No Question About It

Hypocrisy of Trump Family Again on Full Display

The hashtag #ByeIvanka has been trending nationwide following the release of a new video highlighting the hypocrisy of President Donald Trump and his administration.  MeidasTouch, a progressive PAC, took Ivanka Trump's widely derided announcement on the federal government prioritizing job applicants’ skills over college degrees, and spliced it with previous comments her father has made about nepotism and appointing rich people.  The 60-second clip also notes how President Trump has recruited members of his own family for senior government roles, despite them having little experience.

To refresh everyone's memory, I thought I would review some of the most notorious examples of Trump's hypocrisy in regards to giving people jobs based on their skills.

Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was appointed the Director of the Office of American Innovation, Senior Advisor to the President, despite having no experience in the civil service or innovating anything in the private sector.  He struggled to get a security clearance, and was compelled to amend his security disclosure forms numerous times as prior undisclosed potential conflicts of interest were revealed by the media. Eventually his security clearance was simply imposed at the direction of Trump.

Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump was appointed Senior Advisor to the President, without any political experience or any years in the civil service. Based on a brief period of modeling, clothing design, and running cheap made-in-China clothing lines, Ivanka was ushered into the inner sanctum of the most powerful office in the world.  Her government position helped her secure long sought after trademarks from China.

Attorney General Barr got his on-in-law Tyler McGaughey a job in the White House Office of General Counsel.  At least he was a lawyer.

Rudy Giulliani got his son Andrew Giuliani a job as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Director of the Office of Public Liaison.  Andrew’s prior dreams of becoming a professional golfer were lost when he was kicked off the golf team at Duke University.  He is a regular golf partner of Donald Trump’s. His unescorted access to the White House was rescinded by Chief of Staff John Kelly, but reinstated after Kelly was fired.

The Trump inaugural committee paid nearly $26 million to the firm of Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a friend of First Lady Melania Trump, for “event production services.”

In 2017, Ben Carson Jr. organized an agency “listening tour” in Baltimore for his HUD Secretary father. Carson Jr. and his wife Merlynn invited an official from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  Less than three months later, CMS awarded a $485,000 contract to Merlynn Carson’s consulting company.

John Pence, nephew of Vice President Mike Pence, is apparently serving as deputy executive director on the Trump 2020 campaign. In September 2017 the RNC began paying him $12,000 a month for his work.

Eric Trump’s brother-in-law Kyle Yunaska serves as chief of staff of the Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis in the Energy Department. He has no background in government or energy policy making.

Trump’s longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller, served as director of Oval Office operations before leaving the White House to receive $15,000 a month from the RNC for “security services.”

Lynne Patton, who arranged Trump golf tournaments and planned Eric Trump’s wedding, was appointed by Trump to head the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Region II.  In that job, Patton will be in a position to distribute billions of housing development funding to the states of New York and New Jersey. Patton, who has no housing experience and whose law school denies she earned a degree, oversees the distribution of billions of dollars.

And finally-- Brett Talley, husband of Ann Donaldson (Former Chief of Staff to White House Counsel) was given the position of Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice.   Trump originally nominated him to a lifetime appointment as a Federal judge despite his never having tried a case as a lawyer and earning an unqualified rating from the ABA. His nomination hit the rocks when it was revealed he failed to disclose his marriage to the White House Counsel’s Chief of Staff (which would have created conflicts of interest had a case involving Trump appeared before him).

Anti-Vaxxer and Science Denier Djokovic Catches the COVID

Novak Djokovic's disastrous exhibition series went from bad to worse after it was announced that the world tennis No 1 had tested positive for Covid-19, along with six other participants in the tournament.

It comes after two events, in Belgrade and Zadar, where there was a near total lack of social distancing measures, with fans packing the stands and players repeatedly getting up close in everything from soccer and basketball pick-up games to escapades in nightclubs.

Other players who have tested positive are Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki. There have also been positive tests for Djokovic's fitness trainer Marco Panichi and Dimitrov's coach Christian Groh.  The highest profile player of them all tested positive after he returned to Belgrade, having declined to be tested with everyone else at the second event in Croatia.  It was also reported that Djokovic's wife also tested positive.

Djokovic is widely believed to be an anti-vaxxer, having previously expressed a reluctance to be vaccinated in order for the tennis tour to continue in the era of COVID-19.    “Personally I am opposed to vaccination and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel,” Djokovic said back in April.

He has also demonstrated a reckless disposition against medical science.  Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, Djokovic has been vocal in emphasizing ways to help people boost immunity to combat the coronavirus and other illnesses (as opposed to following the recommendations of medical authorities).   In 2018, when Djokovic was threatened with a career-ending injury to his right elbow, he was initially adamant in pursuing "natural healing", and he was deeply resistant to undergoing surgery until he was faced with no other option if he wanted to continue his career.

Djokovic’s wife Jelena also recently attracted controversy when her post on a wild 5G conspiracy theory – a theory with no scientific basis or credible evidence – was taken down by Instagram.

