theguardian--2020-08-02--Nancy Pelosi says she has no confidence in Deborah Birx over handling of pandemic

House speaker Nancy Pelosi escalated an attack on Dr Deborah Birx , a senior scientist on Donald Trump ’ s coronavirus taskforce , in television comments on Sunday as Birx defended the administration ’ s handling of the pandemic .
Pelosi , the top Democrat in Congress , was asked on ABC ’ s This Week whether she has confidence in Birx , a renowned public health expert who has frequently appeared alongside Trump in briefings on the virus .
“ I think the president has been spreading disinformation about the virus and she is his appointee so , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no , ” Pelosi told ABC .
However Pelosi praised another scientist on Trump ’ s task force , Dr Anthony Fauci .
Pelosi ’ s comments came as Birx made an appearance of her own on cable television , and warned that widespread coronavirus infections in urban and rural America mark a “ new phase ” for the pandemic in the US , as she doubled down on calls to wear face masks and observe social distancing .
“ What we are seeing today is different from March and April .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The United States has the world ’ s largest number of cases at 4.6m , or one-quarter of the global total , and 154,361 deaths .
Birx said mitigation efforts across the west and the south are beginning to work but warned that people need to take the virus seriously and employ significant safety precautions when cases first begin to tick up .
Pelosi ’ s comments built on a report last week that she criticized Birx to Republican counterparts negotiating a new coronavirus relief package .
“ Deborah Birx is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you ’ re in , ” Pelosi said , according to Politico .
Birx , an infectious disease expert specializing in HIV/Aids , was accused in a New York Times story last month of providing internal support and scientific cover for the White House ’ s unrealistic view of how well its virus response was going .
“ She was a constant source of upbeat news for the president and his aides , walking the halls with charts emphasizing that outbreaks were gradually easing , ” the Times reported , describing “ a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ This was not a pollyannish view , ” Birx told CNN ’ s State of the Union of the advice she gave the president .
“ I ’ ve never been called pollyannish , or non-scientific , or non-data driven .
I will stake my 40-year career on those fundamental principles of using data to implement better programs and save lives.
” Birx has come under fire for what critics regard as excessive hesitancy in her public statements to knock down misleading information about the coronavirus and its spread , much of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Birx has also participated in two of the most infamous public moments of Trump spreading misleading information about the virus .
In March she helped Trump tout a nonexistent Google site to coordinate Covid-19 testing .
And in April she sat in the White House briefing room as the president announced that she was going to test a treatment involving “ light inside of the body ” .
“ I said , supposing you brought the light inside of the body , which you can do either through the skin or in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , speaking directly to Birx .
“ And I think you said you ’ re going to test that , too.
” Birx did not speak up to contradict him .
Trump ’ s daily briefings on the virus were abruptly canceled after the outing , but were revived again last month .
In her Sunday television appearance , Birx did contradict Trump , however , breaking with his insistence that schools reopen in the fall .
She said she agreed with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC ) that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 5 % for Covid-19 should not hold in-person classes .
“ If you have high case load and active community spread , just like we ’ re asking people not to go to bars , not to have house parties , not to have large spreading events , we ’ re asking people to distance learn at this moment so we can get this epidemic under control , ” Birx said on CNN .
The debate , in any case , is academic .
Birx did not mention that the country does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turnaround to get an accurate read on Covid-19 prevalence in most school districts , making the federal guidelines moot .
The official in charge of that failure , testing czar Adm Brett Giroir , declined on Sunday to call for a national mandate for wearing facial masks in public , explaining that such a mandate could backfire .
“ You really need to have mask-wearing at a very high degree , ” Giroir said on NBC ’ s Meet the Press .
“ There ’ s a debate whether a mandate is an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ message is , we ’ ve got to have mask-wearing .
”

House speaker Nancy Pelosi escalated an attack on Dr Deborah Birx, a senior scientist on Donald Trump’s coronavirus taskforce, in television comments on Sunday as Birx defended the administration’s handling of the pandemic.
Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, was asked on ABC’s This Week whether she has confidence in Birx, a renowned public health expert who has frequently appeared alongside Trump in briefings on the virus.
“I think the president has been spreading disinformation about the virus and she is his appointee so, I don’t have confidence there, no,” Pelosi told ABC. However Pelosi praised another scientist on Trump’s task force, Dr Anthony Fauci.
Pelosi’s comments came as Birx made an appearance of her own on cable television, and warned that widespread coronavirus infections in urban and rural America mark a “new phase” for the pandemic in the US, as she doubled down on calls to wear face masks and observe social distancing.
“What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread,” she said.
The United States has the world’s largest number of cases at 4.6m, or one-quarter of the global total, and 154,361 deaths. Birx said mitigation efforts across the west and the south are beginning to work but warned that people need to take the virus seriously and employ significant safety precautions when cases first begin to tick up.
Pelosi’s comments built on a report last week that she criticized Birx to Republican counterparts negotiating a new coronavirus relief package.
“Deborah Birx is the worst. Wow, what horrible hands you’re in,” Pelosi said, according to Politico.
Dr Deborah Birx told CNN of the advice she gave the president. ‘I’ve never been called pollyannish, or non-scientific, or non-data driven.’ Photograph: REX/Shutterstock
Birx, an infectious disease expert specializing in HIV/Aids, was accused in a New York Times story last month of providing internal support and scientific cover for the White House’s unrealistic view of how well its virus response was going.
“She was a constant source of upbeat news for the president and his aides, walking the halls with charts emphasizing that outbreaks were gradually easing,” the Times reported, describing “a critical period beginning in mid-April”.
Birx rebutted that characterization on Sunday.
“This was not a pollyannish view,” Birx told CNN’s State of the Union of the advice she gave the president. “I’ve never been called pollyannish, or non-scientific, or non-data driven. I will stake my 40-year career on those fundamental principles of using data to implement better programs and save lives.”
Birx has come under fire for what critics regard as excessive hesitancy in her public statements to knock down misleading information about the coronavirus and its spread, much of which has been peddled by Trump himself.
Birx has also participated in two of the most infamous public moments of Trump spreading misleading information about the virus. In March she helped Trump tout a nonexistent Google site to coordinate Covid-19 testing. And in April she sat in the White House briefing room as the president announced that she was going to test a treatment involving “light inside of the body”.
“I said, supposing you brought the light inside of the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way,” Trump said, speaking directly to Birx. “And I think you said you’re going to test that, too.”
Birx did not speak up to contradict him. Trump’s daily briefings on the virus were abruptly canceled after the outing, but were revived again last month.
In her Sunday television appearance, Birx did contradict Trump, however, breaking with his insistence that schools reopen in the fall. She said she agreed with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that school districts with a test positivity rate of 5% for Covid-19 should not hold in-person classes.
“If you have high case load and active community spread, just like we’re asking people not to go to bars, not to have house parties, not to have large spreading events, we’re asking people to distance learn at this moment so we can get this epidemic under control,” Birx said on CNN.
The debate, in any case, is academic. Birx did not mention that the country does not have enough testing with tight enough turnaround to get an accurate read on Covid-19 prevalence in most school districts, making the federal guidelines moot.
The official in charge of that failure, testing czar Adm Brett Giroir, declined on Sunday to call for a national mandate for wearing facial masks in public, explaining that such a mandate could backfire.
“You really need to have mask-wearing at a very high degree,” Giroir said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “There’s a debate whether a mandate is an affirmative thing.
“The public health message is, we’ve got to have mask-wearing.”


theguardian--2020-08-03--Coronavirus US: bailout funding deadlocked as urgent talks resume in Washington - live

Two weeks ago , my life as I knew it changed in an instant .
And my family will never be the same .
A madman , who I believe was targeting me because of my position as a federal judge , came to my house .
So begins an incredibly powerful video statement released this morning by Judge Esther Salas , recalling the 19 July shooting at her house which killed her son and injured her husband .
With her voice breaking with emotion at times , in the very raw nine minute video Salas describes how 20 year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to their home , in what is believed to have been a targeted attack .
Roy Den Hollander , later found dead by suicide , attacked her family while posing as a FedEx driver .
The New Jersey federal judge uses the message to call for more protection for people in her position , saying : “ I am begging those who are in power to do something .
For my family , the threat was real and the free flow of information from the Internet allowed this sick and depraved human being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ target us .
”

Lauren Gambino (now) and Martin Belam (earlier)

