Huge, Fantastic Presidential News Breaking This Morning!!

It's yet another tough, tough day for the Trumpster today, campers. Check out this incredible, breaking news from just this morning 

Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon arrested on fraud charges in border wall fundraising scheme

Federal prosecutors say Bannon and three associates illegally funneled money from the “We Build The Wall” fund

Truly incredible. And wonderful.

Not done there, yet more good---no, great news.

Judge rejects Trump’s latest bid to shield his tax records from Manhattan district attorney

NEW YORK — President Trump’s latest attempt to block the Manhattan district attorney from obtaining his tax records was rejected by a federal judge Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero threw out the latest lawsuit brought by Trump’s lawyers which had argued that a subpoena to Mazars USA, Trump’s accounting firm, was “overbroad” in its request for documents and that it amounted to “harassment.” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. argued repeatedly that the subpoena, issued by a grand jury, was legally valid and tied to a legitimate criminal investigation.

And then one last breaking story today.

Prosecutors looking to reinstate indictment against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for mortgage fraud

The case was initially dismissed due to its similarity to the federal charges

The Manhattan District Attorney's office fought Thursday to reinstate the indictment against President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to court documents filed in the case.

Manafort had been charged in New York for allegedly conducting a yearlong residential mortgage fraud scheme before the case was dismissed in December due to its similarity to earlier federal charges.

The Manhattan DA's office argued, according to court filings, that the state's double jeopardy law contains an exception that would allow the case to proceed.

Isn't it a beautiful day, ladies and gentlemen?

So. herewith, a summary of this Trump, very Republican Party administration so far, to date:

• Rick Gates: Convicted
• Paul Manafort: Convicted
• George Papadopoulos: Convicted
• Mike Flynn: Convicted
• Michael Cohen: Convicted
• Roger Stone: Convicted
• Steve Bannon: Arrested, charged with fraud
• Donald Trump: Impeached

"Only the best people..."

"So much winning..."

Thanks, Mr. President!

Thanks, Republicans!

86 45

BYEDON

VOTE!!

And VOTE BLUE!!

My Biggest Concern About This President--and His Political Party

"The Week" hit the nail on the head currently.

The Fabric of America Is Coming Apart

No overstatement, no exaggeration. A bit from the article:

Mass unrest engulfed cities across the United States over the weekend, as thousands of people protested the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd and police typically responded with violence. In some relatively isolated cases, riots and looting broke out — including in Washington, D.C., where President Trump turned off the lights at the White House and hid in a bunker.

It seems the United States was a powder keg just waiting for a spark. Police incompetence and brutality — carried out at enormous expense to the American taxpayer — have only added to the intolerable daily burden of poverty and misery experienced by the American working class, particularly its black and brown members. The fabric of America is coming apart.

Race protests and riots in the middle of the worst, most killing international pandemic the world has seen in over 100 years, with yet more tax cuts for the already-wealthy, with heavy spending to help Americans during the pandemic and so, heavy, heavy national debt, with absurdly low tax rates for the already-wealthy and corporations and so much more. We have problems, America.

Then this President is fomenting yet more violence, virtually each time he speaks, in the worst racial protests we've seen since the Rodney King riots of 1992, if not the Watts riots in the middle 60s.

Then Paul Krugman penned a similarly themed article for the New York Times.

Trump Takes Us to the Brink

A bit from it:

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that America as we know it is on the brink.

How did we get here? The core story of U.S. politics over the past four decades is that wealthy elites weaponized white racism to gain political power, which they used to pursue policies that enriched the already wealthy at workers’ expense.

Until Trump’s rise it was possible — barely — for people to deny this reality with a straight face. At this point, however, it requires willful blindness not to see what’s going on.

...I still see occasional news reports that describe Trump as a “populist.” But Trump’s economic policies have been the opposite of populist: They have been relentlessly plutocratic, centered largely on a successful effort to ram through huge tax cuts for corporations and the rich, and a so far unsuccessful attempt to take health insurance away from poor and working-class families.

Nor have Trump’s trade wars brought back the good jobs of yore. Even before the coronavirus plunged us into depression, Trump had failed to deliver major employment growth in coal mining or manufacturing. And farmers, who supported Trump by large margins in 2016, have suffered huge losses thanks to his trade wars.

So what has Trump really offered to the white working class that makes up most of his base? Basically, he has provided affirmation and cover for racial hostility.

We have so, so many problems, so many national issues and we're not addressing them.

Meanwhile, this was his Tweet today, 2 hours ago:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump·

D.C. had no problems last night. Many arrests. Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination. Likewise, Minneapolis was great (thank you President Trump!).

The nation is coming apart and he can only pat himself on the back. Stunning.

We know what needs to happen:

Trump must be removed. 

So must his congressional enablers.

What is most encouraging to me is that this article, this opinion piece was penned by uber conservative, ultra-Republican Party supporting George Will, not some "Leftist", Liberal member of the Democratic Party. Mr. Will has been writing similar pieces since Trump has been in office, at least. He sees this man Trump for what and who he is and knows its bad, really bad, for the nation.

