Tag Archives: WorldNews

Trump Says There’s Plenty of PPE. So Why Did This Union for Nurses Have to Find Its Own?

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On Wednesday, President Donald Trump held an event in the White House to salute nurses. But the gathering turned awkward when Sophia Adams, a nurse who heads the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, said that the supply of personal protective equipment for nurses during the coronavirus pandemic had been “sporadic.” Trump took issue with her statement and insisted, “I have heard we have a tremendous supply to almost all places.” But Trump was wrong—and one union that represents a large chunk of the nation’s nurses recently had to spend millions of dollars and navigate the chaotic supply-chain world to procure millions of pieces of PPE for its members. This episode shows, yet again, how the Trump administration has not adequately assisted the nation’s front-line health care workers.

In late March, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, was on a call with the heads of about 40 of her union’s locals that represent health care workers. Approximately 200,000 of the AFT’s 1.7 million members are health care workers, most of them nurses. This slice also includes physicians, technicians, and maintenance workers in medical facilities. On the call, these local leaders described how they and their members were coping with the coronavirus crisis. “It was one horror story after another about the lack of PPE and the working conditions,” Weingarten recalls. The level of fear—fear for their own lives and the well-being of their family members—was shocking for Weingarten: “These are people who are normally used to situations where they can risk their health.”

“It was one horror story after another about the lack of PPE and the working conditions.”

Following the call, Weingarten realized it was not enough for the union to organize petitions, mount protests, and hold media events to demand PPE for its members. “I said, we have to try to figure out how to procure this stuff….People are scared shitless.”

But Weingarten had no clue how to procure medical equipment. She did, however, have contacts. She knew people at Empire Global Ventures, a business development firm with experience in China, where much of the world’s PPE is manufactured. (The firm’s website boasts it “supports its clients entering China by introducing them to influential Chinese business partners, providing access to non-public Chinese deal flow, managing the Chinese governmental registration and permitting process, and supplying privileged sector-specific research on the Chinese market.”) Empire Global found for the AFT an established importer/exporter to help acquire the equipment. 

What the union was looking for were face shields, surgical masks, and N95 masks. Even with help from the importer/exporter, it encountered many of the usual difficulties that others have found when seeking PPE in China. Union officials at one point believed they had a shipment of N95 masks on the way, but then they discovered the goods were likely counterfeit. “There were a lot of rabbit holes,” Weingarten says. “A couple of times, I thought this was never going to happen.”

Eventually, the importer/exporter was able to strike a deal with Chinese manufacturers to produce 50,000 face shields and more than 1 million surgical masks. “We had to pay the manufacturers before they would manufacture these supplies,” Weingarten says, noting that her union was only able to pull off these deals because it had enlisted reliable middle men who knew the ropes in China. “There were a lot of twists and turns. It sometimes costs more to have the supplies trucked from the factory to the airport than to airship it to the United States. You have to have someone escort the material through customs,” she explains. Despite the hurdles, it mostly worked out, and the shipments of the face shields and surgical masks have started.

But the AFT could not swing a deal in China for the high-priority N95 masks, so the union turned to 3M. But here it also needed assistance. “If we had just called 3M and said we’d like to make an order…it was impenetrable,” Weingarten says. “But our brokers were able to do it.” 3M agreed to designate the AFT an allowable buyer—the union had to sign a letter noting it would not resell the N95 masks—and cut a deal to sell it 455,000 N95 masks. About half were to come from the United States and the rest from Sweden, where the company has several facilities. The price was $3.00 per unit for a line of N95 masks that had been discontinued and between $6.00 and $7.00 each for current versions of the item. Weingarten expects to receive these shipments in the coming days.

At first, Weingarten planned to spend about $1 million in total on PPE, but that was not enough. The union ended up shelling out about $3 million. 

It plans to distribute the supplies to health care providers in New York, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, and possibly other states—that is, if none of the shipments are swiped by the US government. The Federal Emergency and Management Agency has been confiscating some PPE shipments coming into the United States. But Weingarten figures that if she publicizes the AFT’s plans, the feds will be less likely to intervene. 

“There were a lot of rabbit holes. A couple of times, I thought this was never going to happen.”

