(Con’d) that because of lax safety protocols an intern was infected who later infected her boyfriend and then went to the wet market where it began to spread…” Trump demurred but said “More and more we are hearing the story.”
” There is increasing confidence that COVID-19 likely originated in a Wuhan laboratory, though not as a bioweapon but as part of China’s attempt to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States, multiple sources who have been briefed on the details of early actions by China’s government and seen relevant materials tell Fox News.
This may be the “costliest government cover-up of all time,” one of the sources said.
The sources believe the initial transmission of the virus was bat-to-human, and that “patient zero” worked at the laboratory, then went into the population in Wuhan.
The “increasing confidence” comes from classified and open-source documents and evidence, the sources said. Fox News has requested to see the evidence directly. Sources emphasized — as is often the case with intelligence — that it’s not definitive and should not be characterized as such. Some inside the administration and the intelligence and epidemiological communities are more skeptical, and the investigation is continuing.
What all of the sources agree about is the extensive cover-up of data and information about COVID-19 orchestrated by the Chinese government.
Asked by Fox News’ John Roberts about the reporting, President Trump remarked at Wednesday’s coronavirus press briefing, “More and more we’re hearing the story…we are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation.”
Documents detail early efforts by doctors at the lab and early efforts at containment. The Wuhan wet market initially identified as a possible point of origin never sold bats, and the sources tell Fox News that blaming the wet market was an effort by China to deflect blame from the laboratory, along with the country’s propaganda efforts targeting the U.S. and Italy.”
Like I said the other day, it’s Pelosi who dropped the ball. She had the opportunity to set this up before leaving town, there was even bi-partisan legislation to do so, but she shot it down. Now they can’t do it, at least not without coming back to DC and doing it in person.
Nancy built this.
By doing so, she willingly ceded her power to the President.
“NYT: Say, Has Anyone Noticed That An Absent Congress Has Allowed Trump To Run Things On His Own?”
“You mean the same Congress that just three months ago seemed obsessed with the argument that Donald Trump was a dangerous dictator who couldn’t be trusted with his office? Yes, some of us have noticed. While doctors and nurses, police officers and firefighters, and even grocery workers and restaurant workers risk their lives and health to provide essential services, members of Congress have acted as though constitutional governance is a non-essential business — and have abdicated their role to contribute to leadership in a crisis.
At any rate, both the New York Times and Roll Call have now begun to consider the implications of an AWOL Congress in a national emergency. The pressure to find ways to get the job done remotely have begun to escalate:
With Congress sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic and unable to return to the Capitol, House and Senate leaders are under increasing pressure from a bipartisan array of current and former lawmakers to shift to remote legislating, including using a secure online system to conduct votes. …
Good-government advocates see the moves as an imperative. Without a way to meet remotely, the House and Senate have no way to conduct oversight or act as a check on President Trump, who was impeached on charges of abuse of power and this week declared he had “total” authority to supersede governors’ decisions about whether to reopen their states.
“The choice is remote Congress or no Congress,” said Daniel Schuman, the policy director of Demand Progress, a progressive organization that advocates government transparency and accountability. “And if you have no Congress, you have what our founders feared most, which is an executive branch with no legislative check.”
If that’s the case, then the answer will remain no Congress, at least for the next few weeks. Even though the House has been studying this idea for weeks, and both chambers off and on since 9/11, Roll Call points out that remote voting would require a change of rules. And to change the rules, members have to show up under the current rules first:
House Democratic leaders appear to be accelerating the consideration of options for remote voting and hearings, but any decisions on how to proceed may still come too late for use during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We can’t do any of them right now because the rules will have to be modified,” House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. “There will have to be agreement between the parties.”
House rules do not allow for the chamber to vote remotely or for committees to conduct formal hearings or business meetings without a physical presence. A rules change would require lawmakers to be in Washington to pass a resolution adopting remote work procedures — unless there were unanimous consent among members, which is unlikely.
So what? Call them back now. They should have settled this rule change at the end of last month, when they had to come back to Congress to pass the CARES Act. They should have stayed put at that point and done the jobs for which they asked constituents to elect them. With aid running out to small businesses and a pressing need for follow-up legislation, Congress should be working every bit as hard as the executive branch, as well as all of the people working on the front lines risking infection themselves.”
No crying Schumer and Dems. You gave Trump this opportunity thru Pelosi and the House’s inaction, and at least Trump is still working.
President Trump: "The Senate should either fulfill its duty and vote on my nominees or it should formally adjourn so that I can make recess appointments… if the House will not agree to that adjournment I will exercise my constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers…" pic.twitter.com/jR7yd8xEnG
“Trump: If The Senate Won’t Convene And Vote On My Nominees, I’ll Adjourn Congress And Make Recess Appointments”
—-
“He’s referring to Article II, Section 3, which does give the president power to convene or adjourn under certain conditions, on “extraordinary occasions.”
He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.
Is this an “extraordinary occasion”? Arguably, sure — global pandemic, uncertainty as to when it’ll be safe for Congress to reconvene in the flesh. SCOTUS might let him slide on that part. As I read Section 3, though, McConnell and the Senate would have to move to adjourn on their own initiative before Trump could get involved in the process and force an adjournment. The president plays a role only if the House and Senate both want to adjourn but can’t agree on the timing. (Article I, Section 5 says that “Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days…”) He gets to settle the timing dispute between them.”
“Adding Trump’s Name To Checks WILL NOT Delay Delivery To Americans, Treasury Department Says”
“The Washington Post on Tuesday night posted a story about President Trump. “In unprecedented move, Treasury orders Trump’s name printed on stimulus checks,” said the headline.
The piece included a damaging allegation — once again by unnamed officials — saying a team of Internal Revenue Service “is now racing to implement a programming change that two senior IRS officials said will probably lead to a delay in issuing the first batch of paper checks. They are scheduled to be sent Thursday to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service for printing and issuing.”
Then The Daily Mail picked it up, morphing the story into this headline: “Stimulus checks worth $1,200 for every American have been ‘delayed for days because Donald Trump demanded the IRS print his name on them after being told he was not allowed to sign them.”
Within hours, the story was all over the mainstream media, with the liberal news networks airing it repeatedly.
Except it isn’t true.
“Economic Impact Payment checks are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned — there is absolutely no delay whatsoever,” a Treasury Department spokesman said in a statement to NBC News. “In fact, we expect the first checks to be in the mail early next week which is well in advance of when the first checks went out in 2008 and well in advance of initial estimates.””
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Can’t let facts get in the way of their agenda.
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I love the Babylon Bee’s take on it….. 🙂
Stimulus Delayed As Trump Insists On Personally Delivering Giant Check To Every American https://t.co/j9lN1EYzMZ
I was interviewing then-private citizen Donald Trump for The American Spectator in his Trump Tower office. The subject in general was his view on issues of the day, along with a possible presidential run in 2016. But I had one question in particular that I wanted to ask.
