News Leading up to Good Friday

The good, the bad, and the bizarre:

Good:

Israel’s coalition supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may turn on him after he drafted ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military. The country’s Supreme Court ordered the suspension of state subsidies the Jews studying in yeshivas instead of serving in the military. Netanyahu had promised financial aid and military exemptions in return for their political support, exemptions that began in 1949 with the country’s co-founder Ben Gurion, but the PM’s cabinet insists that everyone equally contribute to Israel’s war against Hamas. Netanyahu could face an election when he is extremely unpopular if ultra-Orthodox Jews pull out of the coalition electing him 15 months ago.

The Sierra Club and two West Virginia environmental groups have made an agreement with the EPA to address the state streams’ pollution coming from the state’s coal mining. Ionic toxicity pollution increases freshwater salinity, killing the streams’ aquatic life.

Protecting endangered animals and plants with their habitat, Biden reinstated DDT’s canceled rules. Officials will no longer need to create specific plans for each species during pending protections. They must also determine species deserve protection despite potential economic costs.

Biden announced his plan limit to purchases of short-term health insurance to three months and renewed for a maximum of four months instead of DDT’s three years. Another protection for the purchaser would be providing them “with clear explanations of the limits of their benefits.” The plans have skimpy coverage leaving people with large medical bills, the possibility of pre-existing conditions, and encouragement of younger and healthier people to move to lower-cost and lower-coverage plans costing more for everyone else.  

This past week was the 14^th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and DDT has become very nervous about his claims that he’ll do away with the program. In a meltdown, DDT wrote:

“I’m not running to terminate the ACA, AS CROOKED JOE BUDEN DISINFORMATES AND MISINFORMATES ALL THE TIME.”

On Thursday, Biden announced a deadline extension to allow 19 million people loving Medicaid coverage to move to the federal insurance exchange. Biden called the intention of MAGA and DDT to eliminate the ACA leaving people with no insurance “sick.” DDT had said:

“We’ve really decimated Obamacare. We’ve done a great job, but we’re going to be getting rid of it entirely.” 

The administration will no longer reduce disability benefits for people whose friends, family, and roommates provide help with food. Until now, the government could reduce the maximum SSI benefit of $943 per month by a third is someone in the household gives “in-kind support” in the form of food or shelter. The proposed is estimated to increase SSI spending by one percent.

Elon Musk has lost his lawsuit against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) because it criticized X. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, brother of former SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer, dismissed the lawsuit, stating that it was an attempt to silence X’s critics. The Center had published a report alleging the social platform profited from hate from the reinstatement of “neo-Nazis, white supremacists, misogynists and spreaders of dangerous conspiracy theories.” Musk has also sued the nonprofit Media Matters and threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League before reaching a détente.

Bad:

The top one percent in the U.S. has $44.6 trillion in assets, 50 percent up from the $30 trillion four years ago. Republicans want to give them a massive tax cut so they can take over a bigger portion of the U.S. wealth.

Last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took over Houston Independent school district and replaced elected school board members with state-appointed ones. The district was forced to implement a rigid curriculum and pay teachers based on standardized test performances. Libraries were turned into disciplinary centers with the books removed. Since then, 600 teachers have resigned, and the staff has called for the state-appointed superintendent, formerly a charter school corporation CEO, to be removed.

 Red states are ignoring the separation of church and state by putting chaplains instead of counselors in public schools aided by a new legislation-crafting network addressing policy issues “from a biblical world view” and a consortium promoting chaplains as a way to convert millions to Christianity. Started by Texas, 14 states have introduced these bills. Only Florida has passed a similar bill—thus far. Jason Rapert, head of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, boasted about “reclaiming religious freedom in this country,” meaning only fundamentalist Christianity. Texas almost passed a law demanding the Ten Commandments be displayed in every state classroom. Since 2018, seven states passed laws requiring the display of “In God We Trust” signs in public schools. Idaho and Kentucky allow on-duty teachers and public school employees to pray in front of and with students.

A dark money slush fund from business interests are providing police hundreds of millions of dollars for specialized weapons, surveillance tools, and other technology with little or no public oversight. Law enforcement is therefore indebted to the companies and power donors instead of the communities that supposedly employ them. Anonymous donors use asset managers such as Fidelity investment, making its charitable arm one of the biggest private donors to police in the U.S. New York City has passed a law requiring the police department to provide annual reports for how they expend the millions in private donations and who gave the funds. The law, however, doesn’t cover donations routed through the foundation.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) blocked the promotion of a decorated colonel to brigadier because Col. Ben Jonsson objects to racism. A devout Christian and graduate of the Air Force Academy, Jonsson is fluent in Arabic, has seven Air Medals, and flew 900 combat hours over Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.” Schimitt’s determination to “root out divisive DEI policies” apparently means that only racists like Christian nationalists are welcome.

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) is one of the House extremists railing against using federal money to replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, calling it “outrageous,” yet he bragged about securing $2,700,000 in federal funding to replace the deteriorating single-lane Johnston Street Bridge. In just 2024, Meuser requested over $43 million for just his district, including $15.5 million for a machine gun range.

Inspection is a problem with the ship collapsing the bridge because it isn’t required for container ships. The Dali also has a history of problems: it collided with the berth at the Antwerp container terminal which caused significant damage to the ship and closed the terminal for repairs. No one was held accountable. Labor standards are also not well regulated for flag-of-convenience crews. In addition, the shipbuilding industry, once annually producing over 100 major merchant ships, has moved to China.

Donald Trump Jr. has found a way to blame Biden by suggesting that Biden may have been hiding information that the collapse was an attack by foreign adversaries.

Biden’s administration has authorized billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to be sent to Israel despite his telling Netanyahu not to attack southern Gaza. Israel is also continuing its attack on al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where people are trapped in horrific conditions. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said that Biden’s administration does understand that weapons transfers are in conflict with these transfers.  

Niger’s coup leaders have selected Russia, Iran, and other authoritarian regimes over the U.S., ordering U.S. troops to leave the country which threatens NATO’s southern flank and strengthening Russia’s position in Africa. A high-level U.S. delegation was unable to dissuade top Nigerien officials, and the coup leader refused to meet with the delegation. During the meetings, the U.S. accused Niger of possibly allowing Iran secret access to its uranium reserves. Niger denied what it called a “false accusation” and used it for a reason to ban U.S. troops. French troops had already been forced to leave Niger.

Bizarre:

After failing the first time, the organizer of a recall effort against Wisconsin’s Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is trying a second time because Vos criticized DDT and wouldn’t try to overturn the election. The first petition had forgeries and lacked enough signatures from Vos’ district. The current recall is on evidence-free allegations of the speaker’s “tacit support for the Chinese Communist Party” and “disrespect” for recall organizers.

In a classic First Amendment conundrum, a judge is permitting Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to sue for cancelled 2021 rallies in two California cities on the basis of free speech. The judge, however, pointed out that the protesting groups such as the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Unidos for La Causa, Women’s March Action, the Riverside County Democratic Party, Antiracist Riverside, and Occupy Democrats they were suing also have free speech rights.

Matt Maddock, an election-denying state Michigan lawmaker, accused buses of being “just loaded up with illegal invaders” and posted allegations of three buses near an Allegiant plane at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. He wrote, “Anyone have any idea where they’re headed with their police escort?” Someone had the answer: four college basketball teams traveling to Detroit for the second weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament arrived by plane for March Madness. Other Republicans, including Michigan’s GOP chair Pete Hokstra, repeated his accusation but backtracked. Maddock’s wife, former co-chair of the state GOP, is one of 15 Republicans facing eight criminal charges for acting as fake electors for DDT in 2020.

Economy, E. Jean Carroll Plus More Including Reason for Blog Hiatus

The Economy:

Once again, Republicans have gone silent about the economy except for a little muttering about high inflation—which isn’t high anymore, thanks to the work of the current administration. Naturally, a good economy during a Democratic administration is anathema to the GOP, like these positive reports in the past week:

The U.S. has thus far avoided the predicted recession during the past year.

Gross domestic product, goods and services produced, increased at a 3.3 percent annualized rate in the fourth quarter of 2023. The 3.1 percent increase in just that quarter far exceeded the two percent prediction, and the previous quarter was 4.9 percent.  

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5 percent pace in 2023, over 1.9 percent in the previous year. (DDT’s “greatest economy” was only 2.5 percent before the pandemic; now he says that the current economy is horrible.)

Inflation dropped to 1.7 percent for the last quarter. Food and energy inflation dropped to a 3.2 percent annual increase compared to 5.1 percent. Median rents declined for eight consecutive months. Gas costs 34 cents less per gallon than a year ago.

The price index increased 1.5 percent for the quarter, down from 3.3 percent in the previous quarter.

Unemployment rates stayed at 3.7 percent although DDT claims the figures aren’t “real.” Biden’s unemployment rate has stayed below 4 percent for 23 continuous months, the longest continuous run since the 1960s.

Consumer sentiment rose in January by 13 percent to an accumulated 29 percent with 16 percent increase during the previous month, the biggest two-month increase since 1991 at the end of a recession. All five indices rose, including a 27 percent rise in the short-run outlook for business conditions and 14 percent in current personal finances. Sentiment is now just 7 lower since 1978 than the historical average.

