Shitbags of the Week: 3/15
“Trump staffers ‘shamelessly’ attempted to get COVID-19 vaccines amid the initial rollout… Ex-officials said the effort was like first-class passengers on the Titanic rushing to the lifeboats.”
Shitbags of the Week: 3/1
Shitbags of the Week: 2/22
Shitbags of the Week: 2/1
Shitbags of the Week: 1/25
- Common Dreams: ‘Abolish Billionaires’: Oxfam Report Shows Combined Pandemic Wealth of Richest 10 People Could Pay to Vaccinate Entire World
- CBS News: Billionaire wealth soars as 255 million of world’s jobs lost in pandemic
Shitbags of the Week: 1/11
Shitbags of the Week: 12/28
- New York Times: Trump’s Focus as the Pandemic Raged: What Would It Mean for Him?
- Truthout: Trump Plans New Year’s Party as COVID Death Count Continues to Climb
- CBS News: Fired Tyson manager defends COVID-19 bets as morale booster
Shitbags of the Week: 12/21
Shitbags of the Week: 12/14
- The Daily Poster: Senate Proposal Would Retroactively Shield Corporations From All COVID Lawsuits
- Truthout: Relief Package Gives Retroactive Immunity to Corporations From COVID Lawsuits
- CNN: Melania Trump breaks children’s hospital rules by taking her mask off to read to patients
Shitbags of the Week: 12/7
- Business Insider: The GOP is holding up relief for millions of Americans because they want to make sure corporations have blanket protection from workers who get COVID on the job
- The Intercept: HOLLYWOOD DEPLOYED LOBBYISTS TO WIN EXEMPTIONS TO STRICT CALIFORNIA LOCKDOWN
- The Nation: Mitch McConnell’s Ghoulish Plan to Exploit Covid Desperation to Shield Corporate Crime
Shitbags of the Week: 11/30
- The News & Observer: NC Labor commissioner says COVID-19 isn’t a workplace threat that requires safety rules
- KCCI Des Moines: Amended lawsuit claims Tyson managers lied to interpreters about COVID-19 dangers
Shitbags of the Week: 11/23
- Public Citizen: Amazon and Walmart Halted Hazard Pay For Workers Despite Making $30 Billion
- Democracy NOW! Betting Pool? Tyson Managers Bet on How Many Workers Would Get COVID. Advocates Call It Grim Pattern
Shitbags of the Week: 11/16
- Washington Post: Tyson Foods managers had a ‘winner-take-all’ bet on how many workers would get covid-19, lawsuit alleges
- Iowa Capital Dispatch: Lawsuit: Tyson managers bet money on how many workers would contract COVID-19
Shitbags of the Week: 11/9
- Raw Story: ‘Going to get a lot of people killed’: COVID-19 soars to new heights as Trump sabotages transition
- CNN: Trump in denial over election defeat as Biden gears up to fight Covid
“Trump’s intransigence and unsurprising defiance of democracy threaten to add a constitutional crisis and a disrupted transition of power to the country’s problems as the Covid-19 crisis deepens and the economy languishes.”
“Trump’s overwhelming concern for his own priorities, not surprising for anyone who watched his presidency, is still remarkable given the rapid worsening of the pandemic.”
Shitbags of the Week: 10/26
Shitbags of the Week: 10/19
- The Intercept: TRUMP SETS UP PHARMA BILLIONAIRES FOR CORONAVIRUS PAYDAY
- Associated Press: McConnell warns White House against COVID relief deal
- CNN: Trump trashes Fauci and makes baseless coronavirus claims in campaign call
Shitbags of the Week: 10/12
- New York Times: As Virus Spread, Reports of Trump Administration’s Private Briefings Fueled Sell-Off
“The president’s aides appeared to be giving wealthy party donors an early warning of a potentially impactful contagion at a time when Mr. Trump was publicly insisting that the threat was nonexistent.”
- The Guardian: Mitch McConnell laughs at criticism over Congress Covid relief failure
- CNN: As Covid-19 resurges, Trump mocks the disease
- New York Times: A $52,112 Air Ambulance Ride: Coronavirus Patients Battle Surprise Bills
“Congress was close to a solution before getting hit with millions of dollars of ads from private-equity firms. Then the pandemic struck.”
“Last year, Congress abandoned its attempt to prevent surprise bills like this one, and coronavirus patients are now paying the price. Bills submitted to The New York Times show that patients often face surprise charges from out-of-network doctors, ambulances and medical laboratories they did not pick or even realize were involved in their care.”