The question: There were a lot of Republicans who felt their presidential nominees, the perpetual targets of the media, never fought back when attacked. Were he to run, not to mention were he elected, would he fight back? And note: the mention of Donald Sterling, the then-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise, revolved around a just-released secret recording of racist remarks made by Sterling to his mistress, who had recorded him and released the tape to the media. It was, for a moment, the news story of the day, and as such Trump was asked to comment in an appearance on Fox and Friends. His response to me as follows, verbatim:
Well, I see firsthand the dishonesty of the press, because probably nobody gets more press than I do. As an example, last week I was on a Fox program, and I very much lambasted Donald Sterling. And then at the very end I said, “On top of which, he has the girlfriend from hell.” And the haters and the very dishonest reporters who have their own agenda, they didn’t cover what I said about Donald Sterling. They only took the girlfriend from hell and they said, “Oh he’s not blaming Donald Sterling. He’s defending Donald Sterling. He’s blaming the girlfriend.”
The press is extremely dishonest. Much of it. Some of it I have great respect for, and they’re great people and honorable people. But there’s a large segment of the press that’s more dishonest than anybody I’ve seen in business or anywhere else. And the one thing you have to do is you have to inform the public. The public has to know about the dishonesty of the press because they are really bad people and they don’t tell the truth and have no intention of telling the truth. And I know who they are and I would expose them 100 percent. And I will be doing that. I mean, as I go down the line, I enjoy exposing people for being frauds and, you know, I would be definitely doing that. I think it’s important to know. Because a lot of the public, they think, oh, they read it in the newspaper, and therefore it must be true. Well many of the things you read in the newspaper are absolutely false and really disgustingly false.
And right there is the key to the White House presidential briefing Monday night. There was now-President Trump using two videos — found right here — filled with clips of one media figure after another suggesting the approaching virus was no more dangerous than the flu. There was an audio clip of New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman saying that yes, in fact, the president’s China travel ban, for which he was widely criticized, had been a good thing, after all. Also featured were Democratic governors praising the president for his actions.
In other words, there was the president fighting back against what in fact has been an “absolutely false and really disgustingly false” portrayal by the media of the president’s response to the coronavirus. True to his word to me that day in 2014, President Trump fought back against a dishonest media that was deliberately, willfully misrepresenting what he had said and done — and more to the point what they themselves had said. So he showcased these two short videos, a major showcasing of just how deceptive the media is.
The instant media reaction was a meltdown. Hysteria. How dare the president have the nerve to fight back at the false portrayals of his actions in this fight against the virus? This was just not to be done!”
—–
“What Americans see in that press briefing room is the Leftist State Media at work: Haughty, elitist, its far-left politics accepted as the norm. Anyone who dares to question it or call out its dishonest reporting makes them a target — and that begins with the president himself.
The difference with this president is that, true to his word in 2014, he has no intention of not calling out the utter dishonesty. He is not going to sit quietly and let his political enemies — leftist activists posing as journalists — set the narrative of what he is about. He will, as he said to me in 2014, fight back.
Which is exactly why so many Americans support him. They have had more than enough of the contempt and elitism dished their way by the Leftist State Media, and they are delighted to see a president stand up and fight for them by taking the media dishonesty head on.”
“A CBS reporter screeches at Trump – but she’s wrong about her facts”
“CBS’s Paula Reid was on fire during Monday’s Presidential task force press conference about COVID-19. She started by demeaning Dr. Fauci by asking him a question that implied he’s either hostage to or a puppet of President Trump. That was just a warm-up. Later in the press conference, she started shrieking at President Trump that a video he had shown earlier in the press conference misrepresented his affirmative response to COVID-19 because it implied that he was on top of things in February.
A visibly irritated Trump answered that, in fact, he had taken many steps during February to respond to COVID-19, but CBS’s disrespectful little harridan wouldn’t let up. Aside from being a disgraceful way to talk to the leader of the most powerful nation on earth (if you don’t respect the man, at least respect the office), Reid was completely wrong in her assertion. In other words, she wasn’t a powerful woman taking on a tyrant, she was a shrill Karen being disrespectful to a President of the United States who’s been working hard to protect the American people:”
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And she was wrong on the facts. Click on the link to view the running list of errors from the CCP propagandist Reid.
February 3: The CDC had a team ready to travel to China to obtain critical information on the novel coronavirus, but were in the U.S. awaiting permission to enter by the Chinese government.
“Here’s ‘Anonymous,’ Trump Aides Say. And Here’s How They Outed Her.”
“Ever since a “senior official in the Trump administration” penned an anonymous 2018 New York Times column attacking President Trump as unfit for office, Washington has been engrossed in a high-stakes whodunit. After an exhaustive investigation, the White House believes it’s cracked the case, identifying Trump’s turncoat as his former deputy national security adviser, Victoria Coates, according to people familiar with the internal probe.
Rather than fire Coates, the White House has quietly transferred her to the Department of Energy, where she awaits special assignment in Saudi Arabia — far from the president.
Trump effectively demoted Coates just four months after promoting her last fall to the No. 2 spot on his National Security Council. The move was made amid a whisper campaign, started in January, that identified Coates as “Anonymous,” the person who wrote the Times Op-Ed and a subsequent book, “A Warning,” claiming to be part of a cabal of “fellow Republicans” resisting Trump and his policies from inside the administration.
The Washington press corps has for the most part dismissed the whispers as “unsubstantiated rumors” circulated on the Internet.
But the sources said the identification of Coates was based on circumstantial evidence generated from a months-long White House investigation led by sleuths within the NSC. Top White House adviser Peter Navarro, who works with the NSC on trade and other issues, also was heavily involved in the probe of Coates.
She declined to discuss the matter on the record with RealClearInvestigations and has retained an attorney, friends say, although several colleagues have rushed to her defense, insisting the White House has the wrong person. But a source involved in the NSC probe who asked not to be identified said there was little doubt. “It’s her,” the source said of Coates. “That’s why she was shown the door.”
The multiple sources interviewed by RealClearInvestigations either participated in the investigation of Coates or have direct knowledge of it. They spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. They say their evidence exposing Coates includes the following:
Computer textual analyses revealing strikingly similar language, turns of phrase and historical references by both Coates and Anonymous.
Firsthand accounts by Anonymous of events witnessed only by Coates and a small number of others, the latter of whom were ruled out as suspects.
Hawkish foreign policy views held by Anonymous, many of which have been rejected by Trump.
The fact that Coates and Anonymous share a high-profile Washington literary agent with an author roster of disaffected ex-Trump officials.
Coates’ long history of writing anonymously, and
Personal details revealed by Anonymous that are consistent with Coates’ biography.”
