Ron DeSantis, the REPUBLICAN(T) Governor of Florida is himself directly responsible for the explosion of Covid-19 cases in his state and should be held personally accountable for every single death that occurs as a result of his gross negligence and dereliction of duty. Instead of closing his state down back in February like other responsible governors were doing due to the spread of the Coronavirus, DeSantis instead opted for the dollars over the health and safety not only of his own constituents but of every spring breaker who flooded into his wide open state and its beaches by the tens of thousands to party and spend their money. Now, of course, we know that many of these same students, most of who traveled back to homes in other states, were themselves infected with the virus. That Florida is now experiencing an explosion of cases was as predictable as what’s happening in neighboring Louisiana which allowed the Mardi Gras festivities to take place despite the obvious threat of the pandemic. These decisions were made out of pure economic and political calculations make no mistake about that. DeSantis was gambling that keeping the state’s business owners and campaign contributors happy was more important than the health and welfare of his constituency, many of who are categorized as “high risk” for Coronavirus due to their age. Now they are the ones paying the price.
DeSantis is the same Trump lover who sent out incredibly racist voter messaging in his campaign against Andrew Gilliam, the black former mayor of Tallahassee. He told Floridians they shouldn't "monkey around" with his opponent. The REPUBLICAN(T) won by the narrowest of margins after Trump himself interceded on his behalf. DeSantis won the rural vote almost exclusively, which is the backbone of the Trump base and as redneck as it gets in the South.. DeSantis is about as qualified to be Governor as Trump is to be President. It has shown in the way both have handled the pandemic crisis-complete lack of empathy, failure to heed the advice of the medical and scientific communities, over emphasizing economic considerations over public health and safety and purveying misinformation which has resulted in people actually dying. Many of the spring breakers who were interviewed after the fact indicated they would have stayed home had they been told the truth up front by both Trump and DeSantis. Instead, they became ambassadors for Covid-19. There are other REPUBLICAN(T) governors who have also acted completely irresponsibly in dealing with this crisis which I detailed in a post the other day. While I understand that the only mantra that drives this party today and in the Trump era is “it’s the economy stupid!” and that Trump’s chances of reelection are going to be impacted in a negative way when the response of him and his administration are dissected after this pandemic is over as a result of the economy tanking. For Trump and his REPUBLICAN(T) governors to put economic interests ahead of the public health and safety isn’t just a matter of incompetence, it’s a matter of malfeasance. As far as DeSantis is concerned, I say…..”LOCK HIM UP!!!” He deserves it.
0 Comments
This is the motto for my home state of Kentucky. You can see it clearly emblazoned on our state flag, shown above. As we approach our second month of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, this message was never more important. We are approaching the most critical period in our war against Covid-19, the point at which the bell curve either continues to rise or flattens out indicating whether or not the current shelter in place mandate has been effective in stopping its inevitable spread. We are also at the point where everybody from President Donald Trump to the young people who are out of school are growing weary of this self imposed isolation and are indicating a relaxation of the current social distancing guidelines might be appropriate. Nothing could be further from the truth. Now is the absolute time to hunker down and do as the scientist and the medical community and our governor tell us to do, to show the true American spirit and spirit of cooperation. The endless videos and photographs of medical personnel and first responders on the front lines of this battle should be enough to inspire the rest of us to do our small part to help. Sadly, they are not.
