“Mnuchin: “Outrageous” That The Lakers Took A PPP Loan, Audits Coming For All Grants Over $2M”
“Who knew Steve Mnuchin had the chops to dunk on the Los Angeles Lakers? Of course, no one could have predicted that an NBA franchise would pull a bush-league move like taking $4.6 million out of an emergency relief fund for small business, either. The Treasury Secretary called that “outrageous” and warned that the Small Business Administration would now audit all loans of $2 million or more under the Paycheck Protection Program. Non-qualifying businesses will pay a lot more, Mnuchin warned in this CNBC interview, if they don’t voluntarily return the money:”
““I’m going to be putting out an announcement later this morning that for any loan over $2 million, the Small Business Administration will be doing a full review of that loan before there is loan forgiveness,” Mnuchin said on “Squawk Box.”
“This was a program designed for small businesses. It was not a program that was designed for public companies that had liquidity.’” …
“I think that’s outrageous,” he said of the loan to the Lakers, which announced Monday it has repaid it.
“We don’t think they ever should have been allowed to,” Mnuchin said. “We put out an FAQ clarifying the certification.”
According to guidance posted by the Small Business Association on April 23, borrowers must “certify in good faith” their loan request is “necessary.”
The Lakers did commit to repay the loan, as did Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Shake Shack, and a handful of others. Others, however, have been less embarrassed about raiding PPP. The Washington Post contacted some of the publicly traded companies that got seven-figure loans through the program, and they’re reluctant to part with the windfall — for now, anyway:”
“‘Silent Hypoxics’: Docs warn of coronavirus link to mysterious low oxygen symptoms”
“Dr. Sunny Jha, a University of Southern California anesthesiologist, recently treated a man in his 60s who tested positive for COVID-19. Since the disease is known to attack the lungs, Jha tested the man’s oxygen levels, though the man said he didn’t have any breathing problems or any other sign of low oxygen.
But the reading came back at 88%, a concerning far cry from the healthy mid- or upper-90s Jha was expecting from someone who didn’t show any outward breathing issues.
It was a suspected case, Jha said, of what has been dubbed “silent hypoxics” or “happy hypoxics,” which refer to anecdotes popping up across the country of some coronavirus patients who appear to be functioning normally but have surprisingly low oxygen levels. Though not immediately life-threatening, low oxygen levels could exacerbate health problems associated with COVID-19, if left untreated.
“One of the presentations of COVID may be silent hypoxia, when people are unaware they are deprived of oxygen and yet they are functioning,” said Dr. Hussein Kiliddar, a pulmonologist and critical care physician at Crozer-Keystone Health System outside Philadelphia. “These people have oxygen readings that normally should be above 92 [%] but now have readings in the 80s. They may be breathing faster, but they only start to be concerned when they find themselves getting tired from the increased effort required to breathe.”
It’s a condition that doctors say some at-risk people may be able to detect early with the help of a cheap, at-home device called a pulse oximeter, though experts are careful to warn that healthy people without underlying medical conditions should not rush out to buy the commercially available devices.
Doctors know coronavirus attacks the respiratory system including the small sacs deep in the lung where oxygen is transferred from the air spaces into the blood, but it isn’t clear why some COVID-19 patients may have low oxygen levels but apparently without the telltale symptoms of shortness of breath, dizziness or other expected symptoms of oxygen deprivation.
Usually when oxygen levels are sufficiently low, it may become obvious to the sufferer if they have a lung condition that causes symptoms. But doctors in hospitals from coast to coast told ABC News they’re concerned about patients suspected of being positive for coronavirus who may be walking around with low oxygen saturation levels without knowing it.
Dr. Jeffrey Moon, medical director for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s emergency department, said his department has seen “people coming in with COVID who are less symptomatic than we would expect given their low oxygen levels.” Moon said he saw one patient Monday who was talking to him “in full sentences” despite having a pulse oxygenation level of just 55%.
“It’s hard to believe what’s in front of you at times. There is this subset of COVID patients where I don’t believe my eyes,” Moon said.”
“Kids are ending up in intensive care for COVID-related syndrome, British doctors say”
“Doctors in England are warning about new symptoms related to the coronavirus pandemic, or potentially a new virus, that is sending children into intensive care.
The British National Health Service warned over the weekend about a new syndrome that is causing symptoms similar to toxic shock and atypical Kawasaki disease in children, a serious condition that causes heart disease.
The British Paediatric Intensive Care Society shared the warning Sunday.
“Abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms have been a common feature as has cardiac inflammation,” the notice from the National Health System said.
Children who have tested positive for the coronavirus and some who have tested negative are reportedly experiencing the symptoms.
“There is a growing concern that a SARS-CoV-2 related inflammatory syndrome emerging in children in the UK or that there may be another as yet unidentified infectious pathogen associated with these cases,” the notice says.”
“My first thought upon reading this was “Reopen how?” The problem with the now-infamous Smithfield plant in South Dakota, for instance, isn’t that they’ve been forced to close down due to aggressive stay-at-home orders by local government. The problem is that many, many workers are sick with COVID-19 — more than 700 at last check. Trump can reopen every plant in the country. Who’s going to staff them?
But there’s more to this than meets the eye. Workers and management at Tyson, the world’s second-largest meat processor, have been waging a PR war against each other in the media this past week. Five days ago CNN published a brutal report on Tyson’s plant in Waterloo, Iowa, where at least 182 cases of coronavirus are linked to the facility. Meatpacking is an excellent incubator for a virus because of how close employees are to each other on the production line. “I work about two feet from my coworkers,” said one Tyson worker. “I’m about an arm’s length away from my partner.” The company says it’s taken steps to improve hygiene, sanitizing the plant every day, instituting temperature checks on workers, and so forth, but some employees say it’s not nearly enough.”
—-
“Yesterday it was management’s turn to fire back. John Tyson, the company chairman, bought a full-page ad in several major papers warning ominously that “The food supply chain is breaking.” You can read the full text here. Tyson does some PR by describing how the company is paying bonuses to frontline workers and taking steps to improve safety, like encouraging employees to stay home if they feel sick (which doesn’t solve the problem of asymptomatic carriers), but the thrust of his message is how much America stands to lose if Tyson and other meatpackers have to shut down. Not only will many thousands of animals need to be euthanized and their meat wasted if Tyson can’t process them, he warns, but millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain if plants are “forced to shutter our doors.”