Here's hoping, folks.

We have to take our nation back. We have to take it back for the people.

Vote. Always vote. And yes, you guessed it, vote blue.

We can do this.

We must.

With This Pandemic, President Trump Has Now Officially, Publicly Become Dangerous, Part I

So this President Trump said the World Health Organization, the WHO, didn't advise us soon enough and they misrepresented things? Then, in the middle of this worst, most deadly, killing pandemic in the last 100 years, cut their funding from us, the US.  Here's proof he's wrong. So very, very wrong.

First of all, here's what he did.

Trump tells a damnable 
and murderous lie

“It would have been so easy to be truthful.”

Thus spake President Trump this week on the very day he surpassed the milestone of uttering 18,000 falsehoods during his presidency, as tallied by the Post’s Fact Checker.

But on this day, Trump was not admitting to losing his own struggle with the truth. He was accusing the World Health Organization of “covering up the spread of the coronavirus” and failing to “share information in a timely and transparent fashion.” He declared he was cutting off funding for the world’s public health body in the middle of a pandemic.

The next day he called the WHO a “tool of China” and floated the vile conspiracy theory that the WHO deliberately concealed the danger of the virus: “There’s something going on” at the WHO “that’s very bad,” and "I have a feeling they knew exactly what was going on.”

This is not merely a falsehood. This is a damnable and murderous lie.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is all the proof to show this President is wrong.

A Timeline Of Coronavirus Comments From President Trump And WHO

From NPR.

On Tuesday, President Trump said he's suspending U.S. funding for the World Health Organization. He said the agency has "mismanaged" the pandemic, has been slow to respond to the crisis and is "China-centric."

We looked at the public record to see what Trump and the WHO had to say over the past 15 weeks about the coronavirus pandemic. Here's a timeline highlighting key quotes.

Jan. 5

The WHO reported a "pneumonia of unknown cause" in Wuhan, China.

The health organization advised against restrictions to China: "WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China based on the current information available on this event."

Jan. 9

The WHO released a statement announcing the source of the disease: "Chinese authorities have made a preliminary determination of a novel (or new) coronavirus, identified in a hospitalized person with pneumonia in Wuhan."

It added: "In the coming weeks, more comprehensive information is required to understand the current status and epidemiology of the outbreak, and the clinical picture."

Jan. 14

WHO officials gave conflicting signals about whether there is human-to-human transmission. At a press conference in Geneva, Maria Van Kerkhove of WHO's emerging diseases unit told a Reuters reporter: "From the information that we have it is possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission, potentially among families, but it is very clear right now that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission." However, that same day WHO tweeted a different take, stating that "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China" and also told an NPR reporter that Van Kerkhove had been misunderstood and there was in fact no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Jan. 22

Asked by CNBC whether there were any concerns about the virus spreading to the U.S., Trump responded: "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."

Jan. 23

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement that it was too early to declare the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. "Make no mistake. This is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one."

Jan. 24

In a tweet, Trump praised China for its efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!"

Jan. 29

Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said, "The whole world needs to be on alert now. The whole world needs to take action and be ready for any cases that come from the epicenter or other epicenter that becomes established."

Jan. 30

At a campaign rally in Iowa, Trump talked about the U.S. partnership with China to control the disease. "We only have five people. Hopefully, everything's going to be great. They have somewhat of a problem, but hopefully, it's all going to be great. But we're working with China, just so you know, and other countries very, very closely. So it doesn't get out of hand."

Tedros announced that the outbreak had become a "public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of novel coronavirus."

Feb. 2

In an interview with Sean Hannity, Trump said, "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China." His executive order banning anyone who has been in China in the previous 14 days — with exceptions, including for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and their close family members — went into effect.

Feb. 4

At a WHO briefing, Tedros urged that there be no travel bans. "We reiterate our call to all countries not to impose restrictions that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade. Such restrictions can have the effect of increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit. ... Where such measures have been implemented, we urge that they are short in duration, proportionate to the public health risks and are reconsidered regularly as the situation evolves."

Feb. 10

At a campaign rally in Manchester, N.H., Trump said: "Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that's true. But we're doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi, and they're working very, very hard. And I think it's going to all work out fine."

Feb. 11

At a WHO briefing, Tedros urged world leaders to give priority to containing the virus: "To be honest, a virus is more powerful in creating political, economic and social upheaval than any terrorist attack. A virus can have more powerful consequences than any terrorist action, and that's true. If the world doesn't want to wake up and consider this enemy virus as Public Enemy Number 1, I don't think we will learn our lessons."

Feb. 13

In an interview with Geraldo Rivera, Trump characterized the threat of the virus in the U.S. by saying: "In our country, we only have, basically, 12 cases, and most of those people are recovering and some cases fully recovered. So it's actually less."

Feb. 24

In a tweet, Trump wrote, "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!"

