Friday, March 20, 2020

To support the economy, the White House and Mitch McConnell have proposed sending every American a $1,200 check... ...Unless you're poor or unemployed, in which case you might get half that or potentially nothing at all. That has to change.


Another dismal close for the DOW (−913.21) as the #TrumpRecession gets worse by the day. Imagine how much stronger our economy would be if Trump hadn't lied to America, callin' the Coronavirus a "hoax."


BREAKING: McConnell’s proposal for Coronavirus income relief EXCLUDES LOW-INCOME people.


Folks worried about keeping their jobs and putting food on the table for their families shouldn’t be concerned about their student loans right now. I just led a request that all federal student loan borrowers have their loans placed immediately into deferral or forebearance.


BREAKING: Governor of Illinois orders "shelter in place" lockdown of entire state from March 21-April 7


Canada is home to some of the best innovators in the world, and Canada’s Plan to Mobilize Industry to Fight COVID-19 will help us harness that talent to make sure our health care providers have what they need to keep you safe. Get the details here


This is exactly right. A non-crazy President would have swung at that and knocked it out of the park - to the point where someone would have called Alexander's question a planted softball. But because Trump is terrified and paranoid, everything is about him.


Federal Elections Commissioner: “Voting by mail offers the best path. Making vote-by-mail broadly available will not solve every election-related challenge this year, but it is a necessary and urgent beginning.”


Several U.S. Senators appear to have committed not just felonious insider trading but a lethal variety. Grotesque.


Thom Tillis, who hails from the same state and same party as Burr, says his senior senator “owes North Carolinians explanation.” Tillis is up for re-election this year.


Alex Azar is lying about tests. He’s acting as though people on the front lines are too stupid to figure it out. It is maddening and I can only imagine the justified rage nurses, docs and healthcare professionals feel at being scapegoated for Trump testing failure.


The 1.3-million member United Food and Commercial Workers union endorsed @JoeBiden today, giving him another boost as he seeks to finish off the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. The endorsement came after Biden swept primaries in Arizona, Florida and Illinois.


The appellate court has postponed all in-person oral arguments until further notice due to the #coronavirus outbreak — so could be that we see this case before the eight judge panel by teleconference.


Opinion: Three big takeaways from the stunning GOP stock-selling revelations


Biden calls on CEOs of U.S. publicly traded corporations to refrain from stock buybacks this year


!!! Trump takes a question from Sean Spicer and pretends he doesn't know who he is


Senator David Perdue and Senator Kelly Loeffler appeared to have traded stocks with access to insider information


Dr. Anthony Fauci says he's hearing that people who want coronavirus tests can't get them. "That is a reality that is happening now. Is it the same as it was a few weeks ago? Absolutely not." VP Pence says "incredible progress" is being made on testing.


"The poorest families... would see smaller benefits.... "About 22 million people earning under $40,000 a year would see no benefit under the GOP plan."


Trump is flailing to blame Obama for federal government testing failures


Then Fauci confirms that people can’t get tested. This is a total clown show.


Dr Fauci is the new Buzz Aldrin


3M says it has doubled its global output of N95 respirator masks during the coronavirus outbreak. The company has doubled the output of respirators to a rate of 1.1 billion per year, or nearly 100 million per month, according to a statement.


NBC's @PeterAlexander asks Trump what he'd say to Americans who are frightened. Trump goes on rant against Alexander, says he asked a "nasty question," calls him a "terrible reporter" and attacks NBC and Comcast.


Those who could “stand up to Trump and protect the American people...were too worried about their pocketbooks, access, or Twitter mentions to do anything about it. This is a story...about the total and complete corruption of the Republican party itself.”


POTUS: “my message to the American people is that there’s a very low incidence of death.”


Where are the tests?


NBC News is saddened to announce the death of our long-time colleague Larry Edgeworth after he got COVID-19. I have spent months (years?) of my life traveling with Larry to some of this country's worst tragedies. He was so talented and he will be deeply missed


BREAKING: Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr Deborah Birx says info coming in from Italy suggests the mortality rate for men is double what it is for females, for every age group


Now Pompeo, like Trump, is going on about the "Chinese virus." How did such a great nation ever put so much power in such inadequate little hands?


