The Walls Come Down: No Travel Betwen US and Europe for 30 Days

[MKSheppard]

SLATE - Social Distancing Arrests hit mInorities hardest

Nearly Every Social Distancing Arrest in New York City Has Been a Person of Color
By ELLIOT HANNON

MAY 08, 20209:05 AM

As enforcement of social distancing restrictions ratcheted up in New York City, news and video accounts appeared to show communities of color in the city bearing the brunt of enforcement. As the pandemic wore on, confrontational scenes of policing that veered into violence began spilling out from the city’s predominantly black neighborhoods. Meanwhile, images of officers courteously handing out masks to white city residents clustered together lazing and sunbathing on a hot afternoon in Williamsburg gave further credence to the growing feeling that pandemic police enforcement was adhering to well-worn patterns of behavior. In response to growing criticism, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to release data on the NYPD’s social distancing enforcement. On Thursday evening, the first tranche of data released by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office confirmed an extreme racial disparity in enforcement.

Of the 40 arrests in Brooklyn stemming from social distancing violations, only one was white, according to the district attorney. During the time period from March 17 through May 4, 35 of the arrests made by the NYPD were of black New Yorkers and four were of Hispanic residents. The disproportionate nature of the arrests, both quantitatively and qualitatively, has spurred comparisons to the city’s controversial stop and frisk tactics that targeted black communities and were ultimately deemed unconstitutional. Detailed citywide data on arrests has not been released yet, but the police department says that of the 120 arrests issued during that nearly two-month span, 68 percent of those arrested on social distancing violations were black, 24 percent were Hispanic, and 7 percent were white.

“Most people practice social distancing, with only hundreds of summonses issued over 6 weeks,” de Blasio tweeted Thursday night in response to the data. “But the disparity in the numbers does NOT reflect our values. We HAVE TO do better and we WILL.” City officials have emphasized that social distancing law enforcement actions have been rare compared with the overwhelming majority of instances when interactions with police have been uneventful and helpful in supporting the fight against the spread of the pandemic.

[The Romulan Republic]

Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, and Ed Markey are putting forward a bill to pay every person in America 2000 dollars a month for the duration of the pandemic:

https://cnn.com/2020/05/08/politics/ber ... index.html

I expect hell will freeze over before this passes or even gets a vote in Moscow Mitch's Senate, but its another indication that the Democratic Party is steadily moving toward support for UBI.

[The Romulan Republic]

Not enough ventilators for New York, but plenty to send to Putin:

https://businessinsider.com/trump-is-gi ... nse-2020-5

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accepted an offer from President Donald Trump for ventilators to aid the country's coronavirus response, Reuters reported.

Trump in mid-April signaled he might send ventilators to Russia to help it with COVID-19, and it appears the two leaders sealed the deal on a Thursday phone call, in which they also discussed arms control, according to the White House.

A White House readout of the call indicated that Trump told Putin the US was "ready to provide assistance to any country in need, including Russia." Separately, a Kremlin readout of the call said it was "proposed from the American side to send a batch of medical equipment to Russia."

Later in the day, Trump told reporters at the White House that Russia was having a "hard time" with COVID-19 and that the US would send "some ventilators" at the "appropriate time."

—NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) May 7, 2020
It's unclear how many ventilators Trump is offering to Russia. The White House declined to comment when contacted by Insider. The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump previously pushed back on requests from US governors for ventilators, essentially telling states they were own their own in terms of acquiring vital medical equipment amid a pandemic.

Accordingly, governors across the US have looked to each other for help and, in some cases, made deals with other countries for lifesaving equipment. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, orchestrated a deal with South Korea for coronavirus tests. Similarly, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, accepted 1,000 ventilators from China.

As governors pleaded for ventilators and other equipment in March, Trump said, "Governors are supposed to be doing a lot of this work, and they are doing a lot of this work."

"The federal government is not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping. You know, we're not a shipping clerk," the president added.

The US is the center of the coronavirus pandemic, with the most reported cases and confirmed deaths. And even as Trump moves to send lifesaving medical equipment to Russia, his administration has predicted that the US's daily coronavirus death toll would nearly double over the next month, with the number of new daily infections expected to rise from 25,000 to 200,000, according to The New York Times.

As of Thursday afternoon, the US had 1.2 million reported cases of coronavirus and nearly 75,000 confirmed deaths from the virus. Comparatively, Russia had over 177,000 reported cases, and 1,625 confirmed deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins.

