theguardian--2020-04-17--Coronavirus has destroyed the myth of the deficit | Yeva Nersisyan and L Randall Wray

Only a month ago , a stimulus bill of $ 2tn would have been unthinkable .
Indignant deficit scolds would have asked how one planned to pay for it , and complained about burdening our grandchildren with debt and bankrupting our country .
Bernie Sanders bent over backwards to explain how he was going to pay for a Green New Deal or Medicare for All .
These programs don ’ t seem as expensive any more .
Suddenly the government is planning “ helicopter drops ” of cash .
Larry Kudlow , who relentlessly attacked the Obama stimulus during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ current stimulus as “ the single largest Main Street assistance program in the history of the United States ” .
Nobody is seriously asking how we are going to pay for this stimulus – and they shouldn ’ t .
It took a global pandemic to explode the myth that federal government spending has to be “ paid for ” .
The Covid-19 crisis has clearly demonstrated what should have been obvious already : provisioning society – whether with food , disinfecting wipes , toilet paper or medical supplies – is not a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t produce enough masks , ventilators or food , finance will not help .
Society ’ s capacity to produce real output is what limits its ability to provision itself .
And this is precisely what the virus threatens , as workers stay home , supply chains break down and businesses shut their doors .
On the financial side , a sovereign government can always afford to buy what is for sale in its currency , as Modern Money Theorists have long explained .
It can not run out of money because it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This is not a prescription , but merely a description of what actually happens .
In the United States , Congress passes the budget , while the Treasury , in cooperation with its fiscal agent , the Federal Reserve , makes the necessary payments .
This happens through the thick and thin of the business cycle , crisis or not .
If the US government wants to buy more ventilators or masks , finance can not be an impediment .
But what happens when ventilators and masks are not available for sale @ @ @ @ @ @ @ More money may not solve the problem , but the government still has a role to play .
During the second world war , the US quickly became “ the arsenal of democracy ” by repurposing its productive capacity to meet the needs of the war .
Through diligent planning “ [ l ] ipstick cases became bomb cases , beer cans went to hand grenades , adding machines to automatic pistols , and vacuum cleaners to gas mask parts ” .
We were able to cut “ production time for Liberty Ships @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 62 , and , finally , to one day ” .
We can mobilize our resources once again to build temporary hospitals , and to ensure a sufficient supply of medical equipment and whatever else is necessary to overcome the crisis .
Buying into the deficit myth , for generations we have been living below our means – paralyzed by the belief that finance is the constraint .
Prolonged periods of slack and jobless recoveries have disincentivized investment and hurt our productive capacity and labor productivity .
Even in good times our economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ significant amount of our capacity idle ( before the epidemic , our factories were only operating at three-quarters of capacity ) .
We have underinvested in public healthcare , education and infrastructure and imposed extreme limitations on social assistance programs .
As of this writing , the administration still plans to go through with its plan to kick 700,000 Americans off the food stamps program to save a measly $ 4.2bn over five years .
We have been living in “ poverty in the midst of plenty ” , as John Maynard Keynes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Once this crisis passes , the deficit scolds will be back at it again , trying to put roadblocks in front of progressive policies .
We will be told we can ’ t afford Medicare for All , Jobs for All , College for All or halting climate change .
The centrists will try to get us back to “ normal ” – ie an economy that leaves so many behind .
It is imperative that we resist .
What progressives need to push for is creating a different kind of economy through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so , we need to distinguish between the myths and real constraints , understanding “ that what is technically feasible is financially possible ” for a sovereign government .
Affording the Green New Deal is about real resources and technology , not about finance .
The original New Deal was also dogged by concerns about excessive government spending .
The second world war eliminated that obstacle , unleashing extraordinary economic mobilization and decades of prosperity .
Hopefully the coronavirus crisis will not be as destructive as the Great Depression , but if there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s the myth of the deficit .
• None Yeva Nersisyan is associate professor of economics at Franklin and Marshall College • None L Randall Wray , author of Modern Money Theory : A Primer on Macroeconomics for Sovereign Monetary Systems ; Why Minsky Matters : An Introduction to the Work of a Maverick Economist ; and Understanding Modern Money : The Key to Full Employment and Price Stability , is senior scholar at the Levy Economics Institute and professor of economics at Bard College

Only a month ago, a stimulus bill of $2tn would have been unthinkable. Indignant deficit scolds would have asked how one planned to pay for it, and complained about burdening our grandchildren with debt and bankrupting our country. Bernie Sanders bent over backwards to explain how he was going to pay for a Green New Deal or Medicare for All. These programs don’t seem as expensive any more. Suddenly the government is planning “helicopter drops” of cash. Larry Kudlow, who relentlessly attacked the Obama stimulus during the global financial crisis, is touting the current stimulus as “the single largest Main Street assistance program in the history of the United States”.
Nobody is seriously asking how we are going to pay for this stimulus – and they shouldn’t. It took a global pandemic to explode the myth that federal government spending has to be “paid for”.
The Covid-19 crisis has clearly demonstrated what should have been obvious already: provisioning society – whether with food, disinfecting wipes, toilet paper or medical supplies – is not a financial issue. If we can’t produce enough masks, ventilators or food, finance will not help. Society’s capacity to produce real output is what limits its ability to provision itself. And this is precisely what the virus threatens, as workers stay home, supply chains break down and businesses shut their doors.
On the financial side, a sovereign government can always afford to buy what is for sale in its currency, as Modern Money Theorists have long explained. It cannot run out of money because it simply credits bank accounts when it spends. This is not a prescription, but merely a description of what actually happens. In the United States, Congress passes the budget, while the Treasury, in cooperation with its fiscal agent, the Federal Reserve, makes the necessary payments. This happens through the thick and thin of the business cycle, crisis or not. If the US government wants to buy more ventilators or masks, finance cannot be an impediment.
Once this crisis passes, the deficit scolds will be back at it, trying to put roadblocks in front of progressive policies
But what happens when ventilators and masks are not available for sale even as companies are operating 24/7? More money may not solve the problem, but the government still has a role to play. During the second world war, the US quickly became “the arsenal of democracy” by repurposing its productive capacity to meet the needs of the war. Through diligent planning “[l]ipstick cases became bomb cases, beer cans went to hand grenades, adding machines to automatic pistols, and vacuum cleaners to gas mask parts”. We were able to cut “production time for Liberty Ships down from 365 days to 92, 62, and, finally, to one day”. We can mobilize our resources once again to build temporary hospitals, and to ensure a sufficient supply of medical equipment and whatever else is necessary to overcome the crisis.
Buying into the deficit myth, for generations we have been living below our means – paralyzed by the belief that finance is the constraint. Prolonged periods of slack and jobless recoveries have disincentivized investment and hurt our productive capacity and labor productivity. Even in good times our economy leaves millions unemployed or underemployed and a significant amount of our capacity idle (before the epidemic, our factories were only operating at three-quarters of capacity). We have underinvested in public healthcare, education and infrastructure and imposed extreme limitations on social assistance programs. As of this writing, the administration still plans to go through with its plan to kick 700,000 Americans off the food stamps program to save a measly $4.2bn over five years. We have been living in “poverty in the midst of plenty”, as John Maynard Keynes aptly noted in the Great Depression.
Once this crisis passes, the deficit scolds will be back at it again, trying to put roadblocks in front of progressive policies. We will be told we can’t afford Medicare for All, Jobs for All, College for All or halting climate change. The centrists will try to get us back to “normal” – ie an economy that leaves so many behind.
It is imperative that we resist. What progressives need to push for is creating a different kind of economy through a Green New Deal. To do so, we need to distinguish between the myths and real constraints, understanding “that what is technically feasible is financially possible” for a sovereign government. Affording the Green New Deal is about real resources and technology, not about finance.
The original New Deal was also dogged by concerns about excessive government spending. The second world war eliminated that obstacle, unleashing extraordinary economic mobilization and decades of prosperity. Hopefully the coronavirus crisis will not be as destructive as the Great Depression, but if there is one thing it should destroy, it’s the myth of the deficit.


theguardian--2020-04-17--I'm from rural Kansas. Coronavirus could devastate my hometown | Jessa Crispin

