Jay-Z helps 150 inmates at Mississippi prison sue over 'constant peril'

Erik Ortiz, NBC News•February 26, 2020

Inmates at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman say chronic staff shortages and rampant violence have led some prisoners to insert their own catheters, treat their own stab wounds and suffer through seizures without medication.

In many instances, there is one guard for every 160 inmates, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Greeneville, Mississippi.

The suit is the second filed in as many months with the help of rappers Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, and Yo Gotti, real name Mario Mims, who have been protesting the "inhumane and dangerous conditions of confinement" in prisons.

The complaint was filed on behalf of 152 inmates who say that they are under "constant peril" at Parchman and that the environment is "so barbaric, the deprivation of health and mental health care so extreme, and the defects in security so severe, that the people confined at Parchman live a miserable and hopeless existence confronted daily by imminent risk of substantial harm in violation of their rights under the U.S. Constitution."

Parchman, the only maximum-security prison for men in the state, has more than 3,500 inmate beds and has grappled with a history of inmate abuses, corruption and racial segregation.

An inmate named Thomas Lee, 49, was so in need of mental health care that before he took his own life in January, his last words were reported to have been: "I'm tired of this s---. They don't care about me or my food. I'm about to kill myself!"

Inmates also describe rat feces, cockroaches and bird droppings contaminating their meals, as well as toilets and showers in a "perpetual state of systemic failure."

Image: An inoperable toilet inside a cell at Parchman

The guards, the inmates allege, have played an active role in the deteriorating conditions, failed to act out of fear for their own safety and looked the other way amid the violence. "Plaintiffs have resorted to tying their cell doors closed at night to prevent guards from allowing other inmates to enter and assault them," the suit says.

Since Dec. 29, at least 18 people have died in Mississippi state prisons, some as the result of gang-related rioting and suicide, officials said. Mississippi has one of the highest incarceration rates in the United States.

Across the state's prison system, the string of violent deaths and lockdowns and protests outside the Mississippi Capitol to "shut it down" have caught the attention of the U.S. Justice Department, which announced this month that it will review conditions at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, as well at as the South Mississippi Correctional Institute, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility.

Prison reform advocates have said that it's unusual for the Justice Department to look at four prisons at one time rather than just one and that it indicates how entrenched and immediate the problems remain.

The first lawsuit, filed in January with the help of Jay-Z, was on behalf of 29 prisoners, but the staggering number of plaintiffs in this latest suit underscores the deepening crisis. Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican who took office in January, has said he would close Unit 29 at Parchman — which has been plagued by health inspection violations from inoperable toilets and sinks to missing pillows and mattresses to no lights.

Roc Nation, the entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z, also released a video on YouTube that features interviews with family members of those who have recently died in Mississippi's prisons and scenes from the inside of unsanitary conditions.

The state Corrections Department said Wednesday it does not comment on pending litigation.

Last week, Reeves told reporters that Unit 29 would be closed in the coming weeks as inmates are transferred to other facilities, including to the private Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility about 5 miles away. The unit has about 1,000 inmates assigned to it.

"The problems were infuriating," Reeves said after touring Parchman in January. "There is no excuse. We can do better."

The latest suit asks the Corrections Department to create a plan to eliminate health and safety risks within 90 days.

It also seeks for the court to retain full jurisdiction of the prison until the department has "fully remedied the situation and ensured a safe, livable environment."

IMAGE: Criminal Justice Reform launch

Michael Bloomberg called Goldman Sachs bankers his ‘peeps’ and promised to defend them, leaked tape reveals
Andrew Naughtie (sic) The Independent•February 25, 2020
REUTERS

Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is being criticised for telling bankers he would have defended them as president in a leaked audio from a private Goldman Sachs event in 2016.

At the event, Mr Bloomberg first described the audience as his “peeps”, and said that had he run for president that year, his “first campaign platform” would have been “to defend the banks.”

But, he added, “you know how well that’s gonna go down in this country”.

Mr Bloomberg then defended the banks more seriously: “Somebody's gotta stand up and do what we need. A healthy banking system that's going to take risks because that's what creates the jobs for everybody. And nobody's willing to say that.”

The audio was uploaded to hosting platform Soundcloud and sent to CNN and several journalists. The sender used the email address and username “CancelGoldman”, and claimed to have worked at Goldman Sachs for 14 years.

The Bloomberg campaign has confirmed that the audio is real. In an email to CNN, spokesperson Stu Loeser said that much of what Mr Bloomberg said was in jest, and that his remarks were of an analytical standard almost unheard of in current politics.

“What you hear in these remarks are a combination of jokes and detailed explanations of ways to make our government better that are far beyond what the current occupant of the Oval Office could read, let alone think."

Besides his defence of banks, Mr Bloomberg also raised the alarm about income inequality, warning his audience that “anytime we've had this before, society blows up and they do set up the guillotines, and the guillotines don't have to be chop your head off.

