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welcome to reality trivia
reality is the state of things as they actually exist
may 29, 2020
Real News Today
*The President Is the Enemy by the rude pundit
(Commentary)
*WITH NATION FOCUSED ON PANDEMIC, TRUMP INTERIOR DEPT. TO GREENLIGHT KILLING OF BEAR CUBS AND WOLF PUPS IN THEIR DENS(Environment)
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
comment/tweet of the day
TRUMP’S PANDEMIC DEATH TRACKER:
dc report.com
Americans Killed by Inaction, Neglect, Incompetence and Corruption
103,674
(out of 1,776,077 current cases)
“We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning.”
Donald J. Trump, May 26, 2016
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lex: stupid people only react positively when the adversity facing everyone else impacts them directly.
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president barack obama
“We have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly ‘normal’ — whether it’s while dealing with the health care system, or interacting with the criminal justice system, or jogging down the street, or just watching birds in a park,”
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taylor swift
“After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence?” she wrote on Twitter. “‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November.”
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american exceptionalism
(America)
"The truth is America does stand out—in some of the worst ways. We are exceptional for having survived so long without a national health program, and for continuing to tolerate obscene inequality that constantly favors the wealthy over the rest of us. This nation is exceptional for imprisoning a larger percentage of our population than any other nation and for continuing to live with the constant specter of gun violence. We are exceptional in being at war for most of the past several centuries. And of course, we are exceptional in having a population large enough to elect a president as horrifying as Donald Trump. These are truly the things that have made America exceptional."
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The basic laws of human stupidity are ancient. The definitive essay on the subject is younger. Called The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, it was published in 1976 by an Italian economist.
1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
2. The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons, while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
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Amy Klobuchar didn’t prosecute cop who used knee to pin George Floyd. He may escape charges again
Klobuchar declined to charge Derick Chauvin. Her successor has signaled the same may happen following Floyd's death
IGOR DERYSH - salon
MAY 29, 2020 2:49PM (UTC)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has come under renewed criticism for her past as a prosecutor amid protests following George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
Klobuchar, the former top prosecutor in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, declined to prosecute multiple police officers accused of excessive force, including former cop Derick Chauvin, who video shows kneeling on Floyd's neck breathe before he died in custody, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.
Chauvin was one of several officers involved in the shooting death of Wayne Reyes, who reportedly pointed a shotgun at police after stabbing his friend and girlfriend in October 2006. Klobuchar's office declined to prosecute Chauvin and the other officers. The case instead went to a grand jury, which also declined to charge the officers in 2008 after she was elected to the Senate.
The Hennepin County Attorney's office said in a statement that Klobuchar was not involved in the case.
"Sen. Klobuchar's last day in the office here was December 31, 2006, and she had no involvement in the prosecution of this case at all," the office said in a statement to the New York Times.
Chauvin was later placed on leave after the shooting of a Native American man by another officer. A review later determined the officers acted "appropriately."
Chauvin, who was among four officers fired by the Minneapolis Police Department after the Floyd video was posted online, received at least 10 conduct complaints during his 19 years on the force, according to a police complaint database. The database shows that seven of those cases were closed with no discipline against the officer, while three others were met with an "oral reprimand."
Klobuchar, who has emerged as a potential running mate of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, faced criticism over her prosecutorial past during the primary season, as well. The Associated Press raised questions about her prosecution of Myron Burrell, a black teenager convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl, after finding "new evidence and myriad inconsistencies, raising questions about whether he was railroaded by police."
The Washington Post reported in March that Klobuchar had "declined to bring charges in more than two dozen cases in which people were killed in encounters with police" while focusing on "smaller offenses," which have been "criticized for their disproportionate effects on poor and minority communities."
The latest news came as current Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman raised doubts about whether charges would be brought against Chauvin in Floyd's death, pointing to evidence that "doesn't support a criminal charge."
"My job, in the end, is to prove that he violated a criminal statute, and there is other evidence that doesn't support a criminal charge," he told reporters Thursday. "We need to weigh through all of that evidence and come through with a meaningful determination, and we are doing that to the best of our ability."
About 90 minutes after the comment, Freeman's office issued a statement saying that he misspoke about "other evidence."
"Evidence not favorable to our case needs to be carefully examined to understand the full picture of what actually happened," the statement said. "This happens in every case. "
Federal prosecutor Erica MacDonald made a similar statement to reporters.
"Sometimes that takes a little time, and we ask people to be patient," Freeman said. "We have to get this right."
Floyd, 46, died after Chauvin was seen kneeling on his neck for several minutes as the man repeatedly told officers he could not breathe. The death sparked days of protests in Minneapolis, where some demonstrators set fire to the police precinct where the officers involved in Flloyd's arrest had worked in addition to other businesses in the area. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz activated the National Guard and declared a state of emergency in response to the unrest.
"I am absolutely sorry for the pain, devastation and trauma Mr. Floyd's death has left on his family, his loved ones," Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said in a Thursday news briefing. "I know there is currently a deficit of hope in our city . . . and I know our department has contributed to that deficit as a whole."
Michigan Attorney General Keith Ellison said he expected the officers to be charged once the investigation is complete.
"I anticipate there will be charges. I hope they're soon," he told CNN on Friday.
"Everybody believes that this is a violation of Mr. Floyd, and I believe that everybody wants to see these charges filed as soon as they can be," the attorney general said. "But again, I do want to say we have seen cases that seem so clear go south."
Philonise Floyd, George Floyd's brother, pleaded for peace as he demanded the officers involved in the death be arrested.
"I want everybody to be peaceful right now, but people are torn and hurt, because they're tired of seeing black men die," he told CNN. "These officers (involved in George's arrest) need to be arrested right now . . . and held accountable about everything because these people want justice right now."
Klobuchar, the former top prosecutor in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, declined to prosecute multiple police officers accused of excessive force, including former cop Derick Chauvin, who video shows kneeling on Floyd's neck breathe before he died in custody, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.
Chauvin was one of several officers involved in the shooting death of Wayne Reyes, who reportedly pointed a shotgun at police after stabbing his friend and girlfriend in October 2006. Klobuchar's office declined to prosecute Chauvin and the other officers. The case instead went to a grand jury, which also declined to charge the officers in 2008 after she was elected to the Senate.
The Hennepin County Attorney's office said in a statement that Klobuchar was not involved in the case.
"Sen. Klobuchar's last day in the office here was December 31, 2006, and she had no involvement in the prosecution of this case at all," the office said in a statement to the New York Times.
Chauvin was later placed on leave after the shooting of a Native American man by another officer. A review later determined the officers acted "appropriately."
Chauvin, who was among four officers fired by the Minneapolis Police Department after the Floyd video was posted online, received at least 10 conduct complaints during his 19 years on the force, according to a police complaint database. The database shows that seven of those cases were closed with no discipline against the officer, while three others were met with an "oral reprimand."
Klobuchar, who has emerged as a potential running mate of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, faced criticism over her prosecutorial past during the primary season, as well. The Associated Press raised questions about her prosecution of Myron Burrell, a black teenager convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl, after finding "new evidence and myriad inconsistencies, raising questions about whether he was railroaded by police."
The Washington Post reported in March that Klobuchar had "declined to bring charges in more than two dozen cases in which people were killed in encounters with police" while focusing on "smaller offenses," which have been "criticized for their disproportionate effects on poor and minority communities."
The latest news came as current Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman raised doubts about whether charges would be brought against Chauvin in Floyd's death, pointing to evidence that "doesn't support a criminal charge."
"My job, in the end, is to prove that he violated a criminal statute, and there is other evidence that doesn't support a criminal charge," he told reporters Thursday. "We need to weigh through all of that evidence and come through with a meaningful determination, and we are doing that to the best of our ability."
About 90 minutes after the comment, Freeman's office issued a statement saying that he misspoke about "other evidence."
"Evidence not favorable to our case needs to be carefully examined to understand the full picture of what actually happened," the statement said. "This happens in every case. "
Federal prosecutor Erica MacDonald made a similar statement to reporters.
"Sometimes that takes a little time, and we ask people to be patient," Freeman said. "We have to get this right."
Floyd, 46, died after Chauvin was seen kneeling on his neck for several minutes as the man repeatedly told officers he could not breathe. The death sparked days of protests in Minneapolis, where some demonstrators set fire to the police precinct where the officers involved in Flloyd's arrest had worked in addition to other businesses in the area. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz activated the National Guard and declared a state of emergency in response to the unrest.