Feb. 26

In a news conference, Trump said: "When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done."

Feb. 28

The WHO raises the global risk of the coronavirus from "high" to "very high."

March 5

In a WHO briefing, Tedros praised China and the U.S. for taking "the right approach." He said: "After our visit to Beijing and seeing China's approach, and President Xi leading that, and also in the U.S., President Trump himself, and also for regular coordination, designating the vice president. These are the approaches we're saying are the right ones, and these are the approaches we're saying are going to mobilize the whole government."

In a Fox News town hall, Trump said, "It's going to all work out. Everybody has to be calm. It's all going to work out."

March 10

In a meeting with Republican senators at the U.S. Capitol, Trump said, "This was unexpected. ... And it hit the world. And we're prepared, and we're doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away."

March 11

Trump said in an Oval Office address: "The vast majority of Americans, the risk is very, very low."

Tedros said the WHO had "made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic."

March 16

"You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don't know who is infected," Tedros said at a briefing in Geneva. He added, "We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test. Test every suspected case."

At a press briefing, Trump issued orders to control the spread of the virus in the U.S.: "My administration is recommending that all Americans, including the young and healthy, work to engage in schooling from home when possible. Avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people. Avoid discretionary travel. And avoid eating and drinking at bars, restaurants and public food courts. If everyone makes this change or these critical changes and sacrifices now, we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus. And we're going to have a big celebration all together. With several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner and turn it quickly."

March 17

Trump told reporters: "This is a pandemic. ... I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."

March 21

Trump tweeted about potential coronavirus treatments: "HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)....."

March 23

In a WHO briefing, Tedros said, "Using untested medicines without the right evidence could raise false hope and even do more harm than good."

He also said that the "pandemic is accelerating. ... It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000 cases and just four days for the third 100,000 cases."

March 24

Trump said: "Easter is a very special day for me. And I see it sort of in that timeline that I'm thinking about. And I say, wouldn't it be great to have all of the churches full?"

March 26

"We are at war with a virus that threatens to tear us apart," said Tedros to world leaders in a special virtual summit on the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 6

Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said you can't lift a lockdown all at once. "You need to say, 'We will stop doing this element of the shutdown, and then we will wait, and we will look at the data. If that works, we go to the next stage and the next stage.' So a careful, calibrated stepwise exit from lockdown."

April 7

Trump criticized the WHO for mishandling the pandemic. "The WHO really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China-centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately, I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?"

April 8

"Please don't politicize this virus," Tedros said in a briefing in Geneva after he was asked about Trump's remarks the day before. He later urged political leaders to "please quarantine politicizing COVID."

April 14

"Today I am instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus," Trump said in a briefing at the White House.

April 15

"We regret the decision of the president of the United States to order a halt in funding to the World Health Organization," said Tedros at a news conference.

Responding to the U.S. accusations, Ryan of the WHO said, "In the first weeks of January, the WHO was very, very clear."

"We alerted the world on January the 5th," Ryan said. "Systems around the world, including the U.S., began to activate their incident management systems on January the 6th. And through the next number of weeks, we've produced multiple updates to countries, including briefing multiple governments, multiple scientists around the world, on the developing situation — and that is what it was, a developing situation."

In an interview with NPR that will air on April 16, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, stated: "[The World Health Organization] was not accurate. Had it been accurate, it would have slowed the virus and saved thousands of lives."

Jason Beaubien, Pien Huang, Ben de la Cruz, Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, Domenico Montanaro and Barbara Van Woerkom contributed to this report.

This President Trump has repeatedly been reckless and cavalier with facts.

With cutting funding to the WHO during this once in a lifetime, again, killing, deadly pandemic, he has become dangerous.

Further proof of President Trump being so very wrong.

State Department cables warned of safety issues at Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses

It's as I said some time ago. Richard Nixon had nothing on this guy.

We need to vote this guy, this President, out come November. Him and all who support him.

Further proof of his being dangerous later today, in my next post at 3 pm Central here.

Link:

In COVID Briefings, Trump Again Relies On Both Shock And Strategic Retreat

Star Gives Us Ways We Can Help Locally

Okay, so we're all in an international pandemic no one would have ever imagined, we're in a stay at home order and we have time on our hands.

With that, are there ways we can help, help one another, locally, and hopefully use all this time we have on our hands?

The answer is yes, of course, and our own Kansas City Star gave us ways to do just that in Sunday's paper.

Your money, your blood, your time: 

How to help Kansas City during COVID-19 crisis

Herewith:

Perhaps you’re looking for ways to make a difference during this COVID-19 crisis that has affected us all. The possibilities are endless.

You can simply donate to worthwhile causes. That would be one way to get the most good out of the government’s stimulus checks set to arrive in the coming weeks.

Your funds can assist charities that are on the front lines of the ongoing pandemic battle (disaster-relief organizations, hospitals and other health-related groups) as well as those that help people struggling to survive. Food pantries and other charities such as the Salvation Army are requesting donations of food, clothing and other basic-need items.