So far , my father has been lucky .
For decades Jack Crispin worked as the only pharmacist in Lincoln county , Kansas , running his own pharmacy for 26 years before selling it , then continuing to work part time at a hospital .
He finally fully retired late last year – just a few months before the pandemic .
On a recent phone call I asked him if he ’ d go back to work if the hospital needed workers .
“ Of course , ” he said .
He paused .
“ But I wouldn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turns 70 this year , making him high-risk for complications from Covid-19 .
As we spoke , phone on speaker , my mother was mostly quiet in the background .
I didn ’ t ask about potential mortality rates among the ageing population of their town of 1,200 people .
“ If I caught the virus , it would probably be pretty hard on me , ” he continued .
“ But if I thought I could go do some good work for them , I probably would.
” It ’ s lucky @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hospitals at nearby counties have shut down over the years , either due to budget crises or inability to find and keep doctors .
That ’ s not unique to Kansas : in the past decade , more than 120 rural hospitals in the US have closed ; many small towns now share a doctor , who travels from clinic to clinic .
This lack of consistent care worsens already disproportionately terrible health outcomes for rural Americans .
Life expectancy has been dropping for Americans overall , but rural communities , particularly the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ belt , and the south , are hit hardest by chronic pain , suicide , and addiction .
As the economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton report in their recent book Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism , regulations restrict the number of medical school graduates and the number of foreign-educated doctors who can practice in the US .
This is done to keep pay rates artificially high , and the result is a looming shortage of doctors , particularly general practitioners .
Rural areas that can ’ t afford to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urban hospitals have a hard time attracting medical workers .
Lincoln county hospital , which has 14 acute care beds and serves an area of about 3,000 people , has been lucky not to have had a gap in coverage .
When Larry Dragone recently retired , after more than a dozen years as the only doctor for miles , the hospital board was able to “ dig deep ” to offer an attractive package to a married couple , both MDs , originally from Pakistan but recently working in the DC suburbs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ town of 1,200 .
Lincoln was competing with Chanute , a town of about 9,000 with a doctor who divides her time between Chanute and her practice in Kansas City , a two-hour commute by car .
If a patient in my parents ’ town gets really bad , they ’ ll have to be transferred to the hospital in Salina , about 40 miles away , for even the possibility of a ventilator .
So far , there have been zero coronavirus diagnoses in my parents ’ town .
There have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counties , but the sparsely populated western part of the state , mostly filled with wheat , cows , and the slightly eccentric and gruff farmers I grew up around , has been spared – for now .
The isolation that felt so suffocating when I was a sulky teenager in a small farming community now feels like a blessing .
Lincoln is on a highway , but not the interstate .
Except for a fill-up on gas , there is not much reason for outsiders to stop while passing through .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ towns , and vacation homes – often spreading the virus in their wake and further straining already struggling systems – have yet to show up in this little dot on the map .
My grandmother is in an assisted living facility in the larger town of Topeka .
No one can visit .
My grandmother , who survived a bad bout of pneumonia late last year , reports mostly boredom .
She misses playing cards with family ; she complains that the prizes for bingo switched from being quarters to little plastic toys @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve been lucky : where she is staying there have been no cases of coronavirus , which has been devastating nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the country .
Others in Topeka are not so lucky .
Thirteen employees at one hospital recently tested positive , including a doctor , and the fatalities are slowly climbing across the state .
Meanwhile , the state legislature tried to circumvent the governor ’ s orders to forbid gatherings of more than ten people so churches could remain operational , despite the death of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in defiance of a similar edict .
The state supreme court upheld the governor ’ s decision , so Easter Sunday services didn ’ t end up transmitting more than just the Good News .
I fear for the many Kansas towns reliant on factories and other non-agricultural industries ; they ’ ll be more vulnerable to layoffs , as are the small towns farther east , where the virus is spreading .
Even a small number of cases could quickly overwhelm the hospitals .
An economic downturn could devastate the already shaky @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost hour-long drive to buy anything beyond the most basic provisions .
The empty storefronts could quickly multiply .
But my parents and I didn ’ t talk about that .
Instead , my father just said , “ Thanks for calling , Jes.
” • None Jessa Crispin is the host of the Public Intellectual podcast .
She is a Guardian US columnist

So far, my father has been lucky.
For decades Jack Crispin worked as the only pharmacist in Lincoln county, Kansas, running his own pharmacy for 26 years before selling it, then continuing to work part time at a hospital. He finally fully retired late last year – just a few months before the pandemic.
On a recent phone call I asked him if he’d go back to work if the hospital needed workers. “Of course,” he said. He paused. “But I wouldn’t be happy about it.”
My father turns 70 this year, making him high-risk for complications from Covid-19. As we spoke, phone on speaker, my mother was mostly quiet in the background. I didn’t ask about potential mortality rates among the ageing population of their town of 1,200 people.
“If I caught the virus, it would probably be pretty hard on me,” he continued. “But if I thought I could go do some good work for them, I probably would.”
Many small towns now share a doctor, who travels from clinic to clinic
It’s lucky there’s even a hospital. Hospitals at nearby counties have shut down over the years, either due to budget crises or inability to find and keep doctors. That’s not unique to Kansas: in the past decade, more than 120 rural hospitals in the US have closed; many small towns now share a doctor, who travels from clinic to clinic.
This lack of consistent care worsens already disproportionately terrible health outcomes for rural Americans. Life expectancy has been dropping for Americans overall, but rural communities, particularly the working class in the midwest, rust belt, and the south, are hit hardest by chronic pain, suicide, and addiction.
As the economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton report in their recent book Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, regulations restrict the number of medical school graduates and the number of foreign-educated doctors who can practice in the US. This is done to keep pay rates artificially high, and the result is a looming shortage of doctors, particularly general practitioners. Rural areas that can’t afford to pay doctors the same salaries as big urban hospitals have a hard time attracting medical workers.
Lincoln county hospital, which has 14 acute care beds and serves an area of about 3,000 people, has been lucky not to have had a gap in coverage. When Larry Dragone recently retired, after more than a dozen years as the only doctor for miles, the hospital board was able to “dig deep” to offer an attractive package to a married couple, both MDs, originally from Pakistan but recently working in the DC suburbs, to entice them to a small town of 1,200. Lincoln was competing with Chanute, a town of about 9,000 with a doctor who divides her time between Chanute and her practice in Kansas City, a two-hour commute by car. If a patient in my parents’ town gets really bad, they’ll have to be transferred to the hospital in Salina, about 40 miles away, for even the possibility of a ventilator.
So far, there have been zero coronavirus diagnoses in my parents’ town. There have been confirmed cases in 62 of 105 Kansas counties, but the sparsely populated western part of the state, mostly filled with wheat, cows, and the slightly eccentric and gruff farmers I grew up around, has been spared – for now.
The isolation that felt so suffocating when I was a sulky teenager in a small farming community now feels like a blessing
The isolation that felt so suffocating when I was a sulky teenager in a small farming community now feels like a blessing. Lincoln is on a highway, but not the interstate. Except for a fill-up on gas, there is not much reason for outsiders to stop while passing through. The New Yorkers fleeing for suburbs, small towns, and vacation homes – often spreading the virus in their wake and further straining already struggling systems – have yet to show up in this little dot on the map.
My grandmother is in an assisted living facility in the larger town of Topeka. No one can visit. My grandmother, who survived a bad bout of pneumonia late last year, reports mostly boredom. She misses playing cards with family; she complains that the prizes for bingo switched from being quarters to little plastic toys. So here, too, we’ve been lucky: where she is staying there have been no cases of coronavirus, which has been devastating nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the country.
Others in Topeka are not so lucky. Thirteen employees at one hospital recently tested positive, including a doctor, and the fatalities are slowly climbing across the state. Meanwhile, the state legislature tried to circumvent the governor’s orders to forbid gatherings of more than ten people so churches could remain operational, despite the death of a preacher in Virginia who held services in defiance of a similar edict. The state supreme court upheld the governor’s decision, so Easter Sunday services didn’t end up transmitting more than just the Good News.
I fear for the many Kansas towns reliant on factories and other non-agricultural industries; they’ll be more vulnerable to layoffs, as are the small towns farther east, where the virus is spreading. Even a small number of cases could quickly overwhelm the hospitals. An economic downturn could devastate the already shaky local economy. Everyone already makes an almost hour-long drive to buy anything beyond the most basic provisions. The empty storefronts could quickly multiply.
But my parents and I didn’t talk about that. Instead, my father just said, “Thanks for calling, Jes.”
“Sure,” I said. “See you soon.”


theguardian--2020-04-17--'Do your job': Andrew Cuomo gives scathing criticism of Donald Trump – video

