I Try Hard Not to Hate – Mitt Romney Makes it Hard…

Mitt Romney does his Mitt Romney thing again today as he tweets about President Trump commuting the sentence of Roger Stone:

"Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president."

Rather than allow myself to be drawn into unhealthy toxic anger; allow me to shift the focus for a moment to drive home the point that up to the moment that Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, all national politics was controlled club activity.

It was in the aftermath of Mitt Romney taking a dive in 2012 when I first decided to really drill down on the club networks and figure out their strategies. Not esoteric analysis of what the political ideology is; but rather, a deep, very deep, focus into the network of how they actually function and what they physically do to keep hidden. Once you see the strings on the marionettes you can never go back to a time when you did not see them.

George Carlin was right, smart man, it’s a big club and we we’re not in it… until Trump.

The elevation of a semi-coherent and cognitively challenged vessel named Joe Biden should also drive home the point that both political wings of the UniParty bird, are ultimately a Potemkin village to disguise a network of powerful interests.

In January 2019 again CTH warned about Mitt Romney. There’s a bunch of them to worry about but Mitt Romney and Nikki Haley are two republicans with the most toxic lust for power and influence. Stay aware… beyond the Romney’s and Haley’s you’d be surprised how many embedded cells are simply laying dormant waiting to activate like political terror cells.

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has one major career alliance that has been unbroken and unchanged for well over two decades. That alliance is with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and specifically with CoC President Tom Donohue. [SEE HERE and SEE HERE].

Mitch McConnell is stealthily working against the efforts of President Donald Trump. The effort is to support his primary Wall Street financial benefactor, Donohue. However, Mitch McConnell cannot directly be connected to underhanded efforts against President Trump because it would lead to: (A) questions about a confrontation; and (B) public exposure. [ex. think about how McConnell is blocking President Trump from recess appointments]

Mitch McConnell has to be very careful about the visibility of how he undermines the President. Everything must have built in plausible deniability.

McConnell has a history of getting caught. However, fortunately for him people also have a tendency to forget [see McConnell’s scheme in the Mississippi 2014 Cochran race as an example]. Almost no-one remembers that U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, the founder of the Senate Conservative Fund, quit the Senate specifically because of the schemes and internal Machiavellian power moves of Mitch McConnell.

So when the carefully constructed, pre-planned, pre-scheduled, and pre-organized public op-ed by incoming Senator Mitt Romney was deployed in the Washington Post… for those who have watched McConnell work; we knew exactly who orchestrated it and why.

Senator Romney will be one (not the only) visible face of the opposition. However, just like former Senator Corker and current Senator Sasse, the instructions (direct and indirect), and/or the approvals, will come from Leader McConnell’s office.

Through his power structure McConnell directly controls about 8 to 15 republican senators; we have called them “The Decepticons” for years. [Cornyn, Thune, Porter, Blunt, Portman, Burr, Barasso, Crapo, Murkowski, Gardner, Roberts, Sasse, Tillis, Graham and now Romney]

McConnell needed to test Romney’s commitment to the Decepticon club. Romney passed the test. Romney was rewarded with placement on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. Those Senators who sit on this committee get the most financial benefit from foreign lobbyists. To understand the financial process think: Qatar & McCain Institute etc.

That’s what is going on internally…. and no, I doubt President Trump knows the scale of it; or maybe he does, and he has to pretend like he doesn’t to navigate his agenda… but somehow I doubt it.

To remind ourselves how Minority and Majority Senator McConnell took down the threat of the Tea Party revisit these old articles: CNN Part I and CNN Part II both showcase how McConnell works. Then do some research on how McConnell worked with Haley Barbour in Mississippi [SEE HERE].

Yes, Democrats are openly the opponents. However, the republican wing of the uniparty is no less dangerous.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/07/11/i-try-hard-not-to-hate-mitt-romney-makes-it-hard/

Man urges people to double check COVID-19 results after he said sister, fiance got false positives

With tens of thousands of people getting tested for COVID-19 around St. Louis, some are questioning the process of getting results.

A St. Louis County man is claiming his sister and fiance received the wrong information after they were tested.

Both were tested at Total Access urgent care locations.

CEO Dr. Matt Bruckel said mistakes are extremely rare. Of the 36,000 tests the company has done , they are only aware of three data entry errors.

But Nathan, who asked News 4 not to use his last name, hopes his family's story will convince others to double check their results.

"They just called me and said your sister is positive," he said, recalling when his mother gave him the news.

Nathan said a few hours later, Total Access sent a conflicting message in the form of a text saying his sister was actually 'negative,' but that was after his family received a phone call from the Centers for Disease Control about the diagnosis.

"Basically all that fear and stress was for nothing," he said. "It was a crazy situation."

Nathan also claims his fiance was tested at a Total Access facility in Festus, and received this text message claiming she was 'positive' for COVID-19. Because of what happened with his sister, Nathan's fiance called Total Access for confirmation.

