April 5-7, 2020
Apr 05 11:58 Pelosi, Schumer & Oversight Apr 05 17:40 Gov. Cuomo: New York sees first drop in COVID-19 deaths Apr 06 03:30 Discount Pelosi's bipartisan talk; pay attention to her partisanship Apr 06 09:23 Let's limit Chinese communists Apr 06 11:49 Brian Stelter flunks federalism Apr 06 20:03 Resignation calls mount for Tedros Apr 07 06:24 The leaders vs. the opportunists Apr 07 07:45 Tammy Duckworth's diatribe
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Pelosi, Schumer & Oversight
Pelosi and Schumer are words that definitely fit together. They even take beautiful family pictures. Everyone remembers this beautiful family portrait:
Then again, they aren't the trustworthy leaders that I'd trust. Ms. Pelosi impeached President Trump based on hearsay testimony and the complaint of a faux whistleblower. Pelosi recently withheld trillions of dollars of funding for a week for hospital workers, small businesses and families in Pelosi's attempt to force President Trump to sign major parts of the Green New Deal into law.
Now Pelosi is complaining that there isn't proper oversight of those relief funds . That's like the fox complaining that he didn't get the security guard's job at the hen house. That's like Bonnie and Clyde complaining that they didn't get the security guard jobs at the bank.
Sen. Schumer is the other pea in that pod. When Pelosi tried instigating trouble with the Green New Deal, Sen. Schumer sat silently. To quote Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, Sen. Schumer "didn't have the oranges" to stand up to Pelosi. Despite that deficit of intestinal fortitude, Sen. Schumer still issued this statement on oversight of the relief package:
This oversight position, which will be responsible for overseeing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, requires complete independence from the president and any other interested party to assure the American people that all decisions are made without fear or favor. To nominate a member of the president's own staff is exactly the wrong type of person to choose for this position.
Trusting Sen. Schumer and Ms. Pelosi to conduct oversight on trillions of dollars is the definition of foolish. Putting untrustworthy people in oversight positions is stupid. It's like some of the examples from earlier, like the fox getting the job of guarding the hen house, etc.
Congressional Democrats were very skeptical of the giant stimulus program to help struggling businesses hard hit by the coronavirus and insisted on several measures to make sure billions doled out to businesses are spent wisely and audited. Among the provisions was $25 million to created a new Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery to be an independent check on the Department of the Treasury's loan program.
That led to this:
When Trump signed the stimulus bill into law, he included a signing statement that said the inspector general could file reports to Congress only with "presidential supervision," angering Democrats who believe Trump is trying to undo their purposeful checks on his Administration.
That's perfectly reasonable. President Trump anticipated an ambush by Democrats. Having both sides represented eliminates the possibility of an ambush. The fact that Sen. Schumer and Pelosi complaining so vociferously is proof that they intended to ambush President Trump.
Trusting Sen. Schumer and Speaker Pelosi to conduct honest oversight is what fools put their trust in. President Trump doesn't trust them and rightfully so. This pair has stabbed him in the back too many times.
Posted Sunday, April 5, 2020 11:58 AM
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Gov. Cuomo: New York sees first drop in COVID-19 deaths
Is New York turning the best corner in its fight with the COVID-19 virus? That's still to be determined. What's been determined is that "New York state has seen its first drop in daily coronavirus deaths, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday ." While this is exciting news, it doesn't mean NY is out of the woods yet. Still, any good news is a ray of sunshine from the badly battered state.
The article continues, saying "Cuomo said New York also experienced a slight drop in intensive care admissions and the number of patients who need breathing tubes inserted. The hospital discharge rate is 'way up' he said, calling it 'great news.' You could argue that you are seeing a plateauing,' Cuomo told reporters on Sunday, as he revealed that the state had reported 594 new coronavirus deaths -- down from the 630 reported on Saturday and the 562 on Friday. At least 4,159 people have died in the state so far, with approximately 122,000 total positive cases."