—–
“The probe has exposed a less prominent faction secretly undermining Trump inside the White House, sources say: not just Democratic holdovers from the Obama White House, but disloyal “Never-Trump” Republicans, who, as Anonymous complained in the book, don’t believe the president can be trusted to uphold “conservative principles.” The author admitted conspiring with several other “like-minded” officials to obstruct Trump and his policies and directives from the inside.
White House investigators say they are looking into at least four other White House staffers whom they suspect were part of the “resistance” with Coates. The behind-the-scenes story of how the White House fixed on Coates as the anti-Trump mole is told here for the first time.”
“FISA Bombshell: Russian Intelligence Knew Christopher Steele Was Investigating Trump During 2016 Campaign”
“Two Russian intelligence operatives were aware as early as July 2016 that former British spy Christopher Steele was investigating Donald Trump, according to newly declassified information in footnotes from a Justice Department report on FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign.
Footnotes from that report also said a member of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team investigating the Trump campaign received evidence in January 2017 that Russian intelligence might have targeted and collected information on Steele’s firm, Orbis Business Intelligence.
The footnotes, released by Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson on Wednesday, provide further indications that Russian operatives fed disinformation to Steele that ended up in his infamous anti-Trump dossier.
The FBI relied on Steele’s salacious report to obtain authorization to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.
A Justice Department inspector general’s report laid out a series of “significant”errors and omissions that the FBI made in its applications to spy on Page. Many of those errors involved failures to disclose evidence that undercut Steele’s allegations of a “well-developed conspiracy of cooperation” between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The footnotes declassified on Wednesday say that in late January 2017, an investigator on the Crossfire Hurricane team received information that Russian intelligence “may have targeted Orbis” and researched the company.
Another footnote says that a June 2017 report from the U.S. intelligence community “indicated that two persons affiliated with RIS were aware of Steele’s election investigation in early July 2016.””
Well since the Dem controlled House investigators have pretty much allowed her to get away with this the first time around due to their inaction on the crimes, Omar is back at the trough for another big sip.
“Omar Funnels Nearly $300,000 More to Her Husband’s Firm”
“Democratic representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) continues to push cash from her campaign committee to her now-husband’s consulting firm.
Omar’s new committee filings, posted Wednesday afternoon, show that during the first three months of the year, the campaign paid $292,905 to the E Street Group. E Street is a political consulting firm owned by Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett. The cash, which reportedly went toward an array of services that included fundraising and advertisements, accounted for over 40 percent of the campaign’s $674,892 in disbursements. Omar raised $456,374 during the quarter.
Omar’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Omar campaign also doled out $525,000 last year to Mynett’s firm, its top vendor. At the time, Omar and Mynett were married to different people, but Mynett’s wife alleged they were having an affair. The two denied that they had a romantic relationship. Omar’s campaign and the E Street Group also faced accusations of using campaign funds on personal travel.”
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“The National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in August charging that Omar and Mynett broke the law by improperly using campaign funds to pay for Mynett to travel with her. This past quarter, Omar’s campaign disclosed $9,392 worth of travel reimbursements to the E Street Group, the new disclosure shows.”
“Pelosi Continues To Block Clean Expansion of Payroll Protection Program, Brags On Late Night TV About Her Ice Cream Cache
Tens of millions of people have been thrown out of work and are seeing their businesses and communities collapse. To say that Pelosi is tone deaf is an understatement. She’s taken workers and small businesses hostage to her unrelated spending demands, and now she’s mocking them.”
“The $350 billion Payroll Protection Program is about to run out of funding, after Senate Democrats blocked a proposed $250 funding increase unless Republicans agreed to unrelated Democrat funding requests.
We covered the Senate Democrat action, fully supported by House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, last week, Democrats block expansion of Payroll Protection Plan, demand more unrelated spending:
The goal is to keep people employed until the economy can restart, and hopefully to keep small businesses afloat. Yet Democrats once again are holding such relief hostage to additional demands for funding and social goals.
All Republicans in the Senate sought to do was increase PPP funding from $350 billion to $600 billion. But to do that, the Senate needed to vote by unanimous consent to consider the bill….
Democrats refused. Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, and rose to object when Mitch McConnell requested unanimous consent. Cardin’s argument was that there are additional things that need to be done, so we’re not going to expand funding for PPP unless we simultaneously address those other issues.
Nancy Pelosi sent a message of thanks to Senate Democrats for blocking the clean funding expansion, and claimed some of the credit:”
Funding for payment protection loans for small business workers is out, but here's a video of Nancy Pelosi standing in front of 3 fancy refrigerators congratulating Democrats on blocking more money for it.pic.twitter.com/Q2Otbq411Phttps://t.co/hbDEYt7fll
“While there have been reports of Small Business Association and bank processing problems, loan commitments have been made that come close, as of this afternoon, of exhausting the current funding. CNBC reports:
Much-needed small business aid is beginning to trickle out and more is expected in the weeks to come as banks start to disburse the rescue funds to Main Street. But the first-come, first-serve Payroll Protection Program of $349 billion in aid may be nearing a ceiling for loan commitments, with more than 1.3 million loans given approval at a value of more than $296 billion through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Small Business Administration.
The program could reach its funding limit by the end of Wendnesday, according to a source familiar with the matter.
As this funding approached its end, what did Pelosi do? She went on Late Late Late Night show to brag about her well-stocked freezer filled with ice cream, and she was so proud of the appearance she also shared it on Twitter:”
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“And she’s promising to continue to block clean increased funding:”
You’d never know that the very article they tweeted directly refutes what they’re tweeting.
12 paragraphs in: “Economic Impact Payment checks are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned—there is absolutely no delay whatsoever” pic.twitter.com/OVtACCYEcL
Pelosi pausing late night interviews about ice cream in her freezer to congratulate Democrats for blocking small business paychecks the night before funding runs out.
Crazy “Nancy Pelosi, you are a weak person. You are a poor leader. You are the reason America hates career politicians, like yourself.” @seanhannity She is totally incompetent & controlled by the Radical Left, a weak and pathetic puppet. Come back to Washington and do your job!
BREAKING: $350B coronavirus small business relief program has run out of money.
“The SBA is currently unable to accept new applications for the Paycheck Protection Program based on available appropriations funding,” US Small Business Admin. says.
“The latest coronavirus relief funding in California is on the way, but it’s not going to be delivered to small businesses or recently furloughed citizens. Roughly $125 million will be sent to 150,000 illegal aliens living in the Golden State. The news was announced by Governor Gavin Newsom, who feels “a deep sense of gratitude” for all of the people living in his state illegally and he wants to make sure that everyone is okay. Of course, most of them are already getting free health care, driver’s licenses and numerous other perks on the taxpayer’s dime, but a little extra cash always helps, amirite? (Associated Press)
California will give cash payments to immigrants living in the country illegally, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, using a mix of taxpayer money and charitable contributions to give 150,000 adults $500 each during the coronavirus outbreak.
