Mary McCord on Trump’s call for insurrection:

Just a day after issuing guidance for re-opening America that clearly deferred decision-making to state officials — as it must under our Constitutional order — the president undercut his own guidance by calling for criminal acts against the governors for not opening fast enough.

Trump tweeted, “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” followed immediately by “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and then “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” This follows Wednesday’s demonstration in Michigan, in which armed protestors surrounded the state capitol building in Lansing chanting “Lock her up!” in reference to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and “We will not comply,” in reference to her extension of

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Oh NPR. Do better.

From Minnesota to Oregon, protestors have rallied to reopen the economy and question the legality of statewide COVID-19 restrictions.

Critics of these events say President Trump has added to the confusion. https://t.co/wNYxMgWcrR

— NPR (@NPR) April 18, 2020

“Critics say” Trump is inciting violence and civil war, and they’re right to say so.… Read the rest

Asked if he's concerned about anti-stay-at-home protesters spreading Covid when they congregate together, Trump indicates he's not because "these are people expressing their views." (Pandemics don't work like that.) pic.twitter.com/rjJRqHj0Og

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 17, 2020

No, these are people expressing their views, I see where they are, I see the way they’re working [flapping hands back and forth to illustrate the way they’re working], they [shrug] seem to be very responsible people to me, but it’s uh, y’know they’ve been treated a little bit rough, yes go ahead.

This isn’t a 3-year-old sleepy after a nap, this is a guy who decided he should be president of the US.… Read the rest

Ok so Trump is sticking to it. Let’s have a civil war, so that Trump can add that to his scrapbook.

"They wanna take their guns away … when you talk about 'liberate' or liberation, you can certainly look at Virginia as one" — Trump is unrepentant about his tweets basically calling for civil unrest in states with democratic governors pic.twitter.com/1y9PdGfzZb

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 18, 2020

… Read the rest

The governor of Washington state isn’t too impressed either.

The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies – even while his own administration says the virus is real, it is deadly and we have a long way to go before restrictions can be lifted. 2/7

— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) April 17, 2020

The president’s actions threaten his own goal of recovery. His words will likely cause a spike in infections where distancing is working.

That will further postpose the 14 days of decline his own guidance says is necessary to ease restrictions. 4/7

— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) April 17, 2020

I hope someday we can look at today’s meltdown as something to be pitied, rather than condemned.

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The Guardian live on Trump’s incitement of fascist revolt:

Minnesota governor Tim Walz said he has been unable to reach the president or the vice president to decipher the meaning of Trump’s “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” tweet.

What can they say? “He meant fascist men with guns should forcibly take over the government of Minnesota and throw it open to the pandemic.” I don’t suppose they want to say that to the governor, just about him.

The Democratic governor told the Wall Street Journal that his calls to the White House in the past couple of hours have gone unreturned.

Trump’s tweet echoed messaging from right-wing protesters who have expressed outrage about stay-at-home orders meant to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile … Read the rest

Trump wants gyms to re-open. That’s bonkers.

The inclusion struck public health experts as bizarre. ‘Gyms are like a petri dish,’ said Laurence Gostin, the director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. ‘People are close to one another, they’re sweating, they’re coughing and sneezing, they’re touching multiple surfaces, they’re sharing equipment, they’re indoors. Literally all of the heightened risk factors for COVID transmission are all entwined together in a gym.’

I would guess a plane is the very worst place to be, but a gym looks like a close second.

The decision on gyms came a day after Trump’s phone call with sixteen business leaders including Stephen Ross, the founder and chairman

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Time for the 25th.

25TH AMENDMENT! pic.twitter.com/2eptyDpMwT

— Translate Things (@TranslateThings) April 17, 2020

NOW IS THE TIME: this fool is calling for mass civil disobedience to stop Stay at Home orders. Trump has crossed the last line. All true Americans must say it together now: #TrumpMustResign! https://t.co/bQf0xdC9o2

— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) April 17, 2020

25th Amendment. If these tweets inciting violence do not get you thinking it is time, you are part of the problem. @MSNBC and @CNN, this should be the entire focus of today's press conference. Do not be bullied. Call it out. Ask everyone else there if it is time for the 25th. https://t.co/u9RaHaaqlG

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 17, 2020

https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/1251184854353444865

So are

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Aaron Rupar on the eruption:

President Donald Trump can’t help but sow division, even at a time when Americans are largely united in supporting stay-at-home orders and social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

It’s not that he can’t help it, it’s that he loves doing it. He can’t help being the person he is, I guess, but the person he is loves doing malevolent cruel destructive things to people who are more vulnerable than he is, and to people who are not Donald Trump.

Just after 11:21 am Eastern time on Friday, President Donald Trump posted a trio of tweets endorsing the so-called liberation of a trio of states with Democratic governors from measures they’ve

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Trump is erupting again.

LIBERATE MINNESOTA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020

LIBERATE MICHIGAN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020

LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020

Liberate them from…measures to slow the spread of the virus? Liberate them to get sick and die or survive with reduced lung capacity or damaged kidneys or both? Funny kind of liberation.