4 Aug 2020 01.22 BST Evening summary An updated summary of today’s key politics events, from my colleague Lauren Gambino and me, as we wrap up the politics live blog for this evening. After earlier threatening to ban TikTok , a hugely popular social media app owned by a Chinese company, Trump said today that he approved of Microsoft buying part of TikTok’s business, but repeatedly said that the US government should get a cut of the sale price.
, a hugely popular social media app owned by a Chinese company, said today that he approved of Microsoft buying part of TikTok’s business, but repeatedly said that Trump also pushed back on the idea of a full national lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, saying it was not necessary and would do more harm than good.
to prevent the spread of coronavirus, saying it was not necessary and would do more harm than good. For much of the morning and afternoon, Congress did what it does best these days: nothing. Lots of scuttling between the White House and Capitol Hill have failed to achieve much – if any – progress. According to Democratic leaders, negotiations over the next round of coronavirus relief funding remain at an impasse, days after the $600 unemployment benefit expired, leaving millions of Americans in the lurch.
Lots of scuttling between the White House and Capitol Hill have failed to achieve much – if any – progress. According to Democratic leaders, negotiations over the next round of coronavirus relief funding remain at an impasse, days after Fed policymakers said the US economy needs more stimulus funding and more masks.
and more masks. The US House intelligence committee launched an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence office , including its actions in Portland, Oregon, and its involvement in other anti-racism protests across the country.
, including its actions in Portland, Oregon, and its involvement in other anti-racism protests across the country. A Department of Homeland Security intelligence briefing obtained by the Nation suggested that government officials were trying to draw links between leftwing activists dubbed as “antifa” and a foreign power, which would dramatically increase the government’s ability to surveil and search American citizens.
which would dramatically increase the government’s ability to surveil and search American citizens. New York prosecutors argue they are justified in seeking Trump’s tax returns because of public reports of “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization”. In a press briefing, Trump’s only response was to call it a “witch-hunt”.
Updated at 01.33 BST
3 Aug 2020 00.44 BST A homeland security intelligence report obtained by The Nation shows government officials trying to establish links between left-wing “antifa” activists and a foreign power, which would give the government much more power to search and surveil them. “They targeted Americans like they’re Al-Qaeda,” a former homeland security official told The Nation’s Ken Klippenstein. The intelligence report focuses on Americans who fought with Kurdish forces in Syria and are now affiliated with left-wing causes. “Once someone (or some group) is identified as an agent of a foreign power, they are subject to warrantless search and surveillance in a way that would be illegal and unconstitutional for any other US person,” Steven Aftergood, from the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, told The Nation.
Some of the individuals targeted were linked to “antifa” based on photographers in front of an anti-fascist flag. One of the named targets, Brace Belden, co-hosts a left-wing podcast, The Nation Reported. Remember how Trump couldn’t actually “declare” Antifa terrorist organization? (Leave aside the category error around “organization.”) Because the relevant law around that requires a nexus to a banned foreign terror group? Well, https://t.co/qz8hjVriZL — Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) August 3, 2020
3 Aug 2020 00.11 BST TikTok users were already making jokes about Trump ‘as your landlord’ Donald Trump first threatened to ban TikTok, a popular social media app owned by a Chinese company, then said that he would not ban it if an American company bought its US operations, but said that he believed the US government deserved a cut of the money from that sale.
At a press conference Monday evening, he said the US government deserved money from the sale because it’s equivalent to the app’s “landlord” or “lease.” “It’s like the landlord and the tenant. Without the lease, the tenant doesn’t have the value. We’re sort of, in a certain way, the lease. We made it possible to have this great success,” Trump said. “TikTok’s a tremendous success. But a big portion of it is in this country.” TikTok’s young American users frequently use the platform to criticize the president, including making jokes about what Trump would be like as your landlord given his conduct during the coronavirus epidemic. Allow TikTok content? This article includes content provided by TikTok. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Allow and continue It’s not yet clear if Trump’s comments will spark any reaction from TikTok users.
Updated at 00.19 BST
3 Aug 2020 23.27 BST Trump compares US government to TikTok's 'landlord' or 'lease' Trump said again that he thinks that the US Treasury should get a “very large percentage” of the price of the sale of part of the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok to an American company, suggesting that the US government is the Chinese app’s “landlord.” Trump had previously threatened to ban TikTok altogether, though how he would do so is not clear, and then said earlier on Monday that Microsoft or another US company could purchase it before September 15. If that sale goes through, Trump said, he believes the US Treasury should get a percentage of the money. “It’s like the landlord and the tenant. Without the lease, the tenant doesn’t have the value. We’re sort of, in a certain way, the lease. We made it possible to have this great success,” Trump said. “TikTok’s a tremendous success. But a big portion of it’s in this country.”
The money the US government should get “would come from the sale,” Trump added. “Whatever the number is, it would come from the sale.” “Which nobody else would be thinking about but me,” the president added. “But that’s the way I think. It’s very fair.” Trump, the Real Estate Developer, demands US gets paid for acting as the 'lease' in the landlord-tenant (?) relationship between TikTok and Microsoft negotiations. #Brokers #realtor pic.twitter.com/dhc9D7Bd3b — EC (@Edward13Cohen) August 3, 2020 The Chinese-owned social media company has been one of the most popular apps in recent years, with rapid growth among Americans teens. The company says it has tens of millions of users in the US and hundreds of millions globally. Trump made his name in real estate in New York City. Trump and other administration officials have claimed there are privacy and security reasons to be concerned about Chinese ownership of a video app. On Monday. China’s foreign ministry said it strongly opposed any US actions against Chinese software companies, and it hoped the US could stop its “discriminatory policies”. Trump’s comments on the US government being owed money for the forced sale of a Chinese company that produces a a product that is popular with Americans came during the same press conference as he used xenophobic terms for the coronavirus, calling it the “China virus” and the “China plague.” Trump officials have routinely blamed the Chinese government for the spread of a pandemic that has killed more people in the United States than in any other country, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University.
Updated at 00.15 BST
3 Aug 2020 22.55 BST Fact-check: are other countries seeing COVID-19 flare ups like the US? A fact-check on a frequent theme of Trump’s recent press conferences: https://twitter.com/pbump/status/1290404405465042944
Updated at 00.14 BST
3 Aug 2020 22.54 BST Trump is touting statistics about ‘telehealth’ Trump is sharing a series of statistics about how many more Americans done medical appointments remotely during the pandemic. “Telehealth has been incredible,” he says.
Updated at 00.14 BST
3 Aug 2020 22.46 BST Trump pushes back against the idea of a lockdown In his press conference this afternoon, Trump appeared to respond to a federal reserve official who argued yesterday that there needs to be a nationwide lockdown for a month or more to stop the spread of coronavirus. “It’s important for all Americans to understand that a permanent lockdown is not a viable path towards producing the result that you want,” Trump said this afternoon, arguing that lockdowns cause more harm than good. He emphasized that he wanted schools to open.
3 Aug 2020 22.19 BST Still waiting on the Trump press conference This is Lois Beckett picking up our live politics coverage from our West Coast office. The White House announced a press conference earlier today, slated for 5 pm, but it has not started yet. The White House has added a 5 PM "news conference" to Trump's schedule. — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 3, 2020
Updated at 22.48 BST
3 Aug 2020 21.53 BST Afternoon summary Before I hand the blog over to my colleague Lois for Trump’s press conference, here’s a quick summary of what’s happened so far today:
For much of the morning and afternoon, Congress has been doing what is does best these days: nothing. Lots of scuttling between the White House and Capitol Hill have failed to achieve much – if any – progress. According to Democratic leaders, negotiations over the next round of coronavirus relief funding remain at an impasse, days after the $600 unemployment benefit expired leaving millions of Americans in the lurch.
Fed policymakers said the US economy needs more stimulus funding and more masks
The US House Intelligence Committee launched an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence office, including its actions in Portland, Oregon, and its involvement in other anti-racism protests across the country.
3 Aug 2020 21.41 BST Mario Koran The Guardian’s Mario Koran sends this dispatch on how Southern California’s Imperial County, bordered by Arizona to the east and Mexico to the south, “became an early poster child for the disproportionate toll coronavirus has taken on communities of color.” In the rural, arid county, coronavirus has exacerbated long standing inequities and made the virus all the more difficult to combat. California governor Newsom said today that more than 650 patients have had to be airlifted to neighboring counties with more capacity to treat patients, some transported as far as the Bay area, 600 miles north. In response, said Newsom, the state launched strike teams, flooding the zone with resources and technical support and pushing reluctant county officials to scale back plans to reopen the economy. The efforts have appeared to have shown up in the numbers. The positivity rate for those tested is at 11.2% -- still higher than the state average of 7%, but far below its peak in June of 33%. Now, the state is launching similar efforts to address needs in California’s central valley, the state’s new hotspot, which last week saw the state’s first death of a teenager from coronavirus. Like Imperial County, the central valley is largely agricultural, home to a high number of Latinos and essential workers who are disproportionately represented in coronavirus cases and deaths. The state is allocating $52 million to expand contact tracing and disease investigation efforts in the central valley, as well as an additional $6.5 million from philanthropy to help vulnerable residents pay for food, rent and utilities. “Disproportionately this disease is impacting the Latino community, the communities in the Central Valley. I hope we can paint a picture of how impactful this has been on the Latinx community. That’s why we’re disproportionately focusing on farmworkers, essential workers” Newsom said. Meantime, hospitalizations and admissions to ICU are trending downward in California, a positive sign. The steady count of new fatalities, however, make clear the state is not out of harm’s way. Today's #COVID19 update:
- 148,721 tests reported
- Positive cases: 5,739
- 7 day average caseload: 7,764
- Average positivity rate dropped slightly to 7.0%
Sadly, 32 fatalities were reported.
We’re seeing modest declines overall--but we’re not out of the woods. WEAR YOUR MASK. — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) August 3, 2020
3 Aug 2020 21.38 BST Texas senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Republicans, both El Paso shooting. Cornyn, who is running for re-election this year, called it an “act of terrorism tried to drive a wedge in this wonderful community and failed. What happened in El Paso a year ago today is unspeakable and heartbreaking – we will never forget the 23 Texans who lost their lives that day and the dozens of others wounded. pic.twitter.com/TwkzAGDQSf — Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) August 3, 2020 Cruz called the killer a “deranged white supremacist.” One year ago, a deranged white supremacist committed an act of unspeakable evil that shook El Paso and left the nation weeping. Today we remember the 23 people who lost their lives, and their families and loved ones who carry the weight of this day on their hearts. #ElPasoStrong — Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) August 3, 2020
3 Aug 2020 21.14 BST The state of negotiations is ... not great. According to reporters staking out the ongoing discussions, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and White House officials have yet to even broach the beginning of what could possibly become a deal. Both sides are digging in. Here’s what you need to know from the @SpeakerPelosi/@SenSchumer post-meeting availability: SCHUMER said Rs are sticking to their position on enhanced unemployment insurance. They said they spoke mostly about school money
aug. 3 and they said they’re still feeling each other out — Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) August 3, 2020


theguardian--2020-08-03--TikTok row: Microsoft pursues deal as China vows to resist US sanctions

