Pelosi: Trump 'engaged in distractions' amid 'total failure' on testing

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday night accompanied by Schiff-face renewed her criticism of what she called President Trump's "total failure when it comes to testing," saying that it has impeded the federal government's ability to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

(In other words time for another round of impeachment hearings)

Speaking on "PBS NewsHour," Pelosi asserted that Trump has engaged in a series of "distractions" and "misrepresentations" in order to deflect responsibility for the handling of the virus's spread in the U.S.

"What is impeding the federal government from addressing the COVID-19 crisis is the president's denial, delay in all of this, and that has been deadly," Pelosi said. "We are insisting on the truth and the president is engaged in a series of misrepresentations to the American people and that is the impediment."

She went on to argue that Trump has refused to recognize science and the role of government in the nation's response to the pandemic, noting that his recent decision to impose limits on U.S. immigration was another distraction to avoid blame.

"[Trump is] always engaged in distractions like immigration, distractions like supporting people in the street," she said. "They're all distractions away from the fact, the known fact, that he's a total failure when it comes to testing."

"[Trump is] always engaged in distractions...

And who created the biggest one?

Trump announced this week that he would suspend immigration into the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, he outlined more details about the executive order, saying it would initially last for 60 days and apply to those seeking permanent residence.

The move comes as the U.S. has reported more than 823,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and roughly 44,800 deaths stemming from it as of Tuesday evening, according to a Johns Hopkins University database.

Trump has faced continued scrutiny over how his administration initially responded to the crisis, with many state officials regularly voicing concerns over a lack of testing and medical equipment. The administration promised tens of millions of tests would be available by the end of March, but only about 4 million tests have been conducted thus far.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Sunday that testing shortages have remained the number one problem for states since the virus reached the U.S. He said that Maryland alone has increased its testing capacity by 5,000 percent in the last month, but that it still has yet to reach a level to comfortably reopen businesses.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed criticism about testing, claiming on Monday that some governors were politicizing the issue.

"States, not the Federal Government, should be doing the Testing - But we will work with the Governors and get it done," he tweeted on Monday.

Vice President Pence said earlier this week that the U.S. is averaging about 150,000 tests per day. Some health experts have said the figure needs to be in the millions before the U.S. can safely begin reopening portions of the economy.

Pelosi: Trump 'engaged in distractions' amid 'total failure' on testing

A little late but a great call

Trump tweets he’s ordered Navy to destroy Iranian gunboats

Sure as hell would like to see this headline tomorrow:

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has ordered the Navy to “shoot down and destroy” any Iranian gunboats that harass U.S. ships, a directive that comes a week after the Navy reported a group of Iranian boats made “dangerous and harassing approaches” to American vessels in the Persian Gulf.

Trump did not cite a specific event in his tweet or provide details. The White House had no immediate comment. The U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet referred questions about the tweet to the Pentagon, and the Pentagon referred questions to the White House.

Shortly before Trump’s tweet, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday it had put the Islamic Republic’s first military satellite into orbit, dramatically unveiling what experts described as a secret space program. 

That launch raised concerns among experts about whether the technology could be used to help Iran develop intercontinental ballistic missiles. Iran currently has short- and intermediate-range missiles.

U.S. Navy ships and Iranian Guard naval vessels occasionally have encounters in the Gulf that the U.S. calls unprofessional, but they rarely escalate or include an exchange of gunfire. Tehran views the heavy presence of American forces there as a security threat.

Last Wednesday, the U.S. Navy said Revolutionary Guard vessels repeatedly crossed the bows and sterns of several American ships at close range and high speed in the northern Gulf. The American vessels included the USS Paul Hamilton, a Navy destroyer and the USS Lewis B. Puller, a ship that serves as an afloat landing base. The ships were operating with U.S. Army Apache attack helicopters in international waters, the statement said.

The “dangerous and provocative actions increased the risk of miscalculation and collision ... and were not in accordance with the obligation under international law to act with due regard for the safety of other vessels in the area,” the Navy said in a statement.

According to the Navy, the Americans issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio, fired five short blasts from the ships’ horns and long-range acoustic noise maker devices, but received no immediate response, the statement said. After about an hour, the Iranian vessels responded to the bridge-to-bridge radio queries, then maneuvered away.

