As GOP Officially Re-Nominates Trump, Poll Shows 68% in US Disapprove of President's Pandemic Response

The U.S. now has over 5.7 million confirmed Covid-19 infections and nearly 177,000 people have died nationwide.


Jessica Corbett, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/24/gop-officially-re-nominates-trump-poll-shows-68-us-disapprove-presidents-pandemic




As the GOP's 2020 convention kicked off Monday and Republicans officially nominated President Donald Trump for reelection, new polling revealed that a bipartisan majority of Americans disapprove of how the president and federal government are handling the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The poll results from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also came as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the United States topped 5.7 million and the nation's death toll neared 177,000, according to Johns Hopkins University's global tracker.

"This is the most important election in the history of our country," Trump, who is slated to speak every night the convention, said in an unscheduled appearance Monday, accepting the nomination. "Our country can go in a horrible direction or in an even greater direction."

The AP-NORC, which polled voters August 17–19, found that 75% of all respondents, including 87% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans, think that the country is currently heading in the wrong direction, compared with just 23% who think the country is heading in the right direction.


The pollsters found that 68% of all voters disapprove of Trump's handling of the coronavirus outbreak. There were divisions across political lines: 93% of Democrats, 71% of Independents, and 31% of Republicans don't approve of Trump's response to the public health crisis.

Overall, only 31% of respondents approve of how the president has handled the Covid-19 crisis—another record low after hitting 32% last month, but within the newer poll's margin of sampling error, which is is +/- 4.1 percentage points.




The poll also found that compared with July, more U.S. voters now somewhat or strongly disapprove of how the federal government and leaders in Congress are handling the pandemic. The share of respondents that disapproves of the federal government's response rose from 55% to 57% over the past month, while disapproval of the congressional response increased from 58% to 65%.

Those surveyed also indicated that the government isn't doing enough to help the financial situation of public schools, individual Americans, or small businesses:


"The poll was conducted after Congress left for its August recess without passing a new round of pandemic assistance," the AP noted. "House Democrats approved a $3 trillion relief package that included money for schools, state and local governments, and other entities, but Republicans balked at the price tag and some of the provisions. It's unclear whether lawmakers can break the logjam when they return to the Capitol in September."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called members of her chamber back to Washington, D.C. to vote Saturday on the Delivering for America Act, which would would reverse Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's recent operational changes, prohibit additional changes until the pandemic ends, require that all election mail be treated as first class, and provide the U.S. Postal Service with $25 billion in emergency funding.

In response to widespread charges that DeJoy—a Trump appointee and GOP donor—and the president were sabotaging the USPS for political gain, the postmaster general said he would suspend changes but not reverse those that have already been implemented until after November election, in which Trump will face Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Amid mounting calls for his ouster, DeJoy testified Monday before the House Oversight Committee.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) continues to ignore demands from progressive lawmakers and people across the country that he call senators back to vote on the House-approved Delivering for America Act or the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES) Act, Covid-19 relief legislation that the lower chamber passed in May.

'What Stage of Capitalism Is This?' Hedge Fund $3 Billion Richer Thanks to Wager on Wildfire Insurance Claims

With over 100,000 people displaced by wildfires raging across California, Baupost Group collected more than $3 billion in July after betting on insurance claims against embattled utility company PG&E.

by
Kenny Stancil, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/24/what-stage-capitalism-hedge-fund-3-billion-richer-thanks-wager-wildfire-insurance




The social and environmental toll of the unfolding fire catastrophe in California—where over 100,000 people have been displaced, seven have died, and approximately 1.2 million acres have burned since August 15—is incalculable, but hedge fund Baupost Group has found a way to turn the state's devastating wildfire epidemic over recent years into profits for investors.

After wagering on insurance claims against PG&E, Baupost received more than $3 billion in July, Bloomberg reported Friday.


According to Bloomberg:


The payout yielded Baupost’s biggest profit generator last month and represented a sizable markup from what the firm had anticipated, it told investors Thursday. The fund bought $6.8 billion of subrogation claims against PG&E, court documents show.