Instead we still have governors who have chosen greed over the welfare of their constituency and refused to close their tourist attractions and public gathering places like bars and restaurants until it was too late in states like Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. We have young college age students gathering en masse on the beaches of Florida during spring break with total disregard for the advice to avoid gathering in groups of more than ten at the time. Many of these revelers have transported and transmitted Covid-19 to others upon their return home. We had a case here in Louisville of a young man infected after attending a Covid-19 party. We have videos of large crowds of people gathering downtown in my hometown drinking and carrying on as if it were Derby week; we’ve also seen a couple instances of large crowds of youths out of control involved in brawling and thuggish behavior both downtown and at the Big Four Bridge. We have a President and his team who have downplayed this pandemic from the very beginning instead of meeting the crisis head on and gearing up for it with required supplies like PPE and ventilators he called it a hoax and assured everyone it will all be over by spring. His daily briefings on the pandemic have turned into mini political rallies where he not only trashes governors of states in desperate need of federal assistance but actually doles out erroneous medical information. He appointed a total stooge in Mike Pence to be his point man to fight the pandemic instead of somebody like Dr. Fauci. He advised Pence NOT to communicate with the governors in states like Michigan and Washington who dared to be critical of his government’s abysmal response to this crisis and their needs. They called our parents “The Greatest Generation” for the way they responded to the Great Depression and the outbreak of World War II and rallied together as one to defeat not just one enemy but two in Nazi Germany and Japan with great sacrifice and without complaint. What will they call my generation who now has to deal with a pandemic the likes of which hasn’t been seen in over one hundred years??? We are being asked to make great sacrifices too, and unquestionably the vast majority of my fellow citizens have risen to meet the challenge. Will we be called “The Baby Boomers” or “The Baby Bombers”??? To those who have thus far chosen to go their own way or do their own thing, I urge you to think not of yourselves but of those you love. Every single time you intermingle with someone you increase the risk of spreading the virus exponentially, to your friends, parents or grandparents. We’re all in this together. The coronavirus does not have a political affiliation. Covid-19 doesn’t really care how your 401K is doing. This insidious disease and killer knows no territorial boundaries and no “safe zones”. The ONLY way to prevent its spread is by isolating ourselves for whatever period of time it takes to flatten out the curve and begin getting back to some semblance of normalcy. Please do your part as we unite to fight this common enemy. The life of a loved one might very well depend on it. Over the last several posts I have portrayed the incredible lack of compassion and empathy being displayed by the REPUBLICAN(T)’s in Washington in the ongoing war against Covid-19, from the President to MOSCOW Mitch to “GRANDSTAND” Rand to Thomas “DUMB ASS” Massie. Now it’s time to look at how the REPUBLICAN(T) governors of a couple of different states are handling the pandemic compared to their Democratic counterparts. It just reinforces the growing realization that the GOP is more concerned about Wall Street than they are about Main Street. Truly the politics of life and death, dollars and cents.
In Florida, REPUBLICAN(T) Governor Ron DeSantis refused to close down either his beaches or his businesses to insure the public safety, claiming incredibly that it would be “irresponsible to shut down businesses”. We’ve all seen the pictures of the hordes of college students packed together like sardines on the beaches during spring break and every single one of them went back home somewhere else, many of whom will be carrying the virus with them elsewhere. As we are now seeing in New Orleans, FL will likely become the next “hot zone” for the pandemic as a direct result of Desantis’s calculation that keeping the dollars flowing in was more important than saving lives. Plain and simple. The REPUBLICAN(T) Governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee has likewise refused to institute the kind of mandatory precautions for his state on the same grounds. The situation is deemed to be so threatening in his state as a result that the Governor of Kentucky has advised his citizens NOT to travel to Tennessee at all. Compare these actions with those of Governor Cuomo of New York and Governor Beshear of Kentucky, both Democrats. Both men got out in front of this early on and have held meaningful daily briefings to advise the populace of their states as to what is happening. Cuomo’s are becoming the thing of legend. Beshear has held the tiller steady since day one of this pandemic and both men have taken whatever measures they deemed appropriate to protect their citizens without waiting on the abysmal response of the federal government, including shelter in place orders and closing down businesses. The economic pain everyone feels is real enough, but it won’t matter if everybody’s dead, will it??? Word is Trump told his V.P., the dunce he appointed as Coronavirus Czar instead of a qualified scientific or medical professional NOT to call any of the governors who has been critical of his response to this pandemic, Governors like Cuomo, Jay Inslee of Washington and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. Instead of attempting to alleviate the incredible burden this outbreak has placed on their state and local