Djokovic has been heavily criticized by players within the sport, including Nick Kyrgios who labeled the decision to push on with the exhibition series as 'boneheaded.'  Alongside a video of some of the players partying in a nightclub, Kyrgios wrote on social media: 'Prayers up to all the players that have contracted Covid-19. Don't @ me for anything I've done that has been 'irresponsible' or classified as 'stupidity' - this takes the cake.'

British No 1 Dan Evans was also stinging with his words, saying, "I just think it is a poor example to set.  Even if the guidelines in that country are not two metres... it is not a joke is it?"

Andy Murray released a statement saying, "When you are going through a time like this, it's important any of the top athletes around the world are showing that we are taking this extremely seriously and knowing that we are using social distancing measures . . . Ultimately, the tour won't get back again if we are having problems every single week and the players are doing what they want."

Djokovic's recent conduct has been as so reckless that many in the game feel his public statements and lack of leadership merit his standing down from the position of President of the ATP Player Council.

Trump's Top Russian Expert Likely Pushed Out Over Reports of Putin Bounties for Dead U.S. Solders

There has been a long string of resignations from the Trump administration of late-- and with the White House's bungling of the coronavirus crisis and the resurgence of the black lives matter movement-- it has gotten little attention.

• The head of DOJ's Criminal Division resigned;
• The Solicitor General resigned;
• The head of DOJ's Criminal Division resigned;
• The top financial person at the Pentagon resigned;
• The top person on international security issues at the Pentagon resigned;
• The top two technology people at the Pentagon resigned; and
• Trump's fourth Russian Director at the National Security Council resigned (Tom Williams, who replaced Andrew Peek, who replaced Tim Morrison, who replaced Fiona Hill).

That's right-- Trump's top Russia expert at the NSC resigned-- the fourth in four years.  And why is that?  Well, it might have something to do with what the shocking new report coming from the New York Times.

American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there.

The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.

The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — none of which have been acted upon by Trump.

Trump had a phone call with Putin in early June-- but did Trump bring up the cash bounty allegations?  Nope.  But Trump started lobbying European leaders to let Putin back into the G7, though. Putin can engage in murder for hire on U.S.soldiers but Trump will let him back into the G8.  Remember why Putin got kicked out of the G8?  Because he invaded the Ukraine and seized Crimea.

It’s not clear how many of the 20 Americans who were killed in Afghanistan during 2019 resulted in a payday from Moscow, but militants “are believed to have collected some bounty money."  So let's be clear once again:  Putin is paying cash bounties for dead U.S. soldiers-- and Trump has done nothing about it.

Lil Uzi Vert - That Way

The U.S. Sets New Records in Coronavirus Infections as Trump Continues to Phase Out Testing

COVID-19 testing centers across five states are set to lose federal funding next week after the Trump administration decided not to extend the program that established them.  As a result, 13 testing sites across Colorado (1), Illinois (2), New Jersey (2), Pennsylvania (1) and Texas (7) will likely close if those states are unable to replace the necessary funding.  In a statement, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir confirmed that the program that originally funded 41 such sites across 48 states would end next week.

As of this week, one out of every 12 tests administered in the U.S. came back positive, according to data tracked by the University of Oxford-based Our World in Data. In South Korea, long a world leader in testing, 93 tests were administered for every positive case. And in New Zealand, which has effectively eliminated the coronavirus, the ratio is 300 to 1.

Despite the continued and persistent testing shortfall, Trump this week repeatedly called for a slowdown in COVID-19 testing, because the surge in new cases they help reveal is making his administration’s response look bad.  “Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding,” he idiotically tweeted on Tuesday. “With smaller testing we would show fewer cases!”

The latest news on Trump's campaign against testing comes on the very day that the U.S. saw its highest daily count of new cases since the crisis started, with more than 36,000 new infections reported by state health departments on Wednesday — surpassing the previous single-day record of 34,203 set on April 25.  Oklahoma reported record highs in new single-day coronavirus cases, while hospitalizations hit a new peak in Arizona, where intensive care units have quickly filled.

The three most-populous states in the U.S. are reporting record increases in new coronavirus cases as alarming trends in the pandemic have emerged across the country.  California, Texas and Florida all set records for the number of new cases in one day.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged people to stay home due to the surge, with some health officials calling for a stricter stay-at-home order.  "Because the spread is so rampant right now, there's never a reason for you to have to leave your home," Abbott said. "Unless you do need to go out, the safest place for you is at your home."  New cases and hospitalizations are rising at their fastest rate yet, with Texas reporting 5,551 cases on Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 5,489 set the day before, health authorities said.

California obliterated its previous single-day high with 7,149 cases this week, according to state Department of Public Health. The previous record, set the day before, was just more than 5,000. Hospitalization and ICU rates due to the virus are also at an all-time high in the state.  Gov. Gavin Newsom pleaded with Californians to think of others by wearing masks, keeping a safe distance and increasing handwashing.

In Florida, the state reported 5,511 new cases on Tuesday the highest number in a single day, according to the Florida Department of Health.  The idiot governor of Florida, however, is continuing his re-opening efforts despite the sharp increase in cases.  In a minor concession to reality, DeSantis has started wearing face masks to public appearances-- even though he still won’t mandate the wearing of face coverings by law in Florida.  Last week, DeSantis tried to blame the increase in cases on "Hispanic farmworkers", but in reality, the harvest season in Florida ended weeks ago. The new surge resulted mostly from people going out over Memorial Day weekend and failing to social distance and wear masks.

