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► Politico looks at how states around the country are confused about how to get medical supplies from the federal government. Colorado is now the canonical example for this new form of pork barrel politics:
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was pleading with the federal government to send ventilators.
The state was starting to see hundreds of new coronavirus cases pop up each day, and Polis, a Democrat, worried that hospitals wouldn’t have enough life-saving ventilators to deal with the looming spike.
So he made an official request for ventilators through the Federal Emergency Management System, which is managing the effort. That went nowhere. He wrote to Vice President Mike Pence, leader of the White House’s coronavirus task force. That didn’t work. He tried to purchase supplies himself. The federal government swooped in and bought them.
Then, on Tuesday, five weeks after the state’s first coronavirus case, the state’s Republican Sen. Cory Gardner called President Donald Trump. The federal government sent 100 ventilators to Colorado the next day, but still only a fraction of what the state wanted.
Arizona Sen. Martha McSally, who is also one of the most endangered Republican Senators in the country, was also awarded with 100 ventilators by the federal government over the weekend. Meanwhile, states continue to struggle with getting and maintaining help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
► The big story of the weekend was a stunning expose from The New York Times detailing exactly how the Trump administration failed to prepare for the coronavirus outbreak.
Throughout January, as Mr. Trump repeatedly played down the seriousness of the virus and focused on other issues, an array of figures inside his government — from top White House advisers to experts deep in the cabinet departments and intelligence agencies — identified the threat, sounded alarms and made clear the need for aggressive action.
The president, though, was slow to absorb the scale of the risk and to act accordingly, focusing instead on controlling the message, protecting gains in the economy and batting away warnings from senior officials. It was a problem, he said, that had come out of nowhere and could not have been foreseen…
…Unfolding as it did in the wake of his impeachment by the House and in the midst of his Senate trial, Mr. Trump’s response was colored by his suspicion of and disdain for what he viewed as the “Deep State” — the very people in his government whose expertise and long experience might have guided him more quickly toward steps that would slow the virus, and likely save lives.
The President is not taking the criticism well, as you would expect, raging in every direction as he looks for people to blame who aren’t named Trump. There are growing concerns that Trump may be looking to oustDr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the nation’s foremost experts on coronavirus. #FireTrumpNotFauci was trending Monday on social media platforms.
In both the current pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis the Trump administration has ignored the advice of experts, overruled the direction of scientists, and undermined the institutions we rely on to protect us, putting people all across our country and the globe at risk. This recurring incompetence matters to voters—come November, it could (and should) cost Trump his job.
The similarities between the administration’s response to coronavirus and the climate crisis are manifold. Trump’s habit of dismissing experts’ concerns, especially regarding the severity of crises, is disturbing and dangerous. As the coronavirus pandemic began to unfold in January, public health experts warned that we needed to act quickly and improve our ability to test for the virus. Trump’s response: “We have it very well under control”; “It’s very mild”; “It will go away”; the virus is Democrats’ “new hoax.”
Rewind to 2016, when not only scientists, but NASA and our military leaders had all long agreed that climate change was real and posed a serious threat to our country. Yet, despite this overwhelming consensus, Trump repeatedly called climate change a hoax too. In fact, he once made outlandish claims that it was a Chinese hoax. Sound familiar?
►President Trump has said that he wants to “reopen the United States” by May 1, but there is no actual plan in place for the federal government to make this happen. As CNN notes, reopening the country is more of a decision for state governors.
► New polling data shows that 30% of Americans believe COVID-19 was intentionally created in a laboratory, or something.
► One of Colorado’s largest banks is putting a pause on processing emergency business loans due to an overwhelming flood of applications.
► Colorado Public Radio looks at the Colorado companies and research facilities that are working furiously to develop treatments — and a potential cure — for COVID-19.
HERE IT IS: POLITICAL NEWS THAT IS (MOSTLY) NOT ABOUT CORONAVIRUS…
► As Ernest Luning reports for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman, a new campaign finance complaint has been filed targeting a major source of funds for the re-election campaign of Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma):
One of the Democrats who was hoping to challenge U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner is accusing the the leading Republican Senate super PAC of making illegal, in-kind contributions to Gardner by paying for fundraising efforts for his re-election campaign, Colorado Politics has learned.