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Let's hope that this is the start of a trend. Let's hope this isn't an outlier or a momentary blip. We need to put this behind us ASAP so we can return to the best economy in our nation's history.
"The number of beds doesn't really matter anymore," Cuomo went on. "We have the beds. It's the ventilators, and then it's the staff."
The staff isn't NY's biggest problem, either:
Separately, the military said in a statement that the 1,000 personnel would work in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A total of 300 of these "uniformed medical providers will work from the Javits Center and the rest will deploy to other area locations to expand local medical capabilities in the war against COVID-19," U.S. Northern Command, which is leading coronavirus efforts for the Department of Defense, said.
Simply put, NY would be devastated if not for all the help President Trump has delivered to NY.
Posted Sunday, April 5, 2020 5:40 PM
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Discount Pelosi's bipartisan talk; pay attention to her partisanship
It isn't in the opening paragraph of this article but it's certainly perplexing. Speaker Pelosi allegedly said "the committee will investigate how the private sector is spending its government funds and press to ensure the federal response is based on science and health experts. The committee will fight against profiteering, political favoritism and price gouging."
Later in the article, Pelosi is quoted as saying "The committee will be empowered to examine all aspects of the federal response to coronavirus, and to assure that the taxpayers' dollars are being wisely and efficiently spent to save lives, deliver relief and benefit our economy." This isn't how coherent people speak, though it's significantly more coherent than Joe Biden has sounded in months.
What is Pelosi talking about when she says that this new committee will "ensure the federal response is based on science and health experts", then say that this committee will be empowered to make sure that "the taxpayers' dollars are being wisely and efficiently spent to save lives, deliver relief and benefit our economy"? What do scientists and health experts have to do with guaranteeing that the money will "benefit our economy"? That's like insisting that Dr. Spry or Dean Banaian guarantee that the U of M's agriculture research budget is spent wisely. They're both intelligent men but they aren't qualified to conduct oversight on agriculture projects. Their specialty is economics, not agriculture.
What's happening is that Pelosi is saying the right-sounding things to make it sound like her oversight committee is legitimate. The longer she talks, though, the less authoritative she sounds. Pelosi won't admit it but the CARES Act already has an oversight committee built into it. We need Pelosi's oversight committee like a bank needs Bonnie and Clyde to guard the vault.
Red flag city
It was not immediately clear whom Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California might appoint as the GOP leader of the committee or the extent of the GOP participation of the committee that Pelosi billed as a "special bipartisan oversight panel."
Speaking on a separate call with reporters, McCarthy voiced concern about the appointment of Clyburn to lead the group, citing reports that he had called the crisis an opportunity to "restructure" things to fit his party's vision.
The fact that Pelosi created this oversight committee without talking with McCarthy is a huge red flag if the goal is bipartisanship. Why would you create a bipartisan committee with only partisan input? Red flag du jour? The chairman just spoke of the crisis relief bill as "an opportunity to restructure" the Democrats' vision for the world. That's setting off tons of red flags, especially in terms of bipartisanship. This is the opposite of bipartisanship. Does this sound like Pelosi is interested in creating bipartisanship?
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Posted Monday, April 6, 2020 3:30 AM
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Let's limit Chinese communists
The best way to limit Chinese communists, which should be the goal, is through limiting the Chinese communists' economy . The best way to do that has already started. For years, pharmaceutical companies moved their operations to China. That's changing, thanks in large part to President Trump.
At a recent COVID-19 task force meeting, Peter Navarro, one of President Trump's economic advisers, said "One of the things that this crisis has taught us, sir, is that we are dangerously overdependent on a global supply chain. Never again should we rely on the rest of the world for our essential medicines and countermeasures." He's exactly right.
The Chinese communists lied to us about COVID-19, then lied to the world when they said that U.S. soldiers had spread it into Wuhan Province. The Chinese communists then threatened to cut off our medication if we kept telling the world that the Chinese communists had started this virus. The U.S. can't be put in that position again. That's a threat to our sovereignty and security.