"I am absolutely sorry for the pain, devastation and trauma Mr. Floyd's death has left on his family, his loved ones," Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said in a Thursday news briefing. "I know there is currently a deficit of hope in our city . . . and I know our department has contributed to that deficit as a whole."
Michigan Attorney General Keith Ellison said he expected the officers to be charged once the investigation is complete.
"I anticipate there will be charges. I hope they're soon," he told CNN on Friday.
"Everybody believes that this is a violation of Mr. Floyd, and I believe that everybody wants to see these charges filed as soon as they can be," the attorney general said. "But again, I do want to say we have seen cases that seem so clear go south."
Philonise Floyd, George Floyd's brother, pleaded for peace as he demanded the officers involved in the death be arrested.
"I want everybody to be peaceful right now, but people are torn and hurt, because they're tired of seeing black men die," he told CNN. "These officers (involved in George's arrest) need to be arrested right now . . . and held accountable about everything because these people want justice right now."
More Evidence That Florida's Low Number Of COVID Deaths Isn't Exactly A 'Miracle'
Florida forced medical examiners to stop reporting death results, and now we know why. GOP lies and greed. What else?
By Mark Sumner - crooks & liars
5/29/20 5:00am
Back in April, it became clear that Florida was intentionally hiding a list of daily deaths that had previously been compiled by county medical examiners. Since that time, those examiners, as well as hospitals and local officials, have complained that the number of COVID-19 deaths being reported in Governor Ron DeSantis regular updates, doesn’t match what they’re seeing in their areas. Last week, the scientist behind Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard was fired after she says she refused to alter numbers as she was told.
With 52,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Florida is in the top ten states when it comes to infections. But the 2,300 recorded deaths is less than half of those from Michigan, a state with a similar number of cases. Considering the number of elderly residents and retirement communities, Florida’s relatively light death toll seemed somewhat miraculous, and DeSantis has been bragging both about the “success” of his policies and sneering at pundits that warned of potential disaster from his refusal to enforce social distancing guidelines.
But there’s still more evidence that “miracle” isn’t the right word. The correct word is “con.” Because it looks like DeSantis has been taking COVID-19 deaths out of one column and inserting them into another.
Even before the state took what had always been public information and began to hide it behind a newfound concern for privacy, there was evidence that DeSantis was covering up COVID-19 in the “Sunshine State.” On April 17, the Sun Sentinel warned that there was a spike in “pneumonia deaths” indicating that COVID-19 was already present and active in the state at a time when the official test results were showing a handful of cases. Even though flu cases were winding down in mid-March, pneumonia deaths had continued to head straight up. State Department of Health officials refused to comment on whether there was a connection between the soaring death count and the coronavirus, even as the official number of COVID-19 remained low.
As a infectious disease expert from George Mason University made clear, “It is likely that they missed some COVID-19 deaths and reported them as respiratory deaths.” However, while it might have been possible that deaths in March and early April were missed simply because state officials weren’t keyed to look for COVID-19 deaths, that certainly wasn’t true after that day.
On May 7, the Miami Herald called on DeSantis to stop hiding the true toll of deaths from the novel coronavirus. In particular, that paper pointed out that DeSantis “continues to keep Floridians in the dark about what is—and isn’t—happening in the state’s 3,800 nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.” And on Wednesday, the Tallahassee Democrat reported that in spite of DeSantis’ claims about his actions in Florida, the “whack-a-mole approach” to dealing with nursing homes was failing. Instead, the percentage of deaths in those facilities was continuing to grow along with a rising tide of new cases.
But DeSantis didn’t open up. He didn’t open the list of deaths, or any other information. As the firing of Dr. Rebekah Jones made clear, Florida has only continued to hide and alter more information over time.
And it seems there really was something to hide. Multiple tweets have pointed out that Florida is one of several states where a particular category of deaths that have happened in 2020 represents a sharp increase over past years. That category is deaths due to “flu or pneumonia.” As compiled by the CDC, in the first six months of 2020, Florida has logged 5,248 deaths due to pneumonia. Of those deaths, 960 were identified as being connected to COVID-19. That leaves 4,288 pneumonia deaths which were reported, but not logged against the COVID-19 deaths. Looking at the period between 2014 and 2018, Florida has averaged 2,870 deaths from pneumonia … over an entire year.
That leaves an excess of 1,418 deaths from pneumonia over past years. If those numbers were added to Florida’s current COVID-19 total, the number of deaths would be 3,738. That would still leave Florida with a lower death toll due to COVID-19 than many other states, but it should certainly represent a bit of a stumble in DeSantis’ self-congratulation tour … and a reason to think again about the speed with which already lax social distancing rules are being dropped.
It’s also worth noting that Florida isn’t the only state with a spike in pneumonia cases not attributed to either flu or COVID-19. Across the country, the total number of deaths logged to COVID-19, flu, or pneumonia was 139,925 on May 27.
With 52,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Florida is in the top ten states when it comes to infections. But the 2,300 recorded deaths is less than half of those from Michigan, a state with a similar number of cases. Considering the number of elderly residents and retirement communities, Florida’s relatively light death toll seemed somewhat miraculous, and DeSantis has been bragging both about the “success” of his policies and sneering at pundits that warned of potential disaster from his refusal to enforce social distancing guidelines.
But there’s still more evidence that “miracle” isn’t the right word. The correct word is “con.” Because it looks like DeSantis has been taking COVID-19 deaths out of one column and inserting them into another.
Even before the state took what had always been public information and began to hide it behind a newfound concern for privacy, there was evidence that DeSantis was covering up COVID-19 in the “Sunshine State.” On April 17, the Sun Sentinel warned that there was a spike in “pneumonia deaths” indicating that COVID-19 was already present and active in the state at a time when the official test results were showing a handful of cases. Even though flu cases were winding down in mid-March, pneumonia deaths had continued to head straight up. State Department of Health officials refused to comment on whether there was a connection between the soaring death count and the coronavirus, even as the official number of COVID-19 remained low.
As a infectious disease expert from George Mason University made clear, “It is likely that they missed some COVID-19 deaths and reported them as respiratory deaths.” However, while it might have been possible that deaths in March and early April were missed simply because state officials weren’t keyed to look for COVID-19 deaths, that certainly wasn’t true after that day.
On May 7, the Miami Herald called on DeSantis to stop hiding the true toll of deaths from the novel coronavirus. In particular, that paper pointed out that DeSantis “continues to keep Floridians in the dark about what is—and isn’t—happening in the state’s 3,800 nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.” And on Wednesday, the Tallahassee Democrat reported that in spite of DeSantis’ claims about his actions in Florida, the “whack-a-mole approach” to dealing with nursing homes was failing. Instead, the percentage of deaths in those facilities was continuing to grow along with a rising tide of new cases.
But DeSantis didn’t open up. He didn’t open the list of deaths, or any other information. As the firing of Dr. Rebekah Jones made clear, Florida has only continued to hide and alter more information over time.
And it seems there really was something to hide. Multiple tweets have pointed out that Florida is one of several states where a particular category of deaths that have happened in 2020 represents a sharp increase over past years. That category is deaths due to “flu or pneumonia.” As compiled by the CDC, in the first six months of 2020, Florida has logged 5,248 deaths due to pneumonia. Of those deaths, 960 were identified as being connected to COVID-19. That leaves 4,288 pneumonia deaths which were reported, but not logged against the COVID-19 deaths. Looking at the period between 2014 and 2018, Florida has averaged 2,870 deaths from pneumonia … over an entire year.
That leaves an excess of 1,418 deaths from pneumonia over past years. If those numbers were added to Florida’s current COVID-19 total, the number of deaths would be 3,738. That would still leave Florida with a lower death toll due to COVID-19 than many other states, but it should certainly represent a bit of a stumble in DeSantis’ self-congratulation tour … and a reason to think again about the speed with which already lax social distancing rules are being dropped.
It’s also worth noting that Florida isn’t the only state with a spike in pneumonia cases not attributed to either flu or COVID-19. Across the country, the total number of deaths logged to COVID-19, flu, or pneumonia was 139,925 on May 27.
Trump has ‘sidelined’ the coronavirus task force — abdicating responsibility for the staggering death toll
Joan McCarter / Daily Kos - alternet
May 29, 2020
The deaths of more than 100,000 Americans from coronavirus this week have not been marked officially by the White House. The White House coronavirus task force headed up by Vice President Mike Pence hasn’t even issued a statement, much less conducted a briefing. But more disturbing, it has had just one meeting in a week, CNN reports. Because it’s all about reopening now and apparently having the task force continue to operate publicly would undercut the big orange blob of rage’s declaration of victory over the virus. He’s moved on to other things, and the task force is now just meeting once a week.