“They could be confiscatory taxes, they could be seizing the endowments of uh, educational institutions and um, philanthropic organizations, all of which those proposals are out there.”

The audio also contains sections more directly relevant to Mr Bloomberg’s current presidential campaign.

Asked about the rise of the radical right both in the US and around the world, Mr Bloomberg said the progressive left is also “scary” – citing current candidate Elizabeth Warren as an example.

"The left is arising. The progressive movement is just as scary," he says in the tape. "Elizabeth Warren on one side. And whoever you want to pick on the Republicans on the right side?"



Ms Warren recently tore into Mr Bloomberg when he appeared at his first Democratic debate, citing his history of sexist remarks and saying that “Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another”.

Mr Bloomberg has been criticised for the amount he is spending on his presidential campaign, which is now running into the hundreds of millions of dollars – all drawn from his vast personal fortune.

While he has used that money to flood upcoming primaries with advertising and hire hundreds of staffers, recent polling from key states shows him struggling to catch up with frontrunner Bernie Sanders.

Duterte says Philippines can survive without America

JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press•February 26, 2020

File Photo: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivers his speech during the Presidential Security Group Change of Command ceremony on Feb. 25, 2020 at the PSG Compound in Malacañang Park, Manila, Philippines. (Robinson Ninal Jr./Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP)More

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said Filipino forces can fight insurgents and Muslim extremists without American military help, in a defense of his recent decision to terminate a U.S. security pact.

Duterte also said in a speech that he would stick to a decision made early in his presidency, when he was enraged by then President Barack Obama’s criticism of his deadly anti-drug crackdown, that he will not travel to the United States.

The brash Philippine leader has often criticized U.S. security policies while praising China and Russia since taking office in mid-2016 for a six-year term.

U.S. President Donald Trump invited Duterte to join a meeting he will host for leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Las Vegas next month. Duterte has better relations with Trump than with Obama, but his remarks Wednesday support an earlier statement by his spokesman that he would not attend the Las Vegas meeting.

“Do we need America to survive as a nation?" Duterte asked. "Do we need ... the might and power of the military of the United States to fight our rebellion here and the terrorists down south and control drugs?”

“The military and police said, `Sir, we can do it,’” he said.

“If we can’t do it, we have no business being a republic,” Duterte said. “You might as well choose. We can be a territory of the Americans or we can be a province of China.”

The Philippine government notified the U.S. two weeks ago that it intends to end the Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows American forces to train in large numbers in the Philippines, in the most serious threat under Duterte to the two nations' 69-year treaty alliance.

The termination takes effect after 180 days unless both sides agree to keep the VFA. The waiting period allows the allies to renegotiate contentious terms of the 1998 agreement.

The accord allows the entry and temporary stay of American forces along with U.S. military ships and aircraft for joint training with Filipino troops. The maneuvers include annual drills that Philippine security officials have credited with helping beat back communist insurgents nationwide and Islamic State group-aligned Muslim militants in the southern Philippines.

The VFA specifies which country has jurisdiction over American soldiers who are accused of crimes while in the Philippines, a sensitive issue in the former American colony.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has called the decision by the Duterte administration “unfortunate.” Trump, however, reacted dismissively, saying, “If they would like to do that, that’s fine. We’ll save a lot of money."

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., who signed the notice of termination at Duterte’s direction, has proposed a review of the agreement to fix contentious issues instead of abrogating it.

Duterte threatened to terminate the agreement after Washington reportedly canceled the U.S. visa of a loyal ally, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who was linked to human rights violations when he enforced the president’s deadly anti-drug crackdown as national police chief in 2016.

Duterte gave the U.S. a month to restore dela Rosa’s visa, but U.S. officials have not publicly reacted to his demand.

Thousands of mostly poor suspects have been killed under Duterte's campaign against illegal drugs, alarming the U.S. and other Western governments and human rights groups.

Duterte rejected on Wednesday what he said was the portrayal by some U.S. officials of his administration as persecuting a detained opposition senator and being incapable of investigating extrajudicial killings.

“We were being portrayed as a republic incapable of administering simple justice,” Duterte said.

'Never before': Shock, fear as India's capital reels from deadly riots

Bhuvan BAGGA, Maude BRULARD, Archana THIYAGARAJAN and AFP reporters,
AFP•February 26, 2020



A firefighter stands in the entrance of a New Delhi residence on February 26 following clashes that have claimed more than 25 lives (AFP Photo/Sajjad HUSSAIN )

Mohamad Rashid was too afraid to remove his helmet. In front of him was a stick-wielding mob of up to 500 men, cheering loudly and throwing flaming tyres into his shop as deadly sectarian violence swept India's capital.

Within a few minutes, flames consumed the entire market of secondhand goods and nearby vehicles, lighting up the night sky with an eerie, orange glow. Next door, a police station stood silent.

"My car was parked just there, they set it on fire too," Rashid, who rushed to his shop on his motorbike Monday night after being informed that mobs were gathered outside, told AFP as his voice shook with anger.

