Sen. Fitzgerald stands behind fringe "Branch Covidian" protests in hopes to permanently repeal Governors Emergency Powers!!!

For Republicans, it really is like flicking a light switch, just the opposite of what they say they're not doing...

CapTimes: Sarah Mattes, the communications supervisor for Public Health Madison & Dane County said, “We understand that people are frustrated, but during a pandemic, a mass gathering is a dangerous way to express frustrations.” 

Wisconsin Republican leadership Sen. Scott Fitzgerald and Rep. Robin Vos never get around to mentioning the disease itself, and certainly, have no plans to help increase testing or contact tracing...just get-back-to-work. Why? Because they don't solve problems, and because it requires actual "work" to come up with a plan.

Check out WMC's proposed plan endorsed by Republican Sen. Chris Kopenga that didn't contain one suggestion to ramp up testing and contact tracing for COVID-19, like it doesn't exist, but it does seek "health care capacity" after the fact just in case things don't work out.

The "emergency rule" making powers of the governor appear to include an automatic 150 day period (An emergency rule remains in effect only for a period of 150 days), not just the 60 days that Sen. Scott Fitzgerald is whining about. And Evers could extend the rule after 150 days in 60-day increments. Still...

Vos said he and Fitzgerald resisted calls to repeal the governor's 60-day public health emergency, which expires on May 12.

Which is BS bluster, because they're now trying to take the emergency rule away from the governor completely in their lawsuit before the State Supreme Court.

From Upfront, Fitzgerald never mentions controlling COVID-19 and is clearly just making it up as he goes along with insipid and petty excuses that are almost laughable, like;

1. Oddly assumed 60 days is enough time for a pandemic;

2. The "separate set of statutes?" IS the Governors emergency rulemaking power; 

3. Whines the Sec. of Health could do anything she wants to do...at Evers direction...huh?;

4. Whether the 60 days rule in the statute is even constitutional;

5. No plan from GOP, "nothing in concrete yet;"

6. Evers adopted Trump standard that was just "dreamed up" by Evers to beat back criticism;

7. "The governor can't even explain..." huh, like Trump can?;

8. Pandemic elections resulting infections dreamed up and not verified because they don't have a tracing program;

9. "Until they have a tracing program in place, it's pretty hard for me to believe anything that has been used to link the two right now."

Interpreting statute is above my paygrade, but I'm also pretty sure once Evers works out a plan with the legislature, nothing he wants to do based on science and medical experts will happen without approval from our power-grabbing Republican authoritarian deniers. Note: Robin Vos said "...not necessarily to stop the response to the pandemic..." but that apparently is the hope: 

"The reason we're filing the lawsuit is not necessarily to stop the response to the pandemic ... it just says like every other proposal in a democracy, the legislative branch negotiates with the executive branch and the best ideas are brought forward."

Vos in Charge? Hope not: Thanks to Rep. Robin Vos, Republicans finally got rid of medical lawsuits completely, for at least a few months...not kidding:

A FOX6 investigation revealed an Assembly amendment broadened civil liability immunity for health care providers in Wisconsin. 

The bill originally said a health care provider would be immune from civil liability for "actions or omissions taken in providing services to address or in response to a 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak [emphasis added] ... in order for the health provider to qualify for immunity, the action must occur, in part, while "providing services during the state of emergency declared under s. 323.10 on March 12, 2020, by executive order 72, relating to the 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic [emphasis added] and for 60 days following the date that the state of emergency terminates."

Vos introduced an amendment of what he described as"technical corrections," eliminating the "2019 novel coronavirus" qualifier multiple times.

The end result was a bill that went to the Senate, saying a health care provider is immune from civil liability for death or injury or for "actions or omissions" if the provider, in part, is "providing services during the state of emergency declared under s. 323.10 on March 12, 2020, by executive order 72, or the 60 days following the date that the state of emergency terminates."

Trump's "back to work by Easter" thing cultists loved, never mind! Betrayed and left holding the bag, Trumpsters now back plan to wait!

Trump cult dummies never looked so duped, especially now, after Trump changed his mind about getting people back-to-work by Easter..."that beautiful Easter day."  Outspoken cultists now own it.

Here's Trump's wildly irresponsible "evolution" on getting our nation back-to-work...against the invisible enemy.

Conspiracy Against Trump's Reelection: Don't take my word for it...