Shitbags of the Week: 10/5
- New York Times: Trump plans to hold a rally for thousands on the White House lawn Saturday, raising new concerns over possible virus spread.
- The Guardian: Provider of Trump Covid drug is president’s golf friend
- Forbes: While Trump Touts ‘Cure’ Made By Regeneron, Its CEO Is A Member Of Trump Golf Club
- New York Times: While Millions Lost Jobs, Some Executives Made Millions in Company Stock
- Axios: Trump says he will not negotiate on COVID relief until after election
- Yahoo! News: Mitch McConnell backs Trump’s coronavirus relief decision. Analysts think it makes no sense.
- CNN: Trump has ties to drugmaker Regeneron — and now its stock is surging
- HuffPost: Millions In Federal COVID-19 Aid Went To Companies With Pollution Violations
Shitbags of the Week: 9/28
“…the White House and the president’s reelection campaign appear to have become superspreading operations, with the case count climbing seemingly by the hour.”
- CNN: This Republican senator is the early leader for worst take on Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis
- CNBC: GOP donors ‘freaking out’ after coming close to Trump at fundraiser hours before his positive Covid-19 test
- Daily Mail: ‘Still think it’s a hoax Mr President?’
- NPR: HHS Renews $10.2 Million Contract For Controversial COVID-19 Data Tracking Company
- VICE: Gig Economy Company Launches Uber, But for Evicting People
“A company called Civvl says evicting people is the ‘FASTEST GROWING MONEY MAKING GIG DUE TO COVID-19.'”
Shitbags of the Week: 9/21
- WEARTV and Associated Press: Gov. Ron DeSantis lifts all COVID-19 restrictions on Florida restaurants
- Washington Post: Pentagon used taxpayer money meant for masks and swabs to make jet engine parts and body armor
“The Trump administration has done little to limit the defense firms from accessing multiple bailout funds at once and is not requiring the companies to refrain from layoffs as a condition of receiving the awards.”
Shitbags of the Week: 9/14
- Truthout: Trump Falsely Claims COVID Death Toll Is Not So Bad If You Leave Out Blue States
- Seattle Times: Another landlord group sues Seattle over eviction moratoriums
- Truthout: Giuliani’s Payroll Company Got a Paycheck Protection Loan But Lists No Employees
“A payroll company owned by Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, took between $150,000 and $350,000 in taxpayer-backed emergency small business loans this spring. It’s unclear what Giuliani did with the money.”
- Business Insider: Attorney General Bill Barr made a wild claim that coronavirus lockdowns were ‘the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history’ since slavery
- CNN: Bill Barr compares coronavirus lockdown to slavery
- Salon: Invisible company owned by Rudy Giuliani got taxpayer-backed PPP money — but where did it go?
- Bloomberg: Jamie Dimon Sees Long-Term Damage If People Don’t Get Back to Work
- CNBC: Trump says he has no regrets about Covid-19 response, claims he ‘up-played’ virus despite downplaying it
- The Guardian: Trump says Covid-19 will ‘go away’ because of ‘herd mentality’
SHITBAG OF THE DAY: Landlords
“According to the new lawsuit, the tenants allege that Kushner Companies representatives ‘have badgered tenants for rent payments, despite the COVID 19 epidemic raging at the time.’ It alleges that they used tactics that ‘were intended to, and did scare tenants of the Subject Buildings into paying rent that was legally not collectable, during the COVID 19 epidemic.'”
- Popular Information: These 62 landlords received at least $60 million in taxpayer bailouts. Now they are evicting tenants.
- Popular Information: Corporate landlords defy federal eviction “moratorium”
- The Hill: McConnell: Chance for coronavirus deal ‘doesn’t look that good right now’
- CNN: Trump ignores science at dangerous indoor rally
Shitbags of the Week: 9/7
SHITBAG OF THE DAY: Smithfield Foods
“The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Thursday that it was fining the Smithfield Packaged Meats Corporation for $13,494 for ‘failing to protect employees from exposure to the coronavirus,’ a news release states. The fine is the maximum amount allowed by law.”
“At least 1,294 Smithfield employees contracted coronavirus, and four employees died from the virus”
“Seema Verma, a member of the coronavirus task force, spent more than $3.5 million taxpayer dollars on GOP-aligned consultants, a congressional report found.”