China has pushed back against the threat of further action by the US against its software companies , after Microsoft revealed it was pursuing an acquisition deal for TikTok .
On Sunday the US secretary of state , Mike Pompeo , told Fox News that Donald Trump was likely to take unspecified action in the coming days .
Later in the day , Microsoft said that following a conversation between its CEO , Satya Nadella , and Trump , it would move quickly on acquisition talks with TikTok ’ s parent company , ByteDance , for its US , Canada @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aiming to complete the talks no later than 15 September .
It pledged to ensure that all private data of American users was transferred to , and remained in , the US .
On Monday China ’ s foreign ministry said it strongly opposed any US actions against Chinese software companies , and it hoped the US could stop its “ discriminatory policies ” .
Trump agreed to allow Microsoft to negotiate the acquisition of TikTok on condition that it secure a deal in 45 days , three people familiar with the matter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fox that countless Chinese software companies were “ feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist party , their national security apparatus ” .
“ Could be their facial recognition patterns .
It could be information about their residence , their phone numbers , their friends , who they ’ re connected to .
Those are the issues that President Trump has made clear we ’ re going to take care of , ” he said .
TikTok ’ s US user data is stored in the US , with strict controls on employee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the US , the company said on Sunday .
A TikTok spokesperson said : “ We are committed to protecting our users ’ privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.
” Trump had said on Friday that he would soon ban TikTok in the US .
A federal committee is reviewing whether that is possible .
The treasury secretary , Steven Mnuchin , said its members agreed that TikTok could not remain in the US in its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back information on 100 million Americans ” .
“ We all agree there has to be a change … everybody agrees it can ’ t exist as it does , ” Mnuchin said Sunday on ABC ’ s This Week .
The Republican senator Lindsey Graham tweeted that Trump ’ s new stance was “ a win-win in the making ” .
Chinese state media said banning Tik Tok would be “ a barbaric act of a rogue government ” , and rejected the US ’ s claims about national security fears .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Microsoft acquisition was “ the hunting and looting of TikTok by the US government in conjunction with US high-tech companies ” .
The editorial also suggested any ban was politically motivated because many teens – who are the main users of TikTok – do not like Trump .
As speculation grew over a ban or sale of the social media ’ s US business , TikTok posted a video on Saturday saying : “ We ’ re not planning on going anywhere.
” On Monday morning ByteDance said it would “ adhere @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being “ faced with all kinds of complex and unimaginable difficulties ” .
TikTok ’ s catchy videos and ease of use has made it popular , and it says it has tens of millions of users in the US and hundreds of millions globally .
ByteDance launched TikTok in 2017 .
It bought Musical.ly , a video service popular with teens in the US and Europe , and combined the two .
It has a similar service , Douyin , for users in China .
But TikTok ’ s Chinese ownership has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ user data with Chinese officials as well as censorship of videos critical of the Chinese government .
TikTok says it does not censor videos and it would not give the Chinese government access to US user data .
“ The president , when he makes his decision , will make sure that everything we have done drives us as close to zero risk for the American people , ” Pompeo said .
“ That ’ s the mission set that he laid out for all of us when we began to evaluate this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re closing in on a solution .
And I think you will see the president ’ s announcement shortly.
” The debate over TikTok has parallels with a broader US security crackdown on Chinese companies , including telecom providers Huawei and ZTE .
The Trump administration has ordered that the US stop buying equipment from those providers to be used in US networks .
Trump has also tried to steer allies away from Huawei over concerns that the Chinese government has access to its data , which Huawei denies .
Associated Press contributed @ @ @

Donald Trump on Monday said Microsoft can buy the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, but said the purchase would have to be completed by 15 September.
Trump also said the US Treasury should receive payment as a portion of any deal between the social media platform and a US company. The president didn’t explain how that process would work.
On Sunday the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, had told Fox News that Trump was likely to take unspecified action against TikTok in the coming days.
Later in the day, Microsoft said that following a conversation between its CEO, Satya Nadella, and Trump, it would move quickly on acquisition talks with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, for its US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand operations, aiming to complete the talks no later than 15 September.
It pledged to ensure that all private data of American users was transferred to, and remained in, the US.
On Monday China’s foreign ministry said it strongly opposed any US actions against Chinese software companies, and it hoped the US could stop its “discriminatory policies”.
Pompeo told Fox that countless Chinese software companies were “feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist party, their national security apparatus”.
“Could be their facial recognition patterns. It could be information about their residence, their phone numbers, their friends, who they’re connected to. Those are the issues that President Trump has made clear we’re going to take care of,” he said.
TikTok’s US user data is stored in the US, with strict controls on employee access, and its biggest investors come from the US, the company said on Sunday.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “We are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.”
Trump had said on Friday that he would soon ban TikTok in the US. A federal committee is reviewing whether that is possible. The treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said its members agreed that TikTok could not remain in the US in its current form because it “risks sending back information on 100 million Americans”.
“We all agree there has to be a change … everybody agrees it can’t exist as it does,” Mnuchin said Sunday on ABC’s This Week.
The Republican senator Lindsey Graham tweeted that Trump’s new stance was “a win-win in the making”.
Chinese state media said banning Tik Tok would be “a barbaric act of a rogue government”, and rejected the US’s claims about national security fears. A Global Times editorial on Sunday said a Microsoft acquisition was “the hunting and looting of TikTok by the US government in conjunction with US high-tech companies”.
The editorial also suggested any ban was politically motivated because many teens – who are the main users of TikTok – do not like Trump.
As speculation grew over a ban or sale of the social media’s US business, TikTok posted a video on Saturday saying: “We’re not planning on going anywhere.”
On Monday morning ByteDance said it would “adhere to the vision of globalisation” despite being “faced with all kinds of complex and unimaginable difficulties”.
TikTok’s catchy videos and ease of use has made it popular, and it says it has tens of millions of users in the US and hundreds of millions globally.
ByteDance launched TikTok in 2017. It bought Musical.ly, a video service popular with teens in the US and Europe, and combined the two. It has a similar service, Douyin, for users in China.
But TikTok’s Chinese ownership has raised concern about the potential for sharing user data with Chinese officials as well as censorship of videos critical of the Chinese government. TikTok says it does not censor videos and it would not give the Chinese government access to US user data.
“The president, when he makes his decision, will make sure that everything we have done drives us as close to zero risk for the American people,” Pompeo said. “That’s the mission set that he laid out for all of us when we began to evaluate this now several months back. We’re closing in on a solution. And I think you will see the president’s announcement shortly.”
The debate over TikTok has parallels with a broader US security crackdown on Chinese companies, including telecom providers Huawei and ZTE. The Trump administration has ordered that the US stop buying equipment from those providers to be used in US networks. Trump has also tried to steer allies away from Huawei over concerns that the Chinese government has access to its data, which Huawei denies.
Associated Press contributed to this report


theguardian--2020-08-03--With big rallies cancelled, young climate activists are adapting election tactics