Exposing the Cruel Intentions of Freedom and Liberty: The Trump cult immediately jumped on board, exposing the "family values" lie; a bizarre willingness to sacrifice themselves for Trump; blind allegiance to "late stage capitalism" (the hypocrisy and absurdities of capitalism as it digs its own grave); and an unquestioning "whichever way the Trump wind blows" support for utter and sometimes dangerous nonsense.

Who are the fools left holding the Trump back-to-work bag? I'm relishing this...let's start with Dumb Ron Johnson...

Ron Johnson: “Each year, approximately 48,000 Americans commit suicide and an estimated 67,000 die of a drug overdose,” he wrote. “That level of individual despair has occurred in a strong economy with near-record low levels of unemployment in virtually every demographic.”

I am not saying “the cure is worse than the disease.” I am saying it is unrealistic to choose between economic devastation on the one hand and millions of deaths on the other. Wisconsinites know that is a false choice. There has to be a middle ground that takes our livelihoods, both physical and economic, into account. - Rep. Mike Gallagher

Sacrifice yourself for Capitalism...

What's Next? Public Health Emergencies Unconstitutional and Threat to Liberty and Freedom: You can be sure this bizarre effort will take off soon, despite seeing both Democratic and Republican governors ordering stay-at-home orders, lockdowns, and nonessential business closings. Will  there be a day when our own government can't help ourselves?

(On temporarily suspending civil and criminal jury trials) Wisconsin Supreme Court Activist Justice Rebecca Bradley: “Justifying the suspension of the people’s constitutionally guaranteed rights based on a public health emergency nullifies our Constitution.”

Small government Republicans are arguing that government could order people to stay on their jobs during a pandemic, siding with the whims of big business:

WILL published a legal analysis that argued Evers' emergency powers could face constitutional challenges, particularly if the pandemic persists for a long time. Strong arguments could be made that Evers' actions violate the rights to free speech, due process, peaceably assemble and worship as one chooses, wrote WILL's president, Rick Esenberg. Evers' orders shutting businesses could also be construed as unconstitutionally taking something of value without fair compensation, he argued. 

Trump Cultists deny growing mountain of evidence...continued.

How's the U.S.'s private for-profit health care free market handling the sudden demand for services and supplies to treat the coronavirus? Oh come on, if this were Medicare4All, Republicans would be trashing government health care, saying I told you so for failing to keep up with patients and testing. But the infallible free market? Not a peep.

Keep Testing Down, Keeping Infected Numbers Down: While the Trump/Republican echo chamber blame countries with national health care systems for having more people infected, they purposedly fail to mention that those countries are testing massive numbers of citizens. That's why the US has lower numbers. Even infected medical staff can't be tested because they're not part of the targeted group due to a lack of test kits.

Obama-to-Trump Voters are Biggest Idiots: There, I said it. You have no excuses, none. From GQ:

Trump Voters Wanted to Blow up the System. Well, Here We Go. 1. Trump’s decision was apparently made without consulting with America’s European allies, who were blindsided, panicked Americans who surged into European airports, paying as much as $20,000 for a last-minute flight home.

2. If, four years ago, you thought, ‘oh, what’s the difference between a Hillary Clinton and a Donald Trump;

3. You get a president who shuts down the global health security team in the National Security Council so that there’s no one but his son-in-law to advise him when a global pandemic reaches our country’s shores.

4. You get a president who doesn’t care about whether people live or die, he just wants the numbers to look good for him, wants the number of cases down and the numbers on the stock indices up, and the best way to do that is to keep Covid-19 testing and public information at a minimum.

5. You get a president who doesn’t believe in science when it doesn’t suit him and who, as recently as three days ago, declares a virus that had already claimed thousands of lives around the world a “hoax” and “fake news”—or a president that simply focuses, falsely, on how well his administration is responding to the crisis—because the pandemic might hurt the economy and jeopardize his reelection.

6. You get a president who thinks he can do anything, who off-the-cuff announces a rally in Florida, where the governor has suspended all official travel as medical experts advise people practice “social distancing” by avoiding crowds.

7. You get a president whose response to an invisible virus is to blame foreigners.

8. Maybe it's because the Republican Party has been peddling a dystopian anarchistic anti-government pipe dream to them for the last four decades.

9. Now, it turns out, a functioning government is a good thing to have when a global pandemic arrives on your shores. It turns out that maybe reforming an imperfect system is wiser than just taking a sledgehammer to it, better than trashing them in favor of a one-man, megalomaniacal savior, better to have a functioning system than dancing on its rubble while crowing about the death of the “deep state”—or “the political establishment.”