At least 26 states are seeing a rise in cases compared to the previous week, data from Johns Hopkins University show. Those states are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

In too many places across the country, the pandemic is quickly "spiraling out of control," one expert said.  "We stopped the treatment too early," CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said. The result could be "exponential growth" of cases.  But many places remained unprepared and reopened far too soon and far too quickly -- leading to the latest surges, experts have said.

It's a stark contrast with other parts of the world, including countries in Europe, which lowered their case counts with the help of longer lockdowns and have now begun to slowly reopen.  Europe is preparing to reopen external borders on July 1, but it is considering excluding citizens of countries where the virus is out of control-- including Brazil, Russia and (not surprisingly) the United States.

Trump will be in a difficult  diplomatic position to object, however.  Early in the crisis, the Orangeman unilaterally closed U.S. borders to countries in the EU's Schengen border-free zone-- which the EU bitterly condemned at the time.

Coronavirus Art - Barcelona

Attorney General Barr Still Facilitating the Politicization of DOJ

It is still unclear why William Barr was so motivated to remove U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman that he first lied about the fact that Berman had resigned-- which prompted Berman to issue a statement publicly contradicting Barr, saying quite emphatically had not resigned.  Barr then lied a second time—claiming that Donald Trump had fired Berman—only to have Trump soon declare that he was "not involved" in the firing.
Barr's first claim-- that Berman had resigned-- was intended to pave a path for Barr and Trump to install Barr's personal friend Jay Clayton, a corporate attorney with no prosecution experience whatsoever who currently serves as Trump's chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Southern District of New York is currently either prosecuting or investigating a litany of apparent crimes by individuals close to Trump—and potentially by Trump himself.  That would have installed a reliable Barr ally who would be in a position to stifle federal prosecutions of Trump allies.  For quite a while, Trump and Barr have been pressuring the SDNY to end an investigation into Turkish bank fraud and sanctions violations after Trump allegedly sought to quash that probe as a favor to Turkish dictator Recep Erdogan.

According to The Washington Post, Barr met on Friday with Berman, "offering him a new position" heading the Justice Department's Civil Position if he would move from his current role; Berman evidently did not agree to the move.  Clayton, however, could only be legally installed if Berman resigned. Barr did not just want Berman out of his office-- he also sought to install a personal friend in the role, and bypass laws governing who Berman's acting successor would be, and went so far as to invent a resignation when Berman was not willing to go along with the move.

As the Post's Aaron Blake points out, in offering Berman a job within the main Justice Department to convince him to vacate his post, Barr has now demolished any pretense that Barr's move was based on "job performance issues." In the end Berman resigned only when Barr acquiesced to  allowing Berman's deputy (Audrey Strauss) to take over the position as the law indicated. That suggests that Berman's public fight beforehand was not a likely-doomed effort to save his own job, but a move to specifically prevent Barr from installing a handpicked ally.

Clayton may yet be nominated and approved for the post, but Berman was willing to take a stand and prevent a Trump crony from leading the SDNY during the interim period and allow SDNY's investigations to proceed without political interference.  House Judiciary Committee chair Jerry Nadler has already indicated that Berman will be summoned to testify on these events, and soon. There still seems no urgency to force Barr's own testimony, however.

To add more fuel to the fire generated by Barr's seemingly corrupt behavior, a DOJ whistleblower will testify tomorrow that top Justice Department leadership put “heavy pressure” on a top federal prosecutor to cut former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone a break in his sentencing.  Aaron S.J. Zelinsky will tell the House Judiciary Committee that acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Timothy Shea, a close associate of Attorney General William Barr, “was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break, and that the U.S. Attorney’s sentencing instructions to us were based on political considerations.”

Another DOJ whistleblower, John Elias, is expected to testify that Attorney General Bill Barr improperly went after cannabis suppliers because of his personal feelings about the industry. "Rejecting the analysis of career staff, Attorney General Barr ordered the Antitrust Division to issue Second Request subpoenas," Elias said, referencing the division's most comprehensive type of merger probe. "The rationale for doing so centered not on an antitrust analysis, but because he did not like the nature of their underlying business."

Elias' will also testify that the Justice Department launched an anti-trust probe in August 2019 after President Donald Trump tweeted his anger over a deal struck between automakers and California to comply with stricter emissions standards despite the Trump administration's plans to roll back the rules.  "The day after the tweets, Antitrust Division political leadership instructed staff to initiate an investigation that day," according to Elias.

Racism Alive and Well Among NASCAR Fans

NASCAR says it is investigating after a noose was found in the garage stall of African-American driver Bubba Wallace.  Wallace, NASCAR's only full-time black driver, successfully campaigned to get the Confederate flag banned from races.

The flag has been a common sight at NASCAR races but for many it remains a potent symbol of slavery and racism.  In a statement, NASCAR condemned the "heinous" act at Talladega Superspeedway in (where else?) Alabama.