Which is the key bit — “forced.” An important detail in CNN’s story about the Waterloo plant is that local officials and (of course) labor leaders fear for the safety of the workers there and are pushing for a shutdown: “Eighteen local and state elected officials, including mayors, state representatives and state senators, wrote a letter to Tyson Foods on Thursday asking it to voluntarily close down the plant.” Tyson management is clearly worried that that sentiment will spread and eventually pressure state officials into ordering a mandatory closure of the plant. In that context, the point of John Tyson’s paid ad yesterday is obvious: He wanted to apply counterpressure to federal officials, starting with Trump, by spooking the public about meat disappearing if the plant was allowed to close. He wants the feds to bigfoot Iowa’s state and local governments by ordering the plant to remain open no matter what.
Sounds like it worked like a charm:
President Donald Trump plans to order meat-processing plants to remain open, declaring them critical infrastructure as the nation confronts growing disruptions to the food supply from the coronavirus outbreak, a person familiar with the matter said…
Trump signaled the executive action at the White House on Tuesday, saying he planned to sign an order aimed at Tyson Foods Inc.’s liability, which had become “a road block” for the company. He didn’t elaborate.
The order, though, will not be limited to Tyson, the person said. It will affect many processing plants supplying beef, chicken, eggs and pork…
The White House has been discussing the order with meatpacking executives to determine what they need to operate safely and stay open, in order to prevent shortages, the person said. White House General Counsel Pat Cipollone worked with private companies to design a federal mandate to keep the plants open and to provide them additional virus testing capacity as well as protective gear.”
But this non-profit food newsroom says Tyson management is fear mongering with their NYT full page ad. Or they could simply be looking for an excuse to raise prices to offset losses from decreased production.
Case in point: Pork loins in cold storage reached an all-time high this year—nearly 50 million pounds, the most since records started to be kept in 1960. (Source: https://t.co/oXceAFHuA3)
These frozen stockpiles will make up for any lost processing capacity in the short term. 5/
Right now, there is no lack of animals to process. With plants closed, farmers and ranchers have fewer markets to sell into—so the slaughterhouses that remain open are likely to see supply gluts. 7/
“U.S. Healthcare System Devastated By Canceled “Elective” Surgeries, Stay at Home Orders
“At a time when we feared that hospitals would get overwhelmed by a surge of patients, they have been emptied out. At a time when we thought medical personnel would be at a premium, they are being idled all over the country.”
“While the Wuhan coronavirus is a real problem, our often one-size-fits-all response appears to be creating still more problems, particularly in terms of our nation’s health care system. Cancer screenings and surgeries, most diagnostic screenings unrelated to the coronavirus, and many necessary quality of life surgeries have been canceled or postponed indefinitely to keep hospitals free to handle a massive influx of coronavirus patients. An influx that in most parts of the country hasn’t happened.
The resultant loss of medical professionals’ jobs, loss of revenue to hospitals, and potential loss of patient life (or quality of life) are creating a whole new healthcare crisis across the country.
The problem appears to have begun when “elective” medical attention and surgeries meant anything not related to the Wuhan coronavirus or not immediately life-threatening. Or abortions, those were perversely deemed essential to human life in some quarters. Cancer screenings and treatment? Not so much.
Reuters reports:
Routine medical tests critical for detecting and monitoring cancer and other conditions plummeted in the United States since mid-March, as the coronavirus spread and public officials urged residents to stay home, according to a new report by Komodo Health.
Diagnostic panels and cancer screenings typically performed during annual physician visits fell by as much as 68% nationally, and by even more in coronavirus hotspots.
These tests, office visits, surgeries and other medical care tied to them, are key sources of revenue for hospitals and healthcare systems that had to curb lucrative elective procedures to assure room for a crush of patients with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.
Millions of patients postponed tests considered crucial for detecting early signs of disease, monitoring its progression and improving patient outcomes, according to Komodo, which has one of the nation’s largest medical claims data bases and provided its new findings exclusively to Reuters.
Cervical cancer screenings were down 68%, cholesterol panels fell by 67% and the blood sugar test to detect diabetes were off 65% nationally. This could all prove very costly down the road.
“We’re seeing a tremendous impact on preventive care, as well as on chronic conditions with massive implications for the healthcare system,” said Komodo Health Chief Executive Dr. Arif Nathoo. “It speaks volumes to just how much COVID is impacting everyone’s health and wellness.””
—-
This is bad news for patients as well. Screenings saving lives, without more with illnesses will see them progress without screenings. That could be a death blow to cancer victims and others.
“University Of Delaware Refuses To Provide Agreement Detailing Why It Can’t Release Biden’s Records”
The University of Delaware refused Tuesday to provide the Daily Caller News Foundation with an agreement detailing why the university cannot release 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden’s Senate records.
As Biden faces increased scrutiny for allegations of sexual assault made against him by Tara Reade, pressure is mounting for the former vice president to unseal documents related to his time in the Senate — during which period Reade alleges that Biden kissed her, touched her and penetrated her with his fingers without her consent.
These Senate documents are housed by the University of Delaware Library and cover a wide swath of Biden’s political career, but are being kept secret until he “retires from public life,” spokeswoman Andrea Boyle Tippett told The Washington Post in July 2019.
Tippett told the DCNF on Tuesday that the University of Delaware would not share the terms of the agreement between the university and Biden detailing why the Senate records may not be released.
“The gift agreement signed when the papers were donated is not a public document,” Tippett told the DCNF. ”
——–
That’s crap. These are public records, so you can’t hide them without explaining the justification.
Catherine Herridge is what more journalists should strive to be. A good investigative reporter.
She’s been all over this stuff from the start. She has more on the set-up of Gen. Flynn, one it seems his first lawyers, who he fired for incompetence, were in on too.
#FLYNN Covington (former attorneys) just filed motion to submit more case files to Flynn’s current lawyers after “correcting the error made as a result of the miscommunication…This effort yielded…approx. 6,800 documents and emails (including attachments) @CBSNews@RobLegarepic.twitter.com/fYKIEi4LOi
After Covington, law firm that Flynn fired for ineffective counsel and unwaivable conflicts of interest, disclosed that it had just "discovered" 6,800 documents it failed to disclose to Flynn, the judge in the case ordered the firm to re-search ALL files. Not good, Covington. pic.twitter.com/ecjoYz9MN2
Can we recap? Covington withheld relevant information from its client; Covington wrongly advised Flynn that he had no defenses; Covington agreed with the DOJ to hide the truth of the DOJ's extortion in a side agreement. Sue Covington into bankruptcy. Disbar the lawyers.