It has “essentially been sidelined by Trump, said senior administration officials and others close to the group, who described a greatly reduced role for the panel created to guide the administration’s response to the pandemic.” Meanwhile, Trump is creating diversions, including his war with Twitter which he ramped up Friday with a violently racist statement about the situation in Minneapolis following the murder by cops of George Floyd. Forget the mounting, outrageous, unacceptable death toll for which Trump is personally responsible, and look over there at the other fire he’s started.
Meanwhile, the country is reopening and new hot spots of infection are emerging and the medical and science officials in the White House are disappearing, along with it the messages about the importance of social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand-washing to ward off the virus. Drs. Deborah Birx, Anthony Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome Adams rarely appear on camera anymore, while Trump continues to undercut all their warnings about how to stay safe. Like tweeting out an article that said “masks aren’t about public health but social control” with the message “So many different viewpoints!”
That leaves uncertainty for what is almost certain to come. For example, Project Airbridge which has focused on securing personal protective gear for health care workers overseas and bringing it in on government-funded private flights is expected to wind down with the end of the month. Health care workers say that the shortages of personal protective equipment continued in May, and continues to be an issue for medical and dental practices trying to resume their practices.
Of particular concern, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been almost entirely sidelined. One official told CNN that “the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services made the CDC halt [daily briefings] earlier in the year, when some CDC officials offered dire warnings that angered the President.” According to that official, the CDC and Director Dr. Robert Redfield have made “multiple efforts” to bring back the daily briefings, but they’ve “given up asking.” The director “has tried on and off for awhile,” the official said. “I’m not aware of any imminent plans for the CDC briefings to return.”
Early in May, Trump said he was going to disband the task force altogether, but supposedly abandoned that plan. “I had no idea how popular the task force is until actually yesterday when I started talking about winding down. It is appreciated by the public,” he said a few weeks ago. Instead of directly killing it, he’s just forcing it to dwindle away. Whether he’s carrying out his big genius brain plan to have the State Department take over the pandemic response is unclear. It seems likelier that he’s just ending the federal government’s response so that he can blame the states for the next 100,000 deaths.
It has “essentially been sidelined by Trump, said senior administration officials and others close to the group, who described a greatly reduced role for the panel created to guide the administration’s response to the pandemic.” Meanwhile, Trump is creating diversions, including his war with Twitter which he ramped up Friday with a violently racist statement about the situation in Minneapolis following the murder by cops of George Floyd. Forget the mounting, outrageous, unacceptable death toll for which Trump is personally responsible, and look over there at the other fire he’s started.
Meanwhile, the country is reopening and new hot spots of infection are emerging and the medical and science officials in the White House are disappearing, along with it the messages about the importance of social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand-washing to ward off the virus. Drs. Deborah Birx, Anthony Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome Adams rarely appear on camera anymore, while Trump continues to undercut all their warnings about how to stay safe. Like tweeting out an article that said “masks aren’t about public health but social control” with the message “So many different viewpoints!”
That leaves uncertainty for what is almost certain to come. For example, Project Airbridge which has focused on securing personal protective gear for health care workers overseas and bringing it in on government-funded private flights is expected to wind down with the end of the month. Health care workers say that the shortages of personal protective equipment continued in May, and continues to be an issue for medical and dental practices trying to resume their practices.
Of particular concern, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been almost entirely sidelined. One official told CNN that “the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services made the CDC halt [daily briefings] earlier in the year, when some CDC officials offered dire warnings that angered the President.” According to that official, the CDC and Director Dr. Robert Redfield have made “multiple efforts” to bring back the daily briefings, but they’ve “given up asking.” The director “has tried on and off for awhile,” the official said. “I’m not aware of any imminent plans for the CDC briefings to return.”
Early in May, Trump said he was going to disband the task force altogether, but supposedly abandoned that plan. “I had no idea how popular the task force is until actually yesterday when I started talking about winding down. It is appreciated by the public,” he said a few weeks ago. Instead of directly killing it, he’s just forcing it to dwindle away. Whether he’s carrying out his big genius brain plan to have the State Department take over the pandemic response is unclear. It seems likelier that he’s just ending the federal government’s response so that he can blame the states for the next 100,000 deaths.
corporate democrats strike again!!!
Hidden in the New House Coronavirus Relief Bill: Billions for Defense Contractors
A section of the HEROES Act championed by Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly would cover executive compensation and other perks for defense and intel contractors. The legislation’s wording mirrors what an industry group proposed.
by Jake Pearson - propublica
May 28, 11:56 a.m. EDT
When they passed another bill this month to help the tens of millions of Americans left unemployed and hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats in the House of Representatives touted the $3 trillion legislation’s benefits to working people, renters, first responders and others struggling to get by.
They made no mention of the defense contractors.
Tucked away deep in the nearly 2,000-page Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES, Act, is a section that will funnel money to defense and intelligence companies and their top executives, according to experts.
The section of the new bill seeks to “clarify” a provision of the $2 trillion CARES Act that passed on March 27. That legislation reimburses firms for the wages and benefits of contract employees who must be kept “in a ready state, including to protect the life and safety of Government and contractor personnel,” but who can’t work because federal offices are closed or they’re following stay-at-home orders.
In language that mirrors what an industry group proposed, the HEROES Act goes beyond just reimbursing wages. It says that such firms can bill the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies for a range of other costs associated with “the financial impact incurred” of keeping workers employed during the health crisis. That includes for “fees,” a term of art in federal contracting, and “general and administrative expenses,” a catch-all phrase associated with the costs of running a business such as paying executives, running the corporate office and even marketing and sales.
The Senate has yet to take up the new House bill, so the companies have not reaped a windfall yet. But experts say that if the Senate passes a new bill, this clause would likely survive.
The legislation was effectively a stealthy way to bail out the defense and intelligence government contracting industry and their executives at taxpayer expense, said Mandy Smithberger, who directs the Center for Defense Information at the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group.
Others agreed. “It’s one thing for the government to say, ‘We’ll keep the workers going,’” said Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore School of Law professor who specializes in government contracting. “But this is money for the firm.”
In a statement provided by a spokesperson, Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who championed the relief bills’ contracting sections and whose Virginia district is home to many contract employees and companies, said the legislation’s goal was to make sure these firms “can survive this crisis and recover their lost revenue.”
He said the HEROES Act language wasn’t intended as a “loophole” for firms to bill for expenses like corporate headquarter costs and said he would “object if the Trump Administration interpreted it as such.” But he didn’t answer questions about why he fought to include the broader HEROES Act language that would allow for such charges or why its text matched what an industry group had proposed.
The defense and intelligence agencies have increasingly become reliant on hundreds of thousands of government contractors for everything from fighting on the battlefield to setting up classified computer systems to cleaning offices. At the Department of Defense, which spends more than all other government agencies combined on contractors, the amount obligated for such agreements jumped from $189 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $320 billion in fiscal 2017, according to a July 2018 Congressional Research Service report.
While small businesses that contract with the government would qualify for the reimbursement outlined in the COVID-19 relief bills, major multinational corporations like Raytheon Technologies and market champions like Amazon Web Services would too.
The taxpayer price tag for the section would be enormous.
Already the federal bailout for just payroll and benefits for defense contractor employees stuck at home outlined in the CARES Act will run in the “billions and billions,” the Pentagon’s top acquisition official, Ellen Lord, told reporters in an April 23 press briefing.
Executive compensation, fees and other expenses would be on top of that.
In federal contracting, general and administrative expenses relate to all the costs of running a home office, including support staff whose jobs can’t be billed to any one government contract and the salaries of executives. (The Bipartisan Budget Act caps the amount executives can be paid from a government contract at $540,000 a year, though the firms can augment that through other means, including by using profits from a government contract.)
The HEROES Act language introduces its own ambiguity about what firms can charge when it comes to what are referred to as “fees.” In certain federal contracts, the recipients are paid a fee on top of their costs. In others, fees refer to money contractors pay to third parties like lawyers and accounting firms. The new language opens the door for contractors to count those as billable, even if work isn’t being done, said Tiefer, the contracting expert.
“And now they still collect even though some of their workers are home,” he said.
