Tips for the next leaders of the progressive mass politics…

#Bernie2020 BVC Petition Update:2,454 super volunteer signatures and growing! Today we will deliver the Petition to our fearless leader, Sen. @NinaTurner ♥️THREAD of volunteer feedback to let the campaign know how we feel Bernie 2020 volunteer infrastructure should carry on: https://t.co/GUktLtOOXV— Woobie🌹Tuesday (@WoobieTuesday) April 14, 2020

A tax provision in the coronavirus relief package will mostly benefit millionaires, nonpartisan report finds

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on Tuesday accused Republicans of looting the American people during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, The Washington Post reports. That’s because a new report from the Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan congressional body, found that a tax provision included in the congressional coronavirus relief package by GOP senators will overwhelmingly benefit people making over $1 million per year while costing taxpayers $90 billion in 2020 alone.

The provision that has Whitehouse and others up in arms is the suspension of a limitation on how much owners of “pass-through” businesses (that is, businesses whose profits are subject to the owners’ individual income tax rather corporate income taxes) can deduct against their non-business income, such as capital gains. The limitation was initially included in the 2017 Republican tax law, capping deductions at $250,000 in losses, but advocates on the right called it a mistake.

Now that the limit has been suspended, the Post reports, wealthy Americans — largely hedge-fund investors and real estate business owners — can use their losses to reduce tax burdens. The JCT study found that 82 percent of the benefits will go to about 43,000 taxpayers who earn more than $1 million, while people who make less than $100,000 will receive just 3 percent of the benefits. While there’s been criticism from the left, Alan Viard of the American Enterprise Institute argues the tax relief is important because it “gives businesses badly needed liquidity” during the pandemic.

So this is why Team Biden was insensitive in fundraising during his joint conversation with Bernie yesterday and during his podcast w/Rev Barber while talking about the plight of the working poor?

NEW: Democratic Party bundlers are struggling to find time to prioritize raising money for Biden as they look to overcome hurdles from Covid-19. From dealing with layoffs to employees in the hospital, many bundlers aren't focused on helping Biden.https://t.co/wst6h9fgsP

— Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbCNBC) April 14, 2020

The Media Had a Formula for Reporting Sexual Misconduct. Then Joe Biden Was Accused

arly a year ago, journalist E. Jean Carroll wrote an essay in which she publicly accused the president of the United States of sexually assaulting her in a dressing room more than two decades ago. The accused, or rather, his press team, called it “false.” There was no evidence Carroll could point to — how could there be? — except for two people she had told at the time, who confirmed the memory to New York magazine.

The story was left off the front pages of the nation’s top newspapers, including the New York Times, which banished it to its book section, and was nowhere to be found among the 164 stories on the paper’s homepage (executive editor Dean Baquet later admitted the Times had been “overly cautious” and had underplayed the story). On TV, the Sunday shows largely gave it a pass. The most powerful man in the world had been credibly accused of sexual assault, and no one seemed to care.

Fast-forward nine months later. A woman has come forward to publicly accuse the frontrunner to become the next president of the United States of sexually assaulting her in a Senate office more than two decades ago. The accused’s team has called the story “false.” There is no evidence, except the two people still living whom the accuser confided in at the time, who confirmed to the Intercept their memory of being told the story.

The result has again been media silence, only this time with a twist. Because not only has Tara Reade and her allegation against Democratic frontrunner and now presumptive nominee Joe Biden inexplicably received perhaps the least mainstream media attention of any high-profile sexual assault allegation of the past three years, but it is some of the news outlets most critical of the media’s treatment of Carroll and other survivors who are choosing to ignore the story — or, in some cases, undermining their gravity.

After Hillary Clinton’s loss, liberals harshly criticized the press for reporting on hacked Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign emails, whose revelations damaged her campaign against Trump. The Times itself charged that every major news outlet became “a de facto instrument of Russian intelligence” for doing their jobs. Some journalists have publicly questioned their decision to report negatively on Trump’s opposition, such as the Times’s own Amy Chozik.

“The choice wasn’t between getting it right and getting it first,” the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake reflected in December 2016 on reporting about the leaks; “it was between getting it first and playing to the potential agenda of an anonymous source — a source who could have been an adversarial world power such as Russia or a more nefarious source or just some random hacker.”