At the beginning of the week, the Dow Jones industrial index closed above 38,000 for the first time, keeping that level for its close on Friday. S&P also closed at an all-time high. (DDT claims the increase comes from his being ahead in the polls but wants it to crash before he becomes president so he doesn’t have to take the blame.)

Jobless claims did increase 25,000 from the previous week to 214,000; continuing claims are 1.833 million, up 27,000.

In another Biden success, 21.3 million people, an additional five million over 2023, have signed up for healthcare insurance through the marketplace created by President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act with 2024 the third consecutive banner year for the program. Biden said that the number is nine million more than when he became president. January 15 was the deadline to sign up for 2024, but people disenrolled from Medicaid last spring have until July 31 to enroll, meaning the total number may increase. [Note: DDT’s campaign includes doing away with the ACA, including the program.]

Court Cases:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has found evidence supporting South Africa’s genocide case against Israel for its murders of Palestinians and ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to uphold its obligations under Article II of the Genocide Convention. The court also directed the Israeli government to ensure its military does not violate the convention in Gaza. Israel must also punish those who incite genocide, immediately provide basic services and humanitarian assistance to Gazans, block the destruction of evidence showing violations of international law, and submit a report to the ICJ on all steps it takes to implement the above measures.

Another victory for democracy is the decision in the civil defamation suit by E. Jean Carroll against DDT after his sexual assault of her. The first jury had awarded her $5 million, leading DDT to immediately defame her in speeches and on his Truth Social media platform. She again sued DDT, and a jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million—$18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive retribution. DDT is raging about the decision on social media, claiming he will appeal, but hasn’t defamed her in his claims. Although DDT’s treatment of Carroll in a department store dressing room fits a definition of rape, New York legal code puts it under sexual assault. A change in state law statute of limitations permits Carroll to sue DDT for both defamation and sexual assault.  

DDT briefly testified in the trial, but he was angry because of restrictions regarding his statements. Judge Lewis Kaplan prevented him from statements of innocence of sexual assault because the trial was only concerned with financial penalties for defamation and sexual assault. The charge of sexual assault had already been determined. In a drive to become DDT’s 2024 vice-presidential pick, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) accused Biden of delaying the trial for a few days, but a juror and DDT’s lawyer, Alina Habba, had claimed possible Covid illness last Monday.

A commentator hoped that the seven-men and two-women jury award of almost $88 million would stop DDT from further defaming Carroll. The jury made its decision in two hours, 45 minutes. In a frightening disclosure about the danger of DDT’s thuggery, judge told the jury after the verdict, “My advice to you is that you never disclose that you were on this jury.” Joyce Vance has an excellent overview of the decision.

Even with appeals, DDT will have to pay a sizeable amount to the court which will hold the money during pending appeals. An alternative is posting a bond with collateral, accompanied by interest and fees. Campaign donors are paying for DDT’s legal fees but not awards in court cases. He also faces the possibility of having to pay $370 million damages in a civil business fraud case; the decision might be determined by the end of the month.

Another DDT coup member, White House adviser Peter Navarro, has joined the “remarkable universe of criminality” by being sentenced to four months in prison for criminal contempt of Congress. He refused a subpoena to testify about January 6 and, as many others, claimed “executive privilege” with no justification.

In another imminent court case, a New York judge denied a motion to dismiss $2.7 billion defamation claims by Smartmatic against Fox’s parent company. The case is similar to Fox’s settlement to pay Dominion Voting Machines $787.7 million, both of them for lies that they rigged elections.

Personal note about my two-week absence from posting on Nels New Day:

The year 2024 started with a bang—in my case when the transformer in front of my house blew out. I had already faced almost 12 hours of power outage on Friday, January 12, but the transformer disaster on January 13 led to almost five days without electricity. That meant no heat, refrigerator, telephone, computer, etc. during a time when unusually low temperatures on the Oregon Coast plummeted to 26 or 27 degrees with highs about 34. I almost never use my old flip cellphone, and no one knows the number. For a couple of days, I had no way to charge it.

Much of the town lacked electricity for a couple of days, causing a lack of services such as closed pharmacies and grocery stores. Lines at gas stations were 40-50 vehicles deep with the tourists in town for the Martin Luther King Jr. three-day weekend, people getting fuel for their generators, and locals trying to fill up.  One major grocery store threw out all its perishables, not even willing to give them away; another one moved them outside because the weather was so cold that the food could be preserved.

My neighbor still had electricity—the grid system is strange!—and he ran an extension cord to my house after my first couple of days in the cold and dark. In the bedroom, my small stove got the temperature up to about 58 degrees, and I had a lamp for reading and a way to charge my phone. On the fourth day, however, a couple of wires rubbed together, wiping out electricity for almost 100 miles along the coast—fortunately for only four hours! There went my extension cord solution. Fortunately, a friend living seven miles inland picked up my 12-year-old cat and took her home. Another friend bought me some food, so I had some sustenance, and I visited a neighbor with a fireplace for a few hours on two different days.

I woke from a nap about 8:30 pm on January 17 to have the lights on in the house. Wonderful! The first thing I did was to start the dishwasher and get the furnace functioning. Then I spent the last few hours calling friends about the good news, doing away with about 80 percent of almost 650 emails, and being grateful. My next project was to do the wash and then take a shower the next morning. As I hoped for electricity, I also thought about people in Ukraine, Gaza, and other war zones as well as the homeless who never have the conveniences that have returned to my life.

The next day, however, a sore throat led to the worst cold I’ve had in over two decades, leading to another week in bed and attempts to recover from fatigue. In those two weeks, I missed writing about

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, two DDT primary wins, the disappearance of GOP presidential candidates, much of the idiocy among GOP House members, Supreme Court arguments and decisions—the list goes on and on.

In the next several days, I’ll try to catch up.

Santos’ Sour Grapes, DDT’s Losing Streak

Some followers of Nels New Day may have noticed a lack of posts since before Thanksgiving. I had not been feeling well for several days, and a friend persuaded me to go to the emergency room on the afternoon of November 22. After going by ambulance to a hospital 80 miles away, I received a temporary pacemaker on Thanksgiving Day that was replaced with the permanent one on the next day. My niece drove down from Bellevue (WA) through horrendous Thanksgiving and football traffic to bring me home on Saturday. Since then, wonderful friends have dropped by with necessities, help, and good conversation. I’ll never catch up with just two weeks of news—the 60^th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the hostage exchange of Hamas hostages with the beginning and end of an Israeli firing pause,, the continuing insanity of the U.S. House, etc.—but here’s one for today.

George Santos Not Quitting:

Almost everyone is aware of George Santos’ (R-NY) expulsion from the House in a vote of 311-114. Although 105 Republicans voted against Santos, none of the leadership supported the expulsion. Needless to say, Santos was furious although he had expected to be expelled; he’s now retaliating. His first plan is formal ethics complaints toward three Republicans from his state who voted for his ouster—Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler, and Nicole Malliotakis—and New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez. Santos plans charges of questionable stock trading (Malliotakis), money-laundering (Lawlor), no-show to a taxpayer-funded job while working on a law degree (LaLota), and knowledge of his father’s overseas dealings with compensation (Menendez). 

Days before Santos’ expulsion, about 150 Republicans appeared to be in favor of voting for it, but Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) support of Santos dropped the number to about 70, insufficient to vote for the resolution, until Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) sent an email showing a stupid mistake that Santos made. Of the many people Santos cheated by charging donations against their credit cards without the owners’ permission or knowledge was Miller and his mother. Miller said that he has spent “tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in the resulting follow up.” After Miller called Santos a “crook” on the House floor, Santos called Miller a “woman-beater.” In her book I’ll Take Your Questions Now, Miller’s ex-girlfriend and fellow DDT staffer, Stephanie Griffin, accused him of physically abusing her. Miller sued Grisham for defamation but dropped the case. 

To replace Santos, each party selects one candidate from an eager pool for a special election in February or March. At least a dozen GOP members have volunteered, one refusing to abandon his support for Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) despite his multiple indictments. In Jake Tapper’s interview, Kellen Curry, who supported the expulsion of Santos for his indictments, repeatedly refused to criticized DDT for his 91 felony counts in three separate jurisdictions, saying only that “the American people will decide the presidential race.”

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) on a Losing Streak:

New York: An appellate court reinstated DDT’s gag order against Judge Arthur Engoron’s staff in his civil business fraud case so DDT immediately attacked Engoron’s wife with lies from MAGA supporter and failed congressional candidate Laura Loomer. The case is close to ending after Eric Trump testifies on December 6 and DDT returns to the witness stand on December 11. A one-day rebuttal will likely happen on December 12 and oral arguments on January 11. The earliest decision will be issued at the end of January.

DDT and other defendants are on “enhanced monitoring” after a financial monitor assigned to the civil fraud trial discovered $40 million in cash transfers had not been disclosed. One was $29 million to DDT himself that he used for tax payments. Another one paid insurance premiums, and a third was the $5.6 million security DDT used to appeal the earlier civil verdict for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll. DDT is required to disclose any transfers from the trust over $5 million.

The Trump Organization no longer prepares financial statements, according to testimony from an executive. DDT’s 2014 to 2021 “statements of financial condition” are prime evidence in state AG Letitia James’ lawsuit because they misled lenders and insurers by greatly inflating DDT’s asset values and overall net worth. Despite DDT’s denials, Engoron already ruled that he and the other defendants already engaged in fraud. The current trial determines remaining claims of conspiracy, insurance fraud, and falsification of business records. James wants over $300 million penalties and a ban on DDT from doing business in New York.

