The Wisconsin GOP's treasurer asked people attending an anti-lockdown rally to 'please leave Confederate flags' and guns at home to 'try to control the optics'

Sonam Sheth Apr 23, 2020, 12:41 PM


A Wisconsin GOP official begged people organizing and attending an anti-lockdown rally in Madison this week not to bring Confederate flags and firearms to the event.

"Ok folks, I implore you, please leave Confederate flags and/or AR15s, AK47s, or any other long guns at home," Brian Westrate wrote in a private Facebook group, The New York Times reported.

Westrate added: "I well understand the Confederacy was more about states rights than slavery. But that does not change the truth of how we should try to control the optics during the event."

Several similar protests, many of which have featured Confederate flags, pro-Trump gear, and assault rifles, have popped up in other states as conservatives and those on the far right decry stay-at-home orders as an attack on their civil liberties.

[ SO! THIS IS WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO! TRUMP URGED VOTERS TO RISK LIVES AT RALLIES HE WON'T ATTEND! TRUMP URGED SUPPORTERS TO "LIBERATE" STATES! I GUESS SOME PROTESTERS TOOK HIM AT HIS WORD! THEY SHOWED UP WITH AR15'S & AK47'S! TRUMP IS THE MOST DANGEROUS PRESIDENT WE'VE EVER HAD. ]

https://www.businessinsider.com/wiscons ... ome-2020-4

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HHS chief Alex Azar chose a former labradoodle breeder with minimal public health experience to lead the department's coronavirus response

Mia Jankowicz Apr 23, 2020, 6:10 AM

Brian Harrison, who was picked as a senior lead on the Health and Human Services (HHS) coronavirus task force, is a former labradoodle breeder with minimal public health experience, according to Reuters.

He ran Dallas Labradoodles between 2012-2018 before joining the Trump administration as the HHS deputy chief of staff under director Alex Azar, Reuters said.

He was then promoted to chief of staff after a year and a half at the department, according to a HHS statement emailed to Business Insider.

Harrison previously worked for Azar at HHS for a year in 2006 as an assistant, and has also handled a healthcare portfolio for a PR firm, according to his HHS biography.

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Health and Human Services (HHS) director Alex Azar elevated a former labradoodle breeder to lead the department's day-to-day response to the coronavirus, according to Reuters, despite his minimal experience.

Brian Harrison, who is chief of staff at the HHS, was made a key manager on the task force led by Azar in January 2020. "Everyone had to report up through him," one unnamed HHS official told Reuters.

The HHS task force coordinates the coronavirus response of numerous agencies, including bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Harrison, 37, had little significant public health experience or education at the time he was appointed, Reuters reported.

https://www.businessinsider.com/labrado ... der-2020-4

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Fox didn’t immediately challenge Trump’s disinfectant remark

By DAVID BAUDER 2 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s suggestion that doctors look into injecting disinfectant as a potential coronavirus treatment went unchallenged on Fox News Channel until the morning after he made it.

Trump said during Thursday’s briefing that “it would be interesting to check” if an injection of disinfectants could help. That prompted the makers of Lysol to warn consumers about the danger of ingesting or injecting the cleaning product into their bodies.

Trump said Friday that he was being sarcastic.

Meanwhile, The New York Times on Friday deleted a tweet that implied only “some experts” viewed it as dangerous, saying “to be clear, there is no debate on the danger.”

Fox’s response drew scrutiny because the most-watched cable news network is also the overwhelming favorite of Trump supporters. Like Trump, several Fox personalities promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment, and backed off when questions were raised about the drug’s safety and effectiveness.

A Fox News representative provided examples of the network’s Friday coverage but had no additional comment when contacted by The Associated Press on Friday.

But on Friday, Trump drew more critical response on Fox, with both Bret Baier and John Roberts openly questioning the president’s suggestion that he was being sarcastic.

Fox aired Trump’s briefing live on Thursday, with an onscreen chryon reading at one point, “Trump proposes ‘disinfection’ injection.”

The suggestion wasn’t brought up immediately after the briefing ended, and none of Fox’s prime-time stars — Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham — discussed in on their shows. It was given non-critical or no attention on other programming.

The next day, the tone had changed.

During a “Fox & Friends” interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz on Friday morning, anchor Steve Doocy said that “some people online have made a big deal out of the president saying they’re looking at light, whether it can do something for somebody outside the body, inside the body (or) injection of disinfectant, which is poisonous.”

Another Fox medical contributor, Dr. Nicole Saphier, tweeted that injecting bleach, inhaling disinfectants or exposing yourself to intense UV light, which the president also wondered about as a possible treatment, could “destroy the cells and organs that you might need in order to live.” She appeared on the air later Friday.

CNN did not air live the portion of Trump’s briefing where he discussed disinfectants. But in a report at 6:55 p.m. EDT, the network’s Jim Acosta said the president had put out some “very questionable ideas.”

“The president appeared to be suggesting at one point that you can inject disinfectants into people to kill the coronavirus,” Acosta said. “We want to caution everybody at home, please don’t do that, please don’t follow the president’s medical advice here.”

MSNBC did air the briefing, but didn’t interrupt the president. The proposal came up in a post-briefing interview that Brian Williams conducted with Dr. Irwin Redlener of Columbia University.

“The very fact that the president actually asked somebody about what sounded like injecting disinfectants or ... alcohol into the human body was kind of jaw-dropping,” Redlener said, adding that “I’m really hoping that people don’t take this seriously.”

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes later showed Trump’s remark, but quickly brushed it off. “Call me naive,” he said. “I think the American people are smarter than that. I really do.”

On the Fox Business Network, Fox News’ sister channel, Neil Cavuto, offered some pushback against Trump.

“We are not trying to bash the president here,” he said. “He said what he said. And for people, impressionable people at home to think that maybe there’s an opportunity to combat this by injecting a disinfectant into your body, we just have to call that out.”

“Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace said on Friday that the state of Maryland emergency hotline had received more than 100 calls from people asking whether it was safe for them to drink a disinfectant.

“It may sound crazy, but obviously people take the president’s word seriously,” he said. “The answer is no, it’s not safe.”

https://apnews.com/4199ef602eee20d327417781469fd8d9

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HEALTH NEWS

APRIL 16, 2020 / 10:25 AM / 8 DAYS AGO

Coronavirus clue? Most cases aboard U.S. aircraft carrier are symptom-free

‘DISCONCERTING’ DATA FOR PENTAGON

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, speaking in a television interview on Thursday, said the number of asymptomatic cases from the carrier was “disconcerting.”

( Roughly 60 percent of the over 600 sailors who tested positive so far have not shown symptoms of COVID-19 )

“It has revealed a new dynamic of this virus: that it can be carried by normal, healthy people who have no idea whatsoever that they are carrying it,” Esper told NBC’s “Today” morning show.

Such data present challenges to the Pentagon, which is deployed around the world, sometimes in confined environments like submarines, ships and aircraft.

[ REALLY? JUST 8 DAYS AGO OUR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DID NOT KNOW ASYMTEMATIC PEOPLE CAN SPREAD THE VIRUS ?!?! OMG]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... SKCN21Y2GB

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Georgia records 635 new cases, 20 more deaths as some businesses reopen

BY JESSIE HELLMANN - 04/24/20 02:32 PM EDT

Georgia reported 635 new coronavirus cases and 20 more deaths in a 24-hour period ending at noon on Friday, the same day its governor is letting some businesses reopen.

The state now has 22,147 cases and its death toll stands at 892, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

But despite the increase in new cases and additional deaths, businesses such as barbershops and nail salons are allowed to open Friday under an executive order signed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R).

The order also allows gyms and fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, cosmetologists, estheticians and massage therapists to open Friday.

Theaters, private social clubs and dine-in restaurants will be allowed to open on Monday.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... ses-set-to

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Trump's daily briefings warned about COVID-19 at least a dozen times before the US outbreak, but he 'failed to register' the threat

Sonam Sheth 4/27/20 7 hours ago

* US intelligence officials warned President Donald Trump about the threat of the novel coronavirus in at least a dozen classified briefings in January and February, The Washington Post reported.

* The President's Daily Brief, or PDB, tracked the spread of the virus around the globe for weeks early this year and made clear China was concealing the extent of the outbreak within its borders.

* But Trump failed to register the threat.

* The president is known to regularly skip reading through the PDB and doesn't pay much attention even when the information is conveyed to him in oral summaries.

* The Post's is the latest in a series of media reports that show the extent to which officials sounded the alarm about an impending pandemic, which Trump largely ignored until US cases began surging in March.


US intelligence officials warned President Donald Trump about the threat of the novel corona virus in at least a dozen classified briefings in January and February, but he ignored the repeated warnings, The Washington Post reported.

Monday's development adds yet another layer to previous media reports that revealed the extent to which intelligence and administration officials sounded the alarm about an impending pandemic, which the president largely dismissed until US cases began surging in March.

According to The Post, the President's Daily Brief, or PDB, tracked the spread of the coronavirus around the world for weeks in January and February, and made clear that China was concealing the severity of the outbreak within its borders, where it first originated.

But despite the repeated warnings officials conveyed in the PDB, Trump "failed to register" the threat, The Post reported. The president is known to regularly skip reading through the PDB, and he reportedly doesn't have much patience even when the information is conveyed to him via oral summaries a few times per week.

By the end of January and beginning of February, a majority of the intelligence contained in Trump's daily briefings was about the corona virus, The Post reported last month. At the same time that he was getting those briefings, the president was publicly downplaying the risk of the virus.

"The system was blinking red," one US official with access to the intelligence told The Post. "Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were — they just couldn't get him to do anything about it."

Some of the warnings came even earlier. Days before Trump's inauguration, Obama administration officials briefed Trump officials on how to respond to a pandemic, Politico reported. The hypothetical scenario Obama officials presented to the incoming administration bore many similarities to the corona virus outbreak.

When asked whether any information from the session made its way to the president-elect, a former senior Trump administration official wasn't sure but said hypotheticals like that were not "the kind of thing that really interested the president very much."

Politico also reported that the Trump administration declined to use a nearly 70-page pandemic playbook that the NSC's health unit put together under the Obama administration. The document instructed federal officials on how to prepare for many of the same obstacles the Trump administration is now facing, including medical equipment shortages and a lack of coordination.

Then, from January to August 2019, the HHS conducted a training simulation about a hypothetical pandemic, caused by a disease that bore striking parallels to the novel corona virus.

In the simulation, federal agencies fought over who was in charge, state officials and hospitals couldn't figure out what and how much medical equipment was available, and there was no centralized coordination on state lock downs and school closings.

The team conducting the simulation put together a draft report laying out the roadblocks they discovered in the exercises, but their warnings went unheeded, according to The New York Times.

The president spent the early weeks of the outbreak insisting there was nothing to worry about, and that warnings about a potential pandemic were a "hoax" meant to hurt his re-election bid and tank the stock market.

He appointed loyalists to head up the White House corona virus task force and instructed some public health officials not to discuss any more matters related to the virus with the public without prior clearance. The president also has a powerful ally in the right-wing media, which has largely echoed his messaging from the start.

As the number of corona virus cases in the US began ticking up and the death count increased, Trump acknowledged the problem but assured the public it would go away soon.

The president has also pushed unproven and dangerous theories for how to mitigate the crisis. At a corona virus briefing last week, for instance, he suggested Americans may inject themselves with household disinfectants to treat the disease. He also floated the idea of using UV light as a treatment.

