I'm just surprised that the card didn't read:

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S
CHINESE VIRUS
GUIDELINES FOR
AMERICA

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As opposed to going bankrupt as a result of having to spend three or four days in the hospital for any range of maladies without any insurance whatsoever. Throw in a trip to the operating room, and well that $7,000 deductible looks a Godsend.

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There's a rumor that Trump has asked if it would be possible to NOT use direct-deposit for the relief payments going to taxpayers, but rather that they be sent-out as paper checks. That way, Trump will be able to include his name and signature on the checks so that people would know exactly WHO they need to show their 'appreciation' to for getting them their money.

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Rush Limbaugh says that people should listen to Trump and NOT the medical experts, because, as he says, how do we even know that they're experts, we only have their word for that.

Rush Limbaugh Tells America That Trump Is Way Smarter Than Any Health Expert

The Fed has already indicated that they can provide whatever liquidity is needed for the banking system to provide the funds to American corporations. That being said, I wish it WAS necessary that only Congress could get this done, at least then we'd have some chance of getting a say in where the money went and how it was being spent. With interest rates nearing zero percent, what's to stop a corporation from borrowing the money to buy back shares of their own stock while the prices are such a bargain? While any reputable economist would tell them that's a poor use of borrowed capital, that's never stopped America's CEO's from doing stupid, short-sighted crap in the past. Why would anyone think that they'll do any different this time around.

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Yes, I got that same card in the mail a couple of days ago. And yes, I was taken aback that it had Trump's name on it. At first I thought it some sort of campaign advert as that was the same day that I got my regular 'survey' from the RNC (why I'm on their mailing list, heaven knows. I've been a registered Democrat since I was old enough to vote, and I've never given a dime to any Republican candidate). Note that I always fill them out and even when their 'questions' are so one sided, I try and let them know how I really feel, like when they asked, "Where should Washington spend the money allocated for immigration and naturalization?: a) To finish the Wall, b) Hire more ICE agents, c) Build more detentions centers or d) All of the above. Truly pathetic...

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I would tell Nancy that she should halt progress on any other bill in the house until Trump leaves office.

#9 | Posted by 503jc69

Since Congress has adjourned indefinitely, who knows, you might just get your wish.

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Having a big list of all the undocumented folks who applied for stimulus would, if not immediately, eventually lead to a lot of deportations.

#13 | Posted by TaoWarrior

Don't give Stephen Miller any more ideas than you already have to.

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How many Republicans were present for the signing of ACA?

#30 | Posted by JeffJ

Since not a single Republican voted for the ACA, what did you expect? Which is a shame since Obama agreed to dozens of changes to the ACA specifically to placate the Republicans, who had demanded the changes are they wouldn't support the bill, which in the end, they didn't. If I had been Obama, when I realized that the Republicans weren't going to vote for it anyway, I would've gone back and stripped-out all of their crap and we would have gotten something closer to what was needed in the first place.

As for this stimulus package, it was passed with basically unanimous support, and without Democratic votes, it would have never gotten thru either hall of Congress.

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Trump has announced that he's going to have a signing ceremony in the Oval Office but has only invited Republican members of Congress, saying that the Democrats have no right to be there since they tried to stop the bill from becoming law and that it was his last minute negotiating skills that saved the day. He says that the American people needs to realize that it was was he and the Republicans whom they need to thank when they start getting their relief checks in a few weeks and he's just making sure that the Democrats can't take credit where none is due.

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Stay tuned. Next week Republicans start whining about spending again.

#9 | Posted by danni

Actually, that won't start until November 4th, when Democratic winner is announced. Then the deficit will suddenly become the biggest problem in the world, that must to addressed within the next year or so, minimum.

OCU

And yet Facebook continues to run thousands of Trump Campaign adverts which have been demonstrated to be at best, misleading, and at worst, outright lies.

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Yea, like 'Big Brother' in '1984'.

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Trump got what he wanted, to make "America First"...

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Wilson sort of fits the profile of a 'deplorable'. He blamed the Jews for the COVID-19 crisis and his list of potential targets included a predominately black school, a synagogue and a mosque, but it appears he decided to focus on a hospital because it would result in more casualties.

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And this is in Texas...

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Note that I can count one ONE hand the number of times that I've been inside a Walmart.

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More on this situation:

Corporations Successfully Lobbied Trump Not to Use Defense Production Act to Fight Coronavirus

The only poll that counts will be taken on November 3, 2020. Of course, we can only hope that Trump will abide by the results.