"We called up there and they said 'in our system, you're negative that was a glitch. That text didn't mean to go out,'" he said.

Bruckel said his facilities are testing upwards of 1,500 people a day. Because of the volume, a texting service sends the message, but that data is entered manually by a human being. He wants perfection, but understands humans occasionally make mistakes.

"It is possible they could enter the wrong answer the wrong result for a patient," he said. "Whenever these things happen, we feel horrible. We are responsible. We want to make them right, do the right thing and fix it."

With each text message, patients are given options to follow up. Nathan is thankful his family did.

"We have to understand how busy these companies are. They are overwhelmed, so I would just send a text back to talk to them if you're positive. If you're positive, there's a chance some people are negative that are actually positive right now" he said.

Bruckel said if people get a diagnosis back that doesn't fit their symptoms, for example a negative result but the keep getting sicker, make sure to call back and follow up.

He said his offices are always available to answer questions. He also said many patients are now opting for the rapid test where results come back in 30 minutes, and that eliminates a potential incorrect text or phone message because it's done in person.

https://www.kmov.com/news/man-urges-people-to-double-check-covid-19-results-after-he-said-sister-fiance-got/article_d1eb2dc4-c233-11ea-91a4-27ec43a28629.html

‘It takes 150 redials’: Horror stories from Californians filing unemployment claims, getting no results

Barry Levine has blown through two-thirds of his life savings while waiting for his unemployment insurance claim to be processed. He figures that, by sometime in September, he will have nothing left.

In the 10 weeks since the 52-year-old freelance ad copywriter and occasional actor applied for benefits, he has called the California Employment Development Department “thousands of times,” he said, just to reach a human being.

His application has gone missing in the overburdened state agency, which has processed 7.5 million unemployment claims since the pandemic sent the economy reeling in March — nearly doubling the number filed during the worst full year of the Great Recession.

“It takes 150 redials before I get lucky and get someone on the phone,” he said. “I would try when I had time, half an hour here, an hour there. I’m not getting through, but I see no other way to contact these people, and I’m unemployed. This sort of became my de facto job — trying to get in touch with them to follow up the claim.”

Social media are filled with horror stories about women and men like Levine who’ve been thrown out of work by the coronavirus and are fighting to navigate the EDD. They’ve peppered sites such as Reddit with hacks from the unemployment insurance battlefields on how to use the agency’s seemingly impenetrable phone system. They’ve memorized customer service numbers and can recite chunks of EDD’s recorded messages verbatim.

They’ve sent and resent copies of their most important documents — passports, driver’s licenses, W-2 forms, green cards, birth certificates, apartment leases, utility bills — to verify their identities in hopes of speeding the process along. But they’ve often been met with radio silence and left to wonder: “Who was that guy who wouldn’t give me his last name or phone number and I just sent everything to?”

Those who have filed unemployment claims in vain say dealing with the EDD feels like life with an emotionally abusive partner: They never know if their actions will be rewarded or punished. They live in constant anxiety and fear. The world is random, treacherous, without logic. A single mistake could mean disaster. And they cannot imagine a way out.

EDD spokeswoman Loree Levy said a big part of the agency’s problem is “an unprecedented volume of callers dialing in multiple times, which clogs the phone lines.”

In May, EDD reported receiving around 12 million calls a week from up to 645,000 individuals and was able to answer just 20% to 23% of the unique calls each week. In June, the agency recorded 11 million call attempts from 500,000 individuals and was able to answer 27% of the calls with a live service representative.

… For years, the call center has operated from 8 a.m. until noon. After the pandemic began, callers complained about the limited hours, so a second call center operating from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. was set up. But many of the agency’s service representatives cannot help resolve specific problems with people’s claims. Callers complain they’ve repeatedly gotten recorded messages saying the system is overwhelmed.

And then they’re disconnected.

more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-11/california-covid-19-coronavirus-unemployment-calls-issues

SF school district already flunked distance learning. Why haven’t officials spent the summer cramming to ace it?

It’s the rare San Francisco public schoolkid, parent or teacher who thought our emergency experiment with distance learning in the spring went well. While everybody gave it a good old college try because they had no other choice, the overall results deserved a failing grade.

While many teachers provided an enriching experience, others didn’t have technology skills or hardly interacted with kids in real time at all. Some kids lacked strong internet connections or family members with the time or know-how to help.

Parents lucky enough to do their jobs from home grew exasperated trying to play teacher’s aide while working, feeling like they were failing at everything. Parents who had essential jobs outside the home were sometimes forced to leave small children by themselves all day.

And guess what? Nothing much has changed in the past four months. When San Francisco public schools start up Aug. 17, its 55,000 kids will be learning on screens from teachers who’ve been given no additional guidance from the school district since March on how to make virtual education successful.