"Late this afternoon, NASCAR was made aware that a noose was found in the garage stall of the 43 team," the organization said.  "We are angry and outraged and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act. We have launched an immediate investigation and will do everything we can to identify the person(s) responsible and eliminate them from the sport."

It added: "As we have stated unequivocally, there is no place for racism in Nascar and this act only strengthens our resolve to make the sport open and welcoming to all."

In a statement 26-year-old Wallace described the incident as a "despicable act of racism" that left him incredibly saddened.  "This will not break me. I will not give in, nor will I back down," he said.

Earlier this month, NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from all races in the wake of global protests against the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.  Wallace had called for the flag to be banned from racetracks where it had become a common sight.  "Get them out of here. They have no place for them, " he told CNN. "No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a Nascar race. It starts with Confederate flags."

The noose incident came on the heels of another racial incident at the same track.  Before the scheduled race at Talladega, a small plane was seen flying over the track trailing a Confederate flag and a banner that read "Defund NASCAR".  NASCAR executive vice-president Steve O'Donnell condemned the display in a public statement.

Trump Furious and Embarrassed at Disastrous Comeback Rally

By the time Trump was in his helicopter headed to Joint Base Andrews early Saturday, things were already looking bad for his "triumphant" return to the campaign trail.

The Orangeman had already been disappointed with the pictures on cable news, which revealed that there were no lines forming outside the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa.  To make matters worse, the headlines were being dominated by news of AG Barr's duplicity regarding federal prosecutor for the southern district of New York.  Barr had been unsuccessful in his attempt to fire Geoffrey Berman, the night before, in the process being caught in several lies about the incident.

Hours after his departure from the White House the President was then informed six campaign staffers in Tulsa had tested positive for coronavirus ahead of his scheduled arrival -- an unfortunate reminder of an ongoing pandemic that Trump is trying to ignore. After initially dismissing the revelation, a source familiar with his reaction said Trump erupted in anger when it was subsequently reported in the media -- overtaking coverage of the rally itself.

Still, a determined Trump was intent on breathing new life into his struggling campaign event. He took off for Tulsa, convinced large swaths of his supporters would be waiting for him there.  Things did not improve once Air Force One lifted off, unfortunately.

The President received a report that only about 25 people were assembled in the overflow space the campaign had reserved for the huge crowd of people that was expected would not be able to get admittance.  In a desperate move two hours before the rally, the Trump campaign  people sent an urgent text message to those that had signed up for the event: "The Great American Comeback Celebration's almost here!" it read. "There's still space!"  They could scarcely imagine how right that message would prove to be.

When the President landed in Tulsa at 5:51 p.m. local time, the crowds his aides had promised him had failed to materialize. Air Force One flew over the arena, where Trump had been told thousands of supporters would be waiting to hear from him on a stage outside the arena, but saw nothing resembling the sea of people he'd been expecting.

While Trump was still in the air, the campaign quickly canceled the outside appearance given the apparent lack of enthusiasm.   The inside arena was only partially filled by the time Trump and Pence arrived.  The Trump campaign asserted that the smaller-than-expected crowds were partially a result of interference by protesters, though no reporters on the ground in Tulsa saw any incident with protesters trying to block supporters from attending.

Trump told staff he wanted all of his surrogates on hand when he landed in Tulsa, so aides invited dozens of them and chartered a private plane to transport them all. Photos from the flight show none wearing masks.

The Tulsa rally was expected to feature a new assault on former Vice President Joe Biden-- but even that fizzled, replaced by recycled grievances and race-baiting. The sparse crowd was a reminder that many Americans, even Trump's supporters, remain cautious of a pandemic that continues to rage in places like Oklahoma, where cases are spiking, even if Trump is ready to move on.   After Trump finished speaking, a source told CNN that two Secret Service agents had also tested positive for coronavirus.

 Witnesses at the rally initially said that the arena appeared to be 30-40% empty of its 19,000-seat capacity.  The next day, the Tulsa Fire Department released a statement saying that fewer than 6,200 people were in attendance.

 Since Trump returned to Washington, DC aides were anxiously awaiting his response to the less-than-stellar turnout, as it is known that Trump has threatened to fire officials in the past when his rallies ended in disappointment.

Coronavirus Art - Bangkok

Julia Michaels & JP Saxe - If the World Was Ending

DC in Shock: Senate GOP Produces a Bill; Bolton Revelations Rattle White House

Capital observers went sent into shock yesterday-- when the Sentate GOP actually introduced a bill instead of trying to pack the Judiciary with minimally-qualified conservative hacks.  Even more shocking was the fact that Moscow Mitch said that he would actually allow a vote on the bill.

Unfortunately, the bill doesn't really do much in comparison with the Democratic version.  The Democrats proposed ending the qualified immunity given to law enforcement personnel that shields them from full accountability--the GOP does not. 

The Democrats want to ban choke holds-- but the GOP does not.  The Democratic version of the bill would eliminate no-knock warrants.  Moscow Mitch's bill would keep those in place. 