California has an estimated 2 million immigrants living in the country illegally. They are not eligible for the $2.2 trillion stimulus package approved by Congress last month, which gives cash payments to most Americans plus boosts unemployment benefits by $600 per week.
“We feel a deep sense of gratitude for people that are in fear of deportations that are still addressing essential needs of tens of millions of Californians,” said Newsom, who noted 10% of the state’s workforce are immigrants living in the country illegally who paid more than $2.5 billion in state and local taxes last year.
You’ll notice that Governor Newsom is proudly bragging about how 10% of the state’s workforce might be illegal aliens and they pay billions of dollars in taxes every year. Here’s a fun fact for the governor. It’s a felony to employ illegal aliens. Under Title 8, Section 1324a, you can be fined as much as $10,000 for each instance and sentenced to up to six months in prison.”
There are plenty of other questions surrounding this decision. For one thing, current estimates indicate that there are as many as two million illegal aliens in California. These checks are expected to go out to 150,000 people. How will they decide which illegals get the money and who won’t? As Jason Hopkins points out at the Daily Caller, illegal aliens will be able to apply for payments from this relief fund beginning in May. Will this just be a first-come, first-served type of system?
Also, for Newsom to send checks to that many people, the application process would have to generate a list of all their names and addresses. Will that list been shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement? (Oh, who am I kidding? Like Newsom would ever do anything to help ICE enforce the law.)”
The story of lab leak is a plausible but why is that important now? Its a distraction from the reality at home and the incompetence in gov’t. There are more pressing matters for the US government to focus on — blame can wait. However, lets say its true. Does it mean the Party and Xi are to blame; probably not. In a totalitarian regime any mistake made is covered up and managed by the person responsible — in this case lab technicians. To admit an error in hope of containment is to earn a bullet in the back of the head. So the intern and others did what they could to hide the error and then in a move that should be familiar now they tried to blame somebody or something else.
If we establish where it came form and how, does this explain the pandemic in the US and does this alleviate blame from Trump and his admin. Doubtful, the Trump admin was painfully unprepared and its evident in the current stats. In the Obama admin, there were 47 Ameicans working at the CDC office in Beijing by this there were only 17. Part of the responsibility of these officials was to monitor labs such as the one in Wuhan and other official that was sent home was embedded in the Chinese version of the CDC. Did these reductions in staffing affect US intelligence and monitor — very likely.
Republicans and Conservatives view gov’t as a necessary evil and reduce it as much as possible. The danger of course is they eliminate what is needed — and this is exactly what happened here. Reducing staff from 47 to 17 in a country where information is rare and viruses proliferate is a bad move.
Similarly in my province, for profit nursing homes account for about half the Covid deaths in Ontario. Under the Liberal government, 87% of these for profit homes had an unannounced inspection each year. Under the current Conservative gov’t, these inspections have been cut back to about 3% of all homes. The Chair/CEO of the Board of the largest network of for profit homes is a former Conservative premier. The virus was transmitted by low paid part time personal support workers who work in multiple nursing homes in order to earn a living wage.
In both cases we have a demonstration that gov’t oversight is needed and can prevent the loss of life. In addition we can see the profit motive and capitalism at work in my latter example. Perhaps the Conservation ideology needs a rethink before another crisis causes more unneeded deaths.
Trump’s worried about his judicial appointments now — about 680,000 Americans are known to be infected and over 34,000 people are dead from a virus. The mortality rate of resolved cases is 38% about twice the level of the world and almost 4 times higher than Canada. Yet he’s upset his judicial appointments aren’t approved. And he wants more authority; perhaps he should take more responsibility first.
That said, the US Congress should be at work. Legislatures in Canada have solved the problem by agreeing on legislation ahead of time and then have only few representatives actually sit for a live vote. They keep the ratios the same just less people so social distancing rules are observed. By ideology, most Democrats and Republicans are far closer than the my provincial Conservative gov’t and their socialist NDP opposition. The two leaders have a personal dislike for each other but have put aside their differences to work out a solution so governing and democracy continue.
I see the attack on the free press continues — again there are better things to do right now.
All I saw was a woman attempting to ask a question and a man yell and call her names. Any call for reporters to respect the office misses the point — the current occupant’s behavior has shown less respect for the office than any reporter. His daily rant at the press is disrespecting of the office. As president in a democratic free society you should expect hard questions and develop a thick skin not call them a disgrace, the enemy of the people and fake.
And I read the February list — not that impressive considering time was ticking. Besides if they went to all the trouble to compile a propaganda video and then skipped that month, then they knew it wasn’t impressive. Here again, is time wasted — why fight the press and have staff create propaganda instead of focusing on the problem at hand.
“Root out the vermin” — really was that appropriate?
Everyone knew Steele was investigating — the Russians, the Democrats and of course the Republicans who hired Steele in the first place.
You mean the Daily Mail isn’t a legitimate source of news. I’ll hold you to that the next time you provide a link to the Daily Mail. Beyond that, you have to be quite the narcissist to demand that your signature go out with the cheque. Its as if he equates the state with himself. Trudeau didn’t sign my daughter’s relief cheque — and he has a big ego too. Imagine the anger if Obama wanted his signature on relief cheques….
From what I understand, the Payment Protection Plan isn’t actually out of money. They’ve just allotted the money they were given. Very little money has actually been sent out. Before Congress gives out more money, maybe they should fix that problem first.
I may be a socialist but I’m asking this question — where does Congress think they will get more money. The last bailout including tax relief that made Jeff Bezos even richer. They have very few sources of revenue left. And if I recall, Republicans claimed there was no money for health care yet here they are just handing out the cash.
To my point on the PPP — its not the lack of money but the breakdown of the system and technical glitches. A minimal gov’t can’t function properly in a time of crisis.
“A Warning,” claiming to be part of a cabal of “fellow Republicans” resisting Trump and his policies from inside the administration.”
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“The author admitted conspiring with several other “like-minded” officials to obstruct Trump and his policies and directives from the inside.”
Yes, it was. Or would you prefer root out the disloyal, traitorous, rats?
Because that’s what they are.
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Free press?
You mean bought and paid for press, by the CCP and the Democrat party. Propaganda masquerading as news, nothing more. Not surprised you lap it up though. Like minds and all.
Wandering Views 
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/coronavirus-wuhan-lab-china-compete-us-sources
” There is increasing confidence that COVID-19 likely originated in a Wuhan laboratory, though not as a bioweapon but as part of China’s attempt to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States, multiple sources who have been briefed on the details of early actions by China’s government and seen relevant materials tell Fox News.
This may be the “costliest government cover-up of all time,” one of the sources said.
The sources believe the initial transmission of the virus was bat-to-human, and that “patient zero” worked at the laboratory, then went into the population in Wuhan.