agencies by supplying basic PPE items such as masks, gloves, gowns and equipment like ventilators, Trump assassinates them on Twitter and belittles their efforts to save lives. Instead of invoking the emergency order to mandate American industry to mobilize to provide such critically needed supplies, he refuses to do so based on a purely political calculation thus forcing states to literally compete against each other in attempting to obtain these desperately needed items. I hope everybody remembers that when the chips were down who was more concerned about Main Street than Wall Street, who was more interested in saving lives than saving the stock market and who was more concerned with their safety and security than corporate campaign contributions. The Democratic Party stands with the people of this country, the REPUBLICAN(T) party with billionaires and board rooms. In this time of stress, we have to be thankful for whatever victories we can get. I’m just thankful that my fellow Kentuckians voted “MAD” Matt Bevin out of town before this crisis hit home in the Commonwealth. As recently as a few weeks back this incredible dolt tweeted out a mocking paraphrase of the nursery rhyme about the sky falling with regard to the pandemic. As outstanding a job as Governor Beshear has done, I shudder to think how Bevin would have handled it. Thank goodness he’s just a speck in the rear view mirror!!! President and draft dodger in Chief Donald Trump likes to believe he is George Patton reincarnated and never misses an opportunity to make it appear he is a military man. He almost started a catastrophic war with Iran by unilaterally deciding to assassinate a key Iranian political and military figure. He withdrew our troops from Syria, thereby abandoning our Kurdish allies and opening up the entire area as a sphere of influence for his BFF Vladimir Putin. He is in the process of leaving Afghanistan to be overrun by the Taliban after eighteen years of combat and over two thousand American deaths. Now he has declared the struggle against the Coronavirus pandemic as a “war”. I would imagine he pictures himself as the gallant leader leading his country out of the depths of despair and a great general orchestrating its gallant victory over this dreadful disease. He couldn’t be more wrong.
What we have instead of a real leader is a deranged game show host who is in so far over his head he can’t see the light of day. Instead of mobilizing all of our nation’s resources to combat this plague, he instead tells us all is well and we’ll all be in church on Easter Sunday celebrating. Instead of utilizing his presidential powers to mobilize industry to produce desperately required supplies for the front line troops, he instead tells us to look at what happened in Venezuela when they nationalized the oil industry. WTF??? He tells us more people will die of suicide if we continue to shelter in place as scientists are predicting than from the actual virus, despite the fact that scientists and medical professionals are telling us literally tens of thousands of people, perhaps more, could perish from this pandemic. He tells us more people die from the flu. He throws out unproven medications as cures, one of which resulted in a man in Arizona DYING from taking the drug he heard Trump mention in the form of fish tank cleanser. He claims that test kits, masks, gowns and face shields are available, but we have numerous governors begging him for these desperately needed supplies for the front line doctors, nurses and our first responders, many of whom have already fallen victim to this disease themselves. Where are they??? It’s like sending troops into battle with no helmets or Kevlar vests and possibly no weapon to defend themselves. It’s very apparent that at this point we are losing this battle, and one of the reasons why is that we have a general in charge that has never been in combat. He has either fired or removed the competent officers who should be handling this crisis or they have long since quit. He won’t accept realistic field reports from his lieutenants if they contain any bad news. He isolates himself and surrounds himself with sycophants who dare not challenge him. In short, he is completely out of touch with the realities in the field. It’s like I heard one commentator say this morning-if this was a war, Trump’s absurdly optimistic forecast of normalcy by Easter is about the same as FDR bringing our troops home after Midway and declaring the war won. The American people deserve better than a Commander in Chief who is anything but. In our greatest hour of need, there was no leadership from the top and many people have died in the field as a result or will die from his pathetic response to this pandemic. There is blood on your hands, Mr. President. To quote from a classic war movie, “be advised we have Zips in the wire” and are about to be overrun. It’s time to call “Broken Arrow”. Apparently not much, according to the so called “information briefing” (translation political rally substitute to feed Trump’s massive ego) and his own words. Despite the fact we haven’t scratched the surface with Covid-19 testing to determine the actual number of infected people in the United States, despite the fact we are on the upward surge of this pandemic in our country and despite the dire warnings of what’s yet to come from the scientific community, our President has arbitrarily decided that next Monday, the end of the original period recommended by the CDC for Americans to essentially shelter in place until the pandemic is under control, will be the time to get back to “opening up our country again”. Are you FUC*ING kidding me??? That statement is not only ignorant beyond comprehension; it puts literally thousands of lives at risk. Trump tried his best to downplay the outbreak from the beginning and I ask everybody how did that work out for America???