The AFT considers this project a success for the union and its members. But how much of a dent does it make, given the tremendous need for PPE? “The Trump administration,” remarks Weingarten, “says that 3.5 billion respirator masks will be needed in this pandemic. But only 11.7 million have been distributed. That’s less than one-third of 1 percent. So what we’re distributing is a good percent of that. But it’s a drop in the bucket. The federal government has to do its job.”

Weingarten notes that her experience as a PPE procurer reinforces her dismay at the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic: “What the hell has the federal government been doing? How dare they not do what’s needed. It’s the entity in the best position to manage the supply chain for tests, swabs, ventilators, and PPE. And this is where they fall flat. Every time I hear Donald Trump say there are more tests and more PPE than ever, I think about my members and how it has been hard to get these things.”

And there’s another thing Weingarten is angry about. After Congress passed the $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package, Education Secretary Betsy Devos warned states not to give funds they receive from this measure to teachers unions. “We try to step up,” Weingarten complains, “and they say we are barring you.”

Weingarten doesn’t yet know if the union will continue to pursue additional PPE for its members. It depends on what its budget will allow. “Trump,” she adds, “has failed to do his job and protect the health and safety of the people who are protecting us….I didn’t know how to be a supply clerk either. But I got on the phone and figured it out, and I’m not the federal government. We are spending money for what employers, states, and the federal government should be paying for.”

Trump casts doubt on trade deal with China

Just cannot stop running his mouth and lying. lots of trade deals made before him – not the first, Duh. How about undermining your own negotiator!!!

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WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump yesterday cast doubt on the future of the phase one trade deal with China, one of the biggest accomplishments of his first term, saying that he was struggling with Beijing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Look, I’m having a very hard time with China,” Mr Trump said in an interview on Fox & Friends. “I made a great trade deal months before this whole thing happened. And it was kicking in, you know, a month ago and starting to kick in and starting to produce and then this happens and it sort of overrides so much.”

He added: “Nobody else ever made a trade deal with China, because they couldn’t do it, because China wouldn’t do it, because China had a one-way street to rip off the United States. We were losing US$500 billion (S$707 billion) a year, five hundred.

“And so I’m very torn, I have not decided yet, if you want to know the truth.”

His remarks contrasted with statements from Chinese and US officials earlier in the day that followed a phone call between Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The two sides agreed to “create favourable conditions” for the phase one trade deal signed in January, officials said, despite recent tensions over the coronavirus pandemic.

“Both sides said they should strengthen macroeconomic and public health cooperation, strive to create a favourable atmosphere and conditions for the implementation of the phase one US-China economic and trade agreement, promoting positive results,” a notice from China’s Ministry of Commerce said.

US officials said after the call that both parties agreed “good progress” is being made on creating the governmental infrastructures needed for the agreement to become a success.

“They also agreed that in spite of the current global health emergency, both countries fully expect to meet their obligations under the agreement in a timely manner,” said the Office of the US Trade Representative and Treasury in a statement.

The phone call was the first time that Mr Liu and Mr Lighthizer have officially spoken about the deal since it was signed in January, which was just before the pandemic hit the world’s two biggest economies and upended global supply chains. The deal calls for Mr Liu and Mr Lighthizer to talk every six months.

Last week, Mr Trump threatened new tariffs against China after claiming there was evidence linking Covid-19 to a top-security laboratory in the central city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected late last year. China has denied the claims.

China’s purchases so far have been behind the pace needed to reach the target of the first year’s US$76.7 billion increase, as imports of US goods fell by 5.9 per cent in the first four months of 2020 from a year ago due to the virus outbreak. Still, some purchases are being made, with China buying six cargoes of soya beans on Thursday and more than 600,000 tonnes of corn recently.

NO DECISION

Look, I’m having a very hard time with China… I’m very torn, I have not decided yet, if you want to know the truth.

U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, on the phase one trade deal.

China has also lifted restrictions on a variety of US agricultural imports, including beef and poultry, and scrapped foreign ownership limits in the financial sector.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG

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Revealed: major anti-lockdown group’s links to America’s far right

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American Revolution 2.0, which presents itself as bipartisan, has been assisted by far-right individuals – some with extremist links

Leaked audio recordings and online materials obtained by the Guardian reveal that one of the most prominent anti-lockdown protest groups, American Revolution 2.0 (AR2), has received extensive assistance from well-established far-right actors, some with extremist connections.