White House officials decided to significantly scale back the number of daily briefings after the episode, and Trump cut back on taking reporters' questions.

The World Health Organization declared the corona virus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19, a pandemic on March 11, and the US is the global epicenter of the outbreak. As of Monday, there are 985,374 confirmed cases of the virus in the country, and 55,906 people have died after testing positive.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-c ... eat-2020-4

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FEMA Reportedly Took The 5 Million Masks Ordered For Veterans To Send To Stockpile

April 24, 2020

“I couldn’t tell you when my next delivery was coming in,” Veterans Health Administration manager complained to The Washington Post.

Five million face masks ordered by the Veterans Health Administration to protect staff at the department’s hospitals and clinics were taken by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the Strategic National Stockpile, a top official told The Washington Post.

“I had 5 million masks incoming that disappeared,” said Dr. Richard Stone, the executive in charge of managing the nation’s largest health care system with 1,255 facilities that serve more than 9 million veterans. He told the Post that FEMA instructed vendors with protective equipment ordered by the Veterans Administration to send the shipments instead to the stockpile.

*

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — a Democrat who President Donald Trump has frequently targeted because of what he calls her “complaints” — revealed last month that vendors with whom her state had contracted for desperately needed medical equipment were told “not to send stuff,” on orders from the Trump administration.

*

Several hospitals in seven states surveyed by the Los Angeles Times complained that FEMA officials were showing up unannounced and seizing their supplies, leaving them desperately short and uncertain about where to turn for more equipment.

*

PeaceHealth, a 10-hospital system in Washington, Oregon and Alaska, had a shipment of testing supplies confiscated. “It’s incredibly frustrating,” CEO Richard DeCarlo told the newspaper.

*

FEMA also seized 500 ventilators ordered by Colorado this month, according to state officials. Trump then restored 100 of them, apparently as an opportunity to give a shout out to GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, who’s in the middle of a tough reelection campaign in the state.

*

Trump has ordered states to get their own supplies, but once the supplies are in the pipeline, they’re often seized by the federal government.

*

Trump’s son-in-law, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner announced at a coronavirus press briefing early this month that the emergency stores were “our” stockpile — and not the states’. The website for the stockpile, however, pointedly said supplies were for the states. The site was quickly changed after Kushner spoke to conform with what he said.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fema-hij ... 5f9ece2bc3

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Barr to prosecutors: Look for unconstitutional virus rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.”

The memo to U.S. attorneys directs the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan to coordinate the department’s efforts to monitor state and local policies and take action if needed.

“If a state or local ordinance crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court....”

https://apnews.com/c76e764141179075244ecfd5f1bb5e19

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Trump's commencement speech is requiring 1,000 West Point cadets return to campus for graduation amid the coronavirus pandemic

* President Donald Trump recently announced he plans to move forward with delivering the commencement address in-person for this year's West Point graduation ceremony.

* The announcement stunned school officials and raised concerns about safety, the New York Times reported, given it requires recalling 1,000 cadets to the campus — located roughly an hour from New York City.

* Vice President Mike Pence last Saturday delivered the commencement address in person for 2020 graduates of the US Air Force Academy. The ceremony was scaled back significantly due to coronavirus.

* The US Naval Academy decided it was too dangerous to recall graduating midshipmen for this year's ceremony, opting to hold a virtual event instead.

President Donald Trump's recent announcement he'd be speaking at West Point's graduation ceremony stunned officials at the school and raised serious concerns about the safety of the 1,000 cadets who are being recalled as a result, The New York Times reported on Friday.

Universities across the US have sent students home due to the novel corona virus, which causes the disease COVID-19. West Point cadets were ordered to stay home at the end of their spring break in March as the corona virus outbreak in the US escalated.

The graduation ceremony had initially been postponed due to the corona virus pandemic, but Trump's April 17 announcement reportedly kicked planning for the event into gear.

"I'm doing it at West Point, which I look forward to," Trump said at the daily White House press briefing a little over a week ago. "I did it last year at Air Force, I did it at Annapolis, I did it at the Coast Guard Academy, and I'm doing it at West Point. And I assume they're — they've got it, and I understand they'll have distancing. They'll have some big distance, and so it'll be very different than it ever looked."

West Point officials were previously unaware Trump planned to move forward with the commencement address, now slated for June 13, which will mark his first graduation speech at the US military academy in New York state. The campus is roughly an hour from New York City, the epicenter of the corona virus pandemic in the US, which has the world's highest numbers of reported cases and fatalities.

"He's the commander in chief, that's his call," Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate and former chairwoman of the academy's Board of Visitors, said of the president. "Cadets are certainly excited about the opportunity to have something like the classic graduation, standing together, flinging their hats in the air."

But Fulton also said that "everyone is leery about bringing 1,000 cadets into the New York metropolitan area for a ceremony," adding, "It's definitely a risk."

White House officials told the Times that Trump left the decision up to school officials, and that he could potentially reassess the decision to participate closer to the date of the ceremony depending on the state of the coronavirus crisis in the US.

Last Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence delivered the commencement address in person for 2020 graduates of the US Air Force Academy, in which cadets wore face masks, marched six feet apart, and were placed in socially distanced seats (eight feet apart). The ceremony was closed to visitors, meaning no family members or other spectators were permitted to attend.

The West Point graduation will seemingly feature similar restrictions. In a statement released Wednesday, West Point said the ceremony "will look different from recent graduation ceremonies due to current force health protection requirements."

Meanwhile, the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, decided a traditional ceremony is too risky amid the corona virus pandemic and is instead set to hold a virtual event for its graduating midshipmen.

West Point officials did not return Business Insider's request for comment.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-f ... ech-2020-4

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New York’s Cuomo channels Dirty Harry in hitting Mitch McConnell over bankruptcy suggestion

April 25, 2020 By Ciara Linnane

‘You want to send a signal to the markets that this nation is in real trouble? You want to send an international message that the economy is in turmoil?’