At issue is a section in the CARES Act that reimburses contractors at “minimum applicable contract billing rates.”
The vaguely worded term touched off a blitz of inquiries and suggestions in the weeks after the CARES Act passed from Beltway firms who perform IT, security and other national defense services for the federal government. The HEROES Act section pushed by Connolly seeks to “clarify” that.
The Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a trade group that says it represents more than 160 companies that do work for the Department of Defense and the intelligence community, was among the firms that lobbied for the new language. In an April 15 letter to the DOD, Larry Hanauer, the group’s vice president for policy, suggested that the term “minimum applicable contract billing rates” should mean “an employee’s base hourly wage rate, plus indirect costs, fees, and general and administrative expenses.”
That language made it into the HEROES Act, which defined “minimum applicable contract billing rates” to include costs “such as the base hourly wage rate of an employee, plus indirect costs, fees, and general and administrative expenses.”
Peggy O’Connor, an INSA spokeswoman, said nobody from her organization discussed the HEROES Act with Connolly’s office and she didn’t know how the group’s suggested definition of “minimum applicable contract billing rates” wound up in the bill.
“There were a lot of letters drafted by various organizations,” she said. “We posted ours, as well as various government guidance memorandum on our website, which is open to the public.”
The industry’s largest trade organization, the Professional Services Council, issued a statement thanking Connolly for his efforts after the HEROES Act passed the House on May 12. A spokeswoman for PSC declined to answer questions about the bill’s language or the group’s interactions with Connolly ahead of the vote.
The six-term congressman has long been an advocate for contracting firms and before joining Congress worked for the Science Applications International Corp., a government contractor that became Leidos. Among his top contributors since taking office in 2008 are government contractors Northrop Grumman, Leidos and Deloitte LLP.
They made no mention of the defense contractors.
Tucked away deep in the nearly 2,000-page Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES, Act, is a section that will funnel money to defense and intelligence companies and their top executives, according to experts.
The section of the new bill seeks to “clarify” a provision of the $2 trillion CARES Act that passed on March 27. That legislation reimburses firms for the wages and benefits of contract employees who must be kept “in a ready state, including to protect the life and safety of Government and contractor personnel,” but who can’t work because federal offices are closed or they’re following stay-at-home orders.
In language that mirrors what an industry group proposed, the HEROES Act goes beyond just reimbursing wages. It says that such firms can bill the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies for a range of other costs associated with “the financial impact incurred” of keeping workers employed during the health crisis. That includes for “fees,” a term of art in federal contracting, and “general and administrative expenses,” a catch-all phrase associated with the costs of running a business such as paying executives, running the corporate office and even marketing and sales.
The Senate has yet to take up the new House bill, so the companies have not reaped a windfall yet. But experts say that if the Senate passes a new bill, this clause would likely survive.
The legislation was effectively a stealthy way to bail out the defense and intelligence government contracting industry and their executives at taxpayer expense, said Mandy Smithberger, who directs the Center for Defense Information at the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group.
Others agreed. “It’s one thing for the government to say, ‘We’ll keep the workers going,’” said Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore School of Law professor who specializes in government contracting. “But this is money for the firm.”
In a statement provided by a spokesperson, Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who championed the relief bills’ contracting sections and whose Virginia district is home to many contract employees and companies, said the legislation’s goal was to make sure these firms “can survive this crisis and recover their lost revenue.”
He said the HEROES Act language wasn’t intended as a “loophole” for firms to bill for expenses like corporate headquarter costs and said he would “object if the Trump Administration interpreted it as such.” But he didn’t answer questions about why he fought to include the broader HEROES Act language that would allow for such charges or why its text matched what an industry group had proposed.
The defense and intelligence agencies have increasingly become reliant on hundreds of thousands of government contractors for everything from fighting on the battlefield to setting up classified computer systems to cleaning offices. At the Department of Defense, which spends more than all other government agencies combined on contractors, the amount obligated for such agreements jumped from $189 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $320 billion in fiscal 2017, according to a July 2018 Congressional Research Service report.
While small businesses that contract with the government would qualify for the reimbursement outlined in the COVID-19 relief bills, major multinational corporations like Raytheon Technologies and market champions like Amazon Web Services would too.
The taxpayer price tag for the section would be enormous.
Already the federal bailout for just payroll and benefits for defense contractor employees stuck at home outlined in the CARES Act will run in the “billions and billions,” the Pentagon’s top acquisition official, Ellen Lord, told reporters in an April 23 press briefing.
Executive compensation, fees and other expenses would be on top of that.
In federal contracting, general and administrative expenses relate to all the costs of running a home office, including support staff whose jobs can’t be billed to any one government contract and the salaries of executives. (The Bipartisan Budget Act caps the amount executives can be paid from a government contract at $540,000 a year, though the firms can augment that through other means, including by using profits from a government contract.)
The HEROES Act language introduces its own ambiguity about what firms can charge when it comes to what are referred to as “fees.” In certain federal contracts, the recipients are paid a fee on top of their costs. In others, fees refer to money contractors pay to third parties like lawyers and accounting firms. The new language opens the door for contractors to count those as billable, even if work isn’t being done, said Tiefer, the contracting expert.
“And now they still collect even though some of their workers are home,” he said.
At issue is a section in the CARES Act that reimburses contractors at “minimum applicable contract billing rates.”
The vaguely worded term touched off a blitz of inquiries and suggestions in the weeks after the CARES Act passed from Beltway firms who perform IT, security and other national defense services for the federal government. The HEROES Act section pushed by Connolly seeks to “clarify” that.
The Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a trade group that says it represents more than 160 companies that do work for the Department of Defense and the intelligence community, was among the firms that lobbied for the new language. In an April 15 letter to the DOD, Larry Hanauer, the group’s vice president for policy, suggested that the term “minimum applicable contract billing rates” should mean “an employee’s base hourly wage rate, plus indirect costs, fees, and general and administrative expenses.”
That language made it into the HEROES Act, which defined “minimum applicable contract billing rates” to include costs “such as the base hourly wage rate of an employee, plus indirect costs, fees, and general and administrative expenses.”
Peggy O’Connor, an INSA spokeswoman, said nobody from her organization discussed the HEROES Act with Connolly’s office and she didn’t know how the group’s suggested definition of “minimum applicable contract billing rates” wound up in the bill.
“There were a lot of letters drafted by various organizations,” she said. “We posted ours, as well as various government guidance memorandum on our website, which is open to the public.”
The industry’s largest trade organization, the Professional Services Council, issued a statement thanking Connolly for his efforts after the HEROES Act passed the House on May 12. A spokeswoman for PSC declined to answer questions about the bill’s language or the group’s interactions with Connolly ahead of the vote.
The six-term congressman has long been an advocate for contracting firms and before joining Congress worked for the Science Applications International Corp., a government contractor that became Leidos. Among his top contributors since taking office in 2008 are government contractors Northrop Grumman, Leidos and Deloitte LLP.
Trump pulls US out of World Health Organization – claims China controls critical international group
May 29, 2020
By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement - raw story
President Donald Trump has just announced he is pulling the United States out of the World Health Organization in the middle of a global pandemic. To support his move Trump claimed China controls the WHO.
Despite them coronavirus pandemic and protestors across the country mourning the killing of George Floyd, the president refused to take any questions.
Despite them coronavirus pandemic and protestors across the country mourning the killing of George Floyd, the president refused to take any questions.
Trump aide told investigators Paul Manafort began spreading Ukraine conspiracy theories as soon as DNC server hack was revealed
May 29, 2020
By Matthew Chapman - raw story
On Friday, a new batch of documents recording the interviews former special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors held with aides to President Donald Trump was released, as part of a Freedom of Information Act request by BuzzFeed News.
One of the revelations in the interviews with Rick Gates, who served as an aide to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, was that Manafort began pushing conspiracy theories about Ukraine at the same time that the Russian hack into the Democratic National Committee became publicly known.
“Rick Gates, Manafort’s longtime business partner who served as deputy campaign chair to Trump, told investigators during an April 10, 2018, interview that after it was revealed that the Democratic National Committee’s computer server had been compromised, Manafort began pushing the idea that Ukraine had orchestrated the hack,” wrote reporter Jason Leopold. “That unfounded conspiracy theory persisted in right-wing circles long after the US intelligence community concluded Russia was in fact responsible. Indeed, during the July 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that eventually provoked Trump’s impeachment, he asked Zelensky to help investigate the Ukraine hack theory.”
