Trump Economic Adviser: 'Our Human Capital Stock Is Ready To Get Back To Work'

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Sunday said that workers -- who he referred to as "human capital stock" -- are "ready to get back to work" during the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview on CNN, host Dana Bash asked Hassett if unemployment could be in double digits when President Donald Trump faces re-election in November.

"Yes, I do," Hassett replied. "But I think all the signs of economic recovery are going to be raging everywhere and the only thing we're going to be really debating as economists is are we going to get back to where we were or is it going to be kind of a long haul to get there?"

The economic adviser added: "Our human capital stock is ready to get back to work and so there are lots of reasons to believe we can get going way faster than we have in previous crises."



https://crooksandliars.com/2020/05/trump-economic-adviser-kevin-hassett-our

Harvard Researchers Find 'Inequality On Top Of Inequality' In COVID-19 Deaths

People wait in line to get food distributed by the National Guard in Chelsea, Mass., on April 16. Harvard researchers found areas with more poverty, people of color and crowded housing had higher mortality rates for the coronavirus.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
Much is still unknown about the coronavirus, including a full picture of perhaps its most important impact: who it has killed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that "current data suggest a disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups." The death toll is also incomplete, because not everyone who dies of COVID-19 is counted under that cause of death, among other reasons.

Racial, ethnic and socioeconomic data about people who have died of COVID-19 are not all readily available either. So researchers at Harvard instead looked at the cities, towns and ZIP codes of people who have died of all causes. They compared the number of people who have died against what would be expected in a normal year, or "excess deaths."

What they found is "inequality on top of inequality," says Jarvis Chen, a social epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.



https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/22/861008750/harvard-researchers-find-inequality-on-top-of-inequality-in-covid-19-deaths?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

U.S. groups have target European elections to try out misinformation tactics ahead of November

Over the past three years, American activists have butted into European online debates ahead of major elections with doctored photos of politicians and inflammatory online posts around hot-button issues like immigration and climate change. They’ve created misleading partisan websites pretending to be news outlets, honed their social media trolling tactics and encouraged local voters to share misinformation, including about the novel coronavirus.

“It’s a definite paradox,” said Ben Nimmo, director of investigations at Graphika, a social media analytics firm that tracks these campaigns. “The U.S. far right, a nationalist and racist movement, is now trying to go global itself.”

The effort’s impact — to the extent that it can be measured — has not always matched its ambition.

Despite a groundswell in the volume of American-made misinformation in Europe, activists’ efforts largely failed to sway public opinion, according to online campaign analysts, hate-speech experts and policymakers who have tracked the growth of American digital activists operating in the EU over the last four years.

But that was hardly the point. For the most part, these groups had another audience in mind: Americans back home.

In boosting a populist European candidate, or getting a particular social media hashtag to trend ahead of an election, U.S. activists sought to piggyback on European political debates and divisions to create online propaganda to boost their world view for voters in the U.S.


https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/24/american-nationalists-european-vacation-278246

Tweet of the Day

Memorial Day Weekend sees rise in Florida's COVID-19 cases

State health officials Sunday reported 740 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of cases in Florida to 50,867, including 49,547 Florida residents.

On Sunday, the Department of Health (DOH) also reported a rise in hospitalizations. Sunday’s report announced an additional 71 hospitalizations, raising the total amount to 9,381 in the state.

Moreover, 4 fatalities were confirmed Sunday totaling 80 non-residents. Since the pandemic’s onset, 2,316 people have died as a result of the novel coronavirus in Florida including 2,236 Florida residents.

In the last 24 hours, 151 people have tested positive in Miami-Dade County, bumping the amount of total cases to 16,845. The county’s death toll increased by 2 to 641.

The total of positive tests in Broward County increased by 48 to 6,697. The death toll, however, remained at 314.



https://floridapolitics.com/archives/335313-memorial-day-weekend-sees-rise-in-floridas-covid-19-cases

Meet the South's Newest Salamander

The Southeast is home to more salamander species than anywhere on the planet. Though the amphibians fly under the radar due to their small size, nocturnal habits, and tendency to spend time below ground, more than a hundred different kinds of salamander are found across every nook and cranny of the region. Some, like the two-foot-long hellbender (nicknamed the “snot otter”), are fully aquatic and breathe through their skin. Some are blind and live in caves, while others frequent the forest floor. And now, there’s a new species to add to the list.

