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BOZEMAN, Mont. The only reason to be a Democrat running for statewide office in Montana is that, alas, you are one. Just keep in mind that there will be none of that heady, audacity-of-hope-type jazz. In this cold, conservative state, your mission is to persuade the skeptics east of the Rocky Mountain Front that you are a levelheaded, friendly, capitalist adult who wont be levitating the Pentagon a task that has gotten considerably easier since the Republican establishment lost interest in basic empiricism.

Privately, feel free to enjoy normal liberal thoughts like that Al Sharpton makes a lot of sense. Publicly, assume that everyone you talk to is a Republican or an independent unless you are chatting with the Butterfly Herbs cashier ringing up your bulk Korean ginseng or you happen to bump into Jeff from Pearl Jam. If anyone asks, your favorite artist is the Great Falls cowboy painter Charlie Russell, though nobody will, because it goes without saying.

If you believe in abortion rights, and tragically, you do, follow the lead of the states senior senator, Jon Tester, a Democrat and third-generation farmer from Big Sandy. Frame the issue as the rugged individualism of a womans right to make her own health care decisions, preferably while seated on a tractor. All Democratic officials in the Central and Mountain time zones surely envy the rural romance of Mr. Tester, whose three missing fingers, mangled in a meat grinder on the family farm, are the Montana electoral equivalent of being a Kennedy. A good rule for politicians still shackled with all 10 fingers is to trust Senator Testers instincts on everything but haircuts. He understands that a westward conscience (and a passing interest in re-election) sometimes compels a Montana Democrat to question coastal leftist groupthink just ask Bernie Sanders about Max Baucus, but not if there are ladies present.

The exemplar remains the most powerful Montana Democrat in American history, Mike Mansfield. The longest-serving Senate majority leader, he quietly egged on his Republican counterpart, Everett Dirksen, to help pass the Great Society laws, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (back when, according to the 1960 census, the black population of Montana was 0.2 percent).

Senator Mansfields most relevant legacy is arguably the origin story of the Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Bidens professed bipartisanship. When a young Senator Biden griped about a heartless Republican, Mr. Mansfield counseled him to find the good in his colleagues, to see what their state saw in voting for them, adding, And Joe, never attack another mans motive, because you dont know his motive. Mr. Biden later wrote, Its probably the single most important piece of advice I got in my career.

The current administration of Gov. Steve Bullock, a two-term Democrat, has been reminiscent of the old, functional Mansfield Senate. At a time when Washington impotence is symbolized by how Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, shamelessly refers to himself as the grim reaper, its worth contemplating a deceptively bland talking point from Mr. Bullocks failed presidential bid and current U.S. Senate campaign, his pledge to make Washington work more like Montana.

He is not proposing to export the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale to the National Mall, though who wouldnt want to see that. He is simply alluding to the fact that in our state capital Helena, elected officials from both parties negotiate with one another and the chief executive to pass laws that actually help people. And just as Mr. Mansfield would tiptoe across the aisle to exploit the rift between centrist Republicans and conservative insurgents like Barry Goldwater, Mr. Bullock has capitalized on a civil war among Montana conservatives in a way that might be instructive to the country at large though the methodology works only if the rest of you can scrape up a few lucid Republicans. (Try harder, Kentucky.)

The Republican legislators are torn between the . 38 Special, a petulant Tea Party-tinged cabal, and the Solutions Caucus of businesslike conservatives who will stick with the right wing on bedrock beliefs like limiting abortion one bill provoked a Bullock veto but will vote with the Democrats when doing so solves a logistical problem or staves off needless idiocy. They sided with the Democrats, for example, to kill a bill that would have prohibited the state health department from requiring vaccinations of day care employees and children. When some of them partnered with Democrats to reauthorize Medicaid expansion, jars of petroleum jelly materialized on their desks like the severed horse head in The Godfather, apparently to help them sodomize the citizens of Montana. (By giving more of us better, cheaper health care?)

One of the two legislators Governor Bullock appointed to his statewide council of business leaders to recommend divvying up federal Covid-19 stimulus grants was State Representative Llew Jones, a Republican from Conrad. It was a deft, bipartisan campaign move, but also astute management, in that Mr. Jones, a member of the Solutions Caucus, is a thoughtful public servant with a masters degree in economics.

For Mr. Bullock, good government and good politics are often indistinguishable. Compared with the dystopian whimsy of President Trumps pandemic news conferences, Mr. Bullocks straightforward public briefings have featured him calmly enumerating statistical data from county health departments and issuing updates on what turned out to be an effective statewide stay-at-home order.

The only time the governor has sounded remotely frazzled was on a conference call pleading with Mr. Trump for more tests for the viral epicenter Gallatin County, incidentally the home district of his adversary in the Senate race, the Republican incumbent, Steve Daines. A recent state poll shows Mr. Bullock ahead but in a tight contest with Mr. Daines, a former software executive.

