Tim Cook didn't say apple is "back to normal" as the president just falsely claimed.

Pence's decades-old 'smoking doesn't kill' statement resurfaces after coronavirus appointment

Vice President Mike Pence, the man now leading the nation's response to public health threat from the coronavirus outbreak, once wrote "smoking doesn't kill."

President Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Pence to work with the CDC, NIH and other government agencies to coordinate U.S. response to the outbreak.

But Pence's statement on smoking — made during his 2001 run for a congressional seat — could come back to haunt him.

"Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill," Pence wrote in an opinion piece posted on his congressional campaign website in March 2001.

"In fact, 2 out of every 3 smokers does not die from a smoking related illness and 9 out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer," Pence wrote. "This is not to say that smoking is good for you. News flash: smoking is not good for you."



https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/27/pence-smoking-cancer-donald-trump-coronavirus-response/4890066002/

"We have 43 million masks..and a lot more are coming."

That's their response plan.

Tweet of the Day

Orange Julius looks like he's about to keel over.

Was he up all night with his Adderall?

New York Is Making Its Own Coronavirus Test After The CDC's Test Has Repeatedly Failed

Federal health officials met with state and city public health labs on Wednesday to fix a crippling lack of options to diagnose the novel coronavirus, a shortfall driven by botched CDC testing kits. As a result, New York state and New York City are moving forward with developing their own test to detect the virus.

The lack of adequate testing capabilities was spotlighted on Wednesday evening, when the CDC announced delayed results of the first potential case of a person contracting COVID-19 from “community spread,” meaning they got sick without traveling to China or being exposed to anyone known to have the virus.
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Early in February, the CDC released a US genetic test for the virus, sent to about 100 state and major city labs as well as overseas ones. Test kits contained enough ingredients to test a few hundred people for the novel coronavirus. The test proved unreliable in validation tests run by labs, however, leaving fewer than a dozen of the labs nationwide confident of the results. Only the CDC and labs in Illinois, Idaho, Tennessee, California, Nevada and Nebraska, could run tests, according to ProPublica.

The shortfall figured in the extended diagnosis of the Solano County, California, woman reported Wednesday night as the first person in the US with COVID-19 from community exposure. UC Davis Medical Center said that her test results were delayed because neither the county or state lab could run them, and because her symptoms did not initially meet federal diagnostic criteria. The test took four days to approve, and a week later, the CDC announced that the patient had tested positive.



https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/coronavirus-test-new-york-cdc

New case of #COVIDー19 community transmission likely in Snohomish County, WA

SHORELINE – Two new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Washington, in a King County woman and a Snohomish County teenager, state and local officials said Friday night.

The woman had recently been to South Korea, a country affected by the outbreak. But the Snohomish County patient, a high school student, did not recently travel to any countries affected by SARS-CoV-2, the official name of the novel coronavirus, said Snohomish Health District officer Dr. Chris Spitters.

“It’s concerning that this individual did not travel, since this individual acquired it in the community,” Washington state health officer Dr. Kathy Lofy told reporters Friday at a news conference at the Department of Health Shoreline. “We really believe now that the risk is increasing.”

Both cases are considered “presumptive positive,” as test results were confirmed at the Shoreline site Friday, but are also being sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for confirmation. A case awaiting confirmation by the CDC was also reported Friday in Oregon.

The student, who attends Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, became ill Monday with a fever, body aches and a headache, and visited two Snohomish County clinics this week, Spitters said.

Because he was feeling better, he returned to school Friday morning, but after his tests came back positive, he went home before attending class.



https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/2-new-coronavirus-cases-emerge-in-washington-in-king-county-and-snohomish-county/

TX-31: Eclectic crew compete to fill Hegar's shoes in bid to boot Carter

But, starved as they might be for big money or a bright spotlight, Democrats have an eclectic, multitalented band of five candidates to choose from in the 31st District, which encompasses most of Williamson and Bell counties, and bigger forces at play to look to in November.

“They’re all working really hard. They’re all quality people,” Gins said. “I feel like whoever does emerge is going to have the benefits of the rising tide, which is undeniable in Williamson County.”

Hegar beat Carter in Williamson County, which accounted for 72% of the district’s vote in 2018. Carter was saved by the Bell County vote.

“The momentum in Williamson County is very real,” Gins said. “There’s just a completely different demographic living in Williamson County than there was four years ago.”