New York governor criticises Donald Trump during a briefing on the spread of coronavirus in the state after the US @ @ @ @ @ in a tweet .
Trump ’ s tweet suggested Cuomo should spend more time ‘ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ complaining ' .
The governor said : 'If he ’ s sitting at home @ @ @ @ @ should get up and go to work' • Trump defers to governors in guidelines for @ @ @ @ @ our coronavirus coverage

New York governor criticises Donald Trump during a briefing on the spread of coronavirus in the state after the US president lashed out against Cuomo in a tweet.
Trump’s tweet suggested Cuomo should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining'. The governor said: 'If he’s sitting at home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work'


theguardian--2020-04-18--Thousands of Americans backed by rightwing donors gear up for protests

Thousands of people are preparing to attend protests across the US in the coming days , as a rightwing movement against stay-at-home orders , backed by wealthy conservative groups and promoted by Donald Trump , continues to take hold .
Conservative activists are demanding governors lift orders designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus , despite the recommendations of public health officials .
Trump , who has clashed with Democratic governors over how soon to reopen the US economy , tweeted his support on Friday , in an unprecedented endorsement of civil disobedience by a sitting president .
Many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a protest at the Michigan state capitol on Wednesday , which was attended by thousands .
Yet while organisers claim the protests are grassroots- and people-driven , a closer look reveals a movement driven by traditional rightwing groups , including one funded by the family of Trump ’ s education secretary , Betsy DeVos .
The rallies have drawn comparisons to the Tea Party movement , which sprang into life in 2009 following the election of Barack Obama and was driven in part by Americans for Prosperity , a group founded by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As with the Tea Party , the anti-stay-at-home movement has been promoted by a rightwing media eager for the economy to reopen , including Fox News which on Friday aired a segment on protests in Virginia , Michigan and Minnesota .
Two minutes later , Trump tweeted to his 77.4 million followers the need to “ liberate ” those states .
A majority of Americans support the lockdowns , with a Pew Research Center poll finding that 66 % are concerned state governments will lift restrictions on public activity too quickly .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have spread around the country .
The two groups behind the “ operation gridlock ” rally in Michigan on Wednesday have ties to the Republican party and the Trump administration .
The Michigan Freedom Fund , which said it was a co-host of the rally , has received more than $ 500,000 from the DeVos family , regular donors to rightwing groups .
The other host , the Michigan Conservative Coalition , was founded by Matt Maddock , now a Republican member of the state house of representatives .
The MCC also operates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and in January held an event featuring several members of the Trump campaign .
“ Absolutely the Michigan event was a huge inspiration and it was a huge success , ” said Evie Harris , organizer of a ReOpen Maryland protest planned for the state capitol on Saturday .
“ That was the model for our event.
” Thousands drove to the Michigan state capitol in Lansing , while the Michigan Freedom Fund purchased Facebook advertising to promote the rally .
Protesters , many waving Trump campaign signs , honked their horns and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the stay-at-home rules .
The protest was covered exhaustively by the rightwing media .
Harris said her Facebook following grew from “ 700-800 people ” to more than 15,000 members following the Michigan rally , inspiring her to organize “ Operation Gridlock Annapolis ” for Saturday .
Harris said her group had support from some elected officials in Maryland , but declined to name them .
While ReOpen Maryland might not have funding from rightwing advocacy groups , it appears to be linked to at least four other “ reopen ” organizations .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ home is called quarantine , ” ReOpen Maryland said .
“ However , the government mandating healthy citizens to stay home , forcing businesses and churches to close is called tyranny.
” That text is identical to text on Facebook pages calling for rallies in Wisconsin , Pennsylvania and Virginia .
ReOpen Virginia aims to hold its own “ gridlock ” rally on Wednesday – again inspired by the conservative-funded Michigan event .
Despite ReOpen Virginia billing itself as a “ grassroots group of people and small business owners ” , founder Kristen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protest came from the organizers of the “ Lobby Day ” demonstration earlier this year .
That demonstration was organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League , a gun rights group that has donated tens of thousands of dollars to politicians .
Hall , who said Candace Owens , a rightwing activist and favorite of Trump , had been in touch to discuss the event , said the president ’ s tweet about “ liberating ” Virginia was “ great ” .
“ It could be spreading the movement , ” she said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now.
” A decade ago , the Tea Party movement billed itself as “ grass roots ” , despite receiving money from the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity and the conservative organization FreedomWorks .
Jenny Beth Martin , who founded the Tea Party Patriots group , promoted this week ’ s Michigan protest .
The Tea Party Patriots also supported the protest , in messages to its 200,000 Twitter followers .
Matthew Gertz , a senior fellow at Media Matters for America , a progressive media watchdog , said the similarities between the Tea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with rightwing media boosting both .
Fox News ran favorable coverage of the Michigan rally and hosts including Laura Ingraham and Jeanine Pirro endorsed the protest .
“ Fox gave the Tea Party a phenomenal amount of attention and promotion , ” Gertz said .
“ It really sort of boot-strapped it to another level , and made it a political force , and we see something similar happening with these anti-stay-at-home order movements.
” Gertz said he was not “ simply ” concerned with “ the conservatives having a strong election the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s a real chance for devastating consequences with regard to the coronavirus , ” he said .

Thousands of people are preparing to attend protests across the US in the coming days, as a rightwing movement against stay-at-home orders, backed by wealthy conservative groups and promoted by Donald Trump, continues to take hold.
Conservative activists are demanding governors lift orders designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus, despite the recommendations of public health officials. Trump, who has clashed with Democratic governors over how soon to reopen the US economy, tweeted his support on Friday, in an unprecedented endorsement of civil disobedience by a sitting president.
Many of the planned rallies have been inspired by a protest at the Michigan state capitol on Wednesday, which was attended by thousands.
02:09 Armed protesters demand an end to Michigan's coronavirus lockdown orders – video
Yet while organisers claim the protests are grassroots- and people-driven, a closer look reveals a movement driven by traditional rightwing groups, including one funded by the family of Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos.
The rallies have drawn comparisons to the Tea Party movement, which sprang into life in 2009 following the election of Barack Obama and was driven in part by Americans for Prosperity, a group founded by rightwing donors Charles and David Koch.
As with the Tea Party, the anti-stay-at-home movement has been promoted by a rightwing media eager for the economy to reopen, including Fox News which on Friday aired a segment on protests in Virginia, Michigan and Minnesota. Two minutes later, Trump tweeted to his 77.4 million followers the need to “liberate” those states.
01:40 'They seem very responsible to me': Trump defends anti-lockdown protesters - video
A majority of Americans support the lockdowns, with a Pew Research Center poll finding that 66% are concerned state governments will lift restrictions on public activity too quickly. But protests, helped by media coverage, have spread around the country.
The two groups behind the “operation gridlock” rally in Michigan on Wednesday have ties to the Republican party and the Trump administration.
The Michigan Freedom Fund, which said it was a co-host of the rally, has received more than $500,000 from the DeVos family, regular donors to rightwing groups.
The other host, the Michigan Conservative Coalition, was founded by Matt Maddock, now a Republican member of the state house of representatives. The MCC also operates under the name Michigan Trump Republicans, and in January held an event featuring several members of the Trump campaign.
“Absolutely the Michigan event was a huge inspiration and it was a huge success,” said Evie Harris, organizer of a ReOpen Maryland protest planned for the state capitol on Saturday.
“That was the model for our event.”
Thousands drove to the Michigan state capitol in Lansing, while the Michigan Freedom Fund purchased Facebook advertising to promote the rally. Protesters, many waving Trump campaign signs, honked their horns and chanted for Governor Gretchen Whitmer to end the stay-at-home rules.
The protest was covered exhaustively by the rightwing media. Harris said her Facebook following grew from “700-800 people” to more than 15,000 members following the Michigan rally, inspiring her to organize “Operation Gridlock Annapolis” for Saturday.
Harris said her group had support from some elected officials in Maryland, but declined to name them.
While ReOpen Maryland might not have funding from rightwing advocacy groups, it appears to be linked to at least four other “reopen” organizations.
“Government mandating sick people to stay home is called quarantine,” ReOpen Maryland said. “However, the government mandating healthy citizens to stay home, forcing businesses and churches to close is called tyranny.”
That text is identical to text on Facebook pages calling for rallies in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Virginia. ReOpen Virginia aims to hold its own “gridlock” rally on Wednesday – again inspired by the conservative-funded Michigan event.
Despite ReOpen Virginia billing itself as a “grassroots group of people and small business owners”, founder Kristen Lynne Hall said the idea for the protest came from the organizers of the “Lobby Day” demonstration earlier this year.
That demonstration was organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights group that has donated tens of thousands of dollars to politicians.
Hall, who said Candace Owens, a rightwing activist and favorite of Trump, had been in touch to discuss the event, said the president’s tweet about “liberating” Virginia was “great”.
“It could be spreading the movement,” she said. “Any support is appreciated right now.”
A decade ago, the Tea Party movement billed itself as “grass roots”, despite receiving money from the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity and the conservative organization FreedomWorks.
Jenny Beth Martin, who founded the Tea Party Patriots group, promoted this week’s Michigan protest. The Tea Party Patriots also supported the protest, in messages to its 200,000 Twitter followers.
Matthew Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog, said the similarities between the Tea Party and ReOpen movements went further, with rightwing media boosting both.
Fox News ran favorable coverage of the Michigan rally and hosts including Laura Ingraham and Jeanine Pirro endorsed the protest.
“Fox gave the Tea Party a phenomenal amount of attention and promotion,” Gertz said. “It really sort of boot-strapped it to another level, and made it a political force, and we see something similar happening with these anti-stay-at-home order movements.”
Gertz said he was not “simply” concerned with “the conservatives having a strong election the next time out”.
“It’s a real chance for devastating consequences with regard to the coronavirus,” he said.