One of the salamanders walks along the edge of the rock crevices they call home.
Engineered perfectly for life in the crevices of rocky outcroppings, the newly discovered Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander is named after the only place in the world where it’s found—North Carolina’s Hickory Nut Gorge, a fourteen-mile-long canyon that cuts dramatically through the Blue Ridge Mountains half an hour southeast of Asheville. If you don’t know where to look, you might never spot one, and even if you do, it’s a search—one that Chris Wilson, a wildlife ecologist and conservation scientist and an author of the paper describing the new species, knows well. “You spend hours crawling up steep hillsides through rhododendron thickets, then straining to peer into dark rock crevices with a flashlight,” he says. “You see lots of crickets and slugs and sometimes snakes or bats. Then occasionally you see that glint of light from the salamander’s eyes staring back at you.”

Relying on adhesive toe pads and a dexterous tail for climbing, the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander blends seamlessly with moss and lichen. With its startling green color, slender body, and large eyes, it’s one of the most beautiful and rare salamanders to grace the Appalachians. J.J. Apodaca, the paper’s lead author and the director of conservation and science at the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy, says these salamanders “are as rare as hen’s teeth out there, but as soon as you see one peeking out of a crevice, it’s like a shot of espresso. They are just so magnetic.” The first time Apodaca saw one, he suspected it was a unique species. “As soon as I teased it out of the crevice with a tiny stick, I realized it was vastly different from other green salamanders,” he remembers. “It was compressed down with longer arms and a noticeably darker color.”





https://gardenandgun.com/articles/meet-the-souths-newest-salamander/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=may2020_twitter&utm_content=southsnewestsalamander

AZ-SEN: Trump advisers warn McSally is in trouble

Senior political advisers to President Donald Trump warned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday that Republican Sen. Martha McSally is falling dangerously behind in the critical swing state of Arizona.

Trump’s campaign team was meeting with the president at the White House to discuss the state of play in a handful of battleground states. Toward the end of the meeting, Trump pulled McConnell, who was at the White House to meet with him on another matter, into the Roosevelt Room. The discussion turned to Arizona, where recent polling has shown Trump and McSally trailing.

Trump himself said he was concerned about McSally, according to three people familiar with the discussion. His political advisers told McConnell about recent survey numbers in Arizona and stressed she was losing to Democrat and former astronaut Mark Kelly.

McConnell appeared to stand by the senator, noting that it’s only May and the election is still a ways off, people familiar with the meeting said.

A White House spokesperson declined to comment, as did a Trump reelection spokesperson.

A McConnell spokesman said, “Leader McConnell is fully supportive of Senator McSally and believes she’s on a path to victory in November.”


https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/21/trump-senate-mcsally-arizona-273555

IA-SEN: The political neophyte Democrats are betting on to capture the Senate

Senate Democrats have a lot riding on Theresa Greenfield, a political neophyte about to get her first major test in next month's Iowa primary.

The party is placing a surprisingly large bet on the real estate executive to take on first-term GOP Sen. Joni Ernst in a bid to expand their path back to the Senate majority. If Greenfield wins the June 2 primary, she'll face Ernst in a state that’s turned against Democrats since 2012, when Barack Obama carried it for the second time.

The closing weeks before the primary have brought a flurry of activity: Democrats’ leading super PAC has already spent $6 million on television ads to boost the previously unknown Greenfield’s positive image, and another super PAC is spending $1 million attacking one of her opponents. The intervention has rankled the other Democratic candidates, who say the Washington establishment is trying to smother their chances.

Iowa looms as a potential blockbuster on the Senate map — a contest Democrats need to put firmly in play as part of their takeover strategy. It’s not yet a top-tier race on the level of Arizona or North Carolina, but Democrats say they can win despite Iowa's lurch to the right in recent years, including Ernst's 2014 victory and Donald Trump's decisive win in 2016.

All of this is playing out as in-person campaigning has been all but eliminated, and as candidates are scrambling to execute get-out-the-vote plans in the first major Senate contest happening during the pandemic.



https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/24/democrats-iowa-senate-ernst-greenfield-275141

VA-05: 'I was drugged and raped' at Marine Corps ball, Virginia candidate says in new TV ad

Claire Russo was attending the Marine Corps ball in 2004 when she was drugged and raped by a superior. And that’s the first thing many voters in Virginia’s 5th District will learn about her, because the Democratic candidate talks about it in a 30-second television ad released Thursday.

