Monday, May 25, 2020

A Friendly Reminder to the Trumpanzees

But we don't have money for Meals on Wheels, CHIP, SS, Medicare, after school snacks for children, etc, etc! Enough! Resist!

I love presenting you foolish bastards with facts. Choke on them and die.
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Good News For America! Coronavirus spiking in counties that voted for Trump i

Coronavirus is spiking disproportionately in counties that voted for Trump in 2016



The 2016 election may help map the next coronavirus hotspots.
While COVID-19 is finally beginning to wane in some of the U.S. cities it hit hardest and earliest, coronavirus spread is still far from its peak in most small cities and rural areas across the country. And over the past four weeks, it's been more likely that counties will show a high prevalence of coronavirus next if they voted for President Trump in 2016, an analysis by the Brookings Institution reveals.
A high prevalence of coronavirus means a county saw coronavirus case rates of 100 or more per 100,000 people. Hundreds of counties have gained high-prevalence status over the past few weeks, and 176 new counties joined that list from May 10 to May 17 alone. Those 176 counties voted for Trump by a 12 percent margin in 2016 — Trump outright won 151 of them — and are also less urban and less racially diverse than areas where coronavirus spread in March and April, Brookings notes.
COVID-19 obviously doesn't discriminate based on politics, so there is no definitive reason why these counties are seeing coronavirus spikes now. It's likely just because rural counties are more spread out than urban areas and have seen slower coronavirus spread, and also coincidentally went for Trump in 2016. But Trump has also been eager to reopen businesses, especially in less populous areas that didn't see as many coronavirus cases. And if his supporters were more likely to follow his lead and get back to normal, that could be aiding the spread as well. Find the whole study at the Brookings Institution.
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Tara Reade's Lawyer Drops Her As A Client

Tara Reade's Lawyer Drops Case

Lawyer for woman accusing Biden of sex assault drops case following claims over her educational record

meme

Tara Reade speaks on camera for the first time: (Megyn Kelly Twitter)
The lawyer representing Tara Reade announced he is no longer taking her on as a client.
Doug Widgor said the decision to drop Ms Reade as a client was not reflective of his views on the veracity of her claim that 2020 election hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden sexually assaulted her.
"Our decision, made on May 20, is by no means a reflection on whether then-Senator Biden sexually assaulted Ms Reade," Mr Widgor said in a statement given to CNN. "We also believe that to a large extent Ms Reade has been subject to a double standard in terms of the media coverage she has received. 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."
Mr Widgor ended his representation of Ms Reade on Wednesday, the day after CNN published a piece examining Ms Reade's background. The report suggests Ms Reade did not graduate from Antioch University in Seattle. Ms Reade claims she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the school.
Before representing Ms Reade, Mr Widgor represented clients who've brought sexual assault lawsuits against Fox News and Bill O'Reilly as well as accusers of Harvey Weinstein.
Ms Reade's educational background was called into question when Antioch University disputed her explanation for how she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. She claimed that she received the degree as part of a "protected program" wherein she earned her credits while having her identity protected. She said she changed her name in an effort to maintain distance from an abusive ex-partner. She also claimed she worked as a visiting professor on and off for five years.
A spokesperson for the university said that Ms Reade had never attended the university and that she was never a faculty member, but did provide administrative work. A university official also said that a protected program never existed and does not currently exist.
Ms Reade graduated from the Seattle University School of Law in 2004, and enrolled under an Alternative Admission Program.
Questions over Ms Reade's educational credentials may throw into question court cases in which she testified as an expert witness.
According to a New York Times investigation, Ms Reade acted as a government witness on domestic violence cases in Monterey County for nearly a decade. As a result, a number of California defence lawyers are considering challenging the convictions of clients whose cases included testimony by Ms Reade.
Ms Reade became the subject of intense media scrutiny after she publicly claimed Mr Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993.
She claimed that Mr Biden pressed her against a wall and groped her underneath her clothes, which culminated in him penetrating her with his finger.
Ms Reade filed a criminal complaint with police on 9 April 2020 regarding the incident.
Mr Biden has faced several claims from women accusing him of inappropriate touching. Ms Reade's account is the only one in which Mr Biden is accused of sexual assault.
Mr Biden has maintained that the claims against him are untrue.
"The truth matters ... it did not happen. Period," Mr Biden said.

Read more


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Sunday, May 24, 2020

Trump Opens Churches


Trump's Push To Open Churches Contradicts Jesus' Teaching To Love Neighbors, Clergy Say

Demonstrators holding signs demanding the reopening of churches during a rally on May 1, 2020, in San Diego. (Photo: SANDY HUFFAKER via Getty Images)

Several faith leaders are speaking out against President Donald Trump’s demand that governors allow churches to reopen while the country still battles the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the activist Rev. William Barber, Trump’s push contradicts a fundamental tenet of the president’s Christian faith ― to love your neighbor as yourself.
“It’s a violation of loving your neighbor as yourself to do something that you know could put your neighbor in harm’s way,” Barber told HuffPost on Friday. “That’s a fundamental violation.” 
Barber pointed to scripture verses that lash out at people who cling to religious customs while mistreating the poor, immigrants and other marginalized people.
“Those who will worship and go through religious ceremony, but don’t care for justice and lifting up the poor and fighting for what is right, the Bible calls it hypocrisy, the very thing that God does not like,” Barber said.
Trump announced during a White House press conference on Friday that he is labeling houses of worship “essential” and calling on states to allow them to reopen over the holiday weekend. He threatened to “override” governors who defy him, although legal scholars say he lacks formal power to force governors to follow his orders.

Related: Trump orders all places of worship to open, declaring them ...
“Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential, but have left out houses of worship. It’s not right,” Trump said. “So I’m correcting this injustice by calling houses of worship essential.”
Trump’s push aligns most closely with the priorities of white evangelicals and quickly drew praise from close evangelical allies, such as the evangelist Franklin Graham and Texas pastor Robert Jeffress. White evangelicals were more likely than other American religious groups to say they were worried that coronavirus restrictions won’t be lifted quickly enough, according to a Pew Research Center survey completed on May 5. 
Nevertheless, there is concern even among this constituency that state governments will return to normal too quickly. Around half of white evangelicals (51%) say they are more concerned that coronavirus restrictions will be lifted too quickly. 

Demonstrators holding signs demanding the reopening of churches during a rally on May 1, 2020, in San Diego. (Photo: SANDY HUFFAKER via Getty Images)
Demonstrators holding signs demanding the reopening of churches during a rally on May 1, 2020, in San Diego. (Photo: SANDY HUFFAKER via Getty Images)

Rev. Jim Wallis, president of the progressive Christian group Sojourners, called on people of faith to stay at home “until it is healthy and safe to gather again.” Like Barber, Wallis said that this was a way to live out Jesus’ teaching to love your neighbor.
“We all want to go back to our corporate church gatherings — but only when that is safe, being very careful not to infect each other or our neighbors with a virus,” Wallis told HuffPost. 
“Keeping houses of worship closed until safety is secured is a direct action to love and protect our neighbors,” he added.
More Christian clergy chimed in on Twitter to criticize Trump’s move:
Churches shouldn’t open until local authorities determine it is safe for them to do so, said Rev. James Martin, editor at large of the Catholic magazine America. Trump’s broad attempt to pressure every governor to allow houses of worship to reopen “will just lead to more infections and death, especially among the most vulnerable,” he told HuffPost.
The desire to worship in person must be tempered by concern for others’ safety, Martin said.
“It’s not just about ‘your desire,’ holy though it may be,” Martin told HuffPost. “Wearing a mask, keeping social distance and even not gathering in church is a way of protecting others ― and of loving others.”
“Essentially, it’s not just about you ― especially if you’re asymptomatic,” he said.

Rev. William J. Barber is the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, which draws inspiration from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 Poor People's Campaign. (Photo: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Rev. William J. Barber is the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, which draws inspiration from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 Poor People's Campaign. (Photo: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, has led a campaign calling on people to “stay in place” and “stay alive” in areas where authorities are reopening against the advice of public health officials and other experts.
It has been weeks since Barber worshiped in person with his faith community, North Carolina’s Greenleaf Christian Church. But he insists that doesn’t mean his church stopped being a church. Church members have been having Bible studies and worshipping online, serving meals to the hungry, checking in on seniors, and organizing civic participation, he said.
Church buildings are important, but in the end, they’re just buildings, Barber said.
“Do they have importance? Yes, but even those buildings are not more important than people doing the will of the Lord, being the church, being the transforming agent in communities,” he said. 
“Ultimately for Christians, Jesus didn’t spend most of his time in a building, he spent his time with people ― the poor, the sick, the blind, the lame, the leper. That’s what Jesus did.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
OP ED: By all means open the churches! Currently the number of asymptomatic infections is 35%. Just one or two infected people people at a church service can infect a lot of people and in turn the will infect a lot of other people. Right wing Christians are selfish slime who talk the talk while decent Christians walk the walk. 
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Trump Golfs While More Americans Die

Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned and Trump Golfs While More Americans Die

Donald Trump has visited a golf course for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck - a day after a top physician said at White House briefing anyone playing should observe social distancing rules.
As coronavirus infections in the country reached 1.6m and the number of deaths passed 96,000, the president made his way to the Trump National Golf Club, at Sterling, Virginia.
The pool of White House press reporters who follow him say he was seen wearing a white cap and white polo shirt. One longtime correspondent said it was the president’s “185th golf outing spanning all or part of 247 days”.
More follows…
President Trump, who has faced mounting criticism for his administration’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis and his lack of empathy throughout, decided to leave the White House on Saturday to play golf.
According to several reports, today’s trip to the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, is likely his first outing to one of his private golf courses since early March. However, during the two “working weekends” the president spent at Camp David in May, it is unknown whether or not he played golf.
Trump going golfing is consistent with his reopen theme that he’s been pushing of late, but it still shows a tone-deafness and a lack of empathy. The U.S. pandemic death toll is approaching 100,000, and on top of that it’s Memorial Day weekend, a solemn occasion meant for tributes to Americans lost at war.
Trump’s work ethic hypocrisy is also on display here. Months before he would announce his candidacy for president of the United States, Trump was in full birther mode as he made several rounds on various cable news programs and talk shows attempting to delegitimize America’s first black president, Barack Obama. But when he took a pause from his factless racist attacks, he’d instead take issue with Obama’s penchant for hitting the links.
And of course, this wouldn’t be a Trump controversy without the “there’s always a tweet” meme because astonishingly, there always is.

In October of 2014, Trump tweeted that Obama was being derelict in his duties as a sitting president because he was golfing, writing, “Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf. Worse than Carter.”

And then again that same month Trump bashed Obama. But this time it wasn’t only about the former president golfing but golfing during a health crisis. You can’t make this stuff up.
“President Obama has a major meeting on the NYC Ebola outbreak, with people flying in from all over the country, but decided to play golf!” Trump tweeted.

Trump, as a phone-in guest on Fox News in 2014, spoke about Obama playing golf when, according to CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski, at the time there were two Ebola cases in the U.S.
“When you’re president, you sorta say, ‘I’m gonna give [golf] up for a couple of years and really focus on the job,’” Trump said. “It sends the wrong signal.”

And in 2016, then-candidate Trump said, “I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf.”
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Trump's Fragile, Insatiable Ego and Delusions That Follow

Trump's Fragile, Insatiable Ego and Delusions That Follow

Stalin didn't trust his intelligence services and his general's warnings. It only cost the Soviet Union 27 million deaths and the complete destruction of all economic and industrial infrastructure that hadn't been evacuated to the East. 

Like Trump Hitler also thought he knew more than all his intelligence services and generals combined. It only cost Germany 4.6 million deaths and the complete destruction of Germany's economic and industrial infrastructure. Didn't Donnie say back in 2015 that he knows more than ALL our generals combined while on the campaign trail? Now he says he knows more than the 1,000's of employees of our intelligence services who are dedicated to our protection and the heads of the CDC, FDA, and FEMA. 

So far it has only cost us 33 million unemployed, 12 years of lost job growth, 12 years of lost market gains, 12 years of lost economic growth, and as of today 97,000 lives lost, millions going hungry, millions of small business bankruptcies, food shortages, medical supply shortages, test kit shortages, trillions of new national debt, widespread relief fund fraud, millions soon to be homeless, the largest one week stock market losses since the crash of 1987, and the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression. 

See the source image

But do you know who the biggest victim is in all of this? Donald Trump! Trump said that he was giving up his daily briefings because the press wasn't praising him for doing a wonderful job like he thought they were obligated to do and since the press isn't going to kowtow to him he's winding down the COVID-19 task force because the health and welfare of the American people were in his words "not worth his time anymore". So Trump is sending everyone back to work sick or not because the ungrateful and disloyal people of the USA owe him a GIANT apology for the inconvenience and discomfort that they have caused him. Poor Trump has been cooped up for months in the White House and hasn't been able to visit his beloved golf courses and that's the real tragedy! 

It takes a true selfless patriot to put his ego ahead of the health and welfare of all 327 million US residents.

There will probably a cure or an effective vaccine for COVID-19 no thanks to Lord Trump and his MAGAts. The very people Trump and his MAGAts hate, the scientists who discover cures, the disease specialists like Dr Fauci, the governors like Andrew Cuomo, state and county health departments that create guidelines, medical workers who treat victims of Trump's mishandling of this crisis and the families who pick up the pieces and go on with their broken lives.

There are cure for people like Trump such as cancer, COVID-19, car accidents, house fires, hurricanes, heart disease, firearms accidents, suicides and capital punishment.

RELATED: Trump's Ego Is so Fragile, His 'Fluffer' Secret Service Agents Have to Tell People to Say Nice Things to Him, Deutsch Says President Donald Trump arrives at the Griffiss International Airport in Rome, New York, on 13 August 2018. His ego was the topic of discussion on a Morning Joe show.

Trump's Ego Is so Fragile, His 'Fluffer' Secret Service ...

www.newsweek.com/trumps-ego-so-fragile-his-fluffer-secret-service-agents-hav…
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COVID 19 Spikes Coming

More COVID 19 Spikes Coming: Tracking of COVID-19 in the United States

Here’s the summary of a recent study from Imperial College in London where one of the first serious studies of the possible effects of the coronavirus took place:

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mrc-global-infectious-disease-analysis/covid-19/report-23-united-states/

It’s what the science suspected and predicted and it’s not pretty… most states in the US are no where near out of the woods and are looking at spikes coming up ahead, especially in the South and Midwest.  Mobility is a problem, too… nicer weather and people moving around from region to region within a given state or to other states.  R-number varies according to states but most have R-numbers still in epidemic proportions… some rising.  

Again, I think the next 6 or so weeks will be telling. MTY -Research Scientist-

State-level tracking of COVID-19 in the United States
See the source image

Summary

As of 20 May 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 91,664 confirmed or probable COVID-19-related deaths, more than twice the number of deaths reported in the next most severely impacted country. In order to control the spread of the epidemic and prevent health care systems from being overwhelmed, US states have implemented a suite of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), including “stay-at-home” orders, bans on gatherings5.7*, and business and school closures.
We model the epidemics in the US at the state-level, using publicly available death data within a Bayesian hierarchical semi-mechanistic framework. For each state, we estimate the time-varying reproduction number (the average number of secondary infections caused by an infected person), the number of individuals that have been infected and the number of individuals that are currently infectious. We use changes in mobility as a proxy for the impact that NPIs and other behaviour changes have on the rate of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We project the impact of future increases in mobility, assuming that the relationship between mobility and disease transmission remains constant. We do not address the potential effect of additional behavioural changes or interventions, such as increased mask-wearing or testing and tracing
strategies.
Nationally, our estimates show that the percentage of individuals that have been infected is 4.1% [3.7%-4.5%], with wide variation between states. For all states, even for the worst affected states, we estimate that less than a quarter of the population has been infected; in New York, for example, we estimate that 16.6% [12.8%-21.6%] of individuals have been infected to date. Our attack rates for New York are in line with those from recent serological studies [1] broadly supporting our modelling choices.
There is variation in the initial reproduction number, which is likely due to a range of factors; we find a strong association between the initial reproduction number with both population density (measured at the state level) and the chronological date when 10 cumulative deaths occurred (a crude estimate of the date of locally sustained transmission). Our estimates suggest that the epidemic is not under control in much of the US: as of 17 May 2020, the reproduction number is above the critical threshold (1.0) in 24 [95% CI: 20-30] states. Higher reproduction numbers are geographically clustered in the South and Midwest, where epidemics are still developing, while we estimate lower reproduction numbers in states that have already suffered high COVID-19 mortality (such as the Northeast). These estimates suggest that caution must be taken in loosening current restrictions if effective additional measures are not put in place.
We predict that increased mobility following relaxation of social distancing will lead to resurgence of transmission, keeping all else constant. We predict that deaths over the next two-month period could exceed current cumulative deaths by greater than two-fold, if the relationship between mobility and transmission remains unchanged. Our results suggest that factors modulating transmission such as rapid testing, contact tracing and behavioural precautions are crucial to offset the rise of transmission associated with loosening of social distancing.
Overall, we show that while most US states have substantially reduced their reproduction numbers, we find no evidence that any state is approaching herd immunity or that its epidemic is close to over.
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Alabama's coronavirus caseload worsening