theguardian--2020-04-18--'I ain't voting till black lives matter': what does an activist's radical strategy mean for 2020?

Death was the catalyst for Walter “ Hawk ” Newsome ’ s most contentious idea .
It came to him during the first few days of July in 2016 .
This was the week that a Minnesota police officer shot 32-year-old Philando Castile five times and killed him in his car ; an off-duty New York police officer killed 37-year-old Delron Dempsey in front of his family ; and two Louisiana cops fatally shot Alton Sterling six times .
These extrajudicial slayings bedeviled Newsome , who spent his youth being terrorized by the NYPD in the Bronx .
Despite the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for – from Bloomberg before his “ stop and frisk ” days to Barack Obama – the situation didn ’ t seem to get better .
Blacks were still being killed by the police at a disproportionate rate .
On that dog day of summer , Newsome decided to take a walk , beginning in Lower Manhattan near Wall Street .
By the time he ’ d gotten Uptown , sweaty and crying , he arrived at a conclusion that might have seemed incongruous , but was grounded in its own fascinating logic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ Fuck this !
Black people shouldn ’ t vote.
” This sentiment blossomed into I Ain ’ t Voting Until Black Lives Matter , a meteoric and strange campaign during the 2016 presidential election in which Newsome and a cadre of activists implored blacks to withhold their votes until a candidate adopted policies against police brutality , such as independent prosecutors for police misconduct and jail time for cops who falsified reports .
It ’ s a campaign that Newsome said has been vindicated by the country ’ s embrace of progressive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it apply to this year ’ s election ?
Black Americans have been loyal to the Democrats for years .
Since 1964 , Democratic presidential candidates have received at least 80 % of the black vote .
However , as Princeton political scientist Paul Frymer describes , this loyalty can devalue the concerns of blacks and give swing voters more power .
“ When Democrats talked to gay people , they got marriage equality .
When Dems talked to immigrant communities , they got Daca .
But when it is black people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slide , ” said Newsome , the 42-year-old founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York .
To launch his campaign , Newsome reached out to actor and rapper Nick Cannon , who had released the viral song Too Broke to Vote .
They chose the Republican national convention to debut , because , “ the white supremacists said that [ Black Lives Matter ] better not show up ” .
Cannon supported Newsome and 11 of his followers with banners , T-shirts , a van and a house .
They marched @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some attention .
But at the Democratic national convention the following week , there was backlash .
“ Older blacks thought that I was dishonoring MLK , ” Newsome said .
“ But he fought for the power of the vote , not for it to be a popularity contest.
” Newsome ’ s own mother later told him that she thought he ’ d “ lost his mind ” , and some of his politically minded peers in the Bronx hosted small-scale counter-demonstrations .
Newsome stuck to his convictions .
He believed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 1994 crime bill , which expanded the death penalty and lengthened prison sentences , and the time she referred to black young men as “ superpredators ” made her symbolic of everything he protested against .
On 8 November , he wrote in his own name on his presidential ballot .
“ ‘ I only wish that more people would have stood with us .
It might have forced Hillary to do more to draw people to the polls , ” he said .
Like his I Ain ’ t Voting initiative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Black Lives Matter movement .
He ’ s been criticized for speaking at a Trump rally .
While his videos debating conservatives like Tomi Lahren go viral , and he ’ s a regular face on CNN and BET , he has a history with alcoholism and domestic abuse .
“ I had to look at myself and say , ‘ You are a toxic individual and you need to change , ’ ” he said .
Newsome has made public apologies , is four years sober , and participates in therapy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work with him .
Bertha Lewis , the 69-year-old organizer , was one of those suspicious activists .
She said she would come to his demonstrations , but remain in the background to observe .
“ He ’ s followed the credo of ‘ I can show you better than I can tell you , ’ ” she said .
“ So he ’ s just kept it moving , and people have had to give him a grudging respect for that.
” While Newsome is an outlier , though , he ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hold their votes for ransom .
In 1924 , in the shadow of strict loyalty to the Republican party following the American civil war , activist James Weldon Johnson asked , “ How can the Negro expect any worthwhile consideration for his vote as long as politicians are always reasonably sure as how it will be cast ?
” In 1965 , months before the Democrats would secure the black vote for generations with the Voting Rights Act , Malcolm X implored blacks to treat their ballots like bullets and only use them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And during the 2016 election , Fredrick C Harris , Columbia University ’ s director of the Center of African American Politics , and Eddie S Glaude , chairman of Princeton University ’ s department of African American studies , crafted the Blank-Out Campaign , which was introduced in a Time op-ed .
It called for blacks to leave their presidential ballots blank in red states .
They hoped this would force politicians to “ notice that black voters are more than cattle chewing cud , to be herded to the polls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mostly ignored or criticized .
Social justice activist Bill Fletcher Jr called the proposed tactic a “ cherry bomb ” because it created noise , “ while producing nothing but smoke ” .
Looking back , the 2016 election saw the first decline in black voter turnout in 20 years .
In trying to explain the downturn , pundits have cited everything from increased restrictions such as voter ID laws to the disinformation efforts of Russian operatives , whose chief target was blacks .
The Russians used Facebook pages with misleading names like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not to vote – a fact some believe reflects the abject foolishness of Newsome ’ s efforts .
Newsome disagrees .
“ The Russians saw what I saw – that the Democrats were disregarding blacks , ” he said .
“ But they were trying to discourage … I was telling people to make politicians work for your vote.
” While “ I Ain ’ t Voting ” didn ’ t galvanize many voters , Newsome believes that its spirit made it a success .
Both parties have prioritized recapturing the more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the 2016 election – whether it ’ s presumptive nominee Joe Biden pledging to nominate a black woman to the supreme court or Donald Trump talking about criminal justice .
Newsome also sees a Trump presidency as a “ curse and a gift ” that opened a lane for radical politics .
For him , this is embodied in the rise of politicians like the New York US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , for whom his group members were early supporters .
And the early success of Senator Bernie Sanders .
While Sanders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ largely thanks to his inability to rouse support from older blacks , his presence has pushed the Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden , a shepherd of racist crime bills in the 90s , to a more progressive criminal justice platform that includes a $ 300m grant for racially representative , community-oriented policing .
Newsome also believes that many of the black youth under 30 , among whom Sanders won a majority of support , will be a part of the # BernieOrBust contingent , and withhold their support for Biden .
He feels this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Voting .
“ Many black youth understand voting as a futile effort , in which the politicians they put in place never follow through , ” he said .
But when it comes down to this year ’ s election , Newsome is changing course .
He has decided to vote , and encourage other black people to cast their ballots as well because he believes politicians are now working harder , and because his sister Chivona is running for a local seat in the Bronx .
There ’ s just one caveat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blacks to vote the issues , ” he said .
“ If I stand behind the issues and the person fails me , I can still sleep at night .
”