Still, Mike Clark, the Democratic candidate against Carter in 2016, who is now in charge of candidate recruitment for Williamson County Democrats, said, “The attention we had in ’18 is definitely missing.”



https://www.statesman.com/news/20200226/eclectic-crew-compete-to-fill-hegarrsquos-shoes-in-bid-to-boot-carter

TX-24: Democrats Think They Can Finally Flip Texas' 24th Congressional District

After years of Republican leadership, Texas' 24th Congressional District has emerged as a key battleground in the 2020 election. The district runs from Fort Worth to Dallas, spanning several smaller cities and Northern suburbs.

Last year, incumbent Republican Kenny Marchant announced he would not seek reelection. Marchant won reelection in 2018 by a shrinking margin. Now, North Texas Democrats see an opportunity to flip this historically red district.

Candidate Kim Olson is a retired Air Force colonel and a top fundraiser in this race. Her campaign has now raised more than $1 million. Earlier this month, they debuted a TV ad aimed at getting Olson's message out to more voters.

"Do not think for a minute the Republicans are going to give up this district easily," Olson said. "They are going to fight us tooth and nail, and we have to have record turnout vote if we want to take this district, and that's what it takes to get this done."

Candidate Jan McDowell is a familiar face in the district. She was the Democratic nominee in both 2016 and 2018, ultimately losing both races to Kenny Marchant. Speaking at the debate in Irving, McDowell said she might be the most progressive candidate in this field, but she said she knows how to appeal to moderates.

"I feel like I am the candidate of the working people in the district who want to have a voice in Washington who reflects their lives and experiences," McDowell said.

Meanwhile, former art director Sam Vega said he was the most progressive candidate in the race. Vega calls himself a democratic socialist and told voters he would fight for policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal even if they didn't gain bipartisan support.

"It is so obvious to so many people that things that things need to change, that the current system isn't working for everyone," Vega said.

Candidate John Biggan took a different approach. Referencing his training as a neuroscientist, Biggan said he would make policy decisions rooted in evidence.

"I don't worry about whether or not something is a Democratic idea or a Republican idea," Biggan said. "I just want the best one, and if you can show me the evidence, I will gladly follow along."

Candidate Candace Valenzuela, who has served on the school board for the Carrollton-Farmers Branch district, is confident she can win over young people and swing voters. Valenzuela has earned endorsements from high-profile Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren.

"My campaign is rooted in my community and my love for it," Valenzuela said. "Voters can tell that about me when I talk to them, when I talk about the coalitions I've built and the people I've reached and the policies that I've pushed forth in the school board."

Candidate Richard Fleming served on the same school board as Valenzuela. Fleming said it's important for voters to think about electability, as the winner of this race will likely face off against Republican Beth Van Duyne.



https://www.keranews.org/post/democrats-think-they-can-finally-flip-texas-24th-congressional-district

TX-24: Candace Valenzuela Could be the First Afro-Latina Elected to Congress

Running for Texas’s 24th Congressional District, the suburban area between Fort Worth and Dallas, Valenzuela is no stranger to the power of having people and legislation in her corner. In fact, she attributes much of her own success to the three things that formed life-changing support systems for her family: a strong public school system, food stamps, and housing assistance through HUD (Housing Urban Development).

“Almost all of us are going to fall on very hard times, not all of us are going to have the support network to float us,” she told HipLatina. It’s one thing to talk about what it feels like to sink and another when you experience it first hand. At age 3, Valenzuela was homeless sleeping in a blow-up kiddie pool outside of a convenience store. Her mother, a recently discharged military vet had nowhere to go and no one to turn to when the family members they were staying with dropped them off at a gas station.

A Mormon family kindly took them in until her mother was able to get on her feet. But even then they bounced around from homeless shelters and living with her grandparents. Through it all, school remained a constant that kept Valenzuela going and provided much-needed structure. She says it’s what allowed her to get all the way to Claremont Mckenna College on a full-ride scholarship.

“[School] was a source of stability, there was a routine there and when my Mom realized that it was a place where I did get some stability where my little brother got some stability she kept us in the same cohort of schools even as we bounced around from place to place. So I didn’t have to change friends or change teachers or environment and I think that really helped me the first in my family to go to college,” she said.



https://hiplatina.com/candace-valenzuela-afro-latina-for-elected-congress/