thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--Senate Democrats Defend Joe Biden Against Sexual Assault Allegation

“ From the very beginning , I ’ ve said believing women means taking the woman ’ s claim seriously when she steps forward , and then vet it , ” Biden said on MSNBC last week when asked about comments he made in 2018 to PBS that “ women should be believed.
” Biden requested that both the National Archives and the secretary of the Senate look into whether Reade filed any sort of complaint , as she has claimed she did .
The Archives said it does not hold such records .
The Senate said it lacked the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senate Democrats ― including some who were on the front lines in the fight against Kavanaugh ’ s nomination to the Supreme Court in 2018 ― defended Biden this week even as they maintained that Reade should be heard .
Hirono , a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that weighed Kavanaugh ’ s nomination , said it was more appropriate to compare the allegations against Biden to the many accusations of sexual misconduct against President Donald Trump .
Christine Blasey Ford , who said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 , had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ d told she ’ d been assaulted , as well as therapist ’ s notes and the results of a polygraph test .
“ In this situation , Biden has said to bring out the facts , ” Sen. Dick Durbin ( D-Ill. ) said .
“ There ’ s a dispute as to what happened .
He ’ s said if there ’ s any evidence , let the public decide .
That ’ s a lot different approach than we saw with Justice Kavanaugh.
” Sen. Kamala Harris ( D-Calif. ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Committee who has been discussed as a possible vice presidential candidate , didn ’ t defend Biden directly , saying she believed “ that women should be heard and evaluated without any kind of judgment before there has been a real pursuit of the truth and the facts.
” “ The more that comes out , the more and more it , to me , does not have the indicia of credibility that I would be looking to at all , ” Jones said , calling Reade ’ s account “ totally inconsistent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reade said Biden pushed her against a wall , reached up her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers while she was delivering a duffel bag to him at her manager ’ s request .
She said she filed a complaint with a personnel office on Capitol Hill while she was working in Biden ’ s Senate office .
The complaint , she said , alleged harassment but not assault .
She did not publicize her allegations of sexual assault against Biden until this year , around the time he became the presumptive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worked in Biden ’ s office at the same time as Reade corroborated the allegation , but several other people said she ’ d mentioned it in the past , including a former neighbor .
Prominent Democrats have stuck by Biden , including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D-Calif. ) and his onetime rivals for the nomination , Sens .
Elizabeth Warren ( D-Mass . )
and Kirsten Gillibrand ( D-N.Y. ) .
But others , like Rep. Ayanna Pressley ( D-Mass . )
, a sexual assault survivor , have urged Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surrounding sexual violence .

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Democrats in the Senate have rejected the idea that a former aide’s allegation of sexual assault against Joe Biden is comparable to the sexual assault accusations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, has firmly denied Tara Reade’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her when he was a senator in 1993.
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“From the very beginning, I’ve said believing women means taking the woman’s claim seriously when she steps forward, and then vet it,” Biden said on MSNBC last week when asked about comments he made in 2018 to PBS that “women should be believed.”
He added: “In this case, the truth is the claims are false.”
Biden requested that both the National Archives and the secretary of the Senate look into whether Reade filed any sort of complaint, as she has claimed she did. The Archives said it does not hold such records. The Senate said it lacked the legal authority to release such information.
Senate Democrats ― including some who were on the front lines in the fight against Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court in 2018 ― defended Biden this week even as they maintained that Reade should be heard.
“These allegations should be taken seriously. He has welcomed scrutiny,” Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, a vocal ally of the Me Too movement, said of Biden.
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Hirono, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that weighed Kavanaugh’s nomination, said it was more appropriate to compare the allegations against Biden to the many accusations of sexual misconduct against President Donald Trump.
“The apt comparison is Trump. Twenty different allegations made against him,” Hirono said.
“It was really clear Republicans wanted to fast-track Kavanaugh; they didn’t have witnesses, they truncated the investigation so that we couldn’t get the facts.”
Christine Blasey Ford, who said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982, had four sworn affidavits from people she’d told she’d been assaulted, as well as therapist’s notes and the results of a polygraph test.
“In this situation, Biden has said to bring out the facts,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. “There’s a dispute as to what happened. He’s said if there’s any evidence, let the public decide. That’s a lot different approach than we saw with Justice Kavanaugh.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), another member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has been discussed as a possible vice presidential candidate, didn’t defend Biden directly, saying she believed “that women should be heard and evaluated without any kind of judgment before there has been a real pursuit of the truth and the facts.”
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“I encourage that in this case as I do in other cases,” she added before entering a Senate elevator.
Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) a longtime friend of Biden and a former federal prosecutor, said he found Reade’s credibility lacking.
“The more that comes out, the more and more it, to me, does not have the indicia of credibility that I would be looking to at all,” Jones said, calling Reade’s account “totally inconsistent” with Biden’s character.
Reade said Biden pushed her against a wall, reached up her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers while she was delivering a duffel bag to him at her manager’s request. She said she filed a complaint with a personnel office on Capitol Hill while she was working in Biden’s Senate office. The complaint, she said, alleged harassment but not assault.
In an interview with last week, Reade said that she did not use the phrase “sexual harassment” in the complaint.
“The main word I used — and I know I didn’t use sexual harassment — I used ‘uncomfortable.’ And I remember ‘retaliation,’” she told The Associated Press.
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She did not publicize her allegations of sexual assault against Biden until this year, around the time he became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. No one who worked in Biden’s office at the same time as Reade corroborated the allegation, but several other people said she’d mentioned it in the past, including a former neighbor.
Prominent Democrats have stuck by Biden, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and his onetime rivals for the nomination, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). But others, like Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), a sexual assault survivor, have urged Biden to engage more fully in the dialogue surrounding sexual violence.
Republicans, meanwhile, say the Democratic Party is guilty of holding Biden to a different standard than Kavanaugh.
“I think that the hypocrisy among many of my friends on this issue is breathtaking,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told HuffPost. “To try and distinguish Vice President Biden from Justice Kavanaugh is a distinction without a difference.”
Members of Trump’s reelection campaign have also emphasized the hypocrisy they see in Biden’s words about believing women who come forward with allegations of sexual assault — without acknowledging the president’s own record on the matter.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--Jim Bakker Claims Religious Freedom Shields Him From Fake Coronavirus Cure Lawsuit

O ’ FALLON , Mo .
( AP ) — Missouri-based TV pastor Jim Bakker is asking a judge to dismiss a state lawsuit accusing him of falsely claiming that a health supplement could cure the coronavirus , and the lawyer representing Bakker is former Gov .
Jay Nixon .
Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued Bakker and Morningside Church Productions Inc. in early March .
Schmitt sought an injunction ordering Bakker to stop selling Silver Solution as a treatment for the coronavirus on his streaming TV program , The Jim Bakker Show .
The lawsuit said Bakker and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a program on Feb. 12 .
In a court filing on Monday , Nixon — a Democrat who served two terms as governor before leaving office in 2017 , and two terms as attorney general before that — called the lawsuit an assault on Bakker ’ s religious freedom .
“ Jim Bakker is being unfairly targeted by those who want to crush his ministry and force his Christian television program off the air , ” Nixon said in a statement .
“ The video recording of The Jim Bakker Show clearly shows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not claim or state that Silver Solution was a cure for COVID-19.
” Missouri 's attorney general sued Jim Bakker in March , seeking an injunction ordering the televangelist to stop selling Silver Solution as a treatment for the coronavirus on his streaming TV program , The Jim Bakker Show .
Schmitt wasn ’ t alone in going after Bakker .
Also in March , U.S. regulators warned Bakker ’ s company and six others to stop selling items using what the government called false claims that they could treat the coronavirus or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sent jointly by the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission warned the companies that their products for treating COVID-19 were fraudulent , “ pose significant risks to patient health and violate federal law.
” There are no approved treatments for the new virus .
Potential treatments and vaccines now in testing won ’ t be ready for many months or even years .
Nixon said Schmitt ’ s lawsuit violated Bakker ’ s constitutional right to free speech , as well as the Missouri Constitution and the state ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ silver products are commonly sold at stores and online .
“ Targeting a Christian pastor , who has been using and offering the product for the past 10 years , is not supported by the facts or the law , ” Nixon said .
Nixon is now a partner in the St. Louis law firm Dowd Bennett , which along with the Kansas City-based firm Spencer Fane is representing Bakker in the case .

