interrupt here. I hope youre right sir, but, f you talk to the on the Maryland hotline, they got a lot of phone calls. You see these searches here. He at least puts the nugget in peoples minds. If he hadnt mentioned it, those searches dont happen, those phone calls dont happen, the time is not wasted and we can get to the point youre trying to make.
CASSIDY: So, we can talk about Lysol, if you want to, John. We really can. What we should be talking about is how do we use data in order to keep people safe and reopen an economy. Now, we can talk about searches, or we can talk about R0. R0 is the rate of the transmissibility of a virus, if we lower it less than 1, we can reopen an economy safely. Now, thats not Lysol. Maybe that doesn't kind of light up a headline, but it is what opens our economy, and frankly, thats what I'm focused on.
KING: Sir, that's what I'd love to focus on, but we also do have to cover the president of the United States when he says things.
I'd love to see the Senator try to explain to any of his constituents that what Trump said was just some sort of a joke if one of their loved ones has died because they listened to him.
50,000 Detroit public school students to receive free tablets, internet as COVID-19 closes schools
Some good news!
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/23/1939845/-50-000-Detroit-public-school-students-to-receive-free-tablets-internet-as-COVID-19-closes-schools
50,000 Detroit public school students to receive free tablets, internet as COVID-19 closes schools
Marissa Higgins
Daily Kos Staff
Thursday April 23, 2020 · 5:31 PM EDT
As schools closed across the nation amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, students transitioned to online learning. For kids and teenagers who dont have reliable internet access at home or even a computer, however, keeping up with school can be a serious hardship. Thats been the case in Detroit, where the majority of students have struggled to reach teachers over video chat or use all the virtual resources, as reported by Detroit Free Press. The solution? A Connected Futures program is working to get every single public school student not only a tablet but high-speed internet access before June.
How does this work? For the first six months of the program, internet connectivity will be covered by the program in full. After that, the school district will cover it. District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti estimates that $17 million of the fund will go toward buying the tablets, and an additional $6 million will cover the internet. The students, grades K through 12, will own the tablets, according to Winnipeg Free Press.
To accomplish all of this, the program started fundraising just three weeks ago. Since then, theyve raised $23 million. The program includes the Detroit Public Schools Community District as well as the Kellogg and Skillman Foundations, General Motors, Quicken Loans, and DTE Energy.
This is truly fantastic, and also a reminder that the internet should be considered a public utility, not a private service. Relatedly, as schools have closed, other less discussed issues have finally gotten some mainstream media attention. For example, some states (and local communities) have stepped up to help get free breakfast and lunches to kids who qualify, as well as aiding food banks struggling to meet heightened demand. Taking care of the most vulnerable among us is one of the very basic tenets of what our government should do, especially during a global pandemic.
The Rude Pundit: Andrew Cuomo Fucks Mitch McConnell's Shit Up
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
4/25/2020
Andrew Cuomo Fucks Mitch McConnell's Shit Up
It's something that doesn't get said much, but all those red states, all those states with their MAGA citizens looking down at the northeastern libtards who want immigrants but not guns, whose schools teach science and actual history, who elect Democrats, fer chrissakes, yeah, those states pretty much fucking stay in existence because of the northeast. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts are carrying your asses because of the tax revenue generated up here. You should be kissing our feet and thanking God or whatever that we live in a nation that includes our states and you're not on your own.
But it took New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to remind us of that fact this past week in another of his moments where he looked at his bucket of fucks and found it completely empty. Unprompted, Cuomo responded to Senate Majority Leader and Man Who Perpetually Looks Like a Little Boy Who Saw a Vagina for the First Time Mitch McConnell saying that the states should be able to declare bankruptcy and that any help to states during this coronavirus crisis is "a blue-state bailout." Cuomo went after that bespectacled, evil tortoise/human hybrid like a street fighter who decided to make an example out of the wannabe tough guy who pinched his girl's ass.