Gates was ultimately sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years’ probation for false statements and conspiracy against the United States. Manafort was sentenced to seven and a half years for bank fraud and tax evasion, although he was recently removed to home confinement due to the risk of COVID-19 in federal facilities.
One of the revelations in the interviews with Rick Gates, who served as an aide to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, was that Manafort began pushing conspiracy theories about Ukraine at the same time that the Russian hack into the Democratic National Committee became publicly known.
“Rick Gates, Manafort’s longtime business partner who served as deputy campaign chair to Trump, told investigators during an April 10, 2018, interview that after it was revealed that the Democratic National Committee’s computer server had been compromised, Manafort began pushing the idea that Ukraine had orchestrated the hack,” wrote reporter Jason Leopold. “That unfounded conspiracy theory persisted in right-wing circles long after the US intelligence community concluded Russia was in fact responsible. Indeed, during the July 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that eventually provoked Trump’s impeachment, he asked Zelensky to help investigate the Ukraine hack theory.”
Gates was ultimately sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years’ probation for false statements and conspiracy against the United States. Manafort was sentenced to seven and a half years for bank fraud and tax evasion, although he was recently removed to home confinement due to the risk of COVID-19 in federal facilities.
‘Not exculpatory’: Just-declassified transcripts prove Flynn lied – ‘he also betrayed America’
May 29, 2020
By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement - raw story
Newly-declassified transcripts of intercepted telephone calls between Mike Flynn and then-Russia Ambassador Sergei Kislyak prove Trump’s soon-to-be National Security Advisor lied to federal investigators, and his original two guilty pleas were correct.
Friday afternoon newly-sworn in Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe sent declassified transcripts of Flynn’s calls to Congress. Portions of those transcripts have now been released.
They clearly show he was discussing U.S. sanctions then-President Barack Obama had imposed on Russia before Trump took office.
Remember, this was late 2016. Russia had just attacked the U.S. election to help Trump win the White House and was (and is) considered an enemy of the United States.
U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who has been clamoring for these transcripts to be released, sums up what Americans should know:
Rep. Eric Swalwell✔
@RepSwalwell
Holy hell. Imagine your country’s democracy was just attacked and the first time you talk to the Ambassador from the attacking country and you don’t condemn them for the attack? Instead, you ask them to go easy on us? Yeah, Flynn lied. He also betrayed America. https://twitter.com/gregpmiller/status/1266471358252355591 …
According to the transcripts, Kislyak had told Flynn in December of 2016, “You might appreciate the sentiments that are raging in Moscow.”
Flynn, then an advisor to the Trump transition team, replied: “I know, I – believe me, I do appreciate it, I very much appreciate it,” as Politico reports.
“But I really don’t want us to get into a situation where we’re going, you know, where we do this and then you do something bigger, and then you know, everybody’s got to go back and forth and everybody’s got to be the tough guy here, you know?”
Flynn has moved to withdraw his guilty pleas, and Attorney General Barr has moved to drop all charges.
These transcripts make both those actions more difficult.[...]
Friday afternoon newly-sworn in Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe sent declassified transcripts of Flynn’s calls to Congress. Portions of those transcripts have now been released.
They clearly show he was discussing U.S. sanctions then-President Barack Obama had imposed on Russia before Trump took office.
Remember, this was late 2016. Russia had just attacked the U.S. election to help Trump win the White House and was (and is) considered an enemy of the United States.
U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who has been clamoring for these transcripts to be released, sums up what Americans should know:
Rep. Eric Swalwell✔
@RepSwalwell
Holy hell. Imagine your country’s democracy was just attacked and the first time you talk to the Ambassador from the attacking country and you don’t condemn them for the attack? Instead, you ask them to go easy on us? Yeah, Flynn lied. He also betrayed America. https://twitter.com/gregpmiller/status/1266471358252355591 …
According to the transcripts, Kislyak had told Flynn in December of 2016, “You might appreciate the sentiments that are raging in Moscow.”
Flynn, then an advisor to the Trump transition team, replied: “I know, I – believe me, I do appreciate it, I very much appreciate it,” as Politico reports.
“But I really don’t want us to get into a situation where we’re going, you know, where we do this and then you do something bigger, and then you know, everybody’s got to go back and forth and everybody’s got to be the tough guy here, you know?”
Flynn has moved to withdraw his guilty pleas, and Attorney General Barr has moved to drop all charges.
These transcripts make both those actions more difficult.[...]
Bites from Real News
*5/29/2020*
*At least 9 million US households with children are ‘not at all confident’ they’ll be able to afford food next month, census survey finds
*Georgia Supreme Court justice embarrassed after ‘awful’ video emerges of his nephew threatening to kill Black people
*Minneapolis Banned Warrior-Style Police Training. Its Police Union Kept Offering It Anyway.
The union’s resistance to reform is coming under renewed scrutiny after the killing of George Floyd
*Ex-officer Derek Chauvin taken into custody for George Floyd’s killing
Former police officer Derek Chauvin has been taken into custody by Minnesota state authorities.
*Nursing Homes Fought Federal Emergency Plan Requirements for Years. Now, They’re Coronavirus Hot Spots.
The long-term care industry resisted a federal mandate to plan for disasters including pandemics. About 43% of nursing homes have been caught violating the requirement.
*How we survive Trump's "genocide" CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Activist turned scientist Gregg Gonsalves on Trump's "genocide" and Deborah Birx's "horrific" game
Longtime AIDS activist, now an epidemiologist, on Trump's "monumental error" and Deborah Birx's deadly compromise
*THE U.S. IS DECLARING A VACCINE WAR ON THE WORLD
In contrast, all other countries agreed with the Costa Rican proposal in the World Health Assembly that there should be a patent pool for all COVID-19 vaccines and medicines. President Xi said that Chinese vaccines would be available as a public good, a view also shared by European Union leaders. Among the 10 candidate vaccines in Phase 1 and 2 of clinical trials, the Chinese have five, the United States has three, and the UK and Germany have one each.
*BUSTED: Trump task force member’s senate campaign got a $2.5 million loan from bank he helped run
Since September, the Hagerty campaign has pulled in $33,000 in campaign contributions from corporations and individuals on the task force. The campaign also took out a $2.5 million loan from Pinnacle Financial Partners on March 27, the same day that President Trump signed the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
*another corporate democrat: Is veepstakes leader Stacey Abrams a progressive? Maybe in Georgia — but it's complicated
...Although CAP bills itself as an "independent nonpartisan policy institute dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans," in reality it is a hotbed of operations for the Democratic Party's corporate wing. CAP research has shaped the party's centrist policy positions for more than a decade, with fierce allegiance to the Clinton wing.
*The Billionaire Governor Who’s Been Sued Dozens of Times for Millions in Unpaid Bills Gov. Jim Justice is West Virginia’s richest man. Over the last three decades, lawsuits over unpaid bills have cost his constellation of companies more than $128 million in judgments and settlements.
*HOW THE FED BAILED OUT THE INVESTOR CLASS WITHOUT SPENDING A CENT
JUST ANNOUNCING $4.5 TRILLION IN FUTURE SPENDING TO SUPPORT SECURITIES MARKETS WAS ENOUGH TO KEEP INVESTORS PROTECTED FROM THE DOWNSIDES OF THE PANDEMIC.
*IS YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD RAISING YOUR CORONAVIRUS RISK? REDLINING DECADES AGO SET COMMUNITIES UP FOR GREATER DANGER
Much of our present-day disparities in health, wealth and social mobility can be traced back to the 1930s, when Valverde and similar neighborhoods were “redlined” by the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation. In this racist practice, banks drew red lines on a map around neighborhoods with populations of color, restricting lending in these places and starving them of investment for generations to come.
*Fintan O'Toole on America the "pitiful"
Irish author and critic on the "suspension of disbelief" that has made Trump's destruction of America possible
CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
*CORPORATE IMMUNITY, MITCH MCCONNELL’S PRIORITY FOR CORONAVIRUS RELIEF, IS A LONGTIME FOCUS OF THE CONSERVATIVE RIGHT
Republican proposals would limit liability for certain eligible companies that have resumed in-person operations, provided that businesses follow existing safety and health guidelines specific to Covid-19. In remarks on the Senate floor earlier this month, McConnell thanked fellow Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas for “thinking proactively about the issue of legal liability.”
ALEC, a Koch-backed nonprofit that drafts model bills for state legislators, has pushed similar corporate immunity measures on the state level since the early 2000s, part of a broader Republican push to overhaul tort law.