[MKSheppard]

Not enough ventilators for New York, but plenty to send to Putin

I seem to recall something about a month ago:

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/04/01 ... -new-york/

On Wednesday, a Russian military cargo plane landed at JFK Airport with 60 tons of ventilators, masks and other essentials.

The supplies will directly help people in New York and New Jersey.

The supplies were delivered following a call Monday between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[aerius]

[content removed]

[The Romulan Republic]

snip aerius

This is blatant, direct, explicit incitement/advocacy of murder, of specific, named individuals. This isn't vague, this isn't ambiguous, this isn't a hypothetical. This is about as direct and unequivocal as incitement of violence can get. THIS IS LITERALLY AERIUS POSTING A KILL LIST OF SPECIFIC INDIVIDUALS AND TELLING OTHERS TO TARGET THEM.

Going to be blunt: While I am not a lawyer, I do not see how this post can be anything other than a felony. By all rights, this should result in an instant permanent ban for aerius, and his information being forwarded to Canadian law enforcement. Especially as IIRC this board is hosted in Canada, and subject to Canadian laws.

[Zaune]

I'm pretty sure aerius was just being flippant. Don't read too much into it.

Besides, we're less from eight months from the kind of crisis that civilisations encounter the way a sentence encounters a full stop, as Ian M. Banks put it. Does it really matter anymore?

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm pretty sure aerius was just being flippant. Don't read too much into it.

Besides, we're less from eight months from the kind of crisis that civilisations encounter the way a sentence encounters a full stop, as Ian M. Banks put it. Does it really matter anymore?

No one knows what the future holds. But even if we were in a state of war, targeted assassinations of civilians would be a war crime IIRC.

[Nicholas]

I'm pretty sure aerius was just being flippant. Don't read too much into it.

Besides, we're less from eight months from the kind of crisis that civilisations encounter the way a sentence encounters a full stop, as Ian M. Banks put it. Does it really matter anymore?

I'm pretty sure aerius was just being flippant too. But his text was literally an call for certain Canadian political figures to be killed! Is that something about which we are prepared to tolerate flippancy?

I don't quite know what the rest of your post means but are you sure? Absolutely worse case COVID-19 will kill about 5% of the worlds population. Five hundred years ago civilizations routinely survived that level of death in a year, it happened whenever there was a famine or plague. While we are not used to that any more and such a result would certainly transform civilization because we haven't seen that in a very long time I doubt it would destroy us.

Nicholas

[aerius]

In the interest of liabilities, substitute "shit list" for "kill list". Point remains, those people and the policies they enacted are directly responsible for 1000 deaths and counting in our nursing homes. We know they'll never go to jail or face any consequences for their actions, so I hope they all get cancer and die painful deaths like Rob Ford.

[Zaune]

I'm pretty sure aerius was just being flippant too. But his text was literally an call for certain Canadian political figures to be killed! Is that something about which we are prepared to tolerate flippancy?

I don't quite know what the rest of your post means but are you sure? Absolutely worse case COVID-19 will kill about 5% of the worlds population. Five hundred years ago civilizations routinely survived that level of death in a year, it happened whenever there was a famine or plague. While we are not used to that any more and such a result would certainly transform civilization because we haven't seen that in a very long time I doubt it would destroy us.

Nicholas

You really don't want to know what I'm prepared to tolerate when it comes to supporters of an ideology that has verifiably resulted in preventable deaths and human suffering on a large scale.

And sure, the plague itself we could probably weather even in the worst case. But the realisation that a huge fraction of those deaths were completely avoidable and happened because someone decided that it was cheaper to just let them die, and the resulting backlash? That's going to create the kind of civil unrest that gets suppressed with strategic bombing. Oh, and while all that's going on the economy that millions of lives were sacrificed to save will shit the bed anyway.

I just hope whoever survives to rebuild create something better, or at least more sustainable. At least then all the death and misery would count for something.

[Dalton]

In the interest of liabilities, substitute "shit list" for "kill list". Point remains, those people and the policies they enacted are directly responsible for 1000 deaths and counting in our nursing homes. We know they'll never go to jail or face any consequences for their actions, so I hope they all get cancer and die painful deaths like Rob Ford.

This was a monumentally bad idea and I’m fucking pissed at you for it. Options are being considered but be aware that this site is hosted on Mike’s server in his fucking house. You are a goddamned idiot.

EDIT: I’ve spoken privately to aerius. I consider the matter settled.

[Broomstick]

I'm pretty sure aerius was just being flippant. Don't read too much into it.