Over on the other side of town, the White House is under fire after shocking revelations from John Bolton's upcoming book appeared in the press.   The book paints a withering portrait of a president ignorant of even basic facts about the world, susceptible to transparent flattery by authoritarian leaders manipulating him and prone to false statements, foul-mouthed eruptions and snap decisions that aides try to manage or reverse.

Trump did not seem to know, for example, that Britain was a nuclear power and asked if Finland was a part of Russia.  He also once said it would be “cool” to invade Venezuela.  Bolton writes that during the president’s 2018 meeting with North Korea’s leader, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slipped Mr. Bolton a note disparaging the president, saying, “He is so full of shit.”

Trump channeled the authoritarian tendencies of leaders he clearly admired-- once saying about journalists, “These people should be executed.  They are scumbags.” When China's President Xi explained why he was building concentration camps in China, Trump apparently said that "Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which he thought was exactly the right thing to do.”
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Bolton describes several episodes where the president expressed a willingness to halt criminal investigations “to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked,” citing cases involving major firms in China and Turkey. “The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life, which we couldn’t accept,” Mr. Bolton writes, saying that he reported his concerns to Attorney General William P. Barr.

Bolton also adds a striking new accusation by describing how Mr. Trump overtly linked tariff talks with China to his own political fortunes by asking President Xi Jinping to buy American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year’s election. Mr. Trump, he writes, was “pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win.”

It's Now Clear That Many States Loosened Restrictions too Quickly-- and the White House is Trying to Bullshit Their Way Through It

Vice President Mike Pence urged state governors to adopt the administration’s claim that increased testing helps account for the new coronavirus outbreak reports, even though evidence has shown that the explanation is misleading.  On the call with the governors (audio of which was obtained by The New York Times), Pence asked them to “encourage people with the news that we’re safely reopening the country.”

In fact, seven-day averages across the nation reveal Pence's claims to be a complete delusion. In six states — Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming — the seven-day average of new cases has increased since May 31 while the average number of daily tests being conducted has declined, according to data collected by the COVID Tracking Project.   In 14 other states, the rate of new cases is increasing faster than the increase in the average number of tests.

Pence was also dismissive of the idea that community spread is a culprit, focusing instead on specific outbreak locations, like nursing homes. In fact, as cases rise, officials in several states have specifically pointed a finger at community spread.

Unfortunately, Dr. Deborah Birx also got roped into peddling Pence's fantasy- she was quoted as saying that hospitalization rates for coronavirus infections had generally been declining across the United States, though some states had seen an uptick.

However, the Washington Post has already called bullshit on that talking point-- there have been more than a dozen states recording their highest averages of new cases since the pandemic began, and hospitalizations in at least nine states have been on the rise since Memorial Day.  In Texas, North and South Carolina, California, Oregon, Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Arizona, there are an increasing number of patients under supervised care since the holiday weekend because of coronavirus infections. The spikes generally began in the past couple weeks and in most states are trending higher.

Data from states that are reporting some of their highest seven-day averages of new cases is disproving the notion that the country is seeing such a spike in cases solely because of the continued increase in testing.

Bars and restaurants that only recently reopened around the country are being forced to close their doors again, or at least suspend dining in, amid new infections.  In some cases, the closings came after employees tested positive. In others, it was the patrons who were found to be infected.

In Phoenix, where cases have been on the rise, the Porch Arcadia, which reopened May 11, announced that it was temporarily closing again because someone who had been in the restaurant had tested positive. Another restaurant, Chelsea’s Kitchen, said on Facebook that it had suspended dine-in service and moved back to curbside takeout and delivery after “a person close to the restaurant” tested positive.  In Texas, some San Antonio bars decided to shut down, among them Hills & Dales Icehouse, which cited “the recent surge of positive Covid-19 cases.”   Florida-- the poster child for the Trump approach to the pandemic is a complete basket base.

Over the past week, the Sunshine state saw a surge in new confirmed cases of COVID-19. These numbers, based on the recent history of the DeSantis-led government, are likely grossly low.  Despite the likelihood that Florida's numbers are low, the state over the weekend still reported its highest single-day number of cases since the outbreak began: 2,581.

This comes about one week after all Florida counties began a transition into phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan. Now, news outlets are reporting that newly reopened bars are having to newly re-close, as new cases of either patrons or staff testing positive for the virus have come to light.

A number of Florida bars — including in Naples, St. Petersburg and the Orlando suburbs — told customers that they were voluntarily shutting down their dining rooms because employees had tested positive. St. Petersburg’s mayor, Rick Kriseman, urged other businesses to also close if any of their workers get sick.

Kiwi's Pub & Grill in Florida's Altamonte Springs posted on their Facebook page that the bar had temporarily closed again because “We have been informed by 6 different people today that they have been infected with the Coronavirus and they have been inside Kiwi’s within the last week.” The owner of Kiwi’s posted the following day that he had spoken to someone at the Seminole County health department who said they did not believe the bar had “been tagged by any infected people,” but that they were “getting hammered with new infections all around Altamonte Springs.”

According to News 4 Jacksonville, 15 patrons of the newly reopened Lynch’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach tested positive after a post-quarantine celebration. Erika Crisp, a 40-year-old healthcare worker who tested positive after visiting Lynch said that her experience makes it clear that DeSantis and company are not being prudent when it comes to reopening the state. “We should be wearing masks. We should be social distancing. It was too soon to open everything back up.”