The “increasing confidence” comes from classified and open-source documents and evidence, the sources said. Fox News has requested to see the evidence directly. Sources emphasized — as is often the case with intelligence — that it’s not definitive and should not be characterized as such. Some inside the administration and the intelligence and epidemiological communities are more skeptical, and the investigation is continuing.
What all of the sources agree about is the extensive cover-up of data and information about COVID-19 orchestrated by the Chinese government.
Asked by Fox News’ John Roberts about the reporting, President Trump remarked at Wednesday’s coronavirus press briefing, “More and more we’re hearing the story…we are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation.”
Documents detail early efforts by doctors at the lab and early efforts at containment. The Wuhan wet market initially identified as a possible point of origin never sold bats, and the sources tell Fox News that blaming the wet market was an effort by China to deflect blame from the laboratory, along with the country’s propaganda efforts targeting the U.S. and Italy.”
LikeLike
Like I said the other day, it’s Pelosi who dropped the ball. She had the opportunity to set this up before leaving town, there was even bi-partisan legislation to do so, but she shot it down. Now they can’t do it, at least not without coming back to DC and doing it in person.
Nancy built this.
By doing so, she willingly ceded her power to the President.
https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2020/04/15/nyt-say-anyone-noticed-absent-congress-allowed-trump-run-things/
“NYT: Say, Has Anyone Noticed That An Absent Congress Has Allowed Trump To Run Things On His Own?”
“You mean the same Congress that just three months ago seemed obsessed with the argument that Donald Trump was a dangerous dictator who couldn’t be trusted with his office? Yes, some of us have noticed. While doctors and nurses, police officers and firefighters, and even grocery workers and restaurant workers risk their lives and health to provide essential services, members of Congress have acted as though constitutional governance is a non-essential business — and have abdicated their role to contribute to leadership in a crisis.
At any rate, both the New York Times and Roll Call have now begun to consider the implications of an AWOL Congress in a national emergency. The pressure to find ways to get the job done remotely have begun to escalate:
With Congress sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic and unable to return to the Capitol, House and Senate leaders are under increasing pressure from a bipartisan array of current and former lawmakers to shift to remote legislating, including using a secure online system to conduct votes. …
Good-government advocates see the moves as an imperative. Without a way to meet remotely, the House and Senate have no way to conduct oversight or act as a check on President Trump, who was impeached on charges of abuse of power and this week declared he had “total” authority to supersede governors’ decisions about whether to reopen their states.
“The choice is remote Congress or no Congress,” said Daniel Schuman, the policy director of Demand Progress, a progressive organization that advocates government transparency and accountability. “And if you have no Congress, you have what our founders feared most, which is an executive branch with no legislative check.”
If that’s the case, then the answer will remain no Congress, at least for the next few weeks. Even though the House has been studying this idea for weeks, and both chambers off and on since 9/11, Roll Call points out that remote voting would require a change of rules. And to change the rules, members have to show up under the current rules first:
House Democratic leaders appear to be accelerating the consideration of options for remote voting and hearings, but any decisions on how to proceed may still come too late for use during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We can’t do any of them right now because the rules will have to be modified,” House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. “There will have to be agreement between the parties.”
House rules do not allow for the chamber to vote remotely or for committees to conduct formal hearings or business meetings without a physical presence. A rules change would require lawmakers to be in Washington to pass a resolution adopting remote work procedures — unless there were unanimous consent among members, which is unlikely.
So what? Call them back now. They should have settled this rule change at the end of last month, when they had to come back to Congress to pass the CARES Act. They should have stayed put at that point and done the jobs for which they asked constituents to elect them. With aid running out to small businesses and a pressing need for follow-up legislation, Congress should be working every bit as hard as the executive branch, as well as all of the people working on the front lines risking infection themselves.”
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No crying Schumer and Dems. You gave Trump this opportunity thru Pelosi and the House’s inaction, and at least Trump is still working.
——–
Don’t think he has the authority? Well, he might. Maybe. Especially if McConnell plays along.
https://hotair.com/archives/allahpundit/2020/04/15/trump-senate-wont-convene-vote-nominees-ill-adjourn-congress-make-recess-appointments/
“Trump: If The Senate Won’t Convene And Vote On My Nominees, I’ll Adjourn Congress And Make Recess Appointments”
—-
“He’s referring to Article II, Section 3, which does give the president power to convene or adjourn under certain conditions, on “extraordinary occasions.”
He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.
Is this an “extraordinary occasion”? Arguably, sure — global pandemic, uncertainty as to when it’ll be safe for Congress to reconvene in the flesh. SCOTUS might let him slide on that part. As I read Section 3, though, McConnell and the Senate would have to move to adjourn on their own initiative before Trump could get involved in the process and force an adjournment. The president plays a role only if the House and Senate both want to adjourn but can’t agree on the timing. (Article I, Section 5 says that “Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days…”) He gets to settle the timing dispute between them.”
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Another fake news story and false narrative from WaPo and media bites the dust.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/fake-news-adding-trumps-name-checks-will-not-delay-delivery-americans-treasury-department-says/
“Adding Trump’s Name To Checks WILL NOT Delay Delivery To Americans, Treasury Department Says”
“The Washington Post on Tuesday night posted a story about President Trump. “In unprecedented move, Treasury orders Trump’s name printed on stimulus checks,” said the headline.
The piece included a damaging allegation — once again by unnamed officials — saying a team of Internal Revenue Service “is now racing to implement a programming change that two senior IRS officials said will probably lead to a delay in issuing the first batch of paper checks. They are scheduled to be sent Thursday to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service for printing and issuing.”
Then The Daily Mail picked it up, morphing the story into this headline: “Stimulus checks worth $1,200 for every American have been ‘delayed for days because Donald Trump demanded the IRS print his name on them after being told he was not allowed to sign them.”
Within hours, the story was all over the mainstream media, with the liberal news networks airing it repeatedly.
Except it isn’t true.
“Economic Impact Payment checks are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned — there is absolutely no delay whatsoever,” a Treasury Department spokesman said in a statement to NBC News. “In fact, we expect the first checks to be in the mail early next week which is well in advance of when the first checks went out in 2008 and well in advance of initial estimates.””
————
Can’t let facts get in the way of their agenda.
————
I love the Babylon Bee’s take on it….. 🙂
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“Trump Fights Back
The Leftist State Media melts down.”
https://spectator.org/trump-fights-back/
“It was May 2014.
I was interviewing then-private citizen Donald Trump for The American Spectator in his Trump Tower office. The subject in general was his view on issues of the day, along with a possible presidential run in 2016. But I had one question in particular that I wanted to ask.