*corporate democrats: Democrats are fueling a corporate counter-revolution against progressives
Democrats in Washington are not just passively failing to mount an opposition to Trump. They are actively helping Republicans
*'We're expendable': black Americans pay the price as states lift lockdowns
Experts warn reopening states could have dire consequences on public health, and black Americans already face greater risk
*john hopkins covid - 19 worldwide analysis
DeVos and Mnuchin sued for unlawful seizure of student loan borrowers’ tax refunds during pandemic
May 29, 2020
By Common Dreams
“Secretaries DeVos and Mnuchin have inflicted needless financial pain on student borrowers and their families.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and the federal departments they run were hit with a class-action lawsuit Friday for illegal seizures of thousands of student borrowers’ tax refunds during the coronavirus pandemic, which has left over 40 million Americans jobless and families across the country struggling to stay in their homes and keep food on the table.
“The administration has shown an utter disregard for the law and the needs of student loan borrowers during this difficult time, and their botched rollout of CARES Act protections is causing real suffering for families across the nation.”
—Alice Yao, Student Defense
The suit (pdf)—filed by Student Defense and Democracy Forward in the U.S. District Court for D.C.—accuses the Education and Treasury departments of violating the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act from late March, which halted all involuntary collection of federal student loans, including tax refund offsets, until the end of September.
“Secretaries DeVos and Mnuchin have inflicted needless financial pain on student borrowers and their families by failing to stop the illegal seizures of their tax refunds,” Democracy Forward senior counsel Jeffrey Dubner said in a statement.
“The turmoil caused by the ongoing pandemic is no excuse for breaking the law,” Dubner added. “Our class-action suit seeks to hold the administration accountable so that student borrowers can stay on their feet during this crisis.”
Lead plaintiff in the case, Kori Cole, is a graduate of Heritage College in Lakeside, Colorado. She trained to be an x-ray technician but currently stays at home to care for her two children. As the complaint explains:
Ms. Cole’s husband owns a custom woodworking business and earns approximately $50,000 per year, which is their family’s sole source of income. The woodworking business suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and produced almost no income for six to eight weeks earlier this year. Following the passage of the CARES Act, Ms. Cole and her husband expected to receive a federal tax refund of $6,859 and planned to use it to help pay living expenses for their family of four. However, their federal tax refund was offset in full to pay Ms. Cole’s defaulted student loans, in violation of the CARES Act. As a result, Ms. Cole and her family are behind on their rent and bills.
The CARES Act’s reprieve from offsetting tax refunds was supposed to provide financial relief to Ms. Cole and others like her during the pandemic. Ms. Cole brings this lawsuit on behalf of herself and other similarly situated borrowers to force the departments to comply immediately with the CARES Act directive requiring them to suspend their practice of offsetting tax refunds for defaulted student borrowers and to promptly return the amounts illegally seized.
The complaint notes that a website maintained by the Treasury Department suggests that it has offset more than $18.8 million from over 11,000 federal tax refunds since April 1, after President Donald Trump signed the CARES Act into law. “Similarly, the departments have offset, and may be continuing to offset, state tax refunds of borrowers in violation of the CARES Act,” the suit says.
“In the middle of this devastating pandemic, Secretary Mnuchin and Secretary DeVos have been illegally offsetting tax refunds of student borrowers despite clear instructions from Congress and the president to stop,” said Student Defense senior counsel Alice Yao. “The administration has shown an utter disregard for the law and the needs of student loan borrowers during this difficult time, and their botched rollout of CARES Act protections is causing real suffering for families across the nation.”
“We are suing to make sure borrowers get the relief they are entitled to, and to hold this administration accountable for their continued failures to implement the CARES Act,” added Yao.
Student Defense’s statement announcing the case pointed to reporting that there are more than 44 million Americans who collectively have $1.65 trillion in student loan debt.
The new case follows another class-action lawsuit that Student Defense and the National Consumer Law Center filed in late April, accusing DeVos and the Education Department of garnishing the wages of student borrowers in violation of the CARES Act. The lead plaintiff in that case is Elizabeth Barber, who earns $12.89 an hour working as a home health aide near Rochester, New York.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and the federal departments they run were hit with a class-action lawsuit Friday for illegal seizures of thousands of student borrowers’ tax refunds during the coronavirus pandemic, which has left over 40 million Americans jobless and families across the country struggling to stay in their homes and keep food on the table.
“The administration has shown an utter disregard for the law and the needs of student loan borrowers during this difficult time, and their botched rollout of CARES Act protections is causing real suffering for families across the nation.”
—Alice Yao, Student Defense
The suit (pdf)—filed by Student Defense and Democracy Forward in the U.S. District Court for D.C.—accuses the Education and Treasury departments of violating the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act from late March, which halted all involuntary collection of federal student loans, including tax refund offsets, until the end of September.
“Secretaries DeVos and Mnuchin have inflicted needless financial pain on student borrowers and their families by failing to stop the illegal seizures of their tax refunds,” Democracy Forward senior counsel Jeffrey Dubner said in a statement.
“The turmoil caused by the ongoing pandemic is no excuse for breaking the law,” Dubner added. “Our class-action suit seeks to hold the administration accountable so that student borrowers can stay on their feet during this crisis.”
Lead plaintiff in the case, Kori Cole, is a graduate of Heritage College in Lakeside, Colorado. She trained to be an x-ray technician but currently stays at home to care for her two children. As the complaint explains:
Ms. Cole’s husband owns a custom woodworking business and earns approximately $50,000 per year, which is their family’s sole source of income. The woodworking business suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and produced almost no income for six to eight weeks earlier this year. Following the passage of the CARES Act, Ms. Cole and her husband expected to receive a federal tax refund of $6,859 and planned to use it to help pay living expenses for their family of four. However, their federal tax refund was offset in full to pay Ms. Cole’s defaulted student loans, in violation of the CARES Act. As a result, Ms. Cole and her family are behind on their rent and bills.
The CARES Act’s reprieve from offsetting tax refunds was supposed to provide financial relief to Ms. Cole and others like her during the pandemic. Ms. Cole brings this lawsuit on behalf of herself and other similarly situated borrowers to force the departments to comply immediately with the CARES Act directive requiring them to suspend their practice of offsetting tax refunds for defaulted student borrowers and to promptly return the amounts illegally seized.
The complaint notes that a website maintained by the Treasury Department suggests that it has offset more than $18.8 million from over 11,000 federal tax refunds since April 1, after President Donald Trump signed the CARES Act into law. “Similarly, the departments have offset, and may be continuing to offset, state tax refunds of borrowers in violation of the CARES Act,” the suit says.
“In the middle of this devastating pandemic, Secretary Mnuchin and Secretary DeVos have been illegally offsetting tax refunds of student borrowers despite clear instructions from Congress and the president to stop,” said Student Defense senior counsel Alice Yao. “The administration has shown an utter disregard for the law and the needs of student loan borrowers during this difficult time, and their botched rollout of CARES Act protections is causing real suffering for families across the nation.”
“We are suing to make sure borrowers get the relief they are entitled to, and to hold this administration accountable for their continued failures to implement the CARES Act,” added Yao.
Student Defense’s statement announcing the case pointed to reporting that there are more than 44 million Americans who collectively have $1.65 trillion in student loan debt.
The new case follows another class-action lawsuit that Student Defense and the National Consumer Law Center filed in late April, accusing DeVos and the Education Department of garnishing the wages of student borrowers in violation of the CARES Act. The lead plaintiff in that case is Elizabeth Barber, who earns $12.89 an hour working as a home health aide near Rochester, New York.
OP-ED RACIAL JUSTICE
Forget “Looting.” Capitalism Is the Real Robbery.
BY William C. Anderson, Truthout
PUBLISHED May 29, 2020
This morning the president of the United States threatened state-sanctioned murder in response to “looting,” laying bare the way in which white supremacy, capitalism and the state work together to violently repress people who defend Black life.
But Trump’s angry outburst is not the only blatantly racist response we should be interrogating. We also must confront the way in which both conservatives and liberals have responded to the Minneapolis uprisings by condemning “looting.”
Protesters in Minneapolis and around the country are rising up against a lynching and state violence. How should we respond to a lynching? Should our goal simply be to publicize it, in the hope that such publicity will generate condemnation and prevent future lynchings? This logic is flawed, in part, because lynchings thrive off of spectatorship. For white supremacists, the act of killing is also an act of fellowship and opportunity for indoctrination.