For young climate activists in the US , staying home because of the pandemic does not mean staying silent , with plans gathering pace across the country to make their voices heard in November ’ s elections .
It has been nearly a year since an estimated 6 million people across the world joined the youth-led global climate strikes on 20 September .
In the US , students from Los Angeles to Washington DC skipped school to voice their frustration over the slow response to the climate crisis by elected leaders , and Greta Thunberg told a cheering crowd in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the beginning ” .
But in the 10 months since the historic protests , the Covid-19 pandemic has ravaged the US , making meeting and organizing in-person hazardous .
Climate strikes , including a major three-day mass protest that was planned for Earth Day 2020 in April , have been cancelled .
But networks of youth climate activists have been regrouping , with a new focus on election campaigning with phone banks , social media and friend-to-friend organizing , according to interviews with organizers .
The stakes could not be higher for young @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 23 , the deputy communications director of the Sunrise Movement , a leading youth advocacy group on the climate .
“ We are a generation that was really born into crises , ” said Jimenez-Hudis .
“ We don ’ t have some golden age that we can look back on and feel that there is any kind of resonance with a call to normalcy because our normal has always been endless wars , has always been police brutality.
” Youth voter turnout during the 2016 elections was disappointing with just 46 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going out to vote , compared to 70 % of the oldest voters , 70 and over .
Then in the wake of Donald Trump ’ s election , youth movements began building campaigns and gaining visibility , with climate change growing as a key issue , driven in part by the burgeoning Sunrise Movement , which was founded in 2017 .
In preparation for the 2018 midterm elections , the Sunrise Movement began training young activists to canvass for candidates who were proponents of renewable energy and publicly confront incumbents who take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When the 2018 midterms came around , 20 % more young Americans ages 18 to 29 went out to vote compared to the last midterms in 2014 , and Democrats won the House .
The group has more recently been pushing Democratic leaders to embrace the Green New Deal , a bold carbon-neutral plan for the economy championed by progressive Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez .
Backing the policy was initially seen as too radical by many Democrats but it has now been embraced more widely by members of the party .
Joe Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently unveiled a climate and jobs plan that mirrors some of the aggressiveness of the Green New Deal , though some activists believe he is not tough enough on fossil fuel industries .
With the pandemic , Jimenez-Hudis said , the Sunrise Movement has shifted its electoral strategy to focus entirely on phone banking and friend-to-friend organizing – encouraging people to talk to their friends and relatives directly about the candidates they support .
“ We still have lots of work to do to make sure that we get the right Democrats on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Deal champions on the ballot for the election in November just up and down the ticket , ” Jimenez-Hudis said .
The organization credits its phone banking volunteers for helping Jamaal Bowman , a former teacher who ousted a longtime congressman in New York , win his election and for tightening the race of Charles Booker , a Democrat in Kentucky who was hoping to run against the Republican senator Mitch McConnell .
In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in May , the Sunrise Movement has also made efforts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police brutality , encouraging members to attend protests and speak out about the intersection of racial justice and climate activism .
The organization recently started its # WideAwake campaign , encouraging local activists to protest outside the homes of elected officials .
On Juneteenth , a local Sunrise chapter coordinated such a protest outside the home of Senator McConnell , demanding justice for Breonna Taylor , who was shot and killed in her home by police in Louisville , Kentucky .
Recent months have helped some young climate activists see that the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are in line with the ones that will bring racial justice , escalating the need for elected officials who will bring those changes .
Rose Strauss , 20 , a former organizer with the Sunrise Movement , said her time with the organization helped her understand the gravity of the 2020 election .
She dropped out of college so she could dedicate all her time to the election and canvass for Senator Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire .
Once it became clear that Sanders was not going to win the nomination , Strauss @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dedicate their efforts to starting a new initiative called the Down Ballot Disruption Project .
The program , held entirely over Zoom , aims to teach young people how to canvass for candidates in their local elections and how to build a community around their activism , especially on social media .
Young people can “ change this election in massive ways .
The only arena right now , because we can ’ t go and canvass outside , is social media .
That ’ s where we know how to do stuff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really need to make sure that the politicians who get elected this cycle are going to be the ones that are really caring about our futures.
” For activists with Zero Hour , the climate justice organization that coordinated a youth climate march in Washington DC in summer 2018 , the focus for the 2020 election is less on getting individual candidates elected but broadly teaching young activists how to encourage their communities to get out to vote and educate them about the Green New Deal .
The organization , along with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the # Vote4OurFuture campaign in July , targeting youth activists in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and Grand Rapids and Detroit in Michigan , two swing states .
The campaign was originally scheduled to be a bus tour in March , but coronavirus forced the organizations to change course .
Now , the campaign is all about hosting virtual events like roundtables and webinars focusing on what the Green New Deal could look like in specific communities .
“ We want climate change to be a top priority on people ’ s minds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ polls in November because of the way it will impact people of color and people living in those cities , ” said Zanagee Artis , 20 , the co-founder and deputy director of digital advocacy for Zero Hour .
While climate advocacy during the pandemic has largely been on video chats and social media , young activists are eager to get back on the streets .
Fridays for Future , the global organization founded by Greta Thunberg , plans on holding a global climate strike on 25 September .
Local chapters are working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their areas to accommodate local Covid-19 conditions .
Spencer Bregg , 17 , an organizer with Fridays for Future NYC , said organizers are still working out the logistics of what the protest will look like , but the overall message of the demonstration will be to advocate for a “ green recovery ” and ensure that New York City continues to uphold its commitments to fighting climate change .
While the pandemic has left devastation across the city and in many other places in the US , activists are hopeful that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and show how a single crisis can affect everyone .
Coronavirus has “ inspired a lot of people because it has shown us that the government can act quickly and efficiently to quell a crisis ” , Bregg said .
“ That ’ s what this is : it ’ s a climate crisis .
A lot of politicians say we can ’ t afford to do that , we don ’ t have enough time for this , but coronavirus showed us that we can have complete systematic change if we need @ @ @

For young climate activists in the US, staying home because of the pandemic does not mean staying silent, with plans gathering pace across the country to make their voices heard in November’s elections.
It has been nearly a year since an estimated 6 million people across the world joined the youth-led global climate strikes on 20 September.
In the US, students from Los Angeles to Washington DC skipped school to voice their frustration over the slow response to the climate crisis by elected leaders, and Greta Thunberg told a cheering crowd in New York City “this is only the beginning”.
But in the 10 months since the historic protests, the Covid-19 pandemic has ravaged the US, making meeting and organizing in-person hazardous. Climate strikes, including a major three-day mass protest that was planned for Earth Day 2020 in April, have been cancelled.
But networks of youth climate activists have been regrouping, with a new focus on election campaigning with phone banks, social media and friend-to-friend organizing, according to interviews with organizers.
The stakes could not be higher for young people, according to Aracely Jimenez-Hudis, 23, the deputy communications director of the Sunrise Movement, a leading youth advocacy group on the climate.
“We are a generation that was really born into crises,” said Jimenez-Hudis. “We don’t have some golden age that we can look back on and feel that there is any kind of resonance with a call to normalcy because our normal has always been endless wars, has always been police brutality.”
Youth voter turnout during the 2016 elections was disappointing with just 46% of eligible voters aged 18 to 29 going out to vote, compared to 70% of the oldest voters, 70 and over.
Then in the wake of Donald Trump’s election, youth movements began building campaigns and gaining visibility, with climate change growing as a key issue, driven in part by the burgeoning Sunrise Movement, which was founded in 2017.
Politicians who get elected this cycle have to be the ones that are really caring about our futures Rose Strauss, 20
In preparation for the 2018 midterm elections, the Sunrise Movement began training young activists to canvass for candidates who were proponents of renewable energy and publicly confront incumbents who take money from the fossil fuel industry. When the 2018 midterms came around, 20% more young Americans ages 18 to 29 went out to vote compared to the last midterms in 2014, and Democrats won the House.
The group has more recently been pushing Democratic leaders to embrace the Green New Deal, a bold carbon-neutral plan for the economy championed by progressive Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hold a news conference to introduce Green New Deal legislation in Washington DC. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Backing the policy was initially seen as too radical by many Democrats but it has now been embraced more widely by members of the party. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, recently unveiled a climate and jobs plan that mirrors some of the aggressiveness of the Green New Deal, though some activists believe he is not tough enough on fossil fuel industries.
With the pandemic, Jimenez-Hudis said, the Sunrise Movement has shifted its electoral strategy to focus entirely on phone banking and friend-to-friend organizing – encouraging people to talk to their friends and relatives directly about the candidates they support.
“We still have lots of work to do to make sure that we get the right Democrats on the ballot, the right Green New Deal champions on the ballot for the election in November just up and down the ticket,” Jimenez-Hudis said.
The organization credits its phone banking volunteers for helping Jamaal Bowman, a former teacher who ousted a longtime congressman in New York, win his election and for tightening the race of Charles Booker, a Democrat in Kentucky who was hoping to run against the Republican senator Mitch McConnell.
Aligning racial justice and climate fights
In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in May, the Sunrise Movement has also made efforts to streamline its focus toward racism and police brutality, encouraging members to attend protests and speak out about the intersection of racial justice and climate activism. The organization recently started its #WideAwake campaign, encouraging local activists to protest outside the homes of elected officials. On Juneteenth, a local Sunrise chapter coordinated such a protest outside the home of Senator McConnell, demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed in her home by police in Louisville, Kentucky.
Recent months have helped some young climate activists see that the same systemic changes needed to address climate change are in line with the ones that will bring racial justice, escalating the need for elected officials who will bring those changes.
A man holds a sign at a protest in Brooklyn. Some climate activists believe the changes needed to address climate change are in line with the ones that will bring racial justice. Photograph: Erik McGregor/LightRocket/Getty Images
Rose Strauss, 20, a former organizer with the Sunrise Movement, said her time with the organization helped her understand the gravity of the 2020 election. She dropped out of college so she could dedicate all her time to the election and canvass for Senator Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire.
Once it became clear that Sanders was not going to win the nomination, Strauss and a few fellow activists began to dedicate their efforts to starting a new initiative called the Down Ballot Disruption Project. The program, held entirely over Zoom, aims to teach young people how to canvass for candidates in their local elections and how to build a community around their activism, especially on social media.
Young people can “change this election in massive ways. The only arena right now, because we can’t go and canvass outside, is social media. That’s where we know how to do stuff,” Strauss said. “We really need to make sure that the politicians who get elected this cycle are going to be the ones that are really caring about our futures.”
For activists with Zero Hour, the climate justice organization that coordinated a youth climate march in Washington DC in summer 2018, the focus for the 2020 election is less on getting individual candidates elected but broadly teaching young activists how to encourage their communities to get out to vote and educate them about the Green New Deal.
The organization, along with the National Children’s Campaign, launched the #Vote4OurFuture campaign in July, targeting youth activists in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and Grand Rapids and Detroit in Michigan, two swing states. The campaign was originally scheduled to be a bus tour in March, but coronavirus forced the organizations to change course. Now, the campaign is all about hosting virtual events like roundtables and webinars focusing on what the Green New Deal could look like in specific communities.
“We want climate change to be a top priority on people’s minds when they’re going to the polls in November because of the way it will impact people of color and people living in those cities,” said Zanagee Artis, 20, the co-founder and director of advocacy for Zero Hour.
While climate advocacy during the pandemic has largely been on video chats and social media, young activists are eager to get back on the streets. Fridays for Future, the global organization founded by Greta Thunberg, plans on holding a global climate strike on 25 September. Local chapters are working on what the protest will look like in their areas to accommodate local Covid-19 conditions.
Spencer Berg, 17, an organizer with Fridays for Future NYC, said organizers are still working out the logistics of what the protest will look like, but the overall message of the demonstration will be to advocate for a “green recovery” and ensure that New York City continues to uphold its commitments to fighting climate change.
While the pandemic has left devastation across the city and in many other places in the US, activists are hopeful that coronavirus can provide parallels to climate change and show how a single crisis can affect everyone.
Coronavirus has “inspired a lot of people because it has shown us that the government can act quickly and efficiently to quell a crisis”, Berg said. “That’s what this is: it’s a climate crisis. A lot of politicians say we can’t afford to do that, we don’t have enough time for this, but coronavirus showed us that we can have complete systematic change if we need to.”