The market in Gokulpuri was just one of many poor, congested neighbourhoods in northeast Delhi ransacked by rampaging mobs on Monday and Tuesday as battles broke out between Hindus and Muslims.

The clashes followed renewed protests on Sunday against a contentious citizenship law brought in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government that critics say is anti-Muslim.

Rashid escaped unhurt, but many others did not, with more than 25 killed and over 200 injured in the riots -- Delhi's worst in decades.

- Mayhem and destruction -

Across the densely populated neighbourhoods were scenes of devastation reminiscent of a warzone.

Narrow lanes were covered in ash, while stones, bricks and debris from smashed shops littered the streets beside rows of cars torched during the night.

Firefighters doused still-smouldering buildings with water in one neighbourhood as locals cleared the charred interior of a mosque and carefully removed the burnt remains of a Koran in another.

Police manned barricades and stood guard at riot-hit areas as residents accused them of doing nothing to help during the turmoil.

"There were people standing across on buildings and firing bullets towards here," lawyer Naeem Malik told AFP at Chandbagh, where a road divided rows of Hindu and Muslim shops.

"We tried to make many calls to the police from here in Chandbagh that people are entering our colonies chanting 'Jai Shree Ram' (a Hindu chant) but police did not help us at all."

Showing bruises on his body, Malik said he was beaten by policemen when he tried to reach some women at a site used to protest against the citizenship law.

Across the road, Sachin Sharma said he saw a Muslim mob heading to the area before being confronted by a group of Hindus.

"The last three days, the panic was such that I was not able to step out of my house, because I was scared that a group of people will come to my house... they can do everything," he told AFP.

In Jaffrabad neighbourhood, the smell of acrid smoke hung in the air as police sirens whined in the distance.

"We are afraid, we left our homes. There is no police in the streets at night, just during the day," Farhat, a 22-year-old Islamic studies student, told AFP in her father's shop as police looked on.

"They (rioters) say we are not Indians but we are Indians by blood, we are Muslims and Indians but they don't understand."

- Dream to nightmare -

The sectarian riots have shocked Delhi locals, many of whom told AFP they never expected such violence to take place in their home city.

"Our Hindu brothers' houses were attacked by stone-pelters, and our Muslim brothers' homes were also attacked," Mohammed Chand told AFP.

"Since my childhood we haven't heard of such violence between Hindus and Muslims but now we are hearing all this."

Shubham Sharma, 22, was looking forward to his wedding on Tuesday night at Gopalpur village.

But what should have been a joyous time of dancing, music and food turned into a nightmare.

"We haven't enjoyed anything or done anything because of fear. We spent so much money, all of it went to waste. Even the halwais (cooks) didn't come," a distraught Sangeeta Sharma, the groom's mother, told AFP.

A five-kilometre (three-mile) trip to the wedding became a one-and-a-half hour ordeal as the wedding party dodged rioters and hit roadblocks. The bride had to plead with police for an escort to reach the venue safely.

Some 1,000 guests had been invited to the reception but only a dozen turned up.

"There was a war-like zone throughout the route -- riots somewhere, road blocks and fires," the groom's cousin Abhay Sharma told AFP, adding that the wedding party spent the night dousing blazes behind their home.

"It is supposed to be once in a lifetime event in most of our lives. It is supposed to be that one moment -- that was spoiled forever."

MODI UNLEASHES HINDU TERROR DURING TRUMP VISIT
JUST AS HE DID IN MUMBAI WHEN HE WAS MAYOR

A mob out for blood: India's protests pit Hindus against Muslims

FALSE EQIVALENCY, HINDU'S ARE IN THE MAJORITY AND UNDER MODI HAVE BEEN ATTACKING MUSLIMS AND MUSLIM RIGHTS
By Danish Siddiqui and Devjyot Ghoshal,
Reuters•February 26, 2020

A Picture and its Story: A mob out for blood: India's protests pit Hindus against Muslims

By Danish Siddiqui and Devjyot Ghoshal

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Mohammad Zubair was on his way home from a local mosque in northeast New Delhi when he came across a large crowd. He turned towards an underpass to avoid the commotion; it proved to be a mistake.

Within seconds, he was cowering on the ground surrounded by more than a dozen young men, who began beating him with wooden sticks and metal rods. Blood flowed from his head, spattering his clothes. The blows intensified. He thought he would die.

Zubair provided his version of events at a relative's home in another part of the capital, his head wrapped in bandages.

The mid-afternoon attack on Monday, captured in a dramatic Reuters photograph, came against a backdrop of tension and violence.

Near the area of the Indian capital where it occurred, Muslim and Hindu protesters had been fighting pitched battles for hours across a concrete and metal barrier that divided the main thoroughfare, throwing rocks and primitive petrol bombs.

But the sight of a mob screaming pro-Hindu slogans suddenly turning on an unarmed individual, apparently because he was a Muslim, was a sign that growing tensions between members of India's two dominant religions may be hard to contain.

