The pattern has become pretty predictable.
Alexander Becomes Second GOPer Skipping RNC After Grassley Opts Out
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced that he has decided against attending the Republican National Convention next month, making him the second Republican to opt out of the event. Continue reading “Alexander Becomes Second GOPer Skipping RNC After Grassley Opts Out”
MD Gov Launches Book Tour And Eyes Possible 2024 GOP Presidential Bid
Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD), who is one of just a few Republican governors who have publicly challenged President Trump on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, announced a virtual book tour to launch his new memoir on Tuesday.
The news comes as he considers a presidential run in 2024, according to the New York Times.
“After this November election is over, regardless of who wins, there are a large majority of Americans who are completely convinced our political system is fundamentally broken, and they’re going to be looking for something different,” Hogan told the Times.
Hogan considered running last year when he weighed a primary challenge against Trump, but changed course to lead the National Governors Association.
The memoir, titled, “Still Standing,” addresses growing concerns among Americans about a broken political system, Hogan told The New York Times in an interview.
The book, which was delayed from an earlier publication date due to the pandemic, will discuss the governor’s battle with cancer as well as how he faced the aftermath of the police killing of Freddie Gray in his state in 2013. It also contains chapters about the coronavirus pandemic both in Maryland and nationally, with a critique of Trump’s leadership throughout the crisis.
Hogan said he was not interested in a run for the U.S. Senate in 2022, despite polling showing him as a potential contender to Senator Chris Van Hollen (D).
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro Tests Positive For COVID-19
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro says he has tested positive for COVID-19 after months of downplaying the virus’ severity.
Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters in capital Brasilia.
“I’m well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can’t due to medical recommendationS,” Bolsonaro said.
The president has often appeared in public to shake hands with supporters and mingle with crowds, at times without a mask. He has said that his history as an athlete would protect him from the virus, and that it would be nothing more than a “little flu” were he to contract it.
He has also repeatedly said that there is no way to prevent 70% of the population falling ill with COVID-19, and that local authorities’ measures to shut down economic activity would ultimately cause more hardship than allowing the virus to run its course.
Cities and states last month began lifting restrictions that had been imposed to control the spread of the virus, as their statistical curves of deaths began to decline along with the occupation rate of its intensive-care units. Brazil, the world’s sixth most populous nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the global hot spots of the pandemic.
On Monday, Bolsonaro told supporters in Brasilia that he underwent an X-ray of his lungs that showed they were clean, and that he would be tested for COVID-19. On Tuesday, he told CNN Brasil that his fever had subsided.
Over the weekend, the Brazilian leader celebrated the U.S. Independence Day with the nation’s ambassador to Brazil, then shared pictures on social media showing him with his arm around the ambassador alongside several ministers and aides. None wore masks, despite being in close quarters.
The U.S. Embassy said on Twitter on Monday that Ambassador Todd Chapman is not showing any COVID-19 symptoms but would be tested.
Bolsonaro tested negative three times in March after meeting with the U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida. Multiple members of his delegation to the U.S. were later reported to be infected with the virus.
More than 65,000 Brazilians have so far died from COVID-19 and more than 1,500,000 have been infected. Both numbers are the world’s second-highest totals, and are considered to be undercounts to the lack of widespread testing.
WH Adviser Dodges On Trump Mask Refusal: ‘Nothing More To Squeeze From That Orange’
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Tuesday morning found himself in a fiery exchange on CNN as he repeatedly dodged questions regarding President Trump’s refusal to wear a mask in public. Continue reading “WH Adviser Dodges On Trump Mask Refusal: ‘Nothing More To Squeeze From That Orange’”
Top Pence Aide Says Efforts To Make Her ‘More Compassionate’ In Child Separation Crisis ‘Didn’t Work’
Katie Miller, Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, casually admitted to having zero empathy for the thousands of migrant children who suffered under the Trump administration’s infamous family separation policy at the border in 2018, according to NBC News reporter Jacob Soboroff.