OCU

Under the 1950 Defense Production Act, Trump can force these American companies to sell their medical equipment to US hospitals and state health services, but if he does they're limited as to how much profit they can earn. However, if they're allowed to sell to whomever they want, they can charge whatever they can get away with, even if it's to a foreign country. Trump knows this, but the US Chamber of Commerce is pressuring him to NOT invoke the act because it would prevent these companies from making the extra money they can get from overseas customers, or by pitting one state's health service against another, forcing-up the prices that they're paid. So, as long as Trump refuses to invoke the act, they can continue to sell to whomever they want, for whatever they want.

Capitalism at it's finest.

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Why Trump Has Resisted Using The Law

Last week Trump announced that he was invoking the law, in apparent defiance of the lobbying from business. But "invoking the law" means nothing if the president doesn't actually use the authority or direct federal agencies to do so.

For the most part, Trump hasn't taken these steps. As of Tuesday, the administration had announced only two moves: one authorizing the Justice Department to crack down on hoarding of supplies to jack up prices, and another to obtain 60,000 COVID-19 tests.

"The Defense Production Act is not self-executing," explained Katrina Mulligan, managing director for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress. "Invoking it doesn't on its own accomplish anything. You have to have another set of orders."

Trump on Monday said he was reluctant to use the act to obtain medical supplies because "we're a country not based on nationalizing our business. Call a person over in Venezuela. Ask them how did nationalization of their businesses work out. Not too well. The concept of nationalizing our business is not a good concept."

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"We need the product now," Andrew Cuomo, New York's Democratic governor, said on Sunday. "We have cries from hospitals around the state. I've spoken to governors around the country, and they're in the same situation."

The federal government could intervene using its authority under the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law that gives the president legal power over industrial production like Franklin D. Roosevelt had in World War II and Harry Truman wanted during the Korean War. But the decision to use that authority would have to come from President Donald Trump, and so far he has mostly resisted, saying the private sector is doing enough on its own.

An increasingly loud chorus of officials and public health experts disagree. They say the federal government needs to take more control over the production and supply of medical equipment and some wonder why Trump didn't take this action weeks ago when it could have had a much bigger impact.

What This 1950 Law Actually Does

Through a series of reauthorizations and executive actions, the Defense Production Act has evolved so that presidents can now use it for all kinds of crises, including natural disasters. In 2001, for example, President George W. Bush used some of its powers to make sure material for power generation and transmission got to California during a wave of blackouts.

In popular lore, the Defense Production Act lets the federal government commandeer factories so that they start churning out equipment for war or some other kind of emergency. But that's not quite how it works.

Instead, the law gives the president a set of narrow but powerful tools for organizing and increasing the production of goods necessary to address a national crisis.

These tools include emergency authority for the federal government to make purchases, or offer loan guarantees for purchasers, in order to create a demand for goods that manufacturers might not otherwise produce. This is precisely the sort of financial commitment that many experts have said would give industry incentive to ramp up production of the medical equipment in such short supply right now.

Under another part of the Defense Production Act, the president can issue a declaration that certain goods are essential, which gives federal contracts priority over other orders. This is precisely what Pritzker couldn't do when he was on the phone with that ventilator manufacturer.

The same provision also protects against price gouging, by allowing the federal government to insist that manufacturers sell goods at no more than the production cost plus a modest markup.

Even so, the prospect of giving the federal government more control over production ------ the corporate community and its allies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have lobbied the Trump administration not to use the Defense Production Act, according to reports in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

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GOP's new healthcare plan: as long as old people and those with underlying conditions die, we're cool, and it's all good.

#25 | Posted by Gal_Tuesday

I thought the Republican health plan was that "IF you get sick, die quickly".

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While it's always good to get as much data as possible, we do need to keep in mind that as the testing rate goes up so will the number of people who test positive. Until we reach the point where we're testing anyone who requests it, not just individuals who are symptomatic or who have been exposed to someone with the virus, we can expect these numbers to continue to raise faster than many expected them to. Unfortunately, at this stage, particularly because of the late and slow start of testing in this country, the only statistic that can be directly linked to the progress of the disease is the number of people who have died. Also, it would help to put the numbers into perspective if, along with the number of people who have tested positive, that if we also knew the total number of people who have actually BEEN TESTED, period.

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Notice but Trump is setting-up a scenario where he'll take bail-out money for his Trump Organization. He's always complaining about how much money he's 'lost' since taking office. If he thinks he can get away with it, he'll take the money and never look back. Just like he did after 9/11 when he applied for, under the guise of being a small business owner, for $150K in clean-up money provided to small businesses in lower Manhattan to clear debris and repair broken glass and such. However, there was NO evidence that any Trump property anywhere in Manhattan sustained any damages whatsoever, but he still got the money. He later admitted that as a businessman, he would have been foolish for him not to take it. And then there's all the hurricane relief funds that he's taken for Mar-a-Lago and Doral over the years, again, never having to document what repairs the money was used for, but he still applied for and he got the money.

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