Baupost acquired some of the claims at about 35 cents on the dollar, Bloomberg previously reported, so its profit on the trade could have approached $1 billion. But the gains were partly offset by losses on the firm’s equity holdings in the utility company, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

The relationship between PG&E, insurers, and investors such as Baupost began last year. PG&E's electrical network—rendered vulnerable by a lackluster commitment to risk reduction—has been implicated in multiple fires across California in the past five years. Facing $30 billion in liabilities stemming from a series of fires in 2017 and 2018 that killed over 100 people and destroyed tens of thousands of buildings, the utility company declared bankruptcy in 2019 and announced an $11 billion settlement with a group of insurance carriers and investors, including Baupost.




Insurers sell subrogation claims to investors at a discount because they enjoy the certainty of being paid right away, but in the process they also lose the right to sue to recuperate damages endured by policyholders.

While fire victims across California—and elsewhere in the country—continue to suffer the impacts of increasingly destructive wildfires, the ability of hedge funds to profit from such calamities provoked critics of the financial system and its perverse incentives. In his assessment of a situation in which Wall Street firms have perfected their lucrative approach to disaster management, journalist David Sirota tweeted:

Public Health Experts Watch 'In Horror' as FDA Approves Narrowly Tested Covid-19 Treatment Amid Pressure From Trump

After the president accused the FDA of deliberately holding up approval of convalescent plasma, the agency authorized expanded use of the treatment despite a lack of randomized, controlled studies.


by
Julia Conley, staff writer




https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/24/public-health-experts-watch-horror-fda-approves-narrowly-tested-covid-19-treatment

Public health experts on Monday raised alarm over President Donald Trump's overstating of the efficacy of convalescent plasma and his suggestion that the Food and Drug Administration purposefully held up approval of the potential Covid-19 treatment just before the agency authorized its expanded use.

The FDA gave emergency approval for the use of antibody-rich plasma on Sunday, a day after the president publicly suggested—with no evidence and not for the first time—that "the deep state, or whoever" at the agency was slowing down the approval process to harm his reelection chances.


"By bludgeoning the FDA with his conspiracy theory, Trump will make whatever the agency does now look like it is being shaped by his political pressure on it," wrote Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent.

At Stat News, reporter Ed Silverman called the president's remarks "terribly wrongheaded" and suggested they could ultimately endanger public health.

Comments like Trump's "continually raise the specter of political interference with a key agency during a severe public health crisis," Silverman wrote. "Who would trust a vaccine that is being rushed out the door just so Trump can say he delivered what everyone wants as soon as possible? His tweets are about his reelection, not our well-being."

Public health experts say studies conducted so far have shown that convalescent plasma, taken from coronavirus patients who have recovered from Covid-19 and have high levels of antibodies, shows promise as a potential treatment for the illness, which has killed more than 170,000 people in the United States.

The treatment has only been used on 70,000 patients so far, however, and has only shown to provide benefits for some of them, "lessening the severity or shortening the length of Covid-19 illness" in certain people after they are hospitalized.

Typically, the FDA requires broader randomized trials before approving a drug or treatment, and skipping over that step could undermine confidence in treatments or vaccines that eventually prove more effective, experts said Monday.

Dr. Eric Topol, a scientist and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, told the Post that he watched "in horror" on Sunday as Trump was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn as he declared that convalescent plasma is "a major therapeutic breakthrough."

"These are basically just exploratory analyses that don't prove anything," Topol said of the studies that exist so far of plasma. "It's just extraordinary to declare this as a breakthrough... All this does is jeopardize ever getting the truth."

Trump claimed the use of convalescent plasma has been "proven to reduce mortality by 35%," a claim which shocked scientists and doctors familiar with the studies.

The research has actually shown that certain patients younger than 80 who were given plasma with high levels of antibodies within three days of diagnosis were about 35% more likely to survive at least a month than patients who received plasma with lower levels of antibodies, according to the FDA.

"This is categorically wrong," tweeted Dr. Rachel Clarke, a British palliative care physician. "The reduction is at most 3.5%—in a poorly designed study with no control arm."


Other experts also corrected the president on social media.



The president's claims about plasma were "beginning to sound like rushed [hydroxychloroquine] drama all over again," tweeted epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, referring to the president's promotion of the anti-malarial drug earlier this year. Hydroxychloroquine has not been shown to effectively treat or prevent the coronavirus in randomized, controlled studies, but the FDA gave emergency authorization to the drug earlier this year after the president aggressively pushed the medication as a treatment and claimed to take it as a prophyalctic. The FDA revoked the authorization in June, but Trump and his supporters have continued to promote its use, particularly on social media.