Unrest across India began in December with the passing of a law that makes non-Muslims from some neighboring nations eligible for fast-tracked citizenship - a move many Muslims say is discriminatory and marks a break from India's secular traditions.

Persecuted religious minorities including from Hindu, Sikh, or Christian communities are eligible for citizenship, but those from Islam do not enjoy all the same advantages.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says the new citizenship law is necessary to protect persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and denies any bias against India's Muslims.

"They saw I was alone, they saw my cap, beard, shalwar kameez (clothes) and saw me as a Muslim," Zubair told Reuters. "They just started attacking, shouting slogans. What kind of humanity is this?"

"EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE"

BJP spokesman Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga said his party did not support any kind of violence, including the attack on Zubair. He blamed rival parties for stoking the chaos during U.S. President Donald Trump's visit in order to damage India's image.

"This was 100 percent pre-planned," he said of the violence, adding that his party or its policies had nothing to do with the chaos. Reuters has no independent evidence that the protests were planned in advance.

Bagga said that the federal government, which controls Delhi police, moved to deploy paramilitary forces in order to bring the situation under control.

"I believe within 24 hours everything will be fine," he added.

Delhi police were not immediately available for comment on the attack on Zubair.

Since cruising back to power in May, Modi has pursued a Hindu-first agenda that has emboldened his followers and left India's 180 million Muslims reeling. Hindus account for about 80 percent of the population.

Now opponents and supporters of the law, largely divided between Muslims and Hindus, are facing off against each other. Some say the polarization evokes a dark chapter in India's past.

"The violence is now happening in tiny pockets of Delhi and reminds you of the beginning of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots," said Yogendra Yadav, a political scientist who leads a small political party opposed to the BJP.

He was referring to mob attacks on the Sikh minority after members of the community assassinated then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Thousands of Sikhs were killed in cities including Delhi in what Indian investigators said was organized violence.

APPEAL FOR CALM

Modi appealed for calm on Wednesday after at least 24 people were killed and hundreds more wounded in some of the worst sectarian violence in New Delhi in decades.

The citizenship law behind the unrest is one of several steps taken by Modi's government since its re-election that have appealed to the Hindu majority.

In August, it stripped Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, of its special status, a move which Modi defended as a way of integrating the region with the rest of the country.

In November, the Supreme Court handed Hindu groups control of a contested site in the city of Ayodhya that paves the way for a temple to be built on a site where a mosque once stood. That was a central election promise made by the BJP.

Modi's position as chief minister of Gujarat state during some of the worst riots in India's independent history that took place there in 2002 has long stoked mistrust among some Muslims.

Up to 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, were killed during riots sparked after 59 Hindu pilgrims were burned to death when their train was set alight by suspected Muslims.

In the subsequent investigation, Modi was absolved of wrongdoing, even as dozens of people on both sides of the riots were convicted.

"REMEMBERING MY ALLAH"

Before this week's clashes in New Delhi, 25 people had been killed in running battles between protesters and police across the country.

That number has now nearly doubled after two days of arson, lootings, beatings and shootings in parts of northeastern New Delhi that police forces have struggled to contain.

Delhi police said in a statement late on Tuesday that they were making every effort to contain the clashes and urged people to maintain the peace.

Witnesses said police and paramilitary forces were patrolling the streets in far greater numbers on Wednesday. Parts of the riot-hit areas were deserted.

Several of those killed and injured had been shot, according to two medics at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, where many of the victims were taken. Reuters could not determine who had fired on them.

Among them, Yatinder Vikal, a 33-year-old Hindu, was brought in with a gunshot wound to his right knee. His brother said Yatinder was driving a scooter when a bullet hit him.

Reuters witnesses at a local hospital spoke to both Hindu and Muslim victims who were injured in the violence.

An unconscious Zubair was eventually dragged to safety by fellow Muslims who came to his aid after throwing stones to disperse his attackers.

The 37-year-old, who makes a living doing odd jobs, was rushed to hospital where he was treated for wounds to his head and released late on Monday.

"I was thinking 'I'm not going to survive this'," he recalled. "I was remembering my Allah."

Coronavirus Exposes Worst Traits Of Trump Administration, Conservative Columnist Says
MAX GIVES THE BOOT TO TRUMP

Lee Moran,HuffPost•February 27, 2020




Trump defends suing NY Times For Opinion Piece

President Donald Trump defended his campaign’s libel lawsuit against the New York Times over an opinion article, saying, “There'll be more coming.”

Conservative columnist Max Boot, in his latest opinion piece for The Washington Post, argued the coronavirus outbreak is exposing the worst traits of the Trump White House.

“Diseases, far more than any human enemy, ruthlessly expose and exploit the weaknesses of their victims,” wrote Boot, who quit the GOP following Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory and has been fiercely critical of him ever since.