But don’t forget the many organizations that have been devastated by the virtual shutdown of the economy and are struggling to stay afloat until a return to normalcy. Think the arts, restaurants and entertainers.

Your time is also valuable. Many organizations are looking for volunteers during this time of need.

But perhaps the most basic way to make a difference is simply to be a good neighbor or citizen.

The Star has compiled a list of ideas and resources, which we’ll add to as more become available. Please give us your ideas by emailing calendar@kcstar.com.

HELP THE HUNGRY

Harvesters, harvesters.org/givetime

Don Bosco Senior Center, donbosco.org

Food Equality Initiative, foodequalityinitiative.org

MCC Food Pantry locations, mcckc.edu/counseling/food-pantries

St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. Therese Church, sttheresenorth.org/svdpfoodpantry

Thelma’s Kitchen at Reconciliation Services, thelmaskitchen.org

Meals on Wheels, mealsonwheelsamerica.org (search by ZIP code)

Feeding America, feedingamerica.org

No Kid Hungry, nokidhungry.org

Operation BBQ Relief, operationbbqrelief.org

GIVE BLOOD

Community Blood Center has canceled blood drives but has expanded hours at its seven donor centers around the area (no walk-ins). Donors can schedule appointments at 877-468-6844 or savealifenow.org.

The American Red Cross of Greater Kansas City is taking appointments at 800­-733-2767 or redcrossblood.org.

HELP THE HOMELESS

Agencies need funding, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, soap and food. Veterans Community Project, at 8900 Troost Ave., is accepting donations, which will be distributed to agencies throughout the community. veteranscommunityproject.org

City Union Mission, cityunionmission.org

Community LINC, communitylinc.org

Cross-Lines Community Outreach, cross-lines.org

Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness, gkcceh.org/community-closures-and-openings

Hope Faith Homeless Assistance Campus, hopefaithministries.org

Restart, restartinc.org

ASSIST RESTAURANT WORKERS

Curbside KC (order food for pickup), curbsidekc.com

BaristaKC Virtual Tip Jar, linktr.ee/baristakc

Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation, restaurantworkerscf.org

James Beard Food & Beverage Industry Relief Fund, jamesbeard.org/blog/relief-fund

Rally for Restaurants, rallyforrestaurants.com

Unite Here, unitehere.org/covid-19

HELP THE HELPERS

I Got You KC (donations and sponsorships for restaurants to provide meals for health-care workers and first responders), igotyoukc.com

SUPPORT ARTISTS AND ARTISANS

KC Spaces Fund, kcspacesfund.com

KCYA teaching artists, kcya.org/?page=artist-emergency-fund

Strawberry Swing makers’ products, thestrawberryswing.org

CERF+ visual artists, cerfplus.org/donate

Americans for the Arts Action Fund, artsactionfund.org

Support for local filmmakers, kcfilmoffice.com

MAKE/DONATE FACE MASKS

Some health-care providers, such as the University of Kansas Health System, say they can’t use homemade masks. But other groups, including Heart to Heart International and Johnson County’s emergency management team, welcome the donations.

Martin City Brewing Company tutorial, facebook.com/watch/?v=2606071786387858

The Whole Person, thewholeperson.org

Sandlot, sandlotgoods.com

JoAnn Craft Stores resources, joann.com/make-to-give-response

Johnson County is accepting donated cloth masks, jocogov.org

Million Mask Challenge, facebook.com/groups/millionmaskchallengekc

Rightfully Sewn, rightfullysewn.org

Buy one and one is donated to someone in our community, sewkc.com

GENERAL RESPONSE

Kansas City Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, growyourgiving.org/covid

Heart to Heart International, hearttoheart.org

Volunteer Johnson County, joco.samaritan.com

Salvation Army, centralusa.salvationarmy.org/mokan

American Red Cross, redcross.org/volunteer

Center for Disaster Philanthropy COVID-19 Response Fund, disasterphilanthropy.org

United Nations Foundation, unfoundation.org

World Health Organization COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, covid19responsefund.org

Doctors Without Borders, doctorswithoutborders.org

Partners in Health, pih.org/article/pihs-emergency-coronavirus-response

National Council on Aging, ncoa.org

Facebook will double your donation to the CDC Foundation’s coronavirus response support, facebook.com/cdcfoundation and give.cdcfoundation.org

OTHER RESOURCES

Direct Relief humanitarian aid organization, directrelief.org

Elder Helpers, elderhelpers.org

Find your local mutual-aid network, mutualaidhub.org

Charity rating sites, Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.org) and CharityWatch (charitywatch.org)

Catchafire online volunteer opportunities, catchafire.org

DO SOMETHING NICE

The following list was compiled from suggested activities by Doing Good Together (doinggoodtogether.org), a Minneapolis group that provides tools to help raise compassionate, engaged children, as well as The Washington Post and other online sources:

• Arrange for meals to be delivered to those working on the front lines, such as police, EMTs and hospital workers (first make sure they are allowed to accept food).
• Send a note of thanks to front line health-care workers.
• Call or text neighbors (especially older ones) to make sure they’re doing OK.
• Leave packaged, sealed treats or beverages by your front door as a way to thank delivery people.
• Start a neighborhood hunt (bear, tiger or whatever) in which residents put teddy bears (or whatever) in their windows for families on walks to watch for.
• Write encouraging messages in chalk on your sidewalk.
• Set up FaceTime and Skype sessions with relatives or acquaintances in assisted living facilities.
• Advocate on social media for individuals and organizations that need help.
• Support local businesses by buying gift cards.