Andrew McCarthy has been great on his reporting as well. His book will be a must read on the matter. This has had Obama’s dirty little fingers all over it from the start too.
“The Obama administration detested Flynn and targeted him with trumped-up charges that are falling apart under scrutiny.
Author’s Note: What follows is an excerpt from my book Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig and Election and Destroy a Presidency, published in August 2019. The endnotes have been omitted, though I have included supporting links to several relevant reports that are cited in the endnotes. The excerpt contends that that there was no basis in fact or law for the investigation of General Michael Flynn, an argument I began making when reports about the investigation first emerged in early 2017. As further explained in my column today on the NR homepage, last Friday evening, the Justice Department belatedly disclosed exculpatory information indicating, reportedly, that there was no valid law-enforcement reason for the FBI to interview Flynn in January 2017, and that he later pled guilty under the threat that if he did not do so, prosecutors would charge his son with a crime — an understanding that was withheld from the court at the time of the guilty plea. In making the disclosure, the Justice Department signaled that more disclosures about the case are forthcoming.”
———–
“Could anything have made the Obama administration giddier than the prospect of making a criminal case on Michael Flynn?
Flynn is a retired Army lieutenant general, who made his mark on modern insurgent warfare by helping revolutionize the rapid dissemination of battlefield intelligence. He was promoted by President Obama to lead the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is also a headstrong man who got himself on Obama’s bad side by questioning counterterrorism strategy, particularly the administration’s weakness on Iran. He was detested by Obama political and national-security officials for calling them out on politicizing intelligence. The FBI was not a fan, least of all Deputy Director Andy McCabe, because Flynn had supported an agent who claimed the Bureau had subjected her to sex discrimination.
After Obama fired him from the DIA post, Flynn became an important Trump-campaign surrogate, which gave him a national media platform from which to rip Obama’s foreign policy. When Trump won the election, Obama counseled him against tapping Flynn for a top administration job. Trump ignored the advice, naming Flynn his national-security advisor. Flynn worked on the Trump transition and incensed Obama officials by lobbying against a U.N. resolution against Israel that the Obama administration, in its profiles-in-courage style, orchestrated and then abstained from voting on. The collusion narrative notwithstanding, Russia rebuffed Trump’s entreaties on the Israel resolution.”
Obama’s late-December imposition of sanctions on Russia got the attention of Sergey Kislyak, the Kremlin’s ambassador to the United States, just as the administration figured it would. Kislyak, who has a wide, bipartisan circle of Washington contacts, contacted Flynn, who, as a member of Trump’s transition team, was dealing with a variety of foreign counterparts.
The next day, December 29, Flynn called the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, where senior transition officials were cobbling together a new administration for the candidate no one had expected to win. Flynn and his colleagues discussed the Russia sanctions and their potential effect on Trump’s foreign policy. Flynn was advised to convey the message to Kislyak that Russia should resist any urge to escalate the situation. Immediately afterwards, Flynn called Kislyak. The topic of sanctions was discussed, but not a deal on sanctions. Rather, Flynn simply urged that Russia limit itself to no more than a reciprocal response, rather than escalate matters. This, obviously, is what we should hope any responsible American official, regardless of party, would propose.
As Flynn should surely have known, Kislyak, an overt agent of Russia, was subject to FISA monitoring. The FBI counterintelligence agents were not only eavesdropping on Kislyak’s discussion with Flynn; they were doing so in consultation with “Obama advisers,” as The New York Times gently described them. The Times elaborated:
Obama officials asked the FBI if a quid pro quo had been discussed on the call, and the answer came back no, according to one of the officials, who like others asked not to be named discussing delicate communications. The topic of sanctions came up, they were told, but there was no deal.
Asked not to be named discussing delicate communications. That’s a good one. Let me translate. The officials did not want to identify themselves because they were committing a felony: FISA intercepts are classified, and disclosing them to unauthorized people, including the media, is a serious crime.
Two things, in any event, should be observed. First, the Flynn investigation was a vindictive farce: Even if there had been a substantive discussion of sanctions, there would have been no law violation. But there was no such discussion, just the mere mention of sanctions, prompting Flynn’s proper response: Don’t escalate. Second, the Flynn–Kislyak communication became the grist for an outrageous classified leak for which, to this day, no one has ever been prosecuted.”
Their elected reps keep saying Trump wants to delay the elections in Nov.. Trump has made no such statements or made any moves to actually do so. But in reality, a majority of voters in both parties are the ones who want to see it postponed. But even if it is, it can’t be delayed past the 20th of Jan. according to the Constitution.
“Let’s just stipulate up front that no one’s going to postpone the election in November. Donald Trump certainly won’t delay it, and he doesn’t have the authority to do so anyway. It would require an act of Congress to move the election, and even if Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill agreed to do such a thing, Trump’s term in office ends on January 20 by the terms of the Constitution. That can’t be changed by statute alone, and states aren’t going to rush through a constitutional amendment in eight months to potentially create an imperial presidency, pandemic or not.
Like it or not, we’re having an election on November 3. But who would prefer to postpone it? According to a Zogby poll — insert your caveats here — a strong majority of voters want to put it off until after the COVID-19 pandemic eases. And that strong majority includes a majority of Democrats:
Nearly 60% of likely voters at least somewhat agreed (30% strongly agreed/29% somewhat agreed the 2020 presidential election should be suspended if the coronavirus pandemic gets worse between now and November, while 41% at least somewhat disagreed (25% strongly disagreed/16% somewhat disagreed). A majority of almost every sub-group surveyed at least somewhat agreed with this notion, including Democrats (53% at least somewhat agreed/47% at least somewhat disagreed).
Leading Democrats have indulged in this conspiracy-theory paranoia over the last week or so, including Joe Biden on multiple occasions, #3 House Democrat James Clyburn, and Bernie Sanders’ campaign. These Democrats have been using this oft–debunked claim as a scare tactic to rally their voters. Do they know that their own voters see this as a good idea rather than a problem?
It’s not just Democrats who think it’s a good idea, either:
The sub-groups that agreed the most with suspending the 2020 presidential election, if the coronavirus pandemic gets worse, were urban voters in large cities (67% at least somewhat agreed/33% at least somewhat disagreed), Catholics (66% at least somewhat agreed/34% at least somewhat disagreed), voters with college degrees (60% at least somewhat agreed/40% at least somewhat disagreed), Hispanics (68% at least somewhat agreed/32% at least somewhat disagreed) and Republicans (69% at least somewhat agreed/31% at least somewhat disagreed). Voters in the South (64% at least somewhat agreed/36% at least somewhat disagreed) were much more inclined to agree with canceling the presidential election, if the pandemic gets worse, than voters living in the Central/Great Lakes region (53% at least somewhat agreed/47% at least somewhat disagreed).”