Washington, D.C.: DDT can be sued in civil lawsuits related to the January 6 insurrection because he lacks presidential immunity, according to Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan representing a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court. Capitol Police officers and congressional Democrats have pending suits. The opinion states that the president “does not spend every minute of every day exercising official responsibilities”; outside his office’s functions, “he acts in an unofficial, private capacity [and is] subject to civil suits like any private citizen.”

Judge Tanya Chutkan refused DDT’s request to subpoena members of the House January 6 investigative committee and others for evidence in his upcoming trial. She said he won’t be relitigating the event and also refused his subpoenas for records from the National Archives. DDT’s lawyers asked Chutkan to recuse herself, but she said no. In a novel defense against insurrection by interfering with the Electoral Vote, he claims the Russians did it. After vigorously claiming for seven years that Russian did not interfere with his 2016 election, he reversed course.

Georgia: The state legislature lost its ability to protect DDT from Fulton County’s (GA) DA Fani Willis when the state Supreme Court ruled against a new law allowing legislators to remove any DA who is insufficiently conservative. The court voted against approving rules for the newly-created Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission. The law must be rewritten before the commission can operate. Four state prosecutors are also challenging the law in Fulton County Superior Court. 

Florida: DDT’s pet judge Aileen Cannon may think she’s protecting DDT by dragging out the timeline for his trial regarding his illegal possession of classified documents, but she could actually be hurting him. She set the trial for May 20, 2024, but if she delays the trial, she frees up time for other trials—March 4, 2024 in Washington, D.C. and possibly August 5 in Georgia—before the general election.

DDT’s Lawsuit against the Media: Almost two weeks ago, DDT attacked the media when he added a lawsuit to the 4,095 others over three decades plus the 62 to overturn the 2020 election. His excuse for this frivolous lawsuit is that the media waged a campaign against his Truth Social platform by stating it had lost $73 million. The published amount came from a filing by Digital World Acquisition Corporation, but DDT wants $1.5 billion in damages.  Thus far this year, DDT:

• Filed and then dropped a $500 million suit against his former attorney, Michael Cohen.
• Lost a $475 million defamation suit against CNN.
• Lost a counter-defamation suit against writer E. Jean Carroll that he filed the day after she won a $5 million settlement against him for defamation and sexual abuse.
• Lost a defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post over articles about his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.
• Lost a $100 million lawsuit against The New York Times (and his own niece) for what Trump called “an insidious plot” to reveal tax information.
• Plus his lost lawsuits or motions related to his criminal proceedings, including losing a lawsuit against the FBI for searching Mar-a-Lago for classified documents.

Fortunately for him, DDT’s campaign funds and the RNC are paying DDT’s legal fees.

Oath of Office: In a legal filing to the Colorado Supreme Court, that ultimately decided his name could be on the primary in that state, DDT claimed Section Three of the 14^th Amendment didn’t apply to him because he never swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. That provision includes “an officer of the United States” who had “previously taken an oath.” The oath that DDT took on January 21, 2017, to be called the president of the United States reads:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Former VP Mike Pence has thrown DDT under the bus by telling the special counsel that DDT surrounded himself with “crank” attorneys, espoused “un-American” legal theories, and almost pushed the country toward a “constitutional crisis.” He also said that he told DDT he didn’t see any evidence of significant election fraud.

Healthcare: Much to the dismay of Republicans, DDT said he will do away with “Obamacare” (the Affordable Care Act) after he is elected. The GOP knows how popular the program is, and another state, North Carolina, has added its provision of Medicaid, serving 600,000 low-income people and bringing the total number of these states to 40. The ACA is more affordable than ever and withstanding many legal challenges. In March, the New York Times’ headline read, “Obamacare Keeps Winning.” The 40 million people receiving healthcare through ACA would be at risk if DDT were successful. (Trying to keep up with DDT, presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said he has a plan to “supercede” ACA but won’t explain what it is.)

And there’s much more!

 

DDT’s Indictment, GOP Obstruction

By now, anyone paying attention to the news knows that a grand jury voted to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) probably for falsifying business records including paying hush money to Stormy Daniel during his campaign for the 2016 presidential election.

The Manhattan grand jury has recessed until the end of April. After that announcement, today’s indictment came as a shock to DDT. Yesterday, DDT, in all capital letters, effusively praised the grand jury—and grand juries in general—for not being “a rubber stamp.” Today, he took the opposite tack in a diatribe available here. He “truthed” that he had been “indicated.” Under seal, the 30+ charges related to business fraud will be revealed in the next few days, and DDT’s lawyers said he will likely be arraigned next Tuesday. 

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida where DDT is a resident, said he will refuse any extradition request for DDT because of “questionable circumstances” because the charges are “un-American.” Specific charges have not yet been released although Republicans are making assumptions about them. DeSantis also called DA Alvin Bragg “this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor.” According to Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, no state can decline an extradition request from another state. Federal law also requires states to comply with other states’ extradition requests.

The indictment may not have the positive effects that the GOP claims. A majority of people, 57 percent, believe DDT should not be allowed to run for president if he is indicted. That percentage includes 55 percent of independents, and 23 percent of Republicans agree. A majority of people, 55 percent, call accusations against DDT “serious.” Sixty-one percent of people in the U.S. don’t want DDT to be elected president.  About 39 percent have a favorable opinion of DDT, down 3 points from a November poll putting him at 42 percent.

Top GOP Senators oppose DDT’s featuring the video of January 6 rioters’ choir at his Waco (TX) rally, rejecting the MAGA view that they were “peaceful.” Others said it was a bad political strategy when he wanted to make a comeback. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said, “People who violated the law should be prosecuted.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called the January 6 “one of the worst days in American history.” Of those who refused to criticize, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) used the standard response of “I didn’t see it.”  

Tuberville, whose political experience is coaching football, is personally holding up over 150 Pentagon nominees in an extortion to block leave and reimbursements for military members who need to travel for abortions. The Defense Department allows abortions in cases of rape, incest, and endangered health and life of the pregnant woman. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pointed out that the U.S. is facing “one of the most complex times” and Tuberville’s action—or inaction—“makes us far less ready than we need to be. Last week, Tuberville promised to keep the military from being “politicized.” [A “tuber” grows underground.]

A federal judge ordered former VP Mike Pence to testify to a DOJ grand jury about his conversations with DDT leading up to January 6, 2021. He can, however, decline to answer questions related to his own actions on January 6 when he acted as president of the Senate for the reading of the electoral votes. Pence can appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. He refused a subpoena to testify, claiming that he was a member of both Congress and the executive branch.

GOP legacy:

In Texas, a federal judge ruled that employers cannot be required to cover preventative health care services under the Affordable Care Act such as cancer screenings, statins for heart disease, HIV prevention medications, etc.  Over 150 million people are on employer-sponsored health plans. Six people and two Christian-owned businesses argued against coverage of HIV PrEP because it encourages “homosexual behavior.” Judge Reed O’Connor, appointed by George W. Bush, earlier ruled that the ACA was unconstitutional and should be struck down. Plaintiffs also plan to challenge the mandate for contraception.

In a 225-204 vote, House Republicans passed a broad “energy” bill supporting fossil fuels. Four Democrats—Henry Cuellar (TX), Vincente Gonzalez (TX), Marie Guesenkamp Perez (WA), and Jared Golden (ME)—voted in favor of the bill. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) accused Democrats voting against the bill of standing “with China and Russia” instead of “with the American energy worker.” Republican Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) voted against the bill. The Senate will likely not address the bill, and Biden has promised to veto the bill if it were passed.

The bill repeals parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, such as the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to boost clean energy and a fee imposed on oil and gas methane emissions. It also opposes the block on the Keystone XL pipeline, mandates more oil and gas lease sales, and creates difficulty for states to prevent construction of interstate pipelines. Other provisions overhaul rules for reviews in the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act for energy infrastructure from pipelines to clean energy projects and mines with a two-year deadline for major reviews and causing difficulties to stop projects.

The Congress has passed a bill ending the national Covid emergency. The original House bill would have lifted the declaration in February; the current one terminates the emergency when the bill is signed. Although he is opposed to the bill, Biden does not plan to veto it; he had already planned to wind down emergency status on May 11. The Senate 68-23 vote on the measure came after the House voted 229-197 in February, with 11 Democrats joining 218 Republicans in support. Hospitals may no longer screen patients for Covid off-campus, and Medicare Advantage plans are no long required to cover services at out-of-network facilities.

McCarthy’s promised anti-immigration bill hit another roadblock this week after Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) threatened to vote against the GOP plan for federal spending and debt ceiling limits if the House Republicans vote on immigration restrictions that he called “unchristian.”

While House Republicans are facing their constituents, Biden is providing them with individualized fact sheets for each state outlining how GOP suggestions negatively affect their public safety, public health, and other programs. In New York, GOP cuts reduce rail safety inspections, eliminate food assistance, and increase wait times for seniors apply for disability benefits. The information is based on the GOP-proposed 22 percent cuts across the board. Earlier this year, the approximately 40 members of the conservative Freedom Caucus proposed a cut of $131 billion while leaving defense spending at current levels.