BREAKING: Tax filing deadline moved from April 15 to July 15


AG Barr just moved to dismiss felony charges filed by Mueller against entities controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.


This is a fast moving disaster. It’s unraveling by the minute and the danger is increasing exponentially. Every time Trump opens his mouth he makes this worse and literally endangers the lives of millions. This has to end.


CNN's Kaitlin Collins follows up: "Do you really think going off on Peter, going off on a network is appropriate when the country's going through something like this?" Trump responds: "I do."


Poor Dr. Fauci


During my Senate career I’ve held all assets in a blind trust of which I have no control. Reports that I sold any assets are incorrect, as are reports that I was at a January 24 briefing on coronavirus, which I was unable to attend.


Make it trend, people. #Burrisma.


NBC's Peter Alexander: "What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?" Trump: "I say you're a terrible reporter."


Across the Middle East, millions live in overcrowded refugee camps, migrant centers, and displacement sites with poor sanitation and little health infrastructure. Many others are held in densely packed prisons. This is a recipe for a COVID-19 disaster.


Many of us told the White House in early February that we needed an emergency fund to purchase supplies. They waved us off - told us they had it under control.


Call me crazy but I just don’t think corporate tax cuts and no strings attached industry bailouts are where we should be putting our money right now.


Rethinking the Coronavirus Shutdown: Money is Worth More than Your Lives


There need to be repercussions to official Russians like Lavrov, Glazyev and others who openly participate on disinformation and information warfare


Yesterday we buried a lovely woman. Due to #Covid19 there was no wake & our community couldn’t enter the church. But the entire parish came out & lined the 2km road to graveyard to say goodbye to Betty Ryan. Ar scΓ‘th a chΓ©ile a mhaireann na daoine


Fuck these guys, they would rather give a trillion to corporations that have already made record profits.


Entire Georgia legislature urged to self-quarantine after senator shows up to vote despite coronavirus test, which turned out positive


The Trump attempt to brand coronavirus as "Chinese" is his attempt to transform his own catastrophic failure to defend the nation - and his allies' corrupt trading on that failure - into a racialized foreign threat. Don't be scammed. My latest


Eric, show us the stocks you bought on February 28.


Sen. @GaryPeters says Michigan is ready to begin the process of turning shuttered car factories into manufacturing centers for masks, other PPE, and hospital beds, but he needs the President to trigger the Defense Production Act to start that process.


Remember when Wilbur Ross said coronavirus would be good for the economy?


It's time for Biden to appoint a shadow cabinet to start managing what SHOULD be the responsibility of the federal government - strategizing with manufacturers to ensure production and distribution of necessary PPE and other medical necessitie


Trump now says he knew a pandemic was going to shut down the USA when he said this with the full support of the Fox propaganda delivery system.


.@NYCMayor says the federal government has been absent


Why did the DOJ decide to drop the prosecution of a Russian company indicted for interfering in the 2016 election?


Analysis: Fox News’s Hannity denied calling coronavirus a "hoax" nine days after he called it a "hoax"


McConnell fighting to keep Loeffler in Senate “The Senate Leadership Fund & One Nation—both aligned w/ McConnell—spent nearly $2M on ads from late Feb-mid-March...revealing they’re deeply concerned about Collins...running against Sen. Kelly Loeffler...”


Mainland China has reported no new domestically transmitted coronavirus cases for a second day running, offering a glimmer of hope around the world that spread of the virus can be dramatically slowed down


It's time to raid the science labs, wood shops, and art studios of America's K-12 schools for protective eyewear and face shields. Also, theater shops. I bet the Broadway scenic shops are loaded with potentially useful goods in this regard


In WWII, they transformed factories to meet the deficit in planes, tanks, ships, munitions. In 2020, we need to meet the deficit in cotton swabs, basic masks and gloves, ventilators.


President Trump said he is considering “repercussions” for the Chinese government’s handling of coronavirus, after days of placing the blame for the virus on the country.