As far as health procedures not being able to take place, I know of many. Dental work, as well. Many, like my husband cannot get tests to show whether or not their cancer treatment is working etc. This in an area where I have heard of no cases. There are some in our county, but most are sixty plus miles away in senior living homes. Having said that, I am glad I am not the one making the decisions. It is clearly not my gift or desire.
“CNN’s Chris Cuomo shames Pence for not wearing mask at clinic after his breaking-quarantine controversy”
“CNN anchor Chris Cuomo eviscerated Vice President Mike Pence for choosing not to wear a mask during his visit to the Mayo Clinic just weeks after he stirred up his own controversy of violating quarantine protocols while he was recovering from the novel coronavirus.
On Tuesday, Pence raised eyebrows as he toured the medical facility without any sort of protective wear on his face despite being notified of the clinic’s strict policy on masks. The vice president, who had previously tested negative for the coronavirus, defended his decision, saying he wanted to look at the medical staff “in the eye and say thank you.””
—–
“Last month, the CNN anchor announced that he had gotten the coronavirus, which his wife and son were also later diagnosed with, and was recovering from his South Hampton home.
However, over Easter weekend, Cuomo was reportedly involved in a heated altercation that took place at his East Hampton property that was under construction after a bicyclist claimed that the CNN anchor was violating quarantine guidelines that were being enforced by his brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
According to a New York Post report, a 65-year-old East Hampton resident named David was riding his bike on Easter Sunday when he spotted who he thought was the CNN anchor with two women and three children outside on their property. Cuomo had been recovering from his widely publicized coronavirus diagnosis.
David, who revealed his full name as David Whelan during a recent interview on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” claimed he was “well over a hundred feet” when he paused and hassled Cuomo about whether he should be in quarantine instead of being outside with others.
“I just looked and said, ‘Is that Chris Cuomo? Isn’t he supposed to be quarantined?’” David said.
“He said, ‘Who the hell are you?! I can do what I want!’ He just ranted, screaming, ‘I’ll find out who you are!’” David recalled. “I said to him, ‘Your brother is the coronavirus czar, and you’re not even following his rules — unnecessary travel.'”
David alleged, “He said, ‘This is not the end of this. You’ll deal with this later. We will meet again.’ If that’s not a threat, I don’t know what is.””
The F.D.A. plans to authorize emergency use of a coronavirus treatment. Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed cautious optimism about early trial results.
The emergency use authorization for remdesivir, an experimental antiviral drug that is being tested in patients with Covid-19, could be announced as early as Wednesday, according to a senior administration official.
Ahead of the announcement, President Trump and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the federal government’s leading infectious diseases scientist, hailed early trial results of the drug, holding out hope that it could help stem the rising death toll.
__________________________
“Gilead Suspense: “Positive Data” From Trial Of Remdesivir On Coronavirus Patients By Fauci’s Agency Is Coming Today; Update: Fauci Reveals Results; Update: Video”
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“Then came news that a clinical trial conducted in China showed no benefit from remdesivir, with a slightly higher mortality rate among patients who received it than among those who didn’t. Gilead piped up afterward to say that we shouldn’t draw conclusions from that trial since it was stopped early, with too few patients enrolled. What’s more, the company added, “trends in the data suggest a potential benefit for remdesivir, particularly among patients treated early in disease.” But they didn’t say which data.
Is this it?
There are two studies of remdesivir out today — or rather, there will be soon. One comes from Gilead itself and looked at whether a longer course of treatment with the drug (10 days) might have greater benefits than a shorter course (five days). Interestingly, the answer was no. Five days may be enough for maximum impact. But that study comes with a caveat: It too lacked a control group. The other study, which hasn’t been released yet, is newsier. That one was conducted by Anthony Fauci’s agency, the NIAID, and it did involve a control group. Gilead isn’t spilling the beans about the results but they’re clearly encouraged by the findings. The NYT reports that NIAID expects to make an announcement later today … possibly at the daily White House coronavirus task force briefing. Is Fauci himself going to do it?
Gotta think the results are pretty happy if he’s going to front them personally on national television. “
So Mnuchin plans to audit any grant over $2 million. The gov’t is now playing catch up. If an administrative state still exist this would not be necessary. I harp on this because its almost unreal — a modern developed western democracy doesn’t seem capable of administrating and distributing their own money. I understand a political philosophy that seeks to limit the state but even then most of these theories admit an administrative state is necessary.
The messaging from the White House is confusing; Liberate Michigan, Liberate …insert state here yet I will force you back to work if you work in a slaughter house. Similarly in Iowa, Florida etc states that are reopening are forcing employees back to work. If they don’t report, they will be considered as “quit” and no longer eligible for relief and unemployment — perhaps there’s a localized health risk ie your work site, it doesn’t matter. And if a small business doesn’t want to open, they too lose funding and relief measures. So freedom for those who want a haircut but its no choice for the rest of you.
It doesn’t matter what Cuomo did or did not do, Pence should have followed hospital regulations. His excuse, I want to look people in the eyes is rather weird. I have to ask why is he there anyway — hospitals have important work to do. He should stay home or in his office — unnecessary travel and photo op. The best thread I’ve seen is a theory claiming he wasn’t really there but it was staged with a staff person playing a patient — the internet is a wonderful place.
Trump’s latest tweet — US has over a million cases because it has the best testing program is way off base. The US testing per capita is lower than Canada’s and I think ours is bad. The Nordic countries, Germany, Portugal, etc are all way ahead in testing. The US infection rate is now the equivalent of Italy. This isn’t all Trump’s fault but his admin isn’t helping.