McCarthy demanded President Joe Biden meet with him about the debt ceiling, but Biden said he needed to receive GOP budget first. House GOP factions don’t seem to be able to agree on a budget and are leaving for a two-week. Earlier this week, House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX) said they they were finalizing the budget proposals under McCarthy’s guidance. Asked about it, however, McCarthy said, “I don’t know what he’s talking about.” After the banking crisis, Arrington had said that banking instability “is the best time” to talk about votes on the debt ceiling that could destroy the U.S. financial status.

During a Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the capacity of the U.S. government to respond to and prop up failing financial markets was “decimated” by DDT’s cutbacks.

Polling shows that the majority of people in the U.S. agree with Republicans in cutting the budget—but not which cuts. Listing priorities, people actually want more government spending on domestic priorities: child care, Medicare, healthcare, help for the poor, infrastructure, education, etc. Of 16 categories, the majority wanted less spending in only one, foreign aid, and that area takes under one percent of the entire budget.

Biden does plan to veto a GOP resolution overturning Washington, D.C.’s major police accountability legislation if it passes. Earlier this year, Biden signed Republicans’ resolution blocking D.C.’s criminal code overhaul that was not supported by Mayor Muriel Bowser. In the current proposal, Biden does not agree with overturning “commonsense police reforms such as: banning chokeholds; limiting use of force and deadly force; requiring the timely release of body-worn camera footage; and requiring officer training on de-escalation and use of force.” Following Biden’s announcement, Republicans may not take a vote on the resolution.

Another train derailment early on March 30 caused the evacuation of 250 people in a small town 100 miles west of Minneapolis (MN). Of the 22 derailed cars, ten carried ethanol; ruptured cars caught on fire. Hazardous materials, including about two-thirds of all the ethanol produced nationwide, account for about 7 percent to 8 percent of the 30 million shipments delivered by rail every year. The BNSF rail company is owned by Warren Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate.

Checks on Twitter accounts will no longer indicate verification status, starting April Fool’s Day. Instead different colored checks will simply mean somebody paid for them: $8 per month ($11 for iPhone and iPad users) for blue and monthly $1,000 grey for governments and gold for companies and nonprofits. The announcement includes the statement that “we’re creating the most trusted place on the internet …”

Progress Post-January 6?

Yesterday’s blog post railed against the ignorance of the Fox network. It seems that at least one of the Supreme Court justices is using that ignorance to support his opposition to any mandates for COVID vaccinations. Neil Goruch said during the arguments—on the record—that the flu kills “hundreds, thousands of people every year.” His message is that COVID isn’t really a big deal. CDC reports that influenza kills between 12,000 and 52,000 annually. By the time, Gorsuch made that statement, COVID had officially killed over 850,000 people, 385,000 in 2020 and the remainder in 2021. This figure doesn’t count the deaths that coroners refused to acknowledge as being from COVID or didn’t pay for testing to determine the cause of the people who died. The Economist’s Supreme Court reporter Steven Mazie wrote that Goursuch actually laughed when the U.S. Solicitor General called the coronavirus pandemic “terrible.” The day before Gorsuch made that statement, 870,702 people became infected, and 2,056 people died of COVID–in the U.S. He was also the only justice present who didn’t wear a mask. 

The time of the January 6 anniversary, however, may show some optimism.

Headlines repeat that December added “only” 199,000 jobs, but the they skipped a couple of important—and positive—facts. First the unemployment dropped to a  new unemployment low of 3.9 percent from the 4.2 percent of November, almost to the 50-year-old of 3.5 percent of February 2020. The two jobs reports for October and November, a total of 766,000, were also revised upward by 141,000 jobs. The person in charge of figuring the initial number of new jobs is an appointment by Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) has consistently lowballed the numbers for headlines, perhaps to make President Joe Biden look bad, before quietly correcting them later. Biden’s first year averaged 537,000 new jobs per month, making it one of he best years for the labor market in U.S. history. Manufacturing also continues to grow.

Since Biden was inaugurated, an additional four million people have health insurance, and families who have coverage through the Affordable Care Act are saving an average of $2,400 in annual premiums. Eighty percent of ACA consumers are paying $10 a month for good coverage. Under DDT, the number of uninsured increased by seven million. [visual – health insurance Trump]

Justice has been accomplished in the killing of a young Black jogger in Georgia by three White men who chased him in pickups before fatally shooting the unarmed man. Three of them have been sentenced to life in prison, two of them without parole. All three wee convicted of felony murder or committing felonies causing Ahmaud Arbery’s death, and one of them was also convicted of malice murder, intent to kill. They were also convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony.

Originally seen as a citizens’ arrest, the murder of Ahmaud Arbery might have gone unpunished if not for the dogged research of a local journalist. The first DA to handle the case faces allegations of bias and instruction against arrest, rare charges. The three convicted killers also face hate-crime charges in a trial to begin next month. The federal indictment includes interference with Arbery’s rights and attempted kidnapping, alleging the defendants used “force and threats of force to intimidate and interfere with Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race.”

Cyber Ninjas, the Florida private company paid $5.6 million by Arizona’s state GOP Senate to count ballots for Maricopa County, faces sanctions of $50,000 a day until it turns over records that the Arizona Republic has requested. On January 6, a court found the firm in contempt of court because the Ninjas had continually refused to follow court orders. Cyber Ninjas has terminated its employees and plans to shut down.

Maricopa GOP officials has issued a 93-page report debunking all frivolous claims of voter fraud and a four-hour livestreamed rebuttal of 76 out of 77 accusations as mistaken, misleading, or completely false. The one claim not rejected involved 50 votes that may have been double-counted. GOP Senate President Karen Fann said Maricopa County finally admitted it had “erred.” The company’s examination of ballots revealed a few more votes for Biden and a few less for DDT. Doug Logan, the Ninjas’ chief executive, began his so-called audit with the false assertion that Arizona’s voting machines were rigged. Of the county’s 2.1 million votes, the ballot count found only 37 possible ballots among the 53,304 labeled suspect; the 37 were referred to the state attorney general.

Devin Nunes is no longer a member of the House of Representatives as he moves to become CEO of DDT’s new tech company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). The new minority leader of the House Intelligence Committee, Ohio’s Mike Turner, plans to move away from the past partisanship by being more independent of DDT. In 2019, Turner had signed a letter to oust Rep. Adam Schiff but no longer wishes to do so. Instead, Turner wants “to work across the aisle and to try to advance what’s important to our country.” 

Having been a dairy farmer, Nunes has no experience as either an executive or in the technology industry. TMTG plans to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a type of shell business raising money from investors to acquire a private start-up with strong growth prospects, being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Also being investigated by SEC is Arc Capital, the Chinese firm helping DDT take TMTG public. Federal securities regulators allege the firm misrepresents shell companies with no products and few products as ambitious, growing enterprises. Their office locations are usually PO boxes.

Founded in 2015, Arc helped create DWAC that raised over $1.2 billion to complete its merger with TMTG. If the deal is approved by shareholders and regulators, it can make DDT a great deal of month by turning TMTG into a public company overnight. DDT’s name pushed DWAC’s shares to five times the listing price despite no information about the business. Little information about TMTG has been released. A securities lawyer said it’s “a shell company basically merging with another shell company.” In 2017, the SEC topped three Arc-backed companies from publicly selling shares and suspended trading in a fourth Arc-financed business. Mexican entrepreneur Abraham Cinta, Arc’s founder, said U.S. securities regulators are looser in registering companies than those in China and Hong Kong, making it easier to take unproven companies public.  

DDT’s company will present “Truth Social” as a competitor to Twitter and partner with Rumble, a video-sharing site spreading anti-vaxxer and QAnon conspiracy theories for its video and streaming services. The Canadian tech company launched in 2013 saw its popularity skyrocket last year after support by DDT and others such as Dan Bongino. Financial backing comes from Silicon Valley’s Peter Thiel and Senate candidate JD Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy. Rumble’s channels are run by QAnon influencers banned by YouTube and Facebook.

Other DDT ventures have been investigated, including his charitable foundation, shut down by New York’s AG, and Trump University, closed with a $25 million settlement to former students. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is also checking into DWAC’s share trading.

 According to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has provided names in connection with the January 6 insurrection not previously known and “identified some minds of inquiry that had never occurred to me.” Grisham also said she and over a dozen other former DDT officials are meeting next week in an effort to “stop” DDT from destroying democracy and getting re-elected.

According to other reports, DDT laughed at members of Congress when they were relating the trauma of January 6, sometimes accusing them of faking their emotion for attention, and calling some of the police officers at the Capitol that day “pussies.” Grisham said DDT “was in the dining room [on January 6] gleefully watching on his TV as he often did. ‘Look at all of the people fighting for me.’ Hitting rewind, watching it again.”

Republican lawmakers said nothing happened to the Capitol on January 6 because they went back the next day and it looked fine. They ignored the hard work of maintenance people who cleaned the insurrectionists fecal matter off the walls, picked up the debris from destroyed objects, repaired the broken windows and doors, and more. And they weren’t the only ones. Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) not only posted a Twitter thread about his thoughts when he returned to the House chamber after the destruction but also knelt to pick up the glass and other debris. It wasn’t for a photo op, and many reporters passing him didn’t realize the man in the blue suit was a member of Congress. The photographer, AP’s Andrew Harnick, didn’t know Kim’s identity until Reps. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) told him.

