Oval Office Fauna

Posted on by Thor

Shortly after 1 a.m., on Friday October 1, 2020 Trump tweeted that he and his wife had tested positive for COVID-19.

An infected Donald Trump returned to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and is once again taking up residence in the Oval Office according to Larry Kudlow. No one had answered the question as to when the president last tested negative before his positive COVID-19 test on Thursday October 1, 2020.

He might have been infected at the Rose Garden event he held for Amy Coney Barrett on September 26, 2020. At least 11 people who attended that event have contracted the virus.  hundreds of people were packed together on the south lawn with few choosing to wear masks. No contact tracing has been done by the White House for those infected.

On September 29, 2020 Trump flew to the presidential debate where he arrived late and didn’t not test for the virus. Moderator Chris Wallace said they relied on the honor system to hope that Trump had been tested. His family in the audience also refused to wear masks. Joe Biden and his group at the debate all tested negative so far.

On September 30, 2020 Trump flew to Minnesota for a fundraiser and an outdoor rally. Hope Hicks, one of his closest aides, reportedly started to feel unwell and tried to isolate on the Air Force One ride back to Washington. Think of how hard it would be to “isolate” on a plane ride. Hope Hicks received a positive COVID-19 test on Thursday October 1, 2020.

Trump plans to have a public event at the White House on Saturday October 10, 2020. He plans to stand Evita Style on the balcony and spray the crowd of several hundred people with is words and droplets. He will be socially distanced up on the balcony but they will not. He has claimed to have made a full recovery and that he is immune to the virus, but he was coughing up a lung on a FOX news interview with Sean Hannity.

34 people close to the White House have been reported to be infected by COVID-19.  Trump’s return is reckless putting his entire staff at risk. There are about 90 people who work in the White House, so not everyone is exposed just yet. Not everyone comes in to direct contact with the infected first family. Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany  told reported she would not say how many White House staff are infected, citing privacy concerns. Kayleigh is infected. Any staff that come close to the president must wear full PPE. “Isolation carts” with PPE are being set up with gowns, masks and goggles for any staff who come within six feet of the president, senior administration officials said.

On Sunday October 4, 2020 Trump put two secret service agents at risk by having them take him on a joy ride in an SUV as they drove him outside the hospital to wave to supporters. He wore a mask, and the agents wore masks and protective smocks. Even with the PPE they were at risk being in the hermetically sealed vehicle with the infected president.

Oh yes, raccoons are taking over the White House. Since the place is so quiet masked marauders have returned and are attacking reporters outside the building. Unlike Trump they are always masked.

Voter Suppression

Posted on by Thor

 

 

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Across the county a record number of Americans plan to vote-by-mail amid the COVID-19 pandemic. USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was called before a Senate committee on August 21, 2020 to answer questions about how the US postal service has been dismantled leading up to the November election. DeJoy who has donated millions to the Donald Trump election campaign and he was put in position by Trump. The president has been falsely claiming that mail in voting is an invitation for voting fraud. He seems to think dogs will be given ballots and that the results will be contested for years. He slammed mail in voting as he signed his own mail in ballot for Florida.

Louis DeJoy confirmed that he will not restore mail collecting and processing capacity that the U.S Postal Service has lost in recent weeks, when pressed by U.S. Senator Tom Carper in a Senate Homeland Security Committee. Over the past few weeks Senator Carper has received hundred of complaints form his constituents about delayed paychecks and prescription drugs.

CNN reported that any Americans have since grown concerned over the USPS’ ability to handle the expected influx of ballots as more voters choose to vote by mail because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Sorting machines and mailboxes that had been removed will not be put back in use. An e-mail instructed postal workers to not to reconnect any mail sorting machines that have previously been disconnected.

U.S. Senator Chris Coons was invited by anonymous USPS employees to see what they called “government destruction of property.” He found a dismantled mail sorting machine that he said was left out in the rain. The senator said employees told him the dismantling happened in a “late-night operation.”

Kevin Couch, a director of maintenance operations said, “We’ve got a president who doesn’t want to have vote-by-mail. We’ve got a president who would like to suppress the vote; we’ve got a president who would like to see the postal service not do well,” he said. “When I see what’s going on with the president who wants to degrade the postal service, wants to get rid of vote-by-mail, you shouldn’t be surprised that we’re alarmed that we’re seeing that kind of degraded service.

