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solarbirdThe Republicans are already announcing their plans to go back to pure sabotage if the lose the Senate. That's not a surprise, obviously - the GOP either loots or sabotages, and nothing else in between.
I'm just posting this now to clear the decks, really. There's some relevant material in here, but more to come.
----- 1 -----
At least 7 new coronavirus cases appear to be related to Wisconsin's election, Milwaukee health commissioner says
Alison Dirr, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 5:13 p.m. CT April 20, 2020
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2020/04/20/coronavirus-milwaukee-7-new-cases-may-tied-april-7-election/5168669002/
Officials have identified seven people who appear to have contracted COVID-19 through activities related to the April 7 election, Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said Monday.
Six of the cases are in voters and one is a poll worker, Kowalik said.
By the end of this week, officials hope to have additional information on the cases that were reported between April 7 and Monday, she said.
That includes an answer to whether any of the seven cases resulted in death and whether the cases were concentrated at any of the city’s five in-person polling locations.
"There needs to be a little bit more analysis so we can connect the dots, that's why case investigation and contact tracing is so important," she said.
Asked how to conduct contact tracing at polling sites when anyone present was surrounded by numerous strangers, Kowalik referenced doing broad notification for people who were present during a certain time frame.
"As you recall, there were people that were in line for a very long time to get their vote in, so if you figure out around a range of time when someone was there or in the polling sites or in the line, connect to someone who was an actual case, that's when we would do notifications," she said.
----- 2 -----
Democratic congresswoman as red states beat out blue ones for small-business aid: ‘I smell a rat’
‘I’m hard pressed not to think that this is political,’ House member from California says of Paycheck Protection Program data
Published: April 17, 2020 at 11:23 a.m. ET
By Victor Reklaitis
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/democratic-congresswoman-as-red-states-beat-out-blue-ones-for-small-business-aid-i-smell-a-rat-2020-04-17
‘I’m hard pressed not to think that this is political. Blue states like California got a pathetic number of loans issued. Nebraska got nearly 75% of loans requested. I smell a rat with orange hair.’
— Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier
The line above came from Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California as she tweeted about data showing coastal blue states mostly lagging red states in receiving loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, the government’s new coronavirus aid program for small businesses.
Nebraska has fared the best among the 50 states as businesses there have been approved to receive enough PPP money to cover 75% of the state’s eligible payroll, according to an analysis from Evercore ISI economist Ernie Tedeschi. He used the Small Business Administration’s figures for PPP loans through Monday:
----- 3 -----
Under a Democratic President, McConnell Vows a Return to Total Obstruction
Nothing will happen on any of the issues that Americans care about as long as he is the Senate GOP Leader.
by Nancy LeTourneau
March 6, 2020
[EDITOR: This is really a "no shit, really?" story but I'm including it as a reminder]
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/03/06/under-a-democratic-president-mcconnell-vows-a-return-to-total-obstruction/
If a Democrat wins the presidential election in November, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already promised what he’ll do.
“If I’m still the majority leader in the Senate think of me as the Grim Reaper. None of that stuff is going to pass,” McConnell said while speaking to community leaders in Owensboro, Ky.
McConnell noted that if Republicans win back the House or President Trump wins reelection “that takes care of it.” But he pledged that even if Republicans lose the White House, he would use his position as majority leader to block progressive proposals…
“I guarantee you that if I’m the last man standing and I’m still the majority leader, it ain’t happening. I can promise you,” McConnell added.
Just as in 2010, when McConnell said that his number one priority was to make sure that Obama was a one-term president—even as the country was struggling to recover from the Great Recession—he is now vowing to obstruct whatever a Democratic president might try to accomplish. That’s nothing new, but he is now on record about his intentions. Nothing will happen on any of the issues that are of concern to Americans as long as McConnell is the Republican leader in the Senate.
----- 4 -----
Here We Go: Trump Has Started Accusing the Dems of Stealing the 2020 Election
And his campaign is shamelessly fundraising off this lie.
David Corn
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/donald-trump-has-already-begun-accusing-the-dems-of-stealing-the-2020-election/
In the middle of a horrific crisis claiming the lives of thousands of Americans a day, President Donald Trump decided it was a fine time to undermine democracy.