“Now the coronavirus outbreak is laying bare the pathologies of the Trump administration — which include compulsive lying, pandering to dictators, ideological aversion to ‘globalism,’ inveterate hostility toward experts and expertise, and (in a related development) sheer incompetence,” Boot added.

Boot broke down how Trump’s attempts at reversing former President Barack Obama’s legacy could ultimately harm his government’s bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus, suggesting the “chaos president” will try to find scapegoats but “has no one but himself to blame for this chaotic response.”

“He can’t figure out how to spell ‘coronavirus,’ much less how to fight it,” Boot added, in reference to Trump’s bungled spelling of its name on Twitter.

“At a time like this, it would be a lot more reassuring to think that there were actual, you know, experts in charge of the government rather than ignorant ideologues chosen for their dedication to a supreme leader unconstrained by fact, logic or morality,” he concluded. “Where’s the ‘deep state’ when you need it most?”

Opinions
Coronavirus lays bare all the pathologies of the Trump administration

By Max Boot
Columnist
Feb. 26, 2020

Diseases, far more than any human enemy, ruthlessly expose and exploit the weaknesses of their victims. Now the coronavirus outbreak is laying bare the pathologies of the Trump administration — which include compulsive lying, pandering to dictators, ideological aversion to “globalism,” inveterate hostility toward experts and expertise, and (in a related development) sheer incompetence.

Even as the epidemic was growing, President Trump was trying to tamp down concern by fulsomely praising Xi Jinping for China’s response on Feb. 7: “He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus.” Trump went on to assure the world that Xi “will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone.” This turned out to be nearly as premature as Trump’s earlier assurance that another communist dictator, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, had “agreed to denuclearization.”

Covid-19 has already infected more than 80,000 people in 37 countries, causing more than 2,600 deaths, and experts doubt it will slow in the spring. Yet Trump tweeted on Monday that “the Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA” and “Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” By Tuesday, the stock market had experienced two days of sharp drops, and the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Nancy Messonnier, was urging “the American public to work with us to prepare, in the expectation that this could be bad.”

That a virus that started in China could have a bad impact on the United States should be no surprise: Diseases don’t respect borders any more than terrorists or trade flows do. Transnational threats require transnational solutions. To cite but one example, many of the medicines and medical supplies that Americans need, including N95 face masks, come from China.

This will be news only to an ultra-nationalist president animated by unreasoning animus to “globalism.” This prejudice is about as silly as being hostile to “the weather.” Globalism isn’t something you can be for or against; it’s simply a fact of life. But Trump’s whole presidency is built on denying basic realities such as global warming and Russian attacks on our politics.

Rather than focus on real threats such as pandemics, climate change and Russian aggression, the administration is fixated on politically convenient boogeymen such as “criminal aliens” and Nigerian immigrants. The administration’s latest budget calls for a $3 billion cut for global health programs, including a 53 percent cut in funding for the World Health Organization. This comes on top of earlier budget cuts that forced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to downsize its global health security initiative in 39 out of 49 countries.

Seeking to undo everything that his predecessor had done, Trump dismantled the epidemic-fighting infrastructure the Obama administration had built up at the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security. One of John Bolton’s first acts upon becoming national security adviser in 2018 was to dismiss the NSC’s global health team led by Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, a widely respected public-health expert.

These moves are emblematic of the president’s contempt for apolitical civil servants who know what they are doing. He prefers unqualified political hacks whose only loyalty is to him rather than to the country. Many top administration posts are already filled by “acting” placeholders while further purges are being launched by the new head of presidential personnel, the president’s 29-year-old former “body man” (i.e., gofer), John McEntee, with the assistance of a 23-year-old college senior.

Even as America mobilizes against a global epidemic — soon to be a pandemic, according to a former CDC director — two-thirds of the top jobs at DHS are devoid of Senate-approved appointees. The second acting secretary in a row, Chad Wolf, inspired incredulity from both Republicans and Democrats with his Senate testimony on Tuesday. He claimed the mortality rate for covid-19 is around 2 percent — roughly the same, he said, as the common flu. In fact, the mortality rate for influenza is around 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the acting deputy secretary, arch-nativist Ken Cuccinelli, took to Twitter to ask for the public’s help in accessing an online map from Johns Hopkins University tracking the virus’s spread. Imagine if the head of U.S. Strategic Command asked the public for helping in learning about nuclear weapons, and you start to comprehend the scale of the problem.

Trump was said to be furious that the State Department had overruled the CDC and flown 14 sick Americans home from Japan on aircraft with healthy passengers. He wasn’t notified until after the fact, and neither were some members of his coronavirus task force. The “chaos president” will try to find scapegoats, but he has no one but himself to blame for this chaotic response. He can’t figure out how to spell “coronavirus,” much less how to fight it.

At a time like this, it would be a lot more reassuring to think that there were actual, you know, experts in charge of the government rather than ignorant ideologues chosen for their dedication to a supreme leader unconstrained by fact, logic or morality. Where’s the “deep state” when you need it most?