SHITBAG OF THE DAY: Thom Tillis
SHITBAG OF THE DAY: Donald Trump
- Daily News: The MIA Senate: Mitch McConnell is failing the nation in its hour of need
- The Conversation: Business liability shield is holding up another coronavirus bailout – a legal scholar explains why immunity is unnecessary and even harmful
- Washington Post: At least 3,000 Americans have probably died of covid-19 while Trump has played golf
Shitbags of the Week: 8/31
- Yahoo! News: Sen. Joni Ernst floats QAnon conspiracy theory about inflated COVID death count: “So skeptical”
- Chicago Tribune: Stimulus check updates: Mitch McConnell raises new doubts on Congress getting COVID-19 relief done in fall
- The Hill: McConnell seeks to protect vulnerable Republicans with COVID-19 vote
- Yahoo! News: Health experts horrified as Trump’s newest COVID-19 adviser pushes “herd immunity” strategy
- Vanity Fair: Trump’s New COVID Adviser Is Basically the Anti-Fauci
- New Hampshire Public Radio: Trump, RNC Seek To Intervene In Lawsuit Challenging N.H. COVID-19 Voting Procedures
- Checks & Balances Project: DeVos Alleged Tax Avoidance Scheme Could Fund School Nurses for 263,000 Children
“U.S. Secretary of Education and billionaire Betsy DeVos is pushing hard for public schools to reopen in person this fall, dismissing widespread parent and teacher concerns about coronavirus health risks. Yet, even in Sec. DeVos’s home state of Michigan, there’s only one full-time equivalent school nurse for an estimated 6,570 students.”
Shitbags of the Week: 8/24
- The Guardian: Trump to address 1,000 supporters on White House lawn despite coronavirus risks
- Bloomberg Businessweek: Covid Gag Rules at U.S. Companies Are Putting Everyone at Risk
- Rolling Stone: Trump Adviser Refers to Pandemic in Past Tense on Same Day Covid Kills 1,147 People
- Washington Post: Nation’s biggest business lobby is behind Republicans’ push to shield employers from coronavirus liability
“‘They never waste a crisis to push their agenda,’ said Remington Gregg, a lawyer with the consumer watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen”
- The Daily Edge: Trump’s Big COVID Lie
- HuffPost: RNC Celebrates A Coronavirus Response That Didn’t Happen
- Business Insider: Donald Trump Jr. claims in RNC speech that the president ‘acted quickly’ to contain COVID-19 as US death toll approaches 180,000
- MSNBC: ‘It’s all propaganda’: Dr. Vin Gupta on the RNC’s claims about COVID-19
- Vox: The RNC’s big Covid-19 lie, refuted in one chart
- New York Times: The Senate Is on Vacation While Americans Starve
- WGRZ Buffalo: COVID-19 cases in Chautauqua County linked to Fieldbrook Foods Corporation
Shitbags of the Week: 8/17
“The coronavirus relief package unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his GOP conference last month would make it more difficult to hold businesses responsible for gross negligence”
“President Trump suggested he’s open to looking at a botanical extract being touted by a major donor, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, as a treatment for COVID-19, even though it comes from a poisonous plant and there have been no medical studies to show if it’s safe or effective in people.”
“Lindell, whom the president has called ‘a supporter from day one,’ joined the board of Phoenix Biotechnology last week — the company seeking to develop and market the product.”
- New York Times: Rapid Testing Is the New Velvet Rope
- The Cut: Hamptons Parties, Now With 30-Minute COVID Testing at the Door
Shitbags of the Week: 8/10
“In tweets, he lamented without evidence rampant fraud with mail-in ballots and even suggested the November election be delayed over coronavirus concerns.”