UK asks retired nurses, doctors to work again amid coronavirus pandemic


Trump called coronavirus an "unforeseen problem." But a simulation on YouTube two years ago envisioned: "A lot of casualties,” “Telework & social distancing,” “Schools closed,” “Demand for surgical masks & respirators far exceed[ing] available supply."


Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) - Third GOP Senator caught selling equity before the market crash — this time up to $25 million worth


Bored. Empty. Useless. Those black holes for eyes? A window to nowhere.


Bank Of America Allowing Loan Deferments Due To Coronavirus Pandemic


FLOWN FOR TREATMENT: A Southern California resident infected with COVID-19 arrived at LAX on a private air-ambulance from Aruba, with staff in full biohazard protective gear. The patient was transported to an isolation chamber in Orange County.


The Trump administration ran a government exercise last year simulating a severe influenza pandemic for which there is no vaccine that showed the country was ill-prepared, according to The New York Time


Ron Johnson says federal guidance issued to fight the deadly coronavirus is ridiculous, & too severe. “I'm not denying #COVIDγƒΌ19 can be nasty, but only 1–3.4% of the population will die.” That means “97-99% will get through this.” NOTE: Death rate is 3.4%


The potential insider trading is dreadful and possibly criminal, but what could elevate this to a historic scandal is the idea that senators may have known enough to be alarmed for themselves yet still projected rosy scenarios to the public AND failed to make sure we were ready


"There is no greater moral crime than betraying your country in a time of crisis,"


Mitch McConnell wants to cut Democrats OUT of direct negotiations for the TRILLION DOLlAR bailout he’s planning for corporate America. To #saveworkers we need House and Senate Democrats at that table - or we’re all on the menu.


Hearing Congress may leave as soon as emergency bill passed. Let me just be clear here: there's more than this one bill. A lot more. Congress needs to be in Washington to get them done. They need to stop doing bullsh*t meetings, traveling, stay in soft-quarantine on the job.


Fox & Trump World will cheerfully sacrifice Burr, to punish him for not protecting Trump on the Russia investigation. They assume the questions will stop there. That assumption should be challenged. If senators traded on classified info, did Trump and his family?


Be prepared to dump stock and maybe short-sell some equities before the dumb money starts dying? Cool message.


My 2 year old grand daughter is in an ambulance on her way to a hospital with a 104 degree temperature because you chose to eliminate the pandemic task force and ignore what was happening in China. You are a menace to this country and a disgrace to America


From my daughter in law who’s a RN in CO: Our hospital has actually set up SEWING stations throughout the building to make masks/gowns out of sterile wrap that’s used in the OR - it’s set up assembly line style with cutting stations & sewing machine stations.


A pandemic searching for host bodies doesn’t discriminate between regime decision-makers and those average Iranians they rule. Nor can Iran’s health needs in a global pandemic be separated from America’s or the world’s


WTF!!! Is this administration trying to cause this virus to spread? This is crazy. Governors are outbid by the federal government for supplies. There are healthcare workers Right Now....it’s time to stop messing around and get this right


I think it’s time for the media to address the elephant in the room: Trump may be incapable of understanding the problem. It involves data, graphs, projections, connecting dots, conceptual thinking. I think he fundamentally cannot mentally grasp it.


I just matched @yashar’s $1,000 donation to provide immediate cash grants to hourly workers, including tipped workers, who have been devastated by this crisis. Give what you can & spread the word


Public agencies are urging people to throw their disinfecting wipes in the trash, warning that not doing so could cause blockages and damage to sewer systems.


This is so unbelievably dangerous. The press has done nothing but convey the gravity of the crisis, and by discrediting the media, Trump empowers the hoax purveyors and conspiracy theorists who tell people there’s nothing to worry about.


The US Senate under @senatemajldr is the most corrupt & unAmerican in US history. Trips to Russia on the 4th of July, giving over their power to the the executive branch, dumping stocks before a national crisis all the while pushing the story that it was a “hoax”...criminals.


I am sorry to dwell on this, but it makes me so mad that Trumpism — an anti-science, anti-government ideology and a culture of toadyism and corruption — has caused this suffering. We must never forget. It is a virus itself, in our body politic


Loeffler also purchased between $100,000 and $250,000 in Citrix, which offers popular teleworking software and has actually seen a slight bump in its stock price


Members of Congress **ILLEGALLY profiting** off private briefings about an unprecedented global #pandemic that will kill millions of people. There are no words.