Death was the catalyst for Walter “Hawk” Newsome’s most contentious idea. It came to him during the first few days of July in 2016. This was the week that a Minnesota police officer shot 32-year-old Philando Castile five times and killed him in his car; an off-duty New York police officer killed 37-year-old Delron Dempsey in front of his family; and two Louisiana cops fatally shot Alton Sterling six times.
These extrajudicial slayings bedeviled Newsome, who spent his youth being terrorized by the NYPD in the Bronx. Despite the Democratic politicians he had canvassed and campaigned for – from Bloomberg before his “stop and frisk” days to Barack Obama – the situation didn’t seem to get better. Blacks were still being killed by the police at a disproportionate rate.
On that dog day of summer, Newsome decided to take a walk, beginning in Lower Manhattan near Wall Street. By the time he’d gotten Uptown, sweaty and crying, he arrived at a conclusion that might have seemed incongruous, but was grounded in its own fascinating logic. “I thought to myself, ‘Fuck this! Black people shouldn’t vote.”
This sentiment blossomed into I Ain’t Voting Until Black Lives Matter, a meteoric and strange campaign during the 2016 presidential election in which Newsome and a cadre of activists implored blacks to withhold their votes until a candidate adopted policies against police brutality, such as independent prosecutors for police misconduct and jail time for cops who falsified reports.
It’s a campaign that Newsome said has been vindicated by the country’s embrace of progressive politics in recent years. But would it apply to this year’s election?
People protest against police brutality and in support of Black Lives Matter during a July 2016 march in New York. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters
Black Americans have been loyal to the Democrats for years. Since 1964, Democratic presidential candidates have received at least 80% of the black vote. However, as Princeton political scientist Paul Frymer describes, this loyalty can devalue the concerns of blacks and give swing voters more power.
“When Democrats talked to gay people, they got marriage equality. When Dems talked to immigrant communities, they got Daca. But when it is black people, we get jive talk and the electric slide,” said Newsome, the 42-year-old founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York.
To launch his campaign, Newsome reached out to actor and rapper Nick Cannon, who had released the viral song Too Broke to Vote. They chose the Republican national convention to debut, because, “the white supremacists said that [Black Lives Matter] better not show up”. Cannon supported Newsome and 11 of his followers with banners, T-shirts, a van and a house. They marched and held a news conference, gaining some attention.
But at the Democratic national convention the following week, there was backlash. “Older blacks thought that I was dishonoring MLK,” Newsome said. “But he fought for the power of the vote, not for it to be a popularity contest.” Newsome’s own mother later told him that she thought he’d “lost his mind”, and some of his politically minded peers in the Bronx hosted small-scale counter-demonstrations.
Newsome stuck to his convictions. He believed Hillary Clinton’s history of backing the 1994 crime bill, which expanded the death penalty and lengthened prison sentences, and the time she referred to black young men as “superpredators” made her symbolic of everything he protested against. On 8 November, he wrote in his own name on his presidential ballot. “‘I only wish that more people would have stood with us. It might have forced Hillary to do more to draw people to the polls,” he said.
Like his I Ain’t Voting initiative, Newsome is polarizing – even within the Black Lives Matter movement. He’s been criticized for speaking at a Trump rally. While his videos debating conservatives like Tomi Lahren go viral, and he’s a regular face on CNN and BET, he has a history with alcoholism and domestic abuse. “I had to look at myself and say, ‘You are a toxic individual and you need to change,’” he said. Newsome has made public apologies, is four years sober, and participates in therapy, but some have been reluctant to work with him.
Bertha Lewis, the 69-year-old organizer, was one of those suspicious activists. She said she would come to his demonstrations, but remain in the background to observe. “He’s followed the credo of ‘I can show you better than I can tell you,’” she said. “So he’s just kept it moving, and people have had to give him a grudging respect for that.”
While Newsome is an outlier, though, he’s not alone in encouraging blacks to hold their votes for ransom. In 1924, in the shadow of strict loyalty to the Republican party following the American civil war, activist James Weldon Johnson asked, “How can the Negro expect any worthwhile consideration for his vote as long as politicians are always reasonably sure as how it will be cast?”
‘Older blacks thought that I was dishonoring MLK,’ said Walter ‘Hawk’ Newsome, a Black Lives Matter activist, of his political strategy. Photograph: Michael Noble Jr./The Guardian
In 1965, months before the Democrats would secure the black vote for generations with the Voting Rights Act, Malcolm X implored blacks to treat their ballots like bullets and only use them when there was a target within reach.
And during the 2016 election, Fredrick C Harris, Columbia University’s director of the Center of African American Politics, and Eddie S Glaude, chairman of Princeton University’s department of African American studies, crafted the Blank-Out Campaign, which was introduced in a Time op-ed. It called for blacks to leave their presidential ballots blank in red states.
They hoped this would force politicians to “notice that black voters are more than cattle chewing cud, to be herded to the polls”. But the audacious essay was mostly ignored or criticized. Social justice activist Bill Fletcher Jr called the proposed tactic a “cherry bomb” because it created noise, “while producing nothing but smoke”.
Looking back, the 2016 election saw the first decline in black voter turnout in 20 years. In trying to explain the downturn, pundits have cited everything from increased restrictions such as voter ID laws to the disinformation efforts of Russian operatives, whose chief target was blacks. The Russians used Facebook pages with misleading names like “Black Matters” to encourage blacks not to vote – a fact some believe reflects the abject foolishness of Newsome’s efforts.
Newsome disagrees. “The Russians saw what I saw – that the Democrats were disregarding blacks,” he said. “But they were trying to discourage … I was telling people to make politicians work for your vote.”
While “I Ain’t Voting” didn’t galvanize many voters, Newsome believes that its spirit made it a success. Both parties have prioritized recapturing the more than 765,000 eligible black voters who sat out of the 2016 election – whether it’s presumptive nominee Joe Biden pledging to nominate a black woman to the supreme court or Donald Trump talking about criminal justice.
Newsome also sees a Trump presidency as a 'curse and a gift' that opened a lane for radical politics.
Newsome also sees a Trump presidency as a “curse and a gift” that opened a lane for radical politics. For him, this is embodied in the rise of politicians like the New York US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for whom his group members were early supporters. And the early success of Senator Bernie Sanders.
While Sanders failed to get the Democratic nomination, largely thanks to his inability to rouse support from older blacks, his presence has pushed the Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, a shepherd of racist crime bills in the 90s, to a more progressive criminal justice platform that includes a $300m grant for racially representative, community-oriented policing.
Newsome also believes that many of the black youth under 30, among whom Sanders won a majority of support, will be a part of the #BernieOrBust contingent, and withhold their support for Biden. He feels this is linked to I Ain’t Voting. “Many black youth understand voting as a futile effort, in which the politicians they put in place never follow through,” he said.
But when it comes down to this year’s election, Newsome is changing course. He has decided to vote, and encourage other black people to cast their ballots as well because he believes politicians are now working harder, and because his sister Chivona is running for a local seat in the Bronx.
There’s just one caveat: “I’ll be encouraging blacks to vote the issues,” he said. “If I stand behind the issues and the person fails me, I can still sleep at night.”


theguardian--2020-04-18--Operation reopen America: are we about to witness a second historic failure of leadership from Trump

Operation reopen America: are we about to witness a second historic failure of leadership from Trump?