Word around D.C. is that West Wing staffers like Larry “SCARY” Kudlow, formerly of FAUX NEWS and “HE WENT TO” Jared Kushner are pushing the President to disregard the medical advice of individuals like Dr. Fauci and his own Surgeon General (both already relegated to the sidelines for DARING to be honest with the American people!!!) and numerous state governors and send people back to work, school, sporting events, concerts, etc.; why in the name of God would he do such an ill advised thing you ask??? Simple. He can’t stand the fact that his administration has been completely inept in handling this national crisis and being called to task for it, he can’t stand the fact that the economy has disintegrated right before his very eyes and he can’t stand the fact that he can’t be out mingling with people just as stupid as he is. His ONLY chance at being reelected in November was a strong economy, and now that firewall has burned down, leaving him facing the reality that his chances of being reelected are as slim as getting things back to normal by Monday. Now he’s lashing out, as has been his tendency his entire life when confronted by things he cannot control. Everybody understands the desire to return to some semblance of normalcy. But these are NOT normal times. The history of Coronavirus is such that we now know the ONLY way to stop its spread is by social distancing. We have witnessed what has happened in China and Italy, with thousands of deaths. In S Korea, testing on a mass scale was done very early on in conjunction with strict measures by the government to shut the country down to prevent the spread of the disease, and these measures were effective in slowing the spread of Coronavirus. And yet we have a Governor in Florida who refused to close down spring break, thereby exposing potentially thousands to the illness, the Lt Governor of Texas (pictured above) who states that he wants to get back out there and to hell with the health risks to himself (what about EVERYBODY else, you selfish prick???), a United States Senator who despite being tested for the virus because of a previous exposure felt it was appropriate to use the gym, take a swim and have lunch with his colleagues. We have a Senate under the direction of “MOSCOW” Mitch that is only interested in bailing out their corporate donors to the tune of HALF A TRILLION $’s at a time when the average American is desperately trying to make ends meet, and then trying to lay blame on the Democrats. This is today’s Republican(t) party folks. We have a president who refuses to utilize the tools at his disposal to deal with acute shortages of supplies, like test kits, PPE for the nurses and doctors on the front lines and ventilators for the acutely ill, instead comparing our dire national emergency to what happened when Venezuela nationalized the oil industry and hoping to use the socialist label as a political tool against the Democrats in the fall. Complete and utter failure of leadership. Instead of concerning himself with the safety and welfare of the American people, Donald Trump instead chooses to make the economy his top priority. It’s not only incredible, it’s frankly beyond despicable. People are dying by the hundreds in our country and all he cares about is getting reelected. He has made the calculation that this is far more important than saving American lives, and one of those lives might just be you or me in the coming weeks. I for one will continue to follow the recommendations of our Governor, Andy Beshear, who has done an outstanding job of getting in front of this pandemic, even if it means bad news. And for the foreseeable future, certainly beyond next Monday, I will continue to protect myself and others by sheltering in place. I quit listening to Trump’s so called “information briefings” after the first one when it became eminently clear it was being used as just another photo op for Trump. The networks should quit broadcasting them as well-at this point every time Trump opens his mouth somebody else will die as a result. What’s your life worth?!? The President refuses to invoke his war powers act to force American companies to produce desperately needed PPE items for the overstressed medical community as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic because he wants to label his political opponents as socialists instead in the upcoming elections. In our moment of crisis he refuses to “nationalize” our companies to mobilize in this fight citing Venezuela as an example. Our REPUBLIKAN controlled Senate under the failed leadership of MOSCOW Mitch McConnell plans a half a trillion dollar bail out for industries (and campaign contributors) that have absolutely nothing to do with solving this crisis-cruise lines, oil & gas interests, airlines, the hospitality industry (including Trump’s very own hotels!) and others instead of focusing on bailing out the American people and then point the finger at the Democrats for failing to pass this odious legislation. Then they propose that Treasury Secretary Steve The MUNCHKIN Mnuchin be himself responsible for who gets the money at his own discretion with minimal transparency or accountability, just plain absurd. On top of all that, Kentucky (I’m sorry to say!) Senator GRANDSTAND Rand Paul has tested positive for the virus AFTER having himself