President Joe Biden is slated to give a national address at the White House on Thursday evening observing the one-year anniversary of the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Your COVID Moments #14
From TPM Reader RT …
I can’t really say I had a COVID moment. It was a series of COVID moments. The first was when I sat around playing with MATLAB a year ago to understand the implications of what an R0 value of three means. Like many other folks I’d seen the movie Contagion and thought I knew about reproduction numbers. But I really didn’t. I hadn’t really internalized what the mathematics implied. Staring at the numbers in disbelief. Texting my friend who is biostatistician at a major medical college hoping I was wrong. His reply was simply “Do you have enough food to last for three weeks?”. Then the long days of isolation and encounters with the maskless while trying to just simply shop for groceries. Constantly fretting if I got to close. Did I touch anything? What’s that sniffle mean? The slow decent over summer and fall into the illusion that these precautions would keep my family safe.
Then came the phone call the day after Christmas. “I don’t think your father is feeling good, can you put a mask on and come see?”
Your COVID Moments #13
From TPM Reader LC …
I think my start of COVID era is very common: rumors and rumblings in February, a friend who’s a medical professional telling me that things were going to get bad, realizing that COVID was here when the NBA was canceled and Tom Hanks got sick, and then getting sick myself in March 2020 (I was not sick enough to get tested by March 2020 standards, but I’m 99% sure I had COVID).
However, I rather talk about a more recent, dare I say joyous, COVID moment. Based on my age, occupation, and health status, I didn’t think I’d get a vaccine until May at the earliest. My husband’s a teacher so he would be eligible before me, but my state (Georgia) has fairly strict requirements for eligibility and we weren’t sure that he would get the vaccine before the end of the month. I don’t think Georgia moved into the 1B phase until this week!
McConnell Bragged To GOP Senators That Their Super PAC Outraised Trump
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Wednesday bragged to fellow Republicans that they had outraised former President Donald Trump last year, after the former president took aim at the party’s fundraising committees in an effort to put himself at the head of the conservative movement’s financial future.
Continue reading “McConnell Bragged To GOP Senators That Their Super PAC Outraised Trump”
Obama, Bush, Clinton And Carter Come Together To Encourage Americans To Get Vaccine
Former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter have joined forces in an ad campaign to encourage Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
‘NO SHAME’: GOP Senator Roasted For Praising COVID Relief Plan … He Voted Against
Hours after the House delivered President Biden’s first legislative victory by passing a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package on Wednesday, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) suddenly acted as though he did not vote against the plan last weekend alongside his fellow Republican senators — and was swiftly dragged by Twitter users for it. Continue reading “‘NO SHAME’: GOP Senator Roasted For Praising COVID Relief Plan … He Voted Against”
Jayapal Demands Investigations Into Three GOP Reps For ‘Instigating’ Capitol Attack
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) on Wednesday requested that the House Committee on Ethics and the Office of Congressional Ethics investigate three House Republicans for “instigating and aiding” the deadly Capitol insurrection earlier this year. Continue reading “Jayapal Demands Investigations Into Three GOP Reps For ‘Instigating’ Capitol Attack”
Newly Surfaced Recording Captures Trump Pressuring GA Election Investigator
President Trump’s desperation to convince Georgia election officials to reverse the state’s election result was made clear in a newly surfaced recording of a call Trump had with a top elections investigators in the state.
Continue reading “Newly Surfaced Recording Captures Trump Pressuring GA Election Investigator”
With COVID Relief Out The Door, The Filibuster Looms Ominously
Democrats burst into applause Wednesday as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) gaveled the vote on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package to a close. Exuberant party leadership headed into a balmy D.C. day to celebrate the bill’s passage outside the Capitol, stopping to snap pictures with the National Guardsmen on the way. On Friday, President Joe Biden will sign the bill into law and hit the road to sing its praises.
That joy has a shelf life.
Continue reading “With COVID Relief Out The Door, The Filibuster Looms Ominously”
GOP Objection To Biden Nominee Just More Bad Faith From Sens Who Looked The Other Way For Far-Right Extremists
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
Over the past four years, Senate Republicans largely rubber stamped President Trump’s appointments regardless of inexperience, blatant conflicts of interests, or bigoted statements and views. Now, many Republicans are objecting to Biden’s qualified nominees and are trying to use them as a proxy fight for Biden’s policies that they disagree with. Most recently, Senate Republicans have set up to oppose Colin Kahl, Biden’s nominee for under secretary of Defense — as they try to battle out Biden’s Iran policies through his confirmation.