I didn't get to read the post before it was removed, but that's not a topic to be flippant about as a general rule.

Besides, we're less from eight months from the kind of crisis that civilisations encounter the way a sentence encounters a full stop, as Ian M. Banks put it. Does it really matter anymore?

Yes, it matters. What kind of world do you want to live in?

[Zaune]

Yes, it matters. What kind of world do you want to live in?

One where anyone who seriously proposed letting a few million elderly, poor and/or disabled people die to save the economy would be about as popular as someone espousing a NAMBLA talking point.

[loomer]

SD's governor is threatening legal action if Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux don't remove COVID-19 checkpoints into their nations.

[Ace Pace]

Besides, we're less from eight months from the kind of crisis that civilisations encounter the way a sentence encounters a full stop, as Ian M. Banks put it. Does it really matter anymore?

What crisis is going to happen in 8 months?

[loomer]

The Pueblo reservations continue to take drastic action after the serious outbreaks in two of them. Fortunately, New Mexico's governor isn't following the lead of South Dakota's.

[Zaune]

What crisis is going to happen in 8 months?

The US elections. Either Trump wins and decides he has a mandate to tell ICE to start building gas chambers or something, or Trump loses and calls upon his dimwitted but slavishly loyal fanclub to rise up in open revolt. Either outcome results in COVID-19 being the second worst thing to happen this year.

[Broomstick]

If Trump's fan club doesn't start taking the pandemic seriously they may not be healthy enough to rise up come the end of the year.....

[Ace Pace]

What crisis is going to happen in 8 months?

The US elections. Either Trump wins and decides he has a mandate to tell ICE to start building gas chambers or something, or Trump loses and calls upon his dimwitted but slavishly loyal fanclub to rise up in open revolt. Either outcome results in COVID-19 being the second worst thing to happen this year.

How sure are you of this apocalyptic scenario which you claim is the end of the world?

[Zaune]

If Trump's fan club doesn't start taking the pandemic seriously they may not be healthy enough to rise up come the end of the year...

You know, I hadn't actually considered that. And it probably shouldn't make me feel better, but it does.

How sure are you of this apocalyptic scenario which you claim is the end of the world?

As certain as a chronic depressive who's been repeatedly disappointed in life is about the prospect of any terrible catastrophe.

[FaxModem1]

Well, I think whatever measures they were taking at the White House weren't enough:

The Hill

Eleven Secret Service agents test positive for COVID-19: report
BY BROOKE SEIPEL - 05/08/20 09:21 PM EDT 1,441

Newly unveiled documents suggest nearly a dozen U.S. Secret Service members have tested positive for COVID-19, Yahoo News reports.

According to documents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that were obtained by Yahoo News, there were 11 active cases at the agency as of Thursday. On top of those currently infected, another 23 Secret Service members have reportedly recovered from coronavirus. Another 60 employees are allegedly self-quarantining.

It's not clear if any have recently been working at the White House or have had any contact with President Trump or Vice President Pence.

“To protect the privacy of our employee’s health information and for operational security, the Secret Service is not releasing how many of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19, nor how many of its employees were, or currently are, quarantined,” Justine Whelan, a Secret Service spokeswoman, told Yahoo News when asked about the documents.

The Secret Service did not immediately return The Hill's request for comment.

News of coronavirus spreading among Secret Service members comes amid reports this week that multiple White House officials have tested positive for COVID-19.


On Friday, it was revealed that Katie Miller, the vice president’s press secretary and the wife of senior White House adviser Stephen Miller, had contracted the virus. And on Thursday, one of the president’s personal valets tested positive after exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus earlier in the week.

Trump and Pence are both regularly tested for the virus, and neither has tested positive thus far. Trump said this week he will begin having daily, rather than weekly, tests following the cases within the White House. He has asserted he is not worried about the virus, and continues to attend meetings and events without wearing a face mask, despite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines advising face coverings.

“I’m not worried. But you know, look, I get things done. I don’t worry about things. I do what I have to do,” he said. “We’ve taken very strong precautions at the White House. But again, we're dealing with an invisible situation. Nobody knows.”

Looks like the Red Death has made it to Prince Prospero's castle.

[bilateralrope]

Trump said this week he will begin having daily, rather than weekly, tests following the cases within the White House.

Does Trump have a plan for what happens after he gets infected ?

Because I'm not going to be surprised if Trump gets told about a positive result and refuses to isolate himself until he gets hospitalised.

