Just Another Day in Trumpland
Let’s recap today’s news:
- Trump blurted out yesterday that he’s stopping ALL immigration, no how, why, timing, nothing.
- After 30 minutes of guys in uniforms talking about how they are ramping up the supply chain for testing, Trump took the mic and said that “a lot of people really don’t want testing”.
- US coronavirus infections continued to grow at a rate to double cases every 4 days.
- Idiot Trumpists continue to protest in public to immediately lift all stay at home restrictions, supported by idiot governors to start doing just that, egged on by Trump.
- Crude oil futures prices fell from $20 per barrel to NEGATIVE $35 per barrel. That’s right, holders of crude contracts had to PAY buyers to take them off their hands. This morning June price is down 25% and still falling.
- Kim Jong Un has disappeared, and rumors are that he underwent heart surgery and is very ill or even already dead.
- The largest mass shooting in Canada’s history happened this weekend.
On a happy note, the Rockefeller Foundation has stepped up to take away dependence on Trump for massive testing. They are investing an initial $15 million to rapidly expand testing starting at 1 million tests per week to 30 million in 6 months.
Other than that, nothing going on today.
IT’D BE A SHAME IF ANYTHING WERE TO HAPPEN TO ALL THAT AID, NOW WOULDN’T IT?
Trump plans to extort states into reopening as Mitch McConnell holds up aid: report
Edit: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed back on Democratic calls to provide aid to states in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill amid reports that President Donald Trump plans to use the funds to pressure states into reopening.
Congressional leaders and the White House are negotiating a bill that would provide more than $300 billion in additional funding for the coronavirus small business relief fund, which ran out of money last week as big corporations used the program’s “confusing” guidelines to score tens of millions for themselves.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNN on Sunday that the deal is also expected to include $50 billion for another small business program, $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for testing.
The deal has been delayed after Democrats also pushed to include $150 billion in funding for states and local governments quickly running out of money as expenses rise while tax revenue plummets.
But McConnell told Senate Republicans during a conference call with Trump and Mnuchin that the aid “would not be in the package,” Axios reported.
“The thinking among some Trump administration officials is that many states should be reopening their governments soon and that additional funding could deter them from doing so,” according to the report.
Politico similarly reported that the White House has been “holding out because, in part, they believe if Congress keeps cutting checks for state and local governments, they will be disincentivized to open up their economies.”
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, the Republican chairman of the National Governors Association, called for $500 billion in aid to states in a joint statement with Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“In the absence of unrestricted fiscal support of at least $500 billion from the federal government, states will have to confront the prospect of significant reductions to critically important services all across this country, hampering public health, the economic recovery and — in turn — our collective effort to get people back to work,” the governors warned.
full article
1https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/trump-plans-to-extort-states-into-reopening-as-mitch-mcconnell-holds-up-aid-report/
So, do you think the airlines will be stocking up on fuel for “a rainy day”? Yeah, me either. . . . .
2Expect a massive explosion of new infections and deaths if this would happen.
Gangster government.
3I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I saw that Kim Jung Un has a living sibling left; a sister. But he may actually be OK [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8239261/North-Korean-leader-Kim-Jong-grave-danger-heart-surgery.html]
Who knew?! And if he didn’t have nukes, who cares…
4Important thing to think about is this infection doesn’t just kill 6% of those infected, but permanently damages lungs, heart, kidneys and liver. Something like 30% of those who’ve recovered are on dialysis, unless a kidney transplant comes along. F@@k Fat Donnie, keep it shut down.
5Trump is waging war on us, the citizens. Many will die. Perhaps the only hope for this nation, is that there might be a rogue secret service agent who cares more about their love of country and its constitution, than protecting a f***ing criminal, traitor in the white house.
6Maybe there are secret service agents intelligent enough and patriotic enough to look the other way.
7This presidency is a testament to how frivolously we take mental illness!
8Saw this on Reddit the other day: The biggest con job of the 20th century was to convince everybody who had no capital that they were Capitalists.
I simply do not understand why there is not massive outrage across the country and rioting in the streets over the inequality of wealth and other resources. Instead, the bozocracy are outraged because they can’t get a f*king haircut.
9I guess my initial reaction to the Rockefeller Foundation is, “Glad to hear it, but what took them so long?”
10Yes, this timeline is too exciting.
11Nevertheless, I want to pick a small nit about item 3. Whose data are you using for C19? A good site using data from E(uropean)CDC, says that confirmed cases are doubling every 14 days, and confirmed deaths, every 9 days in the US. That’s still bad news, compared to countries that mounted an efficient national response early and completely, but it’s not as bad as the other report. I check out Our World in Data’s section on C19 (https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus) every day. Stay afe, everybody!