Simply spreading images of racist killings and asking the state to stop killing us is not going to stop them. (In fact, while it’s important to publicize the fact that these killings are occurring, sometimes the spread of such images also galvanizes white supremacists.)
And so, for some who oppose racist killings, watching the videos, waiting to vote, and marching in protest feels like enough. But for others, more intervention is needed. The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police comes on the heels of the killings of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. These killings were committed by current and former law enforcement. Understandably, outrage is growing.
We should expect uprisings. We should expect property to be damaged, as people rise up against the racist systems complicit with racist violence. Many of the people taking part in these revolts have decided that respecting property is not more important than respecting Black life. There is an awareness that if the law doesn’t respect Black life, then the law itself cannot be relied on for protection or given undeserving respect. So, as protesters are being accused of “looting” and “rioting” in Minneapolis or anywhere else, this time demands that we reflect on the systematic robbery of Black America.
Corporations in the United States, again, have walked away with an unprecedented and astronomical amount of money in 2020. With no accountability in sight, there was little to no opposition to their monumental robbery. They were handed trillions. Politicians working in service to the corporate elite — and afraid of appearing opposed to a deal that would largely benefit Wall Street — pushed it through. Of course, the deal left many vulnerable people in the dust. No changes were made after the unresolved debt crisis of 2008 that brutalized people around the world with the starvation we know as austerity. Cuts to social needs have fallen on the public undeterred while the rich continuously grow richer than they’ve ever been.
Now, protests breaking out throughout the nation in response to police brutality foreshadow what’s to come. People are likely to take, break and fight because conditions remain miserable. It should not be surprising. Still, the “looting” by the oppressed will always be condemned more than the structural robbery that’s long taken place under capitalism.
There’s this idea that the perpetrators of crises, rather than their victims, deserve our sympathy when their profits decrease. After at least 100,000 people in the U.S. — disproportionately Black, Native and Latinx people — have died from a merciless pandemic, this absurdity is still being trafficked through the media. The corporations that do not pay people a living wage and who are benefiting from skyrocketing prices amid disaster are not deserving of pity. For those of us whose stability is much more uncertain, one missed paycheck could mean eviction,
imprisonment or hunger. These circumstances are increasingly common as unemployment reaches levels not seen since the Great Depression. At least 40 million people in this country are out of work, and people in need are being effectively robbed by the rich.
As they lose their jobs, people are also being robbed of health care — a vulnerability that will kill people and their family members. People have also been robbed of a safe place to live free from state violence, where they can breathe clean air. People have watched the tax money they paid be given away, time and time again, after being told it would come back to workers, but it never does. For Black America, there are more than enough prison beds, but not nearly enough hospital beds for a population that’s being disproportionately crushed by institutional oppression. So, of course, with little to no real infrastructure to protect people who the government has long neglected and abandoned, there will be uprisings and people will take things. They will take because of what’s been taken from them: safety, security, housing, education, food and even their ability to vote. And, of course, protesters are being robbed of the right to express their anger.
This conversation about “looting” always repeats itself. During virtually every Black uprising that has taken place and shaped this country in the last century, the narrative has remained the same. White supremacist assaults on the Black community were dubbed “race riots,” and Black protesters’ self-defense has been framed as senseless violence. People lament the destruction of property because they’ve bought into the idea that it’s another wrong being committed on top of any given white supremacist violence that caused it all. But stealing because you’re being sucked dry by a system that has rendered you disposable is not the same as the ritualistic racist murders of Black people by white supremacists. Decades of “looting” stores during uprisings can’t measure up to what Wall Street has looted through the financial crises it creates.
They are certainly aware of their crimes. Hedge fund capitalists who amass endless amounts of money through slush funds and financial manipulation have many avenues to escape accountability. As the U.S. military prepares for “civil disturbances” and buys riot gear, it’s clear they know that not all people will accept atrocity. In a nation that has never gotten past the civil war it fought over a wealthy class not giving up slavery profits, defending the wealthy is a tradition. The same people who created and currently benefit from the current crisis are intentionally mismanaging plenty of other parts of our existence.
Those interested in liberation should not condemn protesters’ so-called “rioting” and “looting.” Rather, we should be doing all we can to free the imprisoned protesters in Minnesota and wherever else uprisings occur. The robbery we should concern ourselves with is the theft perpetrated by a system that creates desperation where people in need have to go and take for themselves what should be a guaranteed right. Capitalism encourages thievery from the top down. Writing about the Haitian Revolution, the great writer C.L.R. James once said, “The rich are only defeated when running for their lives.” It has certainly been the case time and time again throughout Black history: People have overcome insurmountable odds to claim victories. How should we answer the question, “What do we do in response to a lynching?” We must make the very system that enables it run for its life.
But Trump’s angry outburst is not the only blatantly racist response we should be interrogating. We also must confront the way in which both conservatives and liberals have responded to the Minneapolis uprisings by condemning “looting.”
Protesters in Minneapolis and around the country are rising up against a lynching and state violence. How should we respond to a lynching? Should our goal simply be to publicize it, in the hope that such publicity will generate condemnation and prevent future lynchings? This logic is flawed, in part, because lynchings thrive off of spectatorship. For white supremacists, the act of killing is also an act of fellowship and opportunity for indoctrination.
Simply spreading images of racist killings and asking the state to stop killing us is not going to stop them. (In fact, while it’s important to publicize the fact that these killings are occurring, sometimes the spread of such images also galvanizes white supremacists.)
And so, for some who oppose racist killings, watching the videos, waiting to vote, and marching in protest feels like enough. But for others, more intervention is needed. The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police comes on the heels of the killings of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. These killings were committed by current and former law enforcement. Understandably, outrage is growing.
We should expect uprisings. We should expect property to be damaged, as people rise up against the racist systems complicit with racist violence. Many of the people taking part in these revolts have decided that respecting property is not more important than respecting Black life. There is an awareness that if the law doesn’t respect Black life, then the law itself cannot be relied on for protection or given undeserving respect. So, as protesters are being accused of “looting” and “rioting” in Minneapolis or anywhere else, this time demands that we reflect on the systematic robbery of Black America.
Corporations in the United States, again, have walked away with an unprecedented and astronomical amount of money in 2020. With no accountability in sight, there was little to no opposition to their monumental robbery. They were handed trillions. Politicians working in service to the corporate elite — and afraid of appearing opposed to a deal that would largely benefit Wall Street — pushed it through. Of course, the deal left many vulnerable people in the dust. No changes were made after the unresolved debt crisis of 2008 that brutalized people around the world with the starvation we know as austerity. Cuts to social needs have fallen on the public undeterred while the rich continuously grow richer than they’ve ever been.
Now, protests breaking out throughout the nation in response to police brutality foreshadow what’s to come. People are likely to take, break and fight because conditions remain miserable. It should not be surprising. Still, the “looting” by the oppressed will always be condemned more than the structural robbery that’s long taken place under capitalism.
There’s this idea that the perpetrators of crises, rather than their victims, deserve our sympathy when their profits decrease. After at least 100,000 people in the U.S. — disproportionately Black, Native and Latinx people — have died from a merciless pandemic, this absurdity is still being trafficked through the media. The corporations that do not pay people a living wage and who are benefiting from skyrocketing prices amid disaster are not deserving of pity. For those of us whose stability is much more uncertain, one missed paycheck could mean eviction,
imprisonment or hunger. These circumstances are increasingly common as unemployment reaches levels not seen since the Great Depression. At least 40 million people in this country are out of work, and people in need are being effectively robbed by the rich.
As they lose their jobs, people are also being robbed of health care — a vulnerability that will kill people and their family members. People have also been robbed of a safe place to live free from state violence, where they can breathe clean air. People have watched the tax money they paid be given away, time and time again, after being told it would come back to workers, but it never does. For Black America, there are more than enough prison beds, but not nearly enough hospital beds for a population that’s being disproportionately crushed by institutional oppression. So, of course, with little to no real infrastructure to protect people who the government has long neglected and abandoned, there will be uprisings and people will take things. They will take because of what’s been taken from them: safety, security, housing, education, food and even their ability to vote. And, of course, protesters are being robbed of the right to express their anger.