Trump told Sean Hannity, a Fox News host, that he also intends to have police officers and sheriff’s deputies patrol polling sites on Election Day. As Trump put it, “We’re gonna have everything. We’re gonna have sheriff’s and we’re gonna have law enforcement, and we’re going to have , hopefully, U.S. attorneys and we’re going to have everybody – and attorney generals.” This pronouncement implies that he plans to suppress voting in key states.

A 1982 Democratic National Committee lawsuit accused the Republican National Convention of trying to suppress votes in New Jersey by, among other things, posting armed, off-duty police officers at the polls in Black and Latino neighborhoods. The lawsuit decree expired in 2018, and this election marks the first presidential election since it expired.

Federal law prohibits intimidation at the polls and makes it illegal for any “civil” or “military” federal officer to order “troops or armed men” to polling places, unless needed to “repel armed enemies of the United States.”

Civilian Poll-watching is a common practice, and both parties use it. A top Trump aide, Justin Clark, said the campaign was working to recruit 50,000 poll-watchers.

 

Trump Envies Fauci

Posted on by Thor

I highly respect Dr. Anthony Fauci. He speaks the truth without watering down facts. His primary concern at all times has been to save lives. It seems the president envies the doctors popularity. Fauci was asked to throw out the first pitch at the Major League Baseball’s opening day, Thursday, July 23. The pitch was a bit of a tragedy but it was a much needed light hearted moment.

President Donald Trump announced that he would be throwing out the first pitch at the Yankees-Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 15, 2020 claiming he was invited by team president Randy Levine. The New York Times reported that “Mr. Trump had not actually been invited on that day by the Yankees, according to one person with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s schedule. His announcement surprised both Yankees officials and the White House staff. But Mr. Trump had been so annoyed by Dr. Fauci’s turn in the limelight, an official familiar with his reaction said, that he had directed his aides to call Yankees officials and make good on a longtime standing offer from Mr. Levine to throw out an opening pitch. No date was ever finalized.” In other words, he lied.

The White House has been undercutting Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, by circulating anti-Fauci talking points to reporters. It is as if they want to paint him as the enemy of the people. People are tired of the social isolation caused by COVID-19 and want to return to life as usual despite the consequences. Fauci’s public health messaging runs contrary to the president’s priority that Americans should get back to work and open all schools fully in the fall. “Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,” the president told Fox‘s Sean Hannity.

And aide told The Washington Post that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.” The paper reported that the unidentified staffer delivered to them a list of about a dozen past comments Fauci has made that the official claimed were incorrect. Some of the Fauci examples were from early in the pandemic, when information was rapidly evolving. Other top health officials who have acknowledged changing their assessment as time went on, such as the surgeon general. For instance Fauci had advises early on that the public should not run out and start buying N-95 face masks since there was  a shortage of masks available for health care professionals at the time. As more was learned and supplies were re-replenished he advised everyone to wear masks to help stop the spread of the disease. Fauci had not had the opportunity to advise to the president since early June but has continued to make media appearances to discuss the COVID-19 strategy.

Trump retweeted former Wheel of Fortune host Chuck Woolery, who claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many doctors and the media were “lying” about COVID-19. Fauci wasn’t specifically named in that tweet. Dan Scavino, the White House’s director of social media who was promoted in April to deputy chief of staff for communications, shared a political cartoon on his Facebook page that criticized Fauci‘s support of shutdowns and social distancing in order to slow the virus.

Fauci said to The Atlantic. “Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that. When the staff lets out something like that and the entire scientific and press community push back on it, it ultimately hurts the president. And I don’t really want to hurt the president. But that’s what’s happening. I told him I thought it was a big mistake. That doesn’t serve any good purpose for what we’re trying to do.”

Speaking with NBC News, Fauci said that the public should rely on its “respected medical authorities who have a track record of telling the truth … based on scientific evidence and good data.” He continued,  “That’s the safest bet to do: to listen to the recommendations from that category of people. But it’s entirely understandable how the public can get mixed messages and then get a bit confused about what they should do.”

Dr. Fauci is facing death threats to himself and his family and now requires personal security from law enforcement at all times, including at his home, a source confirmed to CNN. As Dr. Fauci’s public profile has grown, so has the concern for his welfare. Fauci’s guidance to Trump for the country to remain as locked down as possible to help control the virus spread has not earned fans among some fervent right-wing voices. Medical staff can fight the disease as hospitals fill to capacity, but they have a harder time fighting stupidity as people ignore simple health precautions. Social distance, wear a mask and wash your hands.