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O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — Missouri-based TV pastor Jim Bakker is asking a judge to dismiss a state lawsuit accusing him of falsely claiming that a health supplement could cure the coronavirus, and the lawyer representing Bakker is former Gov. Jay Nixon.
Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued Bakker and Morningside Church Productions Inc. in early March. Schmitt sought an injunction ordering Bakker to stop selling Silver Solution as a treatment for the coronavirus on his streaming TV program, The Jim Bakker Show. The lawsuit said Bakker and a guest made the cure claim during a program on Feb. 12.
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In a court filing on Monday, Nixon — a Democrat who served two terms as governor before leaving office in 2017, and two terms as attorney general before that — called the lawsuit an assault on Bakker’s religious freedom.
“Jim Bakker is being unfairly targeted by those who want to crush his ministry and force his Christian television program off the air,” Nixon said in a statement. “The video recording of The Jim Bakker Show clearly shows the allegations are false. Bakker did not claim or state that Silver Solution was a cure for COVID-19.”
Missouri's attorney general sued Jim Bakker in March, seeking an injunction ordering the televangelist to stop selling Silver Solution as a treatment for the coronavirus on his streaming TV program, The Jim Bakker Show. Albert L. Ortega via Getty Images
Schmitt wasn’t alone in going after Bakker. Also in March, U.S. regulators warned Bakker’s company and six others to stop selling items using what the government called false claims that they could treat the coronavirus or keep people from catching it. Letters sent jointly by the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission warned the companies that their products for treating COVID-19 were fraudulent, “pose significant risks to patient health and violate federal law.”
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Nixon said Bakker immediately complied with orders to stop offering Silver Solution on his show and ministry website.
There are no approved treatments for the new virus. Potential treatments and vaccines now in testing won’t be ready for many months or even years.
Nixon said Schmitt’s lawsuit violated Bakker’s constitutional right to free speech, as well as the Missouri Constitution and the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. He said silver products are commonly sold at stores and online.
“Targeting a Christian pastor, who has been using and offering the product for the past 10 years, is not supported by the facts or the law,” Nixon said.
Schmitt’s spokesman, Chris Nuelle, declined comment, citing the ongoing litigation, “except to say we stand by our lawsuit.”
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The hour-long Jim Bakker Show is filmed in southwestern Missouri.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--Mitch McConnell's Protege Inches Closer To A Powerful Court Seat

Caroline Brehman via Getty Images Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R.-Ky. ) with Justin Walker before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Walker 's nomination for U.S. district judge for the Western District of Kentucky on July 31 , 2019 .
But he got what he wanted on Wednesday : a confirmation hearing for his protege , Justin Walker , who is up for a lifetime seat on the second most powerful court in the nation .
McConnell has known Walker since he was in high school .
He knows Walker ’ s grandfather , and he recommended him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a seat on a U.S. District Court in Kentucky , at the time calling him “ unquestionably the most outstanding nomination that I ’ ve ever recommended to Presidents to serve on the bench in Kentucky.
” That was a day after the American Bar Association rated Walker “ not qualified ” for that seat , citing his lack of experience ( his resume at the time listed positions as an associate law professor and former law clerk to then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the District of Columbia U.S .
Circuit Court of Appeals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in October .
Six months later , Walker is getting a promotion , and the ABA says he ’ s qualified this time .
During Wednesday ’ s hearing , Democrats on the Judiciary Committee wondered aloud why they were there at all , meeting to confirm another judge , when they could be addressing urgent matters related to the pandemic .
Sen. Dick Durbin ( D-Ill. ) said the committee has jurisdiction to examine how the November elections will be held amid the pandemic , for example , or the fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers in the country are immigrants facing an uncertain immigration status .
Sen. John Cornyn ( R-Texas ) fired back , saying he ’ s been “ amazed ” that some Democrats are miffed that they were brought back into session to confirm judges , comparing senators to workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis .
“ They think it ’ s OK for grocery clerks to show up and make sure that we have food on our tables .
They think it ’ s OK for doctors and nurses to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in our hospitals and health care facilities .
They think it ’ s OK for police officers to show up , ” Cornyn said .
“ But heaven forbid , the United States Congress show up to do our job.
” Beyond the eerie optics of holding a Senate confirmation hearing in the middle of a pandemic ― the room was barely populated , save for a few mask-wearing attendees , and some senators were asking questions via video conference ― it was a relatively smooth ride for Walker .
Republicans praised his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Louisville , Kentucky , the ability to ban drive-in church services on Easter Sunday to slow the spread of the coronavirus .
Democrats took turns grilling him over his past comments critical of the Affordable Care Act .
Walker has come under fire for praising Kavanaugh for having written the “ road map ” for overturning the Affordable Care Act , and he described the Supreme Court ’ s decision to uphold the law as “ indefensible ” and “ catastrophic.
” “ What I think is indefensible is that we are here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis considering the nomination of someone who would dismantle a health care system that is saving lives right now , ” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal ( D-Conn. ) .
“ Do you continue to believe those principles ?
” Walker said that when he made those comments , he wasn ’ t a judge yet , and he was talking about the legal analysis in the case , not the merits of the Affordable Care Act itself .
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights — a coalition of more than 200 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including the NAACP and the Human Rights Campaign — strongly opposes Walker ’ s nomination , characterizing his record as being “ hostile to health care.
” “ At this perilous time in our nation ’ s history , the Senate should maintain a laser focus on efforts to save lives and mitigate the devastating economic impact of COVID-19 on the American people , ” reads an April 27 letter to senators .
“ The Senate should not process judicial nominations — particularly those like Mr. Walker who seek to dismantle health care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shock of the pandemic has been diminished .
”

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WASHINGTON ― After a six-week hiatus, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) brought the Senate into session this week without any plans to take legislative action related to the public health and economic devastation from the coronavirus outbreak.
But he got what he wanted on Wednesday: a confirmation hearing for his protege, Justin Walker, who is up for a lifetime seat on the second most powerful court in the nation.
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McConnell recommended Walker, 37, to President Donald Trump for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
There’s nothing particularly urgent about filling this seat; it’s not even vacant until September. But McConnell is personally invested in Walker’s ascent.
McConnell has known Walker since he was in high school. He knows Walker’s grandfather, and he recommended him to the White House last year for a seat on a U.S. District Court in Kentucky, at the time calling him “unquestionably the most outstanding nomination that I’ve ever recommended to Presidents to serve on the bench in Kentucky.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) with Justin Walker before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Walker's nomination for U.S. district judge for the Western District of Kentucky on July 31, 2019. Caroline Brehman via Getty Images
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That was a day after the American Bar Association rated Walker “not qualified” for that seat, citing his lack of experience (his resume at the time listed positions as an associate law professor and former law clerk to then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals). But Republicans confirmed him anyway in October. Six months later, Walker is getting a promotion, and the ABA says he’s qualified this time.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee wondered aloud why they were there at all, meeting to confirm another judge, when they could be addressing urgent matters related to the pandemic.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the committee has jurisdiction to examine how the November elections will be held amid the pandemic, for example, or the fact that tens of thousands of critical health care workers in the country are immigrants facing an uncertain immigration status.
“Instead, we’re considering the nomination of a 37-year-old family friend of Sen. McConnell’s to the second-highest court in the land,” Durbin grumbled.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) fired back, saying he’s been “amazed” that some Democrats are miffed that they were brought back into session to confirm judges, comparing senators to workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.
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“They think it’s OK for grocery clerks to show up and make sure that we have food on our tables. They think it’s OK for doctors and nurses to show up and tend to the sick in our hospitals and health care facilities. They think it’s OK for police officers to show up,” Cornyn said. “But heaven forbid, the United States Congress show up to do our job.”
Beyond the eerie optics of holding a Senate confirmation hearing in the middle of a pandemic ― the room was barely populated, save for a few mask-wearing attendees, and some senators were asking questions via video conference ― it was a relatively smooth ride for Walker.
Republicans praised his recent ruling denying the Democratic mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, the ability to ban drive-in church services on Easter Sunday to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Democrats took turns grilling him over his past comments critical of the Affordable Care Act.
Walker has come under fire for praising Kavanaugh for having written the “road map” for overturning the Affordable Care Act, and he described the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the law as “indefensible” and “catastrophic.”
“What I think is indefensible is that we are here in the midst of a public health crisis considering the nomination of someone who would dismantle a health care system that is saving lives right now,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “Do you continue to believe those principles?”
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Walker said that when he made those comments, he wasn’t a judge yet, and he was talking about the legal analysis in the case, not the merits of the Affordable Care Act itself.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights — a coalition of more than 200 national civil and human rights organizations, including the NAACP and the Human Rights Campaign — strongly opposes Walker’s nomination, characterizing his record as being “hostile to health care.”
“At this perilous time in our nation’s history, the Senate should maintain a laser focus on efforts to save lives and mitigate the devastating economic impact of COVID-19 on the American people,” reads an April 27 letter to senators. “The Senate should not process judicial nominations — particularly those like Mr. Walker who seek to dismantle health care protections for vulnerable people — until the shock of the pandemic has been diminished.”
But Walker is all but certain to be confirmed, given McConnell’s strong support and Republicans’ control of the Senate.
The next step: The Judiciary Committee will vote whether to send Walker’s nomination to the full Senate. The timing of the vote has not yet been set.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--Obama's Office Lambasted GOP’s Biden-Ukraine Probe As Effort To ‘Shift Blame’ From Russia

The office of former President Barack Obama has privately expressed disdain for the congressional probe into his former vice president , Joe Biden , his son Hunter Biden and their ties to Ukraine ― lambasting the GOP-led investigation as an effort to “ shift the blame for Russian interference in the 2016 election to Ukraine.
” In a March letter to the National Archives and Records Administration , which preserves government records , Obama ’ s office took issue with an earlier request from Sen. Ron Johnson ( R-Wis. ) and Sen. Chuck Grassley ( R-Iowa ) for Obama administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ukraine.
” The congressmen ’ s request was “ not proper , ” said the March 13 letter , obtained and first reported by BuzzFeed News .
“ The request for early release of presidential records in order to give credence to a Russian disinformation campaign ― one that has already been thoroughly investigated by a bipartisan congressional committee ― is without precedent , ” the letter said .
Scoop : In a letter to the National Archives , former president Barack Obama blasted the Senate GOP investigation into Joe Biden and alleged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effort to `` to give credence to a Russian disinformation campaign .
`` https : //t.co/sSJ5HOTsd6 pic.twitter.com/wL58uwP3mt — Emma Loop ( @ LoopEmma ) May 5 , 2020 According to BuzzFeed , the letter represents the first reported comments by Obama or his team on the investigation ― led by Johnson and Grassley ― into whether Biden , as vice president , withheld aid to Ukraine to pressure the country to drop a probe into Burisma Holdings , an energy company with ties to Biden ’ s son .
No evidence has emerged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bidens in the case .
Johnson ’ s spokesman responded to Obama ’ s letter on Tuesday , telling BuzzFeed that “ the accusation that our oversight gives ‘ credence to a Russian disinformation campaign ’ is unfounded.
” “ Baseless accusations aside , our legitimate oversight will continue until we get answers for the American people , ” the spokesman added .
Biden emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president following Bernie Sanders ’ departure from the race last month .
Obama formally endorsed his former vice president for the nation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after Sanders bowed out of the contest .
“ Joe has the character and the experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery , ” Obama said at the time .
“ I know he ’ ll surround himself with good people ― experts , scientists , military officials who actually know how to run the government and care about doing a good job running the government , and know how to work with our allies , and who will always put the American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
”