….testing that you should be doing. We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far, & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks. Your numbers are not good. Less

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Got a shortage of N95 masks? Then the thing to do is give a huge packet of money to a bankrupt company with no employees that has never made masks. Problem solved!

In this chaotic effort to obtain supplies, the Trump administration awarded a $55 million contract to Panthera Worldwide LLC, a company with no expertise in the world of medical equipment, for N95 masks, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Panthera’s parent company filed for bankruptcy protection last fall, and one of its owners last year said it had had no employees since May 2018, The Post reported, citing sworn testimony. It’s no longer listed as an LLC in Virginia, where its main office is, after fees

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The ACLU doesn’t already have enough to do, it seems.

Trans people belong in sports — and everywhere else. pic.twitter.com/KcJXatqxrO

— ACLU (@ACLU) April 16, 2020

Trans girls are girls, they tell us, superimposed on images of…two women. Not trans, not girls, just women. They’re actors: Blake Lively and Leighton Meester. Why is the ACLU telling us “trans girls are girls” with photos of two women?

Maybe the idea is that when we hear or read the phrase “trans girls” (or women? or have we officially reverted to calling women “girls” now, as if it were 1955 again?) we are supposed to visualize… Blake Lively and Leighton Meester. We’re supposed to visualize women, and not just women but young pretty … Read the rest

The other G7 countries don’t want Trump at their lunch table right now.

Donald Trump found himself isolated among western leaders at a virtual G7 summit, as they expressed strong support for the World Health Organization after the US’s suspension of its funding.

Health officials around the world have condemned the US president’s decision to stop his country’s funding for the UN agency, amid a crisis that has left more than 2 million people infected and almost 140,000 dead.

Yes but the infections and deaths don’t matter, all that matters is Trump.

Immediately after the hour-long conference call, a spokesman for Angela Merkel said that the German chancellor had argued that “the pandemic can only be overcome with a

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This is startling.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1250807416872189952… Read the rest

The pandemic has been good to Jeff Bezos.

The Amazon CEO and entrepreneur, Jeff Bezos, has grown his vast fortune by a further $24bn so far during the coronavirus pandemic, a roughly 20% increase over the last four months to $138b.

Amazon is getting a lot of business of course because real world shopping is either closed down or restricted.

But the increased demand comes amid growing controversy over the retailer’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

Workers have reported severe strains on warehouse teams. Many are on the frontlines packing and shipping items at warehouses where Covid-19 can easily spread.

Meanwhile Amazon is running tv ads showing the workers grinning broadly as they skip and dance around the warehouse … Read the rest

There are protests and then there are protests.

Thousands of demonstrators descended on the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, on Wednesday to protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s restrictive stay-at-home order, clogging the streets with their cars while scores ignored organizers’ pleas to stay inside their vehicles.

Not staying inside their anything is the whole point. Mommy can’t tell ME what to do.

The protest — dubbed “Operation Gridlock” — was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund, a DeVos family-linked conservative group. Protesters were encouraged to show up and cause traffic jams, honk and bring signs to display from their cars. Organizers wrote on Facebook: “Do not park and walk — stay in your

… Read the rest

Social distancing at the BBC:

https://twitter.com/OwainWynEvans/status/1250319769678409735 https://twitter.com/BBCRadio2/status/1250757339424198656… Read the rest

Well this is a hell of a thing. It’s local news, but it’s one of those big hit to a major city items of local news. A bridge that connects West Seattle to Seattle has turned out to be cracking, and it’s closed at best until 2022 and at worst forever. A major chunk of the city that has been sprouting high rises like crazy over the past decade or so is suddenly cut off from the rest of the city. It’s a bit like Hurricane Sandy…a reminder that big cities are far from invulnerable.

The key points: The high-rise West Seattle Bridge, closed for safety concerns 23 days ago, may not be fixable – SDOT “does not yet

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Trump’s threat to adjourn Congress isn’t going down hugely well.

(2,2) other Executive Branch nominees by "Recess Appointments". It looks like he actually can do this. It's in Article 2, Section 3 of The Constitution which says
" . . . he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper . . . " HE IS UNHINGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 15, 2020

https://twitter.com/Raisingirl_Indy/status/1250555113510449153

In middle of pandemic Trump threatens to adjourn congress if lawmakers don’t approve his nominees. WH says constitution allows him to do it. “I have a very strong power,” Trump says. Trump points to nominee to oversee Voice of America as if that justifies such a drastic move.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta)

… Read the rest

More coup-threatening:

Fact check: Trump says he will execute constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of Congress so he can make recess appointments to fill vacancies.

“If the House will not agree to that adjournment, I will exercise my constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of Congress,” Trump said.

No president has ever used that authority.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in NLRB v. Noel Canning that the president cannot use his or her authority under the Recess Appointment Clause of the Constitution to appoint public officials unless the Senate is in recess and not able to transact Senate business. The Senate is in recess until May 4.

Trump was asked for details, and responded with his usual clarity … Read the rest