This conversation about “looting” always repeats itself. During virtually every Black uprising that has taken place and shaped this country in the last century, the narrative has remained the same. White supremacist assaults on the Black community were dubbed “race riots,” and Black protesters’ self-defense has been framed as senseless violence. People lament the destruction of property because they’ve bought into the idea that it’s another wrong being committed on top of any given white supremacist violence that caused it all. But stealing because you’re being sucked dry by a system that has rendered you disposable is not the same as the ritualistic racist murders of Black people by white supremacists. Decades of “looting” stores during uprisings can’t measure up to what Wall Street has looted through the financial crises it creates.
They are certainly aware of their crimes. Hedge fund capitalists who amass endless amounts of money through slush funds and financial manipulation have many avenues to escape accountability. As the U.S. military prepares for “civil disturbances” and buys riot gear, it’s clear they know that not all people will accept atrocity. In a nation that has never gotten past the civil war it fought over a wealthy class not giving up slavery profits, defending the wealthy is a tradition. The same people who created and currently benefit from the current crisis are intentionally mismanaging plenty of other parts of our existence.
Those interested in liberation should not condemn protesters’ so-called “rioting” and “looting.” Rather, we should be doing all we can to free the imprisoned protesters in Minnesota and wherever else uprisings occur. The robbery we should concern ourselves with is the theft perpetrated by a system that creates desperation where people in need have to go and take for themselves what should be a guaranteed right. Capitalism encourages thievery from the top down. Writing about the Haitian Revolution, the great writer C.L.R. James once said, “The rich are only defeated when running for their lives.” It has certainly been the case time and time again throughout Black history: People have overcome insurmountable odds to claim victories. How should we answer the question, “What do we do in response to a lynching?” We must make the very system that enables it run for its life.
Biden Blasts Trump for ‘Calling for Violence’ Against Americans During ‘Moment of Pain’
Danika Fears - Breaking News Editor
Published May. 29, 2020 10:41AM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden slammed President Trump on Friday morning, accusing him of “calling for violence against American citizens during a moment of pain for so many.” “I’m furious, and you should be too,” he added, also condemning the arrest of a CNN news crew and declaring “enough.” Late Friday, Trump went on a Twitter tear, blasting the “THUGS” protesting in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd in police custody. In one tweet, he said the military is with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz “all the way.” “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he threatened. Trump’s threat was later concealed by Twitter, which said his message broke its rules around “glorifying violence.”
Senior Trump Official Used Connections to Help Relative Get a Job at the EPA: Watchdog
Danika Fears - Breaking News Editor
Updated May. 29, 2020 1:22PM ET
daily beast cheat sheet
Douglas Domenech used his connections as assistant interior secretary to help his son-in-law get a job at the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a watchdog investigation. The Interior Department’s inspector general discovered that Domenech discussed the job for his relative with a senior EPA official on two occasions, once in person and another time via email, in 2017. He also advocated for another relative’s wedding-related business to that official, investigators found.
This is the second time that Domenech, a Trump appointee and the father of Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech (and father-in-law of The View’s Meghan McCain), has been flagged for ethical violations over the last six months. In December, investigators said he violated federal ethics rules by communicating on two occasions with his former employer, a conservative policy group in Texas, about legal disputes between the organization and the department.
This is the second time that Domenech, a Trump appointee and the father of Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech (and father-in-law of The View’s Meghan McCain), has been flagged for ethical violations over the last six months. In December, investigators said he violated federal ethics rules by communicating on two occasions with his former employer, a conservative policy group in Texas, about legal disputes between the organization and the department.
White House Hid CDC’s Warning That Singing in Church Choirs Can Spread Coronavirus, Says Report
Jamie Ross - Reporter
Published May. 29, 2020 5:30AM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
The Trump administration took down warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website that singing in choirs can spread the novel coronavirus, The Washington Post reports. A debate has been raging for weeks between the White House and the CDC on the level of restrictions to place on houses of worship, but, last Friday, the administration released some guidance on the CDC website. It included recommendations that churches “consider suspending or at least decreasing use of choir/musical ensembles and congregant singing, chanting, or reciting during services or other programming, if appropriate within the faith tradition.” It added: “The act of singing may contribute to transmission of COVID-19, possibly through emission of aerosols.” However, by Saturday, any reference to choirs or congregant singing was reportedly removed. The new guidance also removed a reference to “shared cups” that shouldn’t be passed around. Two White House officials told the newspaper the first version wasn’t approved by the White House, so they asked the CDC to post a different cleared document a day later.
*What's Inside*
may 26 - may 28
✔10 VOTER FRAUD LIES DEBUNKED
(ELECTIONS)
*HOW EUROPE’S CHEOPS SATELLITE WILL IMPROVE THE HUNT FOR EXOPLANETS
(SPACE NEWS)
*HOW WHITE WOMEN USE THEMSELVES AS INSTRUMENTS OF TERROR
(COMMENTARY)
*HOUSE DEMOCRATS DEMAND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION STOP RUSHING THROUGH DEPORTATIONS OF MIGRANT CHILDREN(DEMO POLITICS)
*REVEALED: CONSERVATIVE GROUP FIGHTING TO RESTRICT VOTING TIED TO POWERFUL DARK MONEY NETWORK(RIGHT WING)
✔BLACK FAMILY SMEARED AS DRUG DEALERS IN VIRAL POST AFTER HOSTING AT-HOME FUNERAL FOR TEEN KILLED IN CRASH(AMERIKKKANS)
*DESPITE THE HYPE, GILEAD’S REMDESIVIR WILL DO NOTHING TO END THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
(REALITY)
*A CLOSER LOOK AT FEDERAL COVID CONTRACTORS REVEALS INEXPERIENCE, FRAUD ACCUSATIONS AND A WEAPONS DEALER OPERATING OUT OF SOMEONE’S HOUSE
(CORPORATE CRIMINALS)
✔DINO-DOOMING ASTEROID HIT EARTH AT ‘DEADLIEST POSSIBLE’ ANGLE
(ANCIENT TIMES)
*EXCLUSIVE: BIG PHARMA REJECTED EU PLAN TO FAST-TRACK VACCINES IN 2017
(CORPORATE CRIMINALS)
*BILL REQUIRING CHURCHES TO ALLOW GUNS DURING WORSHIP PASSES LOUISIANA HOUSE
(AMERICA)
*VIDEO SHOWS MINNEAPOLIS COP WITH KNEE ON NECK OF MOTIONLESS, MOANING MAN WHO LATER DIED(GESTAPO USA)
*JOE BIDEN WAS RIGHT ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE AND TRUMP — AND THE LEFT NEEDS TO GET PAST PURITY TESTS(COMMENTARY)
*TRUMP DECLARES HOUSES THAT WORSHIP HIM “ESSENTIAL”
(FUNNIES)
*FACEBOOK PULLED ‘THRIVING’ WHITE SUPREMACIST ACCOUNTS AFTER BEING CALLED OUT IN NEW REPORT(WORTHLESS MEDIA)
*late news of interest*
a blast from the past!!!
British Writer Pens The Best Description Of Trump I’ve Read
MICHAEL STEVENSON - The HOBBLEDEHOY.com
MARCH 8, 2019
Someone on Quora asked “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:
A few things spring to mind.
Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.
For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.
I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.
But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.
And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.
There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.
Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.
And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.
Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.
He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.
He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.
That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.
There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.
So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.
After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.
God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.
He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.
In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.
And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:
‘My God… what… have… I… created?
If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.
RELATED: Lucie Arnaz Shares Her Husband’s Letter to Trump; “All Tyrants End the Same Way –in Misery. That is Your Destiny…”
..."The people see all that you are doing to destroy the country that belongs to us. There are so many, many, many things you and your captive minions have done and are doing to change the people into your servants, slaves, even. The people can only tolerate the theft of their freedom for so long–but finally, as in our original Revolution, they will gather en masse to remove you and every one of your party from any position of power ever again."
A few things spring to mind.
Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.
For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.
I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.
But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.
And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.
There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.
Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.
And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.
Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.
He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.
He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.
That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.
There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.
So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.
After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.
God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.
He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.
In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.
And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:
‘My God… what… have… I… created?
If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.
RELATED: Lucie Arnaz Shares Her Husband’s Letter to Trump; “All Tyrants End the Same Way –in Misery. That is Your Destiny…”
..."The people see all that you are doing to destroy the country that belongs to us. There are so many, many, many things you and your captive minions have done and are doing to change the people into your servants, slaves, even. The people can only tolerate the theft of their freedom for so long–but finally, as in our original Revolution, they will gather en masse to remove you and every one of your party from any position of power ever again."