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The office of former President Barack Obama has privately expressed disdain for the congressional probe into his former vice president, Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and their ties to Ukraine ― lambasting the GOP-led investigation as an effort to “shift the blame for Russian interference in the 2016 election to Ukraine.”
In a March letter to the National Archives and Records Administration, which preserves government records, Obama’s office took issue with an earlier request from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for Obama administration records of “certain meetings connected to Ukraine.”
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The congressmen’s request was “not proper,” said the March 13 letter, obtained and first reported by BuzzFeed News.
“The request for early release of presidential records in order to give credence to a Russian disinformation campaign ― one that has already been thoroughly investigated by a bipartisan congressional committee ― is without precedent,” the letter said.
Scoop: In a letter to the National Archives, former president Barack Obama blasted the Senate GOP investigation into Joe Biden and alleged Ukrainian election interference, calling it an effort to "to give credence to a Russian disinformation campaign."https://t.co/sSJ5HOTsd6 pic.twitter.com/wL58uwP3mt — Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) May 5, 2020
According to BuzzFeed, the letter represents the first reported comments by Obama or his team on the investigation ― led by Johnson and Grassley ― into whether Biden, as vice president, withheld aid to Ukraine to pressure the country to drop a probe into Burisma Holdings, an energy company with ties to Biden’s son.
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No evidence has emerged to date of any misconduct by the Bidens in the case.
Johnson’s spokesman responded to Obama’s letter on Tuesday, telling BuzzFeed that “the accusation that our oversight gives ‘credence to a Russian disinformation campaign’ is unfounded.”
“Baseless accusations aside, our legitimate oversight will continue until we get answers for the American people,” the spokesman added.
Biden emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president following Bernie Sanders’ departure from the race last month. Obama formally endorsed his former vice president for the nation’s top job a few days after Sanders bowed out of the contest.
“Joe has the character and the experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery,” Obama said at the time. “I know he’ll surround himself with good people ― experts, scientists, military officials who actually know how to run the government and care about doing a good job running the government, and know how to work with our allies, and who will always put the American people’s interests above their own.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--House Democrats Want $100 Billion Child Care Package For Bailout Now And Future Support

The latest indication that child care is in the spotlight came Wednesday morning with a letter to House leadership sent by 84 House Democrats , led by Rep. Katherine Clark ( D-Mass. )
.
They are seeking $ 100 billion to not only rescue the child care industry , reeling from pandemic-related closures and costs , but to invest in its long-term future .
Reps. Cheri Bustos ( D-Ill. ) , Joaquin Castro ( D-Texas ) , Pramila Jayapal ( D-Wash. ) and Jerry Nadler ( D-N.Y. ) were among those signing on to the letter .
Half of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ailing child care providers afloat amid the pandemic and is similar to a proposal from Sens .
Elizabeth Warren ( D-Mass . )
and Tina Smith ( D-Minn. ) .
The remaining $ 50 billion would go toward increasing funding long-term for child care .
“ It is long past time that we treat child care as the economic essential that it is , ” Clark told HuffPost in an interview Tuesday .
Without more funding for child care , a reopening of the economy will be vastly more difficult , she said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t be able to simply get back to work .
“ We hope we can be reopening schools and child care providers sometime within the next five to six months , ” Clark said .
“ We have to have providers ready to meet that need.
” “ Now that people have their children at home , they ’ re realizing just how much work it is and how much they rely on child care to do their jobs , ” said Katie Hamm , vice president of early childhood policy at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who are essential workers are watching their child care providers put their health and safety on the line to care for children during this time , she added .
Yet , without more public intervention , it ’ s not clear that child care providers will bounce back from the crisis .
Without real help , half of the licensed providers are at risk of permanently closing down , according to a recent analysis from the Center for American Progress .
Women , in particular , would face a double-whammy if the industry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of child care providers are women ― they ’ d be put out of work if providers see a major contraction .
Not only that , millions of women who depend on these providers would also be thrown out of work .
When child care is not available , it is typically women who step out of the workforce to look after children .
Congress allocated $ 3.5 billion toward funding child care centers as part of the $ 2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid , Relief , and Economic Security ( CARES ) Act @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s far short of what ’ s needed to keep the industry afloat .
It would take about $ 9.6 billion a month to keep going amid closures , according to an analysis from the Center for Law and Social Policy .
Like Warren ’ s proposal , which was also for $ 50 billion , Clark wants to get child care centers the cash they need to simply stay in business and pay workers while they ’ re closed .
For those providers still open , the money would go toward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ child care during a public health emergency .
Centers need to spend more time on such things as cleaning , screening kids ’ health and implementing social distancing , all while coping with reduced enrollment .
The remainder of the funds would go toward the future of child care ― building more infrastructure to deal with the shortage of licensed providers that was already an issue before the pandemic .
Clark would also increase funding for teacher training and education , and send more support to parents who struggle to afford quality care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ credit .
Critical to her pitch : Raising pay for child care providers .
Right now , the people who are caring for America ’ s young children are among the lowest paid in the country , earning an average of $ 11 an hour .
Clark ’ s proposal is one of a flurry of big ideas coming from lawmakers as Congress readies yet another coronavirus bailout package .
On Tuesday , House and Senate Democrats jointly proposed extended unemployment benefits .
There ’ s also a push for hazard pay for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paid sick leave .

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For years, the child care profession has been chronically underfunded, neglected and underappreciated by many policymakers. The coronavirus pandemic is altering that equation.
The latest indication that child care is in the spotlight came Wednesday morning with a letter to House leadership sent by 84 House Democrats, led by Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.). They are seeking $100 billion to not only rescue the child care industry, reeling from pandemic-related closures and costs, but to invest in its long-term future. Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) were among those signing on to the letter.
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Half of the $100 billion would go toward keeping ailing child care providers afloat amid the pandemic and is similar to a proposal from Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.). The remaining $50 billion would go toward increasing funding long-term for child care.
“It is long past time that we treat child care as the economic essential that it is,” Clark told HuffPost in an interview Tuesday. Without more funding for child care, a reopening of the economy will be vastly more difficult, she said. Americans with kids at home won’t be able to simply get back to work.
“We hope we can be reopening schools and child care providers sometime within the next five to six months,” Clark said. “We have to have providers ready to meet that need.”
Though she called the sum of $100 billion “breathtakingly large,” Clark said it was comparable to the bailout money allocated to other industries.
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Democrats were hardly ignoring the issue of child care before COVID-19. A child care bill proposed last year has 175 sponsors from the party and the support of one House Republican.
Still, the pandemic has put the issue of child care on a whole new level as parents all over the country cope with school and child care center closures.
“Now that people have their children at home, they’re realizing just how much work it is and how much they rely on child care to do their jobs,” said Katie Hamm, vice president of early childhood policy at the Center for American Progress. Parents who are essential workers are watching their child care providers put their health and safety on the line to care for children during this time, she added.
“The fact that we’re talking billions of dollars is significant,” she said. “That’s not a conversation we were having five years ago.”
Yet, without more public intervention, it’s not clear that child care providers will bounce back from the crisis. Without real help, half of the licensed providers are at risk of permanently closing down, according to a recent analysis from the Center for American Progress.
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“Allowing them to go under would be a potentially crippling blow to an already wounded financial state for our country,” said Clark, who’s long supported child care issues.
Women, in particular, would face a double-whammy if the industry sees a big decline. Ninety-four percent of child care providers are women ― they’d be put out of work if providers see a major contraction. Not only that, millions of women who depend on these providers would also be thrown out of work. When child care is not available, it is typically women who step out of the workforce to look after children.
Congress allocated $3.5 billion toward funding child care centers as part of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March, but advocates say that’s far short of what’s needed to keep the industry afloat. It would take about $9.6 billion a month to keep going amid closures, according to an analysis from the Center for Law and Social Policy.
Like Warren’s proposal, which was also for $50 billion, Clark wants to get child care centers the cash they need to simply stay in business and pay workers while they’re closed.
For those providers still open, the money would go toward dealing with the elevated costs of providing child care during a public health emergency. Centers need to spend more time on such things as cleaning, screening kids’ health and implementing social distancing, all while coping with reduced enrollment.
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The remainder of the funds would go toward the future of child care ― building more infrastructure to deal with the shortage of licensed providers that was already an issue before the pandemic. Clark would also increase funding for teacher training and education, and send more support to parents who struggle to afford quality care by beefing up the child care tax credit.
Critical to her pitch: Raising pay for child care providers. Right now, the people who are caring for America’s young children are among the lowest paid in the country, earning an average of $11 an hour.
Those low wages essentially subsidize the entire industry, Hamm pointed out.
Clark’s proposal is one of a flurry of big ideas coming from lawmakers as Congress readies yet another coronavirus bailout package. On Tuesday, House and Senate Democrats jointly proposed extended unemployment benefits. There’s also a push for hazard pay for essential workers and for an expansion of paid sick leave.
Republicans’ ideas include tax cuts and offering companies protection from liability if they’re sued over coronavirus safety issues.
It’s unclear whether an ambitious child care bailout would actually pass a Republican-controlled Senate and gain White House approval. Advocates are hopeful.
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“The chances are a lot better than I’ve seen before,” said Hamm, who says there’s bipartisan interest in the issue.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--New Trump Administration Aid To Greenland Stirs Fears Of A U.S. Takeover

