April 6, 2020

U.S. 'wasted' months before preparing for virus pandemic

Source: Associated Press

By MICHAEL BIESECKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — After the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment.

A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies largely waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.

By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and were pleading for shipments from the Strategic National Stockpile. That federal cache of supplies was created more than 20 years ago to help bridge gaps in the medical and pharmaceutical supply chains during a national emergency.

Now, three months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients needing critical care is surging. Some state and local officials report receiving broken ventilators and decade-old dry-rotted masks.



Read more: https://apnews.com/090600c299a8cf07f5b44d92534856bc?fbclid=IwAR3sudXq0_cDc17-2silEXTunHrBQo6ekBFuitJQWaKcKnQIKfu2zK997_g

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A REMINDER

On Feb. 7, 2020, the U.S. facilitated the sending of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to China to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus in early 2020. It apparently was never replaced..

February 24, 2020

Bernie is electable. ALL of our Democrats are

By kos
Daily Kos Staff
Monday February 24, 2020 · 10:58 AM PST




The problem with “electability” as a measure is that it’s utter horseshit. No one can divine the twists and turns a campaign makes, the way public opinion can rise and fall, and the excitement that various candidates generate or don’t.

President Barack Obama won 69 million votes in 2008—the highest tally in American history—after a campaign in which Hillary Clinton, her campaign, much of the media, and heck, Democratic voters argued that she was more electable. Clinton literally took the race all the way to the national convention and, making this argument, tried to have the superdelegates overturn the will of the voters. (Bernie Sanders repaid that obnoxiousness by doing the exact same thing to Clinton eight years later.)

Yet nothing speaks to how ridiculous the “electability” notion is more than the way those numbers fluctuate over time.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/24/1921655/-Bernie-is-electable-ALL-of-our-Democrats-are

July 3, 2019

Dangerous Overcrowding at Border Patrol Facilities

Source: Buzz Feed News

"The Declaration of Independence. We celebrate American Independence Day on the Fourth of July every year. We think of July 4, 1776, as a day that represents the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation."

The definition of independence is freedom from the control or influence of others.

In Wong Win v. United States (1896), the court ruled that:

It must be concluded that all persons within the territory of the United States are entitled to the protection by those amendments [Fifth and Sixth] and that even aliens shall not be held to answer for a capital or other infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury, nor deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.

In summary, the entire case of illegal aliens being covered by and protected by the Constitution has been settled law for 129 years and rests on one word: "person." It is the word "person" that connects the dots of "due process" and "equal protection" in the 14th Amendment to the U.S Constitution and it is those five words that make the Constitution of the United States and its 14th amendment the most important political document since the Magna Carta in all world history.

"Aliens," legal and illegal, have the full panoply of constitutional protections American citizens have with three exceptions: voting, some government jobs, and gun ownership.

https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/255281-yes-illegal-aliens-have-constitutional-rights

Read more: www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/photos-overcrowding-immigration-border-facilities?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharefacebook&ref=mobile_share&fbclid=IwAR2vYTsMiXP5NBsTIAchvUoptpg85nDPYBdvZSAUyGC0xUqI4Tj1AIzNjkg

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Set aside our humanity, our altruism our code of ethics, because I don't believe our Government nor some of our citizens do have any conscience.

These are human beings, people who are supposed to have protection under the Constitution under the "Due Process".

And yet here they are locked up in a detention camp; detention camp isn't even an appropriate name to these cages. Nor, we could call it a prison, even though prisoners committed crimes, they still have rights to safe humane lodgings.
Concentration Camp is a more apt description!!

Happy 4th of July!!