Trump's acting Homeland Security chief was excoriated by a GOP senator as he stumbled over basic questions on coronavirus preparation

"You're supposed to keep us safe. And the American people deserve some straight answers on the coronavirus — and I'm not getting them from you," Kennedy said to Wolf during the tense exchange before a Senate appropriations subcommittee. 

Wolf replied, "I disagree."
—NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) February 25, 2020

Can the novel coronavirus be stopped?

insider@insider.com (John Haltiwanger), Business Insider•February 25, 2020

Acting Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf on Tuesday stumbled over questioning from GOP Sen. John Kennedy about the Trump administration's coronavirus response.

Wolf struggled to offer Kennedy clear numbers on the expected spread of the virus, among other topics.

"You're supposed to keep us safe. And the American people deserve some straight answers on the coronavirus — and I'm not getting them from you," Kennedy said to Wolf.

 

President Donald Trump shakes hands with acting Department of Homeland 

Security Secretary Chad Wolf during an LA 2028 Olympic briefing in

 Los Angeles, California, February 18, 2020. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Chad Wolf, the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security, on Tuesday morning stumbled over basic questions from GOP Sen. John Kennedy on how the Trump administration is responding to coronavirus.

The Louisiana Republican excoriated Wolf as he deferred to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on questions ranging from how far the US government was to developing a vaccine for the virus to how many people are predicted to become infected.

"You're supposed to keep us safe. And the American people deserve some straight answers on the coronavirus — and I'm not getting them from you," Kennedy said to Wolf during the tense exchange before a Senate appropriations subcommittee.

Wolf replied, "I disagree."
—NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) February 25, 2020
"We do anticipate the number will grow. I don't have an exact figure for you, though," Wolf said when asked about the potential spread of the virus in the US.

As Wolf struggled to provide a clear answer, Kennedy eventually went on to say, "Don't you think you ought to check on that, as the head of Homeland Security?"

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday urged Americans to prepare for a coronavirus crisis in the US. The CDC said the number of cases in the US had risen to 57 as of Tuesday, per CNN.

"It's not so much a question of if this will happen any more, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said during a media briefing.

Wolf, like many other Cabinet-level officials in the Trump administration, has been serving as the head of a massive government agency in an acting capacity (without Senate confirmation) for months.

The Trump administration has set up a coronavirus task force, which is being spearheaded by HHS Secretary Alex Azar and national security adviser Robert C. O'Brien, to coordinate the US government's handling of the virus.

But President Donald Trump is facing bipartisan criticism over his administration's response to coronavirus as it's spread out of China and into other countries across the globe, from Iran to Italy, which has rocked financial markets.

Trump on Monday requested $2.5 billion from Congress to address coronavirus, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said was "long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency."

Meanwhile, Trump has also faced criticism from congressional lawmakers over his prior decisions to scrap the global health security units on the National Security Council and at Homeland Security, which Democratic lawmakers have said puts the US at a disadvantage in facing this virus.

Business Insider

Trump’s coronavirus response includes many things he criticized President Obama for


Hunter Walker
White House Correspondent,
Yahoo News•February 26, 2020


WASHINGTON — President Trump held a news conference on Wednesday evening where he discussed his administration’s response to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic. Trump announced that Vice President Mike Pence would lead the White House’s coronavirus task force and said the risk to Americans is “very low.”

Elements of the response outlined by Trump mirror things he specifically criticized President Barack Obama for during the ebola outbreak in 2014. Yahoo News asked Trump about this contradiction and he argued the coronavirus epidemic is “a much different problem than ebola.”

Trump sent nearly fifty tweets and made multiple media appearances criticizing Obama’s handling of the ebola outbreak in 2014. Among other things, Trump called for a “full travel ban” from affected regions and labeled Obama a “stubborn dope” for not implementing one.

Trump also said it was a “TOTAL JOKE” for Obama to have Ron Klain, a political operative and lawyer, serve as the “ebola czar” since Klain had “zero experience in the medical area and zero experience in infectious disease control.” Yet as he faces the coronavirus, Trump is not calling for a travel ban and he has tapped Pence, who does not have medical experience.

“This is a much different problem than ebola,” Trump said when asked about the apparent contradictions. “Ebola you disintegrated. Especially at the beginning. They’ve made a lot of progress now in ebola, but with ebola … you disintegrated. You got ebola, that was it. This one is different, much different. This is a flu. This is like a flu.”

Ebola has a higher mortality rate than the coronavirus. Trump also noted the U.S. is “working on ebola right now.”

“We can now treat ebola … at that time it was infectious and you couldn’t treat it,” Trump said. “Nobody knew anything about it. Nobody had ever heard of anything like this,so it’s a much different situation.”

Pence cited his experience as governor of Indiana as valuable preparation for his role.

“As a former governor from the state where the first MERS case emerged in 2014,” Pence said, referring to Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. “I know full well the importance of presidential leadership, the importance of administration leadership, and the vital role of partnerships of state and local governments, and health authorities in responding to potential threats and dangers infectious diseases.”