In hindsight , the visit looked like a scouting mission .
This month , as the coronavirus pandemic raged and much of the Arctic remained in lockdown , the United States announced its biggest diplomatic expansion in Greenland in years .
First , the U.S. Agency for International Development unveiled a new , $ 12.1 million aid package to Greenland .
Days later , the State Department announced plans to open a consulate in the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk for the first time since 1953 .
The moves were the latest in a simmering conflict between the U.S. and China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powerful nations and biggest climate polluters ― over control of a region whose rapidly melting polar ice is destabilizing the planet ’ s ecosystems but also putting previously inaccessible minerals in reach and opening new sea routes .
It ’ s a sign , experts say , that geopolitical jockeying will pick up where it left off once officials deem travel and development work in Greenland safe to resume .
While Greenland remained largely closed off to the outside world for much of its modern history as part of the Danish realm , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during World War II .
Shortly after the Nazis occupied Denmark in April 1940 , the U.S. ― still two years away from abandoning its official neutrality ― invaded Greenland to preserve the territory ’ s independence and keep the Germans from establishing a bulwark that could be used to refuel bombers headed for American cities .
The U.S. offered to buy Greenland for $ 100 million in gold after the war .
When Denmark refused , the U.S. returned control to the Danish , but held onto the Thule Air Base , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a key node in its Cold War defense network .
Mounting tensions with Russia over the past decade gave new relevance to the site .
But Greenland captured the Trump administration ’ s attention in 2018 .
As the trade conflict between the U.S. and China escalated from skirmishes to a full-blown tariff war , Beijing announced a new Arctic policy , declaring itself a “ near-Arctic state ” and vowing to expand its presence in the region .
For China , Greenland was valuable for two big reasons .
Its potential for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ near-monopoly on the metals used for electronics and batteries .
And , as new trade routes and industrial opportunities opened in the United States ’ backyard , China saw a chance to open a new front in its battle with the U.S. for control of the South China Sea .
Though the vast majority of the island is uninhabited , Greenland was first settled nearly 4,500 years ago when ancient migrants known to anthropologists as “ paleo-Eskimos ” traveled across the land bridge connecting Alaska to Siberia .
Around the year 1200 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closer to that of Native Americans , arrived in Greenland .
Their descendants are the Kalaallit , the Indigenous group usually identified in English as Greenland Inuits , who today make up nearly 90 % of Greenland ’ s 56,000 inhabitants .
Nordic peoples came later , and eventually established a permanent European colony in the mid-1700s .
While Greenland became part of Denmark in 1814 , it wasn ’ t until the 1950s , after the U.S. first tried to buy the territory , that Denmark started integrating the island as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Danish mainland and the Faroe Islands .
From the 1950s and 1960s , the Danish government implemented a development scheme that forced a rapid urbanization and labor restructuring on nomadic Greenlanders .
The process upended traditional ways of life and installed an administrative class of Danes whose status was preserved with laws that dictated native Greenlanders could only earn up to 85 % of a civil servant ’ s salary .
“ This good news confirms that our work on building a constructive relationship with the United States is fruitful , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statement about the U.S. aid package last week .
“ It is positive that the increased cooperation between Greenland and the U.S. is reflected in tangible results in the form of funding for projects in Greenland.
” “ Everyone knows this is over the desperation for minerals and oil , ” Borch Scharnberg said .
“ It ’ s OK to donate money and make a better country , but this is not the way to do it .
No one here is actually thinking about the Greenlanders .
”

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Jens Borch Scharnberg was leery when a powerful empire sent a diplomat to his tiny, wind-swept fjord in one of the most remote places on Earth.
The 41-year-old is the principal of the school in Kangerlussuaq, a quiet Arctic village of about 500 in northwest Greenland. Americans are fairly common there. The U.S. military built the ice-covered island’s biggest airstrip during World War II, and maintains a significant research outfit in a town whose only major road leads to a famous and closely studied glacier.
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But this diplomat’s visit was in October 2019, just two months after news broke that President Donald Trump had suggested buying and annexing Greenland. The idea became the subject of international ridicule, but rattled the autonomous Danish territory, which is ground zero for global warming and has a painful colonial history.
The delegation asked local officials what kinds of resources they needed to improve life. But far from solidarity, Borch Scharnberg saw the Americans as motivated by a desire to consolidate their government’s sphere of influence over attractive, resource-rich hinterlands.
“To me, it was sweet talk,” Borch Scharnberg, a clean-shaven and sandy-haired Dane, said over Skype last week. “It felt very deliberate.”
Ice floes in the Nuuk Fjord in Greenland. picture alliance via Getty Images
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In hindsight, the visit looked like a scouting mission. This month, as the coronavirus pandemic raged and much of the Arctic remained in lockdown, the United States announced its biggest diplomatic expansion in Greenland in years. First, the U.S. Agency for International Development unveiled a new, $12.1 million aid package to Greenland. Days later, the State Department announced plans to open a consulate in the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk for the first time since 1953.
“It smells a bit like buying a small share of Greenland,” Borch Scharnberg said. “Suddenly Greenland became very interesting to world powers because of all the talk about who is going to get part of the North Pole and all the oil and mining there.”
The moves were the latest in a simmering conflict between the U.S. and China ― the world’s two most powerful nations and biggest climate polluters ― over control of a region whose rapidly melting polar ice is destabilizing the planet’s ecosystems but also putting previously inaccessible minerals in reach and opening new sea routes. It’s a sign, experts say, that geopolitical jockeying will pick up where it left off once officials deem travel and development work in Greenland safe to resume.
A pilot from the New York Air National Guard lands the ski-equipped National Science Foundation C-130 in Kangerlussuaq. Joe Raedle via Getty Images
“Quite unlike Russia and the People’s Republic, America’s vision for the Arctic is based on transparency, cooperation and democratic values,” Carla Sands, the American ambassador to Denmark, wrote in an April 20 op-ed in the Danish news site Altinget. She accused Russia of “aggressive behavior and increased militarization in the Arctic” and China of promoting “predatory economic interests and authoritarian values” in Greenland.
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Greenlanders, meanwhile, worry that they’re increasingly caught in the middle of a battle for their own home.
“It makes me concerned,” Bibiane Aaju Petersen, 29, a native Greenlander from Kangerlussuaq, said over Facebook Messenger. “It kinda makes it sneaky in a way, like the U.S. might end up controlling Greenland in the future.”
Battleground Of Superpowers
Trump floating the idea of buying Greenland quickly became an international joke. Some mocked the idea as absurd, another point in the constellation of data that the president’s detractors cite as evidence the former reality-TV host doesn’t know what he’s doing in the White House.
Others saw it as a half-baked plan to restore the U.S. to the halcyon days of its 19th century expansionism, when it bought Alaska from Russia, engineered a coup against Hawaii’s royal family, and sent soldiers to conquer the Philippines and Puerto Rico.
The Danish foreign ministry balked at the “completely ridiculous” idea of “selling 50,000 citizens to the United States.” But the Trumpian ham-fistedness belied the fact that U.S. interest in Greenland had been quietly growing for months.
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While Greenland remained largely closed off to the outside world for much of its modern history as part of the Danish realm, the U.S. established a military presence there during World War II. Shortly after the Nazis occupied Denmark in April 1940, the U.S. ― still two years away from abandoning its official neutrality ― invaded Greenland to preserve the territory’s independence and keep the Germans from establishing a bulwark that could be used to refuel bombers headed for American cities. The U.S. offered to buy Greenland for $100 million in gold after the war. When Denmark refused, the U.S. returned control to the Danish, but held onto the Thule Air Base, transforming the northernmost American military outpost into a key node in its Cold War defense network.
Mounting tensions with Russia over the past decade gave new relevance to the site. But Greenland captured the Trump administration’s attention in 2018. As the trade conflict between the U.S. and China escalated from skirmishes to a full-blown tariff war, Beijing announced a new Arctic policy, declaring itself a “near-Arctic state” and vowing to expand its presence in the region. For China, Greenland was valuable for two big reasons. Its potential for mining rare-earth elements threatened China’s near-monopoly on the metals used for electronics and batteries. And, as new trade routes and industrial opportunities opened in the United States’ backyard, China saw a chance to open a new front in its battle with the U.S. for control of the South China Sea.
“The more you will hear about China vs. the U.S. in the South China Sea, the more you may hear about China vs. the U.S. in the Arctic,” Damien Degeorges, a regional analyst and consultant based in Reykjavík, Iceland, predicted to HuffPost in 2018.
In September of that year, the Pentagon broadcast its own plans to “pursue potential strategic investments” in Greenland “vigorously, including investments that may serve dual military and civilian purposes.”
Last May, tensions spilled over into firm rhetoric. At a meeting of Arctic Council countries in Rovaniemi, Finland, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a landmark speech titled “Looking North,” in which he warned: “There are only Arctic States and Non-Arctic States. No third category exists, and claiming otherwise entitles China to exactly nothing.”
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Containers are stacked at a port in Nuuk on July 29, 2017. Cargo ships sailing through the Northwest Passage could potentially cut the distance from East Asia to Western Europe by thousands of miles. ASSOCIATED PRESS
He cautioned that China’s investments in the region followed a pattern seen in South and Southeast Asia. “Beijing attempts to develop critical infrastructure using Chinese money, Chinese companies, and Chinese workers ― in some cases, to establish a permanent Chinese security presence,” he said.
Those concerns are well founded, said Adam Lajeunesse, a scholar of Arctic geopolitics and an assistant professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada. When the China Communications Construction Co. bid in 2018 to build new airports in Greenland, fears swirled that the state-owned giant would import enough Chinese workers to do the job to increase Greenland’s population by a fifth.
“You don’t want to import 10,000 Chinese workers who will make slave wages,” said Lajeunesse. “What do you do? They don’t have a solution to that yet. That’s one of the things they may figure out with the assistance of the U.S.”
Another real concern, he said, is China drawing the Greenlandic government into a “debt trap” deal in which the Chinese government builds infrastructure at a cost the host country could never repay, clearing the way for Beijing to seize control of the assets.
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“If the Greenlandic government were to become independent, if that government were beholden to Chinese companies for all or part of its tax revenue, resources and employment, that would give Chinese companies a lot of leverage over Greenlandic policy,” he said.
Colonial Frustrations
China has long pitched itself as a friend of Indigenous peoples seeking to free themselves from Western imperial powers. It’s a narrative that could resonate in Greenland.
Though the vast majority of the island is uninhabited, Greenland was first settled nearly 4,500 years ago when ancient migrants known to anthropologists as “paleo-Eskimos” traveled across the land bridge connecting Alaska to Siberia. Around the year 1200, another wave of migrants whose DNA is closer to that of Native Americans, arrived in Greenland. Their descendants are the Kalaallit, the Indigenous group usually identified in English as Greenland Inuits, who today make up nearly 90% of Greenland’s 56,000 inhabitants.
Nordic peoples came later, and eventually established a permanent European colony in the mid-1700s. While Greenland became part of Denmark in 1814, it wasn’t until the 1950s, after the U.S. first tried to buy the territory, that Denmark started integrating the island as a constituent of a kingdom that also included the Danish mainland and the Faroe Islands. From the 1950s and 1960s, the Danish government implemented a development scheme that forced a rapid urbanization and labor restructuring on nomadic Greenlanders. The process upended traditional ways of life and installed an administrative class of Danes whose status was preserved with laws that dictated native Greenlanders could only earn up to 85% of a civil servant’s salary.
While the population of Danes has decreased since then, the rates of suicide and alcoholism among native Greenlanders, which soared during the mid-20th century, remain persistent problems. Greenland has the highest suicide rate in the world.
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“It smells a bit like buying a small share of Greenland.” - Jens Borch Scharnberg
Greenland voted in 2009 for increased self-rule, distancing itself from Denmark. But the roughly $500 million Denmark gives to Greenland each year makes up more than half of the island’s budget and a quarter of its gross domestic product. The central theme animating Greenlandic politics is seeking independence from Denmark, a process that can only be realized by developing new industries and weaning off of Danish money.
Any “post-colonial feelings” are likely to “fade into the background very quickly when faced with real questions about economic development,” said Lajeunesse.
“Greenland will be quite happy to take money and investment from anywhere,” he said.
And U.S. dominance in the Arctic has long been a bipartisan fixation, meaning Trump’s eventual exit from the White House isn’t likely to affect long-term planning.
Industries are already moving ahead. Greenland plans to auction its first oil and gas leases in 2021. Jewelers are already selling Greenlandic rubies as the “rarest and most sought-after gemstones in the world.” Bloomberg Businessweek, meanwhile, last year dubbed Greenland’s first major rare-earths mine a “treasure island.”
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But foreign aid from someone other than Denmark is another way.
“This good news confirms that our work on building a constructive relationship with the United States is fruitful,” Greenland Premier Kim Kielsen said in a statement about the U.S. aid package last week. “It is positive that the increased cooperation between Greenland and the U.S. is reflected in tangible results in the form of funding for projects in Greenland.”
Some aren’t convinced it’s that benign.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--Ruth Bader Ginsburg Released From Hospital Following Gallbladder Treatment