theguardian--2020-08-03--The Swamp: a revealing look into Washington corruption

There ’ s a recurring graphic in The Swamp , a new HBO documentary riffing on the Trump campaign ’ s ( false ) promise to drain Washington of moneyed interests , in which vines overrun the Rotunda as it sinks into a gooey morass .
The lure of corruption , and the entrenchment of money , is all-encompassing – a rare shared point between America ’ s two political parties , and a thesis of a film attempting to pull back the curtain on business as usual in Washington .
Directors Morgan Pehme and Daniel DiMauro were not strangers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two directed the 2017 documentary Get Me Roger Stone , a film about the Trump campaign consultant who was sentenced to 40 months in prison for corruption charges ( Trump commuted his sentence last month ) .
But the two did not expect to find commonality on the issue of corruption in Congress in Drain the Swamp , a book invoking the Trump slogan by a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus , Colorado representative Ken Buck .
The duo , self-described liberals , read the first seven or so chapters and were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re on the same page with this conservative member of the Freedom Caucus about how the rich donors and special interests are controlling and perverting our government , ” Pehme told the Guardian .
Then they got to the chapter on Buck ’ s argument for the end of the Endangered Species Act , and it was , “ Oh , right , we ’ re not on the same page with you at all.
” Still , the near-overlap with progressive calls from the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seemed like a window into the deliberately opaque and confusing world of congressional fundraising .
Filming Buck and two fellow Republican lawmakers – Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Matt Gaetz of Florida in their DC offices , at their homes , at campaign stops and constituent visits – could offer “ a chance to take the American public behind closed doors in Congress for the first time and show them how the sausage is made ” , said Pehme .
They began filming The Swamp in 2019 with an understanding of money ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ especially in the near-decade since the Citizens United v FEC decision by the supreme court uncapped donations by large political groups known as Super Pacs .
But the chokehold of money “ was just so much worse than we could have imagined ” , DiMauro told the Guardian .
“ Our objective was not to weasel our way into these Republican offices so that we could secretly undermine them , ” said Pehme , a former political journalist .
Rather , it was “ to get the American people behind closed doors so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system is broken ” .
The Swamp follows Massie , Buck and in particular Gaetz over the course of one turbulent year , as the lawmakers navigate a thicket of corrupting influences : the fundraising requirements by the National Republican Congressional Committee ( and likewise by its Democratic counterpart , the DCCC ) which incentivize endless campaigning ; the party systems which attach a fundraising hierarchy to committee assignments – the more money raised , the more influential the seat ; the necessity of media notoriety to win some independence from reliance of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money ; the “ threat value of money ” , as explained by Harvard law professor and lone academic talking head Lawrence Lessig , that could be revoked in campaigns by corporations unhappy with legislation , which “ has the effect of disciplining members of Congress ” , especially on anti-industry issues such as fossil fuel regulation .
All three legislators decry , in public and on camera , the poisonous vines of financial incentives in Washington ; all three also embody striking hypocrisies in staking their positions .
Gaetz , the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Donald Trump , became the first Republican congressman to swear off Pac money in his campaigns in February , but derives much of visibility from his unwavering chumminess with a president whose administration tapped four times more lobbyists in two years than the Obama administration did in six .
Gaetz represents what DiMauro called “ the double-edged sword ” of visibility required to make swearing off business donations helpful in meeting fundraising quotas ( for Gaetz , at one point , $ 125,000 for the NRCC ) viable .
He breaks free @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the politics of hate ” – drumming up “ bloodsport ” conflict with the opposing party to drive emotions , and thus more fundraising .
“ He ’ s able to create his own national platform by being so polarizing , ” said DiMauro .
In October 2019 , Gaetz corralled several Republican lawmakers into crashing a closed-door impeachment inquiry committee hearing in the Capitol basement as Laura Cooper , a top Pentagon official for Ukraine policy , prepared to testify .
The scene , as captured by Pehme and DiMauro and a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and absurd – lawmakers hyped with game-time energy , wielding cellphones , accessing a secured room and then ordering pizza ; the stunt violated confidentiality rules , jeopardized the security of proceedings and blared across cable news .
“ The fact that it became such a big story shows how the media rewards the theater of the absurd , ” said Pehme .
“ That was mission accomplished for Matt Gaetz , because he turned the story away from the depositions that were taking place in the Scif [ sensitive compartmented information facility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republicans were being shut out of the process.
” The film , and its makers , are careful not to lay the blame exclusively at the feet of the Republican party ; the Democrats have a similar system for allotting committee seats by fundraising levels , and require member dues ( which were recently boycotted by Ocasio-Cortez , who instead promised to pay the money directly to Democrats in tough races ) .
On the party level , “ there is no interest in bridging the partisan divide , because they use it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to keep themselves in power , ” said Pehme .
“ But I do feel that there is an opportunity to bridge the divide between members of different parties.
” That ’ s partly why , said Pehme , the film focuses in particular on bipartisan support for ending America ’ s perpetual wars ; it ’ s an admittedly surprising image to see Massie , a staunch fiscal conservative who denies human-produced carbon dioxide ’ s role in climate change ( yet whose house runs entirely on solar power ) , standing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lone lawmaker to oppose the passage of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists act ( AUMF ) in 2001 , which expanded executive power under Bush for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan .
Massie joined several Republicans opposed to America ’ s involvement in cyclical wars to support Lee ’ s proposal to repeal the AUMF .
The Swamp suggests , as the chaos of 2019 lurched into an unfathomable 2020 , that special interests in Washington are not withering .
Massie supported a war powers resolution restricting Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Iran – a vote in line with his conscience but not his Republican base – and laments his next 90 days “ groveling ” for campaign money to ward off a primary challenger .
Gaetz swore off the Pac money – weeks before the coronavirus pandemic , which triggered a congressional stimulus bill that delivered billions to special interests at the expense of small businesses .
If it all seems bleak , the hope , said the film-makers , is change through translating common wisdom – Washington is dysfunctional , we all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ screen .
“ If the American people get to see and understand exactly how Congress is corrupt , ” Pehme said .
“ We can come together – Democrats , Republicans , independents – and we can insist that our members stop playing this game.
” • None The Swamp premieres on HBO on 4 August with a UK date to be announced