While classifying the use of convalescent plasma to treat Covid-19 as an "interesting strategy," Carlos del Rio of the Emory School of Medicine said Monday that the president's claim that it is a "breakthrough" should not be taken at face value.

"The problem is, the president, in my mind, has lost total credibility because of what he's done with hydroxychloroquine," del Rio told the Post. "He's touted so many things that don't work. The reality is what we have today to treat Covid is extremely limited."

The authorization for the expanded use of plasma comes as the White House is insisting a coronavirus vaccine could be approved in the U.S. before phase three trials—the final studies of a drug before it is approved for the marketplace—are complete. White House officials reportedly told Democratic leaders that the administration may approve a vaccine as early as September, even though phase three trials for a vaccine developed by U.K.-based pharma company AstraZeneca just began in the U.S. days ago. Trump's campaign advisers reportedly refer to a pre-election vaccine as "the holy grail."

While public health experts are hoping life-saving Covid-19 treatments and vaccines are discovered as soon as possible, tweeted University of Washington biology professor Carl Bergstrom, Trump's political interference in the scientific process of testing treatments raises concerns about misinformation in the president's claims.



"Infectious disease epidemiologists find ourselves in the odd position of criticizing as irresponsible claims that we desperately hope to be true," Bergstrom said.

Protests Break Out in Wisconsin After Police Shoot Black Man in the Back Multiple Times at Point-Blank Range

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said 29-year-old Jacob Blake's children were in the car he was attempting to enter as police fired seven shots at his back.

by
Jake Johnson, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/24/protests-break-out-wisconsin-after-police-shoot-black-man-back-multiple-times-point

Protests broke out in Kenosha, Wisconsin and the state's Justice Department launched an investigation Sunday evening after police officers shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake in the back multiple times at point-blank range as he tried to enter his vehicle.

Witnesses told local reporters that Blake was attempting to break up a fight prior to being shot by the officers, who closely followed Blake to his car and fired seven shots after he opened the driver-side door. According to civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Blake's children were in the car when the officers shot their father.

Blake is reportedly in serious condition. "He is out of surgery and in the ICU," tweeted Daniel Poneman, a friend of Blake's family. "He can make it through this. He is fighting for his life."

Watch [warning: the following video is disturbing]:


In a statement posted to Twitter after cellphone footage of the police shooting circulated on social media, Wisconsin's Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said: "Tonight, Jacob Blake was shot in the back multiple times, in broad daylight, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Kathy and I join his family, friends, and neighbors in hoping earnestly that he will not succumb to his injuries."

"While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country," Evers said. "We stand with all those who have and continue to demand justice, equity, and accountability for Black lives in our country—lives like those of George Floyd, of Breonna Taylor, Tony Robinson, Dontre Hamilton, Ernest Lacy, and Sylville Smith."




Following the police shooting, hundreds of Wisconsinites marched through the streets of Kenosha and gathered outside the Kenosha County Public Safety Building chanting, "No justice, no peace!"


As the Washington Post reported, Kenosha police quickly arrived at the site of the demonstration "with riot gear and armed with rubber bullets."

A video from the scene shows police deploying tear gas against protesters:


"Thinking of Jacob Blake's family. Thinking of the Kenosha community. Thinking of Black folks across the country falling asleep to this news and those who will be waking up to it," tweeted Clint Smith of The Atlantic. "I'm sad. I'm furious. I'm tired of seeing this happen over and over and over and over and over again."

Jeffery Robinson, the director of the ACLU's Trone Center for Justice and Equality, said in a statement Monday that "with each of the seven shots fired, police made their intent clear—they believed they had the right to kill an unarmed Black man for the crime of walking away from them."

"The fact that incidents of police violence like this, the murder of Breonna Taylor as she slept in her home, the murder of George Floyd across the street from a grocery store, the murder of Eric Garner outside of a neighborhood bodega, and countless others have become commonplace shows that the very institution of American policing is rotten at its core," Robinson added.