So there you are.  A great, long and I think pretty comprehensive list of all the things we can maybe do to help one another during this very trying, difficult, even surprising time. 

Again, we have time on our hands.  Let's see if we can help one another out there. 

Go get 'em, Kansas City!

And kudos and thank you, Kansas City Star!

Y'all be well, be safe and STAY AT HOME!!

This President Deservedly Taking Big HIts Presently

Yes sir and ma'am, this (Republican Party) President Donald Trump is, deservedly, taking big, big hits presently in national and international media, given his handling of this coronaviurs pandemic. Following are just some of them, if also some of the toughest.

First, there is all this information---and ammunition.

US ‘wasted’ months before preparing for coronavirus pandemic

Just some of the details.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment.

A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies largely waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers....

...As early as mid-January, U.S. officials could see that hospitals in China’s Hubei province were overwhelmed with infected patients, with many left dependent on ventilator machines to breathe. Italy soon followed, with hospitals scrambling for doctors, beds and equipment.

HHS did not respond to questions about why federal officials waited to order medical supplies until stocks were running critically low. But President Donald Trump has asserted that the federal government should take a back seat to states when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.

Not to belabor this point but here's more:

How the WH mishandled first 70 days of coronavirus crisis

Added to all that is this:

President Trump Is Unfit for This Crisis. Period.

Only a portion of this article by Jennifer Senior.

...On Saturday, The Associated Press reported that Trump overruled his own health officials, who wanted to warn older Americans and the fragile against flying on commercial airlines. Our storied C.D.C., now annexed by politicians, continues to insist that only the most floridly symptomatic patients be tested for the virus. Even that remains a challenge: Last week, it refused to test an ailing nurse in Northern California who’d treated a positive patient, prompting the head of National Nurses United to read her story aloud at a news conference.

At a Friday news conference at the C.D.C., Trump told reporters that tests for the coronavirus were now available to anyone who needed one. Yet just afterward, we heard from governor after governor and doctor after doctor that this is categorically untrue, with states in dire need of more tests. “We have no local testing available,” Dr. Walter Mills, president of the California Academy of Family Physicians, told The San Jose Mercury News.

And of course, it was at that same news conference that Trump infamously said, “I like the numbers being where they are,” in explaining why he was reluctant to let passengers, some of whom have tested positive for the virus, off the Grand Princess cruise ship floating off California (it has since been given permission to dock in Oakland).

That news conference was, to me, the most frightening moment of the Trump presidency. His preening narcissism, his compulsive lying, his vindictiveness, his terror of germs and his terrifying inability to grasp basic science — all of it eclipsed his primary responsibilities to us as Americans, which was to provide urgent care, namely in the form of leadership.

It’s preposterous for Trump to resist determining how widespread this epidemic is. Yet right now, the United States isn’t reporting how many people have been tested; the C.D.C. pulled the number from its website. Late last week, an extraordinarily detailed article by The Atlantic, counting state by state, put that number at only 1,895. In South Korea, the number was more than 140,000. (Which Trump dismissed as “sampling.” It was not. It was testing, straight and simple.)
Because we’re testing only the sickest of the sick, the American fatality rate from the coronavirus is roughly 4 percent. It’s a frightening and highly deceptive number, even higher than China’s. (Most experts predict it’s likely to wind up at 0.5 percent, which is five times more deadly than the typical flu, and it could be as high as 1 percent.) But Trump has made the dangerous calculation that he’d prefer to keep the number of cases low than convey the full magnitude of contagion...

...We’re reckoning with a silent, invisible and potentially devastating public health crisis, and the government is refusing to tell us the facts, or what next steps to take, because it’s too concerned with optics to own up to its initial mishandling of the situation. On Friday morning, Trump crowed, “I think we’re in great shape.”...

...When it comes to Trump, truth, decency and self-possession have been in quarantine from the start.

Not done there, this President's had to fire a top leader in his/our intelligence community recently. It's not enough he has failed and is failing and so badly at our nation's response to a pandemic, he has to do this, too.

Why Donald Trump's firing of the Intelligence Community IG is so, so egregious

With all this ammunition, this writer comes to this conclusion a lot of us came to some time ago.

The worst president. Ever.

Writer Max Boot makes very good points. Here's why he's worst President ever.