In Texas, Governor Abbott tried to rationalize his way out of the recent spikes in cases in Texas, saying during a teleconference yesterday: “There are certain counties where a majority of the people who are tested positive in that county are under the age of 30, and this typically results from people going to the bar type settings.”  Hmmm-- so who exactly allowed the bars to open up to begin with, Governor Abbott?

  

Here's the bottom line.  Remember the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) ?  They were the guys the White House relied on (once upon a time) for its projections on deaths from COVID-19.  It just so happens that IHME  recently updated its projections for the U.S.-- and they are now projecting that we will reach a death toll of 201,2129 by October 1, 2020.   Let's put that in perspective.   It took us from January 21 to May 28 (129 days) to get to 100,000 dead Americans in our country.  What this new forecast says is that to get to our next 100,000 dead-- it will take us LESS time (May 28 to October 1=127 days).  Not only is this deadly coronavirus situation not getting better-- it's getting worse.  So when Mike Pence says, "The truth is . . . our whole-of-America approach has been a success. We’ve slowed the spread. . . That’s a cause for celebration"-- he can take his bullshit and stick it up his ass.  How can this guy sleep at night with the blood of over 100,000 Americans (and counting) on his hands?

Historic Justice for LGBTQ Citizens - Despite Shocking Dissent From Conservative Mintority

The Supreme Court delivered a resounding victory to the nation’s LGBTQ community, with Justice Neil Gorsuch declaring that gay and transgender employees are protected by federal anti-discrimination laws.

“The answer is clear,” Gorsuch wrote in the court’s opinion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, known as Title VII, which prohibits job discrimination because of sex.  “An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids,” he stated.

The court’s 6-3 ruling, which saw conservative justices Gorsuch and Chief Justice John Roberts join the four liberal justices in the majority, resulted in celebratory cries from LGBTQ and civil rights activists.  Critics, however, leveled the same criticism again the court that conservatives did against the Warren court when they decided Brown v. Board of Education-- that the justices were "legislating from the bench" and they should only be interpreting the exact wording of the law.

This landmark ruling represents a further blow to the antiquated legal principle which can be traced to the rejected Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork in the 1980's.  Adherents to originalism claim that all statements in the constitution (and other laws) must be interpreted based on the original understanding of the authors at the time of ratification.  Of course, most reject this concept as legal scholars generally acknowledge that the law must be a living body of work-- Congressional legislators cannot be expected to conceive circumstances that might arise hundreds of years into the future.  Bork's increasingly fringe concept (also favored by the late Justice Scalia) also conveniently forgets the Ninth Amendment of the Constitution, which provides citizens with rights that are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.  Even the nation's founders had the foresight to realize that the future of the country would be vastly different than anything they could think of.  Who would expect the framers of our constitution to provide for reproductive rights or internet privacy 200 years before the concepts existed?  Who would expect Congress of the 1960's to come to grips with complex gender issues that we are addressing 60 years on?

What's shocking to me is that Alito, Thomas and Kavanaugh-- despite their tortured, technical rationales for dissenting-- think it's OK for gay people to continue to lose their jobs for the sole reason of being who they are (from birth).  What is it in these callous men that prevents them from delivering justice-- the same way the originally-dissenting justices in Brown v. Board of Education joined the majority in order to deliver a unanimous decision?

Coronavirus Art - Bangkalan (Indonesia)

Trump Gives A Bizarre Performance at West Point

“Trump is not well” began to trend on Twitter after video of the president’s awkward walk down a ramp was posted on social media.


Trump later tweeted a weird defense of the incident saying, "The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery. The last thing I was going to do is “fall” for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten feet I ran down to level ground."

Problem is, the video didn't appear t show that he ran down the final section of the ramp.  The problem isn't that he lied-- Trump has always done that.   It's just that an alternative explanation doesn't appear to exist.  Maybe it was bonespurts.

Earlier, during his address to cadets, Trump took an awkward sip of water: He used his right hand to lift a glass, then used his left hand to push the glass, still clutched in his right hand, all the way to his mouth.



Twitter quickly latched onto that incident, mocking him for not having totally figured out how to drink water.  Both incidents caught the eye of Twitter users, with many raising questions about Trump’s health, and wondering again about his unannounced visit late last year to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The White House said at the time that it was for a routine exam.

West Point cadets were called back from their homes across the nation to prepare for the graduation ceremony after Trump informed surprised officials in late April that he would be giving the commencement speech. The Army hadn’t yet determined whether or not to have cadets back for a graduation ceremony because of the risks of COVID-19. They had all been ordered to stay home after spring break and continued their studies online.

At least 15 of the 1,106 cadets who returned to the campus, which is about an hour’s drive north of New York City, tested positive for COVID-19 when they arrived weeks ago, and were placed in quarantine. None were symptomatic. The rest were allowed to stay in their dorms under what the Army called a “soft quarantine” before the commencement.

