Progressives (Liberals)

Democrats smell blood in Texas after sky-high primary turnout

The party is targeting another half-dozen House seats in the Lone Star State.

I can't help wondering if Trump's suspension of flights from the European Union is an attempt to weaken the EU economically. Why is the UK exempt? He originally planned to ban freight imports as well.

Ireland and Britain aren’t part of Trump’s coronavirus travel ban. This is why.

Quote:

In a speech Wednesday, President Trump announced a ban on travelers from Europe. This led to a lot of initial confusion over what Trump meant by “Europe,” and whether trade in goods was banned too (Trump said it was, but the White House quickly clarified that this was not the case). Trump also said that the United Kingdom would be exempted from the ban, prompting a lot of speculation as to what exactly was going on. It turns out that the ban — and the exception for the United Kingdom — is not quite as arbitrary as it sounds. Trump’s ban extends to countries in what’s known as the “Schengen area,” a region that includes most states that are members of the European Union (as well as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland). The Schengen area does not include the U.K. nor Ireland.
[...]
Trump, in his speech, blamed Europe [sic!] for not being careful enough in introducing restrictions, saying that viral clusters in the United States have been “seeded by travel from Europe.” The rationale for the ban appears to be that border-free travel will allow the contagion to spread throughout the Schengen area, and then jump to other countries such as the United States.

Why then are some Schengen states restricting travel from other Schengen states, and why is Trump imposing a general ban on foreign nationals who have been in the Schengen area? One plausible explanation might be that travel bans send a highly visible signal to voters that the government is doing something to stop the spread. That might be particularly politically important in the United States, where the government has not yet been able to test citizens for the novel coronavirus in significant numbers, let alone introduce significant targeted measures to halt the spread of the virus that causes the disease covid-19.

Though many Schengen area states are likely to be very angry at Trump’s decision, the willingness of some of their fellow Schengen members to impose similar restrictions will make it hard for them to respond in an unified way. It will be particularly interesting to see whether states such as Austria and Hungary denounce the U.S. ban or seek an exemption on the basis that they are imposing restrictions, and whether Ireland will refer to the ban on its fellow E.U. member states in the prime minister’s meeting with Trump on Thursday.

Acosta then said Trump is "going to come across to a lot of Americans as smacking of xenophobia" too because he said the coronavirus came from a foreign source.

Town Hall senior writer Julio Rosas captured the clip of Acosta and shared in on Twitter, where many users accused the CNN reporter of hypocrisy. Some critics were quick to point out that Acosta and CNN have both frequently reported that the coronavirus started in Wuhan, China.

1 Blame the Chinese,

2 Blame the EU

3 Blame the Democrats

Quote:

2 Blame the EU

They did nothing about travel, now look at the infected in Europe. Blame needs to be put where it belongs. You people have so much trouble placing blame where it belongs.

I’m an independent.

Remember that.

Josh Marshall
@joshtpm
· 23m
Trump claims (falsely) all Americans returning to country are being tested:"We have heavily tested. If an American coming back or anybody coming back, we have a tremendous testing set up where people coming in have to be tested ... if it shows positive ... We have to quarantine."

This is not true.