“I refused to let him stop me from serving my country in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Russo says in the ad, which describes her efforts to get the rapist jailed after the military declined to prosecute him.

Russo, a former Marine intelligence officer, has spoken publicly about the assault before, including at an Air Force base during Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. She also mentions it in the biography section on her campaign website. But it is among the first times such an ordeal has played a prominent role in a campaign ad, indicating the strides that female candidates have made in recent years to turn personal experiences once considered inappropriate or unimportant into central issues of their campaigns.

Russo, who is running in a crowded primary for a seat her party sees as flippable, lays out the disturbing details over a piano soundtrack and a picture from the night in question. In it, she is smiling, surrounded by female friends in formal clothes whose faces have been obscured.

“I was determined to find justice,” Russo says to the camera, over a newspaper clipping with the headline: “They thought it would go away.”

She goes on to say that she would bring the same fighting spirit to Congress.



https://www.rollcall.com/2020/05/21/i-was-drugged-and-raped-at-marine-corps-ball-virginia-candidate-says-in-new-tv-ad/

Pride In Running, New Organization Founded to Support Young LGBTQ Candidates

Self-discovery is not an overnight process. For me, the journey started when students at my very conservative high school started to come out and be openly proud of who they were. I didn’t know much about the LGBTQ community, but started doing research, positioning myself as an ally who supported the cause of LGBTQ rights. At the time, I was a scared, closeted, 14-year-old. It has taken almost six years for me to become fully comfortable in my identity. Writing this piece is the most public way I can officially say that my name is Riley Reed and I identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. I use the word “queer” to describe my sexuality as I see it as the most fluid word and I am someone still figuring out what all this means to me.

When I was first coming to terms with my identity, I noticed there were few elected officials at the national level who represented the LGBTQ+ community. So I decided to launch Pride in Running, a group that encourages queer youth to run for political positions. Our mission is to empower LGBTQ+ youth by teaching them practical skills about how to run for office, lobby, and change the future. The pivotal moment that pushed me to launch Pride in Running came when I started thinking about how I would celebrate Pride month this year, with in-person celebrations cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I started thinking about the 1969 uprising at New York’s City Stonewall Inn and how far the movement for LGBTQ rights has come — and how far we still have to go. A core part of creating and moving a coalition forward involves simply listening to people’s stories. I do not want to be the voice for people. I want Pride in Running to help them be their own voice. I want the world to hear what LGBTQ+ youth have to say. I want to increase our representation at all levels of government and I want us to be able to directly advocate for the change our community needs. Together, we can fight for an end to anti-trans legislation, conversion therapy and other forms of harmful discrimination — and for a positive, queer-affirming future where young LGBTQ+ people have the same rights and freedoms as everyone else.
Skyler Phillips, my friend who serves in a social media role for Pride in Running, says she got involved because, “there is an apparent need for LGBTQ+ youth to be represented and involved in politics. There’s been an increase in hate crimes and a rollback on school protection for transgender youth. I want to empower and help young people learn their identity shouldn’t be something they should hide.”

We want to start a movement and doing so requires recognizing the small victories. Recently, 18-year-old Max Prestigiacomo became both the youngest and one of the first LGBTQ+ candidates elected to Madison, Wisconsin’s city council. This is exactly the kind of progressive, youth-led, queer campaign that Pride in Running would support. My goal is to seek out individuals who are not sure if they should take that step to run for office, or the people who want change, but don’t know where to start. Partnering with groups like Future Coalition and Platform Women, we plan to bring resources to those who seek to create change. We plan to lead workshops to train prospective candidates in the basics of what they need to know to run for office, help them create websites and build up their social media platforms, and assist with fundraising. We also plan to lead training on how to effectively lobby for legislation. Education is our primary tool to help our advocates be effective leaders in their communities. For a lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community it is scary to put themselves on such a large platform, but I say, Do it! The more members of the community who run for office, the more opportunities we have to push boundaries, break down walls, and give LGBTQ+ youth the visibility we deserve.



https://www.teenvogue.com/story/pride-in-running-young-lgbtq-candidates