The question: There were a lot of Republicans who felt their presidential nominees, the perpetual targets of the media, never fought back when attacked. Were he to run, not to mention were he elected, would he fight back? And note: the mention of Donald Sterling, the then-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise, revolved around a just-released secret recording of racist remarks made by Sterling to his mistress, who had recorded him and released the tape to the media. It was, for a moment, the news story of the day, and as such Trump was asked to comment in an appearance on Fox and Friends. His response to me as follows, verbatim:
Well, I see firsthand the dishonesty of the press, because probably nobody gets more press than I do. As an example, last week I was on a Fox program, and I very much lambasted Donald Sterling. And then at the very end I said, “On top of which, he has the girlfriend from hell.” And the haters and the very dishonest reporters who have their own agenda, they didn’t cover what I said about Donald Sterling. They only took the girlfriend from hell and they said, “Oh he’s not blaming Donald Sterling. He’s defending Donald Sterling. He’s blaming the girlfriend.”
The press is extremely dishonest. Much of it. Some of it I have great respect for, and they’re great people and honorable people. But there’s a large segment of the press that’s more dishonest than anybody I’ve seen in business or anywhere else. And the one thing you have to do is you have to inform the public. The public has to know about the dishonesty of the press because they are really bad people and they don’t tell the truth and have no intention of telling the truth. And I know who they are and I would expose them 100 percent. And I will be doing that. I mean, as I go down the line, I enjoy exposing people for being frauds and, you know, I would be definitely doing that. I think it’s important to know. Because a lot of the public, they think, oh, they read it in the newspaper, and therefore it must be true. Well many of the things you read in the newspaper are absolutely false and really disgustingly false.
And right there is the key to the White House presidential briefing Monday night. There was now-President Trump using two videos — found right here — filled with clips of one media figure after another suggesting the approaching virus was no more dangerous than the flu. There was an audio clip of New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman saying that yes, in fact, the president’s China travel ban, for which he was widely criticized, had been a good thing, after all. Also featured were Democratic governors praising the president for his actions.
In other words, there was the president fighting back against what in fact has been an “absolutely false and really disgustingly false” portrayal by the media of the president’s response to the coronavirus. True to his word to me that day in 2014, President Trump fought back against a dishonest media that was deliberately, willfully misrepresenting what he had said and done — and more to the point what they themselves had said. So he showcased these two short videos, a major showcasing of just how deceptive the media is.
The instant media reaction was a meltdown. Hysteria. How dare the president have the nerve to fight back at the false portrayals of his actions in this fight against the virus? This was just not to be done!”
—–
“What Americans see in that press briefing room is the Leftist State Media at work: Haughty, elitist, its far-left politics accepted as the norm. Anyone who dares to question it or call out its dishonest reporting makes them a target — and that begins with the president himself.
The difference with this president is that, true to his word in 2014, he has no intention of not calling out the utter dishonesty. He is not going to sit quietly and let his political enemies — leftist activists posing as journalists — set the narrative of what he is about. He will, as he said to me in 2014, fight back.
Which is exactly why so many Americans support him. They have had more than enough of the contempt and elitism dished their way by the Leftist State Media, and they are delighted to see a president stand up and fight for them by taking the media dishonesty head on.”
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And like I told HRW last night, all Paula Reid did was embarrass herself and spout nonsense.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/04/a_cbs_reporter_screeches_at_trump__but_shes_wrong_about_her_facts.html
“A CBS reporter screeches at Trump – but she’s wrong about her facts”
“CBS’s Paula Reid was on fire during Monday’s Presidential task force press conference about COVID-19. She started by demeaning Dr. Fauci by asking him a question that implied he’s either hostage to or a puppet of President Trump. That was just a warm-up. Later in the press conference, she started shrieking at President Trump that a video he had shown earlier in the press conference misrepresented his affirmative response to COVID-19 because it implied that he was on top of things in February.
A visibly irritated Trump answered that, in fact, he had taken many steps during February to respond to COVID-19, but CBS’s disrespectful little harridan wouldn’t let up. Aside from being a disgraceful way to talk to the leader of the most powerful nation on earth (if you don’t respect the man, at least respect the office), Reid was completely wrong in her assertion. In other words, she wasn’t a powerful woman taking on a tyrant, she was a shrill Karen being disrespectful to a President of the United States who’s been working hard to protect the American people:”
——-
And she was wrong on the facts. Click on the link to view the running list of errors from the CCP propagandist Reid.
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Anonymous has been outed.
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2020/04/15/heres_anonymous_trump_aides_say_and_heres_how_they_outed_her_122684.html
“Here’s ‘Anonymous,’ Trump Aides Say. And Here’s How They Outed Her.”
“Ever since a “senior official in the Trump administration” penned an anonymous 2018 New York Times column attacking President Trump as unfit for office, Washington has been engrossed in a high-stakes whodunit. After an exhaustive investigation, the White House believes it’s cracked the case, identifying Trump’s turncoat as his former deputy national security adviser, Victoria Coates, according to people familiar with the internal probe.
Rather than fire Coates, the White House has quietly transferred her to the Department of Energy, where she awaits special assignment in Saudi Arabia — far from the president.
Trump effectively demoted Coates just four months after promoting her last fall to the No. 2 spot on his National Security Council. The move was made amid a whisper campaign, started in January, that identified Coates as “Anonymous,” the person who wrote the Times Op-Ed and a subsequent book, “A Warning,” claiming to be part of a cabal of “fellow Republicans” resisting Trump and his policies from inside the administration.
The Washington press corps has for the most part dismissed the whispers as “unsubstantiated rumors” circulated on the Internet.
But the sources said the identification of Coates was based on circumstantial evidence generated from a months-long White House investigation led by sleuths within the NSC. Top White House adviser Peter Navarro, who works with the NSC on trade and other issues, also was heavily involved in the probe of Coates.
She declined to discuss the matter on the record with RealClearInvestigations and has retained an attorney, friends say, although several colleagues have rushed to her defense, insisting the White House has the wrong person. But a source involved in the NSC probe who asked not to be identified said there was little doubt. “It’s her,” the source said of Coates. “That’s why she was shown the door.”
The multiple sources interviewed by RealClearInvestigations either participated in the investigation of Coates or have direct knowledge of it. They spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. They say their evidence exposing Coates includes the following:
Computer textual analyses revealing strikingly similar language, turns of phrase and historical references by both Coates and Anonymous.
Firsthand accounts by Anonymous of events witnessed only by Coates and a small number of others, the latter of whom were ruled out as suspects.
Hawkish foreign policy views held by Anonymous, many of which have been rejected by Trump.
The fact that Coates and Anonymous share a high-profile Washington literary agent with an author roster of disaffected ex-Trump officials.
Coates’ long history of writing anonymously, and
Personal details revealed by Anonymous that are consistent with Coates’ biography.”