The situation is so dire, it is hard to wrap your mind around it. The Atlantic notes: “During the Great Recession of 2007–2009, the economy suffered a net loss of approximately 9 million jobs. The pandemic recession has seen nearly 10 million unemployment claims in just two weeks.” The New York Times estimates that the unemployment rate is now about 13 percent, the highest since the Great Depression ended 80 years ago.

Far worse is the human carnage. We already have more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other country. Trump claimed on Feb. 26 that the outbreak would soon be “down to close to zero.” Now he argues that if the death toll is 100,000 to 200,000 — higher than the U.S. fatalities in all of our wars combined since 1945 — it will be proof that he’s done “a very good job.”

No, it will be a sign that he’s a miserable failure, because the coronavirus is the most foreseeable catastrophe in U.S. history. The warnings about the Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks were obvious only in retrospect. This time, it didn’t require any top-secret intelligence to see what was coming. The alarm was sounded in January by experts in the media and by leading Democrats including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Government officials were delivering similar warnings directly to Trump. A team of Post reporters wrote on Saturday: “The Trump administration received its first formal notification of the outbreak of the coronavirus in China on Jan. 3. Within days, U.S. spy agencies were signaling the seriousness of the threat to Trump by including a warning about the coronavirus —the first of many—in the President’s Daily Brief.” But Trump wasn’t listening.

The Post article is the most thorough dissection of Trump’s failure to prepare for the gathering storm. Trump was first briefed on the coronavirus by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Jan. 18. But, The Post writes, “Azar told several associates that the president believed he was ‘alarmist’ and Azar struggled to get Trump’s attention to focus on the issue.” When Trump was first asked publicly about the virus, on Jan. 22, he said, “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.”

In the days and weeks after Azar alerted him about the virus, Trump spoke at eight rallies and golfed six times as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

Trump’s failure to focus, The Post notes, “sowed significant public confusion and contradicted the urgent messages of public health experts.”

It also allowed bureaucratic snafus to go unaddressed — including critical failures to roll out enough tests or to stockpile enough protective equipment and ventilators.
Countries as diverse as Taiwan, Singapore, Canada, South Korea, Georgia and Germany have done far better — and will suffer far less. South Korea and the United States discovered their first cases on the same day. South Korea now has 183 dead — or 4 deaths per 1 million people. The U.S. death ratio (25 per 1 million) is six times worse — and rising quickly.

This fiasco is so monumental that it makes our recent failed presidents — George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter — Mount Rushmore material by comparison. Trump’s Friday night announcement that he’s firing the intelligence community inspector general who exposed his attempted extortion of Ukraine shows that he combines the ineptitude of a George W. Bush or a Carter with the corruption of Richard Nixon.

Trump is characteristically working hardest at blaming others — China, the media, governors, President Barack Obama, the Democratic impeachment managers, everyone but his golf caddie — for his blunders. His mantra is: “I don’t take responsibility at all.” It remains to be seen whether voters will buy his excuses. But whatever happens in November, Trump cannot escape the pitiless judgment of history.

To me, there leaves just one thing we have to say.

Thanks, Republicans!

Link, too, to his idiot staff's actions:

Peter Navarro on his qualifications to disagree with Dr. Anthony Fauci on coronavirus treatments: 'I'm a social scientist'

Next, a link to what our nation actually needs:

Doris Kearns Goodwin: Coronavirus Demands a Leader Like FDR

Finally, Prince Harry makes a very fair point, I think.

UK Prince Harry says Trump is one of the 'sick people' running the world

This President is right up there with North Korea's Kim Jong Un and the Philippines' Duterte I and a lot of us think.

Give 'em Hell, Harry.

A Big Day, Where We Are Now and Where Will We Go?

First, let's just say folks, today, that, not only was Republican party President Donald Trump impeached, ladies and gentlemen, but he was impeached bigly.

Trump was impeached with more votes against him than any other President

Yes sir and ma'am, he certainly does things "the best" as he promised he would. So much winning.

But let's be clear on this--

Impeachment isn’t Democrats vs. Republicans. It’s right vs. wrong.

Meanwhile, lots of us now know Mr. Trump can, will and does go ever lower. He said this last night at his political campaign rally.

After Trump suggests John Dingell is in hell, Rep. Debbie Dingell says: ‘My family’s still hurting’

He is stunning in his insensitivity, as he's shown in the past and repeatedly and now this. This is Rep. Dingell's and her family's first holiday season without their husband/father. It's just a matter of new lows for Mr. Trump.

Then, as if Trump and the Republicans aren't all bad enough and in enough of a bad situation, they got this support overnight.

Trump, Impeached in Washington, Is Defended by Putin in Moscow

Vladimir Putin Backs Trump, Calling Impeachment Charges 'Completely Made Up'

Russia's Vladimir Putin is practically, virtually making the Democrats' case for them here. Again. Stunning. You'd think President Trump and the Republicans would ask their buddy over there in Russia to clam up but hey, he's doing the Democrats' work them them. Thanks, Vlad, buddy!

This, however, is a disheartening, if not depressing thought.