Shitbags of the Week Continued…
- The Intercept: NURSING HOME MAGNATE COZIED UP TO TRUMP AS DEATHS ROSE IN HIS FACILITIES
- New York Times: Lifestyles of the Rich and Reckless: Posh Pandemic Parties
- The American Independent: McConnell says his refusal to act on virus relief for months was a good thing
- Forbes: GOP Insists On Liability Shield For Businesses In Second Stimulus Pact
- Washington Post: Business is booming for dialysis giant Fresenius. It took a bailout of at least $137 million anyway
- Mother Jones: COVID-19 Is Tearing Through Nursing Homes. Mitch McConnell Wants to Give Their Owners Legal Immunity
- Kentucky Democrats: McConnell Attends Ritzy Wedding While Stalling Additional Pandemic Relief
- BuzzFeed: Trump Vaccine Adviser Warns That Scrutiny Of Him Will Delay Arrival Of Coronavirus Vaccine
- Mother Jones: In Latest Coronavirus Rant, Trump Slams Fauci, CNN, China, and the Democrats
- The Nation: The Deaths of 150,000 Americans Are on Trump’s Hands
- Washington Post: Defense contractor with billions in sales got millions in pandemic loans intended for small businesses
Shitbags of the Week: 7/27
- The Guardian: Trump heads to his own golf club as Covid-19 surges and jobless benefits expire
- Raw Story: Trump’s vaccine chief picks his own former employer—where he still holds millions worth of stock—for $2.1 billion deal
- CNBC: Koch network restarts door-to-door canvasing for candidates despite coronavirus pandemic
- The Hill: Hundreds of business groups call for liability shield in coronavirus relief package
- Time: GOP Tucks $8 Billion For Military Weaponry in Coronavirus Response Package
- Roll Call: Pandemic relief package would become weapons bazaar
- Market Watch: McConnell says Senate won’t pass coronavirus relief bill without liability shield for businesses
Shitbags of the Week: 7/20
- Common Dreams: As McConnell Tees Up Next Aid Package With Corporate Liability as ‘Red Line,’ Polluters Pushing to Secure Shield Against Covid-19 Lawsuits
- Truthout: McConnell Laughs When Asked If COVID Relief Bill Will Pass by End of Next Week
- Common Dreams: McConnell Laughs When Asked If Covid-19 Bill Will Pass by End of Next Week—When Unemployment Benefits Expire for 30 Million
- Truthout: Senate GOP’s COVID Plan May Raid Social Security and Cut Unemployment Benefits
- The Intercept: ALEC IS CLOSE TO PASSING MODEL BILL THAT WOULD PROTECT COMPANIES FROM CORONAVIRUS-RELATED LAWSUITS
- CNN: Trump insists he’s ‘right’ on the virus as more Americans get sick and die
- The Intercept: TRUMP’S CFPB DEPLOYS PREDATORY LENDERS AS FIRST RESPONDERS TO PANDEMIC
- The Hill: After trillions in tax cuts for the rich, Republicans refuse to help struggling Americans
“Their response to a desperately needed round of relief? ‘Hell no.’ ‘We’ve done enough.’“
- Yahoo! News: How coronavirus bailout money flowed to sprawling companies
- The Guardian: The pandemic is helping the rich get even richer. It’s time to tax their obscene wealth
- Bloomberg: Trump Says He’s ‘Seriously’ Considering a Capital Gains Tax Cut
- Daily Kos: Trump administration tells states to go to ‘normal’ operations, start restricting food assistance
- Skilled Nursing News: Private Equity-Owned Nursing Homes Had Higher COVID-19 Infection, Fatality Rates: Report
Shitbags of the Week: 7/13
- LA Times: Republicans eye sweeping shield from coronavirus liability
- USA Today: The coronavirus pandemic could lead to Social Security cuts happening sooner than you think
“Congress should be trying to reduce the virus’s spread, not giving irresponsible employers a blank check to sacrifice the health of their workers and their workers’ families for short-term profits.”
- The Intercept: BANKS STAND TO MAKE $18 BILLION IN PPP PROCESSING FEES FROM CARES ACT
- Center for Media and Democracy: Right-Wing Groups Opposing State and Local Coronavirus Bailouts Take Millions in PPP Loans
- The New Yorker: How Trump Is Helping Tycoons Exploit the Pandemic
“The secretive titan behind one of America’s largest poultry companies, who is also one of the President’s top donors, is ruthlessly leveraging the coronavirus crisis—and his vast fortune—to strip workers of protections.”
Shitbags of the Week: 7/6
- Salon: More than 20 million people face eviction by the end of September as GOP threatens to cut aid
- HUFFPOST: Republicans Keep Downplaying Coronavirus Rise As They Push To Reopen Economy
- VICE: Law Firms Helping the GOP Restrict Voting Rights Got Millions in PPP Loans
- Daily Dot: White House press secretary’s parents received millions in PPP loans
- Daily Beast: Steve Mnuchin’s Exclusive LA Country Club Got Millions in COVID Relief
- Vanity Fair: Devin Nunes’ Winery, Kushner Family Business Raked In Coronavirus Relief Money
- FOX6: United Airlines sending layoff notices to nearly half of US employees
- CNBC: The billionaires and country clubs that received small business loans from the government
- Forbes: Kanye West, West Virginia’s Governor Jim Justice And 14 Other Billionaires’ Businesses Got PPP Loans
- ProPublica: Trump Friends and Family Cleared for Millions in Small Business Bailout
- Business Insider: Businesses connected to Trump advisor Jared Kushner and his family received millions in paycheck protection loans
- Time: Trump Associates and Members of His Administration Received Millions in Loans From Coronavirus Bailout
- The Guardian: Over 5,600 fossil fuel companies have taken at least $3bn in US Covid-19 aid
- Daily Beast: Trump’s Small Biz Rescue Bailed Out Kushner’s Family, Obama’s Aides and Other Political Elite
“Forty lobbyists with ties to President Donald Trump helped clients secure more than $10 billion in federal coronavirus aid, among them five former administration officials whose work potentially violates Trump’s own ethics policy, according to a report.”