By name, Cuomo called out McConnell at his Thursday press briefing, saying, "Senator Mitch McConnell goes out and he says, 'Maybe the states should declare bankruptcy.' Okay. This is one of the really dumb ideas of all time." He compared the willingness to help fund airlines to the unwillingness to fund state and local governments, before threatening, "And then to suggest were concerned about the economy, states should declare bankruptcy. Thats how youre going to bring this national economy back? By states declaring bankruptcy? You want to see that market fall through the cellar? Let New York state declare bankruptcy. Let Michigan declare bankruptcy. Let Illinois declare bankruptcy. Let California declare bankruptcy. You will see a collapse of this national economy. So just dumb."
Cuomo was just getting wound up when he went after McConnell's blatant, even joyous cruelty: "Vicious is saying, when Senator McConnell said, this is a 'blue state bailout,' what hes saying is if you look at the states that have coronavirus problems, they tend to be Democratic states...So if you fund states that are suffering from the coronavirus, the Democratic states, dont help New York state because it is a Democratic state. How ugly a thought."
He seemed to have moved on, but in the middle of answering another question, Cuomo decided he wasn't done with McConnell. It was like Cuomo had put McConnell on the ground in the filthy alley behind the bar, but that wasn't enough. Now it was time for stomping his ass: "Let me just go back to my self-proclaimed Grim Reaper, Senator McConnell, for another second. He represents the state of Kentucky. Okay? When it comes to fairness, New York state puts much more money into the federal pot than it takes out. Okay? At the end of the year, we put into that federal pot $116 billion more than we take out. Okay? His state, the state of Kentucky, takes out 148 billion more than they put in. Okay? So hes a federal legislator. Hes distributing the federal pot of money. New York puts in more money to the federal pot than it takes out. His state takes out more than it puts in. Senator McConnell, whos getting bailed out here? Its your state that is living on the money that we generate. Your state is getting bailed out. Not my state." Facts fuck shit up. Ask anyone who tries to defy facts. They will fuck your shit up every time, so much so that you just have to pretend that facts don't exist and hope no one finds out. Cuomo put it out there: red states like Kentucky are getting by only because of the blue state largesse.
Honestly, though, even more cutting was when a reporter asked Cuomo if he had been in touch with McConnell. "No," Cuomo answered. Was he planning on calling McConnell? "No," Cuomo answered and moved on. That's a "Fuck me? No, fuck you" moment.
Cuomo was sick of this shit, of all the shit, and he went at McConnell again on Friday, except this time he tossed the entire GOP in DC into the toilet. Talking about how a federal law would be needed to allow states to declare bankruptcy, Cuomo said, "Its your suggestion, Senator McConnell. Pass the law. I dare you. And then go to the President and say, 'Sign this bill allowing states to declare bankruptcy.' You want to send a signal to the markets that this nation is in real trouble? You want to send an international message that the economy is in turmoil? Do that. Allow states to declare bankruptcy legally, because you passed the bill. Itll be the first time in our nations history that that happened. I dare you to do that...if you believe what you said and you have the courage of conviction because youre a man of your word, pass that bill, if you werent just playing politics." He may as well have punctuated that with "you pussy."
more...
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/04/andrew-cuomo-fucks-mitch-mcconnells.html
America's Bible Belt played down the pandemic and even cashed in. Now dozens of pastors are dead
'A phantom plague': America's Bible Belt played down the pandemic and even cashed in. Now dozens of pastors are dead
Right to worship emerges as battleground in looming culture war as many congregations hit hard by coronavirus
Alex Woodward
New York
Dozens of pastors across the Bible Belt have succumbed to coronavirus after churches and televangelists played down the pandemic and actively encouraged churchgoers to flout self-distancing guidelines.
As many as 30 church leaders from the nation's largest African American Pentecostal denomination have now been confirmed to have died in the outbreak, as members defied public health warnings to avoid large gatherings to prevent transmitting the virus.
Deaths across the US in areas where the Church of God in Christ has a presence have reportedly stemmed from funerals and other meetings among clergy and other church staff held during the pandemic.