Several European countries are refusing to give any aid to companies that use tax havens. Governments as diverse as the far right in Poland to the Nordic socialist have made this a policy. Trudeau has been disappointing in this issue. The Bloc and the NDP have both pressured him to make this policy (he needs one of them to support his gov’t as he is in a minority situation) . In French he said the companies using tax havens would be excluded but in English he was not as clear. Apparently the US has also put limits on companies who use tax havens. If true, then Canada needs to follow the US lead (yeah I said that)
Wandering Views 
Good. Let’s get auditing, because this shouldn’t be happening.
https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2020/04/28/mnuchin-outrageous-lakers-took-ppp-loan-audits-coming-grants-2m/
“Mnuchin: “Outrageous” That The Lakers Took A PPP Loan, Audits Coming For All Grants Over $2M”
“Who knew Steve Mnuchin had the chops to dunk on the Los Angeles Lakers? Of course, no one could have predicted that an NBA franchise would pull a bush-league move like taking $4.6 million out of an emergency relief fund for small business, either. The Treasury Secretary called that “outrageous” and warned that the Small Business Administration would now audit all loans of $2 million or more under the Paycheck Protection Program. Non-qualifying businesses will pay a lot more, Mnuchin warned in this CNBC interview, if they don’t voluntarily return the money:”
““I’m going to be putting out an announcement later this morning that for any loan over $2 million, the Small Business Administration will be doing a full review of that loan before there is loan forgiveness,” Mnuchin said on “Squawk Box.”
“This was a program designed for small businesses. It was not a program that was designed for public companies that had liquidity.’” …
“I think that’s outrageous,” he said of the loan to the Lakers, which announced Monday it has repaid it.
“We don’t think they ever should have been allowed to,” Mnuchin said. “We put out an FAQ clarifying the certification.”
According to guidance posted by the Small Business Association on April 23, borrowers must “certify in good faith” their loan request is “necessary.”
The Lakers did commit to repay the loan, as did Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Shake Shack, and a handful of others. Others, however, have been less embarrassed about raiding PPP. The Washington Post contacted some of the publicly traded companies that got seven-figure loans through the program, and they’re reluctant to part with the windfall — for now, anyway:”
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More bad news.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/silent-hypoxics-docs-warn-coronavirus-mysterious-low-oxygen-080747505–abc-news-topstories.html
“‘Silent Hypoxics’: Docs warn of coronavirus link to mysterious low oxygen symptoms”
“Dr. Sunny Jha, a University of Southern California anesthesiologist, recently treated a man in his 60s who tested positive for COVID-19. Since the disease is known to attack the lungs, Jha tested the man’s oxygen levels, though the man said he didn’t have any breathing problems or any other sign of low oxygen.
But the reading came back at 88%, a concerning far cry from the healthy mid- or upper-90s Jha was expecting from someone who didn’t show any outward breathing issues.
It was a suspected case, Jha said, of what has been dubbed “silent hypoxics” or “happy hypoxics,” which refer to anecdotes popping up across the country of some coronavirus patients who appear to be functioning normally but have surprisingly low oxygen levels. Though not immediately life-threatening, low oxygen levels could exacerbate health problems associated with COVID-19, if left untreated.
“One of the presentations of COVID may be silent hypoxia, when people are unaware they are deprived of oxygen and yet they are functioning,” said Dr. Hussein Kiliddar, a pulmonologist and critical care physician at Crozer-Keystone Health System outside Philadelphia. “These people have oxygen readings that normally should be above 92 [%] but now have readings in the 80s. They may be breathing faster, but they only start to be concerned when they find themselves getting tired from the increased effort required to breathe.”
It’s a condition that doctors say some at-risk people may be able to detect early with the help of a cheap, at-home device called a pulse oximeter, though experts are careful to warn that healthy people without underlying medical conditions should not rush out to buy the commercially available devices.
Doctors know coronavirus attacks the respiratory system including the small sacs deep in the lung where oxygen is transferred from the air spaces into the blood, but it isn’t clear why some COVID-19 patients may have low oxygen levels but apparently without the telltale symptoms of shortness of breath, dizziness or other expected symptoms of oxygen deprivation.
Usually when oxygen levels are sufficiently low, it may become obvious to the sufferer if they have a lung condition that causes symptoms. But doctors in hospitals from coast to coast told ABC News they’re concerned about patients suspected of being positive for coronavirus who may be walking around with low oxygen saturation levels without knowing it.
Dr. Jeffrey Moon, medical director for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s emergency department, said his department has seen “people coming in with COVID who are less symptomatic than we would expect given their low oxygen levels.” Moon said he saw one patient Monday who was talking to him “in full sentences” despite having a pulse oxygenation level of just 55%.
“It’s hard to believe what’s in front of you at times. There is this subset of COVID patients where I don’t believe my eyes,” Moon said.”
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And it looks like it may be affecting some children worse than first thought with secondary issues.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article242314111.html
“Kids are ending up in intensive care for COVID-related syndrome, British doctors say”
“Doctors in England are warning about new symptoms related to the coronavirus pandemic, or potentially a new virus, that is sending children into intensive care.
The British National Health Service warned over the weekend about a new syndrome that is causing symptoms similar to toxic shock and atypical Kawasaki disease in children, a serious condition that causes heart disease.
The British Paediatric Intensive Care Society shared the warning Sunday.
“Abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms have been a common feature as has cardiac inflammation,” the notice from the National Health System said.
Children who have tested positive for the coronavirus and some who have tested negative are reportedly experiencing the symptoms.
“There is a growing concern that a SARS-CoV-2 related inflammatory syndrome emerging in children in the UK or that there may be another as yet unidentified infectious pathogen associated with these cases,” the notice says.”
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Trump is using the DPA to help protect the food supply. The govt will assist these companies with equipment and PPE.
https://hotair.com/archives/allahpundit/2020/04/28/trump-order-meatpacking-plants-reopen-defense-production-act/
“My first thought upon reading this was “Reopen how?” The problem with the now-infamous Smithfield plant in South Dakota, for instance, isn’t that they’ve been forced to close down due to aggressive stay-at-home orders by local government. The problem is that many, many workers are sick with COVID-19 — more than 700 at last check. Trump can reopen every plant in the country. Who’s going to staff them?
But there’s more to this than meets the eye. Workers and management at Tyson, the world’s second-largest meat processor, have been waging a PR war against each other in the media this past week. Five days ago CNN published a brutal report on Tyson’s plant in Waterloo, Iowa, where at least 182 cases of coronavirus are linked to the facility. Meatpacking is an excellent incubator for a virus because of how close employees are to each other on the production line. “I work about two feet from my coworkers,” said one Tyson worker. “I’m about an arm’s length away from my partner.” The company says it’s taken steps to improve hygiene, sanitizing the plant every day, instituting temperature checks on workers, and so forth, but some employees say it’s not nearly enough.”