Donald Trump is an odious figure who deserves scorn and criticism. But as one observes the demonstrably different standards the media have applied to a sexual assault allegation against the man many see as his best-placed rival, it’s hard not to suspect that parts of the press have unhealthily internalized partisan accusations that their reporting put him in power.

We can NOT settle for half measures. Cancel student debt now – and permanently. #CancelStudentDebt #Coronavirus #PoliticalRevolutionhttps://t.co/yyZzg77FYF

— Our Revolution (@OurRevolution) April 14, 2020

TRANSLATED: @BernieSanders’ ideas are so important I worked heaven and earth to stop him from winning https://t.co/tcUopi4rYo

— Jordan (@JordanChariton) April 14, 2020

Billionaire bankers just love socialism for the rich.

Greedy hedge fund managers are now calling themselves "small businesses" to apply for government handouts. That is wrong.

This aid is desperately needed to help Main Street, not Wall Street. https://t.co/x73kh9TaSB

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 14, 2020

.@IRSnews has begun sending people cash assistance & will have a portal where you can check the status of your payment this week.

If you don’t normally file a tax return, you can enter your info here. It will require you to fill your Name, SSN & more. https://t.co/wUuaVmREXB

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) April 14, 2020

Gov. Gavin Newsom names six goals that must be met to lift California coronavirus order

Gov. Gavin Newsom says California needs to increase testing, protect high-risk residents from infection and expand hospital capacity before the state can begin to modify the unprecedented stay-at-home order he imposed one month ago and gradually return to a sense of normalcy.

“I want you to know it’s not, it will not be, a permanent state,” Newsom said of the restrictions put in place to fight the spread of coronavirus. “We recognize the consequences of the stay-at-home orders have a profound impact on the economy, your personal household budget, your personal prospects around your future.”

The governor broadly described the steps his administration expected to take in the weeks and months ahead to protect the public and gauge how long the order should remain in place, underscoring a transition in the fight against the virus in recent days as California and other states map out plans to ease restrictions.

The new parameters Newsom outlined Tuesday suggested the state must meet a high bar before walking back the order. The administration highlighted six key indicators for altering his stay-home mandate, including the ability to closely monitor and track potential cases, prevent infection of high-risk people, prepare hospitals to handle surges, develop therapeutics to meet demand, ensure schools, businesses and child-care facilities can support social distancing, and develop guidelines for when to ask Californians to stay home again if necessary.

The Democratic governor and officials in his administration say their strategy to slow the spread of the virus is working, pointing to relatively low growth in COVID-19 hospitalizations as evidence that staying home and social distancing are preventing a surge of infections.

But that success comes with a cost.

More than 2.3 million Californians filed for unemployment benefits in the last month as businesses closed their doors due to state mandates, and the economy continues to unravel. Some students lost access to free and reduced-cost meals when schools shuttered, and many have not participated in virtual learning. The governor’s strategy of distancing residents can also lead to social isolation and increased health risks for the elderly and vulnerable populations including stress-induced heart attacks, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and lack of access to care for other unrelated illnesses.

Despite his attempts to quell a sense of uncertainty, Newsom had not yet provided a timeline before Tuesday for when the state’s nearly 40 million Californians can expect to return to work — or move about freely. And to those struggling to make ends meet, that’s the question they want answered most.

“When are the restrictions going to be lifted?” asked Miguel Tot, who was laid off from his job as a manager of a downtown Los Angeles restaurant on March 16. “There’s no timetable on that so I have no idea, you know, when normality is going to come back.”

The 34-year-old said he and his wife have enough money saved to buy groceries, pay rent and bills and provide for their two young children for about two months. Despite having no health insurance, Tot said he began looking for a new job late last month in anticipation of that safety net running out and with no sense of when the order will end.

The governor has predicted a peak in COVID-19 cases to begin in May and said last week that hospitalizations continue to fall below expectations.

The Postal Service's unsustainability is a fiction that centrists are promoting to impose austerity on its workers. Congress could cover USPS's losses for $15 billion a year. The Pentagon's annual budget has grown by $130 billion since Trump took office.https://t.co/l6DUmEiIMp

— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) April 14, 2020