Cadets were in chairs spaced 6 feet apart for the ceremony, and wore masks as they crossed the stage. Families had to watch remotely. Trump did not wear a mask.  The president promised in his speech that the cadets would not have to fight “endless wars” in “far-away lands.”  But of course, Trump has not delivered on that promise.  In fact, he nearly embroiled the country in yet another war-- this time with Iran.

Blackface Outrage on Social Media

What might get you “canceled” no longer seems to matter to some on social media.  Many uninformed “influencers” are wearing blackface in a tone-deaf attempt to “show solidarity” with the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd's death, as nationwide protests continue across the country.  “I wish I was black, today more than ever,” said one influencer, Tania Saleh, in a recent Instagram post — with a photo of a black woman with her face photo-shopped over it.  “Sending my love and full support to the people who demand equality and justice for all races anywhere in the world,” added Saleh. 

After being called out by her followers for her usage of blackface in the comments section, the social media influencer responded, "I have posted this with love and I will not  remove it despite all your offensive comments."

In another Instagram post from a second influencer, Souhila Ben Lachhab, the Algerian woman can be seen wearing half blackface.  An incensed Instagram poster called her display “truly disrespectful” adding, “you’re doing BLACKFACE.”   In another post shared by Instagram user @fantasticfhd, a photo can be seen of the influencer wearing blackface, with his lighter-colored hands (without makeup) seen resting on his face and chest.

Saleh and Ben Lachhab are not the first to spark outrage over blackface.  Earlier this month, a teen TikTokker received backlash over a minstrel-show evoking makeup tutorial.  A another influencer, Rashmi Zurail Mann, posted a blackface makeup tutorial to her Instagram, account, which she has since deleted after being called out by a popular satirist and socio-political account known as Saint Hoax.

“Many ‘influencers’ have been sharing photos of themselves wearing blackface as an act of

solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement,” wrote Saint Hoax. “Even after receiving backlash, some are still refusing to take down their posts.  How can you ‘spread awareness’ about a subject you know so little about?” continued Saint Hoax. “If you genuinely care about a cause, the least you can do is educate yourself about it.  It’s infuriating that we still need to educate people about the racist and painful history of blackface,” the account added. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation in 2020.”

The Instagram post included several additional photos of screenshots of the influencers’ blackface social media posts, one of which, included the aforementioned @fantasticfhd, who has since made his account “private” after being called out by Saint Hoax.  Please everyone-- educate yourself about the history of blackface and understand why it is deeply offensive.

Motto of the Right-wing Media: Trust But Don't Verify

Right-wing media is elevating hoax after hoax and misleading report after misleading report in its ongoing effort to make antifa the big deal Donald Trump wants it to be. Antifa may be a literal footnote to an intelligence bulletin on protest-related violence, but if you follow the right-wing media, you’re hearing constantly what a giant scary threat it is.

Take Lara Logan (who has fallen a long way since her false reporting on Benghazi)-- who has now gone off the deep end as a Fox News personality. She’s promoted a series of hoaxes in order to bolster right-wing claims of Antifa involvement in the BLM protests.

“For those of you still in denial about who is directing & controlling the protests - take a close look at this,” she tweeted on May 31. “This” was an item from 2015 about the Baltimore protests against the police killing of Freddie Gray, and it was a hoax back then, too. 

The next day, Logan tweeted a threat by the @ANTIFA_US Twitter account. The account turned out to be fake, and linked to Identity Europa, a white nationalist organization.  Logan then appeared on Hannity to claim that Antifa was leaving "pallets of bricks" at protest sites in an attempt to stoke violence and destruction. Fact-checkers found that claims of bricks being left at protest sites were baseless. No one else reported seeing Antifa trucks leaving pallets of bricks.

Logan also attempted to further claims that Antifa had a "traditional command structure" by referencing a dubious link between Antifa and juggalos.  The account was clearly a joke account, and contained the following post: “for those confused as to the antifa clown hierarchy, there isn't one juggalos are regulars jokers are auxiliaries outside the traditional command structure.”  Huh?

Logan’s not the only one, though. When a group of peaceful protesters accepted Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s invitation into City Hall this week, right-wing media tweeted out video with the claim: “Antifa and [Black Lives Matter] have broken into Seattle city hall.”  Sawant (who is an elected official) actually used a key to get in-- but that didn't stop Fox News’ Tomi Lahren, the Daily Caller, and Republican congressional staffers from re-tweeting the bogus claim.

Intelligence agencies have continued to be clear that the major threat comes from racist extremists, but Donald Trump and the right-wing media have people in rural towns across the country scared that antifa is coming to town.  It’s just one more attempt to distract, divide and smear their opponents ahead of of the fall elections.

Surfaces - Sunday Best

Dr. Seuss Protests

Coronavirus Art - Austin

Billionnaire Hospitals Receive Bailouts but Fire Workers and Cut Wages Anyway

Congress provided $100 billion in emergency funding to hospitals to respond to the coronavirus crisis in the CARES Act passed back in March. That was supposed to provide about $108,000 per hospital bed across the country, to help hospitals make up for lost revenue and ramp up infrastructure to meet the coming demand. The legislation gave wide discretion to the  HHS Secretary for the distribution of the funds, without imposing many constraints. That turned out to be a mistake, as an investigation from The New York Times demonstrates.