10. To those 63 million Americans, I say this: you wanted to smash the system and you got what you wanted—in spades.

GOP Health Care System, Private Sector Profits: No ones in a hurry yet, says the guy nicknamed the Grim Reaper who took a 3 day weekend and then delayed making any decision on how the federal government will help every American during the Coronavirus outbreak, Mitch McConnell...victim:

And the genius president who never understood how all parts of our economy work together, still bragged about those sugary Wall Street highs...that fell yesterday 12.94 percent:

The Trump Economy...

Low-income households (about $14,000 a year) saw their inflation-adjusted incomes rise 2.4 percent...while they grew more than twice as fast, at 5.5 percent, during the last two years of the Obama administration. “This far into an expansion, with unemployment as low as it is, we shouldn’t be seeing incomes for low-income households falling in over a dozen states, and growth slowing down in a dozen more,” says Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute. “Stock market highs may be great for wealthy households at the top, but they don’t help families at the bottom put food on the table.”

Trump Deficit:

The federal deficit has grown to more than a $1 trillion, and gross domestic product is pretty much right where it was when he took office. Experts say that despite a trade war, tax cuts and more government spending, the Trump economy isn’t all that different from the Obama economy.

Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves Scam: After the Bush tax cuts and the failed Brownback Kansas Comeback, where debt piled up and supply-side economics failed, Republican voters once again celebrated the massive Trump tax cuts that, no surprised, didn't pay for themselves:

"The tax plan will pay for itself with economic growth," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. Corporate tax revenues fell 31% in the first year after the cut was passed. Overall tax revenues have declined as a share of the economy in each of the two years since the tax cut took effect.

Trump's Covid-19 Disaster Response, by Sheriff Clarke, Trish Regan, and John Oliver!!!

Poor victim billionaire President-king Trump, people are blaming him for being utterly unprepared for not just the office, but for his failed coronavirus response:

The New York Times, which obtained a recording of the call, reports that Trump once again falsely claimed that America’s pandemic response system was “broken” under former President Barack Obama, when in reality Trump shuttered the National Security Council’s pandemic response team and never replaced it with anything comparable.

Trump: “We broke down a system that was broken, very badly broken,” Trump said to the governors, and then added that his team is creating a new one that “I think is going to be the talk of the world.”

Protecting Trump: Milwaukee conservatives and radio pundits had a laugh voting in fake "Democrat" Sheriff David Clarke for years, even having him fill in on the air with insights illuminating as his most recent ones below on Twitter. 

To Clarke, the rising epidemic and death toll from Covid-19 is a threat to not human life, but to capitalism. This is the same kind of stuff I'm hearing from my Trump cultist friend in Milwaukee. Hey, 80 percent of conservatives can't be wrong about how great Trump is handling this:

Clarke went on to clarify of course...:

Second Impeachment-like Attempt by Liberals to Destroy Trump: Fox News sent Trish Regan on hiatus after this little rant, saying they were just trying to protect their staff. Right.

Wanna know how Republicans really feel about Democrats, and why it's so frustrating to watch Democrats play nice all the time?

On Monday, March 9, Trish Regan opened her Fox Business show by complaining of the “Coronavirus impeachment scam.” Her deranged monologue received widespread ridicule after a tweet by Media Matters’ Andrew Lawrence that has been viewed millions of times.

Here's John Oliver's take on Trump Covid-19 debacle (sorry about the different volume levels):

Evolutionary Theory "Survival of the Fittest," broken! Still too many Republicans.

From what I've seen, including what my Trump cultist friend in Milwaukee keeps texting me, nothing has changed 

Strong Survival Instinct: Democrats demonstrated a rational fear of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Weakest Survival Instinct: Republicans chose denial, risk, cultist feelings for Trump, and low information. 

So with the above information in mind, how is it so many Republicans have survived this long? 

Perhaps Darwinian theory isn't working anymore. The Yahoo News/YouGov poll:

1. Knowledge is Power: 48 percent of Democrats said they were following the coronavirus news very closely; only 32 percent of Republicans said the same.

2. Heeding Warning Signs: 29 percent of Democrats said the threat is exaggerated; among Republicans, that number was 58 percent.

3. Survival Instinct: 74 percent of Democrats said they are worried about the virus; only 45 percent of Republicans agreed.

4. What you don't know can't hurt you: 58 percent of Democrats predicted coronavirus would spread to the entire country; only 28 percent of Republicans agreed.