Let's let LeBron James know that Nike gear will have a stamp on it like the Surgeon General's stamp on each pack of cigarette. It can say something like 'These shoes were built by Chinese kids, who worked 60 hours a week and were paid $10 a month. Then let him know that anything with his name on them that's manufactured in China will have a 250% tariff on them. Let's call it a Social Justice Tariff for proper attribution.
Through PSAs, let's tell Americans that Mike Bloomberg sold his soul to Chinese censors for a few extra $$. Let's see how that information plays in Peoria.
The concern is bipartisan. Three Senate Democrats backed legislation put forward by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) last month that advocates for the U.S. to reprioritize its productive capability in order to achieve less supply chain dependence on China, particularly as it relates to products used in the federal health care system.
This is a priority. It's foolish to put ourselves in a position to be held hostage by despots like the Chinese communists. On matters of national security, it's best to be in control. Giving Chinese communists the opportunity to hold us hostage over life-saving medications is dangerous. Tom Cotton is, besides Sen. Rubio, the top expert on national security on China. Let's listen to what he said a month ago:
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Let's restrict China's influence. It's the right thing to do.
Posted Monday, April 6, 2020 9:23 AM
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Brian Stelter flunks federalism
The headline to this article isn't surprising to anyone with a brain. Before going into Stelter's stupidity, it's important to lay the groundwork for what federalism is. It's defined in the Preamble to the Constitution. Specifically, it's defined in the first 9 words of the Preamble, where it says "We the people of the United States of America."
The federal government didn't exist until the "several states" agreed to create the federal government. The people, the cities and the states were in charge of most decisions. In fact, they preferred keeping decisions close to home so much that they created a weak federal gov't in the articles of confederacy. Let's now dive into Stelter's stupidity. Here's what he said:
There's a lot of revisionist history being written right now. Lots of digging of the so-called memory hole. Pro-Trump media outlets are trying to bury the Trump White House's failures to fully protect the country from this pandemic. They're trying with all their might to shift the blame to mayors and governors.
Brian, the primary decision-makers on public health are mayors and governors. Brian, if this was the annual flu, which is fairly routine, would you want the federal government involved? Would the federal government need to be involved? The answer to both questions is 'NO'.
The reason why you wouldn't want the federal government involved is because it's already got a lengthy list of responsibilities. Giving it more responsibilities isn't wise, especially when the people on the ground know what they need and are in position to help their fellow citizens. How much would people 1,000+ miles away know about conditions on the ground? What position would bureaucrats be in to help citizens who need help the most?
Look: There were shortcomings on the local and state levels. But the federal government wields far more power and influence. The president has far more influence and far more responsibility than any governor. So it should be said loudly and clearly and repeatedly: This was a 9/11-level failure of the federal government.
There's no disputing that the federal government made some mistakes. There's no disputing that mistakes were made at the state and city level, too. What matters is whose responsibility it is to help people on the ground. It isn't President Trump's primary responsibility to make sure that the family of 5 in the bad neighborhood of Detroit gets treated for COVID-19. That's the mayor's job, though he might need assistance from Gov. Whitmer and President Trump. Primarily, it's the mayor's job to prepare for Detroit's needs. It's Gov. Whitmer's responsibility to prepare for Michigan's needs. Only after they've exhausted all of their resources does the President enter the picture.
Stelter is complaining because NYC didn't prepare for this crisis. You don't hear Seattle or Atlanta complaining because they prepared properly. Further, I'd argue that the "9/11-level failure of the federal government" characterization. The Bush administration certainly helped but it was mostly local people digging out at Ground Zero. It was local first responders that helped people out of the World Trade Center. It was mostly Rudy Giuliani who put in place a plan to rebuild NYC.
It wasn't until after clean-up operations were well underway that President Bush got involved in this historic moment:
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Instead of getting a degree in mass communication, Stelter should've gotten his degree in history.
As I argued on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" telecast, the government's failures need to be covered and scrutinized accordingly. To ignore what went wrong -- or to cover it up or to memory-hole it - does a disservice to the dead.
