Hot spots erupt in farm belt states where governors insist lockdowns aren't needed

Source: Politico

The only hospital in Grand Island, Neb., is full. The mayor has asked for a statewide stay-at-home order that the GOP governor insists isn’t needed. More than one-third of those tested for coronavirus in the surrounding county are positive — and there aren’t enough tests to go around.

Grand Island is the fourth-biggest city in a state President Donald Trump and his top health officials repeatedly name check for keeping the virus at bay without the strict lockdowns 42 other states have imposed.

Except that new cases there and in Iowa, South Dakota and other parts of the heartland are starting to spike, raising concern about new hot spots that could quash Trump’s push to reopen the economy and extend the public health crisis well into the summer.


Trump and red state governors for weeks have fairly bragged about how large parts of the farm belt have escaped the ravages of the virus without the enforced shelter-in-place policies common on both coasts. It’s still unclear whether the states actually “flattened the curve,” or if the virus just reached there later. But now, cases are erupting, threatening a local population that doesn’t always have easy access to the same health care as more urban areas. And the outbreaks are striking the heart of the nation’s farming and meatpacking industry, potentially disrupting the national distribution of food as meat processing plants close down and truckers who move food across the country are sidelined by illness.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/coronavirus-hot-spots-farm-belt-189272

Exactly right...

The fed purchasing of high yield not only allows risky companies to sell bonds at lower rates than they should be, but hedge funds who own those same bonds turnaround and sell them to the fed, take the cash and buy up stocks chasing the stock market higher.

If you look at stock valuations right now, one could make the argument that the stock market is not only more overvalued now than it was at the all time high in feb, but it’s even more overvalued than the dot com bubble. This is because forward earnings have crashed due to the coming depression. The forward earnings crash is sending p/e valuations higher.

There’s so much money out there and it’s going to all the wrong places. Our economy cannot efficiently allocate capital and give it to the right people.. Everything is broken.

Critics Mock Trump's Imaginary 'Authorizing' Order to State Govs: 'I Am Authorizing the Sun to Rise'

By Ken Meyer
Apr 14th, 2020, 10:13 pm

President Donald Trump drew a barrage of ridicule online for “authorizing” state governors to reopen their states from coronavirus lockdowns — at their own discretion.

As Trump held his daily coronavirus briefing at the White House on Tuesday, he announced that he “will be speaking to all 50 governors very shortly, and I will then be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening, very powerful reopening plan of their state in a time in a manner which is most appropriate.” He also said that he wouldn’t put “any pressure” on governors to decide when the time is right to reopen their states.

Trump’s comments are a considerable backtrack from just 24 hours earlier, when he claimed “total” authority to decide when the country’s economy goes back to normal. This claim has been broadly criticized for its conflicts with American federalism and states’ rights as outlined in the 10th Amendment.

As such, political observers noted that Trump was rhetorically bestowing powers to state governors that they already possessed, and there was plenty of mockery thrown into the mix:

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https://twitter.com/kimmasters/status/1250219882215440384

Read more....

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/online-critics-mercilessly-parody-trumps-imaginary-authorizing-order-to-state-govs-i-am-authorizing-the-sun-to-rise/

Liberty University Hit with Class Action Lawsuit

Source: Politicalwire

Liberty University students filed a class action lawsuit against the school alleging that the university and it’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., placed “students at severe physical risk and refused to refund thousands of dollars in fees owed to them for the Spring 2020 semester,” the New York Times reports.

Falwell downplayed the pandemic for weeks before finally announcing a shift to online instruction in late March. However, the school invited students to stay in its residence halls and will only give students a $1,000 credit if the leave campus.

Read more: https://politicalwire.com/2020/04/14/liberty-university-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit/

Trump's epic failures aren't going unnoticed around the world.

Indian News Anchor Eviscerates Trump For Demanding Malarial Drug: He’s ‘Bullying Allies’ After ‘Failing Miserably’ to Control the Virus
By Charlie Nash
Apr 14th, 2020, 12:28 pm

Indian news channel WION attacked President Donald Trump last week for threatening India if they don’t export the anti-malarial drug hydroxycloroquine, which has been alleged to help treat coronavirus patients.

In the segment, WION host Palki Sharma accused President Trump of “bullying allies” after “failing miserably at controlling the Wuhan virus.”