5A. Science: Most Democrats echoed the authorities in saying that the U.S. death toll would top 1,000 fatalities (55 percent) and that no vaccine would be available this year (61 percent). 

5B. Blissful Ignorance: Most Republicans said the opposite, with 66 percent predicting fewer than 1,000 fatalities and 57 percent saying a vaccine would arrive in 2020.

So what's the scientific theory behind "dumb luck?"

Pandemic Fight...put off until we have "clearer idea:" Facing mounting deaths and suffering, Republicans let governments Coronavirus response...wait:

Republicans rejected:

Yahoo News/YouGov poll: Economic policies such as increasing unemployment insurance and food stamps (52 percent support), providing paid sick leave (77 percent support), reducing the payroll tax (54 percent support) and covering insurance costs for victims without insurance (74 percent support) were widely popular.

Wait for it...Trump wants More Cuts to CDC and Pandemic Response: Behind every tax cut, is this, a spending cut. Eyes opened yet?

Russ Vought, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, on Tuesday doubled down on proposed cuts to health services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in President Trump’s 2021 budget request. , despite the coronavirus outbreak.

Under intense questioning from Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) about … cutting Health and Human Services funding by $9.5 billion, including a 15 percent cut of $1.2 billion to the CDC and a $35 million decrease to the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund's annual contribution.

GOP said Covid-19 was used to “bludgeon Trump with this new hoax.” Reality exposes US need for Universal Health Care!!!

The two health care points the public isn't hearing enough about, and might be considered "fear mongering" by some...

1. The exposed deadly problem of not having universal health insurance when it comes to epidemic and pandemic disease threats.

2. And the Supreme Court deciding the ACA is unconstitutional. Consider the irrational panic Americans are feeling right now about moving to Medicare4All, and the horror of losing their current insurance policy which unfairly limits your choices, the network your in, the covered treatments, prices you pay and requires copays and deductibles. The latter might be what we'll end up with:

If the Supreme Court rules the ACA unconstitutional, it will substantially disrupt the U.S. health system and could eliminate insurance coverage for millions of Americans.

The Biden Effect: Joe Biden plans to add a Medicare4All option into the ACA Marketplace, the worst possible negotiating starting position. An ACA repeal by the Supreme Court would make it so easy to convince everybody to adopt Medicare4All, but Biden thinks that's too radical.

Democratic Fail...Again! Covid19 screams Universal Health Care: How hard would it be or how obvious do things have to get before Democrats notice? At least it's starting to get noticed, but at what cost to Americans abandoned by their government. You'll notice below how AHIP, the insurance lobby, wants us to know nothing will get in the way of making a profit...brutal:

And one of Trump's earliest and most irresponsible deadly way to save taxpayer money? Hey, government was just getting in the way huh?:

Here's what happens when a president eliminates the pandemic response team in a country already without universal health care. Check out his thread:

 Republicans are never concerned about the counties real and festering problems, but instead stay on message like Scott Walker. Charlie Pierce reminds us just how bad some of these ideas really are:

Trump's creative sharpie might just make another appearance after getting so many things wrong in his 10 minute message to the country the other night:

Democratic legislation addresses U.S. Health cares gaping holes: Wouldn't you know it, a pandemic and mounting deaths just isn't enough yet:

GOP leaders said they would oppose the plan over the paid leave plan and changes to Medicaid, which would help hospitals cover swelling costs of uninsured patients.

The Democrats’ package would shore up safety net programs like food assistance, unemployment insurance and temporary sick leave with growing numbers of people forced to stay home from work and schools. It would also make free coronavirus testing widely available in a bid to address one of the nation's major struggles in containing the outbreak.

So, Republicans called a "recess" during Covid-19 Pandemic...really? Not in a hurry...:

Republicans Hate Constituent Paid Sick Leave: That's what's stopping the House bill dealing with Covid-19's spread and treatments:

And yet...

Ninety-four percent of Democratic voters and nearly 80 percent of Republican voters favor paid sick leave laws, according to a 2015 New York Times-CBS News poll.

Paid Sick leave no brainer snuffed out at the grass roots level: It's a corporate decision. For example,

In 2008, voters in Milwaukee approved a paid sick leave measure with support from nearly 70 percent of voters, making the city the third in the country, behind San Francisco and Washington, D.C., to approve one. But in 2011, newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-led Legislature reversed the Milwaukee measure and approved a law to preempt other Wisconsin cities from following its lead. The Milwaukee law required businesses with at least 10 employees to let workers in the city of Milwaukee accrue at least nine days of paid sick leave a year. Companies with fewer workers must provide at least five paid sick days.