On Thursday evening , Donald Trump took to the dais in the White House press briefing room and declared that he was leading America in a “ historic battle against the invisible enemy ” that amounted to the “ greatest national mobilisation since world war two ” .
Warming to his theme , the US president said the country was now ready to move to the next phase in the war against coronavirus .
It was time , he said , “ to open up .
America wants to be open , and Americans want to be open ” .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the lockdown , he committed his administration to a “ science-based reopening ” .
“ We are starting our life again , we are starting rejuvenation of our economy again , in a safe and structured and very responsible fashion.
” Beyond the cloistered confines of the White House an alternative interpretation of events was gathering force .
On a day in which the US suffered its highest death toll from Covid-19 , with a total of more than 680,000 confirmed cases and 34,000 deaths , public health experts were scrutinising the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rather different conclusions .
“ This isn ’ t a plan , it ’ s barely a powerpoint , ” spluttered Ron Klain on Twitter .
Klain , the US government ’ s Ebola tsar during the last health crisis to test the White House , in 2014 , said the proposals contained “ no provision to ramp up testing , no standard on levels of disease before opening , no protections for workers or customers ” .
On 28 March the Guardian exposed the missing six weeks lost as a result of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the crisis when the virus first struck .
Jeremy Konyndyk , another central figure in the US battle against Ebola , told the Guardian that the Trump administration ’ s initial response was “ one of the greatest failures of basic governance and leadership in modern times ” .
Now that the US is contemplating a shift into the second phase of the crisis – tentative reopening of the economy – scientists and public health officials are agreed that three pillars need to be put into place to manage the transition safely .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ those who are infected , contact tracing to isolate other people who may have caught Covid-19 from them , and personal protective equipment ( PPE ) to shield frontline healthcare workers from any flare-up .
A chorus of expert voices has also begun to be heard warning that those three essential pillars remain in critically short supply throughout the US .
Less than a month after the Guardian ’ s exploration of the missing six weeks , the chilling recognition is dawning that the country is heading for a second massive failure of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an even bigger scale .
Unless testing capability is dramatically ramped up and a giant army of health workers assembled to trace the contacts of those infected – right now – the consequences could be devastating .
“ I ’ m fearful , ” said Dr Tom Frieden , the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) .
“ Testing remains scarce in many parts of the country and it ’ s slow to scale up – we are weeks if not months away from having @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now heads the global health initiative Resolve to Save Lives , told the Guardian in an interview conducted shortly before Trump released the new reopening guidelines that time was being wasted .
The federal government ’ s misplaced insistence in February that its China travel ban would be enough to make the virus go away had “ lost precious weeks ” in tackling the first wave of coronavirus .
Now , as the US contemplates reopening , Frieden said he was afraid a repeat performance was imminent .
“ I fear there ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in place will make this virus go away , that we can then choose a date and all come out .
It ’ s not about the date , it ’ s about data and building a national response at scale.
” In a series of tweets posted in reaction to the new White House guidelines , Konyndyk echoed the anxiety about more lost weeks .
He said the Trump administration had “ wasted February , and the White House guidance on ‘ opening up ’ leaves me worried that we ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Konyndyk said that for states to reopen before they were ready “ would be a disaster .
It ’ s no great insight to say we need more testing , tracing , PPE [ protective gear for health workers ] – it ’ s been obvious for a month and a half .
But each of those face huge bottlenecks and the document doesn ’ t acknowledge them , much less propose how to resolve them.
” Trump , launching the new reopening guidelines on Thursday , insisted that the US was in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We have great tests .
We have done more testing now than any country , in the world , by far.
” The US has so far tested about 3.3m people , about 1 % of its population .
Per capita , that is small compared with several countries including Germany and South Korea .
Iceland has tested people at 10 times the US rate .
“ Testing has been an unnecessary disaster , ” said Michael Greenberger , director of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing , but the US is in the last percentage of tests administered to its population.
” Not one of the 50 states is currently in a position to carry out tracking of Covid-19 infections on the scale needed , whatever Trump said about their readiness to reopen .
Many states , including the hardest hit , New York , are still experiencing testing shortages , 12 weeks after the first US case was recorded .
Individual states continue to have to compete for critical supplies against each other , and against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Components including nasal swabs , reagents and RNA extraction kits are running short .
Daily testing has flattened out and is now hovering around 150,000 tests a day – vastly below the level that would be needed to detect localized pockets of disease as the economy reopens .
Most alarmingly , the number of tests carried out by commercial labs has actually plummeted in recent days due to shortages in test samples , leaving the labs sitting idle .
At the White House briefing , Trump insisted that the phenomenon of the idle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a sign that states were finding local solutions and an “ affirmation that testing is growing at a historic rate ” .
All of these impediments have put the US on the back foot as it seeks to pull off the daunting feat of getting back to work without risking a renewed surge of contagion .
“ We have had cases circulating in communities undetected for several weeks , and because of the delay in the roll-out of testing we never had the chance to be on top of it , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ author of one of the most definitive scientific plans for reopening the US , produced by a team from the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins .
“ That means it ’ s going to require much more ubiquitous testing , ” she said .
Estimates vary on how much testing will be needed , but they are all substantially greater than present provision .
Even at the lower end , as posited by the former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration Scott Gottlieb , some 2m to 3m tests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three times the current level .
Harvard ’ s Safra Center for Ethics argues that is too few .
It calls for tens of millions of tests every day , way beyond existing capacity .
As the Johns Hopkins plan makes clear , diagnostic testing is only the start .
It must be combined with relentless detective work , called “ contact tracing ” , to track down anyone who has come into contact with an infected person and who might need quarantining to stop the virus spreading again .
The Johns Hopkins @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contact tracers .
“ That might sound eye-popping , but it ’ s reasonable and may be a low estimate , ” Cicero said , pointing out that in Wuhan , China , the authorities employed a workforce three times the size per capita .
With contact tracing , too , there is no sign that Trump recognizes the urgency of the moment .
Frieden told the Guardian that many states were already struggling to ramp up contact tracing to a level that would support reopening .
Health departments are overwhelmed , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scale of operations they are going to need ” , he said .
Faced with a wide gap between nationwide demand for testing and contact tracing and insufficient supply , Trump has flip-flopped in his positions .
He began by insisting that he had “ absolute authority ” to overrule the states in deciding when to reopen , a posture widely denounced as king-like and anti-American .
On Thursday he effected a 180-degree about-turn and passed the buck to the 50 states .
“ You are going to call your own shots , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Thursday .
Trump ’ s sudden switch to offloading federal responsibility to the 50 states has prompted questions about his motive .
Current and former senior officials in the Trump administration told the Washington Post that he wanted to “ shield himself from blame should there be new outbreaks after states reopen ” .
The former head of Medicare and Medicaid from 2015 to 2017 , Andy Slavitt , commented on Twitter that the White House guidelines were sending a clear message to the states : “ Your state didn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governor .
Your state opened and people died , that ’ s on your governor.
” Trump attempted to sell the idea of devolving responsibility by presenting his vision of America as a “ beautiful puzzle ” .
He said : “ I call it a beautiful puzzle .
You have 50 pieces .
All very different .
But when it ’ s done … a very beautiful picture.
” A “ beautiful puzzle ” may be an appealing concept to the incumbent of the Oval Office in an election year .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is highly contagious , relatively deadly , and dismissive of state boundaries .
“ The states are not islands , their borders are not closed and they do not have water around them , ” Cicero said .
“ So it will be a bumpy road going forward in terms of managing the virus.
” States still held in the grip of the contagion , such as New York , are finding it difficult to accept the idea that the buck stops with them in a country with the most powerful national government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governor , Andrew Cuomo , has repeatedly called on the Trump administration to do more to help .
“ I understand that the federal government ’ s not eager to get involved in testing .
But the plain reality here is we have to do it in partnership , ” he said on Thursday .
At Trump ’ s disposal is the formidable wartime power of the Defense Production Act , which allows the administration to order corporations to redirect their efforts to the cause of fighting Covid-19 .
So far the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The president said there were 29 states which are in “ extremely good shape ” and could reopen soon , some “ literally tomorrow ” .
He declined to name them , though it has been reported that several Republican governors are champing at the bit to loosen lockdowns .
Florida , Texas , Alabama and Mississippi are at the head of the line , according to Axios .
Florida began to reopen its beaches on Friday , a controversial move given that the late closure of its beaches during spring break helped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ danger of Trump ’ s “ beautiful puzzle ” approach is illustrated by New York City , where the death toll continues to be heartwrenching .
The probable tally of deaths from Covid-19 in the city now stands at more than 11,000 – more than double the normal monthly loss of life from all other causes .
“ I ’ m moved and crushed by what ’ s happening in New York right now , ” said Frieden , who until 2009 was the city ’ s health commissioner .
About 10,000 New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for coronavirus .
Mark Levine , chair of New York City council ’ s health committee , told the Guardian that the frequency would need to be stepped up twentyfold were the city to have a fighting chance at reopening .
Yet even now New York is just days away from running out of testing kits .
Levine said he worries that the window for federal action is rapidly closing .
“ Trump has the authority to order manufacturers to retool to produce test kits .
Unless the White House issues the order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of time .
”