Related: Armed protesters demonstrate against Covid-19 lockdown at Michigan capitol

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UK scientists furious over attempt to censor Covid-19 advice

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Exclusive: report criticising government lockdown proposals heavily redacted before release

Government scientific advisers are furious at what they see as an attempt to censor their advice on government proposals during the Covid-19 lockdown by heavily redacting an official report before it was released to the public, the Guardian can reveal.

The report was one of a series of documents published by the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) this week to mollify growing criticism about the lack of transparency over the advice given to ministers responding to the coronavirus.

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For Trump, l’etat, c’est moi. Attorney General Barr does whatever he wants | Lloyd Green

Traitors know no bounds

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The Justice department has announced it will drop its case against Michael Flynn, who pled guilty to lying to the FBI – we know why

Welcome to law and order in the age of William Barr. Against the tableau of a raging pandemic and job market in free-fall, on Thursday the justice department announced that it would be dropping its case against Michael Flynn, the president’s short-tenured national security advisor.

The fact that Flynn had pled guilty and Donald Trump had previously accused him of lying to the vice president no longer mattered. These days, Trump was claiming that Flynn had been exonerated and, after all, Barr was the president’s obedient servant. His tweets were Barr’s commands.

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China supports WHO-led review of global coronavirus pandemic response

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BEIJING (AFP) – China said on Friday (May 8) it supports a World Health Organisation-led review into the global response to the coronavirus outbreak, but only “after the pandemic is over”.

The comments from foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying came as China faces increasing global pressure to allow an international investigation into the origins of the pandemic.

The review should be conducted in an “open, transparent and inclusive manner” under the leadership of WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Ms Hua said at a press briefing.

She added that it should be at an “appropriate time after the pandemic is over”.

The review should “summarise the experience and deficiencies of the international response to the pandemic, strengthen the WHO’s work, enhance the construction of countries’ core public health capabilities, and provide suggestions to improve global preparedness against major infectious diseases”, said Ms Hua.

She also said China would cooperate with WHO efforts to trace the origin, but rejected US calls for an investigation, accusing it of “politicising the issue”.

There have been growing calls led by the United States and Australia for an international inquiry into the issue, which has become a key flashpoint in tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Ms Hua stressed that any inquiry should be based on the International Health Regulations, and be authorised by the World Health Assembly or Executive Committee – WHO’s dual governing bodies.

WHO epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove said on Wednesday that the agency is in talks with China to send a mission to investigate the animal source of the virus.

Both US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have heavily criticised China’s alleged lack of transparency, and have repeatedly pushed the theory that the virus emerged from a Wuhan maximum-security virology laboratory.

The claim has become a key point of contention between China and the US, with Beijing accusing US Republican politicians of shifting the blame as an electioneering strategy.

Most scientists believe the virus originated in animals before it was passed on to humans.

Numerous countries, including France, Germany and Britain, have urged greater transparency from China over its handling of the virus.

China has strenuously denied accusations that it concealed information relating to the initial outbreak, insisting it has always shared information with the WHO and other countries in a timely manner.

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Australian government stops listing major threats to species under environment laws

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Exclusive: Environment documents show the federal government has stopped assessing major threats to the survival of native wildlife

The federal government has stopped listing major threats to species under national environment laws, and plans to address listed threats are often years out of date or have not been done at all.

Environment department documents released under freedom of information laws show the government has stopped assessing what are known as “key threatening processes”, which are major threats to the survival of native wildlife.

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Angela Merkel reins in German states with rules on easing lockdown

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Chancellor says ‘emergency mechanism’ can be used to control local Covid-19 outbreaks

Angela Merkel has introduced some new ground rules for relaxing physical-distancing restrictions in an attempt to reassert her authority over Germany’s 16 federal states, some of whom have announced unilateral re-opening plans.

In recent days the German chancellor has struggled to preserve a fragile compromise over the introduction of nationwide lockdown measures bartered with federal states in mid-March.

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