“All they care about is their products, their earnings, their money,” she said. “We aren’t anything to them.”
Shitbags of the Week: 6/29
- CNN: Trump set for another massive event during national pandemic
- Tampa Bay Times: On record-breaking day, Mike Pence says Florida in a ‘much better place’ in coronavirus fight
- Andy Puzder: Don’t extend the Cares Act’s $600 weekly bonus
- NBC NEWS: The $600 federal unemployment benefit ends this month. GOP senators say enough already.
- The Guardian: Revealed: Covid-19 outbreaks at meat-processing plants in US being kept quiet
- Salon: Former CEO of troubled trucking company that got huge COVID loan is now on USPS board
- POLITICSUSA: South Dakota Governor: “We Will Not Be Social Distancing” at Independence Day Event with Trump
- NBC NEWS: Remdesivir for coronavirus: Gilead to charge thousands for treatment in U.S.
Shitbags of the Week: 6/22
- Mother Jones: Trump Rails Against Obamacare as Coronavirus Cases Surge
- Yahoo! News: In face of pandemic, Trump pushes Obamacare repeal
- ABC News: Amid pandemic, Trump administration asks Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare
- Washington Post: New research explores how conservative media misinformation may have intensified the severity of the pandemic
- Shitbag of the Day, 6/24: AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson:
- Business Insider: AT&T is laying off thousands of workers and shutting down at least 250 stores
- Truthout: Senators Find Unspent $14 Billion After Trump Admits to Slowing COVID Testing
- AXIOS: Nursing homes ramping up patient evictions during coronavirus pandemic
- CNN: Trump’s ‘kidding’ on testing exposes his negligence as virus spikes
Shitbags of the Week: 6/15
- Vox: Trump falsely suggests wearing a mask at his Tulsa rally could be harmful
- CNN: Inequality in America was huge before the pandemic. The stock market is making it worse
“The gap between the world’s rich and poor is expected to grow due to the pandemic, and a stock market high on government and central bank cash bears much of the blame.”
- The Hill: Conservatives urge Trump, McConnell to halt spending on coronavirus relief
- Business Insider: Republican congressman who just announced he has the coronavirus refused to wear a face mask on the House floor 2 weeks ago
- New York Times: Pence Misleadingly Blames Coronavirus Spikes on Rise in Testing
- New York Times: Pence Tells Governors to Repeat Misleading Claim on Outbreaks
- New York Times: Charter Schools, Some With Billionaire Benefactors, Tap Coronavirus Relief
“In many cases, charter school leaders have openly acknowledged that they did not apply for the funds because they were in dire financial straits. The board chairman of one Oakland, Calif., charter school network, Education for Change Public Schools, said its $5 million loan would be a ‘cheap form of cash-flow financing.’”
“One San Diego charter was awarded a $2.25 million loan in May, then laid off a third of its teachers.”
Shitbags of the Week: 6/8
- Shitbag of the Day, 6/11: The police:
- Newsweek: Police Using Tear Gas at Protests Risks Making COVID-19 Pandemic Worse, Human Rights Groups Say
- Mother Jones: Trump Is Using the Pandemic to Undo Environmental Rules. It’s Hurting Black Americans.
- Shitbag of the Day, 6/10: ICE and private prisons:
- NBC NEWS: Detained migrants say they were forced to clean COVID-infected ICE facility
- Popular Science: Tear gas during COVID-19 is a public health disaster
- New York Times: Hospitals Got Bailouts and Furloughed Thousands While Paying C.E.O.s Millions
- ProPublica: The CARES Act Sent You a $1,200 Check but Gave Millionaires and Billionaires Far More
- Washington Post: Food banks and other key programs have received a fraction of allotted coronavirus money, angering some lawmakers
Shitbags of the Week: 6/1
“‘The Covid-19 pandemic gave cover for particularly sleazy politicians to pass anti-protest bills while their constituents are squeezed by unemployment and the responsibility to protect public health,’ he [Connor Gibson of Greenpeace] said. ‘These bills are meant to prevent protests just long enough for oil companies to finish dangerous and unpopular petrochemical projects.’”