Because insider trading is hilarious


What is more shocking - that a Republican Senator may have engaged in insider trading or that his selloff presumed Trump would bungle the coronavirus response and tank the stocks?


For some 18 years, Kelly Loeffler worked for Intercontinental Exchange. Most recently, she was the CEO of Bakkt, its cryptocurrency platform.


What did the Trump family sell, and when did they sell it?


If @SenatorBurr does not resign by Monday, this country is surrendering to systemic corruption and real evil. We need a massive, nationwide condemnation of Senator Burr TODAY. The tape that has become public is disgusting and the insider trading he has committed is a crime.


Of 29 stock transactions that Loeffler and her husband made through mid-February, all but two were sales. One of Loeffler’s two purchases was stock worth between $100,000 and $250,000 in Citrix, a technology company that offers teleworking software


Question: if a classified report comes through that COVID-19 treatments or vaccines are ready to be mass-produced, do @SenatorBurr and the GOP in Congress get 24 hours to pile in to airline and hotel stocks again, before the rest of us find out?


The question is now: how many Republican officials were profiting off their secret foreknowledge of a mass casualty event while the president and his propaganda network were assuring everyone that the coronavirus was “contained?”


CNN's @AndersonCooper reads the poem "Lockdown" by Brother Richard Hendrick, a strong message of hope during the coronavirus pandemic.


"Democrats have dangerously and intentionally misled the American people on #Coronavirus readiness," she later tweeted


NEW: After assuring the public about the government's coronavirus preparedness, Senate Intel chair Richard Burr, in one day, sold off up to $1.6 million is stock. A week later, the market began its fall. His committee was receiving daily briefings


This is the kind of thing you’d do if you planned on being a candidate for office soon.


Fox News’ Tucker Carlson says Richard Burr betrayed his country — and should resign to face prosecution


Federal prosecutors just detailed new allegations against one of Trump's inaugural committee donors: They say Imaad Zuberi’s case reveals “corrupt foreign interference with our elections.”


Just when you think the world’s gone nuts & can’t get worse, you learn that while accusing Dems of politicizing a pandemic (which we didn’t) the GOP were calling it a Hoax while dumping their stocks aka INSIDER TRADING. Then you realize who do we even have left to arrest them?


As the virus spread in their community, most believed it was a "liberal hoax" designed to hurt Trump. They spread the lies they were fed, laughed at all the jokes. And then, someone they knew got sick. Welcome to coronavirus in the house that Rush built


Just had a long talk with my teenager about the lockdowns going on. I told her that every day that no one in our family is sick is a day we thank the Lord and that we do our best to be good Americans and make some sacrifices to protect our fellow citizens. Gave it my best shot.


Words matter, and storytelling matters. Make everybody you know who is under 50 read this, all the way through to the end.


Members of Congress should not own individual stocks, period


Americans urgently need cash to meet immediate needs, that’s been my goal from the start. The current bill has promise but it shouldn’t give lower earners smaller checks —that’s directly contrary to my proposal. We need to fix this to ensure lower earners get equal payments


If true, 14% will need hospitalization - 3.57 million people 6-8% will need intensive care.- 1.78 million people Now do you understand what Trump and the GOP have done?


California Gov Newsom letter to Trump requesting hospital ship: “We project that roughly 56% of our population — 25.5 million people — will be infected with the virus over an eight week period.”


The senators thought: This news is really bad. Perhaps I should speak out, urge immediate action, save thousands of lives? Then they thought: No, speaking out would only upset Trump. I'll call my broker instead.


From @SpeakerPelosi and me: We are beginning to review Senator McConnell’s proposal and on first reading, it is not at all pro-worker and instead puts corporations way ahead of workers.#WorkersFirst


Whoops. Looks like we found *another* @GOP senator who "suddenly" dumped his stock holdings right after a private briefing on #coronavirus. Senator @JimInhofe sold up to $500,000 of his stock on the Monday after his Friday (1/24) briefing.


