tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619628710333291082024-02-07T16:42:48.295-07:00National NewsWatch ForumNews and opinion from across the country.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger30353125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-82407972120141588152020-03-18T00:57:00.003-07:002020-03-18T00:57:20.429-07:00Former Rep. Duncan Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison for violating campaign laws<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/17/21183861/duncan-hunter-sentenced-prison-campaign-laws" target="_blank">https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/17/21183861/duncan-hunter-sentenced-prison-campaign-laws</a><br />
"The Republican won’t have to turn himself into authorities until late May because of the coronavirus pandemic."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-6568638330210921392020-03-18T00:50:00.001-07:002020-03-18T00:50:17.262-07:00Lawrence: Trump Gave Republicans False Hope On Coronavirus<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MDSjXaiceuA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-67999478516786659352020-03-18T00:40:00.002-07:002020-03-18T00:40:42.359-07:00How To Get More Ventilators And What To Do If We Can’t<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-ventilators-supply-manufacture_n_5e6dc4f7c5b6747ef11e8134" target="_blank">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-ventilators-supply-manufacture_n_5e6dc4f7c5b6747ef11e8134</a><br />
"The consequences of a shortage would be dire. Doctors would have to make harrowing decisions about who gets the ventilators and who doesn’t, decisions that doctors in coronavirus-ravaged China, Iran and Italy say they are making already."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-12044392746260878132020-03-18T00:33:00.003-07:002020-03-18T00:33:45.127-07:00How To Support People In Health Care Working During Coronavirus<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-support-health-care-workers-coronavirus_l_5e6f840ac5b6747ef121c749" target="_blank">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-support-health-care-workers-coronavirus_l_5e6f840ac5b6747ef121c749</a><br />
"Natasha Bhuyan, a practicing family physician in Phoenix, said you can help by heeding expert and government-issued advice. This includes washing your hands and practicing social distancing. “And don’t stockpile medical masks or hand sanitizer in mass amounts so front-line health care providers and patients in need are able to access them,” she said." People who work in medicine are being stretched beyond the limit in this COVID-19 outbreak. Take care of them."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-75749504803710746342020-03-18T00:26:00.001-07:002020-03-18T00:26:19.597-07:00200 Nurses Furloughed Due To Lack Of Corona Testing, Danbury Hospital At Capacity<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KQFsf53cuR4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-5061191201919027502020-03-18T00:02:00.002-07:002020-03-18T00:02:47.778-07:00<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/17/trumps-damage-is-already-done/" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/17/trumps-damage-is-already-done/</a><br />
"President Trump’s delay in preparing for the coronavirus might be the costliest presidential bungle in history, one that will likely increase the number of deaths and damage the long-term well-being of Americans. (The pathetic attempt to rewrite history to keep the Trumpian myth intact will not protect his reputation nor that of his enablers, including those who voted for acquittal in his Senate impeachment trial.) He has also poisoned the well of public opinion."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-32691389180358916072020-03-17T23:56:00.002-07:002020-03-17T23:56:18.794-07:00The conservative movement is a public health hazard<a href="https://theweek.com/articles/902018/conservative-movement-public-health-hazard" target="_blank">https://theweek.com/articles/902018/conservative-movement-public-health-hazard</a><br />
"It has been clear since 1980 that under Republican rule, the federal government decays. But under Trump, it has gotten full-blown administrative gangrene. Compared to what is needed to combat the crisis, Trump has done basically nothing. Meanwhile, he and his allies in conservative media have pushed an avalanche of misinformation that will only accelerate the spread of the disease. This is what the conservative movement has become: a gigantic public health hazard for America and the world. There are two main ways in which conservatives have dissolved the bones of American government. The first is ideological. For decades, Republicans have been pushing a libertarian economic vision that can be summarized as "Government Bad." By this view, the government is a largely-pointless hindrance to private enterprise, and basically all regulations and social welfare programs should be done away with. (Prisons and the military can stay, of course.) But there are many, many things, like public health emergencies, in which private businesses simply cannot handle things on their own. Nothing but the federal government can carry out the rapid and extensive actions needed to coordinate a response to a galloping nationwide viral pandemic, and the federal government is by far best able to finance one. As The New Republic's Alex Pareene writes, the right-wing extremists in the Trump administration have reacted with a sort of slack-jawed disbelief at the private sector completely failing to rise to the coronavirus challenge. Second and more importantly, there is the conservative propaganda machine. The American right-wing media is without question the most unhinged, hysterical, irresponsible, and conspiracy-addled major press complex in the world. The right-wing media in the U.K. and Australia come close (probably because of shared language and ownership), but nobody beats Fox News in their combination of wide reach and utterly shameless propaganda."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-44422651686669842322020-03-17T23:30:00.001-07:002020-03-17T23:30:15.450-07:00Governor Andrew Cuomo Pushes For Unified State Response To Coronavirus<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T7bhqXCE88E" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-4516479427038507232020-03-17T23:23:00.003-07:002020-03-17T23:23:40.338-07:00US hospitals are struggling to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/17/21183263/coronavirus-us-hospitals-elective-surgeries-icu-masks" target="_blank">https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/17/21183263/coronavirus-us-hospitals-elective-surgeries-icu-masks</a><br />
"The coronavirus surge is coming, America’s hospitals are struggling to prepare, and the eventual demand for intensive care unit beds for Covid-19 cases could far exceed what US hospitals will be able to provide. Researchers at the Imperial College London wrote in a devastating new analysis that even stringent mitigation measures of case isolation, home quarantine, and social distancing “would still result in an 8-fold higher peak demand on critical care beds over and above the available surge capacity in ... the US.” America’s hospitals do not appear ready. Tom Frieden, former CDC director under President Barack Obama, told me that in “any place there is community transmission,” hospitals should cancel elective surgeries so they can make more beds available to Covid-19 patients. Surgeon General Jerome Adams has made a similar plea."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-29223795825652145092020-03-17T23:19:00.003-07:002020-03-17T23:19:18.268-07:00Team Trump received pandemic warning - in January 2017<a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/team-trump-received-pandemic-warning-january-2017-n1161811" target="_blank">https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/team-trump-received-pandemic-warning-january-2017-n1161811</a><br />
"Trump recently said that one can "never really think" something like this is "going to happen." Evidently, his team was warned that something extremely similar to this might very well happen, but the Republican's operation didn't much care."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-4477769686080398762020-03-17T23:13:00.002-07:002020-03-17T23:13:55.284-07:00Confirmed Cases Of COVID-19 In The U.S. Reaches 6000<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7f07hWPqITw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-2227519195825339592020-03-15T23:24:00.002-07:002020-03-15T23:24:54.523-07:00CDC Suggests Ban On Groups Of 50 People Or More As U.S. Moves Closer To Shutdown<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-national-shutdown_n_5e6eb670c5b6bd8156f9f468" target="_blank">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-national-shutdown_n_5e6eb670c5b6bd8156f9f468</a><br />
"Restaurants, bars and schools have been shuttered, and the top infectious diseases expert said he’d like to see a 14-day national shutdown imposed."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-29959050485557165952020-03-15T23:18:00.003-07:002020-03-15T23:18:54.906-07:00Rupert Murdoch could save lives by forcing Fox News to tell the truth about coronavirus — right now<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/rupert-murdoch-could-save-lives-by-forcing-fox-news-to-tell-the-truth-about-coronavirus--right-now/2020/03/11/72059f4c-63a7-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/rupert-murdoch-could-save-lives-by-forcing-fox-news-to-tell-the-truth-about-coronavirus--right-now/2020/03/11/72059f4c-63a7-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html</a><br />
"The insidious feedback loop between President Trump and Fox News is no secret. When Trump says “jump,” the network leaps into action. And what the president hears on Fox News often dictates his own pronouncements and policies — which, in turn, are glowingly represented in Fox News’s coverage and commentary. That’s never been anything short of dangerous, since the effect has been to create a de facto state-run media monster more devoted to maintaining power than shedding light on the truth. But now the mind-meld of Fox News and Trump is potentially lethal as Trump plays down the seriousness of the coronavirus and, hearing nothing but applause from his favorite information source for doing so, sees little reason to change. There’s one person who could transform all that in an instant: Fox founder Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born media mogul who, at 89, still exerts his influence on the leading cable network — and thus on the president himself."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-81760614681993305852020-03-15T23:13:00.002-07:002020-03-15T23:13:23.293-07:00Top U.S. Health Official: Americans Should ‘Hunker Down Significantly More’<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anthony-fauci-coronavirus-shutdown_n_5e6e26e8c5b6bd8156f936bb" target="_blank">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anthony-fauci-coronavirus-shutdown_n_5e6e26e8c5b6bd8156f936bb</a><br />
"Anthony Fauci, one of the top U.S. health officials leading the country’s response to the coronavirus, urged Americans on Sunday to “hunker down significantly more” as the virus continues to spread across the country."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-35129970779654565172020-03-15T23:06:00.003-07:002020-03-15T23:06:49.462-07:00Lying, Tweeting And Wishing A Pandemic Away Doesn’t Work, It Turns Out<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-pandemic-response_n_5e6d412ec5b6747ef11e4072" target="_blank">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-pandemic-response_n_5e6d412ec5b6747ef11e4072</a><br />
"What happens when the president of the United States tries to lie, wish and tweet a pandemic away? As it turns out, it puts a government response four to six weeks behind schedule, possibly resulting in thousands — or even tens or hundreds of thousands — more Americans getting seriously ill and dying."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-48290330610791022772020-03-14T23:42:00.001-07:002020-03-14T23:42:51.528-07:00Infection Rate Charts Forecast Steep Rise In US Coronavirus Cases<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m2HgeK73ctU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-89642417028575307612020-03-14T23:35:00.001-07:002020-03-14T23:35:42.729-07:00No Quick Solution To Treat Coronavirus Despite Hopeful Leads <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A6lYf-Jr9wM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-66566472283398041302020-03-14T23:27:00.000-07:002020-03-14T23:27:02.448-07:00Fox News During the Coronavirus Pandemic Is Awful Even by Fox News Standards<a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/fox-news-is-denying-coronavirus-and-risking-viewers-lives.html" target="_blank">https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/fox-news-is-denying-coronavirus-and-risking-viewers-lives.html</a><br />
"Ever since Fox News launched in 1996, the network has labored to construct its own closed epistemic system, underpinned by a variety of questionable “facts” and baseline assumptions that validate right-wing viewpoints while demonizing liberal values. The point is to prop up right-wing politicians by training its viewers to hate, fear, and distrust anyone who leans even the slightest bit left. Critical to the success of this initiative has been the discrediting of traditional authorities, such as mainstream journalists and academic scholars, that traditionally take a more liberal view on the world. Since Trump became president, this reflexive anti-intellectualism has redoubled as the network has engaged in an all-out campaign to support and bolster Trump by discrediting his many enemies. Who are Trump’s enemies? Anyone who contradicts, criticizes, or disagrees with him, for one thing; anyone who insists on citing objective, observable facts to challenge the president’s narcissistic, narrative-driven worldview. Seen through that lens, the network’s subpar coverage of the coronavirus is just another example of Fox doing what it does best: carrying water for a dangerously unqualified president by encouraging their viewers to believe that Trump’s personal grievances are and should be their own. Aggravating in the best of times, this rhetorical strategy is downright unforgivable now, when lives are in the immediate balance and the difference between accurate and inaccurate information could literally mean the difference between saving those lives or losing them."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-44656756641705165372020-03-14T23:23:00.002-07:002020-03-14T23:23:09.517-07:00Watch Katie Porter Relentlessly Grill CDC Chief Into Saying ‘Yes’ to Free COVID-19 Tests<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/watch-katie-porter-grill-cdc-director-coronavirus-966572/" target="_blank">https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/watch-katie-porter-grill-cdc-director-coronavirus-966572/</a><br />
"Using a whiteboard and a deep breadth of knowledge regarding the costs of testing for the coronavirus, Representative Katie Porter peppered Trump administration officials into submission, finally causing them to cry uncle and commit to free testing for Americans “regardless of insurance"."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-58391220137945326712020-03-14T23:16:00.001-07:002020-03-14T23:16:20.114-07:00Threat Of Crush Of Coronavirus Cases Calls For Creative Solutions<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tLdCl2ebS_U" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-68848508892567124112020-03-14T23:10:00.001-07:002020-03-14T23:10:08.357-07:00Fox News hosts and others scoffed at COVID-19 warnings, putting their own audience in danger<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/12/1926909/-Fox-News-hosts-and-others-scoffed-at-COVID-19-warnings-putting-their-own-audience-in-danger" target="_blank">https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/12/1926909/-Fox-News-hosts-and-others-scoffed-at-COVID-19-warnings-putting-their-own-audience-in-danger</a><br />
"It will unfortunately not be up to us to enforce consequences for the widespread disinformation campaign that has been peddled to the American public by Fox News, richly-paid and now wealthy Fox News hosts, and the wide, greasy underbelly of the conservative conspiracy movement. That is on their own conservative audiences. They will have to realize who has lied to them and who has not, and assign blame, and get angry, and seek punishments. In the meantime, social distancing may mean avoiding not just crowds, but Fox News viewers. If that identifiable segment of the population is not taking the threat of the virus seriously even now, due to the blustering of wealthy, pompous hosts who don't give a particular damn which of their own audience members are put at risk by their false information, "conservative" becomes a disease vector. That is not an exaggeration. You know it, and I know it."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-28536214356792922452020-03-14T23:06:00.003-07:002020-03-14T23:06:21.411-07:00Who could have predicted Trump would be such a bad crisis manager? Everyone, actually.<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/12/who-could-have-predicted-trump-would-be-such-bad-crisis-manager-everyone-actually/" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/12/who-could-have-predicted-trump-would-be-such-bad-crisis-manager-everyone-actually/</a><br />
"Who could have predicted that Trump would be such an incompetent crisis manager? Pretty much everyone, actually. Yet nearly 63 million Americans voted for him anyway — and the Republican-controlled Senate refused to convict and remove him in January for his impeachable conduct. The entire country is now paying for those colossally irresponsible decisions as we face the worst crisis since 9/11 under the bungling leadership of the worst president in modern times."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-31749405029285062422020-03-14T23:01:00.001-07:002020-03-14T23:01:01.930-07:00Trump Says ‘I Don't Take Responsibility’ For Coronavirus Failures<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cd-4DooS9a0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-85320734096288215302020-03-14T22:54:00.001-07:002020-03-14T22:54:32.311-07:00How Trump's Mistakes Made Coronavirus Worse <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9smrAASOxj8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-661962871033329108.post-50562994071140909892020-03-14T22:47:00.003-07:002020-03-14T22:47:24.376-07:00America is paying the price for Trump’s arrogance — again<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-principle-contribution-to-combating-the-coronavirus-chaos-and-confusion/2020/03/13/3b2de1f6-64aa-11ea-b3fc-7841686c5c57_story.html" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-principle-contribution-to-combating-the-coronavirus-chaos-and-confusion/2020/03/13/3b2de1f6-64aa-11ea-b3fc-7841686c5c57_story.html</a><br />
"It takes arrogance and ignorance in equal measure to mislead yourself into thinking that everything can be spun, and that governing is nothing more than dealmaking. Simply stated: Donald Trump may (possibly) know the development business, but he doesn’t know diddly-squat about how to govern. The country is paying the price."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com