Cuomo was asked by a reporter at his daily briefing on the corona virus pandemic to respond to McConnell’s comment that states, battered by steep declines in revenue during the crisis, should declare bankruptcy instead of seeking federal bailouts. Cuomo pointed out that states are not permitted to file for bankruptcy protection from creditors.

Financially distressed municipalities have recourse to Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code to protect them from creditors while they reorganize, much as companies can do under Chapter 11. But Chapter 9 does not apply to states, which are also not allowed to run budget deficits, as the federal government can and does.

“To the senator that proposed it, I say pass a law allowing states to declare bankruptcy. I dare you. And let the president sign that bill,” said Cuomo. “You want to send a signal to the markets that this nation is in real trouble? You want to send an international message that the economy is in turmoil? Do that.”

Cuomo also dismissed McConnell’s description of state aid as a “blue-state bailout.”

He noted that New York is the biggest net donor to federal coffers in the form of taxes sent to the federal government each year as compared with the amount the state gets back via federal spending.

McConnell’s home state of Kentucky is the third biggest taker from that same pot, Cuomo said.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-y ... 2020-04-24

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NBA’s LA Lakers got $4.6 million in corona virus federal loan money for small business, but repaid it

APR 27 2020

* The Los Angeles Lakers, one of the NBA’s richest franchises, applied for and received $4.6 million in federal loan aid earmarked for small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

* The Lakers returned that money after learning that the pool of federal lending assistance from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program had been drained of cash, the team said.

* Forbes recently ranked the Lakers second on its list of most valuable NBA teams, with a valuation of $4.4 billion, slightly behind the New York Knicks’ valuation of $4.6 billion. Lakers superstar LeBron James was due to earn more than $37 million for this current season.


The Los Angeles Lakers, one of the richest NBA franchises, applied for and received $4.6 million in federal loans earmarked for small businesses affected by the corona virus pandemic, the basketball team said Monday.

The Lakers have returned that money after learning that the pool of federal lending assistance from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program’s initial allotment of $350 billion had been drained of cash because of the huge demand for it, according to the franchise.

Forbes recently ranked the Lakers second on its list of most valuable NBA teams, with a valuation of $4.4 billion, slightly behind the New York Knicks’ valuation of $4.6 billion...

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/27/coronav ... -loan.html

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Promises to test JBS employees in Greeley for COVID-19 from White House, management not kept

JBS meatpacking plant scheduled to reopen Friday after four deaths, dozens of infections

By TONY KOVALESKI | The Denver Channel / April 22, 2020

DENVER -- Contact7 Investigates has confirmed promises from the White House and JBS management to provide testing for employees at the massive meatpacking plant in Greeley have not been kept.

The information uncovered by Contact7 Investigates comes just three days before the plant is scheduled to reopen after it was forced to close on April 10.

The state of Colorado confirmed on Tuesday that at least 102 JBS employees have tested positive for COVID-19. Those numbers follow reports of four deaths of employees and sources have told Contact7 Investigates that two other employees are currently on ventilators fighting for their lives.

The outbreak at the JBS plant in Greeley went national on April 10 when Vice President Mike Pence discussed the concerns during a White House briefing.

“I spoke today with the Governor of Colorado, Jerod Polis, about an outbreak at a particular meat packing plant in the Colorado area, said Mike Pence during the news briefing. "The JBS plant in Greeley is one of the nations top producers of meat. It employs more than 6,000 people who speak more than 30 different languages and the facility slaughters about 5,400 cattle per day."

A full eleven days ago, the Vice President, speaking at a White House briefing, acknowledged the JBS outbreak and promised to help.

“Our team is working with the governor to ensure that we flow testing resources," Pence said.

On that very same day, JBS management issued a statement — it was the day the plant was shut down by state and county health directors siting the outbreak. The state of Colorado’s department of public health announced a two-week closure of the meatpacking plant demanding testing of all employees and sanitizing of the plant.

The statement from JBS management began with the headline, “COVID-19 TESTS FOR GREELEY BEEF TEAM MEMBERS.” The statement also included: “We are investing more than $1 million in COVID-19 testing kits for our team members.”

Now less than a week from the scheduled reopening of the plant, promises from the White House and JBS management have not been kept...

“We can only assume the reason they stopped testing is they don't want the numbers to come out, it’s bad PR,” said Sylvia Martinez, a spokesperson for Latinos Unidos of Greeley.

Multiple informed sources confirmed to Contact7 Investigates that JBS management stopped testing shortly after it started doing so on April 11 and well before its promise to test its 6,000 employees.

Insiders have told Contact7 Investigates that between 40% and 80% of managers/supervisors tested positive on the initial day of testing and those results prompted JBS to end the testing program.

“I believe when it became apparent that most of the supervisors tested positive JBS abruptly stopped the testing," said JBS Union President Kim Cordova.

Concerns by employees, community leaders and the union president were brought to Colorado Governor Jared Polis during his briefing on Monday. Contact7 Investigates specifically asked Governor Polis what he knows about the testing at JBS, why it stopped and if he had heard claims that as many as 80% of managers have tested positive for the new virus.

“I have not heard any figure like 80%,” said Polis. "I believe it's a very alarming number, but to be clear I've not heard anything like 80% positive."

Colorado’s governor also verbally called out JBS management during his Monday news briefing.

“I think JBS should show more transparency through this process," he said.

His challenge to JBS leadership could be a reference to the company’s decisions to not disclose testing numbers and for not announcing why testing has concluded.

Polis added, “We hope it can reopen soon -- as soon in a way that is safe for workers." He continued, “meaning testing and, of course, meaning that social distancing takes place."

Polis also made reference to the Vice President’s April 10 promise to provide testing support for the JBS Greeley meat plant.