Ginsburg , 87 , is “ doing well and glad to be home , ” a statement from the Supreme Court said .
She will return to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in the coming weeks for follow-up outpatient visits related to her acute cholecystitis , a benign inflammation of the gallbladder .
Eventually , the hospital will have her in to remove a gallstone , the cause of her condition .
Ginsburg has battled several other health issues during her 27 years on the Supreme Court , and public concern about how much longer she ’ ll be able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about her health .
She has had pancreatic cancer , lung cancer and colon cancer in the last decade .
However , she announced in January that she was starting 2020 “ cancer-free.
” The veteran justice , known for bouncing back quickly after her health scares , participated in oral arguments with the court by phone from the hospital on Wednesday .
The case revolves around a stipulation in the Affordable Care Act that employer-provided health insurance plans must cover birth control , which the Trump administration says violates employers ’ religious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ typically votes with the court ’ s more liberal faction , slammed arguments she heard from the Trump administration ’ s lawyer .
“ You have just tossed entirely to the wind what Congress thought was essential ; that is , that women be provided these services with no hassles , no cost to them.
” She later added , “ Instead , you are shifting the employer ’ s religious beliefs , the cost of that , onto these employees who do not share those religious beliefs .
”

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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from the hospital Wednesday, a day after receiving a nonsurgical gallbladder treatment.
Ginsburg, 87, is “doing well and glad to be home,” a statement from the Supreme Court said. She will return to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in the coming weeks for follow-up outpatient visits related to her acute cholecystitis, a benign inflammation of the gallbladder.
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Eventually, the hospital will have her in to remove a gallstone, the cause of her condition.
Ginsburg has battled several other health issues during her 27 years on the Supreme Court, and public concern about how much longer she’ll be able to serve typically spikes whenever news breaks about her health. She has had pancreatic cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer in the last decade. However, she announced in January that she was starting 2020 “cancer-free.”
The veteran justice, known for bouncing back quickly after her health scares, participated in oral arguments with the court by phone from the hospital on Wednesday. The case revolves around a stipulation in the Affordable Care Act that employer-provided health insurance plans must cover birth control, which the Trump administration says violates employers’ religious and moral freedoms.
Ginsburg, who typically votes with the court’s more liberal faction, slammed arguments she heard from the Trump administration’s lawyer.
“You have just tossed entirely to the wind what Congress thought was essential; that is, that women be provided these services with no hassles, no cost to them.” She later added, “Instead, you are shifting the employer’s religious beliefs, the cost of that, onto these employees who do not share those religious beliefs.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--Supreme Court Appears Divided In Critical Birth Control Case

At issue is a regulation under the Affordable Care Act that requires employer-provided health insurance to include coverage for birth control without a copay .
This is the third time that the contraceptive mandate has reached the Supreme Court , but the first since Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joined the bench .
The current case centers on rules issued after President Donald Trump took office that would allow almost any employer to opt out of providing birth control coverage by citing religious or moral objections .
Pennsylvania and New Jersey sued , and the rules were blocked by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Little Sisters of the Poor , an order of Catholic nuns , appealed .
Women will have to hunt for other ways to be covered , she added , and if they are not covered by a government program , to pay out of their own pocket for contraceptives .
But Kavanaugh , whose vote could be key in deciding the case , said , “ There are very strong interests on both sides here , which is what makes the case difficult.
” “ There ’ s religious liberty for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there ’ s the interest in ensuring women ’ s access to health care and preventive services , which is also a critical interest , ” the conservative justice said .
“ So the question becomes , who decides how to balance those interests ?
” The Obama administration exempted houses of worship and provided a compromise for other religious nonprofits so that they didn ’ t have to offer coverage but employees could still get contraceptives .
Under the accommodation , religious nonprofits notified their insurers of their objection and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This accommodation was extended to some for-profit corporations as a result of a 2014 case , Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores .
The rules issued by the Trump administration in 2017 broadly expanded who could opt out of providing birth control coverage , and also made it optional for employers to provide an accommodation for employees to access birth control .
“ What this case is about is not the resolution of a long-running dispute , but rather the assertion of vast agency authority at the expense of Congress and the courts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ General Michael Fischer .
U.S .
Solicitor General Noel Francisco , who argued on behalf of the Trump administration , said the exemptions are authorized under the ACA and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act , and were issued “ in the best traditions of this country ’ s commitment to religious liberty.
” When cost is not a barrier to birth control , patients are better able to choose the method that meets their needs and have access to it consistently and affordably , said Kristyn Brandi , board chair of Physicians for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ essential component of health care .
Its necessary coverage should not be lost to the whim of employers , ” she said .
“ It not only allows people to plan and space their pregnancies in a way that is best for their health and their families , but also helps manage a variety of health conditions.
” “ It ’ s deeply concerning that in the middle of a public health crisis , the Trump administration is continuing to defend a policy that threatens access to birth control for millions of women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ acting president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund .
“ This case highlights the lengths the administration will go to attack people ’ s fundamental right to control their own bodies , at a time when we should be coming together to support one another .
”

