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solarbirdThis is the COVID-19 edition. Second post will be all the power grabs. Last story kind of serves as a transition piece.
- We literally left them a 69-page Pandemic Playbook.... that they ignored
- Fact check: McConnell claims Obama didn't leave Trump a pandemic 'game plan.' Obama left a 69-page playbook
- Here is the 2016 Pandemic Playbook if you are interested.
- Unreleased White House report shows coronavirus rates spiking in heartland communities
- Dr. Fauci to Washington Sen. Murray: 'Pretty dire' consequences in reopening too early
- Now that's three CDC studies—from a Chinese restaurant, a Korean call center, and an American choir practice—all finding that talking, laughing, singing in close quarters, in unventilated interiors, for many hours, is the perfect storm for a COVID super-spreader event.
- Jay Inslee: How contract tracing in Washington State will work [EDITOR: bolded because of MAGAt botnet, and sabotage intent in replies on Twitter]
- Inslee announces contact tracing initiative
- Gov. Jay Inslee relaxes COVID-19 rules in Washington counties that oppose him
- Rand Paul: Huge number of meatpacking plant infections is actually a good thing
- In Yakima County, car cruisers and the mayor of Selah openly flout stay-home orders
- Fox News Host Calls on ‘Healthy People’ to ‘Have Some Courage’ and Get Infected With Coronavirus [EDITOR: Sabotage]
- AP-NORC poll: Majority disapprove of coronavirus protests
- Cop who made video on "tyrannical" COVID-19 arrests placed on paid leave
- White House to require staffers to wear masks in West Wing
- As coronavirus roils the nation, Trump reverts to tactic of accusing foes of felonies
----- 1 -----
Ronald Klain
twitter.com/RonaldKlain
11 May 2020
https://twitter.com/RonaldKlain/status/1260015062271455233
We literally left them a 69-page Pandemic Playbook.... that they ignored
And an office called the Pandemic Preparedness Office... that they abolished.
And a global monitoring system called PREDICT .. that they cut by 75%
[EMBEDDED TWEET]
DJ Judd
twitter.com/DJJudd
May 11, 2020
Tonight's Team Trump Livestream features Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who, talking COVID-19, tells Lara Trump, "clearly the Obama administration did not leave to this administration, any kind of game plan for something like this."
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
----- 2 -----
Fact check: McConnell claims Obama didn't leave Trump a pandemic 'game plan.' Obama left a 69-page playbook
By Daniel Dale, CNN
Updated 3:48 PM ET, Tue May 12, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/12/politics/fact-check-mcconnell-obama-trump-game-plan/index.html
Washington (CNN)Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell falsely accused the Obama administration of failing to leave the Trump administration "any kind of game plan" for something like the coronavirus pandemic.
Appearing Monday in a Trump campaign online chat with Lara Trump, the President's daughter-in-law and campaign senior adviser, McConnell slammed Obama for criticizing Trump's coronavirus response as an "absolute chaotic disaster" on a private call last week with former staffers.
As Donald Trump has done repeatedly during the pandemic, McConnell also laid undeserved blame at Obama's feet.
"They claim pandemics only happen once every hundred years but what if that's no longer true? We want to be early, ready for the next one, because clearly the Obama administration did not leave to this administration any kind of game plan for something like this," McConnell said.
"That's exactly right," Lara Trump responded.
It was the opposite of right.
----- 3 -----
DrAltGov
twitter.com/AltGovDoc
12 May 2020
https://twitter.com/AltGovDoc/status/1260235786743623681
Here is the 2016 Pandemic Playbook if you are interested.
[LINKS TO:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6819258-Playbook.html#document/p2
]
----- 4 -----
Joyce Alene
twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance
12 May 2020
https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1259996086489559041
The President who tells little lies with ease, also tells big ones about being ready to reopen: Unreleased White House report shows coronavirus rates spiking in heartland communities
[LINKS TO: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/unreleased-white-house-report-shows-coronavirus-rates-spiking-heartland-communities-n1204751 ]
Unreleased White House report shows coronavirus rates spiking in heartland communities
Trump's claim that cases are falling everywhere is contradicted by his own task force's report, obtained by NBC News, showing the virus spreading far from the coasts.