“I actually reiterated to the Vice President when I met him in Colorado Springs (this past weekend at the Air Force Academy graduation) the other day, (that) we need to receive additional testing to be able to support the work of Weld County," the governor said.

With the JBS plant currently scheduled to reopen on Friday, community leaders and the president of the union are demanding more testing and more action from JBS management before the plant is allowed to reopen. Union President Cordova reacted to the governor’s statement that positive test results at the plant were at “alarming” levels.

“I am not surprised,” Cordova said. “It confirms everything we have been hearing. I believe that plant was very infected."

Contact7 Investigates also asked Sylvia Martinez, the spokesperson for Latinos Unidos of Greeley, if the JBS plant should reopen on April 24 as scheduled. She responded, “absolutely not.”

Contact7 Investigates reached out to the Colorado Department of Public Health, the Weld County Department of Public Health and JBS management trying to confirm if the plant will open as scheduled on Friday or if it will be delayed. All three did not respond to our request for information.

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/i ... t-not-kept

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Watch for symptoms

People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness.

Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms or combinations of symptoms may have COVID-19:

Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Or at least two of these symptoms:

Fever
Chills
Repeated shaking with chills
Muscle pain
Headache
Sore throat
New loss of taste or smell

This list is not all inclusive. Please consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you.

When to Seek Medical Attention

If you have any of these emergency warning signs* for COVID-19 get medical attention immediately:

Trouble breathing
Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
New confusion or inability to arouse
Bluish lips or face

*This list is not all inclusive. Please consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you.

Call 911 if you have a medical emergency: Notify the operator that you have, or think you might have, COVID-19. If possible, put on a cloth face covering before medical help arrives.

STAY SAFE !!

Pence flouts Mayo Clinic policy by not wearing face covering

[ And Pence Is The Head Of Caronavirus Task Force ]

BY BRETT SAMUELS - 04/28/20 02:48 PM EDT

Vice President Pence on Tuesday visited the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota where he stuck out for his decision not to wear a face covering, flouting the medical facility's policy in the process.

Pence visited the clinic in Rochester to learn about how physicians there are supporting research and treatment surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

Footage of Pence standing alongside clinic staff and a patient donating blood quickly made the rounds on social media as the vice president was the lone individual in the frame not sporting a mask.

The Mayo Clinic issued guidance on April 13 requiring all patients and visitors to wear a face covering or mask

"Mayo shared the masking policy with the VP’s office," the clinic said in an emailed statement after deleting the tweet.

Pence defended his decision to reporters traveling with him to Minnesota.

“As Vice President of the United States I'm tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis....

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... e-covering

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Trump orders meat plants to stay open as worker deaths rise

The president declares meat-processing plants as critical infrastructure amid fears of disruptions to the food supply.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday night ordered meat-processing plants to continue operating, declaring them critical infrastructure as the nation confronts growing disruptions to the food supply.

Meatpacking plants have become incubators for the virus as employees work side-by-side in dangerous conditions. Twenty meatpacking and processing workers have died from coronavirus, and at least 6,500 have been affected, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

"Such closures threaten the continued functioning of the national meat and poultry supply chain, undermining critical infrastructure during the national emergency," the order says. "Given the high volume of meat and poultry processed by many facilities, any unnecessary closures can quickly have a large effect on the food supply chain."

Trump directed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to "take all appropriate action" to ensure that meat companies continue operating.

The Agriculture Department has deferred to the CDC and OSHA instead of issuing its own rules. OSHA, however, has not imposed mandatory safety rules and instead only issued recommendations.

In comments to the media earlier on Tuesday, Trump said he would also shield meatpacking companies from legal liability from worker claims of not being adequately protected, though the order didn't spell out any specifics.

Union leaders rushed to condemn Trump’s order, asserting that he was not taking into consideration employees' safety....

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/2 ... pen-215555

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States tell workers they'll lose unemployment benefits if they refuse to return to jobs

Some states that are reopening parts of their economies have warned employees that they'll lose their unemployment benefits if they refuse to go back to work for their employers, even if they're worried about contracting the coronavirus.

"If you're an employer and you offer to bring your employee back to work and they decide not to, that's a voluntary quit," Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said Friday. "Therefore, they would not be eligible for the unemployment money."...

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... hey-refuse

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As slaughterhouse workers get sick, where are the food regulators?

BY SARAH SORSCHER, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 04/28/20 05:00 PM EDT

In the past few weeks, the meat industry has quickly emerged as a new hotbed for COVID-19. At least 80 meatpacking plants have been idled by the virus as workers crammed together are sickened. Farmers with no place to slaughter animals are euthanizing them en masse, and the bottleneck is causing major meat companies like Tyson Foods to warn of meat shortages, a prospect not faced by Americans in generations.

With the food system under threat, where are the food regulators?

Even with limited authority, the Food and Drug Administration is making an effort to guide the industry it regulates, issuing advice covering everything from the use of face masks in the food sector to what to do if a food worker tests positive for COVID-19.

In contrast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has much more intensive involvement in daily food production than FDA, has done comparatively little.

USDA has not managed to provide personal protective equipment for its own workers, even as they report to work in plants where COVID-19 has become widespread.

USDA’s food safety officials have also shown a lack of judgment by striving to speed food production in ways that run the risk of worsening the outbreak.

Inexplicably, the agency in April ramped up a program granting regulatory waivers to speed poultry lines. Faster slaughter means workers must remain crowded together to process the higher volume of meat, undermining social distancing.

USDA is also detailing inspectors in order to prevent local staffing shortages, a practice that forces inspectors who may have been exposed in one plant to travel to new locations, potentially seeding the second plant with virus as they move.

