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demmiblue

demmiblue's Journal
demmiblue's Journal
May 1, 2020

What Trump wants to signal with his coronavirus town hall at the Lincoln Memorial

If it seems odd to stage a town hall with no in-person audience at the Lincoln Memorial, a site for huge rallies and events in more normal times, you're missing the point: President Trump's plan for Sunday night is packed with strategic signaling.

Driving the news: Fox News said this week that the president will sit for a two-hour event on emerging from the coronavirus pandemic, called "America Together: Returning to Work," to be co-hosted by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

"We wanted a powerful image of American strength and the idea of what reopening looks like," a White House aide tells Axios.

Worth noting: Trump staged a July 4 tribute on the memorial's steps last year.

https://www.axios.com/trump-fox-news-town-hall-lincoln-memorial-coronavirus-d646aa79-f43b-4005-b6e5-28fc84694c22.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

May 1, 2020

Pizza Business Owner Shares Harsh Reality Behind Food Delivery Apps

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many stores without an internal delivery service have turned to apps including Grubhub, DoorDash, Postmates or UberEats, providing them access to an online store and a vast network of drivers, but at what cost?

Giuseppe Badalamenti, a consultant and owner of small business Chicago Pizza Boss, published a picture he claimed was of a Grubhub invoice earlier this week that appeared to show just that, indicating one restaurant made under $400 from orders totaling $1,000, underscoring the high fees charged by delivery apps and revealing the harsh reality for restaurants.

The image featured an order summary for March, indicating the app took hundreds of dollars in commission, fees and promotional costs from the unnamed outlet.

He wrote: "Stop believing you are supporting your community by ordering from a 3rd party delivery company Out of almost $1,100 of orders. Your restaurant you are trying to support receives not even $400. It is almost enough to pay for the food."



https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-food-delivery-apps-harsh-reality-commission-fees-grubhub-1501375?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#
May 1, 2020

Secret Service paid Trump's D.C. hotel more than $33,000 for lodging to guard treasury secretary

The Secret Service rented a room at President Trump’s Washington hotel for 137 consecutive nights in 2017 — paying Trump’s company more than $33,000 — so it could guard Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin while he lived in one of the hotel’s luxury suites, according to federal documents and people familiar with the arrangement.

Mnuchin, a financier from New York, lived in the Trump International Hotel for several months before moving to a home in Washington. Mnuchin paid for his hotel suite himself, a Treasury Department spokesperson said.

But during his stay, the Secret Service also rented the room next door at taxpayer expense, to screen Mnuchin’s visitors and packages, according to three people familiar with that arrangement who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

For that room, the Trump hotel charged the maximum rate that federal agencies were generally allowed to pay in 2017: $242 per night, according to the billing records. The Secret Service checked in Jan. 25, according to billing records obtained by The Washington Post, and didn’t make its last payment until June 12.

The total bill was $33,154.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-paid-trumps-dc-hotel-more-than-33000-for-lodging-to-guard-treasury-secretary/2020/04/30/cd38e864-8987-11ea-ac8a-fe9b8088e101_story.html

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