[The Romulan Republic]

SD's governor is threatening legal action if Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux don't remove COVID-19 checkpoints into their nations.

"Step aside and let us genocide you, or we'll sue."

[The Romulan Republic]

Three members of the White House coronavirus task force, including Dr. Fauci, the direct of the CDC, and the FDA commissioner are in quarantine:

https://cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-o ... -1.5563483

Three members of the White House coronavirus task force placed themselves in quarantine after contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, another stark reminder that not even one of the U.S.'s most secure buildings is immune from the virus.

Anthony Fauci, a high-profile member of the coronavirus response team, is considered to be at relatively low risk based on the degree of his exposure, according to a representative for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Fauci, the 79-year-old NIAID director, has tested negative for COVID-19 and he will continue to be tested regularly, the official said in an emailed statement.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will be "teleworking for the next two weeks" after it was determined he had a "low risk exposure" to a person at the White House, the CDC said in a statement Saturday evening. The statement said he felt fine and has no symptoms.

Just a few hours earlier, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn had come in contact with someone who tested positive and was in self-quarantine for the next two weeks. He tested negative for the virus.

Both men were scheduled to testify before a Senate committee on Tuesday, along with infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, also a task force member. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, the chair of the panel, said the White House will allow the two men to testify by videoconference, a one-time exception to the administration's policies on hearing testimony.

Trump 'not worried'
Vice-President Mike Pence's press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week. White House officials had confirmed Thursday that a member of the military serving as one of Trump's valets had tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide as spokesperson Katie Miller, said he was "not worried" about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex.


U.S. President Donald Trump is pictured in the White House on Saturday. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Miller had been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president and had tested negative a day earlier. She is married to Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser. The White House had no immediate comment on whether Stephen Miller had been tested or if he was still working in the White House.

The CDC and FDA would not disclose the identity of the person who had tested positive and with whom the agency leaders had come in contact.

Top military leaders meet without masks
Redfield sought to use the exposure as a teachable moment. The CDC statement said if he must go to the White House to fulfil any responsibilities as part of the coronavirus task force, he will follow CDC practices for critical infrastructure workers. Those guidelines call for Redfield and anyone working on the task force to have their temperature taken and screened for symptoms each day, wear a face covering and distance themselves from others.

Trump has resisted wearing a mask, and in a meeting with the nation's top military leaders Saturday evening, he did not wear a mask during the brief portion that reporters were allowed to view. The generals around Trump also did not wear a mask, but participants did sit a few feet away from each other.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, senior military leaders and members of Trump's national security team in the White House on Saturday. (Patrick Semansky/Associated Press)
FDA spokesperson Stephanie Caccomo said Hahn tested negative for the virus after he learned of the contact. He wrote a note to staff on Friday to alert them.

Six people who had been in contact with Miller were scheduled to fly with Pence on Friday to Des Moines, Iowa, on Air Force Two. They were removed from the flight just before it took off, according to a senior administration official.

None of those people was exhibiting symptoms, but were asked to deplane so they could be tested "out of an abundance of caution," a senior administration official told reporters travelling with Pence. All six later tested negative, the White House said.

Pence's staff tested less frequently
The official said staff in the West Wing are tested regularly but much of Pence's staff — which works next door in the Executive Office Building — are tested less frequently. Katie Miller was not on the plane and had not been scheduled to be on the trip.

Pence, who is tested on a regular basis, was tested Friday. Miller tweeted she was "doing well" and looked forward to getting back to work.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the administration was stepping up mitigation efforts already recommended by public health experts and taking other unspecified precautions to ensure the safety of the president. He said the White House was "probably the safest place that you can come," but that he was reviewing further steps to keep Trump and Pence safe.

Obama slams Trump over COVID-19 pandemic response, report says
The White House requires daily temperature checks of anyone who enters the White House complex and has encouraged social distancing among those working in the building. The administration has also directed regular deep cleaning of all work spaces. Anyone who comes in close proximity to the president and vice-president is tested daily for COVID-19.

Trump's valet's case marked the first known instance where a person who has come in close proximity to the president has tested positive since several people present at his private Florida club were diagnosed with COVID-19 in early March.

The White House was moving to shore up its protection protocols to protect the nation's political leaders. Trump said some staffers who interact with him closely would now be tested daily. Pence told reporters Thursday that both he and Trump would now be tested daily as well.

I'll admit, given that they were supposed to testify before the Senate on Tuesday, a part of me finds the timing here awfully convenient.