In this state and others in our time zone like Arizona and Colorado, where Democrats have a shot at lassoing Senate seats the current crisis seems to call for the Mansfield-style empathy for their opponents that Mountain West Democrats must have to be politically viable, because the virus itself is a small d democrat that smites an assisted-living home in Montanas Toole County as well as the British prime minister.

When Mr. Jones, the Solutions Caucus representative, had to explain to his conservative agrarian constituents why he supports something as seemingly woo-woo as Medicaid expansion, he brought up the toughest person I ever met, his nonagenarian retired rancher mother, who taught him how to birth a lamb and worked until she was 86. He insisted she deserves access to her small rural hospital, noting that until Obamacare is repealed and replaced with something better he would work within the current system to provide health care for the true Montana people like his mom.

Roughly 10 percent of the states population are a bunch of wimps who live in Billings to say nothing of dainty Bozeman eggheads personified by yours truly and Steve Daines but the law Mr. Jones supported and Governor Bullock signed applies to any qualified state resident. Mr. Jones, who won his district with literally 100 percent of the vote, can and should tailor his message to his like-minded neighbors.

Mr. Bullock, who won his last election by four miraculous points, throws around the one-size-fits-all word Montanans so often that the Rocking R Bar should institute a drinking game. He shows up in the news every day trying his hardest to help everybody. He has to. He needs every single vote.

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How Democrats Win in Montana (and They Do Win) - The New York Times

Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed on February 23rd in Brunswick, Georgia. His family says he was going on a one of his regular jogs through his suburban neighborhood when two armed white men, a father and son, Gregory and Travis McMichael, confronted him on a shady street. The men claim they thought Arbery was a burglary suspect, that he went for Traviss gun and that they were acting in self defense.

The killing didnt garner widespread attention until last week, when a grainy cell phone video showing the altercation and the last moments of Arberys life appeared on the local news. The video spread across social media and Amaud Arberys name became a hashtag. The recording sparked national outrage and propelled local law enforcement to arrest Gregory and Travis McMichael. The arrests came 74 days after the shooting.

Host Trymaine Lee talks with Reverend Al Sharpton, longtime civil rights leader, founder of the National Action Network and host of MSNBCs PoliticsNation, about his fight for justice for Arbery, despite the delays and the limitations of organizing during a pandemic.

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Into the Movement for Ahmaud Arbery - NBCNews.com

On Saturday, Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network will distribute free masks and meals in Harlem, N.Y. and in Newark, N.J.

In the wake of the unprecedented emergency impacting the country due to coronavirus (COVID-19) and new mandates by the governors of New York and New Jersey that residents must wear masks in public, Rev. Al Sharpton and NAN will give away free masks and pre-packaged meals in Harlem, New York and Newark, NJ.

Inner-city residents must follow this mandate to ensure public health and safety, and we are going one step further, by giving away masks to those who need it most, said Reverend Al Sharpton. In times of stress and struggle, we all need to support one another.

Saturday, April 18, 2020 12 NOON

HARLEM

NANS House of Justice

106 West 145th Street at Malcolm X. Blvd.

Rev. Al Sharpton will distribute masks and food

NEWARK

NAN TechWorld

400 Hawthorne Avenue, Newark, New Jersey

Pastor Steffie Bartley, NAN NJ, will distribute masks and food

About National Action Network

(NAN) National Action Network is one of the leading civil rights organizations in the nation with chapters throughout the entire United States. Founded in 1991 by Reverend Al Sharpton, NAN works within the spirit and tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to promote a modern civil rights agenda that includes the fight for one standard of justice, decency and equal opportunities for all people regardless of race, religion, nationality or gender.

For more information go to http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net.

Original post:
NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK WILL DISTRIBUTE FREE MASKS, MEALS IN HARLEM AND NEWARK - Black Star News

Every day, we are inundated with information about the horrors of the coronavirus pandemic. We hear about the rising number of deaths, the increasing rate of infections, the mental anguish, the shortages of critical supplies in hospitals, the people struggling to pay bills and survive, the long lines at food banks and so much more. But lost in the coverage of this virus is one critical point that we simply cannot ignore: the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on African Americans and disenfranchised communities.

To be clear, I am not saying the pandemic is a conspiracy to kill or target Blacks, but it is illuminating the existing racial disparities in this country.

To be clear, I am not saying the pandemic is a conspiracy to kill or target Blacks, but it is illuminating the existing racial disparities in this country that reverberate in everything from health care to jobs, housing and more. We are watching a crisis within a crisis unfold before us, and our challenge is not just to expose it but also to ensure that when we rebuild and re-emerge, we take strategic steps to rectify it.