May 11, 2020, 4:52 PM PDT
By Jonathan Allen, Phil McCausland and Cyrus Farivar
Coronavirus infection rates are spiking to new highs in several metropolitan areas and smaller communities across the country, according to undisclosed data the White House's pandemic task force is using to track rates of infection, which was obtained by NBC News.
The data in a May 7 coronavirus task force report are at odds with President Donald Trump's declaration Monday that "all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly."
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Dr. Fauci to Washington Sen. Murray: 'Pretty dire' consequences in reopening too early
By Joel Connelly, SeattlePI
Updated 10:45 am PDT, Tuesday, May 12, 2020
https://www.seattlepi.com/coronavirus/article/murray-washington-fauci-coronavirus-reopening-15264714.php
States and municipalities face "really serious consequences" if they reopen too quickly from closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci told a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday, responding to a question from ranking Democrat Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington.
By disregarding guidelines on when to safely reopen, "There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control," Fauci, leading figure in the White House coronavirus task force, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
The hearing was a first opportunity for figures in the White House task force to speak freely, without President Donald Trump literally looking over their shoulders, and taking the microphone to deliver often non-scientific views, denounce the news media, and excoriate his predecessors and political opponents.
Sen. Murray, a trenchant critic of lags in testing for the coronavirus, seized on the opportunity, giving Dr. Fauci the opportunity to lay out his views.
"What I have expressed is my concern that some areas cities and states jump over various checkpoints and prematurely open up without without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently," Fauci said. "My concern is that we would see spikes that would turn into outbreaks."
...
Murray sought to draw out a quartet of experts from the White House task force. "Families across the country are counting on you for the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic especially since it is clear they won't get it from President Trump," she told the foursome.
Murray was also a virtual presence in the hearing room. She appeared on screen from Washington, a state which felt 37 of the first 50 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus, which has now claimed nearly 900 lives in the Evergreen State.
"If a community or a state or a region doesn't go by these guidelines and reopens, the consequences could be pretty dire, correct?" she asked.
"The consequences could be very serious," Fauci replied.
----- 6 -----
Derek Thompson
twitter.com/DKThomp
12 May 2020
https://twitter.com/DKThomp/status/1260305939153985536
Now that's three CDC studies—from a Chinese restaurant, a Korean call center, and an American choir practice—all finding that talking, laughing, singing in close quarters, in unventilated interiors, for many hours, is the perfect storm for a COVID super-spreader event.
[THREAD]
----- 7 -----
Governor Jay Inslee
twitter.com/GovInslee
12 May 2020
https://twitter.com/GovInslee/status/1260385463036071936
Until a treatment or vaccine is developed, contact tracing is the fastest and safest path to recovery.
Here’s what it will look like in Washington:
[LINKS TO]
https://medium.com/wagovernor/inslee-announces-contact-tracing-initiative-e8cc76da1e8c
[EDITOR: Note the MAGAts in the comments swarming him with hitler and tyrant commentary. Some are clearly bots, so he's now a specific target of botnets.]
----- 8 -----
Inslee announces contact tracing initiative
WA Governor’s Office
May 12, 2020
https://medium.com/wagovernor/inslee-announces-contact-tracing-initiative-e8cc76da1e8c
Confidential efforts will help businesses open and stop spread of the virus.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced the launch of a statewide contact tracing plan today that will allow more businesses to open and more people to be active in public while helping to slow and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“Contact tracing is another tool in our toolbox for tackling COVID-19 in Washington,” Inslee said. “While we need to continue physical distancing, this will allow us to get a better handle on who gets sick and how the virus is spread, which is vital to re-opening our economy.”