Ed Pilkington and Dominic Rushe in New York

On Thursday evening, Donald Trump took to the dais in the White House press briefing room and declared that he was leading America in a “historic battle against the invisible enemy” that amounted to the “greatest national mobilisation since world war two”.
Warming to his theme, the US president said the country was now ready to move to the next phase in the war against coronavirus. It was time, he said, “to open up. America wants to be open, and Americans want to be open”.
Unveiling new guidelines for the loosening of the lockdown, he committed his administration to a “science-based reopening”. He added: “We are starting our life again, we are starting rejuvenation of our economy again, in a safe and structured and very responsible fashion.”
Beyond the cloistered confines of the White House an alternative interpretation of events was gathering force. On a day in which the US suffered its highest death toll from Covid-19, with a total of more than 680,000 confirmed cases and 34,000 deaths, public health experts were scrutinising the president’s new guidelines and coming to rather different conclusions.
“This isn’t a plan, it’s barely a PowerPoint,” spluttered Ron Klain on Twitter. Klain, the US government’s Ebola tsar during the last health crisis to test the White House, in 2014, said the proposals contained “no provision to ramp up testing, no standard on levels of disease before opening, no protections for workers or customers”.
Nurse Theresa Malijan administers a coronavirus test to a patient at a drive-through testing site at the University of Washington in Seattle. Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters
On 28 March the Guardian exposed the missing six weeks lost as a result of Trump’s dithering and downplaying of the crisis when the virus first struck. Jeremy Konyndyk, another central figure in the US battle against Ebola, told the Guardian that the Trump administration’s initial response was “one of the greatest failures of basic governance and leadership in modern times”.
Now that the US is contemplating a shift into the second phase of the crisis – a tentative reopening of the economy – scientists and public health officials are agreed that three pillars need to be put into place to manage the transition safely. They are: mass testing to identify those who are infected, contact tracing to isolate other people who may have caught Covid-19 from them, and personal protective equipment (PPE) to shield frontline healthcare workers from any flare-up.
A chorus of expert voices has also begun to be heard warning that those three essential pillars remain in critically short supply throughout the US. Less than a month after the Guardian’s exploration of the missing six weeks, the chilling recognition is dawning that the country is heading for a second massive failure of governance under Trump, this time on an even bigger scale.
Unless testing capability is dramatically ramped up and a giant army of health workers assembled to trace the contacts of those infected – right now – the consequences could be devastating.
Jared Kushner, center, looks on as Trump meets with healthcare executives. Photograph: Doug Mills/Getty Images
“I’m fearful,” said Dr Tom Frieden, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Testing remains scarce in many parts of the country and it’s slow to scale up – we are weeks if not months away from having enough test capacity.”
Frieden, who now heads the global health initiative Resolve to Save Lives, told the Guardian in an interview conducted shortly before Trump released the new reopening guidelines that time was being wasted. The federal government’s misplaced insistence in February that its China travel ban would be enough to make the virus go away had “lost precious weeks” in tackling the first wave of coronavirus.
We wasted February, and I’m worried we’re about to waste April too Jeremy Konyndyk, key figure in Ebola fight
Now, as the US contemplates reopening, Frieden said he was afraid a repeat performance was imminent.
“I fear there’s an analogous mistaken belief that sheltering in place will make this virus go away, that we can then choose a date and all come out. It’s not about the date, it’s about data and building a national response at scale.”
In a series of tweets posted in reaction to the new White House guidelines, Konyndyk echoed the anxiety about more lost weeks. He said the Trump administration had “wasted February, and the White House guidance on ‘opening up’ leaves me worried that we’re about to waste April too”.
Konyndyk said that for states to reopen before they were ready “would be a disaster. It’s no great insight to say we need more testing, tracing, PPE [protective gear for health workers] – it’s been obvious for a month and a half. But each of those face huge bottlenecks and the document doesn’t acknowledge them, much less propose how to resolve them.”
Trump, launching the new reopening guidelines on Thursday, insisted that the US was in “excellent shape” on testing. “We have great tests. We have done more testing now than any country, in the world, by far.”
Trump says we have the best testing, but the US is in the last percentage of tests administered to its population Michael Greenberger, University of Maryland
The US has so far tested about 3.3 million people, about 1% of its population. Per capita, that is small compared with several countries including Germany and South Korea. Iceland has tested people at 10 times the US rate.
“Testing has been an unnecessary disaster,” said Michael Greenberger, director of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security. “Trump says we have the best testing, but the US is in the last percentage of tests administered to its population.”
Not one of the 50 states is currently in a position to carry out tracking of Covid-19 infections on the scale needed, whatever Trump said about their readiness to reopen. Many states, including the hardest hit, New York, are still experiencing testing shortages, 12 weeks after the first US case was recorded.
People are checked in at a newly set up coronavirus testing site in Brooklyn. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
Individual states continue to have to compete for critical supplies against each other, and against the federal government, driving up prices. Components including nasal swabs, reagents and RNA extraction kits are running short.
Daily testing has flattened out and is now hovering around 150,000 tests a day – vastly below the level that would be needed to detect localized pockets of disease as the economy reopens. Most alarmingly, the number of tests carried out by commercial labs has actually plummeted in recent days due to shortages in test samples, leaving the labs sitting idle.
At the White House briefing, Trump insisted that the phenomenon of the idle labs was a “great thing”, a sign that states were finding local solutions and an “affirmation that testing is growing at a historic rate”.
All of these impediments have put the US on the back foot as it seeks to pull off the daunting feat of getting back to work without risking a renewed surge of contagion.
“We have had cases circulating in communities undetected for several weeks, and because of the delay in the roll-out of testing we never had the chance to be on top of it,” said Anita Cicero. She is joint author of one of the most definitive scientific plans for reopening the US, produced by a team from the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University.
“That means it’s going to require much more ubiquitous testing,” she said.
Estimates vary on how much testing will be needed, but they are all substantially greater than present provision. Even at the lower end, as posited by the former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration Scott Gottlieb, some 2m to 3m tests a week are recommended – up to three times the current level.
Harvard’s Safra Center for Ethics argues that is too few. It calls for tens of millions of tests every day, way beyond existing capacity.
The states are not islands. Their borders are not closed Anita Cicero, Johns Hopkins University
As the Johns Hopkins plan makes clear, diagnostic testing is only the start. It must be combined with relentless detective work, called “contact tracing”, to track down anyone who has come into contact with an infected person and who may need quarantining to stop the virus spreading again.
The Johns Hopkins plan envisages a nationwide army of 100,000 contact tracers. “That might sound eye-popping, but it’s reasonable and may be a low estimate,” Cicero said, pointing out that in Wuhan, China, the authorities employed a workforce three times the size per capita.
With contact tracing, too, there is no sign that Trump recognizes the urgency of the moment. Frieden told the Guardian that many states were already struggling to ramp up contact tracing to a level that would support reopening. Health departments are overwhelmed, and some have “trouble even conceiving the scale of operations they are going to need”, he said.
Faced with a wide gap between nationwide demand for testing and contact tracing and insufficient supply, Trump has flip-flopped in his positions. He began by insisting that he had “absolute authority” to overrule the states in deciding when to reopen, a posture widely denounced as king-like and anti-American.
02:12 Donald Trump: 'When somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total' – video
On Thursday he effected an about-turn and passed the buck to the 50 states. “You are going to call your own shots,” he told governors on a call on Thursday.
Trump’s sudden switch to offloading federal responsibility to the 50 states has prompted questions about his motive. Current and former senior officials in the Trump administration told the Washington Post that he wanted to “shield himself from blame should there be new outbreaks after states reopen”.
The US Capitol at dusk in Washington. Trump has sought to offload federal responsibility on the states. Photograph: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The former head of Medicare and Medicaid from 2015 to 2017, Andy Slavitt, commented on Twitter that the White House guidelines were sending a clear message to the states: “Your state didn’t open, that’s on your governor. Your state opened and people died, that’s on your governor.”
Trump attempted to sell the idea of devolving responsibility by presenting his vision of America as a “beautiful puzzle”. He said: “I call it a beautiful puzzle. You have 50 pieces. All very different. But when it’s done … a very beautiful picture.”
A “beautiful puzzle” may be an appealing concept to the incumbent of the Oval Office in an election year. But it fits uncomfortably with a virus that is highly contagious, relatively deadly, and dismissive of state boundaries.
02:02 Trump announces guidelines for lifting lockdowns but defers to state governors – video
“The states are not islands, their borders are not closed and they do not have water around them,” Cicero said. “So it will be a bumpy road going forward in terms of managing the virus.”
States still held in the grip of the contagion, such as New York, are finding it difficult to accept the idea that the buck stops with them in a country with the most powerful national government on Earth. New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, has repeatedly called on the Trump administration to do more to help.
“I understand that the federal government’s not eager to get involved in testing. But the plain reality here is we have to do it in partnership,” he said on Thursday.
At Trump’s disposal is the formidable wartime power of the Defense Production Act, which allows the administration to order corporations to redirect their efforts to the cause of fighting Covid-19. So far the president has deployed this capability only sparingly.
I’m moved and crushed by what’s happening in New York right now Tom Frieden, former CDC head
The president said there were 29 states which are in “extremely good shape” and could reopen soon, some “literally tomorrow”. He declined to name them, though it has been reported that several Republican governors are champing at the bit to loosen lockdowns.
Florida, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi are at the head of the line, according to Axios. Florida began to reopen its beaches on Friday, a controversial move given that the late closure of its beaches during spring break helped spread Covid-19 across the US.
The danger of Trump’s “beautiful puzzle” approach is illustrated by New York City, where the death toll is heartwrenching. The probable tally of deaths from Covid-19 in the city now stands at more than 11,000 – more than double the normal monthly loss of life from all other causes.
People wearing protective masks walk in Brooklyn. Photograph: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
“I’m moved and crushed by what’s happening in New York right now,” said Frieden, who until 2009 was the city’s health commissioner.
About 10,000 New Yorkers a day are currently being tested for coronavirus. Mark Levine, chair of New York City council’s health committee, told the Guardian that the frequency would need to be stepped up twentyfold were the city to have a fighting chance at reopening.
Yet even now New York is just days away from running out of testing kits.
Levine said he worries that the window for federal action is rapidly closing. “Trump has the authority to order manufacturers to retool to produce test kits. Unless the White House issues the order immediately, we are going to be out of time.”