ProPublica recently released a report on the alarming rate at which Black Americans have contracted and died from COVID-19. The report notes that Black Chicagoans account for half of all coronavirus cases in the city and more than 70 percent of deaths, even though they make up only about 30 percent of the city's population. In Milwaukee County, Blacks comprised almost half of all cases and 81 percent of its deaths even though the Black population is only 26 percent in that area. In Michigan, the state's population is 14 percent Black, but Blacks make up 40 percent of deaths. In Louisiana, the Black population is about 32 percent of the total, but more than 70 percent of people who have died from the virus are Black, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

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On Wednesday, data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention backed up this reporting. The CDC analysis includes data from hundreds of patients from 14 states and found that, in the data available, significantly more patients were white than Black.

But the racial inequality becomes even more apparent when you factor in pre-existing conditions and the imbalances and disparities that have long persisted in our community. African Americans suffer from higher rates of underlying health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, asthma, hypertension and more all of which increase the likelihood of death or serious illness due to coronavirus. The inability to get access to good health care or medical assistance in everyday life and, of course, during this pandemic also greatly impacts the Black community and poorer communities. Environmental issues like air quality and water quality, as well as inadequate housing, also disproportionately impact Black Americans and other communities of color.

When you are living in a housing project or crowded buildings with multiple family members, you don't have the luxury to socially distance. When you don't have the luxury to work from home, you can't avoid getting on a subway, a bus or other forms of public transportation to go to work. Ditto when you can't afford your own car, can't afford an Uber or can't afford a cab ride. It's easy to socially distance in the suburbs or in affluent neighborhoods, but it becomes nearly impossible in crowded urban areas and in lower-income neighborhoods.

As we continue to grapple with the new normal and try to come together as a nation to battle this vicious pandemic, we cannot simply gloss over the toll this horrendous virus has taken on the Black community. As the CDC numbers show, we are only just starting to understand the danger this pandemic poses to Black Americans in the days, weeks and months ahead. These societal disparities existed long before the virus, but they are now magnified before us.

We must flatten the curve, but we must also flatten inequality in health care, the economy, access to nutritious food and overall quality of life. It is the only way we can truly emerge from this tragedy with a semblance of hope for the future.

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With over 40 years of experience as a community leader, politician, minister and advocate, the Rev. Al Sharpton has held such notable positions as youth director of New York's Operation Breadbasket, director of ministers for the National Rainbow Push coalition and founder of his own broad-based progressive civil rights organization, the National Action Network. He hosts "PoliticsNation," which airs from 5 to 6 p.m. ET on weekends on MSNBC.

See more here:
Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. reveal a startling truth about America's 'two pandemics' - NBC News

MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton asked Dr. Anthony Fauci when it occurred to him that the coronavirus had become a serious problem.

Fauci explained that there was always some indication that there was danger. But he claimed that the information coming out of China was wrong until the end of December. Trump has claimed China, saying that they lied to the United States and blamed the World Health Organization for perpetuating it. Whether that is true or not, Fauci made it clear that the United States knew this was a problem at the end of December and by the end of January, it was known that the virus was spreading from person to person.

They said it was something like 24 cases in this wet market, where these exotic animals are sold and there is a human/animal interface, said Fauci. The proposal made by the authorities in China where this was just jumping from an animal to a human, and it wasnt spread from human-to-human. Then it became clear, when you look back, that it was likely in China that there was human-to-human spread. By the time we got that information and we started getting cases here, it was, well, its not efficiently spread from human-to-human. As soon as it became clear that there was community spread, which means that it isnt just a travel-related case, that there are cases that are in the community under the radar screen, then it became clear that we were in real trouble.

Sharpton asked when that was and Fauci said that it was toward the middle to end of January.

And did you begin advising the administration and those authorities that we were, in fact, seeing something different here and this could be a major problem at that time? asked Sharpton.

You bet, Fauci said emphatically. And then thats when it became clear that there are a couple of ways of addressing that. You could either prevent or try to block the influx of new cases from out of the country, and already cases had come in from China, to try to say, Thats it, we got to stop that because now we already have cases here. And then it switched to Europe, and when Italy had their outbreak, it became clear that that became a danger. So, thats when cases were cut off from coming in from Europe and then, ultimately, the U.K. but by that time we had enough cases in our own country that the ability to do the containment slipped then into the need for mitigation and we saw what happened in New York.

Trump attacked the media Sunday, saying they criticized him for shutting down China. But Fauci explained it was too little too late by the time Trump declared the ban. By the time he banned Europe it was even later.

Sharpton explained it was clear the US was behind the ball. Fauci agreed, explaining that it was clearly too little too late.

Watch the full interview below:

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Dr. Fauci explains why Trumps travel bans didnt work and he was begging action as early as mid-January - Raw Story