Stephan: Like everything else Trump undertakes his wall was much like his casino, an ill-conceived flashy failure, a waste of other people's money, leaving a mess behind. Trump represents a very nasty American trend; he understands the fears, resentments, and racism of the people who make up MAGAt world, and how to play them. What I don't see is effective counter measures.
Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Joe Romero walks next to new bollard-style U.S.-Mexico border fencing in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, U.S., March 5, 2019. Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson
According to an investigation by the Atlantic’s John B. Washington, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of steel purchased by Donald Trump’s administration to build his ill-fated border on the U.S.-Mexico border now sits rusting away in the desert with no concrete plans on what to do with it.
Building the wall was one of the key planks of Trump’s run for the presidency in 2016, with the former president assuring his supporters that he would get Mexico to pay for it.
Instead, the federal government funded the project, with the Trump administration diverting Pentagon money to the project, claiming it was part of making America more secure.
Jennifer Henderson, Enterprise & Investigative Writer - MedPageToday
Stephan: America's illness profit system under the best of conditions has all kinds of flaws, but Covid has stressed it in ways no one could imagine, and it is on the verge of collapse. What would that look like? Imagine that you, unvaccinated because you are part of MAGAt world, contract Covid and after days in your bed your wife or your husband, in the middle of the night frightened by your condition takes you to the hospital, and you are turned away. You return home and the next day you die. Is such a thing possible in America. I suggest to you that in the Trumpist states it is not only possible but may be closer than you can imagine.
Healthcare workers nationwide are reporting some of the worst COVID-19 surges yet, and nurses are documenting their strain in candid video messages, imploring the public for its assistance in fighting the pandemic.
In New Hampshire, nurses said they don’t have much left to give. In Nebraska, a new nurse lamented losing seven COVID patients in just a matter of days. And in Ohio, hospital leaders and frontline workers simply cry “Help.”
“It’s probably our worst surge that we’ve seen so far,” said Hilary Hawkins, BSN, MBA, RN, nurse manager of the emergency department at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, in a YouTube video posted last week by the health system. She added “we’re also seeing a lot of people who are downright upset and tired, and taking it out on staff. … I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
The same healthcare workers who were “hailed as heroes just under 2 years ago” are now “nearing the brink of exhaustion,” Dartmouth-Hitchcock said in a press release. “This is directly […]
Stephan: Here is some more good news from the Biden administration's EPA, a new limit of 55 miles per gallon. Beneath all the sturm und drang of politics there are some good things happening.
Credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg/Getty
The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday it will tighten pollution standards for cars and light trucks in an attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles.
Why it matters: Transportation overall is the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, so tougher standards for passenger vehicles are a major part of efforts to curb CO2 output.
By the numbers: The new rules will require passenger vehicles to travel an average of 55 miles per gallon of gasoline by 2026.
The EPA said this new standard will prevent around 3 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which it said is equivalent to more than half the total U.S. CO2 emissions in 2019.
The rules will go into effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
Thought bubble, via Axios’ Ben Geman: The standards through the middle of the decade have been a long and winding saga. Former President Obama initially set them, but they were then weakened by former President Trump.
Stephan: Rupert Murdoch's fascist White Supremacist Fox propaganda operation is a curse on America that millions of poorly educated low IQ people take to be not only a news operation, but a reliable one. The hospitals of the U.S. are on the verge of collapse because Fox viewers don't get vaccinated, and the unvaccinated make up 90% of those in hospital with Covid.
Credit: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters
As the US braces for the likely resurgence of the Republican party in 2022’s midterm elections, rightwing media is preparing, both behind and in front of the scenes, to exert its influence over the rest of Joe Biden’s presidency.
The flagship conservative news network, Fox News, has continued a lurch towards the right that accelerated with the rise of Donald Trump. But a more insidious presence is the rise of a conservative media ecosystem, or echo chamber, that seems likely to coalesce what was once considered the fringes of rightwing thought.
Fox News bounced back from a brief threat from even further right networks like Newsmax in early 2021, but in the process, it has weathered a pair of lawsuits, and the departure of Fox News’ most high-profile “straight news” journalist.
Chris Wallace, who had been at Fox News for 18 years, frequently served as the daytime counterpoint to the swirling rightwing opinion that fills Fox News’ night-time schedule.
Wallace’s departure appears to have been amicable. “The bosses here at Fox promised me […]
Stephan: Perhaps the worst of all Donald Trump's many crimes is his role facilitating the mass death resulting from Covid. Personally, I think Trump should be tried for crimes against humanity. Because of the nonsense he spewed hundreds of thousands have died. And yet he hasn't been held accountable for anything, nor have the major orcs that serve him, and I think that is becoming a major issue for the Biden DOJ. If they don't act, I think, it will affect the 2022 elections.
Today I had to go to the mainland to get a Covid test, and the nurse who conducted the test told me that an hour earlier a woman had come to the hospital to be tested or she would lose her job. He said she was very resentful and rude, and when he asked her what her resistance was she said, "I just read on Facebook that the government was using these tests to capture our DNA so they can know where we are." He asked her is she had a smartphone, and she said she did. "They already know where you are" he told her as he conducted the test.
Trump administration officials made “deliberate efforts to undermine the nation’s coronavirus response for political purposes,” the House Select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis led by Democrats said in a report released Friday.The committee, which spent months working to interview former Trump officials, said the administration worked to undermine the public health response to the coronavirus pandemic by blocking officials from speaking publicly, watering down testing guidance and attempting to interfere with other public health guidance.Many pieces of the report were a summation of documents and interviews they’ve released throughout the year, but the report also outlined new examples where health guidance was adapted despite officials’ concerns about the potential harmful effects of the changes.
n one instance, Dr. Jay Butler, the deputy director for infectious diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the committee he was upset and concerned about guidance he was directed to update in May 2020 for faith communities. He said he feared that some of the […]