Charles Phillips, I just got this email from my podiatrist:
12“Lesions, as shown below, on the feet and toes could be an early sign of the coronavirus especially in teenagers, young adults and children (As reported by doctors in Italy, France , Spain and U.K.)”
To quote GW Bush, That’s some crazy shit.
@msb – https://www.visualcapitalist.com/infection-trajectory-flattening-the-covid19-curve/
13Who are these “many people” who don’t want testing? Could they be politicians desperate to “keep their numbers down” because there are certainly hundreds of thousands who are asymptomatic? And stopping all immigration sounds like a bone thrown to the xenophobic racists.
CNN, MSNBC, stop carrying these “briefings.” They’re nothing but political commercials.
14A New Roadblock’: IRS Gives Social Security Recipients Until Wednesday to File for $500 Payments for Their Children
“It is impossible to tell from the outside if this latest outrage is the result of incompetence, mean-spiritedness, or both.”
Edit: This is a developing story… Check back for possible updates…
The Internal Revenue Service is facing backlash following its announcement late Monday that recipients of Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits have until 12:00 pm ET on Wednesday to file for $500 coronavirus stimulus payments for their dependent children.
Those who miss the deadline—which the IRS set just a day and a half in advance—will have to wait until next year to receive the $500 payments to which they are entitled under the CARES Act.
The Wednesday deadline applies only to Social Security and Railroad Retirement recipients who did not file a tax return in 2018 or 2019 and who have dependent children under the age of 17.
The IRS set up a tool for non-filers to enter their direct deposit information online. Access the tool here. (see article)
In a statement, the IRS said “$1,200 automatic payments will be starting soon for those receiving Social Security retirement, survivor or disability benefits (SSDI), Railroad Retirement benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Veterans Affairs beneficiaries who didn’t file a tax return in the last two years. No action is needed by these groups; they will automatically receive their $1,200 payment.”
full article:
15https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/21/new-roadblock-irs-gives-social-security-recipients-until-wednesday-file-500-payments
Just a note: When Trump says “lots of people”, he means himself.
16When the news broke last week that stimulus money allotted for small businesses had run out, who else thought, “That didn’t take long.”
17https://apnews.com/6c5942eec36cc43b25ad5df5afebcfbd
Kim Jong on certainly looks like a good candidate for heart problems but Western press has a less-than-stellar record in reporting news about North Korea.
https://nypost.com/2019/06/08/executed-north-korean-pop-star-back-from-the-dead-and-by-kim-jong-uns-side/
18Wrecking the presses and running out the ink at the Mint…
‘The Opposite of #PeopleBeforeProfit’: Trump Orders Big Oil Bailout Just a Day After Historic Price Collapse
Calling for Democrats to fight back with plans to transition to clean energy, Naomi Klein declared it is “time to wind down this abusive industry that has always relied on massive public subsidies.”
Edit: Democratic lawmakers and climate advocates on Tuesday condemned an announcement on Twitter from President Donald Trump that he had directed the U.S. Departments of Energy and the Treasury to make funding available to American oil and gas companies negatively impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“This is the opposite of #PeopleBeforeProfit,” the international advocacy group Global Witness tweeted in response to Trump. “This ‘great’ industry already receives billions from the government while costing lives and livelihoods by polluting communities and the global climate. Time to stop propping up Big Oil.”
The president’s order came just a day after the price of U.S. crude oil plummeted to below zero for the first time ever and amid mounting concerns that the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress will continue to ignore demands for a People’s Bailout while providing support to giant climate-wrecking corporations.
As Common Dreams reported Monday, the oil crash—which came on the last day that producers can trade barrels for next month—followed weeks of extensive negotiations among the president, Russia, Saudi Arabia in which Trump pushed those countries to cut their oil output by up to 15% in order to prop up U.S. prices.
“Called it,” People for Bernie tweeted Tuesday, highlighting a comment from the progressive group on Monday predicting that Republicans would move to bail out the fossil fuel industry following the oil price collapse.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/21/opposite-peoplebeforeprofit-trump-orders-big-oil-bailout-just-day-after-historic
19I see Stephen R Miller (R is for racist pig) finally got to take part in the Trump pandemic fiasco. I know a lot of immigrants are fleeing terrible conditions, but they’re probably safer not to come to Trumpland. Expect the ban to be the very last thing to be lifted after the Coronavirus fades away. Maybe not until next January.
20Fossil fuel industry doesn’t need off shore accounts. We’ll just belly up to the Fed’s teat. It will never dry up!
21@EJ
22The first graph on the linked source is from ECDC data and Our World in Data. 14 days still looks right to me, and it’s still bad. Thanks.
@msb – hover over the United States line. The trajectory is between doubling every two days and every 5 days. We’re doubling every 4 days.
23