—–
“The probe has exposed a less prominent faction secretly undermining Trump inside the White House, sources say: not just Democratic holdovers from the Obama White House, but disloyal “Never-Trump” Republicans, who, as Anonymous complained in the book, don’t believe the president can be trusted to uphold “conservative principles.” The author admitted conspiring with several other “like-minded” officials to obstruct Trump and his policies and directives from the inside.
White House investigators say they are looking into at least four other White House staffers whom they suspect were part of the “resistance” with Coates. The behind-the-scenes story of how the White House fixed on Coates as the anti-Trump mole is told here for the first time.”
———–
Root out the vermin.
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The more we know, the worse it gets.
Useful idiots, for the Russians. They made Russia’s efforts to sow dissent so much easier.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/15/steele-dossier-russian-disinformation-trump/
“FISA Bombshell: Russian Intelligence Knew Christopher Steele Was Investigating Trump During 2016 Campaign”
“Two Russian intelligence operatives were aware as early as July 2016 that former British spy Christopher Steele was investigating Donald Trump, according to newly declassified information in footnotes from a Justice Department report on FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign.
Footnotes from that report also said a member of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team investigating the Trump campaign received evidence in January 2017 that Russian intelligence might have targeted and collected information on Steele’s firm, Orbis Business Intelligence.
The footnotes, released by Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson on Wednesday, provide further indications that Russian operatives fed disinformation to Steele that ended up in his infamous anti-Trump dossier.
The FBI relied on Steele’s salacious report to obtain authorization to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.
A Justice Department inspector general’s report laid out a series of “significant”errors and omissions that the FBI made in its applications to spy on Page. Many of those errors involved failures to disclose evidence that undercut Steele’s allegations of a “well-developed conspiracy of cooperation” between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The footnotes declassified on Wednesday say that in late January 2017, an investigator on the Crossfire Hurricane team received information that Russian intelligence “may have targeted Orbis” and researched the company.
Another footnote says that a June 2017 report from the U.S. intelligence community “indicated that two persons affiliated with RIS were aware of Steele’s election investigation in early July 2016.””
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Well since the Dem controlled House investigators have pretty much allowed her to get away with this the first time around due to their inaction on the crimes, Omar is back at the trough for another big sip.
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/omar-funnels-nearly-300000-more-to-her-husbands-firm/
“Omar Funnels Nearly $300,000 More to Her Husband’s Firm”
“Democratic representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) continues to push cash from her campaign committee to her now-husband’s consulting firm.
Omar’s new committee filings, posted Wednesday afternoon, show that during the first three months of the year, the campaign paid $292,905 to the E Street Group. E Street is a political consulting firm owned by Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett. The cash, which reportedly went toward an array of services that included fundraising and advertisements, accounted for over 40 percent of the campaign’s $674,892 in disbursements. Omar raised $456,374 during the quarter.
Omar’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Omar campaign also doled out $525,000 last year to Mynett’s firm, its top vendor. At the time, Omar and Mynett were married to different people, but Mynett’s wife alleged they were having an affair. The two denied that they had a romantic relationship. Omar’s campaign and the E Street Group also faced accusations of using campaign funds on personal travel.”
——
“The National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in August charging that Omar and Mynett broke the law by improperly using campaign funds to pay for Mynett to travel with her. This past quarter, Omar’s campaign disclosed $9,392 worth of travel reimbursements to the E Street Group, the new disclosure shows.”
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Pelosi and Dems continue to ignore US companies needs, and their workers. They have other priorities.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/04/pelosi-continues-to-block-clean-expansion-of-payroll-protection-program-brags-on-late-night-tv-about-her-ice-cream-cache/
“Pelosi Continues To Block Clean Expansion of Payroll Protection Program, Brags On Late Night TV About Her Ice Cream Cache
Tens of millions of people have been thrown out of work and are seeing their businesses and communities collapse. To say that Pelosi is tone deaf is an understatement. She’s taken workers and small businesses hostage to her unrelated spending demands, and now she’s mocking them.”
“The $350 billion Payroll Protection Program is about to run out of funding, after Senate Democrats blocked a proposed $250 funding increase unless Republicans agreed to unrelated Democrat funding requests.
We covered the Senate Democrat action, fully supported by House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, last week, Democrats block expansion of Payroll Protection Plan, demand more unrelated spending:
The goal is to keep people employed until the economy can restart, and hopefully to keep small businesses afloat. Yet Democrats once again are holding such relief hostage to additional demands for funding and social goals.
All Republicans in the Senate sought to do was increase PPP funding from $350 billion to $600 billion. But to do that, the Senate needed to vote by unanimous consent to consider the bill….
Democrats refused. Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, and rose to object when Mitch McConnell requested unanimous consent. Cardin’s argument was that there are additional things that need to be done, so we’re not going to expand funding for PPP unless we simultaneously address those other issues.
Nancy Pelosi sent a message of thanks to Senate Democrats for blocking the clean funding expansion, and claimed some of the credit:”
“While there have been reports of Small Business Association and bank processing problems, loan commitments have been made that come close, as of this afternoon, of exhausting the current funding. CNBC reports:
Much-needed small business aid is beginning to trickle out and more is expected in the weeks to come as banks start to disburse the rescue funds to Main Street. But the first-come, first-serve Payroll Protection Program of $349 billion in aid may be nearing a ceiling for loan commitments, with more than 1.3 million loans given approval at a value of more than $296 billion through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Small Business Administration.
The program could reach its funding limit by the end of Wendnesday, according to a source familiar with the matter.
As this funding approached its end, what did Pelosi do? She went on Late Late Late Night show to brag about her well-stocked freezer filled with ice cream, and she was so proud of the appearance she also shared it on Twitter:”
—-
“And she’s promising to continue to block clean increased funding:”
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———–
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————
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Further proof the WHO deserves to be de-funded.
https://twitter.com/TonyNashOnAsia/status/1250206609281875970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1250206609281875970&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fsarahd-313035%2F2020%2F04%2F15%2Ftroubling-thread-makes-another-compelling-case-for-yanking-funding-from-the-who-until-we-can-figure-out-what-the-hell-is-going-on%2F
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https://twitter.com/TonyNashOnAsia/status/1250206970704990209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1250206970704990209&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fsarahd-313035%2F2020%2F04%2F15%2Ftroubling-thread-makes-another-compelling-case-for-yanking-funding-from-the-who-until-we-can-figure-out-what-the-hell-is-going-on%2F
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Let them eat ice cream……
———-
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The President is right.
Do your dang job!
————-
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Cali. has no money for businesses or furloughed citizens, but they aren’t Cali’s priority anyway.
https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2020/04/16/california-hand-cash-illegal-aliens/
“The latest coronavirus relief funding in California is on the way, but it’s not going to be delivered to small businesses or recently furloughed citizens. Roughly $125 million will be sent to 150,000 illegal aliens living in the Golden State. The news was announced by Governor Gavin Newsom, who feels “a deep sense of gratitude” for all of the people living in his state illegally and he wants to make sure that everyone is okay. Of course, most of them are already getting free health care, driver’s licenses and numerous other perks on the taxpayer’s dime, but a little extra cash always helps, amirite? (Associated Press)
California will give cash payments to immigrants living in the country illegally, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, using a mix of taxpayer money and charitable contributions to give 150,000 adults $500 each during the coronavirus outbreak.