To avoid removal, Trump only needs senators representing 7 percent of the country to support him

Fortunately, from the same article here, just above, is this: "The House vote, however, largely mirrored what Americans in those districts would have wanted."

Then there is the letter Mr. Trump sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a few days ago, just before the impeachment vote in the House.

Fact check: Trump’s letter is littered with falsehoods

Meanwhile, today, Senator Schumer--and lots of us--have a question for Mitch McConnell and, yes, this President.

Schumer rips McConnell: Why are you afraid of impeachment witnesses?

Eric Swalwell, admittedly a Democrat, from California, makes an excellent point.

Eric Swalwell on Trump: Innocent people don’t intimidate witnesses

As for going forward, few days ago, famous Watergate attorney John Dean had what looks to be sage advice to and for Speaker Pelosi and the House after this impeachment.

John Dean: Pelosi can hold articles of impeachment in House

He's saying that since Senator Mitch McConnell has publicly said and declared he fully intends to work only with the President himself and his staff and attorneys on this impeachment. 

McConnell’s vow of ‘total coordination’ with White House on Senate impeachment trial

He's come to the conclusion, ahead of the trial, ahead of the evidence and facts, that this President is already innocent. To heck with the trial, the facts, the evidence---heck, to heck with the Constitution, nation and people. Full steam ahead!

I think Mr. Dean is correct. Hold the impeachment in the House from now until next November. Then, keep investigating. Keep getting yet more facts and information as it will inevitably come out. Let this President prove himself guilty as he most surely, clumsily, ignorantly will. It looks, rather hopefully, that Speaker Pelosi is taking that position, too, at least for now.

Pelosi says House may withhold impeachment articles, delaying Senate trial

What far too many Americans don't know is that the Republicans ending, killing the Fairness Doctrine in our government is what brought us to this hyper-partisan point in our nation, pitting Left vs. Right, Democrat vs. Republican. It was after Right Wing media like Fox was allowed to exist, we began having very slanted, one-sided, very ugly reporting in media, frequently filled not just with bias but with out and out untruths, misrepresentations and, honestly, lies.

What stuns and even frightens me is the ability of too many Republicans and Trump-supporters to blindly follow all things Republican and/or all things Trumpian.  Blindly. It is very concerning.

Anyway, here we are today. The third President of the United States has been impeached in our history.

Wither now, America?

Nike And Big Name Athletes Respond To Mr. Trump's "Muslim Ban"

Nike has a fantastic ad campaign out just now, complete with videos and a full page ad in the NYT today, responding to this President's attempt to shut America's doors. And with racism, no less.

Nike ad sends serious message about equality, opportunity and discrimination

Here's the video:

So kudos, congratulations and much success to you, Nike! A fantastic campaign, for sure! Equality--or something very near it--is what has and should make America great, not fear-mongering and racism and "alternative facts." Y'all are "hitting it out of the ballpark", in sports terms.

Additional links and further, terrific support:

Tiger Woods gets political with Nike's new 'Equality' campaign

LeBron James, Serena Williams and others push Nike equality ad

WATCH: LeBron James and Kevin Durant star in Nike ad calling for 'equality'

Donald Trump, Briefly, Succinctly But Completely Described

There is a terrific, brief article out just now describing Donald Trump. And before it's assumed it's from some Left Wing, Liberal, deeply Democratic Party operative, know that the person they're quoting, the person describing The Donald is actually from a GOP consultant, one Rick Wilson. Here's the article.

At last, the fatal quote about Donald Trump

Also in brevity, here's the gist of the article:

...the real fatal flaw has just been named by GOP consultant Rick Wilson. “Everything Trump touches dies.” It’s a triumph of concision, summing up perfectly in four words the strange and devastating trail of wreckage he leaves behind him. It turns out that Trump is the Faustian bargain, the homme fatale, the Art of the Deal with the Devil.

Trump has eaten like acid through a wide swath of the Republican Party and many of its leaders, as they are learning too late. Luckily for the rest of us, the pattern is now clear. The kryptonite for Trump is our recognition that Trump is kryptonite to America.

And as proof, coincidentally, take note of an event today.

Trump Taj Mahal Closes After 26 Years; 5th Casino Casualty

Trump's own Taj Mahal casino/hotel in Atlantic City closed today. As the article says, his 5th failed casino. And this on top of his 6 bankruptcies.

This is the good to great businessman?

This is the guy they want to lead us? For his business acumen?

Really?



Links:

Donald Trump bankruptcy: Everything you want to know 

Donald Trump's Many Business Failures, Explained

Donald Trump Declares Moral Bankruptcy

Donald Trump's 2016 Debate Lies: He Did Go Bankrupt

The Many Scandals of Donald Trump: A Cheat Sheet

Lyin' Donald: 101 Of Trump's Greatest Lies

Donald Trump lies at debate about his 'sex tape' tweet on former beauty queen

Donald Trump’s Week of Misrepresentations,Exaggerations and Half-Truths

Why Does Donald Trump Lie So Much?