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“Yesterday it was management’s turn to fire back. John Tyson, the company chairman, bought a full-page ad in several major papers warning ominously that “The food supply chain is breaking.” You can read the full text here. Tyson does some PR by describing how the company is paying bonuses to frontline workers and taking steps to improve safety, like encouraging employees to stay home if they feel sick (which doesn’t solve the problem of asymptomatic carriers), but the thrust of his message is how much America stands to lose if Tyson and other meatpackers have to shut down. Not only will many thousands of animals need to be euthanized and their meat wasted if Tyson can’t process them, he warns, but millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain if plants are “forced to shutter our doors.”
Which is the key bit — “forced.” An important detail in CNN’s story about the Waterloo plant is that local officials and (of course) labor leaders fear for the safety of the workers there and are pushing for a shutdown: “Eighteen local and state elected officials, including mayors, state representatives and state senators, wrote a letter to Tyson Foods on Thursday asking it to voluntarily close down the plant.” Tyson management is clearly worried that that sentiment will spread and eventually pressure state officials into ordering a mandatory closure of the plant. In that context, the point of John Tyson’s paid ad yesterday is obvious: He wanted to apply counterpressure to federal officials, starting with Trump, by spooking the public about meat disappearing if the plant was allowed to close. He wants the feds to bigfoot Iowa’s state and local governments by ordering the plant to remain open no matter what.
Sounds like it worked like a charm:
President Donald Trump plans to order meat-processing plants to remain open, declaring them critical infrastructure as the nation confronts growing disruptions to the food supply from the coronavirus outbreak, a person familiar with the matter said…
Trump signaled the executive action at the White House on Tuesday, saying he planned to sign an order aimed at Tyson Foods Inc.’s liability, which had become “a road block” for the company. He didn’t elaborate.
The order, though, will not be limited to Tyson, the person said. It will affect many processing plants supplying beef, chicken, eggs and pork…
The White House has been discussing the order with meatpacking executives to determine what they need to operate safely and stay open, in order to prevent shortages, the person said. White House General Counsel Pat Cipollone worked with private companies to design a federal mandate to keep the plants open and to provide them additional virus testing capacity as well as protective gear.”
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But this non-profit food newsroom says Tyson management is fear mongering with their NYT full page ad. Or they could simply be looking for an excuse to raise prices to offset losses from decreased production.
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Bad news for the healthcare industry.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/04/u-s-healthcare-system-devastated-by-canceled-elective-surgeries-stay-at-home-orders/#more-316449
“U.S. Healthcare System Devastated By Canceled “Elective” Surgeries, Stay at Home Orders
“At a time when we feared that hospitals would get overwhelmed by a surge of patients, they have been emptied out. At a time when we thought medical personnel would be at a premium, they are being idled all over the country.”
“While the Wuhan coronavirus is a real problem, our often one-size-fits-all response appears to be creating still more problems, particularly in terms of our nation’s health care system. Cancer screenings and surgeries, most diagnostic screenings unrelated to the coronavirus, and many necessary quality of life surgeries have been canceled or postponed indefinitely to keep hospitals free to handle a massive influx of coronavirus patients. An influx that in most parts of the country hasn’t happened.
The resultant loss of medical professionals’ jobs, loss of revenue to hospitals, and potential loss of patient life (or quality of life) are creating a whole new healthcare crisis across the country.
The problem appears to have begun when “elective” medical attention and surgeries meant anything not related to the Wuhan coronavirus or not immediately life-threatening. Or abortions, those were perversely deemed essential to human life in some quarters. Cancer screenings and treatment? Not so much.
Reuters reports:
Routine medical tests critical for detecting and monitoring cancer and other conditions plummeted in the United States since mid-March, as the coronavirus spread and public officials urged residents to stay home, according to a new report by Komodo Health.
Diagnostic panels and cancer screenings typically performed during annual physician visits fell by as much as 68% nationally, and by even more in coronavirus hotspots.
These tests, office visits, surgeries and other medical care tied to them, are key sources of revenue for hospitals and healthcare systems that had to curb lucrative elective procedures to assure room for a crush of patients with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.
Millions of patients postponed tests considered crucial for detecting early signs of disease, monitoring its progression and improving patient outcomes, according to Komodo, which has one of the nation’s largest medical claims data bases and provided its new findings exclusively to Reuters.
Cervical cancer screenings were down 68%, cholesterol panels fell by 67% and the blood sugar test to detect diabetes were off 65% nationally. This could all prove very costly down the road.
“We’re seeing a tremendous impact on preventive care, as well as on chronic conditions with massive implications for the healthcare system,” said Komodo Health Chief Executive Dr. Arif Nathoo. “It speaks volumes to just how much COVID is impacting everyone’s health and wellness.””
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This is bad news for patients as well. Screenings saving lives, without more with illnesses will see them progress without screenings. That could be a death blow to cancer victims and others.
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So what are they hiding? Shouldn’t his records as a Senator be a matter of, oh I don’t know, the public record?
https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/28/university-delaware-joe-biden-tara-reade/
“University Of Delaware Refuses To Provide Agreement Detailing Why It Can’t Release Biden’s Records”
The University of Delaware refused Tuesday to provide the Daily Caller News Foundation with an agreement detailing why the university cannot release 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden’s Senate records.
As Biden faces increased scrutiny for allegations of sexual assault made against him by Tara Reade, pressure is mounting for the former vice president to unseal documents related to his time in the Senate — during which period Reade alleges that Biden kissed her, touched her and penetrated her with his fingers without her consent.
These Senate documents are housed by the University of Delaware Library and cover a wide swath of Biden’s political career, but are being kept secret until he “retires from public life,” spokeswoman Andrea Boyle Tippett told The Washington Post in July 2019.
Tippett told the DCNF on Tuesday that the University of Delaware would not share the terms of the agreement between the university and Biden detailing why the Senate records may not be released.
“The gift agreement signed when the papers were donated is not a public document,” Tippett told the DCNF. ”
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That’s crap. These are public records, so you can’t hide them without explaining the justification.
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Catherine Herridge is what more journalists should strive to be. A good investigative reporter.
She’s been all over this stuff from the start. She has more on the set-up of Gen. Flynn, one it seems his first lawyers, who he fired for incompetence, were in on too.
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Andrew McCarthy has been great on his reporting as well. His book will be a must read on the matter. This has had Obama’s dirty little fingers all over it from the start too.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/criminalizing-politics-the-investigation-of-general-flynn/
“The Obama administration detested Flynn and targeted him with trumped-up charges that are falling apart under scrutiny.