An Historical Day for the Supreme Court, Congress

The Supreme Court “giveth and … taketh away.” In the giveth, seven justices preserved the Affordable Care Act for the third time by ruling Texas and the other plaintiffs lacked standing in California v. Texas. With no penalty for not having health insurance, no one filing the suit could claim “personal injury.” President Joe Biden lauded the decision: “It remains, as ever, a BFD.” Oddly enough, Clarence Thomas was not one of the dissenters, but Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch disagreed with the failure to rule on the law’s constitutionality. The lawsuit was brought in Texas with the selection of a “friendly” judge. Since DDT appointed 226 federal judges, the people who want to take health care from tens of millions of people have a bigger pool from which to pick. Yet even GOP party leaders still talk about the “failed” healthcare plan, but they have no alternatives and may not want to face a fourth loss.

The taketh away refers to the unanimous SCOTUS ruling in Fulton v. the City of Philadelphia that requires taxpayers to pay for discrimination against same-gender couples wanting to foster and adopt children. According to the decision, Philadelphia violates the constitution’s First Amendment by not sending foster children to Catholic Social Services, a religious organization refusing to certify same-gender couples as foster parents. This decision is in keeping with the shift from a half-century ago to protecting Christians. The change has been worsened by “Project Blitz,” the religious right flooding of state legislatures with “religious liberty laws” challenging the status quo through the Supreme Court. Targets include LGBTQ rights and women’s reproductive rights.

Without support from three progressive justices, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the group “does not seek to impose those beliefs on anyone else,” and he pointed out that the city’s non-discrimination ordinance does not apply to foster care. The city also allows unspecified exemptions to the ban on discrimination, giving the Catholic group permission to create their own exemptions “without compelling reason.”

Two lower courts ruled in favor of the city, using the Supreme Court’s 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith requiring any law infringing on religion to be neutral, not targeted at a specific religion, and equally applied to all. The narrow ruling failed to overturn Smith, much to the distress of Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas, making it a small win for “religious liberty” and a small loss (except for same-gender couples in Philadelphia) for the LGBTQ community because it sets no precedents. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that several justices don’t know what to do if Smith were overturned. A law expert said the win for Catholics was based on the city’s decision-making and not “an automatic right to discriminate.”

Congress passed a bill to make Juneteenth, celebrated for 155 years, a federal holiday on June 19, and Biden signed it earlier today at a White House ceremony. Biden invited Opal Lee (left), who he called “a daughter of Texas, grandmother of the movement to make Juneteenth a holiday,” to the signing and credited the 94-year-old woman’s organizing efforts. With Lee are VP Kamala Harris, the bill’s cosponsors, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Federal employees will have the day off tomorrow or receive time-and-a-half pay.  https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/558937-federal-government-to-observe-juneteenth-holiday-on-friday   Earlier known as Jubilee Day, Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of slaves on June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers made the announcement in Galveston (TX), the last place in the state to hear slavery’s abolishment after Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomatox two months earlier. A majority of the states ratified the 13^th Amendment abolishing slavery on December 6, 1865.

Although the Senate unanimously supported the bill after Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) removed his objection, 14 white men in the House voted in opposition to the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. The same people crying “cancel culture” and fighting against “critical race theory”—without the ability to define the concept—complained that one more federal holiday was too many, the name uses “independence” instead of emancipation, and honoring the end of the Civil War will “polarize” the country. GOP Rep. Matt Rosendale, Montana’s only representative because of its low population, called it “identity politics … to make critical race theory the reigning ideology of our country.” He said he voted no “since I believe in treating everyone equally.” A chief Senate sponsor of the bill, John Cornyn (R-TX), called the excuse “kooky.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) protested the bill was “creating a separate Independence Day based on the color of one’s skin.” Rep. Brenda Lawrence answered Roy:

 “I want to say to my white colleagues on the other side: Getting your independence from being enslaved in a country is different from a country getting independence to rule themselves.”

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) grumbled that the bill wasn’t passed in a “harmonious” fashion, that Democrats “weaponized” it. Under 3 percent of Congress objected to the bill, and 195 House Republicans voted in favor of it. https://www.theroot.com/tucker-carlson-guest-black-people-succeed-less-because-1847120979   On his show, Tucker Carlson pushed opposition to the holiday, including hosting Charles Murray, who promotes the falsehood that Whites have higher IQs than Blacks by a “dozen” points.  

Biden’s guest at the ceremony, Opal Lee, had a long and arduous journey to passing the bill. When she was 12, Whites burned her Black family’s home. After she retired from being a teacher and counselor, she became involved with the local Black historical and genealogical organization. At 89, Lee started an annual walking campaign in cities between her home in Fort Worth (TX) to Washington, D.C. to promote Juneteenth as a federal holiday. She walked 2.5 miles to represent the 2.5 years between Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and slaves learning they were free. Last September, she brought a petition signed by 1,500,000 people to Congress asking them to legislate a federal holiday. In February, she returned when a bill for the holiday was reintroduced. Tonight, Rachel Maddow’s segment on her show is tear-jerking, especially the scene where the president of the United States kneels before the chair where Lee sits during the White House ceremony.

South Dakota is the only state to not recognize Juneteenth as a holiday or have an official observance of the day, but four states—New York, Texas, Virginia, and Washington—declare it a paid holiday. The 12^th federal holiday, Juneteenth National Independence Day is the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983. Six states still combine King’s name with others such as Robert E. Lee, Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Equality.

Twenty years ago, Congress abdicated its constitutional control of the use of force to the president in the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) after the 9/11 attacks. The next year, Congress passed the second AUMF which George W. Bush used to attack Iran after invading Afghanistan with the 2001 AUMF. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) was the only member of Congress to oppose the 2001 law. In 2002, she was joined in dissent by 132 representatives and 23 senators. Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) used the 2002 AUMF to justify his airstrike against an Iranian target in Iran.

Lee has repeatedly sponsored measures to repeal both war power bills, thus returning authorization to Congress.  In March 2020, Congress passed a resolution to limit the president’s authority for initiating military action against Iran without congressional approval, but it didn’t repeal the AUMF. The GOP-controlled Senate passed the resolution by 55-45, indicating some GOP support for a repeal.

The House has now passed a bill to repeal the 2002 AUMF by 268 votes, 49 of them Republicans. Perhaps a majority of Congressional members have reached the breaking point in facing non-stop warfare by the United States.

Crazy for the day: According to a new report, about one-third of election workers feel unsafe because of conservative threats, but conservatives are turning on each other. For example, Florida’s competition for a U.S. representative is heating up. A candidate for one of the state’s most competitive seats was secretly recorded when he told an activist he could make his opponent Anna Paulina Luna “disappear” with “a hit squad…, Ukrainians and Russians.” Politico obtained a recording of the 30-minute call when William Braddock warned the activist not to support Luna in the GOP primary. Braddock said he was paying $20,000 for polling before the primary, and “she’s gonna be gone” if the poll makes her the winner. “For the good of our country, we have to sacrifice the few.” Asked about Luna’s win, Braddock said his “hit squad” would send him “pictures of her disappearing” in 24 hours. “No, I’m not joking,” he finished. The activist called the police and Luna, who took out a temporary restraining order against Braddock. He said he may sue the activist. Pro-DDT Luna has been endorsed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Braddock sounds crazier than she does.

Question: If GOP legislators like Reps. Matt Gaetz (FL), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), and Louie Gohmert (TX) believe Tucker Carlson’s claim that FBI agents are behind the January 6 insurrection, why don’t they want an independent commission to find the answers?

Mass Shootings Cover Up Good News from Biden Administration

The focus of the news for the past week has been mass shootings—first the eight in Georgia primarily of Asian-American women and then another ten people killed at a grocery store/pharmacy in Boulder (CA). In these seven days, however, were five other mass shootings, defined as one with four or more wounded or dead casualties, in the U.S.: March 17, Stockton (CA) – five people preparing a vigil shot in a drive-by shooting with no life-threatening injuries; March 18, (Gresham (OR) – four victims taken to the hospital; March 20, Houston (TX) – five people shot inside a club, one in critical condition; and March 20, Philadelphia – one person killed and five injured at an illegal party where 150 people fled for their lives. The U.S. keeps no centralized system or database for firearm victims and mass shootings so no one knows whether an average daily mass shootings is typical. In 2019, almost 40,000 people were killed in firearm-related events.

A county judge revoked a ban on assault-style weapons in Boulder only ten days before ten people were killed, and the perpetrator bought his gun only six days earlier. As usual, Republicans opposed even the most popular remedies such as universal background checks, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced the Democrats are to blame for the shootings because they want control to prevent them. 

White supremacists and the extreme right, DDT’s base of voters, celebrated the Georgia mass shooting, including the murder of six Asian-American women, with posts dehumanizing people of Asian descent and praising the killer. Posts on a neo-Nazi Telegram site advocated for violence against Asian Americans, calling the murders “always a good thing.” A Proud Boys media group ridiculed protests against anti-Asian violence and promoted anti-Asian racism. Users of the main 8chan/pol successor forum also praised the attack, one person hoping the violence would force non-Whites to leave Europe and the U.S. A white supremacist strategy spreads footage of violence against people of Asian descent to brainwash Whites, “especially the youth.” White supremacists also celebrated the second anniversary of the March 15 Christchurch terrorist attack by posting the video of the attack, praises of the 51 murders in mosques, and calls for violence against Muslims.  

