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A special message for John Cornyn: China didn’t make the US the epicenter of the coronavirus. Trump did.
Sen. John Cornyn is taking it upon himself to single-handedly shift blame for the US death toll from COVID-19 away from Donald Trump and onto…China. Cornyn’s shameless sycophancy will get people killed. It will also likely raise millions of dollars for John Cornyn.
Regardless of the source of the virus, or whatever missteps China made in slowing its spread, Cornyn’s “blame China” reelection strategy makes absolutely no sense, except as propaganda. Every other country, with access to the same set of facts about the virus, has handled it better than the US has. With 88,000 deaths in the US—and counting—compared to 4,000 in much-larger China, there is no way to spin such a catastrophic failure of government.
Taking China out of the equation—they may very well have underreported their statistics—the US has 272 deaths per million. Germany? 96. South Korea? Five.
These numbers are shameful and they are not getting better. The reason they are not getting better has nothing to do with China, and everything to do with the uncaring, incompetent response of Donald J. Trump and his coterie of enablers like John Cornyn. In his desperation to retain power, Cornyn is trying to agitate a diminishing base of low-information voters. Let’s push back on this cynical strategy. Let Cornyn know he has blood on his hands. And just as important, let’s vote him the hell out of office.
Important Election Dates:
June 29 to July 10: Early voting in primary runoff election. MJ Hegar and Royce West are vying for the nomination to defeat John Cornyn.
July 14: Primary Runoff Election Day
October 19 to October 30: Early voting in General Election.
November 3: Election Day
Action of the Week: Body Bags at the Governor’s Mansion
Indivisible Austin was proud to coordinate with two other states to pull off this socially distanced action at the Governor’s Mansion—drawing attention to the inadequate response by Gov. Greg Abbott to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anti-reopening protesters in Florida, Texas, and Arizona brought body bags and the grim reaper to their state capitols pic.twitter.com/6UGdpjUY24
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 16, 2020
Tell Greg Abbott that mass casualties is not a plan
Virtual Events
Wednesday, May 20
Public Tribunal for why changes are needed in Austin Police Department leadership
6 p.m. on Zoom. In the wake of the shooting death of Mike Ramos, Austin Justice Coalition hosts an online public event to allow folks from across the community to lay out the reasons for calling for firing police leadership.
RSVP with Austin Justice Coalition on Zoom
Saturday, May 23
Webinar: The renters’ guide to eviction defense
2 p.m. In many parts of Texas, evictions may resume starting May 18. Learn the basics of eviction law and how to protect yourself. (Please note, the City of Austin, Travis County have postponed evictions for nonpayment of rent until July 25, and some other local jurisdictions have as well)
Swing Left’s National Virtual Letter Writing Party – the Texas Edition!
2 p.m. Now’s the time to work on the 2020 elections! Even though lots of us are isolated right now to protect our communities, we can still get together virtually to make an impact. Join Swing Left staff and volunteers from around the country for a virtual letter writing party supporting races up and down the ballot in Texas.
Tuesday, May 26
Doctors in Politics Candidate Forum with Dr. Christine Eady Mann
8 p.m. Visit doctorsinpolitics.org to join.
Upcoming: Tuesday June 2
Texas Senate Runoff Debate with MJ Hegar and Royce West
Livestreamed on KXAN and other stations. Details to come.
COVID-19 News & Resources
New Risk-Based Guidelines to Help the Community Stay Safe During COVID-19 Pandemic (City of Austin)
Is Texas Inflating Its COVID-19 Testing Numbers by Including Antibody Tests? (Texas Observer)
Texas officials to voters: Risk your health to vote or risk criminal prosecution (Texas Civil Rights Project)
City of Austin Utility Bill Relief application (City of Austin)
I Enrolled in a Coronavirus Contact Tracing Academy (Wired)
View more Coronavirus actions & resources for Central Texas (Indivisible Austin)
Editorial: Paxton’s actions hinder efforts to keep us safe (Statesman)
Your Moment of Zen
These pigs ate fermented corn to be used for making moonshine.
One of them is hammered-drunk & passed-out completely.
Wait for it…?????pic.twitter.com/q4k27SUUx0
— Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) May 13, 2020
The president has deliberately spread misinformation about COVID-19. He lies and constantly blames his failures on others. Blaming China for the virus is just one example of this serious character flaw. You are a mature man. You do not demonstrate leadership by knuckling under to a White House occcupant who exhibits the behavior of a schoolyard bullly.