“Our cover story tonight is about a president who is disconnected with reality. A president who is failing miserably. A president who was in denial about this pandemic,” declared Sharma, noting, “Things became so bad that a Russian military plane landed in America with medical supplies made by a company that the U.S. had sanctioned.”

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“A retaliation. That is what the U.S. president is threatening. First, a botched up response, and now such bluster. America has more than 370,000 cases cases of the coronavirus, the highest in the world, they’re failing miserably at controlling the Wuhan virus, and now Donald Trump is looking for a fall guy,” Sharma continued. “The president is blaming everybody but himself. Trump wants to show that he is in control. Unfortunately for him, not many believe this.”


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Sharma went on to accused Trump of “bullying allies” and “demanding supplies” on the threat of retaliation as a response to receiving backlash for acting “too late,” and in the segment also described the United States’ delayed coronavirus response as “negligence” and “criminal.”

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/indian-news-anchor-eviscerates-trump-for-demanding-malarial-drug-hes-bullying-allies-after-failing-miserably-to-control-the-virus/

10 times Trump and his administration were warned about coronavirus

President Trump's tone on the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically shifted in the last month as the illness has swept across the U.S., which has now reported more confirmed cases than any country in the world.

Reporting from Axios, the New York Times, Washington Post, AP and other media outlets has revealed that Trump and his administration were repeatedly warned about the threat that the virus could pose to American lives and the economy. Earlier action could have curbed the spread.

The first case of COVID-19 reached the U.S. on Jan. 15. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic on March 11. Trump declared the U.S. outbreak a national emergency on March 13.

On Jan. 18, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar first briefed Trump on the threat of the virus in a phone call, the New York Times reports. Trump made his first public comments about the virus on Jan. 22, saying he was not concerned about a pandemic and that "we have it totally under control."

Read more:

https://www.axios.com/trump-coronavirus-warnings-46ea8006-2e19-4810-82c1-0f10f4f9aa97.html

Trump is using the national stockpile as a ventilator slush fund to help Republicans get re-elected

For the second time this week, President Donald Trump granted a vulnerable Republican lawmaker’s request to provide their state with ventilators, leading critics to attribute political motivations to the president’s allocation of scarce life-saving medical resources.

Arizona’s Republican Gov. Doug Ducey on Friday declared that the state had secured 100 ventilators from the federal government’s Strategic National Stockpile to help the state respond to an expected spike in COVID-19 coronavirus cases. In announcing the acquisition of the lifesaving equipment, Gov. Ducey specifically thanked President Trump for providing the machines and thanks Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) for lobbying the president on the issue.

“Huge news for Arizona! I spoke with [President Trump] on Wednesday afternoon to request additional ventilators from the Strategic National Stockpile,” McSally wrote. “Today, POTUS delivers with 100 ventilators headed to AZ. Thank you to President Trump and [Vice President Mike Pence] for hearing our call.”

As previously reported by Law&Crime this week, the Trump administration stopped Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis from privately purchasing 500 ventilators, claiming them for the National Stockpile. Trump then announced on Wednesday that he was sending Colorado 100 of the ventilators, but in doing so, the president made it clear that he was doing so at the request of Republican Sen. Cory Gardner.

Both Colorado and Arizona are considered swing states in the upcoming 2020 election and Sens. McSally and Gardner are both in toss-up elections that hold the Senate majority in the balance.


https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/critics-say-trump-is-using-stockpile-as-ventilator-slush-fund-for-republican-lawmakers/

It's no coincidence that the United States now leads the world in COVID-19 deaths and infections

The country leading the world in COVID-19 deaths and infections is the one country being led by a six-time bankrupt failed frozen steak salesman and reality tv gameshow host who ran a fraudulent university and cheated on his third wife with a porn star.

This is not a coincidence.

Fox & Friends Host Tests POSITIVE for Covid-19

One of the co-hosts of the weekend edition of President Donald Trump’s favorite morning show, “Fox & Friends,” revealed Thursday on Instagram that she had tested positive for COVID-19.

“I know I’ve been a little MIA,” Jedediah Bila wrote. “I’m actually at home recovering from Covid-19. I’m very much on the mend, so please don’t worry. My husband is also recovering well at home and Hartley luckily did not get sick (Thank you, God, I am forever grateful.) This is a crazy time in the world, full of so much anxiety and fear. I’ve learned so much this past week and done so much thinking.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/fox-and-friends-co-host-tests-positive-for-covid-19/

Mike Luckovich: Voting Danger