Progressives Call on Democrats to 'Do the Opposite' as Rahm Emanuel Advises Biden to Shun Medicare for All and Green New Deal

The two policies are popular with the American public, but the Democratic Party refused to embrace them in its 2020 platform.

by
Lisa Newcomb, staff writer




https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/24/progressives-call-democrats-do-opposite-rahm-emanuel-advises-biden-shun-medicare-all

On the heels of a convention that featured prominent Republicans urging voters to support Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, centrist political operative Rahm Emanuel suggested two of the most popular progressive policies of this election cycle ought to be ignored by the party and its nominee.

"Two things I would say if I was advising an administration," Emanuel, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, said during an interview with CNBC Friday. "One is there's no new Green Deal, there's no Medicare for All, probably the single two topics that were discussed the most. That's not even in the platform."

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich countered with his own suggestion for Biden:


Medicare for All and the Green New Deal are cornerstone priorities for the party's progressive wing, championed and elevated by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during both of his presidential runs in 2016 and 2020. They're also popular with the American public, particularly with Democratic voters, yet the Democratic party has resisted adopting them into its platform.

Earlier this month, climate activists called the party's decision to drop support for ending fossil fuel handouts "immoral, criminal, inexcusable." Biden has made clear, even amid the Covid-19 pandemic, that he does not support single-payer healthcare. In 2019, he told a group of wealthy donors that if elected "nothing would fundamentally change" for them, referring to progressive policies aimed at making the wealthy pay more in taxes to fund social programs.


Progressive activists have grown increasingly frustrated not only with the Democratic Party's refusal to embrace bold and popular policies, but also with its insistence that criticism of the party platform or, in particular, of Joe Biden ahead of the November election, is unwanted and should be suppressed.




"Just put on your big boy pants, they say, and find the impulse control to at least muzzle yourself for the next 72 days until the election happens," journalist and former Sanders campaign adviser David Sirota wrote for Too Much Information Sunday, characterizing the position of the Democratic establishment.

"After that, fine—then and only then will you maybe be permitted to speak your mind and politely ask the Democratic Party to match its rhetoric with its policy agenda," he wrote.


"This kind of hectoring has become a defining part of the Democratic Party's culture," Sirota wrote, urging disillusioned and demonized progressives to continue pushing.

"The best response to such an onslaught isn't to ignore it or succumb to dishonest unity-themed demands for silence and fealty," he wrote. "After all, the folks making those demands don't actually want unity—they are aiming for corporate victory at all costs, even if waging a war for that intraparty win could depress enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket."

Sirota's commentary echoes that of Sanders surrogate and former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner during an interview on CNN Friday.

"The movement doesn't change," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "The notion that we need Medicare for All does not change. The notion that we need to legalize cannabis and take it off Schedule 1...that doesn't change. The need to have college for all. Environmental justice...none of those core fundamental issues change...Understanding very clearly that we got two dragons we got to slay, we got to slay the dragon of neofascism and slay the dragon of neoliberalism and the progressive movement is here for it."

Time editor and The Ink writer Anand Giridharadas, tweeting about a piece he wrote urging Biden to embrace fundamental, systemic change in United States policy, said, "TL;DR: Listen to everything Rahm Emanuel says, and do the opposite."

Officer Points To Unarmed White Man He Once Killed To Prove He’s Not Racist

https://www.theonion.com/officer-points-to-unarmed-white-man-he-once-killed-to-p-1844828750




SAGINAW, MI—Recalling the time he and his partner fired dozens of rounds into the shoplifting suspect’s body, local police officer Bradley Denney reportedly pointed Monday to the unarmed white man he killed once to prove he’s not racist.

“Look at all the people I’ve brutally beaten and killed before judging me, alright?” said Denney, who pointed to his pristine disciplinary record as further evidence of his lack of bias. 

“It doesn’t matter if you’re white, Black, Asian, or Hispanic; I’ll shoot you. I approach every civilian with the same number of bullets in my chamber, regardless of skin color. I mean, I shot that guy nine times in the back. Would a racist do that? And he was definitely white. Well, we found that out afterward. The lighting wasn’t very good at the time.” 

At press time, Denney admitted he initially thought the man he had gunned down was biracial.

Democrats ALREADY Signaling Their Willingness to Fold on a Public Option

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq1k7zpNGpY