To clarify, one of Inhofe's stock trades, worth up to $100,000, was made about 3 weeks after the briefing. The remaining trades (worth up to $400,000) were made on the Monday after the Friday briefing.


Yes, the part where they were BUYING stock to profit from the coming panic is actually much, much worse than just selling off stuff before the market crashed. These senators -- and whoever else joined them in their dystopian profiteering -- are not fit for office of any kind


"By not anticipating the catastrophe we are now living, Trump joins a pantheon of American leaders whose failures of imagination have come at great cost. The perspective was very different in the Obama administration,"


More evidence below that the stimulus plan by @realDonaldTrump & @senatemajldr McConnell is far too small. A $1 trillion stimulus is nowhere near what is necessary. We need at least triple that amount.


It’s a good thing Republican senators are keeping us safe from the corruption threat we face from Burisma.


Sen. Burr responds to my piece from this morning. You can read the story here


Hearing from sources close to President Trump that Burr needs to resign.


This tweet aged amazingly.


Kelly Loeffler’s husband is chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.


What is going on here, President Trump? We called on you to invoke the Defense Production Act. But in addition, we expect you to use it immediately. Why aren’t you using this authority now to make testing kits, masks, beds, ventilators?


Context: Florida, with about three million uninsured people, has not expanded Medicaid and ranks 48th in Medicaid spending for children, pregnant women, low-income families, and the elderly and disabled.


"Today I'm pivoting away from my Assad, Putin love fest, to try and save my seat in Hawaii by supporting Joe Biden & hoping Democrats forget the last 3 yrs of my bullshit"


Someone left this note for the OAN personality at the White House: “Do you think your question was helpful in halting the spread of the coronavirus?”


ProPublica: Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, Sen. Richard Burr sold off a significant percentage of his stocks—between $582,029 and $1.56 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 29 transactions.


Multi-millionaire televangelist Kenneth Copeland tells viewers that even if they lose their jobs because of the coronavirus outbreak, they must continue giving to the church: "Whatever you do right now, don't you stop tithing!"


Dear @POTUS: Governors cannot invoke the Defense Production Act to get protective equipment to hospitals and first responders. You alone can fix it


Except everyone


Republicans are humanitarian criminals. He profited on lives. People are NOW dying and he went and got a quick buck. He needs to be tossed in prison for life.


As the world focuses on Coronavirus, Barr is quietly dismantling charges filed by Mueller.


Russia is at war with the West, and there’s a body count.


After weeks of calling the corona virus an impeachment hoax Fox News is praising Trumps "strong" response to it. Here are some of their sponsors.


Former UN ambassador Haley resigns from Boeing board, opposing government aid


Trump lies in a briefing that a malaria drug's been approved for use against the coronavirus. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn clarified it would be the first drug to be tested. Then Trump repeated the lie multiple times in a conference with governors.


Senate's going to do some more insider trading and then keep letting a Mobster lower America's defenses from a pandemic and let thousands more die? Got it. And for which country are you getting it done, again?


To be clear, Sen Loeffler not only dumped stock, illegally using non-public information (allegedly), she used the proceeds to buys stock in a TELEWORKING SOFTWARE company, profiting off the #COVID19-induced collapse of the economy.


Explain the stock sales then? How you gonna spin that? The fact you needed to respond is telling. You're going to jail scumbag.


They knew. They kept their mouths shut.


My latest: we need more ventilators, but we also need people to operate them. Do we have enough respiratory therapists? Please read, RT, and share.


Patently illegal. Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act (Pub.L. 112–105, S. 2038, 126 Stat. 291, was enacted April 4, 2012. It is an Congressional act designed to combat insider trading. It was signed into law by Barack Obama.


Will @SenThomTillis condemn @SenatorBurr's stock selloff based on non-public information he received by being a member of Congress?


Coronavirus tests are now free, but treatment could still cost you


As a North Carolina resident, I am demanding Senator Richard Burr's immediate resignation.


"Rising Pharmaceuticals, a New Jersey based company, increased the price of chloroquine — an antimalarial, which is one of the drugs that is being tested against Covid-19 — on January 23"


The coronavirus crisis is badly hurting Trump’s chance at a second term