Last week, as the coronavirus continued to burn through the United States, Trump’s campaign sent out an email from him soliciting contributions for his reelection effort and made a dangerous accusation: the 2020 election cannot be trusted. The first line of the email—which likely was sent to hundreds of thousands, if not more, people on Republican and conservative email lists—reads, “It’s no secret that the Democrats are trying to steal the Election out from under me.” The letter asserts that Democrats have “been plotting against me from the very beginning” and are deploying “fraud” to “rig the game” because “they know they can’t beat me at the ballot box.”
Less than seven months from Election Day, Trump was trying to undermine the process and cast doubt on its legitimacy. Without spelling out the matter at hand, he was responding to recent calls for an expansion in voting-by-mail as a way to hold elections safely during a pandemic. His letter referred to possible “chaos” from “ballot harvesting”—a term for volunteers or political operatives collecting absentee or mail-in ballots. But there has been no proof that such activity leads to significant fraud. Seventeen states already have some form of mail-in elections, and many others allow for absentee voting through the mail. (Remember, Trump falsely insisted after the 2016 election that there had been “millions” of fraudulent votes cast against him.)
----- 5 -----
Katherine Faulders
twitter.com/KFaulders
20 April 2020
https://twitter.com/KFaulders/status/1252423859531202560
LISTEN: Audio we obtained shows President Trump misrepresented Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s comments on COVID-19 testing
[AUDIO EMBED]
----- 6 -----
White House readies push to slash regulations as major part of its coronavirus economic recovery plan
April 21, 2020
By Robert Costa and Jeff Stein
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/white-house-readies-push-to-slash-regulations-as-major-part-of-its-coronavirus-economic-recovery-plan/
Senior White House and Trump administration officials are planning to launch a sweeping effort in the coming days to repeal or suspend federal regulations affecting businesses, with the expected executive action seen by advisers as a way to boost an economy facing its worst shock in generations, two people familiar with the internal planning said.
The White House-driven initiative is expected to center on suspending federal regulations for small businesses and expanding an existing administration program that requires agencies to revoke two regulations for every new one they issue, the two people said.
While the plan remains in flux, changes could affect environmental policy, labor policy, workplace safety and health care, among other areas.
The White House is also likely to seek to make permanent some temporary regulations issued by agencies over the past few weeks to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
----- 7 -----
The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping.
By Isaac Stanley-Becker and Tony Romm
April 22, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-conservative-networks-backing-anti-quarantine-protests/2020/04/22/da75c81e-83fe-11ea-a3eb-e9fc93160703_story.html
The ads on Facebook sounded populist and passionate: “The people are rising up against these insane shutdowns,” they said. “We’re fighting back to demand that our elected officials reopen America.”
But the posts, funded by an initiative called “Convention of States,” were not the product of a grass-roots uprising alone. Instead, they represented one salvo in a wide-ranging and well-financed conservative campaign to undermine restrictions that medical experts say are necessary to contain the coronavirus — but that protesters call overkill and whose economic fallout could damage President Trump’s political prospects.
A network of right-leaning individuals and groups, aided by nimble online outfits, has helped incubate the fervor erupting in state capitals across the country. The activism is often organic and the frustration deeply felt, but it is also being amplified, and in some cases coordinated, by longtime conservative activists, whose robust operations were initially set up with help from Republican megadonors.
The Convention of States project launched in 2015 with a high-dollar donation from the family foundation of Robert Mercer, a billionaire hedge fund manager and Republican patron. It boasts past support from two members of the Trump administration — Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development.
It also trumpets a prior endorsement from Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida and a close Trump ally who is pursuing an aggressive plan to reopen his state’s economy. A spokesman for Carson declined to comment. Cuccinelli and DeSantis did not respond to requests for comment.
The initiative, aimed at curtailing federal power, is now leveraging its sweeping national network and digital arsenal to help stitch together scattered demonstrations across the country, making opposition to stay-at-home orders appear more widespread than is suggested by polling.
----- 8 -----
‘I am beyond disturbed’: Internal dissent as states reopen despite virus
April 21, 2020 at 10:22 pm Updated April 22, 2020
By Richard Fausset and Rick Rojas
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/i-am-beyond-disturbed-internal-dissent-as-states-reopen-despite-virus/
ATLANTA — The decision by Gov. Brian Kemp to begin restarting Georgia’s economy drew swift rebukes from mayors, public health experts and some business owners, with skeptics arguing that the plan might amplify another wave of coronavirus outbreaks.
“That could be setting us back,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview Tuesday, referring to Georgia and other states planning to reopen in coming days. “It certainly isn’t going to be helpful.”
Kemp’s decision allows for what he described as a measured return, starting Friday with the reopening of gyms, hair and nail salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors. On Monday, restaurants can resume dine-in service, and movie theaters and other entertainment venues can reopen. He also lifted limitations on houses of worship.
But the mayors of Atlanta and other large cities in the state expressed outrage over not having the authority to adjust the governor’s order to the needs of their residents. They vowed to urge Georgians to ignore Kemp’s directive.
“I am beyond disturbed,” Savannah’s mayor, Van Johnson, said on CNN, of the governor’s decision.
----- 9 -----
U.S. appeals court lets Arkansas curb abortion surgeries during pandemic
Andrew Chung
22 April 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-abortion/u-s-appeals-court-lets-arkansas-curb-abortion-surgeries-during-pandemic-idUSKCN2242FY
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday allowed Arkansas to enforce a ban on most surgical abortions a part of a state directive aimed at postponing medical procedures not deemed urgent during the coronavirus outbreak.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri, lifted a federal judge’s order that had allowed the procedure to continue to be performed. The appeals court ruling does not affect abortions induced through medication in the early stage of pregnancy, which is still allowed.
The ruling comes two days after another federal appeals court allowed Texas to enforce curbs on abortions via medication as part of that state’s response to the pandemic.
Arkansas and Texas are among a handful of conservative states that have pursued limits on abortion during the crisis, saying they want to ensure that medical resources, including protective equipment, are available to help healthcare facilities cope with people with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
----- 10 -----
Lara Seligman
twitter.com/laraseligman
22 April 2020
https://twitter.com/laraseligman/status/1252978649898389506
"Navy commanders are more than capable of understanding when the president says something, that’s meant for an outside audience as opposed to direction to them," VADM Miller, former 5th Fleet Commander, told me.
[LINK TO]
Trump says he told Navy to 'destroy' Iranian boats harassing U.S. ships
The president issued his directions via tweet.
By LARA SELIGMAN
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/22/trump-says-he-told-navy-to-destroy-iranian-boats-harassing-us-ships-200385
President Donald Trump abruptly tweeted early today that he has directed the Navy to fire upon Iranian "gunboats" that "harass" U.S. ships at sea in a new sign of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.
"I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea," Trump tweeted.
Asked for clarification, Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen. John Hyten later told reporters that the tweet was a warning to Iran, and emphasized that Navy commanders understand how to respond to hostile acts.
----- 11 -----
Igor Bobic (The Huffington Post)
twitter.com/igorbobic
22 April 2020
https://twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1252981635697512448
[EDITOR: As a 'blue state' citizen who knows that 'blue' states MASSIVELY SUBSIDISE RED STATES YEAR AFTER YEAR ON EVERY MOTHERFUCKING LEVEL, this enrages me. I am so _fucking_ done with these looting, murderous sons of bitches on every level. Just fucking _done_.]
[THREAD]
McConnell tells Hugh Hewitt he prefers states be allowed to declare bankruptcy over sending them direct federal aid.
[IMAGE] [TRANSCRIPTION by editor]
"MM: Yeah, I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there's no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don't have to do that. That's not something I'm going to be in favor of."
Igor Bobic
twitter.com/igorbobic
22 April 2020
McConnell: "We all have governors regardless of party who would love to have free money...I think this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments need to be thoroughly evaluated."
Igor Bobic
twitter.com/igorbobic
22 April 2020
McConnell's office is calling them "Blue State Bailouts"
[IMAGE] [TRANSCRIPTION by editor]
On Stopping Blue State Bailouts:
"I said yesterday we're going to push the pause button here, because I think this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments needs to be thoroughly evaluated. You raised yourself the important issue of what states have done, many of them have done to themselves with their pension programs. There's not going to be any desire on the Republican side to bail out state pensions by borrowing money from future generations."
----- 12 -----
McConnell Says He Favors Allowing States to Declare Bankruptcy
By Steven T. Dennis and William Selway
April 22, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-22/mcconnell-says-he-favors-allowing-states-to-declare-bankruptcy
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he favors allowing states struggling with high public employee pension costs amid the burdens of the pandemic response to declare bankruptcy rather than giving them a federal bailout.
...
The National Governors Association has said states and municipalities will need at least $500 billion in aid to deal with the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic as tax revenue falls and demands for resources escalate.
McConnell said there should be a “fulsome” discussion among all Republican senators on whether and how to send more aid to state and local governments and what that money should be spent on.
That will be one of the focuses for the next round of stimulus spending that Congress will be taking up, and McConnell’s reluctance signals that negotiation could be the most difficult one so far. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he expected aid to state and local governments would be part of that.
----- 13 -----
Jason Patinkin
twitter.com/JasonPatinkin
21 April 2020
https://twitter.com/JasonPatinkin/status/1252595464291135488
[THREAD, starts at link above]
1 US journalists: how did you cover the #ebola outbreak in eastern #DRC? I know, I know, most of you didn't cover it. But other people did, and you should look at their coverage.
2 In that outbreak, armed militia and mistrustful populations who believed conspiracy theories in a toxic political environment disrupted public health measures. Sound familiar? Of course it does. People act similarly all over the place. It's our coverage of stuff that differs.
3 Anyways, did media (DRC and intl) covering outbreak coddle conspiracy theorists with both sides-ism, and give nonstop coverage to people encouraging such theories? Did they breathlessly report unproven cures and vaccines? Did they gently describe armed groups as "protesters"?
4 No. Of course not. They're professionals. They told the actual story. And unlike the US media, they're far more experienced in covering political violence, bully politicians, and political stunts. So they know a pro-government rally disguised as a "protest" when they see one.
5 They know to give right of reply, but they also know not to defer to the powerful - especially when those in power routinely lie. They know to put facts in the lede, and the conspiracies far down in the story.
[MORE AT THREAD]
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Study finds people who watched Sean Hannity were more likely to die from COVID-19
April 21, 2020
By Bob Brigham
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/study-finds-people-who-watched-sean-hannity-were-more-likely-to-die-from-covid-19/
A new study from the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics found that “greater viewership of ‘Hannity’ relative to ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ was strongly associated with a greater number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity has been heavily criticized for echoing President Donald Trump’s initial attempts to downplay the threat posed by the new coronavirus. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson, his colleague at the right-leaning network who has framed the issue in more nationalistic terms, has been credited with convincing the president to take the pandemic seriously.
“Carlson warned viewers about the threat posed by the coronavirus from early February, while Hannity originally dismissed the risks associated with the virus before gradually adjusting his position starting late February,” the researchers wrote in the working paper.
The two hosts diverged greatly on the issue in February. While Hannity expressed optimism that “zero people in the United States have died from the coronavirus,” Carlson warned viewers that the virus could kill 1 million people across the country.
The researchers commissioned a poll of more than 1,000 Fox News viewers, which found that Carlson’s viewers were more likely to change their behavior earlier than Hannity’s viewers.
“We find that Hannity’s viewers on average changed their behavior in response to the coronavirus five days later than other Fox News viewers, while Carlson’s viewers changed behavior three days earlier than other Fox News viewers,” the paper said.
----- 15 -----
Outsourcing Reduces Productivity
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
I'm David Rosenthal, and this is a place to discuss the work I'm doing in Digital Preservation.
https://blog.dshr.org/2020/04/outsourcing-reduces-productivity.html
Salim Furth provides yet more evidence of falling productivity in What’s Behind Falling Productivity: The Census May Hold the Answer:
Furth's post takes off from Census Technology, Politics, and Institutional Change, 1790-2020 by Steven Ruggles and Diana L. Magnuson. An extract from their abstract:
[CONTINUES AT POST]
I'm just posting this now to clear the decks, really. There's some relevant material in here, but more to come.
- At least 7 new coronavirus cases appear to be related to Wisconsin's election, Milwaukee health commissioner says
- Democratic congresswoman as red states beat out blue ones for small-business aid: ‘I smell a rat’
- Under a Democratic President, McConnell Vows a Return to Total Obstruction
- Here We Go: Trump Has Started Accusing the Dems of Stealing the 2020 Election
- LISTEN: Audio we obtained shows President Trump misrepresented Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s comments on COVID-19 testing
- White House readies push to slash regulations as major part of its coronavirus economic recovery plan
- The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping.
- ‘I am beyond disturbed’: Internal dissent as states reopen despite virus
- U.S. appeals court lets Arkansas curb abortion surgeries during pandemic
- Trump says he told Navy to 'destroy' Iranian boats harassing U.S. ships [Navy says it knows when not to listen]
- McConnell tells Hugh Hewitt he prefers states be allowed to declare bankruptcy over sending them direct federal aid. He's calling them "Blue State Bailouts."
- McConnell Says He Favors Allowing States to Declare Bankruptcy
- US journalists: how did you cover the #ebola outbreak in eastern #DRC? I know, I know, most of you didn't cover it. But other people did, and you should look at their coverage.
- Study finds people who watched Sean Hannity were more likely to die from COVID-19
- Outsourcing Reduces Productivity
----- 1 -----
At least 7 new coronavirus cases appear to be related to Wisconsin's election, Milwaukee health commissioner says
Alison Dirr, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 5:13 p.m. CT April 20, 2020
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2020/04/20/coronavirus-milwaukee-7-new-cases-may-tied-april-7-election/5168669002/
Officials have identified seven people who appear to have contracted COVID-19 through activities related to the April 7 election, Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said Monday.
Six of the cases are in voters and one is a poll worker, Kowalik said.
By the end of this week, officials hope to have additional information on the cases that were reported between April 7 and Monday, she said.
That includes an answer to whether any of the seven cases resulted in death and whether the cases were concentrated at any of the city’s five in-person polling locations.
"There needs to be a little bit more analysis so we can connect the dots, that's why case investigation and contact tracing is so important," she said.
Asked how to conduct contact tracing at polling sites when anyone present was surrounded by numerous strangers, Kowalik referenced doing broad notification for people who were present during a certain time frame.
"As you recall, there were people that were in line for a very long time to get their vote in, so if you figure out around a range of time when someone was there or in the polling sites or in the line, connect to someone who was an actual case, that's when we would do notifications," she said.
----- 2 -----
Democratic congresswoman as red states beat out blue ones for small-business aid: ‘I smell a rat’
‘I’m hard pressed not to think that this is political,’ House member from California says of Paycheck Protection Program data
Published: April 17, 2020 at 11:23 a.m. ET
By Victor Reklaitis
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/democratic-congresswoman-as-red-states-beat-out-blue-ones-for-small-business-aid-i-smell-a-rat-2020-04-17
‘I’m hard pressed not to think that this is political. Blue states like California got a pathetic number of loans issued. Nebraska got nearly 75% of loans requested. I smell a rat with orange hair.’
— Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier
The line above came from Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California as she tweeted about data showing coastal blue states mostly lagging red states in receiving loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, the government’s new coronavirus aid program for small businesses.
Nebraska has fared the best among the 50 states as businesses there have been approved to receive enough PPP money to cover 75% of the state’s eligible payroll, according to an analysis from Evercore ISI economist Ernie Tedeschi. He used the Small Business Administration’s figures for PPP loans through Monday:
----- 3 -----
Under a Democratic President, McConnell Vows a Return to Total Obstruction
Nothing will happen on any of the issues that Americans care about as long as he is the Senate GOP Leader.
by Nancy LeTourneau
March 6, 2020
[EDITOR: This is really a "no shit, really?" story but I'm including it as a reminder]
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/03/06/under-a-democratic-president-mcconnell-vows-a-return-to-total-obstruction/
If a Democrat wins the presidential election in November, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already promised what he’ll do.
“If I’m still the majority leader in the Senate think of me as the Grim Reaper. None of that stuff is going to pass,” McConnell said while speaking to community leaders in Owensboro, Ky.
McConnell noted that if Republicans win back the House or President Trump wins reelection “that takes care of it.” But he pledged that even if Republicans lose the White House, he would use his position as majority leader to block progressive proposals…
“I guarantee you that if I’m the last man standing and I’m still the majority leader, it ain’t happening. I can promise you,” McConnell added.
Just as in 2010, when McConnell said that his number one priority was to make sure that Obama was a one-term president—even as the country was struggling to recover from the Great Recession—he is now vowing to obstruct whatever a Democratic president might try to accomplish. That’s nothing new, but he is now on record about his intentions. Nothing will happen on any of the issues that are of concern to Americans as long as McConnell is the Republican leader in the Senate.
----- 4 -----
Here We Go: Trump Has Started Accusing the Dems of Stealing the 2020 Election
And his campaign is shamelessly fundraising off this lie.
David Corn
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/donald-trump-has-already-begun-accusing-the-dems-of-stealing-the-2020-election/
In the middle of a horrific crisis claiming the lives of thousands of Americans a day, President Donald Trump decided it was a fine time to undermine democracy.
Last week, as the coronavirus continued to burn through the United States, Trump’s campaign sent out an email from him soliciting contributions for his reelection effort and made a dangerous accusation: the 2020 election cannot be trusted. The first line of the email—which likely was sent to hundreds of thousands, if not more, people on Republican and conservative email lists—reads, “It’s no secret that the Democrats are trying to steal the Election out from under me.” The letter asserts that Democrats have “been plotting against me from the very beginning” and are deploying “fraud” to “rig the game” because “they know they can’t beat me at the ballot box.”
Less than seven months from Election Day, Trump was trying to undermine the process and cast doubt on its legitimacy. Without spelling out the matter at hand, he was responding to recent calls for an expansion in voting-by-mail as a way to hold elections safely during a pandemic. His letter referred to possible “chaos” from “ballot harvesting”—a term for volunteers or political operatives collecting absentee or mail-in ballots. But there has been no proof that such activity leads to significant fraud. Seventeen states already have some form of mail-in elections, and many others allow for absentee voting through the mail. (Remember, Trump falsely insisted after the 2016 election that there had been “millions” of fraudulent votes cast against him.)
----- 5 -----
Katherine Faulders
twitter.com/KFaulders
20 April 2020
https://twitter.com/KFaulders/status/1252423859531202560
LISTEN: Audio we obtained shows President Trump misrepresented Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s comments on COVID-19 testing
[AUDIO EMBED]
----- 6 -----
White House readies push to slash regulations as major part of its coronavirus economic recovery plan
April 21, 2020
By Robert Costa and Jeff Stein
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/white-house-readies-push-to-slash-regulations-as-major-part-of-its-coronavirus-economic-recovery-plan/
Senior White House and Trump administration officials are planning to launch a sweeping effort in the coming days to repeal or suspend federal regulations affecting businesses, with the expected executive action seen by advisers as a way to boost an economy facing its worst shock in generations, two people familiar with the internal planning said.
The White House-driven initiative is expected to center on suspending federal regulations for small businesses and expanding an existing administration program that requires agencies to revoke two regulations for every new one they issue, the two people said.
While the plan remains in flux, changes could affect environmental policy, labor policy, workplace safety and health care, among other areas.
The White House is also likely to seek to make permanent some temporary regulations issued by agencies over the past few weeks to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
----- 7 -----
The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping.
By Isaac Stanley-Becker and Tony Romm
April 22, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-conservative-networks-backing-anti-quarantine-protests/2020/04/22/da75c81e-83fe-11ea-a3eb-e9fc93160703_story.html
The ads on Facebook sounded populist and passionate: “The people are rising up against these insane shutdowns,” they said. “We’re fighting back to demand that our elected officials reopen America.”
But the posts, funded by an initiative called “Convention of States,” were not the product of a grass-roots uprising alone. Instead, they represented one salvo in a wide-ranging and well-financed conservative campaign to undermine restrictions that medical experts say are necessary to contain the coronavirus — but that protesters call overkill and whose economic fallout could damage President Trump’s political prospects.
A network of right-leaning individuals and groups, aided by nimble online outfits, has helped incubate the fervor erupting in state capitals across the country. The activism is often organic and the frustration deeply felt, but it is also being amplified, and in some cases coordinated, by longtime conservative activists, whose robust operations were initially set up with help from Republican megadonors.
The Convention of States project launched in 2015 with a high-dollar donation from the family foundation of Robert Mercer, a billionaire hedge fund manager and Republican patron. It boasts past support from two members of the Trump administration — Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development.
It also trumpets a prior endorsement from Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida and a close Trump ally who is pursuing an aggressive plan to reopen his state’s economy. A spokesman for Carson declined to comment. Cuccinelli and DeSantis did not respond to requests for comment.
The initiative, aimed at curtailing federal power, is now leveraging its sweeping national network and digital arsenal to help stitch together scattered demonstrations across the country, making opposition to stay-at-home orders appear more widespread than is suggested by polling.
----- 8 -----
‘I am beyond disturbed’: Internal dissent as states reopen despite virus
April 21, 2020 at 10:22 pm Updated April 22, 2020
By Richard Fausset and Rick Rojas
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/i-am-beyond-disturbed-internal-dissent-as-states-reopen-despite-virus/
ATLANTA — The decision by Gov. Brian Kemp to begin restarting Georgia’s economy drew swift rebukes from mayors, public health experts and some business owners, with skeptics arguing that the plan might amplify another wave of coronavirus outbreaks.
“That could be setting us back,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview Tuesday, referring to Georgia and other states planning to reopen in coming days. “It certainly isn’t going to be helpful.”
Kemp’s decision allows for what he described as a measured return, starting Friday with the reopening of gyms, hair and nail salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors. On Monday, restaurants can resume dine-in service, and movie theaters and other entertainment venues can reopen. He also lifted limitations on houses of worship.
But the mayors of Atlanta and other large cities in the state expressed outrage over not having the authority to adjust the governor’s order to the needs of their residents. They vowed to urge Georgians to ignore Kemp’s directive.
“I am beyond disturbed,” Savannah’s mayor, Van Johnson, said on CNN, of the governor’s decision.
----- 9 -----
U.S. appeals court lets Arkansas curb abortion surgeries during pandemic
Andrew Chung
22 April 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-abortion/u-s-appeals-court-lets-arkansas-curb-abortion-surgeries-during-pandemic-idUSKCN2242FY
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday allowed Arkansas to enforce a ban on most surgical abortions a part of a state directive aimed at postponing medical procedures not deemed urgent during the coronavirus outbreak.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri, lifted a federal judge’s order that had allowed the procedure to continue to be performed. The appeals court ruling does not affect abortions induced through medication in the early stage of pregnancy, which is still allowed.
The ruling comes two days after another federal appeals court allowed Texas to enforce curbs on abortions via medication as part of that state’s response to the pandemic.
Arkansas and Texas are among a handful of conservative states that have pursued limits on abortion during the crisis, saying they want to ensure that medical resources, including protective equipment, are available to help healthcare facilities cope with people with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
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Lara Seligman
twitter.com/laraseligman
22 April 2020
https://twitter.com/laraseligman/status/1252978649898389506
"Navy commanders are more than capable of understanding when the president says something, that’s meant for an outside audience as opposed to direction to them," VADM Miller, former 5th Fleet Commander, told me.
[LINK TO]
Trump says he told Navy to 'destroy' Iranian boats harassing U.S. ships
The president issued his directions via tweet.
By LARA SELIGMAN
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/22/trump-says-he-told-navy-to-destroy-iranian-boats-harassing-us-ships-200385
President Donald Trump abruptly tweeted early today that he has directed the Navy to fire upon Iranian "gunboats" that "harass" U.S. ships at sea in a new sign of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.
"I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea," Trump tweeted.
Asked for clarification, Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen. John Hyten later told reporters that the tweet was a warning to Iran, and emphasized that Navy commanders understand how to respond to hostile acts.
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Igor Bobic (The Huffington Post)
twitter.com/igorbobic
22 April 2020
https://twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1252981635697512448
[EDITOR: As a 'blue state' citizen who knows that 'blue' states MASSIVELY SUBSIDISE RED STATES YEAR AFTER YEAR ON EVERY MOTHERFUCKING LEVEL, this enrages me. I am so _fucking_ done with these looting, murderous sons of bitches on every level. Just fucking _done_.]
[THREAD]
McConnell tells Hugh Hewitt he prefers states be allowed to declare bankruptcy over sending them direct federal aid.
[IMAGE] [TRANSCRIPTION by editor]
"MM: Yeah, I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there's no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don't have to do that. That's not something I'm going to be in favor of."
Igor Bobic
twitter.com/igorbobic
22 April 2020
McConnell: "We all have governors regardless of party who would love to have free money...I think this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments need to be thoroughly evaluated."
Igor Bobic
twitter.com/igorbobic
22 April 2020
McConnell's office is calling them "Blue State Bailouts"
[IMAGE] [TRANSCRIPTION by editor]
On Stopping Blue State Bailouts:
"I said yesterday we're going to push the pause button here, because I think this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments needs to be thoroughly evaluated. You raised yourself the important issue of what states have done, many of them have done to themselves with their pension programs. There's not going to be any desire on the Republican side to bail out state pensions by borrowing money from future generations."
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McConnell Says He Favors Allowing States to Declare Bankruptcy
By Steven T. Dennis and William Selway
April 22, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-22/mcconnell-says-he-favors-allowing-states-to-declare-bankruptcy
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he favors allowing states struggling with high public employee pension costs amid the burdens of the pandemic response to declare bankruptcy rather than giving them a federal bailout.
...