Meanwhile food workers, who are disproportionately Latinos and immigrants working for low wages, are given pandering and hollow praise. Vice President Mike Pence told food workers recently, “You are giving a great service … and we need you to continue, as a part of what we call critical infrastructure, to show up and do your job.”

The damage to our food system is likely just beginning, and while it is hard to know how much could have been prevented by swifter action, it’s clear that federal regulators can and must do better moving forward to protect workers, inspectors and the food supply....

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/ ... regulators

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Trump’s allies sound alarm over his attacks on independent watchdogs

Republicans are trying to convince the president that inspectors general aren't his enemies.

President Donald Trump’s recent hostility toward independent federal watchdogs has jolted the very Senate Republicans who are among his most outspoken defenders.

Two months after acquitting Trump on charges of obstructing Congress, GOP senators are sounding subtle but unmistakable alarms about Trump’s efforts to brush back lawmakers’ oversight of the government’s behemoth, $3 trillion response to the coronavirus pandemic. And their warnings have grown more urgent as Trump mounts a concerted campaign against inspectors general, one of the last functional checks on his administration’s performance.

We need to empower inspectors general to be able to do their work — especially when you’re dealing with trillions of dollars, you’ve got to have good, reasonable oversight over those things,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who penned a letter to Trump last week on the topic, said in an interview.

That Lankford and other GOP senators like Chuck Grassley of Iowa have felt compelled to speak out publicly underscores the degree to which Trump has undermined routine congressional oversight — including the very mechanisms that Republicans themselves have crafted to rein in a rogue executive.

The public disapproval come as Trump faces criticism over his abrupt removal of the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, and his refusal to provide Congress with an adequate explanation, as required by law.

And without responses from the White House, GOP senators have stepped up their public rebukes of the president as they try to convince him that independent government watchdogs are his friends, not his enemies. Lankford and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) in their letter to Trump last week outlined why they think it’s in the president’s best interest to “work with IGs, not against them.”

Grassley has also written to top health officials to inquire about how they are handling coronavirus outbreaks at nursing homes; and he most recently joined forces with Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to seek a review of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ compliance with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to ensure the safety of inmates and employees.

Democrats continue to argue, though, that simply writing letters isn’t enough unless they are backed up with concrete action.

“The sad fact is, the Republican caucus has by and large been willing to let Donald Trump use the federal government like a personal piggy bank for his donors and political allies, and to retaliate against those who stand up to him,” Wyden said....

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/2 ... ogs-215504

A protester carries his rifle at the State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Thursday, April 30, 2020. Hoisting American flags and handmade signs, protesters returned to the state Capitol to denounce Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-home order and business restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic while lawmakers met to consider extending her emergency declaration hours before it expires. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

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Members of the Michigan Liberty Militia, including Phil Robinson, right, join protesters at a rally at the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Thursday, April 30, 2020. Hoisting American flags and handmade signs, protesters returned to the state Capitol to denounce Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-home order and business restrictions due to COVID-19, while lawmakers met to consider extending her emergency declaration hours before it expires. (Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP)

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Armed protesters stand in the gallery of the Michigan State Senate chambers at the State Capitol in Lansing, Mich. Thursday, April 30, 2020. Only 22 people were allowed in the gallery to maintain social distancing, so the picture was shot through a window outside the entrance. (Matthew Dae Smith /Lansing State Journal via AP)

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GOP lawmakers reject Michigan’s virus order; Whitmer unfazed

By DAVID EGGERT and MIKE HOUSEHOLDER 4/30/20 21 minutes ago

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Republican-led Michigan Legislature refused Thursday to extend the state’s coronavirus emergency declaration and voted to authorize a lawsuit challenging Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s authority and actions to combat the pandemic.

The governor, unfazed, responded with orders stating under one law that an emergency still exists, while declaring a new 28-day state of emergency under another law.

The declarations are important because they are the foundation for Whitmer’s stay-at-home measure, which will remain in effect through May 15, and other directives aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The virus that causes COVID-19 has infected more than 41,000 Michigan residents and contributed to the deaths of 3,789, many in the Detroit area.

Whitmer accused GOP lawmakers of “putting their heads in the sand and putting more lives and livelihoods at risk. I’m not going to let that happen.”

The legislative pushback came as hundreds of conservative activists, including some who were openly carrying assault rifles, returned to the Capitol to denounce her stay-home order.

Whitmer wanted legislators to extend the emergency before it was to expire late Thursday. But at the same time, she believes she has other powers to respond to the crisis and does not need a legislatively-approved extension — which Republicans dispute and appeared poised to challenge in court.

The virus and the steps taken to curb it, including the closure of nonessential businesses, have had a devastating effect on the economy. In her new emergency orders, Whitmer said cases are doubling every six days or faster in some counties in western and northern Michigan.

The House and Senate voted along party lines for a bill, which Whitmer will vet, that would temporarily codify many of her directives but not her stay-home order.

Republicans accused Whitmer of ignoring their input.

“We can no longer allow one person to make decisions for 10 million people,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey of Clarklake.

House Speaker Lee Chatfield, of Levering, said the death toll is “terrible,” but other lives have been “negatively impacted unnecessarily because of how we have handled this pandemic. We believe we you can prioritize public health yet be reasonable in your approach to fighting COVID.”

Democrats opposed the legislation as an unconstitutional “political stunt” and called the likely legal action a wasteful expense amid plummeting tax revenues.

“We must ensure that our state can respond quickly and decisively to a situation that changes day by day,” said state Rep. Tyrone Carter, a Detroit Democrat who recovered from COVID-19. “That means ensuring that our governor has the emergency powers necessary to lead us in this fight.”

Late Thursday, Whitmer extended the closure of bars, casinos and other public places through May 28. She also continued a ban on dine-in service at restaurants.

Earlier at the Capitol, speakers took turns addressing a crowd on the lawn. Drivers leaned on their horns as they traveled past, a repeat of what occurred April 15 but not close to the thousands who participated in vehicles at that time, which paralyzed traffic for miles.