Local health departments will lead these efforts and the state Department of Health and its partners will support this work.
----- 9 -----
Gov. Jay Inslee relaxes COVID-19 rules in Washington counties that oppose him
By Joel Connelly, SeattlePI
Published 3:57 pm PDT, Tuesday, May 12, 2020
https://www.seattlepi.com/coronavirus/article/Inslee-feeds-those-who-bite-him-as-he-relaxes-15265531.php
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is testing his Safe Start plan on eight largely rural counties, allowing phase two to take effect in corners of the state not hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
And these areas share something else in common. All of them voted against Inslee in 2016, and boast local politicians who have bloviated against stay-at-home orders.
The "lucky 8," chosen for low incidence of the novel coronavirus, will be allowed to reopen restaurants and bars as long as they stay under 50% of capacity, and allow retailers, hair salons, pet groomers, house cleaners and retailers to get back in business.
Sure, it'll be great to see the main drag in remote Republic, county seat of Ferry County, get back in business. Still, read the Facebook grousing of State Rep. Jacqueline Maycumber, R-Republic: "If we don't go back to work, and we're not able to provide for ourselves, what's going to happen into the winter and next year?"
Beneath this post, a fan has depicted Inslee in a Nazi SS uniform. Anti-Inslee postings in rural Washington are attracting wild comments.
Inslee managed to get 37.65% of the Ferry County vote when he ran for reelection in 2016. That's high compared to 27.98% across Lake Roosevelt in Lincoln County, which can also move to phase two.
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Rand Paul: Huge number of meatpacking plant infections is actually a good thing
By Emily Singer
May 12, 2020
https://americanindependent.com/rand-paul-coronavirus-meatpacking-outbreaks-silver-lining-immunity-senate-gop-covid-19/
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) claimed Monday that there is a "silver lining" when it come to the "many infections" that occurred at meat processing plants across the country, claiming that those workers are now immune to the virus.
But there isn't clear evidence that Paul's statement is true.
While experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci say that historically once someone recovers from a virus they are immune from getting reinfected, the World Health Organization says they do not know whether the coronavirus will behave the same way.
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In Yakima County, car cruisers and the mayor of Selah openly flout stay-home orders
By MAI HOANG
Yakima Herald-Republic, Wash.
May 11, 2020 at 11:03 pm
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/in-yakima-county-car-cruisers-and-the-mayor-of-selah-openly-flout-stay-home-orders/
Gov. Jay Inslee’s office has directed the city of Selah to retract or rescind its proclamation that it would not enforce the state’s stay-at-home order.
Meanwhile, Yakima city officials say two car cruising events over the weekend weren’t authorized.
Kathryn Leathers, general counsel for the governor’s office, sent a letter Monday to Selah Mayor Sherry Raymond about a proclamation she made Friday saying Selah won’t enforce the governor’s order, which is intended to slow the spread of COVID-19. Leathers said Selah’s proclamation is “unlawful.”
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Fox News Host Calls on ‘Healthy People’ to ‘Have Some Courage’ and Get Infected With Coronavirus
Justin Baragona
The Daily Beast
May 7, 2020
https://news.yahoo.com/fox-news-host-calls-healthy-172009905.html
Fox News host Pete Hegseth, an informal Trump adviser who was once considered to run the Veterans Affairs administration, on Thursday called upon healthy Americans to “have some courage” and leave their homes to get infected by the coronavirus in order to help attain “herd immunity.”
Broadcasting from what appeared to be his home, Hegseth—serving as the female-centric Fox News panel show Outnumbered’s lone male host—weighed in on President Donald Trump using the term “warriors” to describe the American people as he pushes for the country’s economy to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic and the possibility of a surge in deaths.
Saying he didn’t necessarily “love the warrior talk” because he thinks of that word describing “guys and gals that risk their life voluntarily to go to the most dangerous places in the world,” Hegseth went on to applaud that “kind of ethos and that spirit to put freedom before fear.”