theguardian--2020-04-18--Judge overturns ban on abortions in Tennessee during Covid-19 crisis

A federal judge has barred the state of Tennessee from preventing abortions during a temporary ban on non-essential medical procedures to slow the spread of Covid-19 .
US district judge , Bernard Friedman , said the defendants didn ’ t show that any appreciable amount of personal protective equipment ( PPE ) would be saved if the ban was applied to abortions .
In a hearing by phone on Friday , attorneys representing several state abortion clinics argued that Tennessee women would face immediate harm if the ban on abortions was not lifted .
Alex Rieger , arguing for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said abortions were not being singled out but treated like any other procedure that was not necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury .
The Tennessee governor , Bill Lee , issued an emergency order on 8 April banning those procedures for three weeks .
The aim of the ban was to preserve the limited supply of PPE for doctors fighting Covid-19 and to help prevent the community spread of the disease by limiting patient-provider interactions , Rieger said .
The two sides disagreed over whether halting abortions would help or hinder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grappling with similar issues .
Judges in the past week have ruled to allow abortions to continue in Arkansas , Oklahoma , Ohio and Texas .
Genevieve Scott , an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights , argued that all pregnant women needed care .
About one in five pregnant women require hospital visits before labour , and 15-20 % of pregnancies end in miscarriages .
Even women without problems require prenatal care and tests .
All of that requires providers to use PPE and interact with patients , Scott said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ described would take place a couple of months down the road and that “ every piece of PPE we use now is a piece that is not available when this disease reaches its peak.
” Scott disputed that idea , saying the needs were immediate .
She also noted that there was no guarantee the executive order would not be extended .
“ Nothing in their arguments today suggests they really believe that in three weeks the issue will be resolved , ” she said .
Abortion clinics have already turned away dozens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the longer an abortion was delayed , the greater chance of complications .
Also , the delay could prevent some women from having an abortion altogether by pushing them past 20 weeks gestation , after which abortions are generally not available in Tennessee .
Rieger asserted that Tennessee has the power to restrict abortions in a public health emergency , citing a 1905 US supreme court case in which the court held that requiring citizens to be vaccinated for smallpox was a legitimate exercise of the state ’ s police powers to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ citizens .
He suggested abortion providers didn ’ t want to play by the rules that everyone else has to abide by .
“ They want abortion to carry on in Tennessee as if Covid had never happened , ” Rieger said .
“ Tennesseans are making extraordinary sacrifices .
Abortion providers don ’ t want to sacrifice.
” Scott argued that abortion had been recognised as a constitutional right .
She added medical groups , including the College of Surgeons , which the state relied upon in crafting its executive order , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should not be delayed .
“ The state is singling out abortion as the only essential care excluded by the executive order , ” she said .
Tennessee ’ s Republican governor often speaks of his Christian faith and has said he wants to enact some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation , including banning women from undergoing the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected .

A federal judge has barred the state of Tennessee from preventing abortions during a temporary ban on non-essential medical procedures to slow the spread of Covid-19.
US district judge, Bernard Friedman, said the defendants didn’t show that any appreciable amount of personal protective equipment (PPE) would be saved if the ban was applied to abortions.
Quick Guide US abortion rights Show How did abortions become legal in the US? In 1873 Congress passed the federal Comstock Act, a law to make contraceptives illegal, which included abortion. Nevertheless, illegal abortions were common, and dangerous. The Food and Drug Administration approved the birth control pill in 1960, and many officials stopped enforcing Comstock laws. However, contraceptives were still illegal. In 1965, the Griswold v Connecticut supreme court case ruled the Comstock laws unconstitutional, because married women had a right to privacy. The Roe v Wade case followed in 1973. It provided women the constitutional right to obtain an abortion before a foetus is “viable”, or can live outside the womb. It was based in part on the privacy arguments of Griswold. However, in 1992 the Planned Parenthood v Casey supreme court case tightened abortion access, finding states had a “compelling interest” in protecting life, and could restrict abortion if it did not place “undue burden” on women’s constitutional rights. How are states trying to restrict abortions? States have bought in a series of laws that aim to either restrict the availability of abortions to extremely early in pregnancy, or which aim in effect to restrict access to abortion clinics. In 2016 a supreme court case found a Texas law requiring doctors to have difficult-to-obtain hospital access was unconstitutional. The court took up a nearly identical Louisiana case in 2020, called June Medical Services LLC v Gee. It again ruled that the law was unconstitutional.. Are abortion rights unpopular in America? No. Polls consistently show a majority of Americans support the right to an abortion. But the anti-abortion movement in America is organised, motivated and well funded. It has also been emboldened by the rhetoric of Donald Trump, who sees white evangelical Christians as a core part of his base. The anti-abortion movement often passes multiple, similar laws that push constitutional boundaries, in an effort to provoke favourable decisions from federal courts. If Roe v Wade is overturned, as many as 22 states stand ready to ban abortion. With the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court tipping it to a 6-3 conservative majority, some Republicans believe the dream of rolling back abortion rights is close. The leaked supreme court initial majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated in the court on 10 February 2022 appears to confirm that they will achieve their goal. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.
In a hearing by phone on Friday, attorneys representing several state abortion clinics argued that Tennessee women would face immediate harm if the ban on abortions was not lifted.
Alex Rieger, arguing for the Tennessee attorney general’s office, said abortions were not being singled out but treated like any other procedure that was not necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury. The Tennessee governor, Bill Lee, issued an emergency order on 8 April banning those procedures for three weeks.
The aim of the ban was to preserve the limited supply of PPE for doctors fighting Covid-19 and to help prevent the community spread of the disease by limiting patient-provider interactions, Rieger said. The two sides disagreed over whether halting abortions would help or hinder that goal.
Several other states are grappling with similar issues. Judges in the past week have ruled to allow abortions to continue in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Texas.
Genevieve Scott, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, argued that all pregnant women needed care. About one in five pregnant women require hospital visits before labour, and 15-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriages. Even women without problems require prenatal care and tests. All of that requires providers to use PPE and interact with patients, Scott said.
Rieger argued that most of what Scott described would take place a couple of months down the road and that “every piece of PPE we use now is a piece that is not available when this disease reaches its peak.”
Scott disputed that idea, saying the needs were immediate. She also noted that there was no guarantee the executive order would not be extended.
“Nothing in their arguments today suggests they really believe that in three weeks the issue will be resolved,” she said.
Abortion clinics have already turned away dozens of patients, Scott said, adding that the longer an abortion was delayed, the greater chance of complications. Also, the delay could prevent some women from having an abortion altogether by pushing them past 20 weeks gestation, after which abortions are generally not available in Tennessee.
Rieger asserted that Tennessee has the power to restrict abortions in a public health emergency, citing a 1905 US supreme court case in which the court held that requiring citizens to be vaccinated for smallpox was a legitimate exercise of the state’s police powers to protect the health and safety of its citizens.
He suggested abortion providers didn’t want to play by the rules that everyone else has to abide by.
“They want abortion to carry on in Tennessee as if Covid had never happened,” Rieger said. “Tennesseans are making extraordinary sacrifices. Abortion providers don’t want to sacrifice.”
Scott argued that abortion had been recognised as a constitutional right. She added medical groups, including the College of Surgeons, which the state relied upon in crafting its executive order, recognised that abortion was essential care that should not be delayed.
“The state is singling out abortion as the only essential care excluded by the executive order,” she said.
Tennessee’s Republican governor often speaks of his Christian faith and has said he wants to enact some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, including banning women from undergoing the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected.