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From the Daily Beast: Trump Leads Pro-Plague States of America to a COVID Civil War BREAKING OUT He is telling us plainly that he will stoke civil unrest and further harm public health to find a political pathway out of a galactic-scale ****-up of his own making. Rick Wilson Editor-At-Large Updated Apr. 17, 2020 11:12PM ET / Published Apr. 17, 2020 8:54PM ET Donald Trump fired the first shots in the COVID Civil War this week, a modern-day Jefferson Davis of the Pro-Plague States of America sending his opening salvo from Fort Twitter at Democratic governors who dared to question if it wasn’t just a wee bit early to end the stay-at-home orders in states still far to the left of the peak. He started the week with claims of “total authority” and then cried about a supposed mutiny by mouthy state leaders. By Friday, he was up to calls to “liberate” states. Who does he want people to rise up against, exactly: People who don't want to die? People who don't want protesters spreading a deadly disease that's already killed 34,000 Americans? Governors who swore an oath to serve their states and protect their citizens? Science? Medicine? Michael Tomasky

Don't you need two for an argument?

Not everyone has the ability to shop once per week, but it would make things better if they did. There are those who do not have vehicles and bring home food almost daily because that's all they can carry. Save-On foods and other stores are advertising "free" home delivery and curbside pickup but you need to place your order a week in advance. In general though, I ventured out to Canadian Tire and Home Depot today and was stuck by the politeness and good humour of everyone, although having to push a cart around to pick up a small can of paint seemed silly.

These sort of things are just the tip of the iceberg so far as the right wing/GOP/Tea Party/Trump are willing to go. They have money and willing pawns who might as well wear brown shirts.

This ought to put an end to the debate about restrictions but it won't.

I have seen confederate flag stickers on Alberta vehicles, so go figure. Apparently there is something attractive about racism and slavery.

Trump has already dropped broad hints that he expects his followers to resort to violence if/when he is turfed. He will deny encouraging them, but the understanding is clear. After all, they are "fine people".

From www.thedailybeast.com U.S. Virus Deaths Hit Horrifying One-Day Record: 4,591 UNSPEAKABLE PAIN Tom Sykes Updated Apr. 17, 2020 7:20AM ET / Published Apr. 17, 2020 4:17AM EDT Pedro Vilela The number of reported deaths in the U.S. hit a grim new high on Thursday, spiking to nearly double the previous record during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 24 hours ending at 8 p.m. ET Thursday, 4,591 people were reported to have died from coronavirus; the prior daily record was 2,569, on Wednesday. In total, there have been more than 33,000 deaths in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. Global deaths now top 144,000.

From www.dailybeast.com In a disturbing new series of tweets, President Trump on Friday urged Americans to “liberate” three U.S. states that are run by Democratic governors amid protests over coronavirus shutdowns. The three tweets took aim at Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia. “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” one tweet read. Trump on Thursday refused to criticize protesters in some states, including Michigan, who are flouting stay-at-home orders and social-distancing guidelines amid the deadly pandemic. “I think they’re listening, I think they listen to me,” he said. “They seem to be protesters that like me and respect this opinion, and my opinion is the same as just about all of the governors.” Trump has gone back and forth on who should have the ultimate authority to reopen state’s economies. On Monday, he claimed he has “total” power as president, while on Thursday he insisted governors would be able to “tailor [an] approach that meets the diverse circumstances of their own states”—the same day the U.S. deaths from COVID-19 hit a record 4,591 people.

Most of the money earmarked for small business has been diverted to mega corporations. United airlines got 58 billion dollars and then started laying people off by the thousands. With Trump having fired most Inspectors General, there is minimal oversight, if any.

From www.Dailygrail.com Army Decides a Pandemic Is a Good Time to Give GOP Donors $569 Million to ‘Build the Wall’ MONEY PRINTER GO BRRR What coronavirus crisis? Big Republican donors get a half-billion dollar, no-bid deal that one watchdog calls “a travesty that must be investigated and audited immediately.” Spencer Ackerman Noah Shachtman William Bredderman Updated Apr. 17, 2020 7:35AM ET / Published Apr. 16, 2020 8:30PM ET In the middle of a pandemic that has killed 27,000 Americans and counting, the Army this week gave a politically connected Montana firm half a billion dollars—not to manufacture ventilators or protective gear to fight the novel coronavirus, but to build 17 miles of President Trump’s southern border wall. On Tuesday, the Army Corps of Engineers announced it awarded BFBC, an affiliate of Barnard Construction, $569 million in contract modifications for building “17.17 miles” of the wall in two California locations, El Centro and San Diego. That works out to over $33 million per mile—steeply above the $20 million-per-mile average that the Trump administration is already doling out for the wall. Construction is supposed to be completed by the end of June 2021. And it’s only the latest wall contract the firm has gotten. BFBC, a reliable contributor to Republican politicians, has gotten over $1 billion in taxpayer money in less than a year to build a mere 37 miles worth of wall. Scott Amey, the general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, urged federal watchdogs to investigate the new BFBC contract.

Look at the possible bright side- they might throttle each other.

And the protest was organized by the family of one Betsy Devos, Trump's Secretary of Education who has been fiercely busy licensing private schools with generous grants for startups and many of these took the startup money and are no longer to be found anywhere. Many millions have evaporated.

Lotsa people in lotsa places are beavering away on a cure, but no one is any closer than 12 months.

Yesterday I heard that Google and Microsoft are jointly developing a phone app that will track if you are or have been in proximity to one person or another. On one hand, it may be a good way to backtrack spreaders of infection to identify where it came from but I can foresee all manner of potentials for abuse by authorities and hackers.

Apparently the right-wing nuts in the States have been encouraging their followers to go out in public with no masks or distancing to "prove" that this is all a hoax. And if they die off in large numbers, it will validate Darwin and improve the gene pool at the same time.

From www.Alternet.org Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed Tuesday that former first lady Michelle Obama’s support for mail-in voting could “destroy” American democracy. “Former first lady Michelle Obama is using this crisis to promote the radical expansion of nationwide voting by mail,” Carlson said. “Citizens could request ballots online and then print them at home. Now, no serious person at the national level has ever suggested doing that before, because of course, it would instantly destroy the public’s faith in election outcomes, and hence, our democracy. But if there was ever a time to sneak something this disruptive past a beleaguered and distracted population, this is it.”

But Melania decided to fly to the New England states this weekend for fun. But that's OK because rules do not apply to Trump or his family.

Oh, would that this were so, but alas. The rich and powerful in the US have had their way for so long and had the support of politicians and media that I would bet that they are not concerned in the least.

Some far-right extremists, from talk show host Glenn Beck to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have been making the argument that if more COVID-19 fatalities are what it takes to get the U.S. economy up and running again, so be it. And this week, Rep. Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana joined the chorus of Republicans and far-right wingnuts who are claiming that letting more Americans die might be necessary to save the economy. During an April 14 appearance on Indiana’s WIBC-FM, Hollingsworth asserted, “The social scientists are telling us about the economic disaster that is going on. Our (gross domestic product) is supposed to be down 20% alone this quarter. It is policymakers’ decision to put on our big boy and big girl pants and say: it is the lesser of these two evils. It is not zero evil, but it is the lesser of these two evils — and we intend to move forward (in) that direction. That is our responsibility, and to abdicate that is to insult the Americans that voted us into office.” Hollingsworth also told WIBC-FM, “There is no zero-harm choice here. We are going to have to look Americans in the eye and say, ‘We are making the best decisions for the most Americans possible’ — and the answer to that to get Americans back to work, to get Americans back to their businesses.”

If anyone does not yet think that America is well and truly screwed so long as Trump is president and for several years thereafter just has to watch the news. To me, it is staggering that so many Americans still support Trump after all this crap. It shows me how dictators can come to power in places like Germany and Italy. and today Steve Mnuchin said today that people can live on $1200 for 10 weeks.

Trump's motivation for wanting to dismantle the USPS is becoming clear- no USPS, no mail in ballots, and only in-person voting would be possible. that would favour the GOP's voter suppression tactics. Now he wants to use a never-before used power to dismiss both the senate and Congress so he can appoint a lot of people without legislative oversight. He is behaving more and more like a dictator and will only get worse as the November elections loom and he realizes that he will lose and lose badly.

You gotta find someone to blame when your administration is flubbling its response to a crisis- that's a page from the Trump playbook.

When you elect a clown, you get the circus.

What do you have against Communist midgets?