Author’s Note: What follows is an excerpt from my book Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig and Election and Destroy a Presidency, published in August 2019. The endnotes have been omitted, though I have included supporting links to several relevant reports that are cited in the endnotes. The excerpt contends that that there was no basis in fact or law for the investigation of General Michael Flynn, an argument I began making when reports about the investigation first emerged in early 2017. As further explained in my column today on the NR homepage, last Friday evening, the Justice Department belatedly disclosed exculpatory information indicating, reportedly, that there was no valid law-enforcement reason for the FBI to interview Flynn in January 2017, and that he later pled guilty under the threat that if he did not do so, prosecutors would charge his son with a crime — an understanding that was withheld from the court at the time of the guilty plea. In making the disclosure, the Justice Department signaled that more disclosures about the case are forthcoming.”
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“Could anything have made the Obama administration giddier than the prospect of making a criminal case on Michael Flynn?
Flynn is a retired Army lieutenant general, who made his mark on modern insurgent warfare by helping revolutionize the rapid dissemination of battlefield intelligence. He was promoted by President Obama to lead the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is also a headstrong man who got himself on Obama’s bad side by questioning counterterrorism strategy, particularly the administration’s weakness on Iran. He was detested by Obama political and national-security officials for calling them out on politicizing intelligence. The FBI was not a fan, least of all Deputy Director Andy McCabe, because Flynn had supported an agent who claimed the Bureau had subjected her to sex discrimination.
After Obama fired him from the DIA post, Flynn became an important Trump-campaign surrogate, which gave him a national media platform from which to rip Obama’s foreign policy. When Trump won the election, Obama counseled him against tapping Flynn for a top administration job. Trump ignored the advice, naming Flynn his national-security advisor. Flynn worked on the Trump transition and incensed Obama officials by lobbying against a U.N. resolution against Israel that the Obama administration, in its profiles-in-courage style, orchestrated and then abstained from voting on. The collusion narrative notwithstanding, Russia rebuffed Trump’s entreaties on the Israel resolution.”
Obama’s late-December imposition of sanctions on Russia got the attention of Sergey Kislyak, the Kremlin’s ambassador to the United States, just as the administration figured it would. Kislyak, who has a wide, bipartisan circle of Washington contacts, contacted Flynn, who, as a member of Trump’s transition team, was dealing with a variety of foreign counterparts.
The next day, December 29, Flynn called the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, where senior transition officials were cobbling together a new administration for the candidate no one had expected to win. Flynn and his colleagues discussed the Russia sanctions and their potential effect on Trump’s foreign policy. Flynn was advised to convey the message to Kislyak that Russia should resist any urge to escalate the situation. Immediately afterwards, Flynn called Kislyak. The topic of sanctions was discussed, but not a deal on sanctions. Rather, Flynn simply urged that Russia limit itself to no more than a reciprocal response, rather than escalate matters. This, obviously, is what we should hope any responsible American official, regardless of party, would propose.
As Flynn should surely have known, Kislyak, an overt agent of Russia, was subject to FISA monitoring. The FBI counterintelligence agents were not only eavesdropping on Kislyak’s discussion with Flynn; they were doing so in consultation with “Obama advisers,” as The New York Times gently described them. The Times elaborated:
Obama officials asked the FBI if a quid pro quo had been discussed on the call, and the answer came back no, according to one of the officials, who like others asked not to be named discussing delicate communications. The topic of sanctions came up, they were told, but there was no deal.
Asked not to be named discussing delicate communications. That’s a good one. Let me translate. The officials did not want to identify themselves because they were committing a felony: FISA intercepts are classified, and disclosing them to unauthorized people, including the media, is a serious crime.
Two things, in any event, should be observed. First, the Flynn investigation was a vindictive farce: Even if there had been a substantive discussion of sanctions, there would have been no law violation. But there was no such discussion, just the mere mention of sanctions, prompting Flynn’s proper response: Don’t escalate. Second, the Flynn–Kislyak communication became the grist for an outrageous classified leak for which, to this day, no one has ever been prosecuted.”
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Democrats are projecting again…..
Their elected reps keep saying Trump wants to delay the elections in Nov.. Trump has made no such statements or made any moves to actually do so. But in reality, a majority of voters in both parties are the ones who want to see it postponed. But even if it is, it can’t be delayed past the 20th of Jan. according to the Constitution.
https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2020/04/28/no-really-lets-postpone-election-say-majority-democrats/
“Let’s just stipulate up front that no one’s going to postpone the election in November. Donald Trump certainly won’t delay it, and he doesn’t have the authority to do so anyway. It would require an act of Congress to move the election, and even if Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill agreed to do such a thing, Trump’s term in office ends on January 20 by the terms of the Constitution. That can’t be changed by statute alone, and states aren’t going to rush through a constitutional amendment in eight months to potentially create an imperial presidency, pandemic or not.
Like it or not, we’re having an election on November 3. But who would prefer to postpone it? According to a Zogby poll — insert your caveats here — a strong majority of voters want to put it off until after the COVID-19 pandemic eases. And that strong majority includes a majority of Democrats:
Nearly 60% of likely voters at least somewhat agreed (30% strongly agreed/29% somewhat agreed the 2020 presidential election should be suspended if the coronavirus pandemic gets worse between now and November, while 41% at least somewhat disagreed (25% strongly disagreed/16% somewhat disagreed). A majority of almost every sub-group surveyed at least somewhat agreed with this notion, including Democrats (53% at least somewhat agreed/47% at least somewhat disagreed).
Leading Democrats have indulged in this conspiracy-theory paranoia over the last week or so, including Joe Biden on multiple occasions, #3 House Democrat James Clyburn, and Bernie Sanders’ campaign. These Democrats have been using this oft–debunked claim as a scare tactic to rally their voters. Do they know that their own voters see this as a good idea rather than a problem?
It’s not just Democrats who think it’s a good idea, either:
The sub-groups that agreed the most with suspending the 2020 presidential election, if the coronavirus pandemic gets worse, were urban voters in large cities (67% at least somewhat agreed/33% at least somewhat disagreed), Catholics (66% at least somewhat agreed/34% at least somewhat disagreed), voters with college degrees (60% at least somewhat agreed/40% at least somewhat disagreed), Hispanics (68% at least somewhat agreed/32% at least somewhat disagreed) and Republicans (69% at least somewhat agreed/31% at least somewhat disagreed). Voters in the South (64% at least somewhat agreed/36% at least somewhat disagreed) were much more inclined to agree with canceling the presidential election, if the pandemic gets worse, than voters living in the Central/Great Lakes region (53% at least somewhat agreed/47% at least somewhat disagreed).”