After warning that there was a “lot of misinformation” out there from “experts” about coronavirus, Hegseth—who proudly declared last year that he hadn’t washed his hands in 10 years—then said the public needs to get out and mingle.
“Now that we are learning more, herd immunity is our friend,” he exclaimed. “Healthy people getting out there—they are going to have to have some courage!”
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AP-NORC poll: Majority disapprove of coronavirus protests
By RANDALL CHASE and EMILY SWANSON
11 May 2020
https://apnews.com/ebaa403b5056df362bd8cea39065f981
WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Americans disapprove of protests against restrictions aimed at preventing the spread the coronavirus, according to a new poll that also finds the still-expansive support for such limits — including restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders — has dipped in recent weeks.
The new survey from the University of Chicago Divinity School and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 55% of Americans disapprove of the protests that have popped up in some states as some Americans begin chafing at public health measures that have decimated the global economy. Thirty-one percent approve of the demonstrations.
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Cop who made video on "tyrannical" COVID-19 arrests placed on paid leave
The Seattle Times
12 May 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/coronavirus-daily-news-updates-may-12-what-to-know-today-about-covid-19-in-the-seattle-area-washington-state-and-the-nation/#update-12762614
A Port of Seattle police officer who posted a YouTube video last week telling fellow officers that they're violating people's Constitutional rights when they follow "tyrannical" orders and arrest and cite people for COVID-19-related infractions has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Officer Greg Anderson is on leave pending an investigation, according to a Port of Seattle spokesman, who declined to comment further on the pending personnel matter.
In the video posted on May 7, Anderson, in uniform and talking from a patrol vehicle, says, "I want to remind you that regardless of where you stand on the coronavirus, we don't have the authority to do those things to people just because a mayor or a governor tells you otherwise... We don't get to violate people's constitutional rights because somebody in our chain of command tells us otherwise."
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White House to require staffers to wear masks in West Wing
The president painted an improving picture of the coronavirus pandemic Monday even as the threat of the virus hit home inside the White House.
11 May 2020
By Shannon Pettypiece, Geoff Bennett and Monica Alba
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-require-staffers-wear-masks-west-wing-n1204551
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump painted an improving picture of the coronavirus pandemic Monday even as the threat of the virus hit home inside the White House, which increased precautions again in the wake of positive employee tests the previous week.
The White House on Monday began requiring that all staffers entering the West Wing wear a facial covering, and asked aides to avoid going there "unless you absolutely need to conduct in-person business in the West Wing," according to a memo sent to staffers.
The memo says staffers do not need to wear a mask at their desk if they can socially distance.
The decision comes days after a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence tested positive for the coronavirus. Trump has repeatedly declined to wear a face-covering in public settings.
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As coronavirus roils the nation, Trump reverts to tactic of accusing foes of felonies
By Toluse Olorunnipa
May 12, 2020 at 4:37 p.m. PDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-reverts-to-tactic-of-accusing-foes-of-felonies-as-coronavirus-roils-the-nation/2020/05/12/2028bf88-9467-11ea-9f5e-56d8239bf9ad_story.html
On a day when coronavirus deaths passed 80,000 and top government scientists warned of the perils of loosening public health restrictions too soon, President Trump used his massive public platform to suggest a talk-show host he has clashed with committed murder.
His baseless charge capped a 48-hour stretch in which he accused scores of perceived opponents of criminal acts ranging from illegal espionage to election rigging.
Since writing “HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY” at 8:10 a.m. on Sunday, Trump has used his Twitter account to make or elevate allegations of criminal conduct against no less than 20 individuals and organizations. Since Sunday, he has tweeted more often about alleged crimes by his perceived opponents than he has about the pandemic ravaging the country with mass death and unemployment.
The list of purported culprits Trump has charged include two television news hosts, a comedian, at least five former officials from the FBI and Justice Department, the state of California, a broadcast television station and at least five top national security officials from President Barack Obama’s administration.