During Pence’s time in Indiana, there was an HIV outbreak where over 200 people were infected. A 2018 study from the Yale School of Public Health faulted the state’s “belated response” and suggested it led to four times the infections that could have occurred with a more proactive approach.

Yahoo News tried to ask Pence about the HIV outbreak at the White House news conference. He did not respond to the question.

Trump Ripped For Putting 'Science-Denier' Mike Pence In Charge Of Coronavirus

Ed Mazza,HuffPost•February 27, 2020

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that Vice President Mike Pence would lead the White House task force on COVID-19, the deadly new coronavirus infection spreading around the world. But critics are pointing out that Pence’s track record on health and science isn’t exactly reassuring.

Pence once called global warming a “myth,” downplayed the health risks of smoking, and as governor of Indiana, led his state into an HIV crisis by cutting funding to Planned Parenthood and initially opposing needle exchange programs. The vice president also has no medical experience. 

Critics were quick to point out the flaws in Trump’s plan:  

Former Hoosier here 👋

Mike Pence said smoking doesn’t kill. He was single-handedly responsible for a statewide AIDS outbreak. And the lax gun laws he passed increased deaths across the Midwest.

Also, he doesn’t believe in science. 😬 https://t.co/w52rgwNH3N

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) February 27, 2020

Pray the Corona away https://t.co/kBE7KMd5pl

— Richard Marx (@richardmarx) February 27, 2020

So Pence is the expert who will save us all?!?#25thanyone ? https://t.co/fB9qX523RR

— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) February 27, 2020

“Mike Pence can fix this.”

- No one ever.

— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) February 27, 2020

It's ok y'all......Mike Pence is in charge of the Coronavirus.

What could go wrong?#coronavirususa pic.twitter.com/cfSYvuVnpH

— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) February 27, 2020

Mike Pence literally does not believe in science.

It is utterly irresponsible to put him in charge of US coronavirus response as the world sits on the cusp of a pandemic.

This decision could cost people their lives. Pence’s past decisions already have. https://t.co/NhMPOusOWm

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 27, 2020

A science denier who claimed smoking didn’t cause cancer, and who enabled a HIV outbreak with his stance against needles, is now in charge of handling a global health emergency?

— Morten Øverbye (@morten) February 27, 2020

Putting a science denier like Mike Pence in charge of the Coronavirius outbreak in the US? pic.twitter.com/f6fSsueX8S

— rachel leishman (@RachelLeishman) February 27, 2020

Pence says coronavirus can’t be alone in a room with a woman who’s not it’s wife, so that’s nice

— Christine Nangle (@nanglish) February 27, 2020

Mike Pence, the climate change science denier, is going to lead a task force which requires the scientific/medical profession’s input. What could go wrong? 🤦‍♂️😱 https://t.co/rT5IRKrzFD

— TheDiaryofDaniel (@DiaryofDaniel) February 27, 2020

Mr. Pence is so skilled at public health protection that his cutbacks and personal religious decisions helped fuel an outbreak of HIV in Indiana. He is about WORST POSSIBLE CHOICE. https://t.co/1J5KSlZM9N

— Regina Griffin (@Regina_Griffin) February 27, 2020

A matter of hours before Mike Pence announces coronversion therapy to cure those affected in the United States.

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) February 27, 2020

Remember when Trump put out those blank manila folders to "prove" he had divested his assets? Mike Pence is Trump's blank manila folder trotted out to "prove" he is dealing with the coronavirus.

— Elizabeth de la Vega (@Delavegalaw) February 27, 2020

Putting Mike Pence in charge of the coronavirus response is like putting me in the Olympics and thinking I’ll take the gold in long-distance running. I’m completely unqualified and literally unable to do it. #CoronavirusOutbreak

— Melissa Blake (@melissablake) February 27, 2020

After Trump—who just tapped Pence to lead the effort—turns his back, Sec. Azar seizes the room's attention to insist that HE remains the "chairman" but is glad to have the Veep "helping," while Pence stands motionless with a vacant middle-distance stare. So that happened. (yikes)

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) February 27, 2020

Trump has appointed Mike Pence to be in charge of Coronavirus response.

Under the theory that the person who helped perpetuate an unnecessary AIDS crisis when he was governor of Indiana has the right resume.

— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) February 27, 2020

"He's got a certain talent for this," Trump says of Pence, who was just named to lead the government's coronavirus approach.

As Indiana governor Pence allowed an HIV outbreak in Scott County to spread to epidemic proportions because he slow-walked approval for needle exchanges.

— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) February 26, 2020

In 2000, Mike #Pence wrote an op-ed stating that smoking doesn't kill people. Since then, he's made no effort to deny or clarify his bizarre claim. This is the man Trump put in charge of our country's protection from the #CoronaVirus. Science is real, Mike. Facts matter, Mike.

