What is there even to say about this week?
Actually, I’ve got a few thoughts:
My thoughts are with everyone marching in the streets demanding justice. Stay safe out there.
And now, what you might have missed this week.
Despite all right-wing efforts to demonize Nancy Pelosi, it's Mitch McConnell who America hates
By Kos
As much as we despair over the state of our nation (Trump’s approval ratings should be 12% or lower), there are bright spots. The fact that the entire might of the conservative right-wing media machine has been unable to drag Pelosi down is one of them. The fact that McConnell is as unpopular as he is, despite a lack of liberal mass media, is another.
Sometimes, people do pay attention, and make the right choices. And thinking McConnell is a piece of shit is, undoubtedly, the right choice.
Nursing homes spending millions on lobbyists to make sure they're not liable for residents' deaths
By Joan McCarter
It's not surprising that the first coronavirus hotspot in the U.S. was at a nursing home in Washington State, and that in the months since residents and staff in long-term care facilities have been ravaged by the virus. It's also not surprising that the industry, with its huge and powerful lobbying force at the state and federal level, is succeeding at limiting its liability for the deaths of residents.
A Politico review has found that at least 20 states—led by both Republicans and Democrats—have already taken action in the last 10 weeks to limit the legal liability the facilities have in failing to provide a safe environment for the people in their care. Politico reviewed state and federal records and found the industry has spent millions lobbying the states in the past year, and has spent $4 million just at the federal level, "employing more than a dozen full-time lobbyists and drawing on an army of contractors including Brian Ballard, former lobbyist for President Donald Trump, and ex-Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman." They want the same success they've achieved in the states extended to them at the federal level in the next coronavirus response bill, leaving an already high-risk population even more vulnerable. "The stuff that we're seeing, it's pretty awful," Brian Lee, a former ombudsman and executive director of Families for Better Care, an advocacy group focusing on long-term care told Politico. "The ask from the industry is sweeping. This is about the owners protecting their business and their profits."
White supremacists are thriving on Facebook, despite its promises to crackdown
By David Neiwert
The trend, as the report’s authors explain, is acutely worrying in the midst of a pandemic that is enabling or requiring millions of people to spend most of their time online—which is where nearly all white supremacist organizing and recruitment now occurs.
“With millions of people now quarantining at home and vulnerable to ideologies that seek to exploit people’s fears and resentments about COVID-19, Facebook’s failure to remove white supremacist groups could give these organizations fertile new ground to attract followers,” the report observes.
TTP’s researchers found that 113 of those 221 organizations were on Facebook and were involved in a total of 153 Facebook pages and four Facebook groups. It found that 34 of the groups had two or more such pages.
Some of these pages have been active for more than a decade. A number of them were created by Facebook itself, auto-generated as business pages when someone listed them as their employer in their Facebook account.
Lawmaker told his GOP peers he had COVID-19, but waited a week to inform fellow Democrats
By Walter Einenkel
Republican state Rep. Andrew Lewis of Pennsylvania announced on Wednesday, May 27, that he had been secretly self-quarantining for a few days before testing positive for COVID-19, saying that his last day at the state Capitol was May 14. Lewis says he felt ill for a few days before being tested for the virus on May 18, and told he was positive for the virus on May 20. According to Lewis he kept his case quiet “Out of respect for my family, and those who I may have exposed.” Whatever that means. State Rep. Lewis clarified in the comments that he did privately inform family and people who might have been exposed, and said members of his staff “who met the criteria exposure was immediately contacted and required to self-isolate for 14 days from their date of possible exposure.”
However, while Lewis writes that he contacted the “House of Representatives, and our caucus Human Resources department,” according to many Democratic state representatives this is the first they are hearing about it. According to reporters from Spotlight PA and The Philadelphia Inquirer, Democratic reps only became aware that there may be COVID-19 spread in the state capitol one day ago.
And that’s it for this week folks. What story did you think needed more coverage? Let us know below!