exposed perhaps dozens of other people to the illness by going to the Senate gym, pool and a luncheon before his results were revealed. And this buffoon is a DOCTOR no less, completely disregarding the outbreak protocols being recommended by the CDC. We have three REPUBLIKAN Senators, including the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee who sold of millions of $’s worth of stock weeks ago following classified briefings by intelligence agencies on the potential severity of the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States. We have a POTUS and a V.P. who refuse to tell the American people the truth about the availability of critically needed test kits, PPE or ventilators day after day, instead choosing to defer and deflect or attack the media or a political rival. Trump did just that a while ago, attacking the news media once again for their coverage of his abysmal failure of leadership.
America, this is the current state of the REPUBLIKAN party. It has become the REPUBLI(CANT) party, one of the entitled wealthy older white males who are so desperate to cling to their last vestiges of power as our national and global demographics change that they will say or do ANYTHING to perpetuate themselves. The economy is already in recession headed for a possible depression and the inability of Congress to come up with a bail out package over the weekend has already caused the futures market to sink again overnight, foreshadowing another catastrophic day on Wall Street. And now this firewall, which Trump and the REPUBLI(CANTS) were counting on to carry them to victory in November, has disintegrated along with everybody’s 401K plans. If they can’t bail out their corporate contributors to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars as the current proposed legislation mandates, they know there chances of winning in November are doomed. So instead of doing what is right in our darkest hour these cowardly and selfish politicians put themselves first, as always. To hell with the front line medical workers who don’t have the proper PPE to deal with the flood of sick patients; to hell with the hospitality workers who lost their jobs because the restaurants had to close down; to hell with the desperately ill patients who require ventilators to stay alive. The only thing that truly matters to these dirt bags is taking care of the corporate hands that feed them. It is beyond despicable. The Democrats should do everything in their power to make sure this massive corporate hand out gets defeated in the Senate vote. McConnell is a complete corporate sell out. Always has been. He refuses to understand it’s the small businesses and those who live paycheck to paycheck that desperately need help, NOT the corporate CEO’s, CFO’s and board members who want to buy back more of their own stock like they did in the 2008 financial bail out or following the disastrous tax cut he helped push through under the guise of a break for the Middle Class. The rich get richer while people are dying across the country. History will NOT be kind to these proletariats nor should it be. We have a federal government folks that is either unwilling or incapable of committing the resources and supplies necessary to contain the outbreak of this pandemic for political reasons. This much is obvious every single day when Trump and his team of sycophants like Mike I’M A LITTLE DENSE Pence stand in front of the microphones and tell us how great things are or how much money it cost Trump to be President or how poor little Donnie gets beat up by the media unfairly. And every single day that goes by there will be exponentially more deaths in the United States as a direct result of this epic failure of leadership by the President and his REPUBLIKAN cohorts. They do and will continue to have American blood on their hands as long as they continue to politicize a pandemic that doesn’t care which side of the aisle you’re on…..just ask Rand Paul!!! He was the lone dissenting vote last week on a Coronavirus aid package. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it until election day-we DO have the ultimate power; that is the power to vote every single one of these gutless cowards out of office and elect individuals who put duty, honor and country ahead of polarizing politics and greed. And as far as MOSCOW Mitch is concerned, he should be number two on the list right behind Donald Trump!!! DUMP TRUMP; DITCH MITCH and CAN RAND!!! They say great men are born of crisis and hard times. Men like FDR, Winston Churchill, George Washington, JFK and many others have demonstrated profiles in courage in their country’s times of greatest need. Sadly now in our country’s greatest time of need, we have a President in name only, Donald J. Trump. The Americans who voted this unqualified reality show host in hopes of draining the swamp are now themselves drowning in it like the rest of us. The incredible neglect and gross incompetence of his administration in dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic, the misinformation, the lies, the denial of the severity of the outbreak and the outright disregard of intelligence reports months ago that this pandemic was for real are now resulting in people dying all across our country as I write this. There is indeed blood on Donald Trump’s hands.