Florida Rep. Calls State’s Contact Tracing Program ‘A Joke’
Florida State Rep. Shevrin Jones (D) criticized the state’s contact tracing initiative on Tuesday, calling his own recent experience with a call from a tracer “a joke.”
Rep. Shevrin Jones (D-FL) called contact tracing "a joke" in a CNN interview on Tuesday when asked about his own experience with contact tracing in Florida after testing positive for the coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/PaBSxLpdw3
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 7, 2020
Jones told CNN’s John Berman that he received a call from a contract tracer last Thursday who appeared to be reading from a questionnaire.
“There was no question that she was asking that would have led her to the point of who I had probably come in contact with,” Jones said.
The Florida lawmaker had already slammed the tracing system in tweets on Monday, saying it was “understaffed” and calling for an overhaul.
Unfortunately, the @HealthyFla rep called me and attempted to do contact tracing for my Covid-19, but she: 1) Was unprofessional, 2) Her phone disconnected and I have not heard from them since last Thursday.
If this is our tracking system, throw all of it in the ?
— Shevrin Jones (@ShevrinJones) July 6, 2020
The state lawmaker said that he was not able to identify where he had been exposed to the coronavirus but regretted that he had “gotten lax and started back shaking hands.”
The Florida Department of Health has roughly 1,600 students, epidemiologists and other staff conducting tracing, with plans to bring on 600 more for a total of 2,200. That is only about a third of the roughly 6,400 tracers needed to meet the recommended 30 tracers per 100,000 people standard set by the National Association of County and City Health Officials, The New York Times reported.
Those tracers are especially important as Florida breaks daily infection records. Just on Saturday the Department of Health reported a record more than 11,400 new infections. The number of infections threatens to overwhelm the existing system for tracing contacts.
PPE For Medical Workers Treating Coronavirus Begins To Run Low Again
The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs.
A national nursing union is concerned that gear has to be reused. A doctors association warns that physicians’ offices are closed because they cannot get masks and other supplies. And Democratic members of Congress are pushing the Trump administration to devise a national strategy to acquire and distribute gear in anticipation of the crisis worsening into the fall.
Continue reading “PPE For Medical Workers Treating Coronavirus Begins To Run Low Again”
Coronavirus Outbreak In California Assembly Delays Legislative Session
Legislative hearings will be delayed in California after a coronavirus outbreak in the Legislature, put the state Assembly’s return to work from a scheduled summer recess on pause indefinitely.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D) made the announcement after Assemblywoman Autumn Burke (D) and four others who work in the state capitol tested positive for the coronavirus, which is suspected to have spread as staffers and legislators met in Sacramento to pass the budget last month. The capitol is now closed for disinfecting, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Burke said in a tweet Monday that she was informed of likely “mask-to-mask” exposure to COVID-19 when the Assembly conducted its meeting in person. She tested positive for the virus on Saturday.
“Currently, my daughter and I have no symptoms, but will be remaining in quarantine until released by a doctor,” Burke wrote in the tweet.
The news comes as California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) confirmed on Monday that the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 has increased in the state by more than 50 percent over the past two weeks as infections continue to rise and he reverses plans for the reopening of many businesses.
Many state legislatures had closed their doors earlier this year as the pandemic began to spread across the United States. California lawmakers, missed nearly two months of work after the legislature’s first unscheduled recess in 158 years, according to the Associated Press. Since then many states have allowed legislatures to resume work with some restrictions to limit the virus’ spread.
California lawmakers were originally scheduled to return from summer recess on July 13 and work through to the end of the legislative session on August 31.
Mississippi GOP Sen. Applauds Removal Of ‘Divisive’ Confederate Emblem From State Flag
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) on Monday praised his state’s move to officially erase the Confederate battle emblem, which is a symbol of white supremacy, from the Mississippi flag.