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As far as health procedures not being able to take place, I know of many. Dental work, as well. Many, like my husband cannot get tests to show whether or not their cancer treatment is working etc. This in an area where I have heard of no cases. There are some in our county, but most are sixty plus miles away in senior living homes. Having said that, I am glad I am not the one making the decisions. It is clearly not my gift or desire.
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Doh! 🙂
Joe just blew up the Dem narrative…. 🙂
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Maybe Fredo Cuomo oughta sit this one out. He did break his own quarantine after all. 🙂
https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-chris-cuomo-mike-pence?dg
“CNN’s Chris Cuomo shames Pence for not wearing mask at clinic after his breaking-quarantine controversy”
“CNN anchor Chris Cuomo eviscerated Vice President Mike Pence for choosing not to wear a mask during his visit to the Mayo Clinic just weeks after he stirred up his own controversy of violating quarantine protocols while he was recovering from the novel coronavirus.
On Tuesday, Pence raised eyebrows as he toured the medical facility without any sort of protective wear on his face despite being notified of the clinic’s strict policy on masks. The vice president, who had previously tested negative for the coronavirus, defended his decision, saying he wanted to look at the medical staff “in the eye and say thank you.””
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“Last month, the CNN anchor announced that he had gotten the coronavirus, which his wife and son were also later diagnosed with, and was recovering from his South Hampton home.
However, over Easter weekend, Cuomo was reportedly involved in a heated altercation that took place at his East Hampton property that was under construction after a bicyclist claimed that the CNN anchor was violating quarantine guidelines that were being enforced by his brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
According to a New York Post report, a 65-year-old East Hampton resident named David was riding his bike on Easter Sunday when he spotted who he thought was the CNN anchor with two women and three children outside on their property. Cuomo had been recovering from his widely publicized coronavirus diagnosis.
David, who revealed his full name as David Whelan during a recent interview on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” claimed he was “well over a hundred feet” when he paused and hassled Cuomo about whether he should be in quarantine instead of being outside with others.
“I just looked and said, ‘Is that Chris Cuomo? Isn’t he supposed to be quarantined?’” David said.
“He said, ‘Who the hell are you?! I can do what I want!’ He just ranted, screaming, ‘I’ll find out who you are!’” David recalled. “I said to him, ‘Your brother is the coronavirus czar, and you’re not even following his rules — unnecessary travel.'”
David alleged, “He said, ‘This is not the end of this. You’ll deal with this later. We will meet again.’ If that’s not a threat, I don’t know what is.””
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NYT:
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BREAKING NEWS
The F.D.A. plans to authorize emergency use of a coronavirus treatment. Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed cautious optimism about early trial results.
The emergency use authorization for remdesivir, an experimental antiviral drug that is being tested in patients with Covid-19, could be announced as early as Wednesday, according to a senior administration official.
Ahead of the announcement, President Trump and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the federal government’s leading infectious diseases scientist, hailed early trial results of the drug, holding out hope that it could help stem the rising death toll.
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More….
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More….
https://hotair.com/archives/allahpundit/2020/04/29/gilead-suspense-positive-data-trial-remdesivir-coronavirus-patients-faucis-agency-coming-today/
“Gilead Suspense: “Positive Data” From Trial Of Remdesivir On Coronavirus Patients By Fauci’s Agency Is Coming Today; Update: Fauci Reveals Results; Update: Video”
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“Then came news that a clinical trial conducted in China showed no benefit from remdesivir, with a slightly higher mortality rate among patients who received it than among those who didn’t. Gilead piped up afterward to say that we shouldn’t draw conclusions from that trial since it was stopped early, with too few patients enrolled. What’s more, the company added, “trends in the data suggest a potential benefit for remdesivir, particularly among patients treated early in disease.” But they didn’t say which data.
Is this it?
There are two studies of remdesivir out today — or rather, there will be soon. One comes from Gilead itself and looked at whether a longer course of treatment with the drug (10 days) might have greater benefits than a shorter course (five days). Interestingly, the answer was no. Five days may be enough for maximum impact. But that study comes with a caveat: It too lacked a control group. The other study, which hasn’t been released yet, is newsier. That one was conducted by Anthony Fauci’s agency, the NIAID, and it did involve a control group. Gilead isn’t spilling the beans about the results but they’re clearly encouraged by the findings. The NYT reports that NIAID expects to make an announcement later today … possibly at the daily White House coronavirus task force briefing. Is Fauci himself going to do it?
Gotta think the results are pretty happy if he’s going to front them personally on national television. “
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So Mnuchin plans to audit any grant over $2 million. The gov’t is now playing catch up. If an administrative state still exist this would not be necessary. I harp on this because its almost unreal — a modern developed western democracy doesn’t seem capable of administrating and distributing their own money. I understand a political philosophy that seeks to limit the state but even then most of these theories admit an administrative state is necessary.
The messaging from the White House is confusing; Liberate Michigan, Liberate …insert state here yet I will force you back to work if you work in a slaughter house. Similarly in Iowa, Florida etc states that are reopening are forcing employees back to work. If they don’t report, they will be considered as “quit” and no longer eligible for relief and unemployment — perhaps there’s a localized health risk ie your work site, it doesn’t matter. And if a small business doesn’t want to open, they too lose funding and relief measures. So freedom for those who want a haircut but its no choice for the rest of you.
It doesn’t matter what Cuomo did or did not do, Pence should have followed hospital regulations. His excuse, I want to look people in the eyes is rather weird. I have to ask why is he there anyway — hospitals have important work to do. He should stay home or in his office — unnecessary travel and photo op. The best thread I’ve seen is a theory claiming he wasn’t really there but it was staged with a staff person playing a patient — the internet is a wonderful place.
Trump’s latest tweet — US has over a million cases because it has the best testing program is way off base. The US testing per capita is lower than Canada’s and I think ours is bad. The Nordic countries, Germany, Portugal, etc are all way ahead in testing. The US infection rate is now the equivalent of Italy. This isn’t all Trump’s fault but his admin isn’t helping.
Several European countries are refusing to give any aid to companies that use tax havens. Governments as diverse as the far right in Poland to the Nordic socialist have made this a policy. Trudeau has been disappointing in this issue. The Bloc and the NDP have both pressured him to make this policy (he needs one of them to support his gov’t as he is in a minority situation) . In French he said the companies using tax havens would be excluded but in English he was not as clear. Apparently the US has also put limits on companies who use tax havens. If true, then Canada needs to follow the US lead (yeah I said that)
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