Instead of the calming influencer and purveyor of scientific and medical facts that the current situation requires, we get a President who instead chooses to spread more disinformation, tell more lies and attack the media at his so called daily briefings. The adults in the room stand behind him and look on in abject horror as he treats the occasion as an on camera political rally instead of a serious briefing telling the American public what’s going on as we all hunker down. Reports are that V.P. Mike Pence isn’t really the point man for the administration in this crisis but rather Jared Kushner. OMG!!! If true, we’re in worse trouble than I ever dreamed. (Just check out episode 3 of season 2 of “Dirty Money” on Netflix to learn all you need to know about this lowlife!) For months now Trump has attempted to downplay the outbreak and its inevitable catastrophic impact on our country in order to retain his only political firewall in this election year which has been the economy. He ignored intelligence briefings, gutted the government agency responsible for dealing with a pandemic established by the Obama administration, refused supplies from the WHO to help combat the crisis, supplies like PPE which are now in critically short supply. His propaganda media outlet at FAUX NEWS and morons like Sean Hannity and right wing nut jobs like Rush Limbaugh kept telling America it was all a Chinese hoax, a Democratic or left wing plot, nothing more serious than the flu. People within his own administration were told NOT to raise any red flags about it or face severe repercussions. In the meanwhile, the Covid-19 virus was invading our country like a Trojan horse while V.P. Mike Pence assured everybody that testing kits were available. They weren’t and as a result there have been infected individuals going about their everyday lives and infecting everybody they come in contact with causing the literal explosions of cases in NY, CA and WA. Now Trump is trying to lay the blame off anywhere he can…the Chinese, Obama, the Democrats, etc. in hopes of deferring and deflecting the utter failure of his administration to address this massive crisis with any semblance of leadership. State and local governments have come to understand that they are on their own in dealing with this pandemic, with the President telling us all that “the government isn’t a shipping clerk” when asked about getting desperately needed supplies to the worst affected states. The economy has been plunged into a recession, perhaps heading to a depression on a global scale, depending on the duration of this outbreak. With the economy tanking, Trump’s dreams of a second term are going down as fast as the stock market and he knows it. The man was never up to the job, and has demonstrated that over and over again since taking office over three years ago. He doesn’t have the mental capacity for the job nor the temperament. I am always hopeful that the American people are not as stupid as Donald Trump believes us to be. But when I see polls that indicate over half of the country believes he is doing a good job in handling this crisis I seriously have to wonder. His callous disregard for the facts, ignoring the dire warnings of his own intelligence agencies and misleading statements intended to prop up his political fortunes and his financial portfolio are now resulting in people actually dying… hundreds already soon to be thousands. And Congress? They can’t even agree on to an economic stimulus package because they are too busy selling off stocks after classified intelligence briefings! Once again, complete failure of leadership, both McConnell and Pelosi. In our greatest hour of the need for bipartisanship, these clowns still can’t get it right. On either side of the aisle!!! I sincerely hope our country comes out of this pandemic in some semblance of normalcy, but that scenario is looking sketchy right about now. We have no leadership from Washington whatsoever. If and when we can recover from this tragedy, the severity of which was avoidable had we had a responsible and qualified individual running our government instead of a game show host, I hope people will remember how we got here and the consequences of their actions when they cast a ballot for change in Washington come November-as far as I can see based on how this entire pandemic has been handled, EVERY single one of these self perpetuating and self aggrandizing dirt bags should be given the boot. This time we really do need to drain the swamp, but it might already be too late….. As if ANY of us needed another reason to despise our politicians, especially those in the Unites States Senate starting with MOSCOW Mitch McConnell, now we learn that several members of the Senate Intelligence Committee who were briefed early on as to the severity of the expected Coronavirus outbreak either sold or bought millions of $’s worth of stock in industries directly affected, like hospitality and the airlines. Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., is facing calls to resign after reports Thursday that the powerful Intelligence Committee chairman had privately warned well-connected donors of the dire impacts of the coronavirus pandemic last month while selling off up to $1.6 million of his own stocks.