The push for so-called preemption laws is backed by the Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, a membership organization of state legislators who favor limited government.

NO HURRY REPUBLICANS: This really happened this week: Get government out of the way?

NO HURRY REPUBLICANS: Like the Covid-19 "recess," here's another "Republicans don't care, not in a hurry" example, when Wisconsin Governor Evers tried to help conservative rural farmers and towns from flooding...

If flooding strikes the state hard this spring he could attack Republicans for not doing enough to stop it...Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said in an email to The Associated Press that the chamber’s floor session is over but that Vos might consider the bills next session starting in Jan. 2021 if legislators from both parties can work together on them.

STUDY: The Affordable Care Act now..."the first of two health policy reports for the New England Journal of Medicine, by the Commonwealth Fund":

1. By 2016, people without health insurance had decreased to a low of 28.6 million but has since ticked up. 

2. New enrollment from expanded Medicaid drove more than 50 percent of coverage gains. 

3. Enrollment through ACA accounted for nearly half of insurance coverage gains, helped by premium assistance. 

4. The dependents under age 26 provision decrease the percentage of young adults who are uninsured.

5. Medicaid expansion, subsidies and reforms, cost the government $128 billion in 2019 — considerably less than the $172 originally projected.

6. Medicaid expansion - a reductions in deaths from cardiovascular-related causes among middle-aged adults and deaths from end-stage renal disease.

7. The law’s effects are difficult to discern given the complexity of our health system.

8. Partisan conflict has stymied subsequent efforts by Congress to make improvements to the ACA.  Efforts to roll back key provisions of the ACA or invalidate it are taking a toll.

Trump Republicans attack Covid-19 with...Tax Cut? Isn't it the answer to everything?

Like the help Republicans offered dairy farmers to stay in business, revive rural communities and health care clinics, fix roads, connect high speed broadband statewide, solve drinking water pollution etc., tax cuts fix everything (and look sound good on the campaign trail).

Now the Trump White House plans to fight the coronavirus, COVID-19 specifically, with a tax cut? Yup.

Who thought of The Shock Doctrine, the Rise of "Disaster Capitalism" right away?

I used the term “shock doctrine” to describe the brutal tactic of using the public’s disorientation following a collective shock – wars, coups, terrorist attacks, market crashes or natural disasters – to push through radical pro-corporate measures, often called “shock therapy”.

It's the obvious reason a drooling swamp filled government of corporate special interest would ever spring into action.

Trump administration officials are holding preliminary conversations about economic responses to the coronavirus … the options being considered are pursuing a targeted tax cut package … These ideas would not be designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but they would seek to arrest the economic fears spreading through the economy.

Riiightttt. In other words, "Buy More, Save the Economy!!! Four more Years!"

The spread of Covid-19 is now turning up without any known contacts with possibly infected people. Sadly, its taken a turn for the worse:

Washington state public health officials said two additional confirmed cases of the virus — including a health care worker — are associated with a long-term care facility in the state. Officials said 27 patients and 25 staff members at the nursing home had reported symptoms similar to the coronavirus.

Trump botches Condolences: Trump faked sadness for "a wonderful woman":

The patient who died was identified as a man in his 50s. While President Trump, speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., initially identified the patient as a woman, state and King County officials during a news conference hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention insisted that the patient was a man. Trump called the victim a "wonderful woman" and said she died overnight. Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the new coronavirus task force, expressed his condolences to the woman's family.

So 52 patients and staff members at the nursing home in Washington state have reported similar symptoms to Covid-19. Trump is having none of that...

Trump said there are 22 patients in the U.S. who have been confirmed as having the virus. He said 15 of them are either recovered fully "or well on their way."

Trump prepared US to Fail: Government is bad, right?

Here's the story:

(Trump administration) wiped out its “entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure” and shutting down both the National Security Council’s global health security team and its counterpart at the Department of Homeland Security.

Having realized that maybe it looks bad to not even ask Congress for some money to deal with the crisis, on Monday (Feb. 26) the White House requested $2.5 billion to address the outbreak, funds that would go toward vaccines, treatment, and protective equipment.

so this happened...

Census??? No ones asking; how will this effect Census, and those enumerators visiting to peoples homes? Sadly, I couldn't find one story about this looming problem which is one month away:

Notices and forms will start arriving in the mail in March 2020. For households that don’t respond to the census, nonresponse follow-up begins in April 2020 and wraps up at the end of July 2020.