Alabama coronavirus outlook worsening amid state reopening

Alabama State Flag - WorldAtlas.com
Alabama's Confederate Swastika

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — With Alabama's coronavirus caseload worsening while casinos, churches and more reopen, the state's most recognizable person had some stern words about bringing COVID-19 under control.
“You need to be staying 6 feet away from me, and haven't I told you you have to wear a mask when you're in this building?” University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, himself wearing a mask emblazoned with “Roll Tide," scolded the school's elephant mascot in a video released as the state reopened more.
Perhaps Saban's rant — which tied the prospects of fall football to disease control in a football-crazy state — will be the thing that makes people see a need for renewed vigilance in a place where life is largely back to normal despite a deepening health crisis.
From the Gulf Coast to the lush Tennessee Valley, Alabama's political leaders and health experts are struggling to make many residents see the continued need for social distancing, crowd limitations and wearing masks after Gov. Kay Ivey reopened much of the economy.
Cases are on the increase, but health officials say it's impossible to determine whether the rise is linked to additional testing or an actual increase in disease. Yet state statistics also show hospitalizations are up since early April, which has some health officials worried.
The situation in Alabama has become worse over the past 14 days, according to an AP analysis of testing data from The COVID Tracking Project. New daily cases have risen to 307 from 268, and the rate of daily tests coming back positive has increased from 6.7% to 7.5%. The AP used seven-day rolling averages to account for daily variability in the testing data. Data includes counts through Thursday.
In Jefferson County, the state's most populous area with nearly 660,000 residents, officials cited increasing cases and hospitalizations Friday in announcing more stringent rules than those enacted by Ivey.
The Republican governor, like President Donald Trump, hasn't modeled recommended behavior by regularly appearing publicly in a mask. But she has urged residents to do what's necessary to stem the spread of the disease while saying a vaccine could someday be created “right here in sweet home Alabama.”
"It takes all of us, y’all, being vigilant, and adhering to these social distancing guidelines in order to stop the spread of this disease,” she said.
So far, it's unclear whether Ivey's calls for “personal responsibility” have had much of an effect as businesses and other gatherings places reopen with restrictions on capacity and sanitation.
The parking lots outside some Birmingham-area restaurants and breweries are filling up again, and the state's beaches have been packed since reopening April 30. About two dozen adults and children filled a reopened suburban playground Friday; no one wore a mask, and no one was cleaning the slides and swings between uses.
Some people are trying to stay 6 feet (2 meters) apart, as required under state orders, but others aren't. In many public places, it's rare to see a covered face.
“As I’ve gone out to some of these retail stores, I’ve noticed that people are not wearing masks,” Dr. Rachael Lee, an infectious diseases expert with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told an online news conference.
Omar Mohammad, a 17-year-old who skipped his own graduation from Spain Park High School in Hoover because of the pandemic, said people seem to have dropped their guard after state orders that loosened restrictions.
“I’ve seen people being like, `I can go get my nails done, so it can’t be too bad,'" he said.
Leaders in Republican-controlled, deeply conservative Alabama, like many states, are stuck between trying to revive a lagging economy and prevent the spread of disease.
As of Friday, more than 13,400 people had tested positive for the coronavirus in Alabama, and 533 had died. Most people recover from COVID-19, but patients with other health problems and the elderly are particularly susceptible.
Meanwhile, state unemployment has reached levels not seen in decades. Alabama’s jobless rate jumped to 12.9% in April during the economic shutdown linked to the coronavirus pandemic, the worst in nearly 38 years, the state said.
The state's overall health trend worries disease experts including Lee. Jefferson County had its highest case count yet this week, she said, and the capital of Montgomery, where about 200,000 people live, is looking like a disease hot spot.
“I’m actually concerned about the numbers," she said. "As we have been watching over the past couple of weeks, those numbers have either been at the same level or they’re slowly going up.”
___
AP writer Nicky Forster contributed from Berkley, Massachusetts.
___

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