Georgia’s GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had no statement on the mass shooting in her state. Earlier, she had verbally attacked David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland (FL) school shooting killed 17 people and wounding another 17 people for his gun control activism. Greene had also said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) deserves “a bullet to the head.” Colorado’s GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, who produced a video advertisement with a gunshot at the end, sent prayers in a fundraising email two hours after the killings that encourages people to “tell Joe Biden … HELL NO” to gun control. 

Anyone who believes Boebert’s lie about her reason for carrying a gun needs the true story. She claims a man was beat to death outside her restaurant “by another man’s hands,” and she needs to carry a gun “to protect everyone.” The truth: a man involved in a fight with another man with a prosthetic leg ran from the scene, three blocks away from Boebert’s restaurant. A teenager helped the second man get his leg back, and the second man said the fight was about a woman. The first man ran several blocks away and was discovered after his fall with a glass pipe containing methamphetamine residue. Police saw no blood or other evidence of any deadly fight, and the autopsy report gave “methamphetamine intoxication” as the reason for death.

The news of the two worst mass shootings of the week concealed good news coming out of the White House:

The Affordable Care Act special enrollment period is extended to August 15, 2021, allowing people use the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) with benefits such as the decrease of premiums after advance payment of increased tax credits up to $50 per person per month and $85 per policy per month. Four of five enrollees (up from 69 percent pre-ARPA) can find a plan for $10 or less per month after tax, and over 50 percent (up from 14 percent pre-ARPA) can find a Silver plan for $10 or less per month. One-fourth of ACA enrollees can pay the same or less than formerly to get better out-of-pocket costs. Consumers can use increased premium tax credits on high quality health care plans by enrolling through HealthCare.gov.

President Joe Biden reversed a policy by Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) by cancelling about $1 billion in student debt for those defrauded by their colleges. The loan forgiveness to 73,000 people eligible for this relief was reduced by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who gave only part forgiveness by changing the cancellation calculation. DeVos had also postponed over 200,000 borrower defense claims for four years by refusing to allow those in debt to hear whether they were eligible for relief.

Biden’s new Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, also granted Puerto Rico immediate access to $912 million in federal funds made unavailable to students in public and private schools by DDT’s restrictions. Funds included $302 million provided by the CARES Act a year ago for COVID-19 relief; other aid came from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund. All fiscal year 2019 department program grant funds withheld by DDT totaled $522 million. Puerto Rican schools are now beginning to open.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is withdrawing DDT’s rule barring graduate students from joining a union: DDT had declared these students were not employees even if they were paid for teaching or research. DDT’s regulation took collective bargaining rights from 57,500 unionized graduate students and prevented another 1.5 million graduates from unionizing. In 2000, the NLRB gave graduate students at private universities the right to unionize and then reversed the decision in 2004. Twelve years later, the Board ruled graduate students were employees under the National Labor Relations Act and could thus join unions after students from Columbia University petitioned the NLRB. Graduate students can make as little as $20,000 a year, giving their employers the impression they aren’t workers.

In an ongoing GOP attempt to smear Biden, Republicans are running a campaign pushing the recent immigrant “border crisis” as his personal disaster. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) went so far as to say that the reason behind the attempts to migrants to cross the border comes from the current administration’s decision to treat them “humanely.” Conservative Bill Kristol begs to differ: he describes the situation as a recurring problem made worse by DDT. The history of these surges shows decades-old issues, and Biden inherited DDT’s huge mess after DDT dismantled the asylum system. 

A combination of John Oliver’s piece on Last Week Tonight and the murder of Asian-American women may have awakened Meghan McCain, daughter of deceased Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), to the understanding that words matter. After Oliver’s segment on the vast increase on the abuse of Asian Americans, McCain, often delivering her opinions on The View, apologized for repeating DDT’s racist rhetoric about the coronavirus’ relationship to Chinese people while he refused to contain the pandemic in the U.S.  McCain had said that DDT’s reference to “the China virus” was a clever strategy to win votes. When McCain tweeted last week about ending anti-Asian violence, Oliver clearly pointed out her hypocrisy. On his show, Oliver said:

“Oh good! Meghan McCain doesn’t have a problem with it. Listen, not to the scores of Asian Americans telling everyone that the term is dangerous and offensive. Instead, gather around and take the word of a white woman who’s dressed like she’s about to lay off 47 people over Zoom.”

In response, McCain said:

“I condemn the reprehensible violence and vitriol that has been targeted towards the Asian-American community. There is no doubt Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric fueled many of these attacks, and I apologize for any past comments that aided that agenda.”

The U.S. intelligence community has released a report that the U.S. election infrastructure in 2020 stayed secure despite Russian President Vladimir Putin promotion of DDT and Iran’s work to denigrate DDT. The U.S. has no evidence that any foreign actor tried to change any voting technology, “including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.” Intelligence did discover Putin’s authorization to “influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US.” These included lies to undercut Biden.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has asked new AG Merrick Garland to examine how thoroughly DDT’s FBI looked into Brett Kavanaugh for a background check before Republicans confirmed him for the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault and several other misconduct allegations, but the four-day investigation was extremely incomplete. One concern was that witnesses wanting to share the accounts were rejected by the FBI, which had not assigned anyone to accept or gather evidence. Whitehouse also said senators were not given any information about processing or evaluating allegations on a “tip line.” In addition, DDT’s FBI Director Christopher Wray would not answer questions about the investigation.

And there’s more good news! Stay tuned in the next few days.

Barrett: Polar Opposite of RBG, Part I

This week Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) and the GOP Senators continued the process of packing the Supreme Court by trying to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, confirmed for the 7^th Circuit Court in 2017 by a vote of 55-43. She has achieved even more notoriety than thought possible after DDT’s event at the White House to make the appointment is now called either the “super-spreader” or “The Rose Garden Massacre” for its vastly increase in White House COVID-19 cases.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-CA), who appeared to the hearing in person despite his refusal to be tested for COVID-19, opened yesterday’s session by saying the hearing is “to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.” He views the committee’s vote as a done deal, not even pretending the hearing’s purpose is to consider the nomination.

The biggest disappointment among GOP senators was no Democratic mention of religion. GOP senators were ready for that topic but nothing else. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was so desperate to attack his Democratic colleagues for anti-Catholic bigotry he leaped on a comment from Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) about Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 Supreme Court decision permitting married couples to buy and use contraception. Coons, a Catholic, said nothing about Barrett’s religion. No Republican attacked Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) in 2017 when he asked Barrett about Griswold during her earlier confirmation hearing. She said she hadn’t thought about the case because she wasn’t born in 1965, and Kennedy responded:

“Okay. I am going to move on. I get it. I do not agree with the position you are taking where you will not talk to me about the law, but if that is what you are going to want to do, that is your call. It is America. It is a free country.”

Just three weeks before Election Day, Republicans aren’t at all bothered about Barrett’s ignorance regarding a major case for women’s reproductive rights. Asked about it again today, she again professed ignorance about the case.

Much of the GOP fear comes from exposure regarding Barrett’s membership in a fringe religious group called People of Praise, population 1,700. Colin Kalmbacher describes the group as “a right-wing ecumenical group centered on an amalgamation of Catholic scripture and charismatic practice with a male-dominated hierarchy that has been characterized as cult-like.” Like other Pentecostal groups, People of Praise members speak in tongues. Barrett’s history indicates she could be the farthest-right justice in a field of far-right high court members.

Barrett used what she called “the Ginsburg Rule” in refuse answers on vital issues—“no hints, no previews, no forecasts”—but the former Supreme Court justice did offer substantive views about some contentious topics, for example abortion. In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg affirmed Roe v. Wade and said at her confirmation hearing:

“The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When Government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.”  

Barrett refused to answer if she agreed with her mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided. Barrett’s history, however, has left a trail of her opinions on issues of immediate concern. Several of these had been left off her questionnaire until the media uncovered them, with the possibility of trying to cover them up.

Anti-abortion:

• Member of founding group of University of Faculty for Life at Notre Dame: voted “for a letter calling on the university to rescind an award given to then-Vice President Biden because of his beliefs on abortion”; promoted a South Bend (IN) crisis pregnancy center, a clinic misleading women seek abortions and pressuring them to continue their pregnancies with advertising pretending to help women get abortions.  
• Signature on a 2006 anti-abortion advertisement demanding “an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe vs Wade.”  
• Supporter of St. Joseph County Right to Life which believes life begins at fertilization, wants to criminalize the discarding of unused embryos created for the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process, and believes doctors who perform abortions should be charged as criminals.
• Teaching anti-abortion groups at Notre Dame: lecture and seminar in 2013; talk on Roe v. Wade now “lost” by the university. 
• Participation in dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Box (2019) about rehearing a case blocking an anti-abortion law before it took effect with the conclusion she would not block the anti-abortion law.