Iran claimed the U.S. triggered that episode.

American commanders are trained to make nuanced and careful judgment calls about how to respond to incidents at sea. Rather than immediately resort to the use of deadly force, commanders are expected to act based on the specific circumstances, including the threat to their own crews and adherence to the international laws of warfare. Generally, as in the case of last Wednesday’s incident, warships will issue warnings by a variety of means, including via bridge-to-bridge radio, before taking more direct action.

Tensions between the nations escalated after the Trump administration withdrew from the international nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran. Last May the U.S. sent thousands more troops, including long-range bombers and an aircraft carrier, to the Middle East in response to what it called a growing threat of Iranian attacks on U.S. interests in the region.

The tensions spiked when U.S. forces killed Iran’s most powerful general, Qassem Soleimani, in January. Iran responded with a ballistic missile attack on a base in western Iraq where U.S. troops were present. No Americans were killed but more than 100 suffered mild traumatic brain injuries from the blasts. Also, Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq continue to threaten American forces there.

A little late but a great call

Coronavirus likely of animal origin, no sign of lab manipulation - WHO

This article proves once again Tedros Adhanomis is China's lapdog and completely sidesteps the main issue. 

The bone of contention they fail to address is the city of Wuhan with a population of over 10 million is/was infected with C-19 and placed on lockdown with no travel permitted anywhere inside China. But they were allowed on international flights to infect the entire world. 

That's all you need to know.

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GENEVA, April 21 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that all available evidence suggests that the novel coronavirus originated in bats in China late last year and it was not manipulated or constructed in a lab.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that his government was trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, in central China.

"All available evidence suggests the virus has an animal origin and is not manipulated or constructed virus in a lab or somewhere else," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a Geneva news briefing. "It is probable, likely that the virus is of animal origin."

It was not clear how the virus had jumped the species barrier to humans but there had "certainly" been an intermediate animal host, she added. 

Coronavirus likely of animal origin, no sign of lab manipulation - WHO

Pelosi admits delaying additional funds for coronavirus small-business loans

By Emily Jacobs

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted to holding up the approval of an additional $250 billion for the depleted small-business loans fund, following criticism over Congress’ lack of progress.

Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper Monday evening, Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that after being asked by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for Congress to approve $250 billion to replenish the Paycheck Protection Program, she requested “data on how that [money] is spent.”

“Before you know it, boom, all of a sudden, [the small-business relief fund] were already out of money. And when the secretary came and asked me for $250 billion, a quarter-of-a-trillion dollars, in 24 hours, I said, well, we want to see the data on how that is spent.”

Spent???

Guarantee you there's more pork in here that has nothing to do withC-19.

“Also, we want to make sure that we are — as long as we are going to the floor, that we do so in a way that makes sure that everyone can participate in the program,” the California Democrat said.

Pelosi continued that at first, Republicans she was in negotiations with “said no no no, until about 100 hours ago, they said no. And now they have said yes.”

As for what the nation’s top elected Democrat got added to the new bill, Pelosi touted “about $120 billion more for small businesses in there geared to our underbanked communities, women- and minority-owned businesses, Native American, rural America, veterans, small business and the rest.”

Pelosi added that Democrats have also asked for $100 billion in spending on health-related matters, with $75 billion going to hospitals and $25 billion toward testing, which she argued was critical for reopening the economy.

“Testing is one of the places where we want the language to be as good as we can agree to, that we need a national strategy for testing,” she told Cooper. “Testing is the key that opens the door to our economy — testing, tracing, and isolation.”

On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also fired back against criticism that Democrats were holding up the next round of funds, touting that provisions they got added to the bill would provide aid to rural areas and minority communities.

“Well, I would say that the very things that we Democrats have been fighting for, are now going into the bill. If you had a connection with a bank, it was pretty easy to get a loan. If you didn’t, from one end of the country to another, we have been hearing that people can’t get the loans. The local restaurant, the local barbershop, the local drug store — or even startup businesses, manufacturing or … services that aren’t happening,” the New York Democrat told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“So we Democrats said, ‘Yes, we want to put the more money in [for small-business financial relief], but let’s set aside some money to make sure it goes to the rural areas, to the minority areas, to the unbanked.’ And the $60 billion for the disaster loan was [Democrats’] proposal, and now the [Trump] administration is going along with it.”