Protesters’ placards read, “Shut down the lockdown,” “No work no freedom,” and “Tyrants get the rope.” Some people wore the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag as a cape. Others chanted, “Lock her up,” in reference to the governor. Some wore President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats or carried signs supporting him.

“The virus is here. It’s going to be here. ... It’s time to let people go back to work. That’s all there is to it,” said Joni George, of Flushing.

Some angry protesters — many without face coverings — entered the Capitol and demanded to be let onto the House floor, which is not allowed. The gallery was closed to the public to allow room for representatives and reporters to spread apart. Some demonstrators in the Senate gallery were openly carrying guns, which is legal in the statehouse. One senator said some armed men shouted at her, and some senators wore bulletproof vests for protection.

Shanon Banner, a state police spokeswoman, estimated there were 400 to 700 protesters and said they were “peaceful” overall. People who did not wear masks or distance themselves were not issued tickets. One demonstrator was arrested for assaulting another protester.

Whitmer, whom the public has supported in polling, on Wednesday rejected Senate Republicans’ proposal for a pair of one-week extensions of the emergency in exchange for giving legislators a say in any future stay-at-home restrictions.

Republicans want her to allow elective medical and dental procedures again and certainty on the date she plans to reopen the economy on a regional basis. Meanwhile, the governor has allowed some businesses, such as lawn-care companies and greenhouses, to resume operating.

Commercial and residential construction will resume next week.

[ JUST WONDERING IF ANYONE ELSE FINDS THESE DEMONSTRATIONS ALARMING ?? DISTURBING ??

ARMED PROTESTERS IN THE GALLERY OF THE MICHIGAN STATE SENATE CHAMBERS AT THE STATE CAPITOL ??

REALLY !! IS THIS WHAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS COME TO UNDER TRUMP ??

WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO TRY THIS STUNT IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE ?? SENATE ?? HOUSE ??]


https://apnews.com/a2aea0faacadbd3b9f5c9238d7bc6e72


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Seeing Joe see post so much lately brings this to mind. He is definitely one of the 53%

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The April edition of the Harvard-Harris poll asked 2,394 registered voters: “Do you think that the Steele dossier, with its accusations of Trump’s relationships to Moscow, was real in its findings of Trump colluding with the Russians or was the Steele dossier just campaign opposition research documents fueled by a Russian disinformation campaign?”

53% of respondents said the “Steele dossier was real in its findings,” while only 47% said, correctly, that the Steele dossier was “fueled by Russian disinformation.”

A majority of registered voters in the U.S. — and 77% of Democrats — believe the “Steele dossier” is accurate, long after it was publicly debunked, and more than three years after the FBI determined that it was a fraud.

The dossier was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, who was working for opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was being paid by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. It was leaked to the media in January 2017, shortly before President Donald Trump was inaugurated. The dossier included a number of claims about Trump’s ties to Russia, including prostitutes. (One fabricated story was that Trump hired Russian prostitutes to urinate on a hotel bed in which Obama had slept.)

For years, mainstream media outlets and Democratic Party politicians maintained that the dossier was credible. But the Department of Justice Inspector General found last year found that it was not — and the FBI knew it.

The “dossier” formed the basis for the FBI’s misleading warrant applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court in 2016 and 2017, even after the FBI determined it to be uncorroborated or false. Newly-declassified footnotes from the report show that the FBI also knew that the Steele Dossier relied on disinformation from Russian sources — meaning the FBI itself may have helped Russia interfere in the election.

Hillbilly,

Don't see the connection between the Steele Dossier and angry, armed citizens taking over the gallery of a State Senate Chamber floor.

Proud to be one of the 53% rather than one of the gullible and mis-informed 40%. Trump isn't doing you any favors.

If I were one of the 40%, I'd be pretty embarrassed by this President.

Trump has made us the laughing stock of the world especially with his latest suggestions of ingesting cleaning fluids into the body to kill the carona virus. An experimental ultraviolet light treatment for Covid-19?? Make no mistake about it, as the president often says, "The World Is Watching".

What president in his right mind would force meat packing workers back into one of the carona virus' hotbeds while deaths and infections are on the rise?

At the same time, the meat packing plants have been shielded by the president from any legal liability the workers might have from the poor working conditions that are causing the increase in infections and deaths?

What party in their right minds would tell workers they will not receive unemployment benefits if they opted not to enter these facilities under the dangerous working conditions that exist there?

These workers are frightened (wouldn't you be?) but forced to work. The only other places that these types of scenarios exist are in third world countries. Are we becoming like them?

Just because the main work forces in these meat packing plants are immigrants, or black, or brown, doesn't give the president or the GOP the right to force these conditions on them. How would you react if the president or the party forced you to work under these conditions?

SAD!

But! We all know how Trump, Steve Miller, and many GOP office holders feel about these folks.

Just say'n.

Joe, projections were that the virus could kill as many as 1.7 million Americans.

It’s now looking like it’s going to be more like 60,000

You would have to be a fool to be embarrassed of the President and his teams work.

Did I miss something? Has there been a mass shooting or people injured in Michigan?

Do we not have the right to peaceably assemble and protest?

Michigan has an open carry law.

The left protests all the time. Only difference is there is almost always people injured at an Antifa rally. Yet you’ve never complained about them once. That’s one of the many reasons why it’s impossible to take you seriously.

Sorry if the mere sight of people exercising their 1st and 2nd amendment rights frighten you. But pound rocks.

Here is journalist Andy Ngo leaving an Antifa rally ...
... you let me know if any photos like that come from the Michigan State house.

By the way, the entire point of my post above was how gullible and misinformed the left are. The 53% in this case are the gullible and misinformed, you idiot. My God, there is literally no hope for you. No shame at all.