Donald Trump is unfit to be president. Here are 191 reasons why

Donald Trump Made It Clear -- Again -- That He's Unfit For The Presidency

USA Today editorial declares Donald Trump is 

'unfit for the presidency'

The Lies, Impossibilities--and Racism--of Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign

For once and for all, let's be clear. This needs to be said. Far too many times in the past and repeatedly now, with Donald Trump running his fateful campaign for the presidency and saying he and we will "send 11 million 'illegal immigrants' back to Mexico'", when, in fact, they come from all over South America, it should also be noted, here's the facts, here's what needs to be said:

Trump and Cruz Want to Deport 

11 Million Immigrants. That's Literally Impossible

You Can't Deport 11 Million People - 

Center for Immigration Studies

And if it were possible? What about the cost? What would that be?

Deporting 11 Million People Could Cost 

$400-600 Billion, Study Finds

And even if it were possible--and it's not--you can't try to deport more than 11 million people AND go on a spending spree at the same time, as he has proposed.

You Can't Deport 11.4 Million People and Simultaneously Grow the Military

And check this out, anyway. Mr. Trump and his Right Wing, racist cohorts are so concerned about what they call "illegals", as we know. What's the status of all of them, anyway? What, if anything are we doing about them lately?  Well, great question. Here's what we're doing.

Obama has deported more immigrants 

than any other president

U.S. deportations of immigrants 

reach record high

And this same title is from only 3 days ago, to be clear.

Obama Has Deported More People 

Than Any Other President

And the fact is, these immigrants to our nation pay far more IN to our country than they take out, besides the fact that most are showing up and working at their jobs.

Study Finds Illegal Immigrants Pay $11.8B in Taxes

Here are the facts:

• It's logistically impossible to deport more than 11 million people
• It would be outrageously expensive, even if it were possible

And then, we have to ask ourselves, is this who we are? Is this who we want to be? Does not the idea of rounding up more than 11 million people in this nation, people that, some, anyway, have lived here for years and plenty who have family here, do we want to be the ones searching these people out and "sending them back where they came from"?

Does that not remind anyone, anyone of the Nazis, rounding up Jews in the 30s in Germany?

And that's who we want to be?

The fact that any, any candidate for the highest office in our nation is running on this platform and, for that matter, the platform of building a wall, too, across our Southern border and that it would be a centerpiece of his candidacy and that he would get as far as he has on all this nonsense is just stunning. Let's be clear on that, too. Building a wall across our Southern border is also impossible.

Trump's Wall: Impractical, Impolitic, Impossible

And again, even if this Southern wall along our border with Mexico WERE possible, the cost of it would be outrageous, even by itself, let alone if one thought they could deport 11+ million people.

This is what Trump's border wall could cost US

An Engineer does the Cost Estimate of Trump's Wall

As an interested civil engineer, I decided to do some number crunching to see how incredibly expensive this particular project will be. Thankfully, engineer Ali F. Rhuzkan already provided material estimates for the wall. I simply took his material estimates, found national average costs, and totaled them up. Let’s break it down step by step. The previous calculations stated that the wall will be built using pre-cast (place and set at indoor facility and transport harden concrete panels to job site) and cast-in-place (wet concrete placed at site) concrete. We will also need to include the steel rebar in the material costs. 

Going off of materials estimate we have… 167,272,000 cubic yards of cast-in-place concrete at $93/cubic yard = $15,556,296,000 1,030,000 segments of 10’ pre-cast panels at $17/panel = $17,510,000 2,500,000 tons of steel rebar at $600/ton = $1,500,000,000 Total Material Cost Estimate: 

$17,073,806,000

That's 17 billion dollars.

Just to keep people out.  Or, rather, just to TRY to keep people out.

Then there would be the cost of maintenance, manning and upkeep. From the same article, above:

The U.S. government would have to pay to maintain the wall, which could cost as much as $750 million a year, according to an analysis conducted by Politico. And then if it wanted to man it with personnel, that would be an additional cost — border patrol has an operating budget of $1.4 billion for 21,000 agents.

And again, a wall?

Does that not remind anyone who knows anything about history of Nazi Germany and their wall?

Finally, here's one last insanity and this is from the last 10 hours, from Mr. Trump's trip yesterday to Mexico.

Donald Trump continues vow to build wall and have Mexico pay for it

Anyone who knows anything about international politics knows that one nation cannot, patently cannot, make another nation pay for anything. Well, nothing except, after the fact, possibly paying for war retributions. And that would have to be decided from an international court, long after the war was over and the losing, aggressor side would have to be found liable for damages.

The fact is, the facts are, the presidency of Donald J. Trump are based on impossibilities, at least, and maybe emotionalism, if not out-and-out misrepresentations, if not lies.

Why are we paying any attention to this man, this Donald Trump?

And why is he seriously being considered for the highest office in our nation?

Link:  The Softening: Trump Appears To Be Getting Away With It