- CNBC: Survey shows that America’s richest people have donated less than 0.1% of their wealth for coronavirus relief
- Wall Street Journal: How Payday Lenders Target Consumers Hurt by Coronavirus
- Business Insider: Amazon drops $2 coronavirus pay rise for warehouse workers as CEO Jeff Bezos’ fortune nears $150 billion
- Republic Report: Roundup: Amid Protest and COVID Crises, Blatant Trump Corruption Goes On
- ProPublica: This Treasury Official Is Running the Bailout. It’s Been Great for His Family.
- The Intercept: BIG PHARMA ATTACKS EFFORTS TO GUARD AGAINST CORONAVIRUS PRICE GOUGING
Shitbags of the Week: 5/25
Shitbags of the Week Continued…
- The Texas Tribune: Texas Supreme Court: Lack of immunity to coronavirus alone isn’t enough for mail-in ballot
- Los Angeles Times: Oakland McDonald’s workers on strike after allegedly being told to wear dog-diaper masks
“‘McDonald’s is treating us like dogs,’ a worker said. At least 4 workers and relatives had COVID-19.”
- The Intercept: CORPORATE IMMUNITY, MITCH MCCONNELL’S PRIORITY FOR CORONAVIRUS RELIEF, IS A LONGTIME FOCUS OF THE CONSERVATIVE RIGHT
- The Guardian: Cuomo gave immunity to nursing home executives after big campaign donations
- Common Dreams: $3,278 ER Visit for Coughing Fits and Fever Amid Covid-19 Pandemic Highlights Failure of For-Profit System
- Shitbag of the Day, 5/26: Kevin Hassett:
- Rolling Stone: Trump Economic Advisor Reduces Workers to ‘Human Capital Stock’
Shitbags of the Week: 5/18
- CBS News: Billionaire Goldman Sachs exec says it’s time to end coronavirus lockdown
- Raw Story: Here’s how corporate deals are making PPE shortages even worse
- Raw Story: GOP ‘plot to gut Social Security behind closed doors’ gains steam in Senate Covid-19 talks
“…at a time when current Republican policy is to let seniors die of Covid-19 by the tens of thousands without lifting a finger to help, it is beyond shameful that Mitt Romney’s focus is to rob those same older Americans of their earned Social Security and Medicare benefits.”
“We sat like fucking sitting ducks,” the doctor said. “Everything in health care is meant to benefit those who control the system…It is only about [corporations] and stockholders.”
- CNBC: American billionaires got $434 billion richer during the pandemic
- VICE: Trump Forced Meat Processing Plants to Stay Open. Now There’s Almost 600 Workers With Coronavirus at a North Carolina Plant.
- Shitbag of the Day, 5/21: #MoscowMitch:
- Politico: McConnell vows end to enhanced unemployment benefits
- Shitbag of the Day, 5/20: Donald Trump:
- The Intercept: IN ITS ZEAL TO BLAME CHINA FOR CORONAVIRUS, THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS THWARTING INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE PANDEMIC’S ORIGINS
- CNN: ‘We’ve been muzzled’: CDC sources say White House putting politics ahead of science
- Pod Save America: Trump says the U.S. having the most COVID-19 cases in the world is “a badge of honor”
- Daily Beast: JBS Meat Plant Clinic Told Eighth COVID-19 Victim She Had a ‘Normal Cold,’ Daughter Says
- TIME: The Real Estate Industry Pushed for $160 Billion in Tax Breaks in the CARES Act, Disclosure Filings Show
- Salon: Trump’s new coronavirus vaccine czar owns $10 million in stock options in company developing vaccine
- The National Memo: Amid Economic Crash, Kushner Tries To Kill Social Security
- Mark Joseph Stern: Trump Judge Elizabeth Branch cast the deciding vote in this 2–1 decision denying soap and disinfectant to people incarcerated in a Miami JAIL. Now more than 300 of them have tested positive for COVID-19.
Shitbags of the Week: 5/11
- Huffpost: Trump’s New COVID-19 Czar Holds $10 Million In Vaccine Company Stock Options
- New York Times: Wall Street is hampering some small businesses seeking aid.