The tragedy among one of the largest black Pentecostal groups follows a message of defiance from many American churches, particularly conservative Christian groups, to ignore state and local government mandates against group gatherings, with police increasingly called in to enforce the bans and hold preachers accountable.
The virus has had a wildly disproportionate impact among black congregations, many of which have relied on group worship.
Yet despite the climbing death toll, many US church leaders throughout the Bible Belt have not only continued to hold services but have urged worshippers to continue paying tithes including recent stimulus checks to support their mission.
Bishop Gerald Glenn, founder and leader since 1995 of the New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Chesterfield, Virginia, was the first black chaplain of the town's police. He had vowed to continue preaching "unless I'm in jail or the hospital" before his death from coronavirus earlier this month.
more...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bible-belt-us-coronavirus-pandemic-pastors-church-a9481226.html
Donald Trump is spending a deadly pandemic watching TV and stewing over negative coverage
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/24/1940065/-Donald-Trump-is-spending-a-deadly-pandemic-watching-TV-and-stewing-over-negative-coverageDonald Trump is spending a deadly pandemic watching TV and stewing over negative coverage
Laura Clawson
Daily Kos Staff
Friday April 24, 2020 · 2:12 PM EDT
Donald Trump is a lonely, angry, bitter man adrift without the usual ego-feeding he relies on. Which we already knew, but is confirmed by a New York Times story based on information from more than a dozen administration officials and close advisers. The story is short on direct quotes but long on delicious, pathetic details.
Trump watches cable news for hours on end and is angry even with Fox, an old security blanket, for not portraying him as he would like to be seen. He dwells on his slide in the polls and takes calls from his campaign manager Brad Parscale to talk about it. Unfortunately, Trumps unhappiness does not make the situation any better for the rest of us. Were still living in the hell he created.
In March, Trump was so low and unhappy that when his MyPillow buddy Mike Lindell visited, Lindell tried to cheer him up by showing him a text from a Democratic-leaning friend who said he was doing a good job. I just wanted to give him a little confidence, Lindell said, and apparently a single text message from a random friend was the key.
Ego-feeding is the reason for the daily press briefing, too. Trump enjoys it, so it continues although even Republicans say that the two hours of political attacks, grievances and falsehoods by the president are hurting him politically, Katie Rogers and Annie Karni report. Does he bother to attend actual task force meetings? Rarely. Mostly, he takes his talking points right before the briefing starts, gives them short shrift during the briefing, and then runs his mouth about things like injecting disinfectants.
Having started his day with hours upon hours of television, Trump typically returns to it after the briefing, this time with company: Assorted aides who are still around will join him to rehash the day and offer their assessments on the briefings. Comfort foodincluding French fries and Diet Cokeis readily available. But hey, occasionally Trump has dinner with his wife and son. What a rich life.
Donald Trump had well over a month to keep us from this place, with an already horrific death toll that keeps climbing, an economy in shambles, and people around the country suffering. And still all he cares about is the fallout for his political future and the bad press coverage and the lack of opportunities to have his ego stroked in person.
Worst Day of Trump's Presidency?
womp womphttps://politicalwire.com/2020/04/25/worst-day-of-trumps-presidency/
Worst Day of Trumps Presidency?
April 25, 2020 at 8:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
But they acknowledged that Mr. Trumps delivery was too sloppy for a president in the middle of managing the response to a pandemic that has killed over 45,000 Americans. Some said it was one of the worst days in one of the worst weeks of his presidency.
Nervous GOP Sees Trump Sinking and Losing Senate Too
https://politicalwire.com/2020/04/25/nervous-gop-sees-trump-sinking-and-losing-senate/Nervous GOP Sees Trump Sinking and Losing Senate Too
April 25, 2020 at 7:36 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
The scale of the G.O.P.s challenge has crystallized in the last week. With 26 million Americans now having filed for unemployment benefits, Mr. Trumps standing in states that he carried in 2016 looks increasingly wobbly: New surveys show him trailing significantly in battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, and he is even narrowly behind in must-win Florida.
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