Dan Baer, who ended his Senate campaign in September after former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper joined the primary, charged in a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission that the Senate Leadership Fund has been spending to encourage donors to contribute to Gardner’s campaign, which Baer argues violates a prohibition on coordination between candidates and super PACS that support them.
In the complaint, filed March 11, Baer is also alleging that SLF hasn’t reported what amounts to an in-kind contribution to Gardner’s campaign and is funneling corporate contributions that it can accept to a federal candidate, who can’t.
► The Colorado legislature’s Joint Budget Committee lays out a potential roadmap for approving a state budget in May.
► Former Gov. John Hickenlooper, now a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, talks with the Denver Business Journal about his plans to help small businesses recover from the coronavirus outbreak.
► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) says that the Trump tax cut of 2017 will end up making it harder for the United States to pay off coronavirus-related debts.
► Vox.com digs into the debate about a federal bailout for the U.S. Postal Service. President Trump mostly wants the post office to charge Amazon.com more money because he hates founder Jeff Bezos.
ICYMI
► Saturday Night Live returned over the weekend with a working-at-home feel to it.
As Dean Obeidallahwrites for CNN, the writers and cast members struck the right tone on criticism of President Trump.
The ravages of the coronavirus pandemic have extended into the meat industry, as a major pork processor announced Sunday that because of infections among employees, its plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, will close until further notice.
The plant, owned and operated by Smithfield Foods, is one of the largest pork processing facilities in the U.S., responsible for 4% to 5% of pork production in the country, the company said in a statement.
The Agriculture Department said last month that Smithfield qualified for the bailout money, noting that the agency would be purchasing only goods produced in the United States. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), a farmer and member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has expressed alarm that a Chinese-owned firm could benefit from bailout money intended to help American farmers survive a trade war with China.
Meat packers need federal inspectors to produce the pork chops, T-bone steaks and ground beef that consumers are counting on to be in grocery stores, but the USDA inspectors on the front line are being told they are on their own when it comes to securing masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
USDA, despite calls from meat inspectors at slaughtering and processing plants across the country, is still not distributing face masks or other protective gear, a government source told Agri-Pulse Friday.
The government just doesn’t have enough supplies, USDA told its employees, including the roughly 6,500 meat inspectors at slaughtering and processing plants across the country, in an internal memo dated Apr. 4 and viewed by Agri-Pulse.
“One death is a tragedy — two deaths at the same plant is simply beyond human understanding,” wrote Kim Cordova, the Local 7 president, in a letter to Polis and Weld County health officials. “With regret, we have no option but to conclude that the time for collaborative efforts has ceased. JBS has left us with no alternative.”
Democrats claimed victory Monday in a Wisconsin Supreme Court election that Republicans insisted on holding last week despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Liberal Dane County Judge Jill Karofsky defeated conservative Justice Daniel Kelly, an incumbent backed by President Donald Trump, in a race for a 10-year seat on the state's Supreme Court. Karofsky declared victory and Kelly conceded Monday evening as votes were still being counted in the close contest.
The outcome is an embarrassment for state and national Republicans, who had blocked Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' bid to postpone the election or have it conducted entirely by mail and had fought in court against rules that would have made it easier to cast absentee ballots — leaving Wisconsin the only state to go forward with in-person voting in April.
April 13, 2020 10:39 AM UTC
8 Comments
“April showers bring May flowers.” What’s the rhyme for “April snow…”? Now, let’s Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (
Meanwhile in South Dakota….
Smithfield Foods CEO warns of meat shortage after closing pork plant due to coronavirus
Smithfield Foods is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China’s WH Group. They have a significant presence in CD-4 (specifically Yuma County) and were the beneficiaries of Trumps subsidy largess. You really couldn’t make this stuff up:
Paging Ben Kuck.
Meanwhile at USDA, meat inspectors told to "find them yourself":
USDA meat inspectors told to find or make their own masks
Meanwhile in his own back yard:
After second death, union calls for closure of Greeley meat-packing plant
So, that vegetarian diet is sounding more and more attractive.
. . . hmmm, maybe?
. . . I wonder what Plan F will be?
Well, here's one question answered:
Sanders endorses Biden for president By Julia Manchester – 04/13/20 02:17 PM EDT
Even the Supreme Court is going Zoom:https://thehill.com/regulation/492477-supreme-court-to-hear-oral-arguments-by-telephone
Karma is a bitch.
Democrat wins Wisconsin race that Republicans insisted on holding despite pandemic