Pelosi admits delaying additional funds for coronavirus small-business loans

WOW...did the Chinese luck out

Dr. Deborah Birx Calls China's Low Coronavirus Death Rate 'Unrealistic'

China has the lowest death toll per 100,000 people than anywhere else in the world!

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By Scott McDonald On 4/18/20 at 9:25 PM EDT

President Donald Trump was not the only member of his administration's Coronavirus Task Force on Saturday to question China's very low death rate from the COVID-19 pandemic. His task force response coordinator had questions, even calling China's rate "basically unrealistic."

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, displayed a graph that shows the mortality rates of countries around the world, and China is at the bottom with the lowest rate.

Belgium tops the list with a 45.2 deaths per 100,000 people, with the United States close to the bottom at an 11.24. Then there's China, with an asterisk next to its name, with 0.33. Birx explained why China was on the chart, saying the country where coronavirus originated should have also been transparent when first dealing with the virus that became a global pandemic.

"I put China on there so you could see how basically unrealistic this could be," Birx said. "When highly-developed health care delivery systems of the United Kingdom and France and Belgium, Italy and Spain with extraordinary doctors and nurses and equipment, have case fatality rates in the 20s and up to 45 in Belgium, which has an extraordinary competent health care delivery system and then China at point-33."

The coronavirus, first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019, now has cases that have topped 2.3 million worldwide, with nearly 160,000 deaths around the globe by April 18. The United States leads all countries in both cases (734,000) and deaths (38,000). Birx suggested the numbers in China be much greater than they have been reported.

"You realize these numbers, even though this includes the doubled number out of Wuhan. So I wanted really to put it in perspective, but I also wanted you to see how great the care has been for every American that has been hospitalized."

U.S. President Donald Trump listens as White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx delivers remarks at a coronavirus press briefing on April 18, 2020 in Washington, DC. Trump spoke about recent gains in the stock market reflect the success of his administrations handling of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

As Birx went to her next slide graph, Trump interrupted her and had White House workers go back to the previous slide. The president pointed at Iran's 6.06 mortality rate, and then pointed at China's 0.33 rate, saying "does anybody believe this number?" to each country he spoke of.

Birx went on to stress the importance that during a new disease, or pandemic, to have transparency where the virus or disease originated.

"It's really important to have that level of transparency because it changes how we work as a nation," Birx said. "It allowed us to make an alert on March 15 out there that vulnerable individuals and the need to protect them, and my call out to millenials to really protect their parents.

"There's never an excuse to not share information. When you are the first country to have an outbreak, you really have a moral obligation to the world to not only talk about it, but provide that information that's critical to the rest of the world to really respond to this crisis.

Birx then thanked the European countries and doctors that battled COVID-19 and relayed information back to American health officials.

Trump said during his press briefing Saturday that if China were responsible for the worldwide virus spread, then China should face consequences, unless it was a "mistake."

"If they were knowingly responsible, then certainly," Trump said. "But if they made a mistake, a mistake is a mistake is a mistake."

(Don't like this comment. Seems like he's leaving them a way out.)

Trump did not indicate what those consequences would be, but said China "made many mistakes" along the way, and that China was against the United States closing off Chinese travelers in January once the virus began its spread. He said "this crisis could have been stopped in China."

"They didn't like the idea of closing off our country. They said it was a bad thing to do, actually, and they've since taken that back," Trump told reporters and TV audience. "But it was a very lucky thing that we did it. Very lucky. We would have had numbers that were very significantly greater. [Dr. Anthony] Fauci said that. He said, "it would have been very significantly greater had we not that.

"But it's still a very depressing subject, because there's a lot of death. If it were stopped very early on, at the source, before it started blowing into these proportions, you have 184 countries that would have been in a lot better shape."

Correction: The original story incorrectly listed mortality rates per country as percentage numbers instead of deaths per 100,000 in population.

WOW...did the Chinese luck out