Joe, I am still flummoxed. I don't get you at all. Help me out here.

The Steele Dossier has been proven false. Period. If you don't know that by now you should look around.

And in the Harvard poll 53% of people still believed it was true.

That was the point of the entire article. Even far left Harvard says it.

Then you say you are proud to be part of the 53% that are dead wrong, rather than the rest who are misinformed.

Do you not see how totally nonsensical your comment was?

Did you even take a few seconds to read the article? It was very short.

This is my point. Most of what you post can be proven wrong with a very quick Google Search. You post it anyway, taking the word of "News" sources that have been wrong about almost every big story the last 4 years.

After having been wrong about so much for so long don't you think you should start doing a little fact checking, or put forth a little more effort to get some news from some different sources. At least devote a few minutes a day, doing so may be a worthy endeavor for yourself.

You don't even bother to read what is already put in front of you.

This is what I was saying the other day. There is being ignorant of facts, and there is being lazy, then there is being both.

Anyway, you and I have never got along so I'll go back to ignoring you. But c'mon man. Look around. Put forth a bit of effort.

Hillbilly,

Joe, projections were that the virus could kill as many as 1.7 million Americans.
It’s now looking like it’s going to be more like 60,000

That 1.7 projection report (actually as high as 2.2 million) assumed that the virus would go unchecked. That report was issued by a British epidemiologist. It was a worst case scenario. The report assumed that "no control measures or spontaneous changes in individual behaviour" would take place.

The assumption was that government and private companies would not engage in any "control measures". Fortunately, with no assistance from the federal government (Trump left it up to the states to control the country's destiny), democratic governors along with some brave Republican governors chose to ignore Trump. They took the bull by the horns. They did engage and thankfully so.

It was also assumed that individuals wouldn't change their behavior or life styles to avoid contracting or spreading the virus. Thankfully, most of us listened to our governors and refused to buckle under the misinformation that was emanating from white house.

The notion that no one was going to do anything different even as the death toll from the virus mounted into the five and six figures was highly "unlikely". People said in early February they would react if the virus spread. They would sanitize and avoid crowds. They would abide by the shelter in place orders.

Did I miss something? Has there been a mass shooting or people injured in Michigan?
Do we not have the right to peaceably assemble and protest?
Michigan has an open carry law.

Hey! I have no problems with demonstrations, protests, and peaceful assembly but let's keep the guns at home! We don't need some macho, gun wielding protester to go off half-cocked. Have any of these gun toting individuals had any background checks to see if they were mentally incompetant? What sane individual would be packing on a state senate chamber floor? These individuals demanded to be let onto the floor, which is not allowed. Legal or not, this was not the time nor the place for some morons to be carrying weapons. Loaded or not!

Sorry if the mere sight of people exercising their 1st and 2nd amendment rights frighten you. But pound rocks.

Spoken like a true Republican. As I said, there is a time and a place for exercising your 1st & 2nd amendment rights. This was not one of them.

The left protests all the time. Only difference is there is almost always people injured at an Antifa rally. Yet you’ve never complained about them once. That’s one of the many reasons why it’s impossible to take you seriously.

I've never complained about Antifa because I really don't like them much. But, if they are going to pick and choose their battles, I couldn't think of a much nicer group to do it against. I don't care for Antifa but I care even less for the white nationalists, Ku Klux Klan members, and neo-Nazis that Antifa chooses to antagonize.

If you want to post images of individuals that Antifa is responsible for harming, how about I post this one:
People fly into the air as a vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on Aug. 12, 2017. There were several hundred protesters marching in a long line when the car drove into a group of them. One person was killed and more than 19 others were injured. ( five are in critical condition, four are in serious condition, six are fair and four are in good condition. )

I may be wrong, but to my knowledge, I don't think Antifa has been responsible for any deaths (yet).

Misinformation from the White House?

At the same time that this misinformation was coming from the White House that people like you love to complain about now, the Democrats held a presidential debate in Las Vegas. You know how many times Covid-19 was brought up?

Zero times.

Not once by Biden, not once by Bernie, and not once by moderators.

And at the exact same time this misinformation was coming from the White House, you know what Nancy Pelosi was doing?

Having a party in Chinatown telling people they should all come there.

Your complaints would ring louder if Democrats were sounding the alarm the exact same time you say Trump should have. But truth is everybody was trying to calm people. Everybody.

Facts are a tricky thing, and would love to see you post some from time to time.

As far as the protests in Michigan ... it is an open carry state. You are allowed to carry weapons openly as long as they were purchased by you legally. They are even allowed in the state House. Although protesters were not allowed in the chamber due to current social distancing rules.

A spokeswoman for the state police said there were 400 to 700 protesters, and it was peaceful.

The only thing that happened was two demonstrators got into a fight - - with each other. And one senator complained because they were being yelled at. They might want to rethink public service.

Nobody was ticketed or arrested. Absolutely no problem here, other than gun grabbing liberals complaining because they think they may see an opportunity.

One last thing, Joe. You were wrong about the British model too. The doctor and college in England that released their model actually projected as many as 2.2 million deaths.

The figure I gave, as many as 1.7 million deaths, came from our very own CDC.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/c ... imate.html

The CDC expert came up with 4 models. The worst case scenario being 1.7 million deaths. The BEST case scenario being 200,000 deaths.

So by all means, forget the worst case scenario. Let's just go by their best case. 200,000 deaths.

We are now looking at what is being projected as 60,000 to 65,000 deaths projected.

So my point is, if Trump and his expert team was as slow and inept as people like you claim, why are we now looking at only a quarter of the deaths that our experts originally projected as a best case scenario?

Actually, don't worry about answering that. I care less what talking point you'll bring here from one of your lefty sites. The fact is he acted quicker than democrats, who attacked him originally for his travel bans and strong measures. And we citizens are way better off for it.