Anti-LGBTQ rights:  

• Defense of the dissenters to Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case legalizing marriage equality in a lecture at Jacksonville University and calls transgender women “physiological males.”
• Signature of letter in 2015 including her belief about “marriage and family founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman.”
• Recommendation of lawmakers’ review of Title IX rights for transgender people because “this kind of transgender bathroom access … does seem to strain the text of the statute to say that Title IX demands it.”
• Devoted follower of late Justice Antonin Scalia’s approach who ruled against LGBTQ rights, including the overturned Texas sodomy.  
• Board member of private school enacting a policy prohibiting students with unmarried parents, that includes same-gender couples at the time.
• Hearing testimony: use of term “sexual preference” indicating it is a choice, and her experience with an anti-LGBTQ groups was “wonderful” including her links with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) supporting criminalization of consensual sex between LGBTQ adults. (She said she wasn’t aware of ADF’s attempts to criminalize LGBTQ people or repeal marriage equality, cited on its website.)

Voting/Gun Ownership Rights:

• Past dissent opinion (Kanter v. Barr) that states can ban felons from voting but cannot ban them from owning a firearm. Barrett argued for restricting participation in political rights to people not deemed “virtuous.”  

Affordable Care Act (ACA):  

• Author of academic article in 2017 criticizing Chief Justice John Roberts who wrote the majority opinion upholding the ACA.
• Signature on petition protesting the ACA’s coverage of contraception.  
• Denial that a majority opinion in the current Supreme Court case to erase the ACA would also erase pre-existing conditions.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) angered Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) by tying him to the Senate’s rushing to put Barrett on the high court before hearing arguments to strike down the ACA on November 10.

“The district judge in Texas who struck down the ACA in the case now headed for the court is a former aide to the senator, who has become what the Texas Tribune calls the favorite for Texas Republicans seeking big judicial wins like torpedoing the ACA. The senior senator from Texas introduced in committee the circuit court judge who wrote the decision on appeal striking down the ACA.

“Sen. Cornyn has filed brief after brief arguing for striking down the ACA. He led the failed Senate charge to repeal the ACA in 2017. He has said ‘I’ve introduced and cosponsored 27 bills to repeal or defund Obamacare and I’ve voted to do so at every opportunity.'”

Republicans have tried to convince the public for two days of hearings Barrett wouldn’t dream of taking away their health care. Tuesday morning, Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) punctured that myth in his introduction, “All of you want to impose Obamacare in South Carolina — we don’t want it. We want South Carolina-care, not Obamacare.” He claimed the ACA was “a disaster for the state of South Carolina” and expressed outrage South Carolina got less money than some other states. He concluded that the issue “has got nothing to do with this hearing.”

The uninsured rate in Graham’s state dropped by more than one-third within the first three years of ACA. Eliminating ACA would uninsure hundreds of thousands in his state, and many more would lose current benefits and protections. Other states get more money because South Carolina refuses to take the Medicaid expansion which would insure more low-income families.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) claimed “no one” seriously expects the Supreme Court to tear down the ACA. Two weeks ago, DDT demanded that would happen. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said at the hearing that Barrett would tear down the ACA because, as a mother of seven children, she understands the importance of health care. Her mentor, who had nine children, voted twice to destroy healthcare. Republicans voted 70 times to eradicate, and they surely had hundreds of children.

Nebraska’s Sen. Ben Sasse also didn’t do his homework. Accusing Democrats of using the ACA only for political purposes, he claimed that changing jobs is the Number One reason for being uninsured. Of uninsured nonelderly adults, 45 percent stated they were uninsured because the cost is too high, and another 13 percent said they had lost their Medicaid. Only 21 percent listed losing jobs or changing employees as a reason.  

With DDT’s case going to the Supreme Court on November 10, 57 percent disapprove.

Republicans know how unpopular their positions are. Only one-third of the people want to overturn Roe v. Wade, and over 60 percent favor marriage equality. To deflect the Democrats’ questions, GOP senators talk about Barrett’s darling family, her motherhood, and her impressive résumé. With them, however, the basic issue is getting her vote to put DDT back into the Oval Office and destroy conditions for workers. More later!

DDT Runs against Democracy for His Reelection

Because Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) has no accomplishments during his first term to use in campaigning, his only reelection strategy has been to run against the election and impede democracy in the voting process. Republicans began a decade ago by placing draconian restrictions on voters through photo IDs, loss of early voting, elimination of polling places in places with minority voters—even refusal of Sunday voting to prevent black churches to take buses of people to the polls. DDT laid the foundation for the current voting crisis by packing the courts with his radical right followers who perceive the law as far-right Republicans and not obeying the U.S. Constitution.

As Joe Biden rose in the polling and DDT dropped, DDT used his rallies to create an election “emergency,” first through casting doubt on the credibility of mail-in voting and then by slowing down the postal service. Once voting started, DDT’s supporters, reinforced by his refusal to condemn violence from the radical right, intimidated people standing in line to vote. Thanks to DDT, only the Republicans threaten violence, tell others to bring guns to the polls, support law enforcement action for only the radical right—all tactics by the racists in the last century.

DDT and his government loyalists report, without evidence, dirt on opponents and use unsubstantiated personal attacks on them while they compare public health policy to slavery and force federal scientists to reverse public health guidance. To please DDT, agency directors suppress information about Russian interference in the election, support violent radical right members who attack and kill peaceful protesters, and encourage further violence if people protest killings of Blacks who have minor infractions of the law—if any. DDT’s “GREAT PATRIOTS” are those who create chaos to make demonstrators look violent. Any GOP officeholders who dare to disagree with DDT are threatened with retribution at the polling place.

This past week, DDT has moved higher on the scale of being dictator when he talked about a transition of administrations after the election:

“Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful—there won’t be a transfer frankly. There’ll be a continuation.”

Fewer than six weeks before the election, Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) is telling the world he plans a coup to stay in the White House, even if voters award Joe Biden an Electoral College majority, and the steps DDT will take to accomplish it. Cautious, even conservative, publications are writing about his strategy. In The Atlantic, Barton Gellman details the evidence about DDT’s army of lawyers and activists planning every shyster legal maneuver ever considered. Before that, Amanda Marcotte (Salon) described DDT’s scheming, and Slate released another piece by political scientist Richard L. Hasen about DDT’s system in destroying democracy. Nate Silver in fivethirtyeight.com saw a possible coup as ridiculous just hours before DDT said, “Get rid of the ballots.” Silver changed his mind, tweeting, “OK this is real bad tho.”

Ratcheting up the lies about the upcoming election, DDT talked about an ongoing investigation into discarded ballots after AG Bill Barr briefed him about a situation in Pennsylvania. DDT first said “six,” and then followed it by “eight.” Forced into revealing information by DDT’s statements, a U.S. attorney in Pennsylvania reported the discovery of nine ballots in a dumpster cast for DDT but later changed to seven with the other two resealed into the original envelopes. In a press release from the attorney’s office:

“Our investigation has revealed that all or nearly all envelopes received in the elections office were opened as a matter of course. It was explained to investigators the envelopes used for official overseas, military, absentee and mail-in ballot requests are so similar, that the staff believed that adhering to the protocol of preserving envelopes unopened would cause them to miss such ballot requests.”

DDT’s campaign won its suit in Pennsylvania to discard any ballots not enclosed in two separate envelopes, a secrecy envelope within the mailing envelope. Ballots may have been discarded after the ruling in favor of DDT’s campaign to exclude these “naked” ballots. DDT’s campaign falsely tweeted, “Democrats are trying to steal the election.” A temporary independent contractor worker had thrown away the ballots, and all the garbage during her three days working for the county was searched. The county where the ballots were allegedly found wet for DDT by 20 points in 2016.

In order to guarantee the Supreme Court would select DDT to stay in the Oval Office for the next four years, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reneged on his 2016 and 2018 promised to be ethical about not replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court after his “rationale” about not allowing President Obama a chance to put Merrick Garland on the high court. Now he doesn’t understand why his opponent, Jamie Harrison, would receive $100 million in donations when Graham spent only $13 million in his 2014 reelection campaign. Graham whined to Fox network’s Ainsley Earhardt, “This money is because they hate my guts.” The latest poll puts the two candidates at 48 percent each. “I want you to use my own words against me,” Graham said in 2018, and people are following that wish.

In another anti-democratic statement, Graham told Fox network the courts, not the voting public, will decide the presidential election.

“I promise you as a Republican, if the Supreme Court decides that Joe Biden wins, I will accept the result.”

After the debacle about selecting a new Supreme Court justice, people also know that his “promises” are worthless.

Despite some states permitting mail-in-ballots up to 19 days after Election Day, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced legislation requiring every state to report its final results “within 24 hours after polls close on Election Day.” Yet Electoral College members don’t meet until the Monday after the second Wednesday of December; in 2020, the date is December 16—almost six weeks after the election. According to law, the federal government does not oversee elections; they are conducted and certified by local officials according to state law. Scott wrote he wants all states to be consistent, but he shows no concern for laws regarding absentee voting restrictions, photo IDs, etc.

Worried about unfair election procedures within the state, authors of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress permission to “make or alter” state regulations, but the Election Clause (Article I, Section 4) was never intended to create unfair election procedures. The Elections Clause confers power to regulate congressional elections on the “Legislature” of each state, meaning both government and public referendum.