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The Supreme Court appeared divided Wednesday during arguments in a major case pitting women’s access to free contraceptive care against employers’ claims of religious liberty.
At issue is a regulation under the Affordable Care Act that requires employer-provided health insurance to include coverage for birth control without a copay. This is the third time that the contraceptive mandate has reached the Supreme Court, but the first since Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joined the bench.
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The current case centers on rules issued after President Donald Trump took office that would allow almost any employer to opt out of providing birth control coverage by citing religious or moral objections. Pennsylvania and New Jersey sued, and the rules were blocked by lower courts. The Trump administration and the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns, appealed.
Arguments in Trump v. Pennsylvania, consolidated with Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, were conducted via telephone conference and aired live due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg participated from a Maryland hospital where she is currently being treated for an infection caused by a gallstone.
Ginsburg said the Trump administration’s decision to weaken the mandate “tossed to the wind entirely Congress’ instruction, which is that women need and shall have seamless, no cost, comprehensive coverage.”
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The Supreme Court this week heard arguments by phone for the first time ever. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Women will have to hunt for other ways to be covered, she added, and if they are not covered by a government program, to pay out of their own pocket for contraceptives.
That’s “exactly what Congress didn’t want to happen,” she said.
But Kavanaugh, whose vote could be key in deciding the case, said, “There are very strong interests on both sides here, which is what makes the case difficult.”
“There’s religious liberty for the Little Sisters of the Poor and others, there’s the interest in ensuring women’s access to health care and preventive services, which is also a critical interest,” the conservative justice said. “So the question becomes, who decides how to balance those interests?”
The birth control mandate has been hotly litigated since its creation.
The Obama administration exempted houses of worship and provided a compromise for other religious nonprofits so that they didn’t have to offer coverage but employees could still get contraceptives. Under the accommodation, religious nonprofits notified their insurers of their objection and the insurers would then provide the contraceptive care. This accommodation was extended to some for-profit corporations as a result of a 2014 case, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores.
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But some religious objectors were not appeased by the compromise, arguing that even the step of notifying the insurer forced them to violate their beliefs.
The rules issued by the Trump administration in 2017 broadly expanded who could opt out of providing birth control coverage, and also made it optional for employers to provide an accommodation for employees to access birth control.
Much of Wednesday’s hearing centered on whether the Trump administration had the legal authority to expand the exemption under the ACA and another federal law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“What this case is about is not the resolution of a long-running dispute, but rather the assertion of vast agency authority at the expense of Congress and the courts,” said Pennsylvania Chief Deputy Attorney General Michael Fischer.
U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco, who argued on behalf of the Trump administration, said the exemptions are authorized under the ACA and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and were issued “in the best traditions of this country’s commitment to religious liberty.”
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Some of the justices appeared frustrated that the two sides have been unable to come to a compromise.
“Is it really the case that there is no way to resolve those differences?” Chief Justice John Roberts asked at one point.
The last time the mandate was heard at the court, in 2016, the justices sent it back to the lower courts and urged the parties to find a resolution.
“Contraception is an essential component of health care. Its necessary coverage should not be lost to the whim of employers.” - Kristyn Brandi, Physicians for Reproductive Health
Experts in reproductive health oppose the Trump rules and warn that allowing employers to deny coverage based on their personal beliefs will jeopardize the crucial gains made under the Affordable Care Act.
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Before the ACA, contraceptives made up about 30% of women’s total out-of-pocket health care costs, according to the National Women’s Law Center. In 2013, the mandate saved women more than $1.4 billion in out-of-pocket expenses for birth control pills.
When cost is not a barrier to birth control, patients are better able to choose the method that meets their needs and have access to it consistently and affordably, said Kristyn Brandi, board chair of Physicians for Reproductive Health.
“Contraception is an essential component of health care. Its necessary coverage should not be lost to the whim of employers,” she said. “It not only allows people to plan and space their pregnancies in a way that is best for their health and their families, but also helps manage a variety of health conditions.”
Nearly all women use contraception at some point in their lives.
“It’s deeply concerning that in the middle of a public health crisis, the Trump administration is continuing to defend a policy that threatens access to birth control for millions of women,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “This case highlights the lengths the administration will go to attack people’s fundamental right to control their own bodies, at a time when we should be coming together to support one another.”
A ruling in the case is likely to come this summer.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-07--Chris Cuomo Reveals ‘Ugly’ Reason Why Donald Trump Keeps Downplaying Coronavirus Testing

CNN ’ s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday night broke down why President Donald Trump and his allies routinely play down the importance of testing for the coronavirus , contrary to guidance from public health officials .
“ It is dishonest and destructive and it is done by design , ” said Cuomo .
For Trump , Cuomo continued , it was all about hiding the truth about the pandemic which has so far killed more than 73,000 people nationwide .
The U.S. also now has more confirmed cases than any other country in the world .
“ Testing is truth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you to believe that COVID is going away faster than it actually it is because they believe the longer it is real , the worse it is for Trump and the election , ” said Cuomo , who himself recovered from the illness last month .
“ The politics of forcing reopening is as obvious as it is ugly , ” he added .
`` Trump and co. keep trying to play down [ coronavirus ] testing .
It is dishonest and destructive and it is done by design . ''
- CNN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — Cuomo Prime Time ( @ CuomoPrimeTime ) May 7 , 2020

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CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday night broke down why President Donald Trump and his allies routinely play down the importance of testing for the coronavirus, contrary to guidance from public health officials.
“It is dishonest and destructive and it is done by design,” Cuomo said.
For Trump, he continued, it was all about hiding the truth about the pandemic, which has so far killed more than 73,000 people nationwide. The United States has more confirmed cases than any other country in the world.
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“Testing is truth because numbers are truth, and they want you to believe that COVID is going away faster than it actually it is because they believe the longer it is real, the worse it is for Trump and the election,” said Cuomo, who himself recovered from the virus last month.
“The politics of forcing reopening is as obvious as it is ugly,” he added.
Check out the clip here:


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--George Conway Details Why Trump 'Went Ballistic' Over His GOP Group's Ad

Conservative attorney George Conway has responded with a blistering op-ed after he was the target of an insult-laden midnight Twitter diatribe from President Donald Trump over an ad , released by a group Conway co-founded , criticizing the Trump administration ’ s handling of the coronavirus pandemic .
The 60-second ad was released Monday by The Lincoln Project , a conservative Republican group opposed to Trump .
In the early hours of Tuesday morning , the president had lambasted founders of the group as “ LOSERS , ” calling out several members by name , including Conway , whom he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ husband ” of his White House counselor , Kellyanne Conway .
The president ’ s visceral response gave the group a major publicity and funding boost , its founders told several media outlets .
In the opinion article published Wednesday by The Washington Post , Conway detailed why he believed the president “ went ballistic on Twitter ” over the video .
“ Trump ’ s narcissism deadens any ability he might otherwise have had to carry out the duties of a president in the manner the Constitution requires .
He ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for himself , not for the nation , ” Conway wrote .
Another Lincoln Project co-founder , longtime GOP strategist Rick Wilson , had shared similar sentiments about being the target of name-calling from the president in his own op-ed , titled “ Trump Can ’ t Handle the Truth , and We Just Proved It.
” And political consultant Reed Galen , also a founding member , wrote that Trump ’ s response proved the very point they sought to make .
“ No commercial should have the power to derail the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he wrote .
The Lincoln Project spot , titled “ Mourning in America , ” is an inversion of President Ronald Reagan ’ s hopeful 1984 “ Morning in America ” campaign ad .
It placed blame on Trump for the “ weaker and sicker and poorer ” America under his leadership through the coronavirus pandemic .
Now , George Conway claims , as Trump ’ s approval numbers slide , his “ lying , his self-regard , his self-soothing , his lack of empathy , his narcissistic rage , his contempt for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and simple truths ― have all come home to roost.
” “ And while Trump ’ s mind roils in rage , too many Americans are losing their lives , ” Conway concluded .
“ That ’ s the losing that matters , to everyone but him .
”

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Conservative attorney George Conway has responded with a blistering op-ed after he was the target of an insult-laden midnight Twitter diatribe from President Donald Trump over an ad, released by a group Conway co-founded, criticizing the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 60-second ad was released Monday by The Lincoln Project, a conservative Republican group opposed to Trump. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the president had lambasted founders of the group as “LOSERS,” calling out several members by name, including Conway, whom he labeled the “deranged loser of a husband” of his White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway. The president’s visceral response gave the group a major publicity and funding boost, its founders told several media outlets.
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In the opinion article published Wednesday by The Washington Post, Conway detailed why he believed the president “went ballistic on Twitter” over the video.
“Trump’s narcissism deadens any ability he might otherwise have had to carry out the duties of a president in the manner the Constitution requires. He’s so self-obsessed, he can only act for himself, not for the nation,” Conway wrote.
“And it’s why he reacts with such rage. He fears the truth.”
Another Lincoln Project co-founder, longtime GOP strategist Rick Wilson, had shared similar sentiments about being the target of name-calling from the president in his own op-ed, titled “Trump Can’t Handle the Truth, and We Just Proved It.” And political consultant Reed Galen, also a founding member, wrote that Trump’s response proved the very point they sought to make. “No commercial should have the power to derail the leader of the free world,” he wrote.
The Lincoln Project spot, titled “Mourning in America,” is an inversion of President Ronald Reagan’s hopeful 1984 “Morning in America” campaign ad. It placed blame on Trump for the “weaker and sicker and poorer” America under his leadership through the coronavirus pandemic.
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Now, George Conway claims, as Trump’s approval numbers slide, his “lying, his self-regard, his self-soothing, his lack of empathy, his narcissistic rage, his contempt for norms, rules, laws, facts and simple truths ― have all come home to roost.”
“And while Trump’s mind roils in rage, too many Americans are losing their lives,” Conway concluded. “That’s the losing that matters, to everyone but him.”
A HuffPost Guide To Coronavirus


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-07--Trump Rebukes Nurse On National Nurses Day And Critics Are Livid: ‘How Dare He!’