Disclosure records also show that three other senators sold major holdings around the same time, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., according to The New York Times. ProPublica reported that Burr — who co-wrote an op-ed for Fox News in early February saying "the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus" — unloaded the stock around mid-February, about a week before the market started to plunge because of coronavirus concerns. That included selling off up to $150,000 worth of shares of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, which has lost two-thirds of its value, ProPublica reported. He also dumped to $100,000 of shares of another hotel chain, Extended Stay America. The Senate Intelligence Committee received a number of briefings and intelligence reports in January and February that included non-public information about the growing coronavirus pandemic, Senate aides have told NBC News. The intelligence remains classified — it's unclear what warnings were given and exactly when. The stock market has declined about 30 percent since Burr dumped the shares. The others involved all claimed that the transactions were either done by third parties or without their knowledge, with Kelly Loefler of Georgia, the wealthiest member of the Senate whose personal fortune is estimated at $500,000,000, attacking the media ala Donald Trump and denying any wrongdoing. Seriously??? Anybody who believes that these individuals were not involved in the decision to either unload stocks at risk and even acquire additional stock in companies that might benefit from the pandemic probably thinks that our federal government is going to save us all. They were told in secret intelligence briefings just what was coming and used it not only to their economic advantage like Burr, but also to tip others of their financial benefactors to the severity of the outbreak and its likely impact on the financial markets. In our time of national crisis, this is what we witness. The incredible GREED of these politicians and the absolute disdain with which they have treated the public trust and how they have disregarded the health and safety of the constituency that got them elected is way beyond reprehensible. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter that as chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Burr "got private briefings about Coronavirus weeks ago. Burr knew how bad it would be. He told the truth to his wealthy donors, while assuring the public that we were fine. THEN he sold off $1.6 million in stock before the fall. He needs to resign." That we have politicians who are more interested in building their own financial portfolios than addressing the needs of our nation isn’t surprising given as it appears to be the norm under the current leadership, that they would do so in the time of a dire national emergency demands that they be held accountable. Who knows how many lives will be lost as a result of their selfish and greedy actions. The other issue I would like to point out in this reporting is that despite the fact that three of the four identified in this obvious insider trading scandal are Republikans, the lead story on FAUX NEWS was Dianne Feinstein. This is exactly how they manipulate their so called “fair and balanced” news coverage to literally brainwash their viewers, most of whom unfortunately depend solely on this Trump propaganda rag for their information. I will give credit to one of their reporters who I normally disdain, Tucker Carlson, for calling these dirt bags out. Americans of all political persuasions should be OUTRAGED by this behavior and demand better from those elected to honor the public trust. In our time of greatest need, we have yet to find a SINGLE member of either the administration OR Congress step up-instead we see just how low they will go to perpetuate their own self interests, be they political or financial. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would move at "warp speed" to pass coronavirus legislation on Tuesday, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., put a damper on those plans, two leadership sources told NBC News.