Blaming the wrong people for not preparing doesn't do justice to those who needlessly died either. Getting responsibilities right is a journalist's responsibility. Thus far, Mr. Stelter didn't get many of these things right.
Posted Monday, April 6, 2020 11:49 AM
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Resignation calls mount for Tedros
Calls are mounting for World Health Director-General Tedros to resign . Thus far, Senators Rick Scott, Martha McSally, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Sasse have called for either investigations resignations. Ambassador Nikki Haley has been critical, too.
Last week, Sen. McSally appeared on Maria Bartiromo's FBN show. That's where she said that "she has 'never trusted a communist' and that the Chinese government's 'cover-up of this virus that originated with them has caused unnecessary deaths around America and around the world... I think Dr. Tedros needs to step down.'" Later, Sen. McSally was quoted in this article as saying "Since the very beginning of this crisis, Tedros has parroted Chinese government talking points, even praising the communist party's 'transparency' during its coronavirus response efforts despite a mountain of evidence showing that the regime concealed the severity of the outbreak."
She finished with this quote:
"At the direction of Tedros, the WHO provided cover for China for months as it attempted to shirk accountability for its bungled efforts to contain this virus," McSally added. "This deception cost lives."
Here's what Tedros said that got him in trouble:
"China is to be congratulated for the extraordinary measures it has taken to contain the outbreak despite the severe social and economic impact that it is having on China," Tedros said in February.
China has been as transparent as a rock. Their lies have cost lives.
Dr. Tedros deceived the world. At one point, he even praised China's 'transparency' during its coronavirus response efforts despite a mountain of evidence showing the regime concealed the severity of the outbreak. This deception cost lives. https://t.co/ymmnCTeV8O
- Martha McSally (@SenMcSallyAZ) April 3, 2020
According to The Washington Free Beacon, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the WHO should consider removing Tedros as its head.
"The World Health Organization has consistently bent to the will of the Chinese Communist Party at the expense of global health and of containing the spread of the coronavirus, from downplaying the extent of the virus to systematically excluding Taiwan," a Cruz spokesperson told the publication. "Sen. Cruz believes that the WHO has lost the credibility necessary for it to be effective, and a reevaluation of its leadership is urgently called for."
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., also told the Free Beacon that "we need to have a serious reckoning with the World Health Organization."
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., joined in on calls for Tedros to face accountability for how his organization has performed during the pandemic. "Once this pandemic is under control, WHO leadership should be held to account. That includes Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has allowed Beijing to use the WHO to mislead the global community," Rubio said. "At this moment, [Tedros] is either complicit or dangerously incompetent. Neither possibility bodes well for his future at the helm of this critical organization."
The quote from Tedros is especially damning. It's indefensible.
Posted Monday, April 6, 2020 8:03 PM
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The leaders vs. the opportunists
Kim Strassel's latest Potomac Watch column highlights how the COVID-19 crisis has revealed the character, or the lack thereof, of the high profile politicians. In the column, she wrote "the Trump administration spent this week distributing ventilators, standing up small-business loans, dispatching hospital ships, erecting alternate care facilities, explaining virus modeling, revamping regulations to keep truckers on the road, and plastering the airwaves with information about hygiene and social distancing. Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent this week setting up a new House committee to investigate Donald Trump."
President Trump sent the signal that he's paying attention to the American people. Nancy Pelosi sent the signal that she's a bitter politician who has riveted her attention on President Trump. It isn't a flattering look on Ms. Pelosi. Bitterness never is a positive look. Leadership is always a positive look. That's what President Trump is providing. Though the gotcha questions of the Fake News correspondents are annoying, that hasn't stopped him from dispensing important information to the people.
Mr. Trump is at the head of this operation, and while his leadership style isn't for everyone, he's certainly leading. He addresses the virus in stark terms but also insists on optimism - something that's important from leaders in tough times. While punching back at some critics, he's also reached across the aisle.