California has an estimated 2 million immigrants living in the country illegally. They are not eligible for the $2.2 trillion stimulus package approved by Congress last month, which gives cash payments to most Americans plus boosts unemployment benefits by $600 per week.
“We feel a deep sense of gratitude for people that are in fear of deportations that are still addressing essential needs of tens of millions of Californians,” said Newsom, who noted 10% of the state’s workforce are immigrants living in the country illegally who paid more than $2.5 billion in state and local taxes last year.
You’ll notice that Governor Newsom is proudly bragging about how 10% of the state’s workforce might be illegal aliens and they pay billions of dollars in taxes every year. Here’s a fun fact for the governor. It’s a felony to employ illegal aliens. Under Title 8, Section 1324a, you can be fined as much as $10,000 for each instance and sentenced to up to six months in prison.”
There are plenty of other questions surrounding this decision. For one thing, current estimates indicate that there are as many as two million illegal aliens in California. These checks are expected to go out to 150,000 people. How will they decide which illegals get the money and who won’t? As Jason Hopkins points out at the Daily Caller, illegal aliens will be able to apply for payments from this relief fund beginning in May. Will this just be a first-come, first-served type of system?
Also, for Newsom to send checks to that many people, the application process would have to generate a list of all their names and addresses. Will that list been shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement? (Oh, who am I kidding? Like Newsom would ever do anything to help ICE enforce the law.)”
—–
Laws? Pfffttt…… this is Cali……
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The story of lab leak is a plausible but why is that important now? Its a distraction from the reality at home and the incompetence in gov’t. There are more pressing matters for the US government to focus on — blame can wait. However, lets say its true. Does it mean the Party and Xi are to blame; probably not. In a totalitarian regime any mistake made is covered up and managed by the person responsible — in this case lab technicians. To admit an error in hope of containment is to earn a bullet in the back of the head. So the intern and others did what they could to hide the error and then in a move that should be familiar now they tried to blame somebody or something else.
If we establish where it came form and how, does this explain the pandemic in the US and does this alleviate blame from Trump and his admin. Doubtful, the Trump admin was painfully unprepared and its evident in the current stats. In the Obama admin, there were 47 Ameicans working at the CDC office in Beijing by this there were only 17. Part of the responsibility of these officials was to monitor labs such as the one in Wuhan and other official that was sent home was embedded in the Chinese version of the CDC. Did these reductions in staffing affect US intelligence and monitor — very likely.
Republicans and Conservatives view gov’t as a necessary evil and reduce it as much as possible. The danger of course is they eliminate what is needed — and this is exactly what happened here. Reducing staff from 47 to 17 in a country where information is rare and viruses proliferate is a bad move.
Similarly in my province, for profit nursing homes account for about half the Covid deaths in Ontario. Under the Liberal government, 87% of these for profit homes had an unannounced inspection each year. Under the current Conservative gov’t, these inspections have been cut back to about 3% of all homes. The Chair/CEO of the Board of the largest network of for profit homes is a former Conservative premier. The virus was transmitted by low paid part time personal support workers who work in multiple nursing homes in order to earn a living wage.
In both cases we have a demonstration that gov’t oversight is needed and can prevent the loss of life. In addition we can see the profit motive and capitalism at work in my latter example. Perhaps the Conservation ideology needs a rethink before another crisis causes more unneeded deaths.
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Trump’s worried about his judicial appointments now — about 680,000 Americans are known to be infected and over 34,000 people are dead from a virus. The mortality rate of resolved cases is 38% about twice the level of the world and almost 4 times higher than Canada. Yet he’s upset his judicial appointments aren’t approved. And he wants more authority; perhaps he should take more responsibility first.
That said, the US Congress should be at work. Legislatures in Canada have solved the problem by agreeing on legislation ahead of time and then have only few representatives actually sit for a live vote. They keep the ratios the same just less people so social distancing rules are observed. By ideology, most Democrats and Republicans are far closer than the my provincial Conservative gov’t and their socialist NDP opposition. The two leaders have a personal dislike for each other but have put aside their differences to work out a solution so governing and democracy continue.
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I see the attack on the free press continues — again there are better things to do right now.
All I saw was a woman attempting to ask a question and a man yell and call her names. Any call for reporters to respect the office misses the point — the current occupant’s behavior has shown less respect for the office than any reporter. His daily rant at the press is disrespecting of the office. As president in a democratic free society you should expect hard questions and develop a thick skin not call them a disgrace, the enemy of the people and fake.
And I read the February list — not that impressive considering time was ticking. Besides if they went to all the trouble to compile a propaganda video and then skipped that month, then they knew it wasn’t impressive. Here again, is time wasted — why fight the press and have staff create propaganda instead of focusing on the problem at hand.
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“Root out the vermin” — really was that appropriate?
Everyone knew Steele was investigating — the Russians, the Democrats and of course the Republicans who hired Steele in the first place.
You mean the Daily Mail isn’t a legitimate source of news. I’ll hold you to that the next time you provide a link to the Daily Mail. Beyond that, you have to be quite the narcissist to demand that your signature go out with the cheque. Its as if he equates the state with himself. Trudeau didn’t sign my daughter’s relief cheque — and he has a big ego too. Imagine the anger if Obama wanted his signature on relief cheques….
From what I understand, the Payment Protection Plan isn’t actually out of money. They’ve just allotted the money they were given. Very little money has actually been sent out. Before Congress gives out more money, maybe they should fix that problem first.
I may be a socialist but I’m asking this question — where does Congress think they will get more money. The last bailout including tax relief that made Jeff Bezos even richer. They have very few sources of revenue left. And if I recall, Republicans claimed there was no money for health care yet here they are just handing out the cash.
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To my point on the PPP — its not the lack of money but the breakdown of the system and technical glitches. A minimal gov’t can’t function properly in a time of crisis.
https://news.yahoo.com/thousands-applicants-zero-loans-trumps-210754524.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=fb
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“A Warning,” claiming to be part of a cabal of “fellow Republicans” resisting Trump and his policies from inside the administration.”
——
“The author admitted conspiring with several other “like-minded” officials to obstruct Trump and his policies and directives from the inside.”
Yes, it was. Or would you prefer root out the disloyal, traitorous, rats?
Because that’s what they are.
——-
Free press?
You mean bought and paid for press, by the CCP and the Democrat party. Propaganda masquerading as news, nothing more. Not surprised you lap it up though. Like minds and all.
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