There’s a recurring graphic in The Swamp, a new HBO documentary riffing on the Trump campaign’s (false) promise to drain Washington of moneyed interests, in which vines overrun the Rotunda as it sinks into a gooey morass. The lure of corruption, and the entrenchment of money, is all-encompassing – a rare shared point between America’s two political parties, and a thesis of a film attempting to pull back the curtain on business as usual in Washington.
Directors Morgan Pehme and Daniel DiMauro were not strangers to corruption in American politics; the two directed the 2017 documentary Get Me Roger Stone, a film about the Trump campaign consultant who was sentenced to 40 months in prison for corruption charges (Trump commuted his sentence last month). But the two did not expect to find commonality on the issue of corruption in Congress in Drain the Swamp, a book invoking the Trump slogan by a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, Colorado representative Ken Buck.
The duo, self-described liberals, read the first seven or so chapters and were surprised to find themselves thinking, “we’re on the same page with this conservative member of the Freedom Caucus about how the rich donors and special interests are controlling and perverting our government,” Pehme told the Guardian. Then they got to the chapter on Buck’s argument for the end of the Endangered Species Act, and it was, “Oh, right, we’re not on the same page with you at all.”
Still, the near-overlap with progressive calls from the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to cleanse Washington of big-money donors seemed like a window into the deliberately opaque and confusing world of congressional fundraising. Filming Buck and two fellow Republican lawmakers – Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Matt Gaetz of Florida in their DC offices, at their homes, at campaign stops and constituent visits – could offer “a chance to take the American public behind closed doors in Congress for the first time and show them how the sausage is made”, said Pehme.
They began filming The Swamp in 2019 with an understanding of money’s corrosive role in representative democracy, especially in the near-decade since the Citizens United v FEC decision by the supreme court uncapped donations by large political groups known as Super Pacs. But the chokehold of money “was just so much worse than we could have imagined”, DiMauro told the Guardian. “Our objective was not to weasel our way into these Republican offices so that we could secretly undermine them,” said Pehme, a former political journalist. Rather, it was “to get the American people behind closed doors so they could see for themselves why the system is broken”.
The Swamp follows Massie, Buck and in particular Gaetz over the course of one turbulent year, as the lawmakers navigate a thicket of corrupting influences: the fundraising requirements by the National Republican Congressional Committee (and likewise by its Democratic counterpart, the DCCC) which incentivize endless campaigning; the party systems which attach a fundraising hierarchy to committee assignments – the more money raised, the more influential the seat; the necessity of media notoriety to win some independence from reliance of so-called Political Action Committee (Pac) money; the “threat value of money”, as explained by Harvard law professor and lone academic talking head Lawrence Lessig, that could be revoked in campaigns by corporations unhappy with legislation, which “has the effect of disciplining members of Congress”, especially on anti-industry issues such as fossil fuel regulation.
All three legislators decry, in public and on camera, the poisonous vines of financial incentives in Washington; all three also embody striking hypocrisies in staking their positions. Gaetz, the most notorious of the three for his friendship with Donald Trump, became the first Republican congressman to swear off Pac money in his campaigns in February, but derives much of visibility from his unwavering chumminess with a president whose administration tapped four times more lobbyists in two years than the Obama administration did in six.
Matt Gaetz and Thomas Massie talking about fundraising in Gaetz’s office. Photograph: HBO
Gaetz represents what DiMauro called “the double-edged sword” of visibility required to make swearing off business donations helpful in meeting fundraising quotas (for Gaetz, at one point, $125,000 for the NRCC) viable. He breaks free by trafficking in what Lessig calls “the politics of hate” – drumming up “bloodsport” conflict with the opposing party to drive emotions, and thus more fundraising.
“He’s able to create his own national platform by being so polarizing,” said DiMauro.
In October 2019, Gaetz corralled several Republican lawmakers into crashing a closed-door impeachment inquiry committee hearing in the Capitol basement as Laura Cooper, a top Pentagon official for Ukraine policy, prepared to testify. The scene, as captured by Pehme and DiMauro and a mass of news cameras, is chaotic and absurd – lawmakers hyped with game-time energy, wielding cellphones, accessing a secured room and then ordering pizza; the stunt violated confidentiality rules, jeopardized the security of proceedings and blared across cable news.
“The fact that it became such a big story shows how the media rewards the theater of the absurd,” said Pehme. “That was mission accomplished for Matt Gaetz, because he turned the story away from the depositions that were taking place in the Scif [sensitive compartmented information facility] to this false claim that the Republicans were being shut out of the process.”
The film, and its makers, are careful not to lay the blame exclusively at the feet of the Republican party; the Democrats have a similar system for allotting committee seats by fundraising levels, and require member dues (which were recently boycotted by Ocasio-Cortez, who instead promised to pay the money directly to Democrats in tough races). On the party level, “there is no interest in bridging the partisan divide, because they use it is as fuel for their money machines to keep themselves in power,” said Pehme. “But I do feel that there is an opportunity to bridge the divide between members of different parties.”
Photograph: HBO
That’s partly why, said Pehme, the film focuses in particular on bipartisan support for ending America’s perpetual wars; it’s an admittedly surprising image to see Massie, a staunch fiscal conservative who denies human-produced carbon dioxide’s role in climate change (yet whose house runs entirely on solar power), standing in support behind Barbara Lee, the lone lawmaker to oppose the passage of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists act (AUMF) in 2001, which expanded executive power under Bush for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Massie joined several Republicans opposed to America’s involvement in cyclical wars to support Lee’s proposal to repeal the AUMF.
The Swamp suggests, as the chaos of 2019 lurched into an unfathomable 2020, that special interests in Washington are not withering. Massie supported a war powers resolution restricting Trump’s ability to conduct military action in Iran – a vote in line with his conscience but not his Republican base – and laments his next 90 days “groveling” for campaign money to ward off a primary challenger. Gaetz swore off the Pac money – weeks before the coronavirus pandemic, which triggered a congressional stimulus bill that delivered billions to special interests at the expense of small businesses.
If it all seems bleak, the hope, said the film-makers, is change through translating common wisdom – Washington is dysfunctional, we all know that – into clear examples on screen. “If the American people get to see and understand exactly how Congress is corrupt,” Pehme said. “We can come together – Democrats, Republicans, independents – and we can insist that our members stop playing this game.”


theguardian--2020-08-03--Boys State review – amazing study of teenagers running for pretend office

It ’ s not clear to me if this is a heartwarming study in young people ’ s idealism or a Lord of the Flies bloodbath with smug feral demons in white T-shirts .
It ’ s not clear if it ’ s funny or tragic , if it ’ s reality TV or reality itself .
But Boys State is as exciting and moving as Steve James ’ s high school basketball epic Hoop Dreams was a generation ago , with its emotional rawness , its guileless patriotism and capacity for hurt and wonder .
We watch , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a group of ambitious teenage boys – smart , poignantly naive , utterly insufferable – get brutally acquainted with Kipling ’ s two “ impostors ” : triumph and disaster .
It is the story of Boys State , a kind of annual debate club in the US for 16 and 17-year-olds organised by the American Legion , state by state , a project invented in 1937 – and there is , to put it delicately , a bit of a 1930s vibe about it .
But it ’ s avowedly there to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s youth and reintroduce the values of reasoned argument to a generation addled by the social-media screaming match .
Some of America ’ s biggest political legends took part in their youth , and the film shows the famous photo of a teenaged Bill Clinton shaking hands with JFK at his event .
There are separate groups for girls and boys .
Boys State is a little like the model UN , without the wussy liberal nonsense of pretending to be foreigners .
The young people spend a week at the state capitol @ @ @ @ @ @ @ boisterous debates and finally submit to a nerve-shredding election .
In 2017 , the Texas Boys State voted to secede from the union , causing national soul-searching , much like the Oxford Union ’ s King and Country debate in Britain in 1933 .
It was febrile and immature of the Texas boys , maybe , but then so is grownup American politics these days .
The following year , documentary film-makers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss spent time with the Texan debaters , as they once again built America from the ground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Had the previous year ’ s mercurial , quasi-Trumpian mood receded into embarrassment or hardened further still ?
Is it more than a child ’ s educational game ?
By the end of this movie , with its shattering climax , it feels like the most important thing in the world .
For Texas Boys State , the participants are asked to join and then decide on candidates and chairmen of the arbitrarily formed parties “ Nationalists ” and “ Federalists ” , followed by the overall vote – a convention that reinforces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cynics present that US politics is just a game .
We see on someone ’ s phone the inevitable Matrix red pill meme about the corporations running things anyway .
But it soon becomes horribly clear that the two parties are divided on left/right lines , and God help anyone who doesn ’ t love guns .
For the Nationalists , the candidate is a Mexican American boy , Steven Garza , with a talent for sincere rhetoric , but whose gun-control views are held against him .
His chair , René Otero @ @ @ @ @ @ @ originally from Chicago who says he has never seen so many white people before , and who wears half-moon glasses that make him look 40 years older than he is .
For the Federalists , the chair , Ben Feinstein , is a gung-ho conservative who is a double amputee and wants to join the CIA ; his candidate , Robert MacDougall , is a young man who is described as a Ben Shapiro figure .
Soon , the dirty tricks kick off .
There is an attempt among some Nationalists to impeach @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unconscious reasons that we can only guess at ) and the Federalists ’ Instagram page mocks this internal row and fanatically attacks their opponent ’ s membership of the anti-school-shooting Never Again MSD movement .
The Nationalists ’ chair attempts to limit the Federalists ’ debate time on technical grounds ; the cry of “ rigged ” goes up and the acrimony boils over .
The gloves and the training wheels come off .
The tension is unbearable .
And so is the great imponderable question : is the soul-crushing disappointment of defeat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nietzsche ’ s maxim about strength through not being destroyed , or One Direction conquering the world after coming third in The X Factor ?
Some of these boys are already as hard-faced and cynical as velociraptors .
Some are gentle and sweet natured .
Some are even shown changing their minds .
It ’ s an amazing spectacle .
• Boys State is on Apple TV+ from 14 August .

It’s not clear to me if this is a heartwarming study in young people’s idealism or a Lord of the Flies bloodbath with smug feral demons in white T-shirts. It’s not clear if it’s funny or tragic, if it’s reality TV or reality itself. But Boys State is as exciting and moving as Steve James’s high school basketball epic Hoop Dreams was a generation ago, with its emotional rawness, its guileless patriotism and capacity for hurt and wonder. We watch, in what feels like real time, as a group of ambitious teenage boys – smart, poignantly naive, utterly insufferable – get brutally acquainted with Kipling’s two “impostors”: triumph and disaster.
It is the story of Boys State, a kind of annual debate club in the US for 16 and 17-year-olds organised by the American Legion, state by state, a project invented in 1937 – and there is, to put it delicately, a bit of a 1930s vibe about it. But it’s avowedly there to inculcate citizenship and leadership among America’s youth and reintroduce the values of reasoned argument to a generation addled by the social-media screaming match. Some of America’s biggest political legends took part in their youth, and the film shows the famous photo of a teenaged Bill Clinton shaking hands with JFK at his event. There are separate groups for girls and boys. Boys State is a little like the model UN, without the wussy liberal nonsense of pretending to be foreigners. The young people spend a week at the state capitol, run for pretend office, conduct boisterous debates and finally submit to a nerve-shredding election.
In 2017, the Texas Boys State voted to secede from the union, causing national soul-searching, much like the Oxford Union’s King and Country debate in Britain in 1933. It was febrile and immature of the Texas boys, maybe, but then so is grownup American politics these days. The following year, documentary film-makers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss spent time with the Texan debaters, as they once again built America from the ground up in their own beardless image. Had the previous year’s mercurial, quasi-Trumpian mood receded into embarrassment or hardened further still? Is it more than a child’s educational game? By the end of this movie, with its shattering climax, it feels like the most important thing in the world.
For Texas Boys State, the participants are asked to join and then decide on candidates and chairmen of the arbitrarily formed parties “Nationalists” and “Federalists”, followed by the overall vote – a convention that reinforces the sense among some of the teen cynics present that US politics is just a game. We see on someone’s phone the inevitable Matrix red pill meme about the corporations running things anyway. But it soon becomes horribly clear that the two parties are divided on left/right lines, and God help anyone who doesn’t love guns.
For the Nationalists, the candidate is a Mexican American boy, Steven Garza, with a talent for sincere rhetoric, but whose gun-control views are held against him. His chair, René Otero, is an elegant African American boy originally from Chicago who says he has never seen so many white people before, and who wears half-moon glasses that make him look 40 years older than he is. For the Federalists, the chair, Ben Feinstein, is a gung-ho conservative who is a double amputee and wants to join the CIA; his candidate, Eddy Proietti Conti, is a young man who is described as a Ben Shapiro figure.
Soon, the dirty tricks kick off. There is an attempt among some Nationalists to impeach their own chair (for conscious or unconscious reasons that we can only guess at) and the Federalists’ Instagram page mocks this internal row and fanatically attacks their opponent’s membership of the anti-school-shooting Never Again MSD movement. The Nationalists’ chair attempts to limit the Federalists’ debate time on technical grounds; the cry of “rigged” goes up and the acrimony boils over. The gloves and the training wheels come off.
The tension is unbearable. And so is the great imponderable question: is the soul-crushing disappointment of defeat the rocket-fuel for future victory – like Nietzsche’s maxim about strength through not being destroyed, or One Direction conquering the world after coming third in The X Factor? Some of these boys are already as hard-faced and cynical as velociraptors. Some are gentle and sweet natured. Some are even shown changing their minds. It’s an amazing spectacle.