Senators were on Tuesday heading towards a vote on the package - which includes provisions for free coronavirus testing, secures paid emergency leave, enhances unemployment Insurance, strengthens food security initiatives, and increases federal Medicaid funding to states - but had to slam the brakes on because of an amendment Paul proposed. The sources said Paul is forcing a vote on his amendment, which would "require a social security number for purposes of the child tax credit, and to provide the President the authority to transfer funds as necessary, and to terminate United States military operations and reconstruction activities in Afghanistan." Paul was the sole "no" vote on the $8.3 billion coronavirus spending bill the Senate passed earlier this month. Paul is notorious for forcing votes on amendments he knows will not pass. In July of last year, Paul blocked a bipartisan bill that would ensure a victims' compensation fund related to the Sept. 11 attacks never runs out of money. Paul questioned the bill's 70-year time frame and said any new spending should be offset by corresponding cuts. After the amendment failed, he wound up being one of two no votes on the legislation. He even briefly caused the government to shut down in 2018, using a procedural tactic to block the Senate from meeting the deadline to keep the government open because he objected to the price tag. (The above information from NBC News). It’s bad enough we have one Senator, Majority Leader “MOSCOW” Mitch ruining our democracy from within, but we also have a carpet bagging buffoon as our Junior Senator in “GRANDSTAND” Rand Paul who embarrasses himself and our Commonwealth every time he opens his mouth. Here is just the latest example-holding up desperately needed funding to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in order to make some absurd political statement. So typical of his antics. Well, Kentucky, I say it’s not only time to DITCH MITCH but also to BAN GRANDSTAND RAND!!! They are both nothing more than self serving and self perpetuating career politicians who pander to special interest groups and could care less about their constituents in Kentucky. Surely even our ultra conservative Northern Kentucky brethren who elected this clown as part of the original Tea Party movement can see that his shelf life was used up when his next door neighbor beat the crap out of him. Let’s do the same at the polls. As the financial sector starts to realize the full implications of the Covid 19 pandemic and its impact on various industries, the airline industry has been among the hardest hit in terms of revenue reductions. People aren’t traveling internationally, business trips have been cancelled and travel for pleasure is at a virtual standstill. Empty seats translate into loss of revenue. Period. And now this industry is asking the President to bail them out. To the tune of FIFTY BILLION DOLLARS!!!
After years of having their way with the traveling public, cramming people onto their planes like cattle in a boxcar, charging exorbitant fees for everything from bottles water to luggage, eliminating routes and hiking fares while all the while recording record profits. But instead of investing in new equipment or saving for a rainy day, the greedy CEO’s and their boards opted to buy back their own stock thus increasing their own portfolios instead. And now, when a financial disaster hits, they are completely unprepared to deal with it and want the government (translation-we the taxpayers) to bail them out. I say ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Who’s going to bail out the waitresses at the corner pub? Who’s going to make up the lost wages for service workers across America whose livelihoods have been impacted by this unforeseen catastrophe? The folks that do the vending at sporting events? Who’s going to bail out the bars and restaurants that go out of business because of lost revenues? Whose going to pay for the lost income of those whose sick leave expires while working from home? Who’s going to pay for child care while parents struggle to cope with school closings? The answer is nobody. The airline industry argues that it is vital to America’s infrastructure and security. I disagree. People got from point A to point B before air travel became the preferred mode of travel, and there remain many viable options to taking an airplane. Trains, automobiles, busses seemed to work just fine for us before. Just like the preposterous bank bail outs following the financial meltdown of 2008, these greedy CEO’s and CFO’s and their shareholders should have to suffer the same consequences as the rest of us for their gross financial negligence. If some of them fold their tent, like American for example, so be it. These are the same people who clamored for years for deregulation so they could stick it to the traveling public and line their own pockets, and they succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. But now the time has come to pay the piper and they scream for help. For everybody who has suffered the inconvenience of being bumped, having flights cancelled, being stuffed into a plane like a sardine, paying for water, flight delays, sitting an tarmacs for hours or any other of the horrific travel nightmares compliments of the airline industry I say go to hell with your bail out. You made your own seat, now cram yourself in and buck(le) up like the rest of us have to!!! |
About Mike ColeBorn in Hamilton, OH but a proud Kentuckian since age two. One brother and three sisters. Suburban, Catholic middle-class upbringing. Attended Jefferson Community College and Pasadena Community College. Proud father of four and grandfather to seven, and most of all, a concerned American citizen! Are you??? Categories |