President Donald Trump is getting called out on social media over his treatment of a nurse during a National Nurses Day event in the Oval Office on Wednesday .
“ PPE has been sporadic , ” Sophia L. Thomas , president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners , said during the event , referring to the masks and other personal protective equipment needed to care for victims of the novel coronavirus .
Thomas , who has been reusing her own N95 mask for weeks , said nurses adapt , called the situation “ manageable ” and vowed nurses would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need .
But Trump zeroed in on her first line .
“ Sporadic for you , but not sporadic for a lot of other people , ” he said .
Trump rebukes a nurse who says `` PPE has been sporadic , but it 's been manageable . ''
`` Sporadic for you , but not sporadic for a lot of other people , '' Trump replies .
`` That was fine , but I have heard we have a tremendous supply to almost all places . ''
pic.twitter.com/zOf2rWxvHx — Aaron Rupar ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump then folded his arms , claimed hospitals were “ loaded up ” with gowns and other essentials and blamed former President Barack Obama , who left office more than three years ago , for any shortages .
At another point in the event , Trump said reports of shortages were “ fake news.
” “ He better cross his arms in a defensive posture , ” Cuomo said after playing the clip .
“ First of all , how dare he do that to that nurse and put her on the spot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Disagree with him ?
” Cuomo also pointed out the lack of PPE wasn ’ t “ sporadic ” but an ongoing problem and bashed Trump for dividing the nation instead of uniting it .
Dr. Donald chews out a nurse .
Is this a comedy show , or has the stable genius really lost it ?
`` Trump contradicts nurse in testy Oval Office exchange over coronavirus protective gear '' https : //t.co/Vdkx1xchLA — Richard W. Painter ( @ RWPUSA ) May 7 , 2020 Sophia Thomas , the nurse who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sporadic '' PPE access , could not be reached for comment .
But Pat Kane , executive director of @ nynurses , said she was spot on .
`` Here in New York ... supplies continue to be sporadic , '' he said .
https : //t.co/8Qn4tf4tfv — Chris Sommerfeldt ( @ C_Sommerfeldt ) May 6 , 2020 I 'm still stuck on it being National Nurses Day - *their* day - and the head of a nurse 's union saying there has been shortages and she has been reusing her mask for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saying that 's not what he 's heard .
# ThankYouNurses — Amy Siskind 🏳🌈 ( @ Amy_Siskind ) May 7 , 2020 It is National Nurses Day & I 'm furious that @ realDonaldTrump insulted a nurse practitioner b/c he had to face the truth .
Sophia Thomas is right , we do n't have enough # PPE & are all reusing our N95s .
We can adapt , but do n't kid yourself , # GetUsPPE is real .
# tupperware # TX10 pic.twitter.com/UyFwNIwILl — Dr. Pritesh Gandhi for Congress ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Here 's our `` Do n't you EVERY say anything even slightly negative around me '' POTUS , celebrating # NationalNursesDay by criticizing # SophiaThomas , the head of the American Assoc of Nurse Practitioners , for telling him the truth .
@ NYDailyNews https : //t.co/wIBtveIkZX @ DrDenaGrayson — SteveBrant ( @ SteveBrant ) May 6 , 2020 On # NationalNursesDay this nurse courageously says in the Oval Office that doctors and nurses are having a hard time obtaining supplies and trump replies by snapping at her and lying about his failures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ //t.co/70X8KIuP85 — Bill Pascrell , Jr. ( @ BillPascrell ) May 6 , 2020

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President Donald Trump is getting called out on social media over his treatment of a nurse during a National Nurses Day event in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
“PPE has been sporadic,” Sophia L. Thomas, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, said during the event, referring to the masks and other personal protective equipment needed to care for victims of the novel coronavirus.
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Thomas, who has been reusing her own N95 mask for weeks, said nurses adapt, called the situation “manageable” and vowed nurses would ensure that patients receive the care they need. But Trump zeroed in on her first line.
“Sporadic for you, but not sporadic for a lot of other people,” he said.
“Oh no, I agree, Mr. President,” Thomas quickly replied.
Trump rebukes a nurse who says "PPE has been sporadic, but it's been manageable."
"Sporadic for you, but not sporadic for a lot of other people," Trump replies. "That was fine, but I have heard we have a tremendous supply to almost all places." pic.twitter.com/zOf2rWxvHx — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 6, 2020
Trump then folded his arms, claimed hospitals were “loaded up” with gowns and other essentials and blamed former President Barack Obama, who left office more than three years ago, for any shortages. At another point in the event, Trump said reports of shortages were “fake news.”
CNN’s Chris Cuomo slammed Trump’s response to the nurse’s comments.
“He better cross his arms in a defensive posture,” Cuomo said after playing the clip. “First of all, how dare he do that to that nurse and put her on the spot. What is she supposed to say? Disagree with him?”
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Cuomo also pointed out the lack of PPE wasn’t “sporadic” but an ongoing problem and bashed Trump for dividing the nation instead of uniting it.
Others on social media also blasted the president’s comment:
Dr. Donald chews out a nurse.
Is this a comedy show, or has the stable genius really lost it?
"Trump contradicts nurse in testy Oval Office exchange over coronavirus protective gear" https://t.co/Vdkx1xchLA — Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) May 7, 2020
Sophia Thomas, the nurse who drew Trump's ire by highlighting "sporadic" PPE access, could not be reached for comment.
But Pat Kane, executive director of @nynurses, said she was spot on. "Here in New York ... supplies continue to be sporadic," he said. https://t.co/8Qn4tf4tfv — Chris Sommerfeldt (@C_Sommerfeldt) May 6, 2020
I'm still stuck on it being National Nurses Day - *their* day - and the head of a nurse's union saying there has been shortages and she has been reusing her mask for weeks, and Trump rebuking her, saying that's not what he's heard. #ThankYouNurses — Amy Siskind 🏳🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) May 7, 2020
It is National Nurses Day & I'm furious that @realDonaldTrump insulted a nurse practitioner b/c he had to face the truth. Sophia Thomas is right, we don't have enough #PPE & are all reusing our N95s. We can adapt, but don't kid yourself, #GetUsPPE is real. #tupperware #TX10 pic.twitter.com/UyFwNIwILl — Dr. Pritesh Gandhi for Congress (@priteshgandhimd) May 6, 2020
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Here's our "Don't you EVERY say anything even slightly negative around me" POTUS, celebrating #NationalNursesDay by criticizing #SophiaThomas, the head of the American Assoc of Nurse Practitioners, for telling him the truth. @NYDailyNews https://t.co/wIBtveIkZX @DrDenaGrayson — SteveBrant (@SteveBrant) May 6, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-07--James Carville Warns Trump: Your 'Grifter' Campaign Aides Are Lying To You

Democratic political consultant James Carville said President Donald Trump is getting fleeced by members of his own campaign who know he ’ s going to lose reelection but won ’ t tell him for one simple reason : they ’ re trying to make money off the campaign .
“ It don ’ t matter if the Dow is 35,000 , he ’ s not going to win , ” Carville said on MSNBC on Wednesday .
“ He wasn ’ t going to win when unemployment was 3.5 percent , he ’ s certainly not going to win now.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ got two condos , a Ferrari , a yacht , a Range Rover , ” he said .
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and his companies collected $ 38.9 million from the president ’ s reelection committees between January 2017 and the end of March .
Parscale has also amassed all of the properties and vehicles Carville described .
“ They ’ re all just fleecing the campaign , ” Carville said , adding that the aides were also lying to Trump about his chances to keep the gravy train rolling .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and they ’ re going in , they ’ re giving him fake polls , ” he said .
“ This whole thing is just like a crumbling empire right before your eyes .
Everybody is trying to take everything they can get on the way out and they ’ re trying to prop him up so they all can make money .
” Carville : Look what his campaign is doing .
They ’ re a pack of grifters .
His campaign manager got two condos , a Ferrari , a yacht @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re all just fleecing the campaign .
This is all about making money and they ’ re going in there and giving him fake polls .
pic.twitter.com/Xj5Bk18GeG — Acyn Torabi ( @ Acyn ) May 7 , 2020

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Democratic political consultant James Carville said President Donald Trump is getting fleeced by members of his own campaign who know he’s going to lose reelection but won’t tell him for one simple reason: they’re trying to make money off the campaign.
“It don’t matter if the Dow is 35,000, he’s not going to win,” Carville said on MSNBC on Wednesday. “He wasn’t going to win when unemployment was 3.5 percent, he’s certainly not going to win now.”
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Carville dismissed Trump’s top campaign aides as a “pack of grifters.”
“HIs campaign manager’s got two condos, a Ferrari, a yacht, a Range Rover,” he said.
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and his companies collected $38.9 million from the president’s reelection committees between January 2017 and the end of March. Parscale has also amassed all of the properties and vehicles Carville described.
“They’re all just fleecing the campaign,” Carville said, adding that the aides were also lying to Trump about his chances to keep the gravy train rolling.
“It’s just about making money and they’re going in, they’re giving him fake polls,” he said. “This whole thing is just like a crumbling empire right before your eyes. Everybody is trying to take everything they can get on the way out and they’re trying to prop him up so they all can make money. ”
Carville: Look what his campaign is doing. They’re a pack of grifters. His campaign manager got two condos, a Ferrari, a yacht, a Range Rover and they’re all just fleecing the campaign. This is all about making money and they’re going in there and giving him fake polls. pic.twitter.com/Xj5Bk18GeG — Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) May 7, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-07--Infectious Disease Expert Dismisses McEnany’s ‘Preposterous' Coronavirus Testing Claim

An infectious disease expert has roundly dismissed White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany ’ s claim that widespread testing for the coronavirus is unnecessary in order to safely reopen the country .
McEnany on Wednesday said the “ notion that everyone needs to be tested is just simply nonsensical.
” “ We have to test everyone and probably repeatedly , ” Sepkowitz told host Don Lemon , ” echoing the view of many public health experts , including members of the Trump White House ’ s coronavirus task force .
“ It ’ s preposterous to think we can reopen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s got what , ” he added .
Sepkowitz likened it “ to trying to cross a busy street with your eyes closed .
You can ’ t do it .
You have to know what ’ s going on.
” “ It ’ s just so fundamentally absurd that I think we ’ ve lost track of how preposterous an idea this is that we don ’ t need the tests , ” he said .
“ It ’ s completely illogical .
Not acceptable.
” Sepkowitz also greeted Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wind down the White House ’ s coronavirus task force with skepticism , suggesting the pandemic that has now killed more than 73,000 people in the U.S. “ has been mostly a political crisis for the president.
” “ It ’ s not been a medical one .
It ’ s not been a humanitarian one , ” he said .
“ He ’ s let us know how disinterested he is in us as citizens , but also in the problem , which is really a tough problem , ” Sepkowitz added @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very engaged humanist president would have a hard time with this .
This is tough business .
One who is as uninterested and as disinterested creates a very , very unique challenge.
” '' We have to test everyone and probably repeatedly , '' says Dr. Kent Sepkowitz , an infectious disease expert , about coronavirus testing .
`` It 's preposterous to think we can reopen the country safely without knowing who 's got what . ''
pic.twitter.com/iUlNMwncRp — CNN Tonight ( @ CNNTonight ) May 7 , 2020