“Distance learning across the country was pretty much a failure,” said Mark Sanchez, president of the San Francisco school board. “We are struggling, and I’m looking to other districts that are doing it better than us.”

But with just five weeks of summer left, teachers don’t know how many hours they’ll be required to teach or how much of it should be conducted in real time. There’s no plan to bring the neediest children back to campus despite everybody agreeing that should happen. The city has not figured out a plan for child care for parents who require it.

“The sad fact, and nobody wants to say it out loud, is that if we continue with distance learning, the vast majority of students will not get anywhere near what they would get in the classroom,” Sanchez said. “That is doubly so for students who are already vulnerable.”

Though the full plan won’t be presented to the school board until July 28, it’s nearly certain distance learning will continue for most kids indefinitely. A recommendation from the district posted Friday evening in advance of Tuesday’s school board meeting confirms the district intends to begin the school year with distance learning. Preparing facilities for even a hybrid model with some on-campus learning will take up to three months and will be considered only if coronavirus data improve.

It’s unlikely even the neediest children — including English learners, foster kids and kindergartners — will start school face-to-face with their teachers as the school board had hoped, Sanchez said.

more https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/SF-school-district-already-flunked-distance-15400967.php

Petition for election to recall Mayor Jenny Durkan can move forward, judge says

A King County Superior Court judge has approved a petition for an election to recall Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, opening the door for a campaign that’s gained steam over the last several weeks.

The ruling Friday on charges filed by a group of five people last month comes after weeks of local protests against racism and police brutality — sparked by the killing of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to his neck for about eight minutes.

Once any recall petition is approved, signatures are needed to qualify for a special election ballot. The petitioners must, within 180 days, collect valid signatures from a number of voters equal to 25% of the votes cast in the last election. In this case, signatures from more than 50,000 Seattle voters would be needed.

The Durkan petitioners’ recall effort, known online as the “Fire the Mayor” campaign, accuses the mayor of “endanger[ing] the peace and safety of the community” by allowing police to “leak false information about fabricated crimes and threats to the media” and issuing a citywide curfew without sufficient notice to the public. The petitioners also accused Durkan of restricting certain property rights in downtown Seattle and Capitol Hill, the neighborhood where many of the protests took place.

“Jenny Durkan’s abuses of power, lack of foresight and failure to protect the public — and the peace — in Seattle leaves us with no choice,” petitioner Elliott Harvey wrote in a statement on the campaign’s website. “This is exactly the kind of case a recall is intended to address.”

In a response Saturday, Durkan’s chief of staff, Stephanie Formas, said the mayor “consistently has acted to protect the City’s public health and safety and to respect the constitutional rights to peaceful protesters,” and defended Police Chief Carmen Best, who Durkan believes “has exercised her challenging duties lawfully and appropriately to protect the public peace,” according to the statement.

The court this month held an online hearing on the petition, hearing from the petitioners and from attorney Rebecca J. Roe, who represented Durkan.

In her ruling Friday, Judge Mary E. Roberts dismissed six of the seven charges put forward as “insufficient,” but allowed one — which accuses Durkan of allowing tear gas and other crowd control weapons to be used during the coronavirus pandemic — to proceed “more narrowly than alleged.”

The judge did not rule on whether the allegation was true. “This court’s role in this case is limited,” she wrote. “At this stage of a recall effort, the court is to assume that the Recall Petitioners’ allegations are true, and to determine whether if true, they can support a recall.”

Formas, speaking for Durkan, said in a statement that the court’s ruling is significant since, at this stage of the proceedings, the judge must assume the allegations are true. “Even under this low standard, the Court dismissed six of the seven claims” in the petition, and dismissed a second petition altogether, the statement said.

“The mayor believes this remaining claim will be dismissed,” Formas said.

The mayor could appeal the ruling, but Formas did not say if she would.

Roberts also approved a ballot synopsis, which reads: “As alleged by [the petitioners], shall Jenny Durkan be recalled from office for misfeasance, malfeasance, and violation of the oath of office, based on the following charge: Mayor Durkan endangered the peace and safety of the community and violated her duties under state and local laws and her oath to uphold the federal and state constitutions when she failed to institute new policies and safety measures for the Seattle Police Department after learning of the use of chemical agents on peaceful protesters as a means of crowd control during a public health emergency.”

A court clerk is now expected to certify and submit the synopsis to Durkan, each petitioner and the county auditor, according to the ruling.

The next step is for the petitioners to gather signatures. If enough are gathered and they are verified as belonging to legal voters, a judge will set a special election to be held between 45 and 90 days after the signatures are certified. The law urges that the special election be held on a scheduled election or special election day when possible, and prohibits it from being held between a primary and general election.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/king-county-superior-court-judge-allows-petition-to-recall-mayor-jenny-durkan-to-move-forward/