The National Governors Association has said states and municipalities will need at least $500 billion in aid to deal with the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic as tax revenue falls and demands for resources escalate.
McConnell said there should be a “fulsome” discussion among all Republican senators on whether and how to send more aid to state and local governments and what that money should be spent on.
That will be one of the focuses for the next round of stimulus spending that Congress will be taking up, and McConnell’s reluctance signals that negotiation could be the most difficult one so far. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he expected aid to state and local governments would be part of that.
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Jason Patinkin
twitter.com/JasonPatinkin
21 April 2020
https://twitter.com/JasonPatinkin/status/1252595464291135488
[THREAD, starts at link above]
1 US journalists: how did you cover the #ebola outbreak in eastern #DRC? I know, I know, most of you didn't cover it. But other people did, and you should look at their coverage.
2 In that outbreak, armed militia and mistrustful populations who believed conspiracy theories in a toxic political environment disrupted public health measures. Sound familiar? Of course it does. People act similarly all over the place. It's our coverage of stuff that differs.
3 Anyways, did media (DRC and intl) covering outbreak coddle conspiracy theorists with both sides-ism, and give nonstop coverage to people encouraging such theories? Did they breathlessly report unproven cures and vaccines? Did they gently describe armed groups as "protesters"?
4 No. Of course not. They're professionals. They told the actual story. And unlike the US media, they're far more experienced in covering political violence, bully politicians, and political stunts. So they know a pro-government rally disguised as a "protest" when they see one.
5 They know to give right of reply, but they also know not to defer to the powerful - especially when those in power routinely lie. They know to put facts in the lede, and the conspiracies far down in the story.
[MORE AT THREAD]
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Study finds people who watched Sean Hannity were more likely to die from COVID-19
April 21, 2020
By Bob Brigham
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/study-finds-people-who-watched-sean-hannity-were-more-likely-to-die-from-covid-19/
A new study from the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics found that “greater viewership of ‘Hannity’ relative to ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ was strongly associated with a greater number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity has been heavily criticized for echoing President Donald Trump’s initial attempts to downplay the threat posed by the new coronavirus. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson, his colleague at the right-leaning network who has framed the issue in more nationalistic terms, has been credited with convincing the president to take the pandemic seriously.
“Carlson warned viewers about the threat posed by the coronavirus from early February, while Hannity originally dismissed the risks associated with the virus before gradually adjusting his position starting late February,” the researchers wrote in the working paper.
The two hosts diverged greatly on the issue in February. While Hannity expressed optimism that “zero people in the United States have died from the coronavirus,” Carlson warned viewers that the virus could kill 1 million people across the country.
The researchers commissioned a poll of more than 1,000 Fox News viewers, which found that Carlson’s viewers were more likely to change their behavior earlier than Hannity’s viewers.
“We find that Hannity’s viewers on average changed their behavior in response to the coronavirus five days later than other Fox News viewers, while Carlson’s viewers changed behavior three days earlier than other Fox News viewers,” the paper said.
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Outsourcing Reduces Productivity
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
I'm David Rosenthal, and this is a place to discuss the work I'm doing in Digital Preservation.
https://blog.dshr.org/2020/04/outsourcing-reduces-productivity.html
Salim Furth provides yet more evidence of falling productivity in What’s Behind Falling Productivity: The Census May Hold the Answer:
Records kept since 1940 tell a contrasting story: even as the census has introduced labor-saving technologies, it has required more, not fewer, workers. The efficiency of census-taking appears to have declined over time as it has for most of the economy.
Furth's post takes off from Census Technology, Politics, and Institutional Change, 1790-2020 by Steven Ruggles and Diana L. Magnuson. An extract from their abstract:
The case study of the census reflects the critical and shifting role of the state and the private sector in the development of technology. For most of the twentieth century, Census Bureau administrators resisted private-sector intrusion into data capture and processing operations, but beginning in the mid-1990s, the Census Bureau increasingly turned to outside vendors from the private sector for data capture and processing. This privatization led to rapidly escalating costs, reduced productivity, near catastrophic failures of the 2000 and 2010 censuses, and high risks for the 2020 census.
[CONTINUES AT POST]
no subject
Date: 2020-04-22 11:07 pm (UTC)To be fair blue states like CA, NJ, CT and MA don't look that good either. But the club of states in poor financial shape would certainly not appear to be as thoroughly blue as the Grim Reaper and Donkeyballs would like to think.