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An infectious disease expert roundly dismissed White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s claim that widespread testing for the coronavirus is unnecessary in order to safely reopen the country.
McEnany on Wednesday said the “notion that everyone needs to be tested is just simply nonsensical.”
Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and a medical analyst for CNN, fired back on “CNN Tonight.”
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“We have to test everyone and probably repeatedly,” Sepkowitz told host Don Lemon, echoing the view of many public health experts, including members of the Trump White House coronavirus task force.
“It’s preposterous to think we can reopen the country safely without knowing who’s got what,” Sepkowitz added.
Sepkowitz likened it “to trying to cross a busy street with your eyes closed. You can’t do it. You have to know what’s going on.”
“It’s just so fundamentally absurd that I think we’ve lost track of how preposterous an idea this is that we don’t need the tests,” he said. “It’s completely illogical. Not acceptable.”
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Sepkowitz also was skeptical of President Donald Trump’s decision to walk back his plan to wind down the White House coronavirus task force, suggesting the pandemic that has now killed more than 73,000 people in the U.S. “has been mostly a political crisis for the president.”
“It’s not been a medical one. It’s not been a humanitarian one,” he said.
“He’s let us know how disinterested he is in us as citizens, but also in the problem, which is really a tough problem,” Sepkowitz added. “I mean, even a very engaged humanist president would have a hard time with this. This is tough business. One who is as uninterested and as disinterested creates a very, very unique challenge.”
Check out the interview here:


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-06--Top Trump Donor Tapped As New Postmaster General

Louis DeJoy , a top Republican donor and ally of President Donald Trump , has been named the new head of the U.S .
Postal Service as it weathers a barrage of criticism from the White House .
The Postal Service ’ s Board of Governors announced the move on Wednesday , saying DeJoy , a North Carolina businessman and head of fundraising for August ’ s Republican National Convention in Charlotte , would work to preserve and protect “ this essential institution ” in his new role .
“ Louis DeJoy understands the critical public service role of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urgent need to strengthen it for future generations , ” Robert Duncan , the chair of the board , said in a statement .
“ The Board appreciated Louis ’ depth of knowledge on the important issues facing the Postal Service and his desire to work with all of our stakeholders on preserving and protecting this essential institution.
” DeJoy will begin his term on June 15 .
He will be the first postmaster general in two decades who doesn ’ t come from within the agency , The Washington Post , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said .
I will never let our Post Office fail .
It has been mismanaged for years , especially since the advent of the internet and modern-day technology .
The people that work there are great , and we ’ re going to keep them happy , healthy , and well !
— Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) April 24 , 2020 The Postal Service has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic .
Officials told lawmakers this week that mail volume was down by about a third and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ loss for the fiscal year , requesting a bailout from the government to keep running , according to The New York Times .
Megan Brennan , the current postmaster general , has requested $ 89 billion from Congress , saying the mail service could run out of money by September .
“ At a time when America needs the Postal Service more than ever , the reason we are so needed is having a devastating effect on our business , ” she told the Times .
“ The sudden drop in mail volumes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is steep and may never fully recover.
” Brennan , who in February 2015 became the first woman to lead the Postal Service , announced her retirement last year but has remained in the post until a replacement could be found .
Democrats have been urging that the agency be extended a lifeline in the next pandemic relief measure , but the White House has so far resisted .
Trump has instead said the Postal Service would need to charge companies like Amazon four or five times the current rates in order to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said is linked to his distaste for the company and its CEO , Jeff Bezos .
Bezos also owns The Washington Post , which Trump regularly derides as “ fake news.
” The Treasury Department is negotiating a $ 10 billion line of credit with the Postal Service that was included in the coronavirus package approved in March , according to The Washington Post .
DeJoy ’ s family has close ties to the Trump administration and has given more than $ 2 million to his campaign , including $ 1 million to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ notes .
His wife , Aldona Wos , is the vice chair of the Commission on White House Fellowships and was nominated by the president to be the ambassador to Canada in February .
Her nomination is pending before the Senate .
“ Having worked closely with the Postal Service for many years , I have a great appreciation for this institution and the dedicated workers who faithfully execute its mission , ” DeJoy said in a statement .
“ Postal workers are the heart and soul of this institution , and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and their unions .
It will be an incredible honor to serve as Postmaster General .
”

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Louis DeJoy, a top Republican donor and ally of President Donald Trump, has been named the new head of the U.S. Postal Service as it weathers a barrage of criticism from the White House.
The Postal Service’s Board of Governors announced the move on Wednesday, saying DeJoy, a North Carolina businessman and head of fundraising for August’s Republican National Convention in Charlotte, would work to preserve and protect “this essential institution” in his new role.
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“Louis DeJoy understands the critical public service role of the United States Postal Service, and the urgent need to strengthen it for future generations,” Robert Duncan, the chair of the board, said in a statement. “The Board appreciated Louis’ depth of knowledge on the important issues facing the Postal Service and his desire to work with all of our stakeholders on preserving and protecting this essential institution.”
DeJoy will begin his term on June 15. He will be the first postmaster general in two decades who doesn’t come from within the agency, The Washington Post, which was the first to report the news, said.
I will never let our Post Office fail. It has been mismanaged for years, especially since the advent of the internet and modern-day technology. The people that work there are great, and we’re going to keep them happy, healthy, and well! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2020
Trump has railed against the Postal Service for years, and DeJoy’s posting renews concern about the future of the USPS.
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The Postal Service has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Officials told lawmakers this week that mail volume was down by about a third and said they predicted a $13 billion loss for the fiscal year, requesting a bailout from the government to keep running, according to The New York Times. Megan Brennan, the current postmaster general, has requested $89 billion from Congress, saying the mail service could run out of money by September.
“At a time when America needs the Postal Service more than ever, the reason we are so needed is having a devastating effect on our business,” she told the Times. “The sudden drop in mail volumes, our most profitable revenue stream, is steep and may never fully recover.”
Brennan, who in February 2015 became the first woman to lead the Postal Service, announced her retirement last year but has remained in the post until a replacement could be found.
Democrats have been urging that the agency be extended a lifeline in the next pandemic relief measure, but the White House has so far resisted. Trump has instead said the Postal Service would need to charge companies like Amazon four or five times the current rates in order to secure a loan, criticism some have said is linked to his distaste for the company and its CEO, Jeff Bezos. Bezos also owns The Washington Post, which Trump regularly derides as “fake news.”
The Treasury Department is negotiating a $10 billion line of credit with the Postal Service that was included in the coronavirus package approved in March, according to The Washington Post.
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DeJoy’s family has close ties to the Trump administration and has given more than $2 million to his campaign, including $1 million to the Republican National Committee, the Post notes. His wife, Aldona Wos, is the vice chair of the Commission on White House Fellowships and was nominated by the president to be the ambassador to Canada in February. Her nomination is pending before the Senate.
DeJoy said Wednesday he would uphold the service’s “cherished role in our nation” throughout his tenure.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-07--Washington Post Sums Up Donald Trump’s Coronavirus Failings With A Scorching Analogy

The Washington Post editorial board used an analogy about a burning house to sum up President Donald Trump ’ s chaotic and widely criticized response to the coronavirus pandemic .
In a column published Thursday , the newspaper ’ s board said the U.S. is currently “ reeling from an absence of leadership ” by Trump and his administration .
“ As the house burns , Mr. Trump is standing on the front lawn , boasting of success , denying responsibility , ordering others to grab the garden hose and promising that everything will be back to normal soon , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ His fecklessness is costing the country dearly.
” The board noted in its column — headlined “ Trump is pushing to reopen too soon .
The consequences could be tragic.
” — how the U.S. has now reached the “ very difficult crossroads ” of continuing to fight the spread of the virus while cautiously restarting the economy .
It doubted Trump was up to the job , however , given how the president has essentially “ passed responsibility to the governors , is now urging them to reopen too soon , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still more economic loss.
” “ The nation ’ s economic implosion demands action , but the correct response is to reopen in a way that is sustainable and does not cost thousands of additional lives , ” the board concluded .
“ Mr .
Trump not only does not know how to get there , but he also appears unwilling to seriously tackle the problem .
We may soon see terrible consequences from his abdication .
”

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The Washington Post editorial board used an analogy about a burning house to sum up President Donald Trump’s chaotic and widely criticized response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a column published Thursday, the newspaper’s board said the United States is “reeling from an absence of leadership” by Trump and his administration.
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“As the house burns, Mr. Trump is standing on the front lawn, boasting of success, denying responsibility, ordering others to grab the garden hose and promising that everything will be back to normal soon,” the board wrote, warning: “His fecklessness is costing the country dearly.”
The board noted in its column — headlined “Trump is pushing to reopen too soon. The consequences could be tragic.” — how the U.S. has now reached the “very difficult crossroads” of continuing to fight the spread of the virus while cautiously restarting the economy.
It expressed significant doubt about whether Trump was up to the job, however, given how the president has essentially “passed responsibility to the governors, is now urging them to reopen too soon, risking more infections, more death and still more economic loss.”
“The nation’s economic implosion demands action, but the correct response is to reopen in a way that is sustainable and does not cost thousands of additional lives,” the board concluded. “Mr. Trump not only does not know how to get there, but he also appears unwilling to seriously tackle the problem. We may soon see terrible consequences from his abdication.”
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