theguardian--2020-08-03--‘The Workhouse’: activists celebrate decision to close 'hellish' St Louis jail

It has been called an “ unspeakably hellish ” extension of a racist and classist criminal justice system where those locked up inside live with rats , roaches and black mold .
Known as the Workhouse , the medium security institution in St Louis , Missouri , has gained a reputation as a notorious debtors ’ jail , where incarceration was used for decades as an answer to minor technical and fine-related violations , and where large bond fees were extracted from many people detained pre-trial .
Yet this month , galvanized by the Black Lives Matter movement and mass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ killing of George Floyd , Close the Workhouse campaigners are celebrating .
On 17 July , the St Louis Board of Aldermen unanimously passed legislation to close the jail by year ’ s end .
“ Today , there ’ s less than 90 people inside , ” Inez Bordeaux , an organizer at ArchCity Defenders , said .
“ It ’ s clear that no one can say the Workhouse , this hellhole , is still needed.
” Bordeaux was formerly incarcerated in the Workhouse in 2016 after a technical probation violation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her with the task of reporting to a parole officer who had long since left the force .
Bordeaux , a registered nurse and mother of four , was legally innocent but she was being detained pre-trial because she couldn ’ t afford her $ 25,000 bail .
She was deemed lucky to get out after just a month .
When the Guardian visited two years ago , 575 people were being held inside – 98 % of whom had been caged pre-trial and 90 % of whom were Black , despite Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the city ’ s population .
Once inside , people were held an average of 10 months .
The time inside routinely dismantled any previously achieved stability .
The dramatic decrease in detainees over the last two years is due to the sustained effort of the Bail Project , which pays bail for people in need , “ reuniting families and restoring the presumption of innocence ” to combat mass incarceration .
“ Since January of 2018 , around 3,500 detainees in the city have been bailed out , ” said Michelle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ That ’ s it , they are literally emptying the jail cells of the city .
It ’ s been an undeniable success.
” But a few years ago , when the campaign began , support among elected officials to close the facility was scarce .
“ At first three alderpersons [ out of 28 ] supported it , and then when I came on board last year , we were at 11 , ” said Jae Shepherd , an organizer for the campaign .
The overwhelming support today is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ArchCity Defenders , Action St Louis and the Bail Project adopted , Shepherd added .
“ I think it was really important to be working multiple angles at the same time .
We needed the votes to shut it down , but we ’ ve been bailing people out and doing public education in the meantime.
” With the numbers inside decreasing , the campaign built support on the outside .
“ In St Louis , we spend zero dollars on our unhoused family , there are no homeless shelters , no domestic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for people dealing with substance abuse , ” Bordeaux said .
“ This is what we mean when we talk about re-envisioning public safety .
How else could all this money to jails be allocated ?
” The bill to close the Workhouse includes a planned reinvestment of the $ 16m the city was spending annually on the jail .
Shepherd said that ’ s the next focus for the campaign .
“ Now it ’ s time to bring communities together from the places most damaged by the carceral system here and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; it ’ s the participatory budgeting aspect.
” The recent wave of support behind calls to defund the police and reallocate resources to services such as mental health and social care projects only aided the momentum built over years in St Louis to close the Workhouse , Bordeaux said .
“ Our organizing focus on the budget as a moral document hasn ’ t changed , ” Bordeaux said , “ it ’ s just been brought to the forefront in the uprisings after George Floyd ’ s murder.
” Bordeaux added @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have reconstructed the entire city budget so that it actually takes care of people ; takes care of vulnerable communities .
If seeing your city ’ s budget doesn ’ t radicalize you , I don ’ t know what will.
” Higgins agreed : “ The crime , the real crime in St Louis , is in the budget.
” Organizers in the coalition all abide to the politics of abolitionism .
“ When people say defund the police , we need to make it clear that defunding and dismantling the prisons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ systems are linked , ” Shepherd said .
“ When we close the Workhouse , it ’ s not just about the Workhouse .
It ’ s an attack on the entire system of incarceration and pre-trial detention in this country.
” Organizers in the coalition are celebrating the passage of the legislation , but note that there is more work to be done .
In a recent statement , Mayor Lyda Krewson questioned how realistic it was to have the jail closed by 31 December .
But Shepherd said , “ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it will never be the ‘ right ’ time for Lyda Krewson.
” The organizers also understand the mayor ’ s remaining political standing has been drained in recent months .
For the better part of July , about 100 to 200 protesters have occupied the front lawn of St Louis city hall , demanding her immediate resignation .
Krewson ’ s stance on the Workhouse was one of the initial galvanizing issues .
“ I know this legislation passing is what we ’ ve been fighting for , ” Bordeaux said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ full excitement to when the lights in that place are cut off , when the water is shut off , the electricity .
Just so I know it closed .
And that no one else would have to endure what I endured while I was there .
”

It has been called an “unspeakably hellish” extension of a racist and classist criminal justice system where those locked up inside live with rats, roaches and black mold.
Known as the Workhouse, the medium security institution in St Louis, Missouri, has gained a reputation as a notorious debtors’ jail, where incarceration was used for decades as an answer to minor technical and fine-related violations, and where large bond fees were extracted from many people detained pre-trial.
Yet this month, galvanized by the Black Lives Matter movement and mass anti-racism protests that reignited after the police killing of George Floyd, Close the Workhouse campaigners are celebrating. On 17 July, the St Louis Board of Aldermen unanimously passed legislation to close the jail by year’s end.
“Today, there’s less than 90 people inside,” Inez Bordeaux, an organizer at ArchCity Defenders, said. “It’s clear that no one can say the Workhouse, this hellhole, is still needed.”
Bordeaux was formerly incarcerated in the Workhouse in 2016 after a technical probation violation – an error in the system left her with the task of reporting to a parole officer who had long since left the force. Bordeaux, a registered nurse and mother of four, was legally innocent but she was being detained pre-trial because she couldn’t afford her $25,000 bail. She was deemed lucky to get out after just a month.
When the Guardian visited two years ago, 575 people were being held inside – 98% of whom had been caged pre-trial and 90% of whom were Black, despite Black people making up fewer than 50% of the city’s population.
Once inside, people were held an average of 10 months. The time inside routinely dismantled any previously achieved stability.
The dramatic decrease in detainees over the last two years is due to the sustained effort of the Bail Project, which pays bail for people in need, “reuniting families and restoring the presumption of innocence” to combat mass incarceration.
“Since January of 2018, around 3,500 detainees in the city have been bailed out,” said Michelle Higgins, a Close the Workhouse organizer. “That’s it, they are literally emptying the jail cells of the city. It’s been an undeniable success.”
But a few years ago, when the campaign began, support among elected officials to close the facility was scarce. “At first three alderpersons [out of 28] supported it, and then when I came on board last year, we were at 11,” said Jae Shepherd, an organizer for the campaign.
The overwhelming support today is a testament to the strategy that organizers at ArchCity Defenders, Action St Louis and the Bail Project adopted, Shepherd added.
“I think it was really important to be working multiple angles at the same time. We needed the votes to shut it down, but we’ve been bailing people out and doing public education in the meantime.”
With the numbers inside decreasing, the campaign built support on the outside.
“In St Louis, we spend zero dollars on our unhoused family, there are no homeless shelters, no domestic violence shelters, no full-time treatment centers for people dealing with substance abuse,” Bordeaux said. “This is what we mean when we talk about re-envisioning public safety. How else could all this money to jails be allocated?”
The bill to close the Workhouse includes a planned reinvestment of the $16m the city was spending annually on the jail. Shepherd said that’s the next focus for the campaign. “Now it’s time to bring communities together from the places most damaged by the carceral system here and see how they want this money redistributed; it’s the participatory budgeting aspect.”
The recent wave of support behind calls to defund the police and reallocate resources to services such as mental health and social care projects only aided the momentum built over years in St Louis to close the Workhouse, Bordeaux said.
“Our organizing focus on the budget as a moral document hasn’t changed,” Bordeaux said, “it’s just been brought to the forefront in the uprisings after George Floyd’s murder.”
Bordeaux added: “The goal ultimately is to have reconstructed the entire city budget so that it actually takes care of people; takes care of vulnerable communities. If seeing your city’s budget doesn’t radicalize you, I don’t know what will.”
Higgins agreed: “The crime, the real crime in St Louis, is in the budget.”
Organizers in the coalition all abide to the politics of abolitionism.
“When people say defund the police, we need to make it clear that defunding and dismantling the prisons are a part of that – these systems are linked,” Shepherd said.
“When we close the Workhouse, it’s not just about the Workhouse. It’s an attack on the entire system of incarceration and pre-trial detention in this country.”
Organizers in the coalition are celebrating the passage of the legislation, but note that there is more work to be done.
In a recent statement, Mayor Lyda Krewson questioned how realistic it was to have the jail closed by 31 December. But Shepherd said, “The statement didn’t faze us, it will never be the ‘right’ time for Lyda Krewson.”
The organizers also understand the mayor’s remaining political standing has been drained in recent months. For the better part of July, about 100 to 200 protesters have occupied the front lawn of St Louis city hall, demanding her immediate resignation. Krewson’s stance on the Workhouse was one of the initial galvanizing issues.
“I know this legislation passing is what we’ve been fighting for,” Bordeaux said.
“But I’m saving my full excitement to when the lights in that place are cut off, when the water is shut off, the electricity. Just so I know it closed. And that no one else would have to endure what I endured while I was there.”