In one more desperate campaign scam, DDT signed an executive order describing his healthcare “plan” after announcing he would do it since his last campaign. About the Affordable Care Act (ACA), he said:

“I’m in court to terminate this really, really terrible situation. If we win, we will have a better and less expensive plan that will always protect individuals with preexisting conditions. If we lose, what we have now is better than the original — the original version of Obamacare, by far. Much better. Much better. Again, we will always protect patients with preexisting conditions.”

DDT was right about one thing: it might be “less expensive.” It won’t be “better,” and it won’t “always protect individuals with preexisting conditions.” Effects of DDT’s “winning” the lawsuit to destroy the ACA will take 20 million people off coverage, increase charges for millions more by removing subsidies for affordable coverage, cost people on Medicare far more by returning its “doughnut hole” in prescriptions, lose insurance for young people who stay on their parents’ insurance, and—vital in the time when COVID-19 is considered a preexisting condition—eradicate protections for people with preexisting conditions. Back to health insurance will be the lifetime cap of payments by insurance companies and permission for them to use much less of the premiums for health care costs and quality improvement activities. More profit for companies and less health care for people.

Yet with all these losses in healthcare for people, DDT’s “plan” has no specifics. Like his rally speeches, he claims it is fantastic before he states it will lower costs and expand access. Paul Waldman compared the order to DDT’s real estate secrets revealed when people give a fortune to enroll at Trump University so that they can learn how to be a billionaire: Step One: Become a billionaire.”

The policy states:

“Sec. 2. Policy. It has been and will continue to be the policy of the United States to give Americans seeking healthcare more choice, lower costs, and better care and to ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions can obtain the insurance of their choice at affordable rates.”

If that’s true, DDT doesn’t need to make changes. 

The full executive order is here.

In addition, DDT promised the government will send cards to all 33 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries for $200 in prescription drug discounts. The $200 won’t cover the loss of cheaper insurance premiums with guaranteed preexisting conditions and no lifetime cap on payments. Last week, he tried to scam the drug industry out of sending these “Trump cards.” They refused, and the deal for cheaper drugs collapsed. Now he’s taking $6.6 billion out of Medicare for a reelection strategy. The Obama/Biden administration lengthened Medicare for a decade; DDT already shortened it by four years.

 

COVID-19 Hits the News After Massive Increases in Infections

Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) has doggedly avoided the COVID-19 disaster while the pandemic worsens, especially in the United States. On June 24, the U.S. reportedly had its highest number of new infections—45,557 cases—which brings the total number in the nation to almost 2.5 million. The high daily count of over 9,000 more than the second highest number—25 percent more—was traced to southern and western states’ reopening businesses for Memorial Day.

By contrast, the Northeast demonstrated significant decreases in cases using social distancing and mask wearing. To keep the number of infections down, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut require 14-day quarantines for travelers from eight states having spikes in their COVID-19 numbers. DDT plans to violate the new ruling when he goes to his Bedminster golf club this weekend after having gone to Arizona, one of the travel advisory states, earlier this week, where he also violated a city ordinance by not wearing a mask. He claims that he’s “not a civilian.” Only New York will punish violators, specifically with fines beginning at $2,000. The quarantine also applies travelers from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Texas.

In northern Phoenix (AZ), Dream City megachurch, where DDT gave a speech to an audience of 3,000 seated closely together mostly without masks, bragged about the installation of a product killing “99.9% of COVID within 10 minutes. Created by some church members, the technology used bogus advertising: the analysis was on Coronavirus 229E—responsible for the common cold—in empty rooms, not with crowds of 3,000 in proximity shown in this photo. Dr. Philip Tierno, clinical professor of pathology at New York University, responded to the church’s claim:

“You will ABSOLUTELY NOT BE SAFE AND PROTECTED. When you are dealing with hundreds or thousands of people in an AUDITORIUM, some of whom will carry the virus you WILL NOT BE absolutely PROTECTED.”

Evangelical religion is still killing people, and Billy Graham’s son Franklin Graham is promoting these deaths. In an attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci, leading expert on COVID-19 in the U.S., Graham said,

“Science isn’t truth. God is.”

Thanks to DDT, the COVID-19 crisis is so horrific in the U.S. that Europe is considering a travel ban from the U.S. this summer because it “has failed to control the scourge” along with visitors from Russia and Brazil.

DDT’s definition of “zero” seems to be 16,600, the number of ventilators “on the shelves” when he was inaugurated. Although DDT also complained how ventilators were obsolete, they couldn’t be used for the epidemic because DDT didn’t pay for their upkeep. Even VP Mike Pence wrote last week that the stockpile had 10,000 ventilators on hand.

States with high spikes are suffering from overwhelming hospital use. Florida, with the worst spike per capita, has only 21 percent for adult intensive care units, and only 12 percent of Arizona’s ICU beds are available.

According to CDC Director Robert Redfield, the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is probably ten times higher than those reported. He added that the recent surge in the South and West is driven by young people. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has promoted the re-opening of his state, announced a pause in the process and suspended elective surgeries in four counties.

Sick workers can’t stay home because 40 percent of essential workers—69.4 million people—aren’t covered by the congressional paid sick leave law passed in March. The number includes 17.7 million healthcare workers. One-third of these healthcare workers are people of color, and 75 percent are women. Thus far, 40 percent of all COVID-19 related deaths—over 50,000—are nursing home residents and workers.

Larry Kudlow is still spreading misinformation by saying he doesn’t expect a second wave of the virus. People “just have to live with” the new hot spots across the country, he said. The day before, virus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci testified that the U.S. is still in the first wave and used the term “disturbing surge” for new cases in states such as Arizona, Florida, and Texas.

Meanwhile, DDT is still pushing the myth that the numbers increased because of “GREAT TESTING,” a theme at his Tulsa rally where he said he told his people to “slow down the testing.” Despite Republicans’ attempt to protect him by saying it was a joke, DDT said it wasn’t. He held up the $14 billion Congress allotted for testing three months ago and removed support from 13 testing sites in five states, including seven sites in Texas. Dr. Anthony Fauci also said the federal government abruptly canceled funding to important research on bat coronaviruses by the National Institutes of Health. The project collaborates with a virologist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In opposition to conspiracy theorists, scientists claim that the WIV is not the source of COVID-19.

Expert statistician Nate Silver tweeted the positive percentage of infections from testing went up to 5.3 percent on June 21, up from 4.4 percent a week earlier on June 14. Even GOP senators think that more testing is important.

Creative scammers are endangering the health of people in the U.S. For example, a Silicon investor and his business partner hired workers to take Chinese KN95 masks from packages labeled “MEDICAL USE PROHIBITED” and put them into packages without the warning which were then sold to Texas. Masks filter as little as 39 percent of particles, and China was blamed for sending faulty products. Details of the scam are here.

DDT’s determination to expand COVID-19 in Tulsa has been a success. Despite six DDT campaign staffers infected with COVID-19 pulled from attending the rally, another two infected people were in attendance. Now, dozens of Secret Service officers (the ones who DDT calls “SS) are in self-quarantine because of exposure. Two Secret Service agents were among the first six discovered with the virus among the advance staff and ordered to stay away. The day before their diagnosis, they met with dozens of other staff, and another two campaign staffers tested positive. When campaign spokesman said “no COVID-positive staffers or anyone in immediate contact will be at today’s rally or near attendees and elected officials,” he evidently didn’t consider a meeting to be “immediate contact.” Yesterday, four days after DDT’ campaign rally, Tulsa had a new record number of new infections. With no evidence, the city’s GOP mayor said the 259 newly infected people got it from “people going to weddings and funerals and family gatherings and bars and other things like that, that are causing this uptick.” Another week will provide more information.  

In a devastating turn of events for the unemployed and those on furlough, insurance companies don’t have to pay for COVID-19 test required to return to their jobs. DDT signed the Families first Coronavirus Response Act in March which mandates insurers and employer-provide plans cover “Covid-19 testing and related services without cost-sharing.” In April, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stated employers are legally permitted to force employees to take Covid-19 viral tests to determine whether it is safe for them to return to the workplace. The administration’s guidance, however, maintains that the law covers only “medically appropriate” coronavirus screenings, not tests “conducted to screen for general workplace health and safety (such as employee ‘return to work’ programs).” Several states, including New York and New Jersey, require the hot spots of nursing homes to test employees, but these places tried to bill insurance companies because they couldn’t pay for the costs. Some insurance companies refuse.

Last night, DD’s administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act in an effort to leave more people without insurance. It’s another attempt to destroy health care during a surging pandemic.

For a second day, COVID-19 surged across the U.S. to 40,184 new coronavirus infections and a spike of 2,500 deaths. Texas, Alabama, Missouri and Nevada reported daily highs.

Sixty percent of Jacksonville (FL) residents don’t want DDT to bring the GOP convention there in late August, and 61 percent, including a majority of Republicans, believe that doing this will cause a new coronavirus outbreak. A newer poll from the University of North Florida surveying Duval County voters upped the concern to 71 percent who are “very or somewhat concerned” the convention would result in COVID-19 transmission.

Two months ago, VP Mike Pence, then head of the coronavirus task force, predicted that the epidemic will be “largely past” by Memorial Day weekend. It isn’t. Pence will lead the first press briefing in almost two months tomorrow afternoon at HHS. With the November election looming, DDT wants to distance himself as much as possible with his failure in managing the epidemic.

June 25: number of COVID-19 cases – 2,504,588; number of COVID-19 deaths – 126,780. Or more.