- Bloomberg: NEW: American companies that moved their official headquarters offshore to avoid U.S. taxes could qualify for coronavirus aid from the Federal Reserve, tax lawyers say
- Vanity Fair: “People Will Die. People Do Die.” Wall Street Has Had Enough of the Lockdown
- ProPublica: Another Private Jet Company Owned by a Trump Donor Got a Bailout — This One for $20 Million
- Marketplace: Hazard pay ends soon at Amazon and other major companies
- CBS News: Company tied to Trump campaign manager gets PPP loan
- GQ: Jared Kushner Reportedly Convinced Trump in March That Coronavirus Testing Was a Bad Idea
- CNBC: Private jet company founded by Trump donor gets $27 million bailout
“The entire country is hurting during this pandemic,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, a progressive group that first identified the grant and donations. “But the President decided to award a campaign donor with $27 million in free government money.”
- Los Angeles Times: FBI serves warrant on senator in investigation of stock sales linked to coronavirus
- Harron Walker: conde nast laid off or furloughed 200 people to avoid further pay cuts for its executives and board members
- Washington Post: Under Trump border rules, U.S. has granted refuge to just two people since late March, records show
- Michael Sainato: Whole Foods plans to scrap $2 an hour hazard pay by June 1st
- CNN: Trump calls Fauci’s caution on schools reopening ‘not an acceptable answer’
- Washington Post: Aspen Institute think tank receives $8 million federal small-business loan
- Washington Post: Infection rates were climbing at Nebraska meatpacking plants. Then health officials stopped reporting the numbers.
- Shitbag of the Day, 5/12: #MoscowMitch, Reuters: McConnell says he is spearheading broad coronavirus liability bill
- Washington Post: A contractor promised FEMA 10 million masks for $55 million. It did not deliver.
- Common Dreams: The Trump Administration’s “Monstrous Idea”: Direct Payments in Exchange for Cuts to Social Security Benefits
- Washington Post: Colorado restaurant illegally reopens with no social distancing and hundreds of customers
- Shitbag of the Day, 5/10: Elon Musk, The Sacramento Bee: Tesla’s Elon Musk says he’ll leave California due to coronavirus shutdown. Who cares?
“Poor Elon Musk. COVID-19 has killed nearly 2,700 Californians so far, but he’s the one who’s *truly* suffering during the coronavirus pandemic.”
Shitbags of the Week: 5/4
- Washington Monthly: Republicans Want to Sacrifice Your Social Security But Not Their Tax Cuts
- Common Dreams: The U.S. Response to Covid-19 Has Lavished Wealth on the Rich
- Anand Giridharadas: Tfw you accidentally tweet your real motivation for doing something
- Washington Post: As deaths mount, Trump tries to convince Americans it’s safe to inch back to normal
- TIME: South Dakota Governor Demands Tribe Leaders Remove Checkpoints Set Up to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19
- The Atlantic: The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying
- The Intercept: Four Die-Hard Loyalists Are Enabling Trump’s Apocalyptic Coronavirus Response
“They are fulfilling Donald Trump’s darkest desires to twist the Covid-19 pandemic into a culture war, while also looking for ways to exploit the nation’s greatest public health crisis in a century to foment hoaxes and conspiracy theories and punish Trump’s enemies.”
- Shitbag of the Day, 5/7: Senator Richard Burr (NC):
- Washington Post: As Iowa reopens, workers are being forced to choose between a paycheck and their health
- Roll Call: Uranium firm takes virus aid, says crisis hasn’t affected business
- Politico: Azar faulted workers’ ‘home and social’ conditions for meatpacking outbreaks
- ProPublica: On the Same Day Sen. Richard Burr Dumped Stock, So Did His Brother-in-Law. Then the Market Crashed.
- Washington Post:U.S. companies cut thousands of workers while continuing to reward shareholders during pandemic
- New York Times: As Threat of Virus Persists, Trump Administration Signals It Will Wind Down Task Force
- The Hill: House GOP bill would block lawsuits by workers sickened with virus
- CNN: Chris Christie pushes to reopen country despite dire Covid-19 projections: ‘There are going to be deaths’
- Vox: Mitch McConnell remains laser-focused on judges amid coronavirus
- Forbes: These healthcare billionaires have gotten richer off the coronavirus pandemic
- The Guardian: Trump’s wealthy friends look to cash in during coronavirus crisis
- CNBC: Carnival Cruise Line says it will begin to phase-in cruises again starting August 1
Shitbags of the Week: 4/27
Shitbag of the week: #MoscowMitch
- Daily Beast: McConnell’s New Endgame in the Next COVID Bill: Cover for Corporate America
- Shitbag utility companies, The Guardian: ‘It feels like nobody cares’: the Americans living without running water amid Covid-19
- National Review: McConnell Says It’s ‘Highly Likely’ That Next Coronavirus Relief Bill Will Include Funding for States and Cities
- The Center for Media and Democracy: ALEC Leading Right-Wing Campaign to Reopen the Economy Despite COVID-19
- POLITICO: DeVos sued for seizing student loan borrowers’ wages during pandemic
- The Guardian: Fossil fuel firms linked to Trump get millions in coronavirus small business aid
- NPR: How The CARES Act Became A Tax-Break Bonanza For The Rich, Explained
- Washington Post: Trump orders meat plants to stay open in pandemic
- Mediaite: Jared Kushner Declares Administration Response to Coronavirus ‘A Great Success Story’
- Rep. Ilhan Omar: Billionaires want to continue profiting off your labor even if it means risking millions of lives.