theguardian--2020-08-04--Trump and his company under investigation by New York district attorney, filing suggests – as it hap

Trump and his company under investigation by New York district attorney, filing suggests – as it happened

The US economy , battered by a the new , worrying phase in the spread of Covid-19 , needs increased government spending to tide over households and businesses and broader use of masks to better control the virus , several US central bankers said earlier today .
The calls for increased government intervention came as US lawmakers and the White House resumed talks on a new government relief package , including a possible extension of unemployment benefits that expired on Friday .
Two hours of talks in Washington this morning did not produce a deal .
“ Four months ago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we thought the economy faced a pothole and the stimulus put a plate over it so we could navigate .
Now escalation of the virus may be making that pothole into a sinkhole and creating a need for a longer plate , ” Richmond Federal Reserve Bank president Thomas Barkin said in webcast remarks to the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce , Reuters writes .
“ Quickly pulling away the support that consumers and businesses are receiving would be a pretty traumatic move for what ’ s happening in the economy.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ different terms , were Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard .
Kaplan pushed back on the notion that the extra $ 600 weekly benefits to the unemployed had made it harder for businesses to hire , while Bullard said earlier efforts to keep businesses and households whole through the crisis have paid off so far .
“ We ’ ve looked at a number of studies , we ’ ve done our own work : we don ’ t see it as much in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m hearing it from business people , ” Kaplan told Bloomberg TV earlier Monday when asked about whether the enhanced jobless aid was deterring people from returning to work .
“ While it may have made it hard for certain individual businesses to hire , it has helped create jobs , because it has helped bolster consumer spending , so the net effect still has probably been positive for the economy for employment.
” Kaplan also said he did not agree with his colleague , Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US economy should shut back down again for four to six weeks to suppress spread of Covid-19 .
Instead , Kaplan said , universal mask-wearing could substantially mute transmission of the virus without a widespread lockdown .
“ I think we are going to have to learn to live with this virus .
We are going to have to learn to re-engage in our daily activities but still control the virus , ” he said .
“ Widespread mask-wearing is essential to that .
”

Lois Beckett (now), Lauren Gambino and Martin Belam (earlier)


theguardian--2020-08-03--Trump criticizes Covid lockdowns and falsely claims US 'doing very well'

Donald Trump used his White House coronavirus press conference on Monday to repeat his opposition to lockdowns as a means of bringing the contagion under control , claiming falsely that under his leadership the US has done “ as well as any nation ” .
On a day that the US had surpassed 4.7m confirmed cases of infection – more than a quarter of the global total – Trump tried to deflect criticism of his administration ’ s handling of the pandemic on to other countries .
He cited Spain , Germany , France , Australia and Japan as countries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus surges again .
In fact , while Australia and Japan are experiencing renewed surges , their total incidence of disease remains a fraction of the catastrophe now sweeping across the US .
In Germany , the total number of confirmed cases stands at 212,000 , with fewer than 1,000 new cases per day .
By comparison , new cases in the US are beginning to plateau but at an extremely high level of about 60,000 a day .
Focus is now switching to states in the heartlands of the country such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where the virus is spreading fast .
Trump tried to assuage fears for those areas , saying : “ I think you ’ ll find they are soon going to be very much under control.
” There is concern that the virus is also extending its tentacles out of major urban and suburban population centers into the rural parts of America .
On Monday , Trump signed a new executive order aimed at providing a lifeline to struggling hospitals and health centers in rural areas , while also extending telehealth services across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus pandemic .
Trump , who is counting on votes from backers in rural areas in the 2020 presidential election , said the new order would ensure that telehealth services expanded during the pandemic remained in place even after the public health emergency ended .
The death rate in the US , which stands at almost 156,000 , is still rising in 30 states , according to data compiled by the New York Times .
Despite these alarming figures , Trump claimed that under his leadership the US was “ doing very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the federal government has consistently failed to tackle the virus , insisting that lockdowns did not work .
“ It ’ s important for all Americans to recognize that a permanent lockdown is not a viable path forward and would ultimately inflict more harm than it would prevent .
Lockdowns do not prevent infection in the future , ” he said .
The statement was misleading .
Lockdowns can prevent future infection if , once they have contained the virus , a system of aggressive testing and contact tracing is put in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something that the US government has also notably failed to do .
Trump attempted to defuse tension between him and his public health expert Dr Deborah Birx .
Earlier on Monday , the US president turned his ire on Birx , a previous favorite of his , after she had sounded the alarm publicly over how “ extraordinarily widespread ” the virus had become .
“ She ’ s a person I have a lot of respect for , ” Trump said at the press conference .
He went on to state that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had tested Americans for coronavirus at a rate unsurpassed by any other country .
In fact , the US continues to lag dramatically behind the testing target it needs to reach if it is to have a hope of containing the virus .
Researchers at the Harvard Global Health Institute have found that the US is “ nowhere near where we need to be ” in terms of the 4m tests a day that they estimate would be needed to get a grip on the contagion .
The Associated Press contributed to this @

Donald Trump used his White House coronavirus press conference on Monday to repeat his opposition to lockdowns as a means of bringing the contagion under control, claiming falsely that under his leadership the US has done “as well as any nation”.
On a day that the US had surpassed 4.7m confirmed cases of infection – more than a quarter of the global total – Trump tried to deflect criticism of his administration’s handling of the pandemic on to other countries.
He cited Spain, Germany, France, Australia and Japan as countries experiencing “significant flare ups” as the virus surges again. In fact, while Australia and Japan are experiencing renewed surges, their total incidence of disease remains a fraction of the catastrophe now sweeping across the US.
In Germany, the total number of confirmed cases stands at 212,000, with fewer than 1,000 new cases per day. By comparison, new cases in the US are beginning to plateau but at an extremely high level of about 60,000 a day.
Focus is now switching to states in the heartlands of the country such as Tennessee, Oklahoma and Missouri, where the virus is spreading fast. Trump tried to assuage fears for those areas, saying: “I think you’ll find they are soon going to be very much under control.”
There is concern that the virus is also extending its tentacles out of major urban and suburban population centers into the rural parts of America. On Monday, Trump signed a new executive order aimed at providing a lifeline to struggling hospitals and health centers in rural areas, while also extending telehealth services across the country, after virtual visits soared during the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump, who is counting on votes from backers in rural areas in the 2020 presidential election, said the new order would ensure that telehealth services expanded during the pandemic remained in place even after the public health emergency ended.
The death rate in the US, which stands at almost 156,000, is still rising in 30 states, according to data compiled by the New York Times.
Despite these alarming figures, Trump claimed that under his leadership the US was “doing very well”. He dismissed mounting criticism that the federal government has consistently failed to tackle the virus, insisting that lockdowns did not work.
“It’s important for all Americans to recognize that a permanent lockdown is not a viable path forward and would ultimately inflict more harm than it would prevent. Lockdowns do not prevent infection in the future,” he said.
The statement was misleading. Lockdowns can prevent future infection if, once they have contained the virus, a system of aggressive testing and contact tracing is put in place to detect any local flare-ups – something that the US government has also notably failed to do.
Trump attempted to defuse tension between him and his public health expert Dr Deborah Birx. Earlier on Monday, the US president turned his ire on Birx, a previous favorite of his, after she had sounded the alarm publicly over how “extraordinarily widespread” the virus had become.
“She’s a person I have a lot of respect for,” Trump said at the press conference. He went on to state that with Birx’s help his administration had tested Americans for coronavirus at a rate unsurpassed by any other country.
In fact, the US continues to lag dramatically behind the testing target it needs to reach if it is to have a hope of containing the virus. Researchers at the Harvard Global Health Institute have found that the US is “nowhere near where we need to be” in terms of the 4m tests a day that they estimate would be needed to get a grip on the contagion.
The Associated Press contributed to this report