While President Trump leads, Pelosi headed in a different direction:
Contrast this with Mrs. Pelosi, who seems to view the pandemic as one big political opportunity. She held up last week's relief bill for days, attempting to cram into it unrelated election and climate provisions. She used a Sunday CNN appearance to accuse Mr. Trump of killing Americans. This week she announced a new special House committee that will 'examine all aspects of the federal response to the coronavirus' and will have subpoena power. This is yet the latest Democratic machinery for investigating Trump and ginning up scandals.
This is the embodiment of bitterness:
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She's got chutzpah. Pelosi talks about President Trump's delays at the beginning. What she didn't say is that President Trump was being tried for impeachment when this started. Impeachment, we'll recall, was Ms. Pelosi's latest attempt to undermine the President of the United States. The articles of impeachment didn't even specify a crime, much less a high crime. Again, Ms. Pelosi's bitterness and partisanship shines through.
For every Mr. Cuomo there is a Gretchen Whitmer. The Michigan Democrat has spent weeks accusing the administration of failing to have a "national strategy," and of "cuts to the CDC" that put us "behind the eight ball." She's insisted "we're still not getting what we need from the federal government," and even insinuated the administration was directing suppliers to withhold equipment to her state - a ludicrous suggestion.
Gov. Whitmer has come across as a witch, a younger version of Pelosi. Supposedly on Biden's short list for VP, she'd be perfect for turning off suburban voters.
While President Trump hasn't totally shined during this crisis, these Democrats have definitely whined throughout this crisis. That's how the wheat gets separated from the chaff. Making legislation isn't a pretty sight. It isn't a pretty sight watching wheat separate from chaff, either.
Posted Tuesday, April 7, 2020 6:24 AM
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Tammy Duckworth's diatribe
This op-ed is Tammy Duckworth's audition for Nancy Pelosi's role as lead Democrat bitch. Listen to Ms. Duckworth's vitriol in her opening. That's where she said "In the time it takes you to read this, dozens more Americans will probably have been diagnosed with COVID-19. By the time you finish it, there's a good chance another American will have died from the disease."
It isn't clear whether she wants the role as the Democrats' bitch or that of the grim reaper. In the next paragraph, Sen. Duckworth wrote "Many of those diagnoses will probably come in New York; some in California; others ranging from Louisiana to Florida. While we don't know everything about this virus just yet, what we do know is that it is spreading exponentially. Young, old, rich, poor, black, white, Asian, Latino, you name it - every one of us is in danger. And if we don't take immediate sweeping action many more Americans could die in a pandemic that's already been made far worse by a president who has refused to take obvious measures that could be done with the stroke of a pen."
You can't be serious with that statement. President Trump has insisted that the FDA eliminate as many regulations as is possible to speed treatments as much as possible. President Trump has had the US Army Corps of Engineers build tent hospitals in NYC -- in less than a week. BTW, these aren't small town hospitals. They'll hold almost 3,000 patients.
Speaking of treating patients, it took the Navy less than 2 weeks to stock the USNS Comfort and get it to New York Harbor. Originally, it was projected to take a full month to prepare for service.
As for the "pandemic that's already been made far worse by a president" BS, let's talk about the praise he's received from such noted conservatives as Gavin Newsom and Andrew Cuomo. When pressed by Jake Tapper to admit that he's only being nice so President Trump won't cut him off, Gov. Newsom refused to take the bait. He kept saying that President Trump helped and that the help was prompt:
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The mean-spirited things that Sen. Duckworth said don't match the kind things that Gov. Newsom said.
Posted Tuesday, April 7, 2020 7:45 AM
Comment 1 by Gretchen Leisen at 07-Apr-20 05:10 PM
Thank you for your dedication to this blog and informing us of news about the current Covid-19 crisis. I read it every day, and while not exactly enjoying it [the subject is grim], you are right on point with the data you present.
As to Nancy Pelosi - we only need to consider the source. She really can't help that she is not bright, however, she can help it that she is so vicious with her tongue.
May God bless you and may God bless America and our President and Vice-President.