The NYT team analyzed tax and securing filings from 60 large national hospital chains that received collectively more than $15 billion of that funding. They found that a lot of that money went into the pockets of CEOs while thousands of employees—health care and support workers—were furloughed, laid off, or had their pay cut.

For example, HCA Healthcare, whose chief executive was paid $26 million last year, got $1 billion in emergency funding, but reportedly failed to provide adequate protective gear to nurses, medical technicians and cleaning staff-- and even warned that they would lay off thousands of nurses if they didn't agree to wage freezes and other concessions.

Of the 60 hospital chains the Times looked into, at least three dozen have laid off, furloughed, or cut the pay of their staff to "try to save money during the pandemic," despite the fact that among them they've got tens of billions in cash reserves. The five highest-paid executives among these chains were paid a collective $874 million in the last year financial data was available.   At these same hospitals, the front-line staff have been hurt the hardest—custodial and cafeteria workers, and nursing assistants. They also said that "pay cuts and furloughs made it even harder for members of the medical staff to do their jobs, forcing them to treat more patients in less time."

The Mayo Clinic got $170 million in CARES funds, despite having eight months worth of funding in reserve.  It has furloughed or cut hours for 23,000 employees.  Seven other chains—Trinity Health, Beaumont Health and the Henry Ford Health System in Michigan; SSM Health and Mercy in St. Louis; Fairview Health Services in Minneapolis; and Prisma Health in South Carolina—received a collective $1.5 billion and among them have let 30,000 employees go, either permanently or temporarily.

Tenet Healthcare got $345 million in bailout money, and has furloughed 11,000. Stanford University's health system got $100 million (it has $42.4 billion in reserve) and "is temporarily cutting the hours of nursing staff, nursing assistants, janitorial workers and others at its two hospitals."

HCA, however, is the worst offender. The $1 billion it got in emergency grants is the largest. But in the past few months, the medical staff at 19 of its hospitals have filed Occupational Safety and Health Administration complaints over lack of personal protective equipment, including respirator masks and gowns. At least two HCA employees have died from coronavirus because they didn't have adequate PPE. Celia Yap-Banago, a nurse in Kansas City died in April after she had to treat a patient without wearing PPE.  At an HCA hospital in Riverside, California, Rosa Luna and her fellow janitorial staff clean rooms of coronavirus patients, but haven't been provided proper masks. Rosa Luna died last month, while HCA executive were pressuring its unionized workers to accept wage freezes and the elimination of company contributions to workers’ retirement plans, among other concessions.

Yes, all of these systems have lost money-- but they have received disproportionate amounts of CARES bailout funds and have billions in reserve collectively. They have CEOs bringing home millions in salary and bonuses. They can afford to keep their staff.  They need to be required to use some of the bailout money to retain and pay staff at current (if not enhanced or hazard) rates.

There's a hell of a lot that this pandemic has revealed about how broken everything is in our health care system-- saving lives based on profit margins means that unacceptable numbers of lives are going to be sacrificed.

John Oliver on Police Brutality

John Oliver devoted his entire Sunday night show to police brutality and how it runs hand-in-hand with white supremacy.  “The police have not just been incidentally tainted by racism,” Oliver pointed out. “For much of U.S. history, law enforcement meant enforcing laws that were explicitly designed to subjugate Black people.”

That, he said, means more than just weeding out a “bad apple” but rather dismantling an entire system ― and replacing it with something that more effectively serves the communities.  Oliver pointed out that many on the right have seized on the slogan as meaning that people want to do away with police altogether, playing a clip of Fox News host Tucker Carlson arguing the terms means   “No more cops.”

“Fuck you forever, Tucker Carlson, you sentient polo mallet,” Olive retorted before dismantling Carlson’s talking points.  “De-funding the police absolutely does not mean that we eliminate all cops and just succumb to the purge,” he said. “Instead, it’s about moving away from a narrow conception of public safety that relies on policing and punishment and investing in a community’s actual safety net.”

Another Inept Photo-Op for Trump to Avoid Dealing With BLM Protests

In another pointless photo-op designed to distract people from his lack of leadership during the Black Lives Matter protest, Trump stomped around one of just two manufacturers of the nasal swabs required to test patients for the novel coronavirus, predictably refusing to wear a mask. The Orangeman reminded people that the CDC only recommends (but does not require) people to wear them. But due to his contamination of the normally sterile production environment, all of the swabs produced during Trump’s factory visit had to be destroyed.

During the visit, Trump repeatedly used the phrase "Made in the U.S.A." in his remarks. The former steak vendor and necktie seller had previously come under fire for manufacturing much of his branded merchandise overseas-- but he defended that choice by falsely claiming that “They don’t make this stuff here.”

Trump’s visit had been discouraged by Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who declined to meet with the former reality TV star. Mills, a Democrat, was concerned that the extremely unpopular chief executive would spark further unrest as Mainers continue to protest racial injustice and police brutality.  The entire Mained congressional delegation, including Republican Sen. Susan Collins, also declined to meet with Trump.

After Primaries This Week, Joe Clinches Nomination