— Dr. Jack Brown (@DrGJackBrown) February 27, 2020

Mike Pence who enabled a massive HIV outbreak by enacting TERRIBLE public policy is in charge of the Coronavirus outbreak. We have local transmission possible in California now with an admin hell bent on punishing communities who embrace their undocumented immigrants.

— Jonathan Van Ness (@jvn) February 27, 2020

Mike Pence’s plan for dealing with the coronavirus. #coronavirususa #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/jbsExJuP8W

— Korynn (@Korynn_W) February 27, 2020

Given that Pence famously, massively fucked up the response to an HIV outbreak, he shouldn’t be the guy to handle the Coronavirus.

Like, what if we stopped picking the LEAST qualified people to handle things? What would that even be like? https://t.co/0T7qHSdA30

— Jennifer Wright (@JenAshleyWright) February 27, 2020

My dad (a doctor) had signs in every bathroom in our house that said, “Handwashing prevents infection!” with a teddy bear and a heart. I wouldn’t mind seeing those signs everywhere now. More effective than Pence.

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) February 27, 2020

Coronavirus czar Mike Pence recommends keeping a safe distance from any infected women and also uninfected women

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) February 26, 2020

I would have more faith in this guy over Pence.
It’s that low of a bar.#coronavirus pic.twitter.com/WZMe31KjhN

— Steve Marmel (@Marmel) February 27, 2020

Outraged Unions to Test Credibility of S. African Debt Curbs


Paul Vecchiatto, Amogelang Mbatha and Prinesha Naidoo,
Bloomberg•February 27, 2020



Outraged Unions to Test Credibility of S. African Debt Curbs

(Bloomberg) -- The credibility of South Africa’s proposals to curb debt and save its sole investment-grade credit rating will be put to the test by powerful labor unions outraged by plans to pare back the wage bill.

The government is seeking to backtrack on a three-year pay deal agreed with civil servants in 2018 and cut personnel spending by 37.8 billion rand ($2.5 billion) in the year through March 2021. The allocation for pay was also cut by 122.4 billion rand for the next two years to offset the effect of lower-than-expected economic growth and tax revenue, according to the budget review Finance Minister Tito Mboweni presented on Wednesday.

While financial markets cheered the news, with the rand gaining as much as 0.8% against the dollar, the government’s ability to hold firm against its 1.3 million state workers who’ve consistently won inflation-beating increases is in doubt. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the country’s largest labor group, is a member of the ruling coalition and President Cyril Ramaphosa is indebted to it for helping him win control of the ruling party in late 2017.

“The budget is dependent on significant wage cuts,” said Investec Asset Management analysts Nazmeera Moola and Sisamkele Kobus. “There is absolutely no agreement with unions to achieve this, so at best this is a negotiating tactic.”
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The budget lays bare the need for the government to curb expenditure.

The economy is set to expand an average of just 1.2% a year through 2022, and the budget deficit is projected to reach 6.8% of gross domestic product in the year through March 2021 -- the highest since before apartheid ended in 1994. The state wage bill has surged 40% more than inflation over the past 12 years, and accounts for more than a third of total government spending.

The government isn’t planning to cut or reduce wages, according to Dondo Mogajane, the Treasury’s director-general. It’s proposing a 1.5% increase for the coming year and 4.5% in each of the next two years, he said, adding union concerns will be taken into account.

“We are opening up and saying ‘there are no holy cows here, let’s talk,’” Mogajane said in an interview. “The budget deficit is not going to be 6.8%, it’s going to be around 7% or right up to 8% if we factor out the wage proposal. We are prepared to open the conversation with labor to ask what else to cut.”

Mboweni conceded that difficult discussions with the unions lay ahead, but expressed confidence that “we will be able to find each other.”

Cosatu was less conciliatory, accusing the government of trying to force workers to bear the brunt of years of economic mismanagement and unchecked graft.

“The way the state has gone about notifying the workers is in extremely bad faith and dangerous,” said Matthew Parks, the federation’s parliamentary officer. “It causes anxiety among our members and collapses the space to engage.”

Civil servants last staged a strike in 2010 that dragged on for three weeks before they were awarded an inflation-beating 7.5% raise.

“The real issue from the budget seems to be the difficult times that lie ahead with very muted economic growth and a lot of cost-cutting, especially with the public-sector wage bill,” said Brendan Gace, head of private clients at Anchor Capital (Pty) Ltd. If spending on wages is curbed, there will be “an inevitable clash between government and the trade unions,” he said.

Moody’s Investors Service is the only major ratings company that still assesses South Africa’s debt at investment grade and is scheduled to make an announcement on the rating next month.

The budget highlights the severe deterioration underway in public finances and the long-term policy challenge of stabilizing government debt, Fitch Ratings, which has the country on one level below investment grade with a negative outlook, said on Wednesday.

“These consolidation measures rely heavily on hoped-for moderation in public-sector wages, which might not materialize, adding further risks to South Africa’s deficit and debt trajectories,” Fitch said in a statement in its website.