- Trump comes out AGAINST additional stimulus checks for millions of Americans
- Labor 411: Coronavirus Stimulus Package Gave $174 Billion In Tax Windfall To The Rich
- The Intercept: BIG PLASTIC ASKS FOR $1 BILLION CORONAVIRUS BAILOUT
- Sludge: Reps Calling for Payday Lender Bailout Get 6x More Money From Payday Lenders
Shitbags of the Week: 4/20
- Daily Beast: Trump Donor Hired Trump-Tied Lobbyists, Then Raked in Coronavirus Relief Cash
- Newsweek: REPUBLICANS BLOCK PROPOSED INCREASE IN FOOD ASSISTANCE IN CORONAVIRUS AID PACKAGE
- Greedy billionaire Amazon overlord Jeff Bezos sacrifices worker lives – but hey have a free t-shirt!
- Students suffer – Comcast keeps its billions
- Business Insider: Amazon-owned Whole Foods is quietly tracking its employees with a heat map tool that ranks which stores are most at risk of unionizing
- Washington Post: A billionaires’ compound with its own coronavirus testing center stokes anger on the French Riviera
- Kellyanne Conway insinuating that the WHO has failed with previous iterations of COVID-19 even though it’s named after the year it was identified
- San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Disney to stop paying 100,000 workers but is still on track to give shareholders $1.5 billion
- Donald Trump using the pandemic to push racist immigration policies
- Governor Kemp reopening Georgia businesses well before it’s safe to do so
- Washington Post: White House, GOP face heat after hotel and restaurant chains helped run small business program dry
- Independent: NHS staff being silenced
- New York Times: Trump (the Company) Asks Trump (the Administration) for Rent Relief
- Newsweek: GOP Texas lieutenant governor says we need to take risk to get back to work: “There are more important things than living”
- CNN: Trump threatens to invoke never-used constitutional authority to adjourn Congress and push nominees through
- Dr. Oz making the argument that we should reopen schools because *only* 2-3% of kids will die
- Steve Mnuchin thinks Americans can live on $1,200 for 10 weeks
- CBS News: Hollingsworth says Americans should return to work despite coronavirus risk, calling it “the lesser of these two evils”
- CNBC: Trump halts US funding for World Health Organization as it conducts coronavirus review
- Elon Musk failing on promise to deliver ventilators for Coronavirus treatment
Shitbags of the Week: 4/6
- Common Dreams: ‘Bullying of Marginalized Workers’: Trump Moves to Slash Pay of Guest Farmworkers Amid Covid-19 Crisis
- Forbes: 10 Billionaires Gained $51 Billion This Week As Markets Edged Up From The Stock Crash
- POLITICO: Recovery law allows Fed to rope off public as it spends billions
- The Hill: Wisconsin GOP Speaker defends state holding election while wearing protective gear
- Donald Trump and Third Way supporting ‘Coronavirus Care for All’ but not ‘Medicare for All’ due to coronavirus affecting the wealthy
- Huffpost: Mississippi Governor Declares ‘Confederate Heritage Month’ During Coronavirus Pandemic
- New York Times: Trump’s Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical Community
- POLITICUSUSA: Brett Kavanaugh Leads Conservative SCOTUS Majority In Blocking Extended Voting In Wisconsin
- Independent: Jared Kushner attacked as ‘alt-right Pinocchio’ who has betrayed NYC and delayed government coronavirus response
Shitbags of the Week: 3/30
- Washington Post: Trump, GOP challenge efforts to make voting easier amid coronavirus pandemic
- The Philadelphia Inquirer: How the owner of Philly’s shuttered Hahnemann hospital became the internet’s coronavirus villain
- Los Angeles Times: Delay next year’s minimum wage hike, California businesses ask Newsom
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